Back on Duty

Gregory Rawsthorne was sitting in his office deep in the Administrative wing of the Canterlot Castle when he heard the commotion. This was unusual, because most ponies never ventured this far into the hidden guts of the Equestrian bureaucracy. In fact, the sudden disruption was so strange that he decided to get up and go out in the corridor to see what all the noise was about.

It made very little sense at first. A white unicorn, one he didn't recognize while she was facing away from him, was complaining very loudly at one of his coworkers, Star Bright. Complaining perhaps wasn't even the correct word. 'Shouting' would be more apt. Star Bright noticed Gregory and flashed him a weak grin, as if apologizing for all the racket. Fortunately, the shouting mare didn't notice this slight and simply continued with her tirade.

"What I want, you- you... commoner," she spat as if it was the worst insult she could imagine, "is to see somepony in charge!"

"Miss, the Princess has audience every weekday, if you could just-"

Poor Star Bright didn't even get to finish his suggestion before the irate unicorn interrupted him. "Don't give me lip! I just want to see somepony in charge around here! You don't tell me to just go see Celestia!"

"Why not?" Star Bright asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "The Princess listens to all-"

Again he didn't get to finish. "The Princess is useless! She spends all her time wrapped around that disgusting ape of hers!" She advanced on the hapless bureaucrat who backed away with his tail tucked up so far between his legs it was nearly brushing his chin. "Mark my words, things will change. And soon!"

It was time to step in. Gregory didn't much like the sound of 'disgusting ape', even though he was aware of the derogative used among some of Equestria's 'finest'. The nobility very much resented accepting other species into their ranks and the Sisters' lasting infatuation with their respective humans was starting to cause noticeable dissent among the high-born families. The fact that it had happened to both Celestia and Luna just compounded the outrage.

"Excuse me. Is there something I may be able to help with?"

Star Bright looked immensely relieved and the unicorn mare, startled, jumped into the air and twirled around. Her ears were laid flat and her muzzle was scrunched up into a derisive frown. "I don't want anything from you!" she spat, apparently not even slightly worried that Gregory had probably overheard her insult.

"If you can remain civil, I'm sure we can discuss any issues you might have."

She growled and spun around to push past Star Bright. She spoke to the stallion, but loudly enough for Gregory to hear, which had been her intent: "I'll come back when this place isn't infested!"

Both of them watched the mare go, Gregory still trying to place her. She seemed familiar. Probably he had seen her at some official function or a banquet or maybe even at the Gala, but he didn't remember her ever so much as looking at him the wrong way. She probably felt safe to display her disgust with no real witnesses, Star Bright, of course, not counting as 'anyone' in her skewed worldview. She would not have been so bold with a few more ponies around, even commoners. After all, however dissatisfied the nobles were about the current situation, showing their distaste in public was simply Not Done.

"What the hell was that all about?" Gregory asked.

Star Bright breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the irate mare was out of earshot. "I don't even bucking know," he admitted. "One minute she came in to complain about her tax statement. You know, the new stuff the Princesses implemented when she found out the nobles were avoiding paying?"

"Ah, maybe that's why she didn't want to see Celestia personally. Maybe she thought she could bully someone into waiving what she owes. Some underling, who could take the blame."

"Yeah, that's probably it. Anyway, thanks for stepping in. I couldn't believe what she was saying."

Gregory was aware that there was some resentment to increased human presence in Equestrian affairs, but he hadn't realized just how upset some ponies were about him and Eli in particular.

"Don't worry, we have people like that on Earth, too."

He shrugged it off, mainly to put Star Bright at his ease, but the attorney-turned-bureaucrat still made a mental note to bring it up with Celestia. If nothing else, she should know what her subjects were thinking, especially possibly influential ones like that mare. Maybe all it would take was to invite her to some more social occasions where she'd have a chance to speak with a few humans and have her opinion of them changed.

He was about to go back into his office and pick up the paperwork when he noticed how Star Bright was leaning inconspicuously towards him. Greg smiled knowingly. "Anyway, don't let it get to you. Some people are just weird."

He reached down to give the pony a calming pat on his short-cropped mane, but of course it turned into a very quick ear-scratch. Some equines simply couldn't get enough of it and Greg didn't find it onerous to indulge them. The ponies were a lot more physical with each other than humans. It took some getting used to, but these days Greg didn't even bat an eye at casually patting a back or scratching an ear. On more than one occasion he'd given Luna a back-and-withers massage in the morning after a strenuous shift in the dreamscape. All Celestia did when she came in to make her signature pancake-breakfast was smile approvingly.

He was about to excuse himself and go finish his paperwork for the day, but Star Bright simply followed Greg into his office and looked around at his collection of legal texts. "So, what are you working on?"

Gregory didn't mind the interruption. He had been hard at his task for several full hours, and the dull ache developing behind his eyes, combined with the stiffness in his legs, told him he could use a break.

"Right at the moment? I'm going over the immigration policy for Princess Celestia. She's looking to allow more humans permanent residences in Equestria. It's kinda complicated because she has to work out the details with several human governments, which is why she's engaged my old law firm to hammer out some of the fine print. I'm checking their reply to make sure they haven't missed anything important on the Equestrian side."

Even before Greg got halfway through the explanation, Star Bright's eyes were already glazing over. He was an intern, the man remembered, and he probably wouldn't stick around when his contract ran out. It was only his first job, one his parents made him take because they wanted to brag that their son was working for the Princesses.

"Tell you what, I could use a real break. Why don't we walk over to the tea kitchen and make ourselves some coffee?"

The colt swished his tail around and smiled. "Sure! That sounds good!"

Late afternoon found Gregory relaxing on a human-sized-and-shaped chair on the balcony overlooking the hedge maze, and warming his hands on a cup of coffee. The sun was up, but there was still a chill in the air on this early spring afternoon. The snow was over, at least, and there was the summer to look forward to. His sixth in this crazy talking-horse land, which was in itself a weird thought. He'd never seen this coming when he had planned out his career after college.

It wasn't bad, not really. At first he'd missed some things from Earth, like cars and TV and, of all things, Starbucks coffee, but after a while those things faded. He'd never been too enamored with the Internet, for example, so it wasn't difficult to give up. TV he mainly missed because of the pool championships he had liked to watch, but once he had a table made by one of the Canterlot craftsponies, and had taught a few of his new coworkers to play, that was at least alleviated, if not exactly replaced.

Seeing the non-unicorns fumble with the cues had been funny, though.

As for cars, that one should have been the easiest to replace. Celestia had given him free use of her pegasi-pulled carriages, although he had neither the occasion, nor inclination to use those. Gregory hadn't minded flying on Earth, but the pegasi-carriages were open to the air. It was more like a roller coaster than a means of travel!

Anyway, in Canterlot walking usually sufficed and his other travels were mostly official or at least accompanied by Celestia, so transportation wasn't really an issue.

There was also teleportation, but after having tried that once and then spending a few gruesome hours puking out his breakfast, Greg decided he didn't like that mode of travel. Twilight Sparkle had proposed a hypothesis that human physiology was just different enough for that particular spell to affect them so, but since she didn't have any voluntary test subjects, she couldn't work on removing the adverse effect.

Then there was his job. It was at the same time completely different and uncannily similar to his old one on Earth. All the essential skills he'd picked up in college and honed during his career were still useful. He had to revise his international law a little bit, if only to draw good examples from it when drafting some of Equestria's first policies on things like customs, immigration and trade relations. Every now and then it struck Gregory that he was doing groundbreaking work for the ponies and he nearly panicked about getting it all wrong, but Celestia reassured him that he was doing an exemplary job.

Yeah, that mare was completely worth it. All the strangeness he had to get used to, new faces he had to work with, new climate to adjust to. All the discomforts of losing the technological conveniences of his home, it was all worth it.

Even now Greg couldn't prevent a smile from creeping up on his face. Celestia was going to live forever. She already had lived over a thousand, yet there was still this core of joy, curiosity and simple delight in her that - almost literally - shone through the filter of wisdom and experience. She was quite an impossible creature, now that he got to know her better.

"What are you smiling about?" the alicorn in question asked, suddenly standing beside Greg's chair.

He almost jumped in surprise. How could that horse move so silently on these floor tiles with those hooves?! "Jeez, don't sneak up on me like that!"

She grinned back, eyes twinkling in amusement. "Ahem, I called out from the door but you did not answer. I thought you fell asleep." Without having to ask for it, Celestia lowered her head and got a quick ear-scritch. "Here, your coffee has gone cold," she murmured and her horn lit up with energy for a few moments.

Instantly new steam rose from the cup and Greg took a careful sip. "Thanks."

"You still have not told me what you were smiling about."

"I was thinking of you."

The mare snorted in amusement. "Hah! That is what you always say!"

"I always think of you."

She feigned annoyance, but her pupils widened a little and her ears splayed in happiness. "Careful. If Luna hears how cheesy you are, she is going to put you on one of her pizzas."

They both laughed. "Speaking of which," Celestia went on, "want to come in for dinner? She is trying her hoof at bread again, so I will not blame you if you say no."

The younger Princess had recently offered to cook dinners for them, inspired by Celestia's example of making breakfast each day. The fact that she wasn't good at it, mainly through lack of patience, meant that more than once the Castle staff had had to step in at the last minute.

"Let's hope she let it rise at least a minute before shoving it in the oven this time," Greg said.

Celestia shook her head. "It is not that she does not let the dough rise enough, what worries me more is that she gets bored and takes it out of the oven after five minutes."

Greg grimaced at the memory. The buns had looked alright on the surface, and they had certainly smelled good. No one could have known that biting into one of them would be like biting into a doughnut filled with raw dough.

"So, what are we really having?"

"The cooks made a light salad and there is salmon for you."

"Good! Let's do it."

Greg got up, but before he could take so much as a step the mare halted him with a wing. "This first," she said and leaned in.

The kiss lasted a while and left them both leaning against each other. Both of them were panting lightly.

"This weekend," the Princess said, pausing momentarily to catch her breath. "Make sure you do not have work. We are going away."

"Oh? Where to?" Greg asked.

"I booked an out of the way place near Baltimare. There is a lake and good hiking paths, I remember. I have been there before."

Of course, she had been there before in her long life. She had been everywhere.

"Won't it be boring if you've been there before?"

Celestia shook her head. "Each time it is different. The land changes. The ponies change." Her ears lowered and her voice grew sad. "Who I am with changes."

There wasn't a lot Greg could say to that. He knew he was mortal and she was not. He'd grow old and then he'd be gone. They both knew it and accepted it, even if they didn't like it. It meant that these moments together were all the more important.

"I'll make time. I'm already looking forward to it."

Her smile came back and she gave her human a quick nuzzle. "Okay. Let us not keep Luna waiting. Eli tells me she has really outdone herself today."