Back on Duty

The Grand Hall was essentially a public space during the Court hours, but Greg still knocked on the door. The two guards stationed there watched him with some curiosity. They were both pegasi, which told Gregory that Celestia was expecting him and Blossom.

"Come in," came the melodious invitation.

Greg reached out to push the door open, but the guards beat him to it. He let his hand drop and walked through, but not before giving the two stallions a friendly smile. "Thanks."

One of them inclined his head, but then they returned to their posts, staring rigidly ahead. Not for the first time Greg wondered just how good they'd actually be at stopping an intruder. Well, the gold armor was quite impressive. It calmed the worried visitors and possibly deterred some of the troublemakers. Perhaps that was enough of a reason for their presence.

When he looked at the dais he saw the Princess and her guest, both looking at him. It took a second to bring the name to his memory and then he strode confidently forward. Blossom was right behind him, Gregory could hear the sound of her hooves on the carpet.

"Hello, Fluttershy," Greg greeted. "It's been a while."

The yellow pegasus extended a wing for a wave. She was one of Twilight Sparkle's friends and an Element of Harmony on top of all that, but since Twilight herself lived in Ponyville, her friends mostly stayed there too. All except for Rarity, who came to have tea with one or both of the Princesses whenever she was in Canterlot on business. He'd seen some of the paperwork for her clothes store and it seemed to be doing very well.

Greg was wondering a little why Fluttershy was visiting, especially without Celestia's ex-pupil, Twilight, but he didn't show it on his face.

"Hi, Gregory. How did it go?"

He stepped aside so the two mares on the dais could see Blossom. "Happy and full of muffins. She's doing a lot better, actually."

As if to prove him wrong immediately, Blossom quickly shuffled behind him again and pressed her muzzle against his leg.

"Don't be afraid, Fluttershy is the nicest pony I know."

It didn't do a whole lot, so Greg just sighed and started walking again. Meanwhile Celestia and Fluttershy came down from where they were sitting. There were two cushions on the floor beside the huge pair of gold-adorned thrones. Celestia never did enjoy sitting higher than any of her subjects, even when formal functions demanded it. Of course she had the cushions stashed behind the throne for when her closest friends visited.

"Hello!" Fluttershy said to the mare who was peeking between Greg's legs. "My name is Fluttershy! What is yours?"

The fact that she was a pegasus helped and Blossom didn't follow when Gregory stepped away. "B-Blossom," she said.

"She was kept in a mine and made to work. We do not even know for how long. Ever since she was a filly, I fear."

Fluttershy was instantly on the verge of tears. "Oh, you poor, sweet thing!" she said and rushed forward.

Blossom only had enough time to give a strangled little squeak of surprise, but then the yellow wings were wrapped around her and Fluttershy was holding her against her barrel. "There, there, it's going to be okay now, I promise."

The captive pink mare managed to turn her head enough to look at Gregory. "U-Um..."

Greg didn't know what to do, really. He would have gone to extricate Blossom from Fluttershy's grip, but Celestia laid a wing around his shoulders, keeping him in place.

"Leave them," the Princess whispered right into his ear. "Let Fluttershy work her magic."

Oh, of course! The Element of Kindness!

"You're going to be safe now. Nopony will hurt you ever again," Fluttershy was whispering. It was working, too. Blossom closed her eyes and sniffed. A moment later she buried her muzzle in the surprisingly deep chest fluff. "That's okay," Fluttershy encouraged the mare, "just let it all out. You'll feel a lot better, trust me."

"Come," Celestia said and took a step, but then she stopped. "Oh, Fluttershy - you know where Cadence's guest room is, right?"

Rather than speak up with the currently extremely fragile Blossom in her hooves, the pegasus just gave them a simple nod and a smile.

"You can take Blossom there. It is hers for the time being. Send a guard pony if you need anything."

Another nod. By now Blossom was openly weeping under the combined assault of Fluttershy's wing-hug, nuzzles and gentle back-stroking.

Gregory hadn't had many chances to touch the yellow mare, but he knew she was probably the softest object in the known universe. She normally worked with animals and Greg knew Celestia was secretly funding her animal sanctuary near Ponyville with anonymous donations, but her special Element magic would work just as well on ponies.

"So, she's the-" Greg asked, but Celestia simply interrupted him with a kiss.

Luckily they were already outside of the room and out of sight of Fluttershy and Blossom, because she kissed him so passionately that it probably left his lips bruised.

"Oh!"

She pulled away and winked, completely ignoring the two guards who had dutifully closed the door behind them and were now really relying on their training to look straight ahead with neutral expressions. The two stallions were losing and there was some red in those muzzles, but the Princess didn't seem to mind that either.

"Room. Now."

Her voice was barely above a whisper, but no less urgent for that. She really was pent up! Greg began to smile as he plodded after the mare. He also needed this, a lot.

In record time the two were in their room. Greg hardly had time to push the door shut before Celestia's lips clamped against his once more. She moaned a little into his mouth.

Then she pushed him toward the bed. "I do not want Luna listening in on this..."

Her horn began to glow and a shimmering net of light spread around the room, covering all the walls, doors and windows.

Greg smiled a little uncertainly. Celestia hadn't required a silencing spell before, no matter how loud they were. Why would she start worrying about what Luna thought? For that matter, Luna hadn't bothered to shield her room. In fact it was often the case that Celestia wrapped herself and Greg in silence to allow them to even sleep!

The mare climbed up on the bed, but she was out of reach. Gregory slid forward and stretched out his hand for her, but a hoof on his chest kept him at a distance.

Suddenly Celestia's face was dead serious.

"I did not know whom else to trust, Gregory. I am worried," she said in a quiet voice. "I believe we have... well, I suppose 'spies' is the nearest word. Spies in the Castle. On my staff, even."

"Oh. What makes you think that?"

The Princess just watched him for a minute. Something in her expression was making his blood run cold. He'd never even considered a possibility of spies or subterfuge, not in this magical horse utopia. Who would even want to do that? The other races had been either defeated or befriended. Whatever plot she had uncovered, it had Celestia very worried, which meant he was worried as well. The Princess was thousands of years old and she had kept the throne all that time. If anyone, she would have very good instincts for this sort of thing.

"We can speak freely now, but not for too long. I do not wish to arouse suspicion in case anypony was listening in," Celestia said at her normal speaking volume. Greg suddenly understood her unusual silencing spell.

"Okay, what did you find? What's wrong?"

Celestia sighed and looked down. "I set out to find two things yesterday. One," she said, lifting up a hoof, "if there was any anomaly in the paperwork for any of the stone quarries in the Foal Mountains area. And two," here she raised up the other hoof, "I sent a wing of pegasi guards to look for any unlisted mines."

"Okay?"

"You remember that Comet Roll volunteered to join them?"

"Yeah, the new guy."

"He did not return."

"What?! K-Killed?"

Celestia shook her head and it felt as if a huge rock had rolled off his heart. He'd only met the stallion for a few minutes, but he was still relieved.

"I do not think so - I am sure Comet Roll is okay."

"Then where is he?"

The mare grimaced and her muzzle scrunched up in distaste at the words she was saying. "His captain tells me he was insubordinate and rude. That his conduct was unbefitting a guard, so she sent him for a refresher course in basic discipline. In Baltimare."

"Can you check if that's true?"

The Princess nodded. "I sent corporal Silverwing to make sure it is true, but he will not be back until tomorrow morning."

"Okay, what about the paperwork?" Greg asked, relaxing a little.

Celestia was handling the crisis and even if she was disturbed or disappointed in the deception around her, she would get to the bottom of it and then get rid of it. He had no doubts about her ability.

"That one is strange, indeed. The report placed upon my desk had nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing. As if nothing of interest has happened at those mines in the past ten years."

"That seems a little far fetched."

She nodded and looked around, as if worried they might be under observation even here, in their own room. "It is. Remember that a lot of the mines in that area are owned either by griffins or by some of the Canterlot noble families. Both of those are very... let us just say 'profit oriented'."

She sighed and leaned forward, where Gregory smoothly caught her in a hug. "I was expecting some small tax evasion, or some workers' rights violations. There is always something!"

"Nothing? Wait, you said nothing in the past ten years. You don't check these more often?"

Celestia pulled away and glared. "Gregory!" she said, a little cross. "Who do you take me for? Of course I check! I know for a fact there have been issues. I had to step in several times and make very strong demands of the mine owners!"

"None of that was in the paperwork?"

"None. It is as if-"

"As if they don't know about your memory and thought you'd forgotten?"

Celestia shook her head. "No, as if somepony panicked and removed the original report and then replaced it with one that had nothing. I believe they did not have a lot of time to make the switch."

"Have you checked with the pony who prepared it?"

"I tried."

"Tried?!"

"Turns out, Ms. Ember Wishes had a 'family emergency' and had to leave Canterlot suddenly, yesterday. The report was the last thing she did."

Greg was starting to see a trend. "That's why you said spies. You think someone, or multiple someones are actively working against you on this?"

"From within the Castle staff. I cannot know whom to trust, Gregory."

"Have you asked someone else to check the mine records again?"

The mare shook her head. "No. That would signal that I do not believe the report I got and alert whoever it is that I know about them."

"Smart horse."

This made the Princess chuckle, which she sorely needed. Gregory moved his hands from her withers up to her ears and began to scratch.

"Mmmm."

"Okay, so what's next?"

Celestia closed her eyes and sighed. "It appears somepony, or somecreature at least, absolutely does not want me poking around the stone quarries. I will play along for now, but I want you to investigate this as well. We will both investigate."

"O-Okay?" Greg said, freezing. He wasn't a spy! "Why both of us?"

"Please don't stop!" Gregory started massaging again. After a moment Celestia answered: "Because it will be harder to watch both of us. Because they might not realize it. Because they might make a mistake and assume only one of us is actively working against them, while the other is keeping Blossom safe." She leaned into his touch and closed her eyes in comfort. "Speaking of which, we must never leave Blossom alone. She is a witness and I fear they might try to silence her. I trust Fluttershy completely, of course. I also asked her friend, Rainbow Dash, to come and keep an eye on them both."

"When will she get here?"

Celestia chuckled gently. "She already has. You did not look up in the Grand Hall, did you?"

Greg couldn't help smiling.

"Clever."

"Fluttershy will try and get Blossom's whole story out of her. If anypony can do it, it is her. Then we will decide on the next step. Other than them and you, nopony knows about this investigation."

"The fewer, the better," Greg guessed.

"Correct."

"You can count on me, Princess."

"I know, Gregory. Thank you. Now, since we have a pretense to keep up..."

Her mouth suddenly found his again. The fear, the worry, the uncertainty- they all melted under the gentle assault of her tongue. She let him go, but only because they both needed to breathe.

"Yeah... pretense..."

Celestia giggled a little and planted her next kiss on his neck. "It was not completely an act, Gregory," she whispered. "I do also need you."

"Yeah, me too!"

His hands began to explore down her barrel even as she tugged at his belt with her magic.

Maybe it was the sudden revelation of unknown danger, but the slight tingle of adrenaline made every touch of her hooves electric, every breath on his skin exciting. Every kiss delightful.

Judging by her moans, she felt the same.

Gregory was on his way to find Blossom and Fluttershy when a guard approached him in the hallway. The guard seemed a bit nervous, but that was probably because he was one of the new recruits and hadn't yet gotten used to the human's presence.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat, "Sir?"

"Yes?"

"There's uh- There's a problem out on the Sun Plaza. The Captain said to find you and the Princess."

"Oh, Celestia is taking a bath right now. Maybe you can find Luna somewhere? Did the Captain said which princess exactly?"

The stallion, a pristine white earth pony whose name Greg didn't know, rubbed one foreleg with his other. "Um, no, Sir. I'll go look for Princess Luna."

"Thanks for the information-" Greg asked, looking at the pony expectantly.

"Snow Cover, Sir!"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Gregory."

Normally he would have shaken the new guard's hoof, if only to make him a bit less nervous in his presence, but this 'trouble in Sun Plaza' sounded serious, especially if the guard Captain had asked for Greg specifically. It had to do something with him directly!

The stallion was nearly out of sight behind a corner when Greg remembered and called back after him: "Snow Cover? What's this trouble about?"

The guard looked back, very nervous judging by the way he fidgeted with his hooves. "Um, b-best if you go look for yourself, Sir."

That just increased the mystery and made him worry more. Whatever could be happening that was so bad that the guard Captain needed a lawyer?! Gregory abandoned his plans about Blossom and headed for the main exit. Fluttershy was probably fine dealing with the traumatized mare for a bit longer. The uncertainty and his wild imagination made him walk faster and he was nearly out of breath when he finally emerged from the Canterlot Castle.

The two ponies on guard there were apparently aware of the situation and one of them waved with a hoof. "This way, Sir! The captain is by the main gate."

Like all castles, even the majestic symbol of pony rule had walls and gates, although the ones here were open day and night. Gregory had asked Celestia about it at some point and she said she wanted her subjects to be able to approach her whenever they needed. The open gates just symbolized that.

Greg hurried onward and soon ran into a group of guards standing nervously by on the path. Relief quickly plastered a few of the muzzles when they saw him approach. "What's this about, Captain?"

The guardpony in gilded and polished golden armor raised himself up as tall as he could. He was a unicorn and despite his slender shape looked to be quite strong and imposing. "Sir," he said respectfully, "I'm not sure how to deal with this sort of situation. We haven't had stuff like this in Equestria before, so I thought either you or one of the Princesses should decide what to do."

"Yes, but what exactly is happening?" From his current vantage point Greg could see a small crowd gathered in the big open space just outside the gates, but he couldn't see the source of the commotion. Something was definitely happening, but it didn't seem violent.

The guard Captain cleared his throat again. "A public speech against you, Sir. Like I said, we never had anything like it."

"Speech? Again me?! Why?!" Greg was dumbfounded. He knew some of the nobility resented his presence and his favor with the Princess, but to organize a protest rally specifically against him was a bit much.

"It's about Blossom, S-Sir."

This only added to the mystery. Greg shook his head and put his hand over his eyes. "You better tell me everything before I go out there," he instructed the Captain.

The unicorn sighed and sat on his haunches. "Not much to tell, Greg. A mare set up a box to stand on and now she's saying you're - well, she's saying that you're cheating on Princess Celestia with a young mare." He swallowed nervously and paused for a bit to gauge Greg's reaction. When the man waved for him to continue, the guard plunged on: "She is saying you're flaunting your new squeeze right in front of everypony and making a mockery of both Princess Celestia and the whole of Equestria. She's calling for you to be banished back to Earth."

On top of all the other problems it was one so weird and unbelievable that Greg couldn't help chuckling at it. "Sorry, Fire Fly. It's just stupid. Why would I actually bring Blossom here and have lunch with her and Celestia at the same time? Who is this mare? She sounds more than a bit crazy."

"Couldn't say, Sir. There's a lot of secrecy around Blossom and the castle staff talk. I'm sorry to say, but rumor is spreading."

Greg's first knee-jerk reaction was to go out there and explain to everyone the truth. Tell them about Blossom and that she is being closely watched by both himself and the Princess. Except that might expose the mare to yet more danger. Still, the hope of keeping quiet about her story was surely dead by now. A public announcement might do the trick on Equestria. It certainly wouldn't have worked on Earth, where the people were inherently mistrustful of politicians, but these ponies still tended to believe what Celestia said. That was just the thing, though. If Greg went out now and tried telling his part of the story they might not accept it. Things could get ugly and if he went out like a big, attractive target, he might even spark a riot. Ponies were normally peaceful, but they were also pretty emotional.

"Can you get this mare in here so we can have a word?" Greg asked.

"I don't advise doing that, Sir. At least not now."

"Why not?"

"Imagine what it would look like. She is saying all those things about you and Princess Celestia and then the Royal Guard would approach her and ask her to come into the Castle. It could easily be misconstrued as-"

"Yeah, I get it. You're right." He still wanted to know who this pony was. Who in Canterlot hated him enough to try and stir up trouble like that? Greg walked to the Castle gate and Fire Fly stood up to join him.

"Sir..." the guardpony said cautiously, but Greg just waved his hand.

"I'll just look. I wanna see if I know her. Can you loan me your spyglass?"

It came out in a little cloud of glittering magic and landed neatly in Greg's open palm. He extended the device and peered through it, trying to get a closer look at the crazy speaker on the other side of the Plaza. Luckily most of the crowd were watching her and no one spotted Greg standing out there. The mare was horrifyingly familiar. The same white coat, although it looked less pure in daylight and a very pink mane, done in the latest fashion among the Canterlot nobility.

It was the hallway complainer who had been harassing poor Star Bright the previous week! It seemed her actual encounter with Gregory had spurred her to actually put her threats into action. Gregory still couldn't remember her name, but he had no doubt Celestia would know who it was. He offered the spyglass back to Captain Fire Fly.

"You don't know who she is?" he asked just to confirm.

The guard unicorn peered through the device. "She's certainly a somepony. I think I've seen her at the Gala, but I can't put a name to her. Sorry, Greg. I think she married into one of the noble houses a few years ago."

"Well, she was in the Castle a few days ago, complaining about her taxes or something. She said she'll have her revenge on humans or whatever. I don't even really know why she hates us so much."

Fire Fly heaved a sigh and put his spyglass away in a small pack on the side of his armor. "Hard to say. A lot of these nobles think you're going to usurp their positions. It's been similar when we finally made peace with the griffins, but things settled down when it became obvious griffins aren't all that interested in Equestrian politics."

"I see."

"I'll write a full report on this for the Princess. Do you think we should break it up?"

It was a tough call, but Greg had plenty of precedent from Earth to draw on. He shook his head. "Absolutely not, Fire Fly. Not unless things get violent. Otherwise they'll cry 'censorship' and 'opression' faster than you can say 'First Amendment'."

"I figured as much. Uh, what is 'First Amendment'?"

Greg reached down and slid his fingers under Fire Fly's helmet to give his ear a quick scritch. "Earth thing. Look it up sometime. Anyway, I think it's gonna be fine. Celestia will know what to do."

"Um," the stallion said, shaking free of Greg's hand and taking a nervous step back, "is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"T-That you, um, and Blossom were b-bathing together in Princess Cadence's suite?"

Greg hung his head and heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Captain, we ran into Blossom out in the middle of nowhere because she was running away from being forced to work in a mine. As far as we can tell, she has been there since she was a little filly. She distrust most ponies and in particular fears unicorns, but for some reason she likes humans."

"I didn't mean-"

Greg just interrupted the pony and went on: "Yes, I bathed her, because she was too nervous and scared to do it herself and she was caked with dirt and grime! Putting her in Cadence's suite was Celestia's idea, because no other guest rooms were ready at the time. In fact, the Princess and I take turns watching her."

When he was done, the guard was staring at the ground. "Sorry, Greg," he murmured.

"Don't mention it. Just make sure your guards know the truth."

For a moment Greg thought about mentioning possible attempts on Blossom's life to the guard captain, but he remembered Celestia's warning about trusting absolutely no one. The guards would just have to do their duties as best they could.

That also reminded him: "I have to go find Blossom. If Princess Luna comes here, do not let her go out there and talk. Tell her to come find me or Celestia first, okay?"

Fire Fly swallowed, but then saluted. "Yes, Sir!"

Luna was getting better at diplomacy, but this was somepony impugning her sister and her human friend, so the fiery alicorn might go and do something stupid, like shout at everyone out there. Hopefully she would listen to reason before she obeyed her passion. Greg took a last look at the gathering and then left before he was spotted. He saw the way the crowd were lapping up that noblemare's words and he itched to go out there and explain, but that would probably just make it worse. Public relations were a very tricky thing and far out of his area of expertise. The smartest thing to do was to make sure Blossom was okay, then find Celestia and let her deal with the situation. It still wasn't easy to turn his back on someone dragging his reputation through dirt. For that matter, besmirching Celestia's reputation was even worse, but Greg made himself walk away.

"Oh, Captain? Let me know if anything changes, okay? And if you find out who this mare is, arrange for a message to be sent to her. An invitation. I'd like to see her and find out why she hates me so much."

The guardpony nodded. "Will do. Thanks for the advice, Greg."

"You're welcome."