Back on Duty

When he was back in the Castle, Gregory sought out Celestia in her office. That was usually a safe bet, if she wasn't holding Court or eating. The guards standing in front of the door confirmed his guess even before he went in. They didn't stop him as he knocked and immediately entered without waiting for the Princess to say "Come in!"

She looked up from the scroll she had been reading and smiled when she saw the package in his hand. "So you and Blossom had a good time?"

"Mhm! I brought you this, courtesy of Storm Pop and Aura."

Her tongue poked out as Celestia unwrapped it and Greg couldn't help chuckling at her expression of pure delight.

"Oooh, it's a Candy Sunbeam cake, isn't it?!"

"Well, Aura helped with it, but yeah, I guess. By the way, there's something wrong with this," Greg said and pulled Twinkleshine's pendant off.

"Mm?" Celestia didn't even look at it. She opened the bottom drawer on her desk and pulled out a small fork.

"You keep cutlery hidden in your office?"

"Mhm! You never know when it might be time for cake!" the mare beamed. "Just a taste now and then I'll have the rest of it after lunch."

"Huh... all these years and you still surprise me, Celly."

Her mouth was already full, so the mare just nodded happily. "Mhm!" she affirmed, then her eyes went to the pendant and she gripped it carefully in her magic. She rotated it a few times while she finished her mouthful and swallowed. "Hmm. Let's see here."

Gregory, out of his depth when it came to magic, just pulled back Celestia's guest chair and sat down to wait. "Where did you find this?" the Princess asked. "I don't remember seeing it before. Did you buy this?"

"Not really-" Greg began, but Celestia looked at him and her muzzle scrunched up. Her intense stare made his words falter. It was a struggle to finish the sentence: "Twinkleshine gave it me."

The admission made Celestia's eyes narrow. "When was this? Before or after she came to see me?" The magical aura around the pendant intensified, as if the Princess was going to crush the offending bit of jewelry, and the scrunch in her muzzle became hard enough that her teeth showed.

"After, I think. Why? What's wrong with it?"

The mare gave a snort and her horn flared for a second, although nothing else really happened. "It was a prank, I believe. When I get my hooves on that filly, she'll- I'll..." she began, but closed her eyes and took a deep breath before finishing that unsavory sentence. "I'll have words with her."

"What prank?" Greg asked and reached out to place a comforting palm on her hoof on the table. "It didn't work, I don't know what this was about, so it doesn't matter."

Celestia nearly pushed herself away to start pacing in frustration, but kept sitting and her foreleg on the table so as not to dislodge Greg's hand. "Not that easy. In some places you wearing a gift like this means you had accepted her advances."

It was a good thing that Gregory didn't have a beverage, because he would have spat it out. "What?! What do you mean 'advances'?! What'll people think?!" Actually, he knew what they would think. The stares and blushes he'd seen on the way to Storm Pop's suddenly made sense. "Celestia, I went out with that thing! Christ..."

The Princess just let out a sigh and reached over to cover his hand with her other hoof. "It is okay. I think this was a bit of revenge after what I told her, and it was in very poor taste. I will speak with her again."

Something else suddenly made sense and Gregory looked up sharply. "I think I know what her game is. She has specifically asked me to wear that around the city and I bet she'll raise a big stink about how I'm cheating on you with her."

"That would be my guess as well," Celestia nodded. Still grimacing a little, Celestia pushed back her chair with a hind hoof and circled the table so she could give the man an affectionate nuzzle. "At least," she said, "it is an obscure, old custom and not many follow it anymore."

"Well..." Greg began to rise to his feet, but then he couldn't resist the power of the nuzzle and sighed. "Fine, but we need to do something. Tell her off, at least."

Celestia nodded against his cheek. "Agreed. I will send her an invitation to an audience. Again."

"At least, this doesn't have any magic, does it? It was just a prank?"

The pendant was still floating in Celestia's levitation and she brought it closer to her face once more. She concentrated, frowning a little, and laid the crystal flat on her desk. There was a quiet click as she freed the gem from its clasp and separated the two. She levitated the golden chain back to Gregory. "Here, hold this. It might interfere with a subtle spell."

Her magic almost completely winked out and the glow around her horn was barely noticeable as she scrutinized the gem stone in minute detail. "I... can't really tell," she admitted. "All crystals are slightly magical, a really subtle spell will be very hard to detect."

He obediently stuck the item in his pocket while Celestia bent over the gem. "Anything?" he asked after what felt like an appropriate interval.

She looked back at Gregory and smiled. "If it is so weak that I cannot sense it, then its effects will be proportionally negligible. If this is some kind of an attack on you it is completely ineffective." She sidestepped to bump Greg's shoulder with her rump and he patted her back in return. "I think this really is as simple as it looks. Twinkleshine is merely trying to cause more trouble by insinuating you are unfaithful. It is a really weak bluff."

She gave him the stone back and Greg replaced it in its metal clasp. He dangled it before his eyes and then shrugged to himself. "I'll leave it in the office. When you're done chewing her out, send her my way and I'll give it back to her. It looks expensive."

"I will do so, then. Oh, by the way, how is Blossom? Did she enjoy her trip?"

Gregory smiled at the memory. "I think she likes making new friends, especially if they give her cake. She and Aura got along pretty well and Aura asked if she can visit. I said yes."

The Princess nodded in agreement. "Good. She needs more friends her age. Any luck with finding her parents?"

At this Gregory had to look away in embarrassment. "I hadn't asked Ms. Nutmeg yet. I was going to yesterday, but then this Twinkleshine thing-"

Celestia interrupted him with a kiss. "Shush, it is okay. There is no particular hurry. Blossom is doing fine and a day or two will not make much difference in the end."

"Thanks," Greg replied, leaning in for a second kiss. "I'll do it today, if she's in her office. Otherwise tomorrow, first thing in the morning, I promise."

"Okay. I will finish the paperwork and then I will check on Blossom. I am also hoping Silent Spell will conclude her investigation today. I left Glory Tail and Comet Roll with her and they will bring her straight to Canterlot when she is done."

"Good. Hopefully she has some news."

"And then," Celestia went on wearily, "I have to figure out what to do about Silvermane."

"Not envious, dear." Greg stood up and wrapped his arms around the poor, overworked mare.

She leaned on him for a few seconds, just soaking up his warmth in silence. "I'll see you for lunch."

He let her go and was about to leave, but Celestia called after him: "Gregory?"

The word stopped him with his hand on the door handle and he looked back.

"What if we take a basket and have a picnic?"

"Where?"

She had to give this some thought. Greg's aversion to being teleported and his inability to fly did limit their choices.

"The trail from the back of the maze up the Canterlot Mountain?"

"Oh, yeah, that nice spot almost no one knows about, right?"

"Mhm! What do you say?"

"Yeah, sounds lovely, actually. I could use a couple of hours away from it all."

The room seemed to grow brighter as Celestia smiled in anticipation, as if the otherworldly light which shone upon her was turned up. "I will let Fluttershy and the guards know. I can keep you safe all on my own."

Greg didn't doubt it. "Okay, so I'll meet you back here in say, an hour?"

"It's a date."

It couldn't be helped. Gregory let go of the handle and walked back to Celestia's desk so he could give her one last kiss.

Their picnic place was like a small meadow, except it was surrounded by steep rock rather than trees. It was open on one side which overlooked the Canterlot Castle and the city behind it. The only way to reach the place was by flying if you didn't know where the path was. Most ponies in Canterlot didn't know the place even existed and the few who did, knew it was Celestia's special, peaceful retreat. She sometimes came there during hectic days for an hour or two so she could have a peaceful lunch and unwind a little.

Whether through a geological accident, or by deliberate design, a small brook sprang up from between the rocks and flowed around the edge of the clearing. The water was ice cold and pure and, to Greg's amazement, tasted almost sweet. It was probably constructed, the man guessed, but the craftsmanship was such that the spring appeared entirely natural.

He'd put the picnic basket down while Celestia picked out a sunny spot and lay down, folding her legs under her body and fluffing her wings slightly open. Greg soon joined her and sat as well.

"I do love it here, Gregory. Thank you for this idea. I haven't been up here since autumn."

"But it was your idea," he pointed out.

It just made the Princess giggle. "Yes, but you gave me it."

He didn't see how that followed, but Greg wasn't about to argue. He laid a palm on Celestia's withers an used his other hand to brush a crumb from her muzzle. "I thought you said we'd have lunch up here?"

"We are," Celestia assured him and floated the basket closer. She opened it and pulled out a napkin, which she spread across the grass in front of her.

"You've already eaten, though?"

"A simple croissant. Not what you might call a meal," she pointed out. While they talked, several more pastries floated up from the basket and landed on the cloth.

"You know, it did feel as if the basket was getting lighter all the time."

Celestia couldn't suppress a smile at his friendly jab, but she stuck her tongue out through her teeth anyway. "Oh hush," she chided, "I only took one to try."

"Yeah, but when? I didn't even see you do it!"

"I... can be very efficient and discreet."

Gregory shook his head and reached over to the basket. Surely it wasn't all pastries?

Celestia guessed what he was looking for and rolled her eyes a little. "Do not worry, I packed a sandwich for you."

It wasn't difficult to find among what were mostly pastries. It was a simple affair of lettuce, tomato, and hard-boiled egg construction, with a bit of salad dressing to bring it all together. Putting it aside, Gregory kept looking in the basket for a bit longer. "Where is your lunch, then?" he asked.

"Right here," Celestia replied, frowning at him in confusion. She spread her wing to indicate the bounty which she had laid before herself.

"Celestia, those are just sweets! You can't live on nothing but sweets!"

Her ears lowered and the mare let the tiniest touch of rose touch her cheeks. "I cannot see why not. I have been doing it for over a thousand years, Gregory."

"Sometimes I wonder..."

"What was that?"

He had murmured it to himself, once again forgetting just how sensitive pony hearing was.

"Sometimes you seem like five, Celestia."

"Well..." she began, trying to think up a scathing reply and failing. She just stuck her tongue out at him again. They both laughed at that. The moment of tranquility was most welcome in the current hectic times.

Gregory leaned back against Celestia's side as he bit into his sandwich and looked around the heights above him. It was called the 'Canterlot Mountain', at least as far as he knew, but there was actually multiple peaks. "Ever been up there?" he asked and pointed after he'd swallowed.

Celestia followed his pointing finger with her gaze. "On each of them, yes. I would not recommend a climb, but I can carry you up if you'd like. It would only take a bit of magic to strengthen my wings."

"No thanks. I didn't really like riding you that time for halloween."

She gave him a deadpan look. "Gregory - you ride me essentially every night." Somehow she kept her face serious even with the delightfully amusing way Greg blushed at her words.

"I- didn't- not that kind of-"

She couldn't help it any longer and burst out laughing at his expression. She leaned her head against Greg's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Oh, you are too easy, Gregory," she wheezed. "You are worse than Fluttershy in some respects."

Greg decided just to ignore it and focused on his sandwich again. It wasn't a warm meal, but it was quite sufficient, specially with how strong the sun was getting. Summer really was right around the corner.

"This is quite nice, though," Celestia said, echoing Greg's thoughts. "We should do this more often."

He nodded wordlessly, his gaze going around the meadow again. "Does someone come here to mow the grass?"

The question made Celestia inspect the green carpet on which she was lying. "I suppose the Castle gardener. It would be his domain, after all." She lowered her head and nibbled on a blade of grass.

"Delectable. I must remember to thank Mr. Greenhooves when I see him."

"That still doesn't count as lunch, you know?" Gregory pointed out.

"Why not?!" Celestia pierced him with a glare. "It is essentially a very fresh salad!"

Gregory just laughed.