Cinnamon woke up to the feeling of a hoof lightly prodding him; each poke slightly harder than the last. When he opened his eyes to peek at his attacker, he saw Celestia, already cleaned and wearing her regal attire. The front half of her body was resting on the bed, allowing her the closeness to prod at him.

“Morning sleepyhead,” she said before kissing him on the cheek.

He stretched his arms out, “mmm?”

She smirked at him, “If I had not seen it for myself; I would never believe you were a guard.”

“It’s this wonderful bed…” he said, let out a relaxing sigh and stretched out to take up as much of the bed as possible without pushing into Celestia. “If these were standard issue, the castle would never be guarded. I’d bet my career on it.”

“mmhm,” she hummed in doubt. “Be that as it may, I need you up early today. I had a tailor come in so we can fit you with some royal attire.”

“That was quick.”

She shrugged, “I like to finish things at the earliest convenience rather than waiting until the last moment. That way, if complications arise, there is plenty of time to fix it.”

She slid off the bed and stood beside it, “You know where the tailoring room is, correct?”

Cinnamon nodded, “I’ve had to stitch up my formal clothes a few times in the past.”

She smiled, “Excellent; I hope to see you at lunch?”

He returned her smile, “Wouldn’t miss it.”

She leaned over and nuzzled into his neck, a motion that Cinnamon met by turning his head and landing a poorly placed kiss on her chin in return.

Celestia giggled, turning away from him and left the room out the front doors.

Cinnamon got out of bed and headed to the shower so he could get ready for his day. While he was washing himself, he noticed how… empty it felt in the shower without Celestia there.

It’s too quiet, he thought to himself. He paused mid-scrub; why was he thinking that? The last time he’d shared a shower with others was back in bootcamp. Since then, it’s always been a quiet shower. Only a week since becoming a consort and he’s already sleeping past the sun’s rise, not being able to relax in a peaceful shower and the lack of duties was beginning to wear down his desire to get out of bed after waking up.

He sighed, this was all reminding him when he was in his teens… well, except for the shower part and he was in better shape compared to back then. At least, for now, he thought to himself after realizing that he hadn’t once attended physical training the past week.

He began to scrub himself again; Maybe I would still be able to go to those.

After his shower and a visit to the royal dining room for breakfast; Cinnamon walked through the castle halls and entered the tailor’s room.

Inside was a mess. A couple ponyquins were leaning against the wall to the left along with one shaped like a griffin. Two of them held off-duty uniforms the castle guards would wear to ceremonies while the griffin ponyquin held a red pajama one-piece with a tear on the flank. Spools of fabric, usually against the right wall, were strewn around the room. It looked like they were grabbed and tossed aside. One had rolled along the floor, the fabric unraveled and looked like a cheap carpet. From the few times he had to come here in the past, it had been clean. The only time it ever got messy was when Straight Cut was actively working on an outfit but even then, the mess was delegated to a corner of the room where the outfit was being made.

A sound of things falling snapped his attention to a hallway leading to the storage room in the back. He heard a muffled cry “please don’t do that!” before another thud sounded.

A shiver ran up his spine as his guard instincts kicked in.

I knew something was off; Straight Cut’s NEVER been this disorganized, even on a hectic day.

Cinnamon moved as fast as he could while remaining quiet.

A spy’s unlikely; Straight has all her supplies and food brought to her and she lives in a room off the side of her workroom. So unless a spy wanted to know where the front door was, she wouldn’t be much help… although, even if unlikely, it probably wouldn’t stop a spy from trying. Not in a conflict with any other factions or nations so no obvious infiltrator. Most likely opponent would be a rogue changeling from one of the few changeling cells that still opposed reforming and held to the late Queen Chrysalis’ ideals.

He slowed down as he reached the storage room door and gripped the handle. He took a second to steel himself; he would only have seconds to assess the situation and act before losing the advantage. If it was a unicorn or changeling, those seconds are crucial. Just had to grip the horn to disrupt the spell.

The voice of Straight Cut came through the closed door, “If you told me what you’re looking for, I could point you to it.” Another voice, female in tone, answered her, “Something that brings an air of royalty and respect without distracting from the princess.”

Wait, what? Cinnamon thought, relaxing his grip slightly.

Straight’s voice continued, “That’s not… I meant a specific color you’re looking for, not a description.”

“I’ll know when I see it dahling. Hmm… No,” -thud- “no,” -thud- “this simply won’t do.” -thud-

Cinnamon was no longer convinced of foul play but just in case, he slowly turned the handle, nudged the door open and peeked inside.

Straight Cut stood in the middle of what appeared to be a storage room, a few spools of fabric flanked the light pink mare on the ground. Infront of her was a white furred mare with a very unusual mane and tail style. Both were curled, appearing similarly like a purple curled string. While unique and highly likely to take a great deal of time to style; it left her… slightly exposed. A mares tail was their nether’s defense against both nature and wandering eyes. This mare essentially threw that function out the window to make a statement as he could see a part of her marehood. Not too much though as it was nearly hidden between her flanks.

He took another second to peek further into the room and confirming that the two mares were the only ones in it before entering.

“Could you at least not throw everything all over the place?” Straight Cut asked, side stepping a spool of fabric that honestly didn’t land close enough to her to require moving out of the way.

“I simply don’t have the time to be delicate about this. I will clean up after I find what I’m looking for. I must have everything ready before Princess Celestia’s Consort arri-AH!” she yelled, having turned around and spotting Cinnamon just as he entered the room.

The yell from the white mare caused Straight to jump, turning to the direction of the mare’s distress only to give out a frustrated sigh after seeing it was Cinnamon.

“Uh, is everything alright in here?” Cinnamon asked.

“Depends on your perspective,” Straight Cut mumbled.

“Of course dahling,” the white mare said, not hearing Straight’s agitated remark, “We weren’t expecting you to arrive this early Consort Cinnamon.” She bowed her head slightly, just enough to show respect but not as much as one would in the presence of a princess.

“Just Cinnamon is fine.”

Straight Cut pawed at the ground, getting the rooms attention, “Yes, well now he’s here so can you please stop throwing my supplies all over the place?”

The white mare sighed, “I suppose so,” she looked at Cinnamon, “I shouldn’t be too much longer if you wish to wait in the front room in the meantime.”

He looked around the messy room, then to the mares, “I could clean up while I wait.

The white mare shook her head, “I shall clean up after I find what I’m looking for; I don’t want to look at something I’ve already seen.”

Straight Cut looked at Cinnamon and shrugged.

He shrugged in return and turned to walk to the front room.

Despite the mess, he found a sitting chair that had been pushed in the corner. He walked over to it, stepping over a few supplies scattered on the ground before reaching the chair and taking a seat.

Before he could even get comfortable, Straight Cut came trotting out, mumbling something that didn’t reach Cinnamon’s ears.

“is… everything ready?” he asked.

She looked over to Cinnamon, looked toward the room she came from, then looked back to Cinnamon with a sigh, “No, I don’t know how long she’ll be, and I can’t help her. She doesn’t want me to clean and doesn’t give me a straight answer when I ask her if I can find anything for her.” She shakes her head, “but I guess if everypony understood how she did things, she wouldn’t be the best tailor in Equestria.”

Cinnamon looked surprised. Straight Cut is the best tailor he’s known; after all, she wasn’t the tailor for the princess’ for nothing.

“Really?” he asked with a hint of doubt, “Where is she from? Filly Delphia?”

She arched a brow, “Wait, do you not know who that is?” she asked, gesturing behind her with a foreleg.

He followed the direction her hoof was pointing with his eyes. He was supposed to know that mare? “Soo… Manehattan then?”

Straight Cut trotted closer to him, “For Celestia’s sake,” she said in a hushed whisper, “That’s Rarity; She’s an Element of Harmony, the element of Generosity! You were a guard; how do you not know about the Element bearers!?” By this point, she was nearly touching her face to his.

He scoffed, pushing her face away from his to get some breathing room, “I know about the element bearers… just not how they looked… or their names. Except for Princess Twilight and Pinkie Pie.”

“Are guards not told about this stuff?”

“We are in basic… but everycreature just says ‘The Elements are here’ or ‘The Elements are coming.’ It’s hard to remember names when they’re never used… I vaguely remember one of them is called Apple?”

She groaned, pressing her hoof against the bridge of her nose. “Well that makes me… uneasy.”

Cinnamon raised a brow, “Does it really? I’m a guard… was a guard. My job was to protect Canterlot Castle and, at one point, Princess Celestia herself; neither of which required me to know the Element’s names to effectively do my job.”

“And you never met them when you were guarding Princess Celestia? Not once?”

He shook his head, “Nope, I ‘wasn’t required’ to guard when they were around. I was relieved to the barracks when they came to the castle while in that position.”

There was a moment of silence before Straight shook her head and turned to leave, “I’m already beyond aggravated that I can’t change the state my workplace is in, I’m not going to sit here and try telling a stallion why knowing the names of the ponies that have saved Equestria multiple times is important. Something you may want to learn with your new consort title.”

He opened his mouth to rebuke, but his words died in his throat, and he looked off to the side; despite her crass words, she had a point. Being a guard, it wasn’t necessary knowledge to know since the elements weren’t the kind of ponies that required a guard detail for their safety. But as a consort? He’ll be around Celestia more, which means meeting and being around the elements is an inevitability. Saying ‘hello element bearer’ didn’t sound like a very nice way to greet a pony. At least that was something he could fix easily. After all, he already knew the names of two; three now that he knew the name of Rarity.

Cinnamon chewed on his lip, “You make a good point abo-“ he stopped speaking when he noticed Straight Cut had taken her leave while he was absorbed in his thoughts.

He sighed and settled in to wait for Rarity to finish.

He waited in that room for an hour with nothing to do but listen to the occasional sound of metal clops emanating from outside when a guard patrol passed by. It was fortuitous that one of the jobs a castle guard had was to stand in place for hours without needing any breaks aside from the scheduled lunch switch. Compared to that, this was a breeze. The quiet of the room was relaxing and he was sitting instead of having to stand. The chair could’ve been more comfortable though but that was just being picky.

But at last, Rarity walked out of the backroom. Seeing her appear perked Cinnamon up, “Find what you were looking for?”

She looked over to him before shaking her head, “ ‘fraid not dahling, but no matter; I can procure the perfect fabric back at my boutique.”

Her horn lit up, displacing the clutter around a three-piece mirror, “for now, I require your measurements. Come Consort Cinnamon,” she said, waiving him over to a small podium in the center of the mirrors.

He nodded, standing up and walking to where she wanted him. As he passed the fashion pony, he looked to her, “Please just…” He paused a moment, “Just call me Cinnamon.”

She raised a brow, “You don’t sound terribly convinced of that dahling.”

He stepped onto the podium, “Maybe I just realized I’ll have to ask every new creature I meet to leave out my “title” when they talk to me.”

“Oh? Whyever would you wish to hide your title? Such a fabulous title to show all of Equestria that you’re Princess Celestia’s special somepony; you’re nearly a prince!” she said, a tape measure floating up to Cinnamon to begin taking measurements.

“But I’m not and I shouldn’t suddenly be treated like one.” He looked at her reflection in the mirror, “the only difference for me between now and before I requested Celestia’s consort…ship?” He shook his head a little. He felt like that wasn’t the right word for it but now wasn’t the time to get hung up figuring it out. “The only difference is I don’t have a real job anymore and I’m sharing a bed with the princess. Does that sound very deserving of special treatment?”

“Arms up please.” When he complied, she continued her measuring and spoke while doing so. “Correct me if I’m wrong dahling, but doesn’t the princess have final call in the matter?”

“Yes.”

“The way I see it is, Princess Celestia saw something in you. Something thousands of creatures requesting to be her consort before you lacked. Doesn’t that deserve some special treatment?”

The room was silent for the next few minutes with nothing but the sound of the occasional scribbling of quill to paper of Cinnamon’s measurements.

Once Cinnamon’s thoughts were in order, he spoke up, “I… guess I can understand that… viewpoint. But I think a prince is a bit far.”

He could feel her mane brush against his leg as she shook her head, “Nonsense dahling; you’re halfway there, are you not?"

He looked down at her and noticed she had stopped measuring the circumference of his upper leg and was looking back up at him. Despite her asking a question, she wasn’t giving him an inquisitive look, but an expected one.

“Halfway? Wait, do you know-“

“Of the law of the paired sisters? Course I do dahling. I’m close friends with Princess Twilight Sparkle, sister to Prince Shining Armor, married to Princess Cadance. The Princess of Love was quite knowledgeable and forthcoming to what Princess Celestia’s acceptance meant as well as the possibility of you becoming a prince as well, should certain things happen.”

“that still doesn’t mean I’m anywhere near a prince.”

“Near enough for me to pretend.”

He looked at her with a questioning look but the way she was looking at him was very telling. Head turned to the side and fluttering her eyelashes.

“Oh, wow. I am… flattered but, I don’t think I can… you know…”

She waived a dismissive hoof, “Of course not now dahling; I do have a job to do after all.”

“No I mean, I’m not sure I can as Celestia’s consort… like ever.”

“I’m sure she won’t mind.” She said, returning her focus to finishing up her measurements.

“I’m actually kind of in a good headspace with my current relationship with Celestia so, if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather ask her first instead of assuming and being wrong.”

She smiled, “not a Prince yet and already a better one than the last I made moves on.”

He looked at her with a surprised look, “You made moves on Shining Armor?”

She balked and recoiled, “Absolutely not! Sweet Celestia, I would never sleep with my friends brother! Not matter how open his marriage to Princess Cadance is!”

Cinnamon grimaced at the high-pitched shrieking, “Alright, not Shining Armor, but… you don’t mean Blueblood?”

She blushed, “Unfortunately… yes.”

“Sweet Celestia, why? Mares have avoided talking to that stallion since before I became a guard!”

“I know, I know!” She hid her face, “I was a younger mare with a fantasy ingrained in my head since I was a filly. Luckily, the brute didn’t hide his uncouth nature which was… quite the turn off.”

“I can imagine. I’ve had to be in proximity with him a couple times as Celestia’s personal guard. Just being around him drained my energy.”

At that moment, the front door opened and a guardsmare poked her head in, “Excuse me Consort Cinnamon, Princess Celestia requests your presence in the throne room.”

Cinnamon looked over to the guard, then at a clock near the open door. Time had passed without him noticing as it was nearly lunchtime.

He looked at Rarity, “should I come back after Lunch?”

She shook her head, “No need dahling. I have all the measurements I need. I’ll make up a few designs at my boutique and return for you to try them on another time.”

He nodded and lowered his arms. They were a little stiff from being raised for as long as they were, so he stretched them a little bit before walking in the direction of the guard. He passed the guardsmare and began walking toward the throne room with the guard close behind.

A left, then a right followed by another right before it was a straight shot to the throne room. However, as he passed an intersection, the guardsmare spoke up behind him, “Sir, the entrance is this way” When he looked back, he saw she was pointing to her right. He pointed behind him, “isn’t the throne room this way?”

“We’ll be using the back entrance sir, which is this way.”

The back entrance to the throne room, one Cinnamon knew well about. “Oh… but I thought that was for the princesses and their personal guards only,” he said, turning and beginning to make his way back to the guardsmare.

“Her highness’ consort is allowed to as well, but since her highness hasn’t had one for quite some time, it hasn’t been necessary to know until recently.”

“ah… ok.”

They continued walking through the hallways until they reached a door with four centurion mares guarding it. None of them moved a muscle as the guardsmare opened the door and motioned him though.

“This is as far as I am allowed to go.” She pointed at another door further into the room, “through that door is the throne room where you’ll enter from behind the throne. Ascend the stairs where Princess Celestia will be waiting for you.”

Cinnamon nodded; he knew the room since he’s been through here many times as Celestia’s personal guard but said “Thank you” anyway.

When he stepped into the room, the guardsmare closed the door behind him. He looked around the room; despite being in here hundreds of times, he was still surprised at how plain it looked considering the class of pony that frequently passed through it.

He entered through the second door, leading to the rear of the throne dais. Stairs ascended to the back of the throne where the only creature he saw was the griffiness currently holding the title of Celestia’s personal guard; Sammy Stunclaw.

When the door latched closed behind him, Sammy’s’ ear twitched before she quickly turned her head to the side and looked at him. She then turned to the throne and leaned over so her head was out of sight from his vision.

He stood at the bottom of the steps, slightly uncomfortable since he didn’t know what to do. Back when he was a personal guard, nocreature was allowed to walk up the rear steps except the princesses and their personal guards. The only other way up to the throne would be walking around the dais and using the front steps… but that would disrupt court. Or is this another thing that a Consort is allowed to do as well?

Well, he thought to himself, it is close to noon; maybe I should just wait until she leaves for lunch.

He felt a nudge against his side. He looked down to see Sammy poking him in the side with a talon. While he was engrossed in his thoughts, she had walked down the rear steps to him.

“She wants you next to her,” she said before starting to walk away.

“Uh, can I use these stairs?”

“She informed me that I couldn’t tackle you if you did.”

He blinked, “A yes would’ve been fine.”

She scoffed, “Yeah, like that would be any fun.”

He shook his head, still as passive aggressive as she was back in the personal guard contest.

He returned his gaze back to the stairs, seeing the throne on top as well as the tip of Celestia’s flowing mane poking past one side of it. He ascended the steps but could hear nothing of note. Not Celestia, nor petitioner, or guard. It was quiet. When he reached the top, he walked up to stand on the left side of the throne; just like he did when he was her personal guard. A sense of nostalgia washed over him, standing here, watching over the courtroom at Celestia’s side. He smiled; he certainly missed this.

He glanced at Celestia, who was returning his gaze with a side glance of her own.

“You summoned me?” he asked.

She sighed, “Asked for you Cinnamon; remember, you are no longer a guard; you can choose not to come.”

“Well… coming got me out of an awkward situation anyway. Are we… getting lunch?”

“Actually, it appears we have some ponies coming into court about the actions of a certain consort I know.”

Before he could even ask her what she was talking about, a newspaper floated over to him. The front page read,

Disgruntled guard stages hoax following last weeks disappointment.

Consort to the princess of the Sun; a lofty position sought after by an estimated twenty thousand Equestrian subjects annually. As many know, the majority of these cases are not recorded so as not to get in the way of other news. However, we do report on the few creatures that Princess Celestia asks to return for a definite answer in a weeks’ time so she may consider the requests.

Last week we had the highlight of witnessing Platinum Sky packing up his belongings and selling his cloud mansion in anticipation for what he considered a sure thing only to walk out of the castle with no joy on his face.

However, it appears the creature most distraught about our princess’ final answer was one we couldn’t reach following her answer. Pictured above is what appears to be Princess Celestia standing beside a creature named Ground Cinnamon. However, looks can be deceiving.

Ground Cinnamon is a castle guard and, at one point, the personal guard to Princess Celestia herself. Not too long before this creature requested to become Princess Celestia’s consort, Ground Cinnamon lost his position as Princess Celestia’s personal guard to a griffiness named Sammy Stunclaw.

Perhaps leaving such a close position to the princess has driven him insane as he staged an acceptance announcement with a doppelganger or stunt double he met while working as Princess Celestia’s personal guard. Only time will tell as to what punishment Ground Cinnamon will receive and we shall inform you all more of this situation as we reach out to Princess Celestia for comment.

After reading the paper, he glanced up at Celestia with a raised brow, “A… slander piece? What is this?”

“I am not entirely sure. I’ve sent word to a couple intelligence agents to investigate this. However, I would like you to talk to the distraught ponies that brought this to my attention.”

He raised a brow, “Me? Why?”

“Well, you wished to know about duties of a consort; This would be one of them. I believe this is a perfect opportunity for some hooves-on experience for it.”

“Hooves-on experience for… what exactly?”

She gestured to the room, “To run court.”

As Cinnamon was left speechless, Celestia raised her hoof and made a motion he knew too well; dismissal of the room guards. He watched as all the guards saluted before beginning to march out of the court room through a side door. He looked back to Celestia with a concerned look, “When I asked about my duties, I was thinking more of a- a lecture or list; not this… I don’t think I’m ready for this.” He said in hopes that she would recall the guards to their positions.

However, she did not. Instead, she extended her right wing and rested it around his shoulder. “Look at me Cinnamon.” He obliged, redirecting his attention from the guards funneling out of the room to her large magenta eyes. “Relax. Take a breath. This aspect of being my consort is not as bad as you might think. There may be times where Luna and I will be away from the throne; be it by choice or not. In such a case, you would fill our spots until our return. However, your actions are more akin to a receptionist. Petitioners will come to you with their request. If you believe I should look at the case; accept it. If you believe I do not; deny it. The ones you accept will be added to a pile that I will look through when I return.”

“What if I deny something you should’ve looked at?”

“Then they shall return. You may have that feeling many times you reject something. Quite often there are attempts to pair tax exemptions, illegal land grabs or special privileges with a good case. Just do not think too much of it; even those cases are attempted multiple times while I sit on the throne. It would be no different with you sitting in my stead.”

She retracted her wing and righted her posture, “send them in,” she said to the court announcer; the last occupant in the room aside from the two of them.

The court announcer nodded, tapping on the door for the guards on the other side to open them.

Cinnamon took Celestia’s advice, took a deep breath and closed his eyes to focus on his breathing. In… out… innnn… out.

“Announcing, Vanilla Crush and Coco Harvest.”

Cinnamon’s eyes instantly shot open and looked down the room to see his parents trotting through the doors. He was about to say something, but his mother beat him to it, “Ground Cinnamon, what has gotten into you!” She pulled out a rolled-up newspaper from her saddle bag and started shaking it in his direction, “We raised you better than this!”

He looked at the paper in her hoof, then to the one resting on the thrones hoof rest before looking back at his mother, “Mom, it’s not what you think!”

“Not what I think!? You had the princess’ look-alike put on this charade!"

“But-“

“Do you know how embarrassing it was when I opened the bakery and have Golden Cake of ALL PONIES show up with her stupid smug look, waving this in my face!”

Cinnamon looked to Celestia for help, but she only sat there, looking at him. He gestured to her then to his parents but Celestia said nothing.

He sighed, “Mom, Dad; I AM Celestia’s consort.”

“That’s not what we heard,” Vanilla said, shaking the newspaper violently in her hoof.

“I-“

“Son…” his father spoke up. ”…Just apologize to the princess and I’m sure she’ll be forgiving about this.”

Cinnamon had opened his mouth to speak, but his words died in his chest when he heard his dad say that and decided to say nothing. When this happened, Celestia could see in his defeated expression that he wouldn’t be continuing to argue. So, she decided to speak up, “Perhaps we can have a chat about this over lunch.” She made a gesture to get the attention of the court announcer, “notify the door guard I will be taking my lunch and have them show these two to the royal dining room.”

The court announcer nodded, disappearing through the door for only a moment before two guards entered the room. Celestia smiled down to Vanilla and Coco as the guards marched to stand behind the two, “We will meet with you there shortly.”

They peered at the guards before reluctantly turning around to follow them out. The sound of the large doors latching shut echoed through the throne room, leaving Celestia and Cinnamon alone atop the dais. Celestia let out a small sigh, allowing her muscles to relax and simply enjoyed the first moment of silence since leaving her bedroom. A few moments later, Celestia noticed that Cinnamon was still staring at the front doors. “I think that went well,”

He huffed, turning to look at her, “Not really in the mood for jokes.”

“I am telling the truth,” She said, draping a wing over his shoulder, “others in the past have stormed out.”

“Others?”

She nodded.

“W-why? Why do you do this? This was… this was awful.”

“Because I must.” She raised her other wing so each one rested on his shoulders and gave him a serious look. “This relationship requires any consort of mine to carry more responsibility than any other relationship they will ever have. I need to know how my consort handles this and see how you do so I know what you do well and what I will need to teach you.”

He stood in silence recounting the few minutes that had just transpired and evaluating himself. “Was there anything I even did right?”

She smiled, “you stood your ground.”

He gave her a bitter look, “C’mon Celestia, I don’t need pity points.”

She rolled her eyes and removed her wing from his shoulder, “There is no pity in what I tell you. Of all my consorts, the majority cave to the pressure by asking me to step in to take control. There was a moment when you were close to breaking, but you held your tongue.” She stood from her throne and walked to stand close to Cinnamon. “Of course, there are those that did better when thrown at the task but…” She leaned in close and gave him a small kiss on the cheek, “Better than most.”

Cinnamon deflated with a sign, “That’s not fair.”

She chuckled, “I hope that means you are feeling better.”

He gave her a small smile, “Yeah, a little… is this going to be a normal thing?”

She raised a brow, “I would… hope so. I suppose I could find another way to cheer you up than a kiss bu-“

He blushed a little, “no, I meant things like this surprise court thing.”

“Oh,” She shook her head, “No, no more surprises like that, I promise you.”

“So,” Celestia said after a moments silence, “Shall we go talk to your parents?”

He hesitated, “Could I… skip it?”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“I… nevermind.”

“Cinnamon, I know it goes against what you have been trained for years, but if something bothers you, please tell me... no matter how big or small it is.”

He looked at her but couldn’t hold it and looked off down the courtroom, “Well… believe it or not, my mom… kinda does this a lot. She’s very judgmental about every creature I have a relationship with. She may have been more vocal about it with how she found out about this one but if she had the real story, I’m pretty sure she’d still be on my case about it somehow.”

“That… you do not sound very bothered by that.”

He finally found the willpower to meet her eyes and hold it. “My dad… is what bothered me… taking the same side as mom… not even listening to what I was saying… He’s never done that. He’s always been supportive about everything I do even if it turns out to be the wrong thing. He always heard me out whenever mom got stubborn and wouldn’t listen to me. He helped build up some of my confidence when I told them about requesting to be your consort while mom was… well, less than enthused about it.”

She tilted her head, “Perhaps the situation warranted a less supportive attitude. If what the paper said were true, you would be stripped of rank and spend a minimum of three years in the dungeons. I believe he was being a good sire asking you to attempt appealing to my forgiving nature for a lesser sentence.”

He gave her a deadpan look, “As if I could convince Crystal to be in a picture with me. You know how dedicated she is to the job; the only things she does without your verbal instruction is eat, sleep and use the bathroom.”

She shrugged, “Crystal is a trustworthy and loyal double of mine, but no creature is infallible, even me. It would only take one moment of poor judgement to make a mistake like this.” She turned herself, ready to descend the stairs behind the throne. “Are you sure you do not wish to join me in straightening this situation out?”

“I’m… yes, I’m sure”

She nodded, “Well, if you change your mind, you know where we will be.” Then walked down the stairs with Cinnamon close behind her and exited the room.

They walked together down the hallways until Cinnamon turned off down a hall and headed to Celestia’s bed chambers while she continued toward the royal dining room.

On her way to the dining room, Celestia decided to take a short detour to the senior guard offices. She opened one of the doors to reveal Commander Silver Spirit busy with some papers on her desk. She casually glanced up to see who had entered her office without knocking or permission. Once her eyes settled on the princess currently standing under her doorframe, she straightened to attention and gave a salute, “Ma’am!”

“At ease Commander; I need you to assemble the council to handle court for the rest of the day.”

“Princess?” She questioned, pushing aside a few papers to reveal and look at a calendar underneath. “The next scheduled council assembly isn’t until the fall frolic this weekend; I’m not sure if all of them will be able to make it.”

“I am aware Commander; I know Fancy Pants is in Canterlot and I trust him to run it alone if it comes to it. They will get the last-minute bonus for this one. If Fancy is the only one to show, give him double for the trouble.”

Commander Silver finished writing down the official order and pushed away from her desk and rolled in her chair over to the cabinets and began to fish out the official scrolls that will be sent to each council member. After grabbing the right number of parchments, she rolled back to her desk and laid them on top of all her other, currently less important paperwork.

She looked back up to the princess, then to the hallway behind her to make sure no others were eavesdropping or within hearing distance, “Princess… Is something going on that I should know about?”

Celestia shook her head, “Nothing to be concerned over; something came up during court and I wish to have the rest of the day free in case I require it.”

She nodded and gave a short salute “I’ll have it taken care of.”

“Excellent; thank you Commander” She gave a small nod and left the room, closing the office door before continuing her walk to the dining room.

Celestia’s magic enveloped the dining room doors, opening them to let her walk through. Vanilla and Coco sat at the large table whispering to each other. A bowl of fruits rested on the table near them, indicating that a chef took their orders but neither wanted anything.

“Apologies for the wait,” she said, gaining their attention.

“Where’s Cinnamon?” Vanilla asked, being the first to notice his absence.

“He will not be joining us this afternoon.” Celestia used her magic to pull out her chair so she could sit on its comfortable cushion.

“Princess, there must be another way,” Coco pleaded, “he doesn’t deserve the dungeons, he’s a good colt. Place him on house arrest if-”

Celestia held up a hoof to silence him, “I agree, Cinnamon is a good colt. Allow me to put your worries to rest, Cinnamon is not in any trouble.” She materialized a newspaper of The Canterlot Courier and placed it between them, unfolded so they could see the entire front-page article under the same large photo they had seen in the other newspaper.

They glanced at the paper, then back to Celestia

“Cinnamon is my Consort and has been such since Saturday afternoon.”

Upon hearing that, they both grabbed a side of the newspaper and read its contents

Princess Celestia has taken a consort!

Your eyes do not deceive you. After refusing suitors over a length of time that nopony can accurately account for, one creature has broken that streak. Ground Cinnamon, a creature of unknown origins or species has received the answer all suitors hope for… a yes. Cemented in her answer as she shares with her consort their first kiss, pictured above, declaring to all Equestrians and our allies, her interest in him.

The question is, who is Ground Cinnamon? We sent out feelers and found our sources in Manehattan had the answers we sought. Apparently, his arrival was the most interesting thing to happen to the city in over a century.

His first sighting was in Manehattan square where a bakery mare found him wrapped in a blanket and abandoned. A search was conducted by the majority of the city’s occupants, fueled by the desire to help keep a family together and discovering a new species. However, the multi-day search bore no fruit. Princess Celestia, who had been notified of the events, arrived on scene and began her own investigation alongside a dozen of the top research ponies from Canterlot Castle. It was a year long endeavor that revealed information many considered underwhelming for the time spent gaining the knowledge.

Months were dedicated to finding how the young creature managed to appear in center square with no trace of other creatures of his kind and the easily apparent fact that he couldn’t move on his own. His skin was soft and squishy, ruling out a species of underground inhabitants akin to the Diamond Dogs. No wings for flight and no fins for sea dwelling species. After the investigation ended, some ponies reached out to the research team about how he arrived in the city; gaining an answer that the knowledge was classified. This led to ponies believing the Princess had indeed found the answer to his origin.

He grew up in a bakery called Sweet Sensations where he would come to make a sugary treat that the locals called The Cinnamon Special; a cinnamon topped cupcake that many said was nearly as good as Pinkie pie’s Legendary sweets, making it a hot spot for fillies, colts, and ponies that truly don’t care about their weight. Much to the disappointment of the youth, he would eventually leave the city to become a guard at Canterlot Castle.

Unfortunately, information about his time at the Castle is sparse. The only things we could procure is his slow promotions in rank when compared to the rest of the recruits and holding the position of Princess Celestia’s Personal Guard for 9 months.

The question lingers on our minds, and no doubt the minds of Suitors both past and future; what piqued the Princess’ interest? We could not discern anything about Cinnamon that another suitor didn’t outclass him in. He’s not as tough as an Earth Pony, strong as a Minotaur, magical as a Unicorn, or swift as a Pegasus.

We’ll be sure to keep an eye on the situation as it evolves and if anything happens, you’ll be first to know!

Coco was the first to finish the article, “but…” he looked up at Celestia “what about the Manehattan Post?”

She pursed her lips, “I do not have that information currently. I have sent some ponies to look into it, but I can assure you the article you brought to my attention is false.”

By the time Vanilla finished reading, Coco had shifted his gaze down to the table.

“What are you playing at?” Vanilla seethed.

Celestia raised a brow, “Sorry?”

Vanilla pushed her chair back, standing on her hind legs and planting her forelegs on the table. “You just put our colt through a horrible experience while you sat by and did nothing, how could you of all ponies do that!?”

Celestia cleared her throat, “Ground Cinnamon is no longer a colt, he is a full-grown stallion. He has fought in a war; he can overview a court case without my intervention.”

“Were you paying attention to the same thing I was? He can’t! and you shouldn’t be shoving him into that situation!”

Celestia stood from her cushion, “I asked you here to show you the truth to the relationship between Cinnamon and I; not to argue over it.” She picked up two apples from the fruit bowl in her magic and began to walk toward the doors, “Cinnamon knows he can end our courtship at any time if he cannot handle it but that does not mean I will give him special treatment over past consorts. You are welcome to stay the night here if you desire; just ask the door guard to escort you to a guest room.”

Vanilla dropped her forehooves to the floor and faced Celestia, “If you hurt him… I’ll end you.”

Her statement halted Celestia mid-step and diverted Coco’s gaze away from the table; giving his wife a wide eyed look.

“He is not a toy for your amusement or a conversation piece to show off to all your acquaintances. I don’t care if you’re an Alicorn; I. Will. Find. A. Way.”

Celestia turned around to face the pair, giving Vanilla a serious look. “I believe you have overstayed your welcome. It would be in your best interest to leave before you say something that would revoke that option.”

The room went quiet. Celestia calmly staring at Vanilla while receiving a defiant stare in return. Only when Coco jabbed his wife in the side with a hoof was the impromptu staring contest ended. “Let’s go home,” he quietly said.

Vanilla look to her husband, then back to the Princess. She growled before stomping past Celestia, glaring at her until she passed her and exited through the doors. Coco was close behind her until they passed Celestia, where he decided to stop. Only when Vanilla passed the doors did he speak up with a whisper. “I’m sorry Princess… She has a sore spot when it comes to Cinnamon’s relationships… I know she didn’t mean what she said.”

Celestia’s face softened before turning her head to look at Coco, “I believe you… but I cannot stand idly by as she makes such declarations.” She turned around to face him, “If you need to make a request to the crown, you are free to do so. However, Vanilla is not allowed to enter the castle until further notice.”

“Yes princess,” he said, bowing a little before turning to gallop out of the room and catch up to his wife.

Once Celestia was alone in the room, she gave an exasperated sigh. This was supposed to be easy, yet it turned into an irritating experience. She took a deep breath; despite the afternoon not going the way she thought it would, she was a bit relieved and happy… even if she couldn’t take a threat like that lightly.

She looked back to the table and levitated a third apple from the fruit bowl and took a big bite out of it. She hummed at the sweet taste before walking out of the royal dining room.

Celestia walked into her room, spotting Cinnamon sitting on the balcony through the open doors leading outside. She walked over to him; the only sound giving her presence away was the sound of her golden hoof shoes clinking against the marble floor. Only when she passed the balcony doors did Cinnamon hear her and glance behind him. She sat down beside him, levitating the two remaining apples over to him. “Feeling better with the breeze in your face?”

He grabbed the apples from the air and fiddled with them, “Yeah… I’ve been thinking on what you said about dad acting different because of the situation… it made sense.”

She smiled, wrapping a wing around his back, “Does not remove the sting, does it?”

He shook his head, taking a bite out of the apple.

“Well, if it makes you feel better, Coco appeared to be remorseful after learning the truth to our relationship.”

“How did mom take it?”

“She took it well.”

He look at her; looked her in the eyes. “That’s a lie.”

“Oh? Do I have a tell I should be aware of?”

He shook his head, “No… but I know my mother better than that.”

The line made Celestia smile, “Does she do that a lot?”

He nods, “Unfortunately.”

Her wing squeezed him in comfort, “You are lucky to have a mother that cares so much for you. Though, you may want to tell her threats are not the best way to go about it.”

“Please don’t tell me she actually did that.” Celestia nodded, "mmhm, said she would end me if I hurt you.”

He groaned, covering his face with his hands, and falling backward to lie on the balcony. Taking the opportunity, Celestia shuffled over and rolled onto him, so she laid stomach to stomach on top of him.

He peeked through his fingers to the alicorn mare laying atop him. “Did she at least go peacefully… didn’t give the guards any trouble?”

She smiled at him, “Do not worry, I did not send her to the dungeon.”

“But… she threatened your life. That’s 3 months minimum.”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I determined she said it to make a point, not truly to threaten me. That is not to say she walked away without a reprimand. She is not allowed on castle grounds until further notice.”

He smiled, a hand drifting down to stroke one of Celestia’s soft forehooves. Then his smile faded and his hand stopped to rest on a hoof. “You aren’t doing this to try and get something out of me, are you?”

She looked down at him with a smirk until she saw the look he was giving her and the look in his eyes. It was the same look Luna gave her when she returned; asking if ponies would accept her… worry and pain. Celestia immediately became aware of her position atop Cinnamon, fur to flesh contact in a dominant spot. She shot up to a sitting position and moved backwards. “Absolutely not… did it… come off that way?”

He propped himself up on his arms. When he saw her worried look, he sighed and scooted forward. When he was close enough, he slid his hands under her forelegs, meeting and intertwining his fingers together on her back. Then he pulled her back down with him. She was hesitant for a moment, resisting his pull for a few seconds before reconsidering and allowing him to pull her on top of him. She gave a half-hearted attempt to scoot back so he wasn’t smothered in her chest fluff, but he held her there and nuzzled into it. “No… it just sounded like… an old playpony story I read. Doing something like a big gesture and expecting something in return for it.”

Celestia’s ears flatten, “You know I do not need to see your face to know when you are lying… do you want to talk about it?”

He shook his head.

She frowned down at him as he continued to hold his face against her chest. Slowly her look changed to a small smile as she started to stroke his hair. Then an idea hit her, “how about we go someplace we can relax and unwind. I think we have earned it after today’s events.” He hummed into her chest fluff, “but I’m so comfortable right here.”

She giggled, “Well, I promise this place to be more so. In fact, if you find my words ring false, then I will owe you a favor.”

Author's Note

It is still alive. I have no doubt that I've probably lost most of you with how long it's been. The only promise I can make is that as long as the story doesn't have the 'canceled' status, it's being worked on. If my profile's "last seen" isn't longer than a month, then I am not dead/lost my password.