Author's Note

Sorry for the looong break. 3 months of writers block and another 3 a mixture of work, school, and procrastination/laziness.
I'm also trying something new with Luna's speech; let me know how you feel about it.

14. In Search of Knowledge

The next morning was the first time Cinnamon woke up before Celestia. Despite the sun already shining bright in the sky, Celestia was still spooning him with her eyes closed, forelegs securely wrapped around him and a small smile on her face.

He turned his head as far to the side as he could with Celestia’s head resting on top of his. When his eyes laid on her sleeping form, he was taken aback. For a moment, He wasn’t sure if the mare he was in bed with was Celestia.

The mare behind him had areas of her fur clumped together by dried sweat and disheveled mane. However, what jarred him the most was the straight, bright pink mane and tail she had instead of the flowing rainbow colors he knew.

Only when he dared to risk waking her up did he look up and know for certain that it was Celestia by her facial structure.

To see her like this really hammered home the thought of her just being a mare like any other pony; even though she cleaned up like a princess.

“Celestia?” he whispered.

Her eyes clenched tighter and pulled him closer. She took a deep breath and sighed through her nose. She relaxed again but continued to sleep.

Cinnamon was about to do the same until his brain finally connected one crucial fact; the sun was out while Celestia was still in bed and completely unprepared for the day.

“Celestia?” He said, a little louder than the first time.

She groaned and nuzzled into the back of his head, “Morning,” she mumbled.

“Don’t you have court to get ready for?”

She shook her head, “Sundays give me a break from court proceedings.” She let go of Cinnamon and stretched her legs like a cat, “mmph, I have the morning to do as I please; then a day attending duties around Equestria.” Her horn ignited and the curtains were drawn to let the sun into the room, “Luna is kind enough to raise the sun for me as well so I can have an uninterrupted sleep.”

“So duties out of the castle are better than ones inside?”

“Oh absolutely; a day traveling around in this wonderful weather beats even the best of days in the courtroom.”

She rolled off the bed, “I suppose now is a good time to wake up.”

Cinnamon sat up in the bed, “Sorry if I ruined the morning.”

“Nonsense,” she said, unfurling her wings to stretch them. “I wake up around this hour anyway”

He shuffled so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, “so what are your duties for today?”

She hummed to herself, “business openings, a few events to plan, a couple endorsements and a visit to the crystal empire.” Her wings folded back against her barrel. “But for now, I am in need of a shower.” She tuned to walk toward the bathroom.

“Could I… join you?” He asked.

She paused mid-step and looked back at him with a gentle smile, “of course you may. I would never turn down company with my consort.”

He stood from the bed, “Is it big enough for the both of us?”

She continued walking; looking over her shoulder as she did. “You have used it before have you not? It could easily fit three Alicorns; we will need to take turns with the water though.” She smiled, “We could wash each other; I have not participated in a mutual cleaning in over a thousand years.”

They proceeded to the bathroom. Celestia was already halfway in the tub messing with the rain cloud in the short time it took for Cinnamon to enter through the door. Her flank was poking out from the shower curtain; giving him a view of her mangled pink tail and large cutie mark sun.

“Celestia?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you doing something weird with your hair on purpose?” He asked.

Her head appeared from behind the curtain; water dripping down her forehead to her chin, “My hair?”

She looked back at her flank and flicked her tail, “What do you me-“She paused before looking to him, “Right, this is the first time you have awoken before I raised the sun.”

She stepped into the tub fully and poked her head out again, “Well, it has to do with magic usage. Moving the sun takes an enormous amount of magic to accomplish and saturates magic into my mane and tail for hours. I find it easier to clean in this state though.” Then her head disappeared behind the curtain.

He spent a moment on her words. “If it’s a product of using magic, couldn’t everypony have an ethereal mane?” He asked, stepping into the tub behind her.

She nodded, “Mmhm, a truly gifted unicorn might be able to attain magically infused hair for a few minutes but most do not possess enough magic to reach that limit before falling unconscious.”

“Interesting,” he said, lifting her wet tail and pouring mane product on it before placing the bottle back where he got it from and began to scrub the gel into her tail. “I never would’ve guessed it was a different color to the vibrant tones you normally have. What changes its color?”

“Honestly? I do not know. It was not always a rainbow either; it once was simply a flowing pink.” When Cinnamon was finished with her tail, Celestia turned around to allow him access to her mane. “It changed not too long after my sister was banished so for the longest time I thought the change came from raising Luna’s moon in addition to my sun… but now that she is back to raise the moon herself as well as raising my sun every so often; I am thrown back into uncertainty. My mane has stayed the same color while the only change Luna receives after raising my sun is a slightly brighter sparkle in her mane.”

When Cinnamon finished scrubbing her mane, Celestia pushed the cloud so it could wash the soap out.

“If Luna raises the sun for you on Sundays, why haven’t I heard about your pink mane before?”

She turned around, poured shampoo onto his head and used her wings to begin scrubbing his hair. “Truthfully, I have grown quite fond of the spectrum of colors. So I move the sun for a few minutes before I go out.”

“Wouldn’t that freak some creatures out?”

She pushed the cloud over his head to wash the shampoo out of his hair. A sponge and body shampoo floated over to them. The shampoo squeezed onto the sponge and began to scrub on Cinnamon’s body.

“I do not move it far from its location to prevent causing a panic. Though I wish it upon none; a creature would sooner go blind than notice the sun vibrating in the sky for a few minutes.”

Once she was done scrubbing Cinnamon, she turned to the side so he could begin to scrub her body. He began by pressing the sponge behind her ear. She leaned into him as he washed down her neck.

He scrubbed her chest next; moving to her back before scrubbing her stomach until his hand pressed against the large teats between her legs.

He hummed in thought as he began to clean her mammaries, “You know… you never got around to telling me why you have the teats of a mare about to deliver.”

She looked at him, “I suppose I did not, did I?” She looked up in thought, “Well, I believe it is due to my ascension to Alicornhood taking place while I was eight months into my seventh foal. After that foal was born,” She looked down to where Cinnamon was now focusing on cleaning her other teat, “They never returned to their normal size.”

He looked at the heavy mounds hanging between her legs yet defying most of gravities pull. “Well, I won’t complain about it; I actually like it. Although, how do you hide these things?” he looked up to her marehood, leaking a little marefluid from the sensations of Cinnamon washing her teats. “How do you hide all of this? Rumors around the barracks swore you didn’t have reproductive organs; really drove home the thoughts of you being a goddess instead of a pony.”

She looked over her shoulder with a raised brow and a smirk, “Oh? And did you believe that rumor?”

He remained silent; finishing the cleaning of her teats, moved up and began to scrub her tail.

Her smirk grew into a grin, “Or did you confirm it with your own eyes?”

He chewed on the inside of his cheek. She didn’t sound accusatory and didn’t give any indication of caring that her guards have stolen enough glances to start and continue such a rumor.

He started to clean her pussy with the sponge, “I… may have investigated a couple times to confirm it a few months after becoming your personal guard.”

“A couple?”

“What? I didn’t believe it after I saw it was true. I thought I was seeing things; or, not seeing things I guess.”

She chuckled, “If we had more time; I would have half a mind to punish you for your distractions on duty.”

Cinnamon stopped cleaning; the sponge resting on her marehood as his eyes grew wide from the declaration of discipline.

He peered around Celestia’s flank to see that she was still smiling.

He squinted, “is… that a good thing?”

“That would depend on you,” She flicked her tail, pushing away the hand pressing the sponge against her nethers.

“But as I said, we do not have the time today for it.”

She guided the stormcloud around to rinse both of them off before pushing it to the side. As she let the cloud run its course and empty itself; she grabbed two towels with her magic and passed one to Cinnamon.

He grabbed it with a questioning look, “Can’t you just magic us dry?”

She nodded, “I can if you wish to be dried that way but I prefer this method. Keeps my coat shining for longer.”

He looked at the towel in his hand while Celestia started rubbing herself down.

He shrugged to himself. Not needing magic before; he didn’t feel a real need to start now.

So he began to dry himself down with arguably the softest towel he’s ever felt.

He peered at Celestia’s flank as she dried her tail with a second towel, “I’m surprised you were so calm about the guards looking under your tail.”

Celestia stepped out of the shower after she finished drying her body and started to dry the bottoms of her hooves.

“I do not mind as long as it does not distract them from their duties for long; especially since they will not be seeing anything worth the “risk,” so to speak. After that, their eyes no longer wander.”

Cinnamon began working on drying his lower half and poked his head around the curtain, “How can you be so sure?”

She peered back with a smirk as she continued to dry her nethers, “after being looked upon for over two and a half thousand years; you gain a form of… sixth sense.” She removed her towel, briefly exposing her clean, pink marehood and ponut before moving her tail to cover herself.

Cinnamon raised a brow “A sixth sense when creatures are looking at your nethers?”

Celestia began to brush her pink hair with a brush while looking at the mirror, “In a matter of speaking. It is more a combination of feeling eyes upon me and noticing the angles of everycreatures pupils to know where they are looking. Or easier scenarios such as passing by a door guard and feeling a gaze upon me shortly after I pass them.”

She looked back at Cinnamon, “or when I feel an eye on me as I stand to address the beginning of morning court. With the creatures in front of me bowing their heads while the only stare unaccounted for was my personal guard standing beside my throne behind me.”

Cinnamon paused his drying, “Oh?”

She nodded, turning back to look in the mirror. “Oh yes; in fact, I nearly demoted one of my personal guards when he became distracted four more times after the first; each time lingering longer than the last.”

He could feel the blood leaving his face, “You don’t say.”

He could see her roll her eyes through the mirror, “It was quite unprofessional Cinnamon; you were nearly the first personal guard to be demoted for such distractions.”

She placed the brush down on the counter. Her horn lit up to open a drawer and pulled a white box out of it; setting the box on the counter.

“Now, as for your previous question,” The two latches on the box flipped open in Celestia’s magic. The lid lifted to reveal a grey fabric inside. When she used her magic to lift it out of the box, the fabric turned yellow. Now in the air, Cinnamon could see two sets of strings made of the same fabric on each end.

“This is how I keep myself modest.”

The fabric floated underneath her belly. Two strings wrapping around her barrel until they met on her back. The tips of each connected to each other and appeared to fuse together. As soon as they connected, the entire cloth changed color from a yellow to a snowy white.

The cloth was pulled back, between her hind legs and up her flank. The last set of strings wrapped around her dock. When the ends fused, it left the cloth noticeably baggy until the strings seemed to fuse further into each other; tightening the loop until it was the same size as the circumference of her dock. As it tightened, the outline of the fabric disappeared and the cloth formed against her body.

What was left was what Cinnamon had seen all those months ago. No teats between her legs and no marehood or ponut between her ample cheeks.

He looked with wide eyes and reached out a hand to touch where he now knew the cloth was. His fingers glided across it until he felt fur under his fingertips. It was seamless! He also tried to dig a finger under the cloth to no avail.

“What is this thing?”

“Chameleon Cloth. With a touch of magic, it mimics the most abundant color touching it. In my case, white.” Her magic, which had still been holding to one end of the cloth, disappeared and the cloth returned to a grey color.

Cinnamon looked up with a questioning look.

Knowing what he wanted to ask, she spoke. “Normally the magic radiating from my tail is enough to keep the cloth active without requiring mine own to touch it. Once I regain that, it will do as it has always done for a thousand years.”

“Wow,” he said, looking to where Celestia’s large teats used to be. Instead of the soft mounds, it looked like a flat stomach.

He raised a hand up into the cloth. Under the fabric, he could still feel the weight of her teats in his hand. Then he began to move his hand toward her chest; quickly feeling the weight slip off the side of his hand. He pressed a little more, causing the cloth to give under his touch and create a divot.

He pulled back, allowing the cloth to return to its original placement.

“Enjoying yourself?” He heard Celestia say.

He smiled, “A little.” He looked up at her, “why haven’t I seen this before? Surely this would be the hot item for upper canterlot unicorn mares.”

“Could be because I likely have the last one in existence; remaining in great condition for over a thousand years. The creature that created the fabric for this went extinct 700 years ago.”

“Really? Last one? Luna doesn’t even have one?”

She shook her head, “She never cared for the chameleon cloth and never wanted to wear it. In truth, it was quite an unpopular fabric back then. The thought of hiding your mare parts was a kind of taboo. Not illegal to use but quite unusual.”

“Jeez Celestia, first the beds, then the cloth? How many unobtainable items do you have?”

She smiled, “The beds are not unobtainable but as for the rest… well, when you are an immortal and enjoy collecting material things; you are bound to acquire a few items that become unique over time.”

She then walked out of the bathroom, leaving Cinnamon to finish drying his hair and brushing it before following after her.

When he reentered the bedroom, he could see Celestia standing on the balcony; her head looking up to the sky, her eyes closed with her horn lit and a smile on her face. He watched as her wavy rainbow hair returned to her; starting at the roots of her mane and tail and slowly spreading down to the tips of her hair. The grey cloth instantly turning white.

She stood there for a few minutes before the magic surrounding her horn subsided then spent another minute looking down on Canterlot before she walked back into the bedroom and closed the balcony doors behind her.

“So,” Cinnamon piped up while he watched Celestia use a dressers mirror and brush to put a few stray hairs back in place. “Is there any room for me to come along with you today?”

“Of course there is,” she said, placing the brush back on the dresser. “I do not know how much you would enjoy it though. Today I am mostly going to business openings, project overviews and endorsements. Nothing I would call enjoyable.”

“Well; I don’t have anything planned for today. Maybe it won’t be so bad.”

She snorted, “Do not say I did not give you proper forewarning. Now, put on your formal wear; we can make some regal clothing if you wish to join me again. Next week will be more enjoyable as I will be viewing the running of the leaves.”

“Really? I’ve never been to the running of the leaves before. It was always a busy time for the bakery.”

“Then you have been missing out on quite the sight to behold. To see the leaves fly through the entire forest at once is a glorious view.”

He smiled at the thought while grabbing his formal clothes out of Celestia’s closet, “Now you’re getting me excited about it.”

“As you should be. I am surprised you did not request a day off to see it yourself considering all the weeks you had saved up over the years.”

Cinnamon, who had finished putting his pants on, shrugged. “I didn’t think it was important enough to leave my post… wait!” he suddenly exclaimed, looking toward Celestia, “Does that mean I lost all my vacation days?”

“Relax” she said, making her way over to him and wrapping him in her wings. “If you decide this courtship is not going to work; you would return to your post and regain those days.” She leaned in closer to whisper in his ear, “Or, you could exchange them to receive a reward for your commitment to the crown.”

A shiver ran up his spine, “you know, for not having time, you’re sure doing your best to get me wound up.”

She retreated from Cinnamon, allowing him to put his shirt on. “Whatever do you mean? I was only suggesting to exchange your days for treats from the princess’ private dessert reserves. Honestly Cinnamon, have you no shame?”

“I- what? But you- you just…” he spun around, “Oh don’t even do that; nobody talks about dessert like that.” He paused, noticing the smug look Celestia was giving him. Then the dots clicked in his head, “Unless that includes the Princess’ private pie.”

Her smug look turned into a smile, “You are starting to catch on quick Cinnamon.”

Cinnamon finished putting on his shirt, hiding a small smile from Celestia's comment. Then a thought came to him.

“You know what? I think I’m going to stay at the castle today; spend some time in the library.”

She nodded before peering out the window to look at the sun, “I should be going now if I want to arrive at the first stop on time.”

She walked up to Cinnamon and kissed him.

She pulled back, “I will see you later tonight.”

He nodded, “Have a good day of duties.”

She smiled and nodded before walking out of the bedroom door, leaving Cinnamon alone in her chambers. The sound of birds chirping from the balcony was the only noise in the room while Cinnamon changed out of his formal clothes and back into his loincloth.

He then walked out of the bedroom and started walking toward the dining room so he could get some breakfast before heading to the library.

Cinnamon walked through the doors to the castle library and headed toward the front desk with a cyan earth pony mare behind it.

“Hello Soft Quill, how are you doing?”

Soft Quill looked up from her desk, “Oh! Good afternoon Consort Cinnamon; what brings you to the library today?”

He walked up to the desk, “please, just call me Cinnamon and I’m here to look at some old laws; do you know where I could find them?”

She nodded, “They’d be in the Royal Archive wing; third row to the left.”

“Thank you,” he said as he turned to leave only to pause and look back to her, “say, you wouldn’t happen to know where a specific law could be found, do you?”

She nodded, “I’ve been in charge of the upkeep to this library for twenty years. What law are you searching for?”

“It’s called the Law of the Paired Sisters.”

She stared at him for a few moments before tapping her forehoof against her chin in thought. “I… don’t recall any law called that.”

She pushed herself away from her desk and hopped off her chair. She walked around the desk and motioned for Cinnamon to follow her.

So he followed her into the Royal Archive wing of the library. They walked to the aisle that was clearly marked “Equestrian Law.”

“It doesn’t sound like a law that was passed recently and, if I’m to assume that this law was about both princesses as it sounds, then it should be part of the laws made before Princess Luna’s banishment.”

She walked to the end of the aisle and stopped in front of a thick brown book with no words on it. She turned around, tapping on the big book, “Those can be found in this; a collection of all laws made pre-banishment.”

He looked at her, “And you’re sure it’s in there?”

She shook her head, “No sir, however, the laws that came after that time are in small books with the law titled on it.” She motioned to the rest of the aisle with much smaller books on the bookshelves. “I know the title of every one of these laws since I have to organize them weekly.” She looked back to the large brown book, “I don’t know what laws are in this book because I’ve never needed to read it; I only make sure it's still here where it’s supposed to be.”

Cinnamon nodded, “Ok. Is there a spare cushion or chair I could use here?”

“Sure, I’ll go get one for you,” she said before trotting away.

He looked as she disappeared around the corner before turning back to the book. He reached out and opened it. Flipping through the first few pages of laws before realizing it was, unfortunately, not alphabetically sorted. It was sorted by the date they became laws; likely being written into the pages as more laws were created.

He remained there all day; reading through every law that had been created before Luna’s banishment. Laws about herding, crop growing locations, zoning laws, laws on how to treat other creatures and so on.

Soft Quill, concerned about the consorts focus flipping through the book, retrieved a plate of food for him when she left to get lunch for herself. He didn’t appear to notice her place the plate on an empty spot on the bookshelf near him. She watched him for a moment before leaving, noticing he was only a quarter of the way through the book. He would flip the page to read the title of the law and either immediately turn to the next page or read through the contents of a law with an interesting title.

When she later checked on him, she would see the plate of food had been cleaned.

When Cinnamon finally reached the end of the large book, the sunset light was beginning to shine into the widows near the ceiling, indicating the raising of the moon in the next hour. He quickly flipped through the last hundred empty pages to be sure he hadn’t missed anything to find that he unfortunately didn’t.

He sighed. He didn’t find the law he was looking for which meant it wasn’t there. He glanced at the books sitting of the shelves of the aisle and stood up. Taking a closer look at the few books around him, he noticed they were organized alphabetically. The small books to his right were laws beginning with A, rounding around until it ended with the books to the left of him.

So he decided to take a look for himself since it shouldn’t take nearly as much time locating where it should be.

He started with L but couldn’t find Law of the Paired Sisters, then looked at T trying to find “The Law of the Paired Sisters” and “The Paired Sisters.” But they weren’t there. In a final attempt, he looked at the P area for “Paired Sisters,” only to find nothing.

It was at that time that Soft Quill walked around the corner, heading in Cinnamon’s direction.

“Sir? Did you find what you needed? I need to lock the library soon.” Then quickly added, “Not that I would ask you to leave if you haven’t; I would only ask you lock the library behind you when you leave.”

“Hm? Oh, no I didn’t but… I don’t think I’d find what I’m looking for by staying longer.” He picked up his chair, “Did you get this from the front area?”

“Hm?” she cocked her head but understood what he was asking when he picked up the chair. “Oh, no no no; I can carry that,” she said, quickly moving under the chair and lifting it.

He watched as she slowly walked away from him; her tongue sticking out in concentration. The chair she was carrying was made for minotaurs, meaning it didn’t have a low of a center of gravity as the other chairs and cushions did and while some earth ponies had a knack of stacking many items on top of each other; Soft Quill did not.

He watched her for about a minute slowly walking a dozen hooves forward before he walked up, grabbed the chair with both hands on the backrest and lifted it off her back.

She turned to him when she felt the chairs weight lighten in fear of it falling off her only to see Cinnamon holding it. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t burden yourself with something so mundane.”

“Burden myself? You were the one struggling to go halfway down the aisle with it.” As he said that, he walked the last half of the aisle in a fraction of the time Soft Quill had. She quickly galloped to get in front of him, “Sir, I insist; a creature of your stature shouldn’t deign to handle.”

“My stature?” he asked, going to place the chair down to his right before lifting it and setting it to his left when Soft Quill made a dive in an attempt to be beneath it to carry it once more.

“Does this have anything to do with me being a consort?”

“Of course it is!” She pushed herself off the floor to stand again, “You’re practically royal-“

Cinnamon raised a hand and interrupted her, “ap ap ap, no, none of that. I was a guard only a week ago and I’m not royalty ok? I don’t have any duties, powers or influence of a royal.”

“What?” She pointed a hoof at him, ”you influence Princess Celestia’s happiness and that’s the most important duty anycreature could have!”

He paused; never hearing his role said in such a way. While he was lost in thought, Soft Quill snuck around his back and lifted the chair as quietly as she could. Unfortunately, given her slow speed, she didn’t get far before he noticed what she was doing.

He lifted it up but felt more resistance this time. When he looked down, he saw that Soft Quill was holding to one of the chair legs with her teeth.

“Nou,” she said through her teeth, “gis is nok oor gog.”

He didn’t release the chair but when he asked for clarification, she spat the chair out. “This is not your job, your job is to-“

“Yes I remember what you said a moment ago; why can’t I do both? Celestia’s not even in the castle and the chair is on the way out of the library.”

“Well… because it’s my job to keep the library presentable. I brought you the chair; I should be the one to take it back.”

Cinnamon sighed but let go of the chair. He didn’t like it; it went against his guard training. If he or any other guard saw castle staff needing assistance, they were to help them. With how slowly and delicately Soft Quill was handling the chair would absolutely constitute the need to assist… but he was no longer able to insist because he was technically not a guard anymore.

So since he couldn’t convince her otherwise, and didn’t really know what he could do as a consort, he left it alone.

He took another look at Soft Quill as she got under the chair once more and carefully lifted it on her back before he started walking toward the library entrance.

He had one more place he could check.

After eating dinner, Cinnamon was on his way to the last place that might have the information he sought.

The sun had set over ten minutes ago; the faint light of the moon poured through the stained glass as he continued down the hallway. He passed a few doors that were rotating the day guard with the night guard. They either ignored him or gave him a short nod followed by “Consort,” Which felt extra weird coming from a day guard that he actually knew.

He rounded the corner; his objective coming into sight. At the end of the hall stood the large, dark blue doors with silver crescent moons on each door. A pair of thestral guards flanked the doors waiting for the guards that would take their place for the night; each looking tired from staying up all day guarding Luna’s sleeping chambers. They perked up a little when they saw Cinnamon round the corner.

Even at attention, Cinnamon could see their drowsy eyes being forced open in the name of duty.

When it became evident that Cinnamon’s destination was Luna’s chambers, one of the guards spoke up.

“Do you have business with the Princess, Consort Cinnamon?”

“Yes, I need to speak to her.”

“I don’t believe Princess Luna has an appointment with anycreature this morning,” the other guard said.

“I don’t have an appointment; wanting to talk to her kinda came up during the day.”

The two guards glanced at each other with questioning looks before looking back toward Cinnamon. He motioned for Cinnamon to come closer, “please bend down for an eye inspection.”

Cinnamon looked down at him, surprised, “I’m sorry?”

“Just precautionary sir.”

He looked at the other guard who looked a bit more defensive despite still standing at attention. He leaned down to the guard on the right so his face was level with the guards.

The thestral pulled a clear crystal out from a leather belt that went under his wing. He gripped it in the frog of his hoof and brought it close to Cinnamon’s eye. Once in the right place, the crystal flashed with light, causing Cinnamon the need to blink a few times.

He instantly understood what the guard had wanted to do; he was going through a Changeling test. They weren’t used as much since the alliance with the reformed Changelings. Now they were only used as a precaution with important figures such as ambassadors, just in case.

The process involved flashing a bright but not blinding light in the eyes of the one being tested; be it by magic or a magical crystal by non-unicorns. By quickly flashing a light in the eyes, a guard would observe a “normal” creature having red shine back in that quick second while a changeling's will return with a green shine. Up until the alliance with King Thorax and the reformed changelings, no creature knew why this happened.

However, King Thorax was more than happy to explain the biology of the Changeling body. In summation, a changelings disguise is as perfect as the information received; organs, blood type, even the odor of their breath. But a sudden flash of light triggers an instinctive survival response; stimulating nerves to reroute focus away from non-essential areas to keep their identity a secret if they were struck with a spell or weapon. Incidentally, one area considered non-essential was the Choroid; meaning it returned to a green color instantly and accomplishing the opposite of what it had intended to do. Because of that, the flash reveals their green organ thought to be hidden from the world.

Content with the results, the examining guard put the crystal away, allowing Cinnamon to rise from his bent position.

“So can I enter now?”

The guard shook his head, “No, but you may try asking Princess Luna for an audience.”

“Oh,” he said before looking at the imposing doors. He walked closer and knocked on one of the doors. After a few moments of silence, he tried knocking a little harder but not hard enough to be considered rude.

“If we hear thou knockest once more, the security of thy job shall come into question!”

He was taken aback for a moment, “um… Lu- Princess Luna? It’s Cinnamon. I wanted to know if I could speak with you before you do your duties.”

Just as Cinnamon finished talking, the door opened and Luna’s head emerged from between them.

“Oh! Apologies, we did not think thou would be at our door. What dost thou needeth of us?”

“Could we talk?” He glanced at one of the guards, “In private?”

She hummed, “We do have spare time before we must attend our duties.” She stepped back, allowing the door to open more, “Thou may enter.”

She closed the door behind him after he entered the room.

He looked back at the closed doors, “do they normally do that?”

She shook her head, walking past him, “Nay, their orders are to turn away approaching creatures.”

“Oh, well they didn’t turn me away.”

“Thou art our sister’s consort. Thy title allows for certain exceptions.”

She walked over to her bed and straightened out the sheets with her magic, “So what dost thou desire to speaketh to us about?”

“Do you know what the Law of the Paired Sisters is?”

She nodded, “We do.”

When she didn’t continue, he asked, “Could you tell me?”

She turned around, raising a brow and tilting her head, “Hath thou queried our sister of this?”

“… I have…”

“And the answer thou received was nay, correct?”

“Yes.”

She sighed, “We shan’t answer in her stead, Cinnamon.”

“Why not? Why all the secrecy?”

She shrugged, “’tis no secret, ‘tis how our sister desires to handle thy questions. We believe a consort should be able to accept all that comes with thy role; however, thou art the consort of our sister, not our own.”

“Then what do I do? I’m a guard; I was a guard. I feel like a foal every time she tells me not to worry about something I’m eventually going to do.”

Luna sighed and pressed the tip of her hoof against the bridge of her nose, “We hath answered thy question before.” She pointed a hoof at him, “Tell her thy desire for answers! Voice thy grievances and our sister shall answer.”

“But I have! I’ve tried but she just says I don’t need to worry about it.”

“And didst thou continue asking? Didst thou inform our sister of thy feeling of infancy after she denies thy request?”

“Well… no…”

“Then do so! Cease acting as our sister’s guard and act like our sister’s consort; an equal.”

He thought in silence; for years, Celestia was the peak of authority over Cinnamon. If you were sent to Zebrica, you didn’t rebuke it. If she told you no, you didn’t press the issue. The only ones that could question her decisions were the other princesses and a few council ponies on the rare occasion that Celestia left Canterlot for an extended period of time.

“What if I can’t?”

Luna frowned, “If thou doth not make the attempt, then the only outcome for thee, is failure.”

He chewed his cheek, she was right; of course she was right. She was blatant and blunt but every time she gave him advice, it was always the same; to treat her as an equal and to expect to be treated as such in return.

Luna tossed her hoof in a shooing motion, “Now depart; we must make ready for this night.”

He nodded, “Thank you for taking time to listen to me.”

He turned to walk out of the room but stopped when Luna spoke up, “Oh, Cinnamon! For as long as thou art our sister’s consort, thou art our equal as well as hers. Do not hesitate to cometh to us for guidance if thee feel thou cannot ask our sister.”

He nodded again, “thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.”

And with that, he walked out of Luna’s room. The two guards being a new pair as the previous guards had finally been relieved of their post.

For the few minutes that he spent walking to Celestia’s chambers; Cinnamon went through how he would go about asking her. He already knew she would tell him not to worry about it so he thought of how he would be able to press the matter without simply pleading and acting like the foal he felt like when she said she didn’t want to overwhelm him. He was a celestial guard; if he couldn’t handle something as small as information then he shouldn’t have been allowed to be a guard in the first place.

When he walked into Celestia’s chambers, he saw she was already in bed reading a book with the light of the bedside crystal illuminating the room and allowing her to read. When she heard the door open, she looked over to see Cinnamon enter. “Ah, Cinnamon! I was beginning to wonder when you would be coming to bed tonight; How was your day?”

He took a breath, “Celestia, we need to talk.”

“Oh?” She placed a bookmark between the pages the book was opened to and closed it, “Did something happen while I was gone?”

“No… I want to know what the Law of the Paired Sisters is.”

She sighed through her nose, “Cinnamon, you do not need to worry yourself about that.”

He began walking toward her bed, “but I am becoming more and more worried about it because you won’t tell me Celestia. You once told me that you wouldn’t have said yes to me if you didn’t think I could overcome the hurdles.” He sat down on the edge of the bed, “so give me the chance to overcome them.”

When she didn’t respond, he added, “I was your personal guard for nearly a year. You trusted me to keep an eye out when your attention was focused on your duties. Why can’t you trust me with this?”

She looked off to the side with a small frown on her face, “Because, I am… afraid.”

Cinnamon was taken aback, “You’ve waged a war against King Sombra, sealed an evil Discord in stone, fought Queen Chrysalis, and, respectfully, Nightmare Moon. Some of the most powerful beings in history. What’s there to be afraid of?”

“When you put it like that; it sounds trivial.”

Cinnamon leaned forward to get into the edge of her vision, “The guard in me still trusts your judgement Celestia. I believe you have sound reason in wanting to keep this from me; but the part of me that is a consort… trying to be a consort, needs to know.”

She chewed on her lip before sighing and looking at him, “I am afraid because… I do not wish to scare you away.”

He pursed his lips, “Give me more credit than that; besides, you have a sea of suitors if I fall short.”

She looked off to the right, “Yes, Large as an ocean, yet too shallow to enjoy a swim.” She mumbled under her breath.

“I didn’t quite catch that.”

She looked back to him, “Despite all my… admirers, I have little faith a suitable suitor will present themselves this generation and perhaps the next.”

He raised his brow, “really? But I saw hundreds pass through Saturday and that doesn’t include the ones that didn't make it inside before court ended.”

“Yes, well, that may be an issue I unintentionally created. While my sister was imprisoned on the moon, I shied away from romantic entanglement and began to busy myself with ruling Equestria. A millennia of turning away suitors slowly began the rumor that I was unobtainable. Now it has come to kick me in the flank.”

She rolled onto her side, belly facing Cinnamon. “Because of this impossibility of being accepted, the good suitors do not come as they believe it would never happen while the suitors arriving in droves that you have witnessed come for a single part of me. Be it fame, fortune, sexual desire, or power.”

He nodded a little, “I can understand that; I mean, what could a suitor offer that you didn’t already have?”

She reached out and pulled Cinnamon back to her; his head becoming caught in a hug as she wrapped her forelegs under his chin and nuzzled into the hair on the back of his head, “Comfort.”

“mmm, I dunno; enough bits could bring you comfort from the Stable District.”

She giggled, playfully pushing him away from her, “I am not two hundred anymore.”

She scooted closer to Cinnamon so she could snuggle against his side, “I enjoy a more fulfilling form of comfort.”

He sighed, enjoying the feeling of Celestia’s soft fur on his skin and her warm body against his. So much so that he nearly forgot what he wanted to ask; nearly.

“Celestia?”

“Hm?” she hummed.

“What’s the Law of the Paired Sisters?”

He felt her give an exhaled sigh through her nose against his arm but remained silent.

So he reached over to place a finger under her chin, lifting her head and bringing her into a soft kiss. Knowing what he was doing, Celestia met him halfway and gave him a soft kiss of her own; periodically parting for a moment before reuniting again shortly after.

They continued for a minute before Cinnamon broke away, looking into Celestia’s purple eyes, “I promise I won’t just give up and leave. If you believe I can overcome it, then I will give it everything I have to accomplish that.”

She nodded, “yes, I supposed it is no longer wise to keep it hidden from you.”

She settled back into Cinnamon’s side, laying her head on his shoulder. “In its simplest form, the law requires a consort to court the second celestial princess if they wish to marry. In your case, you will need to court Luna and become a royal consort before you are able to marry me and, because of the law, Luna.”

He chuckled at the thought but his smile faded when she didn’t tell him the real reason, “Wait, you’re serious?”

She nodded, “I am not going to joke about this Cinnamon; I am being completely honest.”

“Wha- how haven’t I heard about this law before? I would think this would be on the lips of everycreature in Equestria.”

“Despite its name… it is not exactly a law. It is a magical oath Luna and I made with each other over three millennia ago.”

Cinnamon remained silent in thought; idly stroking Celestia’s back with his fingertips.

“I’ve heard some mares agreeing to herd with the same stallion… but to bind it with magic… why go that far? Couldn’t you just agree to marry the same stallion?”

She shook her head, “Circumstance required precaution... to retain our powers.”

He stopped stroking her back, “You… have to marry the same stallion to keep your magic?”

She shook her head again, “My power to move the sun or Luna’s to move the moon.”

Now she had his complete and utter attention, “What! Why would marrying… How could you… How-“

A white hoof was placed over his mouth. He looked down to see Celestia smiling, “Patience.”

Her hoof left his mouth and returned to his chest, “Our ascension came with an ultimatum. One we received because Luna was not originally supposed to ascend and I refused to leave her behind. So a deal was made; Luna would become an Alicorn and inherit the duties of the moon while both of us would be bound to a short, yet strict, set of rules by ancient and powerful magic.”

She started to idly rub his chest with the tip of her hoof, “If one of us married another creature, we would inherit the title of Queen and receive the powers of the other. While they would continue to look like an Alicorn, they would lose their immortality and eventually succumb to death from old age.”

She looked back up to him, “we were overjoyed that we would not become separated but fear eventually developed that one of us might love a stallion so much that we would not think of the fate of the other. So after weeks of pondering what to do, I came up with a solution.”

“The law?”

She nodded “We magically bound each other so we could not say “I do” without our sister saying it as well.”

“Would that work though?”

“It will because it has once before. When the marriage becomes official, we both become married at the same time. Neither of us become mortal, or lose our powers nor become queen.”

“Wow that was a smart thing to do.”

“Do not give me too much credit,” The hoof that was stroking Cinnamon’s chest, stopped. “We had doubts leading up to the wedding. Luna’s worst fear was the first to say “I do” would inherit the powers and retain their immortality. Mine was we would switch powers and both become mortal. Upon our eventual deaths, the world would burn and freeze and all that called it home would perish.”

As Cinnamon listened, he reached over Celestia’s body to grab the bed sheet and pull it over both of them

Her ears flattened against her head, “I had my second thoughts the day before the wedding. Luna was able to convince me otherwise by stating the goddess set the rules to keep the sun and moon moving; she would not be careless enough to allow a loophole that would rid us both from the world.”

Cinnamon sighed, “so… marrying both of you… these… rules,” He brought his hands up to rub his temples, “so I have to court another princess?”

He felt her grip him slightly tighter, “This is why I did not wish to tell you, you were no-“

“No,” he interrupted, stroking her shoulder in a reassuring manner. “No, I needed to know. I’m relieved to know.”

She looked up at him, “What did you think it was that made you so nervous?”

“I don’t know! That’s what terrified me. I don’t like being left in the dark Celestia. I still remember that… thing that happened between you and Queen Novo; I expect to know what that was about.”

Celestia’s eyes widened, “No, you do not need to know about that yet. It is far too early for you to worry yourself about that.”

He looked down to her, meeting her gaze, “just like it was too early to know about the Paired Sisters?”

She poked him in the chest, “No.”

He pinched her in the side, receiving a short squeal from her in return. “Yes.”

She returned with a jab to his side, making him flinch and a short “Ack!”

”Alright, I give, you win!” he yelped when she continued her onslaught against his side

She gave a short nod, “good. If it puts your mind at ease, the topic Novo spoke to her daughter about is the duty a Prince Consort possesses, not a Consort nor a Royal Consort.”

“mmm,” he hummed, “maybe a little… it’s still an unknown and that’s what I don’t like about all this.”

She nuzzled into the crook of his neck and took a deep breath, “Yes, I will attempt to keep you better informed when you ask. I am… still adjusting to courtship in this modern age. Consorts a millennia ago were more compliant when I did not wish to tell them something.”

Cinnamon rested his head against the top of Celestia’s, “… do you not like that I’m not being as obedient?”

He felt her slightly shaking her head, “absolutely not; I quite prefer this. Many of my old courtships… Well, I was rarely treated as anything other than a princess. They would ask a question on the uncommon occasion, I would say it was not a good time; they would drop the subject and never bring it up again until I did. Orion was the only one I recall that did not treat me as a princess before you.”

“Orion? Was that the one you married?”

“Yes. Orion Skies… He also did not enjoy being left in the dark; though, he was not as direct as you are. I would tell him he did not yet need to know something and every day at breakfast he would say,” She cleared her throat and did the best impression of a stallions voice as she could. “Well my sun, I am another day older and another day wiser; am I ready to receive your knowledge?”

She continued, her voice no longer trying to be anything but her own, “I thought it was cute. Luna, however, thought the repetitive questioning day after day was quite annoying. Even answered a few of his questions herself to keep him quiet some mornings.”

“Luna didn’t like him?”

“Oh no, she loved him but she is not a morning pony. The crack of dawn is not the best time to repeat the same question every morning for weeks.”

“Noted.”

Celestia Sighed and relaxed against Cinnamons side, “goodnight Cinnamon.”

He slid his arm around her back, “Goodnight, my sun.”

She smiled, “I do not mind pet names, but it would mean more to me if it came from you instead of a long past love.”