What Happens on Saturday

Monday passed slowly. Since Cinnamon had R&R, he found himself without something to do. The castle lacked recreational things to do aside from going to the library.

For the entire day, he woke up, ate his meals, sat around in the library and in his sleeping quarters.

As it neared the end, his brain started thinking and focusing on something Celestia had said. That she would need to fix him.

Was he broken? It would make sense why mares never asked him out. Maybe he wasn’t worth the effort… but why would she bother then? Maybe he was a project to her.

Those thoughts kept him awake longer than he normally would be, eventually falling asleep sometime past midnight.

The next day, his mind wandered back to what she said as he took a hot shower.

He was distracted to the point that he went to the mess hall at lunch to seek out Onyx on his lunch break. He needed advice.

He walked through the mess hall doors into the large room full of guards eating, chatting, and relaxing as much as they could before having to return to their posts. The only ones allowed in here for lunch were creatures considered non-essential positions. If you had wall duty, gate duty, or lookout; you needed to grab a lunch from the kitchen in the morning and take it with you to your post. The rest had a 30 minute lunch in the mess hall. Depending on the job you’re assigned will determine when your break happened so the entire castle staff wasn’t in one place at once and abandon the rest of the building.

Onyx was assigned to guard the Throne Room doors so he had the noon lunchtime along with the court guard, group 2 of the door guards, group 2 of perimeter patrols and group 2 of the hall patrols.

It took 5 minutes of scanning every pony face in the room before finding the brown muzzle with accompanying horn of his friend. Thankfully, none of the guards ever wore their fur altering helmets in the mess hall; otherwise, this would be a fruitless effort.

He moved over to where Onyx was sitting and sat next to him.

He gave Cinnamon a sideways glance, “Cinnamon? What are you doing here?”

“I need some advice about mares.”

He stopped eating; a biscuit hovering inches away from his open mouth. The biscuit levitates back to his plate.

“About?”

“What a mare said. What it means.”

“Ok, what did she say?”

“I… needed to be fixed.”

“Easy, buck her. Since when has some random mare’s opinion bothered you?”

Cinnamon didn’t know how to respond to that without giving away the secret he was supposed to keep.

Onyx leaned in closer and whispers to Cinnamon, “It… it wasn’t your mother, was it?”

Cinnamon immediately shook his head and pushed Onyx away from him, “No!”

Onyx took a bit of his biscuit and chewed it before his eyes went wide, “ooate.”

He stops to swallow his food, “Wait… do you have a marefriend?”

“What? Why would you say that?”

“Well, the only mare I can think of off the top of my head that would say something like that is Commander Silver but if that made you this irritated, you wouldn’t have lasted through boot camp.”

He smiled, “You also didn’t answer my question. So who is it? Does she work in the castle?”

Cinnamon looked at him, “That’s… not important. What do I do?”

“Well, is it a marefriend?”

“Why does that matter?”

“It matters. Buck her if she’s a random mare but if it’s a marefriend then other factors need to be considered. Like how serious are you about it? Do you want to continue your relationship? So which is it?”

Cinnamon sighed, “Fine, not a stranger and I do want it to continue.”

“Well, maybe consider it. A relationship is about give and take. You won’t find a perfect mare that is everything you want while also being everything she wants.”

Onyx’s ears perk up as a whistle blows, signaling the end of the guards lunch. He quickly finished up his biscuit and drink. His helmet levitated onto his head, his fur turning a pearly white that started from the helmet and changed in a wave down to the tips of his hooves.

The other creatures in the mess hall were filing out of the room before Onyx turned his attention back to him. “If it’s something that you can’t change then I say dump her. Otherwise, it’s up to you since you’re being unusually… dodgy with my questions… Why didn’t you tell me about this before? It feels weird that you of all creatures wouldn’t celebrate a relationship.”

“I didn’t expect it would go this far.”

“Well, good luck?” he said before galloping toward the door to catch up with the last of the guards filing out.

Cinnamon stood in the empty room, “Well… that didn’t help much.” He mumbled to himself. He looked over to the kitchen, figuring he may as well get his lunch now before the next group of guards arrive and form a line.

He spent the rest of the day in emotional conflict. Onyx tried to help after he got off duty but Cinnamon’s inability to be straightforward with him meant he had little help to give.

Unfortunately, as the night continued near midnight, it became clear his night would be as sleepless as the night before. So he took a walk.

He walked through the halls which were empty aside from the night guards but what he was seeking was a quiet place to think.

He went to the library first only to find a dozen creatures walking through the aisles. Then he tried the mess hall but the night guards were just starting their equivalent of lunch. So he ventured outside to the garden. During the day, it would have common ponies walking around the place but at night, it was empty.

He looked around and found the ideal place, the garden maze. Even if somecreature was also in it, he wasn’t likely to run into them.

He walked through the maze, enjoying the cool night air and the sweet smells of the flowers in the shrub walls. For a few minutes, he completely forgot about his troubles until reaching a larger area. Either he found the center or just a large section.

But it was exactly what he was looking for. It was secluded, quiet, calm, and a perfect place to let his mind wander.

Or so he thought.

His eyes opened for the 7th time when he heard the sound of flapping wings approaching. The first 5 minutes in the maze was perfect. The area was lit by the light of the moon, the air was cool on his skin and the only noise came from the breeze swaying the bushes. Then the first night guard showed up. She was a pegasus mare concerned that he might have been lost. He told her he was fine and she left.

Later a bat pony guard would show up for the same reason, then a griffin, then another pegasus and so on. As he heard the 7th pair of hooves touch the ground near him, he began to wonder if he should just roll himself into the bushes to hide himself. Sure, it wouldn’t be as comfortable but he wouldn’t have to continue sounding like a broken record.

“No, I’m not lost and I don’t need you to fly me out but I appreciate the concern,” he said in a monotone voice, not bothering to look at the guard. Sure, it was a bit disrespectful to do that but he was beginning to become annoyed than none of the guards noticed he wasn’t showing any signs of panic or distress. If he were lost, he would be jumping up and down trying to flag somecreature down for help.

Moments later, he signed through his nose when he didn’t hear the beating sound of wings taking them away. So he closed his eyes again, trying to focus on his thoughts and ignoring the fact that he was no longer alone.

Just when he was beginning to relax, she spoke, “Are thou certain? Thou appear quite lost to us.”

He finally turned his head in her direction to see it was Princess Luna standing in the small clearing with him. His eyes went wide as he moved to stand up only for the blue glow of the princess’ magic to gently keep him on lying on his back.

“Do not allow our presence to disturb thee.” She said before her magic faded.

He wiggled on the ground, rotating his body so he could rest his head on the ground and still see her, “I apologize with my… rather rude greeting. Quite a few guards have been showing up; I didn’t expect you to be here… I didn’t do something wrong, did I?”

She shook her head, “Nay, we peered out our window before retiring to our bed and saw thee laying in our maze. We approached out of concern.”

“Oh, well sorry for wasting your time and… worrying you but I’m fine.”

She raised a brow, “Secluding oneself in a maze is not what we would consider fine.”

She walked closer to him and laid down in a pony loaf next to him, “Now, dost thou wish to continue lying to thy princess?”

Cinnamon nibbled on his lower lip and looked around the sky. “I, I can’t say in the open.”

Her horn lit up and flashed three times. Unseen to Cinnamon’s eyes, the air around them became slightly distorted before a solid blue bubble appeared slightly below it. “We are now invisible to the eye, silent to the ear and none may enter unless we allow it. Speak what burdens thy mind.”

He glanced at her; could he tell her? Did Celestia’s sister count as somecreature he needed to keep the secret against?

“Well, Cel- Princess Celestia wanted me to keep things a secret, would that apply to you?”

“If thou speak of thy courtship proposal with our sister, we are already aware of it.”

“What about Sunday night?”

“If thou are referring to our sister taking thee to The Horn’s Tip, we know of that as well.”

He sighed and looked up to the bright moon, thinking of the best way he could put this without sounding pathetic.

“I’m… conflicted. About something Princess Celestia said at The Horn’s Tip.”

Princess Luna slightly cocked her head, “Oh?”

“She said she would need to fix me…” He looked over to Princess Luna, “…am I broken?”

She didn’t speak for a few moments. She never considered herself a therapist even though she used many of their techniques when she did her duties in dream world. However, the dream world was much simpler than this. She could watch the dream or nightmare unfold; see what the problem was and mold the dream so they could overcome their problems on their own… most of the time.

“We are all broken in our own way; no creature can escape such reality. Not us, nor our sister.”

“But you two aren’t broken; you’re perfect.”

Her eyes lower to the ground, “How much dost thou know of our past with the Nightmare Moon?”

He thought back to the required information he had to know to be a guard. “You were controlled by an entity of darkness, Nightmare Moon. But that wasn’t you Princess.”

“We were the one to make a deal with the nightmare demon out of jealousy and anger. One so perfect would not have allowed such a thing to taint her. Our sister… she also holds flaws of her own.”

She looked at Cinnamon and softened her voice, “Ground Cinnamon, our sister spoke to fix thee… What were her words?”

“She said I like a block of marble with chips and cracks in it, that she would have to fix it and work on my confidence around her.”

Princess Luna didn’t immediately respond as she thought it over. “Wouldst thou be distraught if our sister said she would need to nurture thee? To help thou grow thy confidence?”

He didn’t respond.

“A flaw thou shall need to fix for her.”

“How she chooses words?”

“Nay, how she interacts with thee. Our sister… has not been intimate with another for a millennia. She has spoken to others as a princess, a teacher and sometimes a friend… but not as a potential mate. Thou will need to assist her in seeing how her words may affect thee.”

“So what should I do?”

“We suggest to speak with our sister of it. Notify her about how her words made thou feel.”

“Correct her? but I would be out of line if I did that.”

“If thou becomes our sisters consort, thou shall be seen as an equal to her. She shall treat thee as such, Thou must do the same.”

“What if I can’t?”

“'Tis not an option. If thou can only see a superior in mine sister and not a mate, thy relationship shall fail.”

Cinnamon frowned, “But how can I? She’s a princess with power beyond my understanding. A mate… is intimate… how can I do that with a Princess of Equestria?”

“Mount her like any other mare.”

He looked at her with wide eyes of shock, not fully being able to accept Princess Luna really just said what he heard as clear as day.

She only rolled her eyes before igniting her horn; pulling her regalia off her body and setting it to the side, out of sight to Cinnamon’s vision.

She then looked at him, “We are still mares Ground Cinnamon. We have all the desires any other mare does, including the act of breeding.”

“B-but you’re virtuous! Not to succumb to something as debase as the rest of us.”

Princess Luna giggled, “Thou would not be saying such things if thee observed our niece in her chambers with Prince Shining.”

He closed his mouth, thinking of how to respond. He’s heard plenty of rumors about the Princess of Love. Having guards join her and the Prince in the bedroom, times when a silence spell was forgotten or when heat came around and the Crystal Castle staff played an aggressive and erotic form of tag. A game that guaranteed a few guard would be out of commission for a few days.

But she was an outlier.

“Yes, but not you, or Princess Celestia, or Princess Twilight.”

She hummed, “Well, we agree Twilight is… unusually calm with her urges. Our sister was left without room for such physical interactions with anycreature after we were banished; placing all her time and effort into Equestria so that it may grow. As for us… a millennia with no relief has dulled the urge to an itch; though, once scratched, would likely return to a burning desire as it once was.”

She looked at Cinnamon, “Our sister will be much the same if thou decide to mount her.”

Cinnamon averted his eyes from Princess Luna, unable to hold her gaze. A slight blush had formed on his face from being talked to so bluntly by the lunar princess. He’d mounted quite a number of creatures in his past, so why was this making him feel wiggly inside?

His thought was interrupted when Princess Luna moved to stand up, floating her regalia to rest upon her figure once more.

“We must be off; we would be remiss in our duties to keep from the dreaming realm much longer.”

Cinnamon looked to the moon which was already on its path down, making it somewhere between 1 and 2 in the morning.

Luna brushed a few areas on her legs and belly that held some dirt before looking in Cinnamon direction. She then turned to look around the maze bushes until she found what she was looking for.

Her horn glowed and a purple flower was plucked from a bush. It floated over to Cinnamon.

“Smell this,” She said, letting go of the flower when he took it. “It shall calm thy mind and relax thee.”

“If thou require more assistance, we suggest to speak with the castles therapist. While we do not mind assisting thee in matters such as this, we cannot keep peering out the window to see if thou are there. Believe us, 'tis best not to fight alone when others care for thy safety."

She looked up and opened her wings to take off but hesitated and glanced back to him, “And thou must endeavor to become confident, with or without our sisters help; it shall open many doors that thou may find quite enjoyable and worthwhile.”

Then she flew into the air; the bubbles keeping their conversation private dissipating as she pushed past them as if they were made of fog.

He watched as she flew to the castle, landing on one of the tower balconies and walking inside.

He looked down to the purple flower and twirled it between his fingers. Then brought it up to his nose and smelled it. True to her word, he did feel relaxed; however, his mind was still going over everything that was said. He felt better, if only slightly.

He began the walk through the maze back to where he entered until he walked into a small open area he didn’t recognize.

Well buck… he thought to himself, I’m lost.