“...This amazing show, brought to you by The Great and Powerful TRRRRIXIE!”

As Trixie struck a pose on the rehearsal stage, Coloratura stood beside her, holding her hoof out while she belted out the last high note of her song.

Spitfire launched herself into the skies, spinning around in a corkscrew as she ascended, then tucking her hooves and wings in as she started tumbling down in a somersault, only untucking at the last possible second as she barreled down towards the stage. Her wings spread out to help slow her momentum to lift her up for one last backflip to land on the stage safely, posing on the other side of Trixie.

After holding the pose for a few more seconds, Trixie excitedly clapped her hooves together. “...Excellent! That was another flawlessly executed run-through of the show! Oooh, it’s gonna be so good! Shall we take a quick break before running through it one more time for today?”

“Yeah, sure,” Spitfire shrugged.

“Sounds good to me!” Coloratura nodded.

“Perfect!” Trixie went back down on all fours, walking off-stage to recharge for the next rehearsal.

Coloratura sat down at the edge of the stage and wiped some of the sweat off her forehead. “Whew! I didn’t think that working with Trixie would be so exhausting!”

“No kidding!” Spitfire laughed, sitting down next to her. “I don’t think I’ve had to do that many flips and corkscrews since I was a recruit!”

“Well, that explains why you’re so amazing at them!” Coloratura smiled, lightly punching Spitfire on the shoulder.

“Pfff, that’s nothing,” Spitfire scoffed, turning her head away. “My team could do all that stuff in their sleep. But nopony can sing like you can!”

Coloratura modestly blushed and waved her hoof. “Oh, I can only sing like that the same way you can do all those stunts: lots and lots of practice.”

“Maybe, but you could still pack a whole stadium with that voice alone.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far…” Coloratura chuckled, awkwardly kicking her hooves. “Besides, I still don’t feel like I’m singing at my best yet.”

Spitfire was taken aback. “Well, ya sure coulda fooled me! Now you got me wondering what your ‘good’ singing sounds like!”

Coloratura sighed, looking up wistfully towards the skies. “When I find that inspiration again, I’ll be sure to let you hear me.”

Spitfire tilted her head back, deciding to join Coloratura on her sky watching. “Are you looking for something specific to inspire you? Or is it just one of those ‘I’ll know it when I see it’ kind of things?”

“Probably the latter. I know that sounds pretty ‘diva-ish’ of me, but it’s just hard to put out work I’m proud of if I’m not feeling it, you know?”

“I guess,” Spitfire shrugged. “I dunno, I don’t think that performing a bunch of stunts is quite the same as singing your heart out, but yeah, it’s hard to give your all some days.”

“...Maybe my inspiration needs to come from the voice of others,” Coloratura idly suggested, turning her head towards Spitfire once more. “What if I heard you sing?”

Spitfire let out a boisterous laugh before realizing that Coloratura’s suggestion was sincere. “...Wait, seriously? Come on, you’re not gonna get any sort of inspiration out of me singing.”

“Why not? Hearing a fan singing one of my songs in their own way? It’s a good start, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, but on a good day I sound like a bag of gravel in a blender,” Spitfire nervously laughed, turning her head away again.

Coloratura put her hoof under Spitfire’s chin, pulling her gaze back towards her. “Well, I think you sound pretty nice.”

Spitfire blinked, being forced to look at the soft smile of Coloratura face to face, the blush on her cheeks that she was trying to hide now on full display.

Thankfully, Trixie emerged from backstage to break the tension. “Alright! Let’s run through this one more time! We’re so close to the big day!”

It was a rather slow day for Princess Cadence and Shining Armor over at the Crystal Empire. With nearly all their royal engagements dealt with, the couple had plenty of free time to spare.

Shining strutted through the halls, humming a happy tune to himself as he looked around for his wife, eventually hearing her voice talking to herself in the bedroom.

When he opened up the door, he saw Cadence rummaging through their closet. “Whatcha looking for, hon?”

“Oh, nothing special…” Cadence replied. “Did you need me for something?”

“Just wanted to make sure you were ready for our dinner tonight,” Shining grinned. “You picking out your outfit?”

“Something like that,” Cadence said with a sly little smile to herself. “I’ll be ready in a bit, don’t worry!”

“Alright, alright…” Shining decided to lean against the bed while he waited, knowing it might take a while. “So, how was your trip to Ponyville? You and Pinkie Pie enjoy yourselves?”

“Oh, it was great! Me and Pinkie got a LOT of stuff done!”

Cadence didn’t turn around from the closet, but Shining could tell that she was positively beaming. “So what exactly is she planning? It’s gotta be something juicy if it’s got you all excited.”

Cadence turned her head around, and Shining could see her eyes twinkling with excitement. “Okay so get this: Pinkie Pie’s planning out the start of the orgy for the winning team!”

Shining let out a small snort. “How? We don’t know who won yet.”

“Yep, that’s why Pinkie’s been going through all the different possibilities just so she can be prepared for the big day!”

Shining took a moment to think about the logistics, needing to go through every single combination and permutation of either remaining winning team AND arrange an ideal combination for the orgy on top of that. Even Twilight would be driving herself neurotic over such a task, but he could easily picture both Pinkie Pie and Cadence doing it with relative ease. “The end of the month’s getting closer and closer, you two almost done?”

“Almost!” Cadence beamed. “Thankfully we decided we didn’t have to go through every number of possibilities. If it somehow came to a six-member-or-less victory, it could easily sort itself out.”

Curiosity started to get the better of Shining. “So, who’d you two put me up with the most?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Cadence responded cheekily.

“I would, that’s why I asked,” Shining smirked.

“Hmm, I think more often than not, we put you with either Luna and or Fluttershy…” Cadence said, recalling the dozens of arrangements she made with Pinkie.

“‘And or’?” Shining said, more bewildered by the wording rather than her choice.

Cadence giggled. “Well, it made the most sense. You’re one of the few ponies well aware of Fluttershy’s more…intimate fantasies, and so is Princess Luna.”

Shining quietly chuckled. “Wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted even more this year.”

“That and Pinkie told me most of her plans paired you up with Big Mac before…you know.”

“Ah yeah…” Shining solemnly nodded his head, though now that he was thinking about it, given everyone on his team, Big Mac was easily in his top three choices. “Aww…”

“Not that it’d matter much anyway,” Cadence smirked, sticking out her tongue. “My team’s still winning right now.”

Shining retaliated by sticking his tongue out. “Well no matter what team wins, as long as I still make it, then I win, so ha!”

Cadence rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you’re still holding up okay?”

“I’m doing great!” Shining boasted, “Some days I even forget that I haven’t cast it!”

“You suuuure you haven’t cheated a little?” Cadence pouted. “There’s gotta be some sort of trick you’re pulling on me!”

“Nope! I’ve only done a variation of the spell one time throughout the whole month, and you know I’m not the one being protected by it!”

Cadence let out a long, heavy sigh. She wasn’t going to sabotage her husband, but she was hoping that years of using that Chastity Shield would lead to some sort of dependency. And yet somehow, that sort of resilience was making him even more attractive. “Darn, not even a little bit of temptation?”

“Heh, nice try, hon, but nothing’s stopping me from making it to the orgy this year!” Shining laughed.

“Mmmh, there’s still plenty of time,” Cadence mumbled, walking back to the closet. “I was planning on wearing these, what do you think?”

Cadence pulled out a piece of clothing that she had been looking at in the closet for quite a while: a set of black fishnet stockings.

Shining’s eyes flashed with recognition, and a very audible thud came from the side of the bed.

“Nothing stopping you, huh?” Cadence smirked, “You sure about that, my faithful paladin?”

Meanwhile, over in Manehattan…

“RRRRRRGH!”

Cozy Glow furiously pounded on Babs’s bed, shoving her face into one of the pillows and biting the cover to try and muffle her frustrated cries as much as she could.

Even though the sound of Cozy’s screaming was significantly dampened, some of it still came through to Babs on the other side of the door. And all of the pounding and thumping of the bedframe against the wall combined with Cozy’s muffled moaning did sound familiar…

Concerned about her marefriend, Babs gave her bedroom door a few knocks. “Yo, you alright in there? You ain’t clopping out on me, are ya?” She was partially teasing, but given the sounds she was hearing, she couldn’t be too sure.

Babs’s voice made Cozy’s head pop up. She took deep breaths to try and relax her breathing. “Yep! I’m…fine!” Cozy choked out, trying to get her chipper tone back, though it was straining her to get it out.

“Alright, I’m coming in then. I mean, it’s my room, anyway…” Babs shrugged, turning the knob.

“Fuck…!” Cozy quietly muttered to herself. She scrambled to rearrange the pillows back to where they were to pretend that she wasn’t just having a crisis just a few seconds ago.

Once Babs opened the door, she saw Cozy posing seductively on her bed.

“...’Sup?” the pegasus asked, trying to play it cool.

Babs tilted her head and frowned. Cozy’s mane was still an unkept mess, and while she had seen her smile insincerely before, this one felt more desperate. “Coze, you okay? You ain’t looking so hot.”

“Funny, cause you’re looking pretty hot to me-RGH!” Cozy winced, her lower eyelid twitched as her wings spread for a split second. “W-What about you? How are y-you holding up?”

“Me? Never felt bettah!” Babs boasted. “I really feel like I’m gonna make it dis year! Good thing too, dere’s a lotta stuff I wanna do at the orgy!”

“That’s…great…!” Cozy choked out, her hooves kicking out involuntarily.

“Cozy, you sure somethin’ ain’t wrong?” She had asked that question probably a dozen times by this point. She’d be surprised if she actually answered. “You’ve been getting real jumpy and antsy lately.”

“I’m fiiiine!” Cozy insisted. “I’m, just…you know…uh…” Cozy tried to think of some sort of excuse, but her mind was foggy with thoughts she wished she could get rid of. Her hind hooves rubbed together, trying not to think about pinning Babs down and taking her right there.

Babs shrugged with resignation. “Are ya really that bored if ya aren’t causing problems?”

Cozy immediately latched onto the first explanation Babs had. “YEP! That’s it! Just sooooo bored around here! N-No offense.”

Babs smirked as she jumped on the bed next to her. “Awright, how about we go out and do something, then?”

“Like…what do you mean?”

“I know I said we were kinda takin’ a break with the whole ‘sabotage’ stuff, but I figure dat doesn’t mean we can’t still have fun!” Babs said with a wink.

Cozy’s head perked up at the suggestion of sabotage. There was finally a moment of clarity cutting through her fogged up mind. Maybe she really did just need a bigger distraction. “R-Really?”

Seeing Cozy genuinely get excited again made Babs’s smile grow bigger. “Really. Doesn’t hafta be a big scheme or nothin’, so how about we head over to Ponyville and find someone to tease? Probably best if we don’t actually take anyone out. Dash and Applejack’ll be pissed if they caught us sabotaging our own teams. Probably why they put us on opposite sides, now dat I think about it…”

Cozy already found herself with a bunch of ideas running through her mind as she clapped her hooves together. “Ooh, can we go fuck Spike?”

Babs did a double take. “Huh?”

“FUCK WITH SPIKE! FUCK WITH SPIKE!”

Author's Note

You know at this point I might as well just say Cozy just lives in Manehattan with Babs now.

Probably better than the alternative of just being...homeless.