Fragrant critically examined herself in the mirror while carefully applying her lipstick. For a moment, she wondered if the crimson was maybe too dark a shade for her complexion. Her pale yellow coat meant she usually went for a more subtle shade. She puckered her lips and shook her head at the thought. Today she felt like being bold, plus hopefully her lips would get a good workout tonight. She blushed a little at the thought.
Turning, she admired the many layers of gauzy material that made up her dress, each of a different pastel shade. The train was too long to be practical on the ground, but luckily as a pegasus that wasn’t a problem. She tried a gentle swoop and—as it had been designed to—the dress billowed out like a butterfly's wings. It really was a beautiful effect. Lily Lace would certainly be a designer to watch if the rest of her work was like this.
It was her first chance to organise a ‘date night’ since the disastrous trip to the theatre last month, and there was no way she was going to let this date go as badly as that one. She had booked a private table at ‘The Princess’s Legacy’ a high class Cavallian restaurant on the third tier of Canterlot. The manager claimed to be a descendant of the family who had adopted Princess Cadenza almost a millennia ago, and was said to have inherited some of the Princess of Love’s power. The claim was no doubt spurious, but the restaurant was known for its romantic decor, and its staff’s discretion. Cavallian wasn’t her favourite cuisine, but she knew that Max didn’t appreciate a good curry as much as she did. This night was to be about him, he deserved it after the recent events.
Only a few weeks ago, her coltfriend had discovered a Corona cult in the capital, and the cultists had almost beaten him to death for it. She shuddered to think how badly things could have gone. Max himself made light of the event but he still wore bandages to cover his wounds. It made her think of her parents after their accident, and when her mother had... no, she didn’t want to be reminded about that right now. Tonight was going to be a nice date with her coltfriend. They were going to eat by candlelight, enjoy each other’s company, and no pony was going to get hurt!
Fragrant sighed, trying to get her suddenly tense muscles to relax. She knew it was in Max’s nature to do things like try to stop a cult, but she wished he didn’t put himself in danger to do it. There were other ponies for that sort of thing, guards and the like. Nobles didn’t have to do things like that alone. Max was more precious than that! She supposed that guards must have ponies who thought they were precious as well, parents, spouses. Still, they put themselves in danger, but it was their job not Max’s! She sighed, Max just wouldn’t be Max if he didn’t think of others before himself. It was one of the things she found attractive about him, but she couldn’t help but worry that someday things would go too far.
She glanced up at the clock and realized it about time to leave to meet Max at his estate. He had suggested they just walk to the restaurant, but she’d persuaded him that a carriage would be more suitable, and it would mean they would be less likely to be seen. She had thought about using her air chariot, but such vehicles were rare and would probably attract attention. A ground vehicle would provide them with some cover while still being common enough in the city to make them anonymous.
Shifting aside the curtain, Fragrant glanced towards the front gate. There were still a few members of the press huddled out there but far less than there had been a few weeks ago. It seemed the furor about Ta Chrysá Papoútsia had died down. That was good, although in a way it was also bad that such an obvious act of tribalism should be forgotten so quickly. True, it had not been her intention to offend, but should she be forgiven so easily? There had been some questions raised at court by her opponents but they had been comparatively minor, and her allies had gathered around her making it clear that they, regardless of their tribe, supported her. She had found it rather refreshing. She hadn’t known she had so many friends amongst her colleagues. Still, no doubt there would be more problems down the road. Things like that didn’t just disappear. It would probably flare up again when she least expected, but that was a problem for tomorrow.
She let the curtain fall again. It was time to go.
The trip to Max’s house didn’t take all that long. Before she’d met him, Fragrant had never been in the part of the city where he lived. Apart from traveling through, she’d never really had much reason to go below the third ring of the city where most of the courtiers lived. It wasn’t like she didn’t know there were ponies further down the city, just that they hadn’t seemed all that important. She wasn’t naive enough to think that the fourth ring was a slum. It held much of the middle class population of the city, but the real poor lived further down or even at the base of the mountain around the city itself. Still, it was different from the noble estate of the second and third tiers. The houses were smaller and more colourful, foals played out in the streets, and in a way they were rather more welcoming than her own neighbourhood.
With a slight jerk, the coach came to a halt outside of Max’s house. It still seemed so small to her, but she guessed it was more than large enough for a single stallion, cosy even. It just didn’t seem right to her that a noble should live in a place like this, that he didn’t have the ballrooms and servants than the other courtiers took for granted. She couldn’t help but think that it in some way belittled Max. Somepony as brave and special as him should have more than this. She didn’t like to think of what some of the other nobles might be saying about him based on his home.
Shaking her head, she waited for one of the chauffeurs to open the door before alighting from the coach and trotting up to Max’s door. She gave a smart rap on the door and waited for it to open while out of the corner of her eye she saw a small group of foals gawking at her. She guessed her dress was rather out of place here. Then the door opened and Max’s head poked out, his mane looking rather disheveled. “Hello? Oh, Fragrant! Are you...? Wait, is it that time already?”
Fragrant tried to keep a scowl from her face. Max couldn’t have forgotten their date, could he? “I suppose I am a little early,” she admitted.
“I’m sorry, I was busy working on something. Come in, I’ll get ready as quickly as I can.” He held open the door and backed off to allow her to enter. “You look very nice tonight,” he said politely.
“Why, thank you, Max.” Fragrant flounced into the small hallway, letting her dress billow around her before looking Max up and down. To her discomfort, he seemed to be limping a bit and still had several bandages covering his barrel and head. There were less than there had been last week, but she would much prefer if the number was zero. Leaning forwards she gave him a quick welcoming nuzzle. He smelt of a day's hard work. She liked it, although the other occupants of the restaurant might not.
He led her into his sitting room and gestured to a seat. “Would you like a drink or anything?” he asked awkwardly.
“I’ll be fine. Maybe you should get ready? There is being fashionably late, and there is just being late.” Her eye caught on the door to Max’s office. It looked like there had been an explosion in a paper factory in there. What was he doing?
Following her gaze, Max quickly trotted over and shut the door. “I’ve been working from home today. Mrs G says she can hear my teeth grind down in her office. It’s two floors down, but who am I to argue.”
Fragrant frowned. What could Max be working on that got him so worked up? She was about to ask when he continued. “I just need a quick shower, shouldn’t take long at all. I’m sure we can get to the restaurant on time.”
“Well, if you need some help, I can lend a hoof,” she said, then flushed as she realised what she seemed to be offering.
Max blushed as well, and grinned. “I think that might just make things take longer, I’m sure I can shower by myself. These things are marvels,” he said poking a bandage. “They don’t get wet. Some sort of magic, I think.”
“I'll just wait here then,” said Fragrant. Giving a nod, Max made his way out of the room. She heard his hooves clatter up the stairs, followed a few minutes later by the sound of running water.
Left to her own devices, Fragrant glanced around the room. She hadn’t spent much time in Max’s house by herself before. The seating was comfortable, if a little battered. Presumably it was second hoof. The rest of the furnishing was rather sparse. One wall had a map of Equestria laid out on it, with a few pins pushed into the blank area which represented Nulpar.
Standing, she walked over to the currently smoldering fire to examine the small picture above it. It was a photograph which appeared to have been a little inelegantly inked in to give it colour. Fragrant recognised Max and an older mare who was presumably his mother, but there was an older stallion as well. Could it be Max’s father? Probably not. From what she remembered, he had died when Max was young, and judging by Max’s age in the picture, it couldn’t have been taken more than a few years ago. She did recall Max saying something about his mother taking a new lover. Maybe this was him. She carefully returned the picture to its space. Should she should go out and tell the chauffeurs she would be a while? She glanced out the window to see a small herd of foals gathered around her coach, where it appeared her servants were quite busy providing entertainment for them at the moment.
Glancing around the room again, her gaze caught on the door to Max’s office. Maybe she should check up on what he was working on? It could be considered a bit of a breach of his trust, but she was rather curious, because the budget period was over and normally the next month was fairly quiet at court. Carefully, she tiphoofed over to the office door. Max was still upstairs but moving quietly seemed to be the thing to do. She paused for a moment before gently pushing the door open.
The room behind it was small and packed with books and files, many of which she recognised as legal primers because she had copies of most of them in her own office as well. Her’s were not quite as worn though, and most of the ones in front of her had pages folded over. Max was certainly working hard on something, but what?
She picked up one of the sheets of paper from the floor, recognizing Mrs Groghar’s neat mouth writing, but it looked like some other unknown individual had marked it with comments and corrections. Quite a lot of corrections. She picked up another page and another. They were all annotated in the same way.
Max’s desk had a binder with a dozen or so pages written in his own somewhat less tidy style, and an edited page sitting next to it. Apparently, he was writing up a corrected version of the document. Carefully putting aside the pile of papers which had covered the seat, Fragrant sat down and started to read through the work so far.
“It’s my road building bill,” said Max from behind her, causing Fragrant to jump and toss several sheets of paper across the room. “Sorry!” he said while rushing to recover them.
“Max!” exclaimed Fragrant. She blushed. “I’m sorry, the… um… door was open,” she lied, “and well I got rather engrossed.”
“No problem,” said Max. “I was going to show it to you when it was ready.”
“Your bill?” She had quite forgotten about it after his disastrous attempt to circumvent protocol to get it introduced early. The three month period he would have to wait before he could raise it again must be almost over by now.
“Yes, I wanted to put it through the relevant committee as soon as possible. Sometimes it can take so long for them to go through. All those amendments!” Fragrant nodded. Part of the function of committees was to filter out poorly written or unsuitable proposals, quite often those submitted by younger nobles and those with less influence, such as Max. In fact, she was fairly certain that some of her first work was still circling around and around in some committee or other. “So anyway,” continued Max, “I thought that maybe I can’t officially submit it yet, but I can ask the members of the committee to read it through and tell me anything that's wrong with it, sort of pre-reading.”
Fragrant blinked. That wasn’t breaching any rule she knew of, it just wasn’t done all that often. Courtiers often worried that a rival might steal any good ideas before the bill was formally submitted, or use the extra time to prepare a better counter argument against it.
“How did that go?” she asked cautiously.
“Well it was a bit tricky to start off with because quite a few of the members were rather busy, but Kibitz chairs the infrastructure committee it needs to go through, and he was nice enough to agree to look it over. Greengrass as well. Plus, after that vote about Dawn Chorus last week, a few of the newer barons and baronesses agreed to help as well. I said I’d look over anything they wanted to propose in exchange, although I’m not sure how much use I’ll be.” He shrugged.
“You shouldn’t put yourself down, Max. I’m sure you have a lot of good ideas.” The pre-reading idea itself wasn’t something she would have thought of, or rather she would have turned it down based on the potential problems. But Max wasn’t as cynical as she was, so she hoped nothing would go wrong.
“Thanks! It feels good to actually get something done at court. If this all works out, the increase in road and rail building will do a lot of good for the poorer provinces, really make a change to the lives of the ponies out there-”
Fragrant couldn’t help but grin when Max’s eyes seemed to light up with his excitement. It was good to see him so happy, and the surety and passion of his words really tugged at something in her. Not to mention the way his still damp mane hung about his face. Well, she was glad she was sitting or she was certain her legs would be feeling a little wobbly right now.
“Fragrant!” said Max. She shook her head, because she’d lost track of what he had been saying.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“I said if it’s alright with you, could you have a look through it once I’m done?”
“Of course, Max. I’d love to.”
“Good. I did think of talking to you about it earlier, but you were so busy, and, well I wanted to prove to myself I could get it done.” He grinned and picked up a page mostly covered in red ink. “Apparently I still need a lot of help.”
“Everypony has to learn somewhen. Some of my early work was probably much worse,” she said while examined the page Max was working on. She struggled to hide a frown, because the number of basic procedural errors she could see after a quick glance made a liar of her. However, she had been raised to be a courtier. Max had not. “When are you planning to finish it by?”
“It has to be submitted on the last working Friday of the quarter, so that gives me a week. It’s a bit of a stretch, but I think I can manage it.”
Fragrant nodded and then froze, a frown crossing her face. “Next Friday is Nightmare Night.”
“Yes, I havn’t had much time to look for a costume yet, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something.”
“No, I mean the castle will be close for the night.” Max blinked looking worried. “The princess converts the palace into a funhouse for the local foals. If you want to get it submitted for the next quarter you’d need to do it by dawn today at the latest. It might be best to wait until your next chance.”
“But that would be after Hearth’s Warming,” mumbled Max. He slumped into the chair, his eyes scanning the pages around him. “I can’t get all this done by morning.”
Fragrant moved forward and threw a comforting wing over him. She hated to see him like this, so defeated. A three month delay wouldn’t be much when you looked at it, but Max seemed to have set his heart on getting this done, and he’d worked so hard so far. There had to be something she could do? Maybe if she put her staff on the task? They could probably do it, but would that steal Max’s glory? “Maybe, maybe, you can get it done before the deadline. It’ll be hard but I’m sure you can get it done if you work your hardest. I’ll help you as much as I can,” she offered.
“Would you?” he said looking up into her eyes the spark of hope starting to ignite again. “But what about dinner? You arranged things.”
“We can go out another time,” she said dismissively, although booking the table had been tricky because of the long waiting list. “This is important.”
“Well if you say so,” said Max turning to the folder and flipping through it, “but there’s a lot to do.”
“Then we should start right now then,” said Fragrant gently, pushing him aside to make space on the seat for herself. “Show me what you’ve done so far,” she said as she sat, down leaning against Max.
“Does this bit really need rewriting?” pleaded Max looking up from the folder in front of him.
“Yes,” said Fragrant sternly. “You need to fully describe what a road actually is in the bill. If you don’t, you leave it open to all sorts of misinterpretation. It’ll never pass committee this way. I don’t care what Greengrass said in his notes, you need to nail this down.”
“Fine,” mumbled Max, picking up the quill again.
Fragrant sighed. Both of them were getting frustrated because it had only been a few hours and they still had lots to do. They really did need a break. Her stomach grumbled. Food would be good as well. She considered the situation. She’d sent her servants and carriage away when she’d first decided to help Max with his work, but there was probably something to eat in the house and if there wasn’t there were probably several places to get it from nearby. She turned to ask Max when an idea struck her, something to make the night special.
“Here,” she said getting up and pulling out one of the nearby books of precedents, “this should be able to help. You can probably copy something from one of the older cases in here. I’m going to get us something to eat.”
Max’s ears pricked up at the mention of food. “You don’t have to, I’m sure I can cook something. I think I have some carrots and potatoes left over, so maybe a soup?”
“No, you keep working on that. I’ll be back soon,” said Fragrant heading for the door.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“It’ll be a surprise,” she said opening the door and spreading her wings.
I hope.
The restaurant wasn’t far, so Fragrant decided to fly the whole distance rather than try to hail a coach. It was less than half an hour later that she touched down next to The Princess’s Legacy. Given its reputation for discretion, the main entrance to the restaurant was in a minor, but well lit alley, with only a small plaque to announce its presence. Taking a moment to straighten her dress because it was not designed for long distance travel, Fragrant pushed the door open and entered.
The main floor of the restaurant was built around a courtyard open to the sky so that the diners could gaze up at the stars while they ate. At the centre of the room was a large water feature, a fountain in the shape of the Princess of Love herself reaching out towards the sky with her mane and tail wrapped around herself. The customers themselves sat around the edges of the square at small tables mostly seating two, although a few parties of three were also present. It was hard to say for sure as the lighting levels were kept to a minimum, leaving each table only highlighted by a single candle. Staff members gracefully glided from table to table, delivering or collecting plates without distracting the customers who mostly seemed to be more engrossed with each other. At one side, a troubadour stood quietly providing mood music on a stringed instrument Fragrant didn’t recognise. She sighed. It would have been so nice to have spent the evening here with Max. Maybe another time.
“Ah, Duchess Posey. You are late, I was beginning to worry,” said a short pegasus stallion with a light Calabarian accent as he appeared out of the darkness. Fragrant turned to look at him, he was a dark blue colour with a black mane slicked back and a white shirt worn open to reveal a thick tuft of chest hair. His cutie mark, a bow and arrow, the tip in the shape of a heart confirmed that this must be Cupīdō, the restaurant’s owner.
“And you are alone,” he continued in near horror. “Oh this will not do, a mare such as yourself stood up, left alone on a night such as this, no, no, no!” He threw an arm over her. “We have another here tonight who is also alone, for her true love turned out to not be true either. I will put the two of you together so maybe this will turn out to be fate, no?”
“No, no, it’s not like that,” said Fragrant easing herself away from the over enthusiastic stallion. She was somewhat charmed by the effort he was putting into trying to make her happy, but also a little insulted that he thought she had been abandoned and could just be paired up with a random pony. “My, um, partner couldn’t make it tonight because he has to work.”
“Who is this who puts ‘work’ before amour?” spluttered Cupīdō. “You Equestrian’s have everything backwards! If he does this, he does not deserve a lovely mare such as yourself!”
Fragrant flushed at the compliment. “It really is very important. I was the one who told him to work rather than come here.”
Cupīdō hummed to himself for a moment apparently undecided if this was alright or not. “I suppose that must do then. I thank you for coming to tell me your table would be vacant.”
“Actually, there is something else, I was wondering if it might be possible for your to make a meal to, well, to go...” It wasn’t all that unusual to ask to take food away from a restaurant, so she hoped it would not be all that much trouble.
Cupīdō’s eye’s bulged. “To go!” he gasped. “You want food to go! To take away! Like a greasy hayburger from some stall in a market place!” Several patrons were distracted from the stars and each other by the manager’s cries and began to look on with curiosity, making Fragrant feel distinctly awkward. She took several steps into the darkness followed by Cupīdō. “This is the greatest restaurant in all of Equestria!” he continued a little quieter, “We do not do food, to go!” He stamped a hoof on the ground.
Fragrant sighed, she understood that the manager might need to protect his restaurant's reputation but this really was taking things too far. “If it is a matter of cost, I am willing to pay for any inconvenience.”
“Pay! Pay!” exclaimed Cupīdō in outrage. “You think this is about money! This is The Princess’s Legacy! Our food is second to none, but it is not what we serve here. No,” he jabbed out a hoof at her, “Here we serve love! We provide the most romantic ambiance possible, we create the perfect environment for amour. The food by itself is nothing, just selling food would be an insult to my ancestors, no, to the princess herself!” he snorted turning away. “There will be no ‘take away’!”
“You will not let me take the food home because it is not romantic enough?” she asked in astonishment. “Do you know who I am? I am your customer,” hissed Fragrant. She tried to keep her voice down so as to not attract any more attention but the stallion in front of her was becoming very annoying. “If I wish to take your food away with me you should let me do so!”
“No!” said Cupīdō making a cutting gesture with his hoof. “What we do here is not just feed the gut. No, here we feed the heart! We have the most romantic setting, the most beautiful music. Here, amour thrives! Relationships begin here which will last for a lifetime! You think you can do better at home?” He snorted.
“Your restaurant might be very pretty, it might have music, and food and starlight but it doesn’t have the most important thing I need for it to be romantic,” exclaimed Fragrant drawing herself up and looming over the shorter stallion.
“Oh, and what would that be?” said Cupīdō unafraid.
“It doesn’t have Ma... it doesn’t have my partner,” announced Fragrant, her voice softening. “He can’t be here. He has to work, but just spending that time with him in his humble home makes me happier than your music or starlight! Doing paperwork with him is much more romantic than sitting here without him. The way his eyes sparkle when he gets engrossed in something, the little ways he shows he cares, not just about me, but about everypony! That, that is where amour thrives, and if I want to bring him food I should be able to!” She stood there painting. She hadn’t meant to get quite so worked up but she couldn’t believe the nerve of the stallion in front of her..
Cupīdō stamped a hoof on the ground and for a moment Fragrant thought he was going to continue to rant at her but a moment later he stamped again and she realised he was applauding. A wide smile suddenly spread across the stallion's face. “Oh, brava, brava, duchess!” he said laughing, “I thank you!”
“Thank me?” she said in surprise.
“Yes, thank you,” Cupīdō sighed. “I may have been taking things a little too seriously. Love is my family business after all, but you have reminded me that love is not found in all these trappings,” he waved a hoof around the restaurant. “Love is two hearts beating as one! It can be found anywhere and everywhere!” He slapped her across the back causing her to start. “Now lets see what we can do to make your night with your paramour unforgettable!”
“You’re back!” exclaimed Max with a smile as he opened the door, “Where did you go?” he asked.
“I got us some food,” said Fragrant carefully levering the package off of her back. She was glad that she’d been keeping up with her exercises recently. The box Cupīdō had provided had been heavy and the trip back from the restaurant had seemed much longer than the trip there.
“What is it? I’m starving!” said Max while clearing off the table in the living room. He must have lit the fire while she was away as it was now blazing away merrily in the hearth. It probably wasn’t needed because the house was hardly cold, but it did add to the ambiance.
“Before we eat, what did you get done while I was away?” asked Fragrant strictly. She was hungry too, but if they were to get finished in time, Max would have to pick up the pace. Plus, the bashful look on his face was so cute!
“Well, some. I think I sorted out that definition you wanted, and I got most of the precedent section completed. You can look over it if you want.”
“I will in a bit. Just tidy up your notes while I get things ready.”
“Are you sure I can’t help?” asked Max with a pleading tone. Fragrant felt a pang of sympathy. He had been working on this all day now and he could do with a rest, but he had to be strong and she wanted the meal to be a surprise.
“I’m sorry Bow Wow,” she said moving over to muzzle him. “Just a few more minutes.”
Max returned the gesture. “Sure, Kitty Cat. I’ll tidy up a bit.”
“Thanks.” Fragrant turned back to the table and started to unpack the package while Max headed back towards the office. She was surprised quite how much Cupīdō had managed to include because there were several courses of food, still toasty warm. He’d even included crockery and a candle, as well as a bottle of what she recognised as a rather excellent wine from the Amour vineyards themselves.
Maybe he really is related to the Princess.
“That was amazing,” said Max, leaning back on his seat.
“It was good, wasn’t it.” Fragrant looked down at her plate. There was still quite a bit of food left, but she didn’t think she could eat another bite. Even beyond the meal itself, the night had been very pleasant. They’d put aside work for an hour or so to just talk about each other. It had been very relaxing, and just as she’d said to Cupīdō, she didn’t need a troubadour or a fountain for a good time. Just Max was good enough for her.
“I’m really sorry I got the dates for the proposal messed up, but I think tonight turned out really well.” Fragrant nodded in agreement. She had to admit it was nice to have a date where she wasn’t covered in soup or ready to be lynched by an angry mob of theatre goers. Max picked up the half empty bottle of wine and went to pour himself out another glass, but Fragrant stopped him.
“No more for you. There are rules about writing legislation while drunk.” Max smirked at that. “That really is a law, you know. Some of our predecessors tended to take their drinking rather more seriously than their ruling.”
“How come you get to drink then?” he asked, pointing at her glass.
“It’s not my legislation,” she pointed out cheekily before taking a deep draft and emptying her glass, but restrained herself from refilling it afterwards. “Dinner's over, so back to work with you,” she said strictly as she got to her hooves. The candle on the table was almost burnt down so it had to be gone midnight by now, there was probably less than six hours still to go before the bill had to be submitted.
“What, no chance to digest?” asked Max in surprise.
“Sorry, I didn’t get to be minister of weather by tolerating slackers,” she said with mock strictness. “Back to your office!” she commanded lightly slapping him on his pleasingly firm flank.
“Not even time for after dinner snuggles?” said Max getting to his hooves.
Fragrant had to admit that was rather more tempting than most of the excuses her staff gave for not getting their work done on time. A look into Max’s eyes almost made her will crumble, but she had to be strong.
Resist him! Resist him!
“Maybe later,” she managed, “You do want to get this done now, don’t you? Think of the good it can do for your provence.”
“I know, I know,” said Max shaking his head, “I’m just not much of a paperwork pony. I want to actually do things, not write about them.”
“I know, but you need to write things up to get them done. Wait until you actually get your bill passed. Then you’ll get to see what you’ve done, not just for Nulpar, but for the whole of Equestria.” She held back that even with the proposal submitted now and pre-vetted by the committee it could be months, probably even years before the bill became law, and even longer before the first paving stone was actually laid down. It was almost unknown for a first year noble to get anything done, but she didn’t want to extinguish his hope.
“I guess so,” said Max, sounding a little more enthused. “I’m sure I can do this!”
“Aaarghh! I can’t do this!” exclaimed Max tossing a pile of papers into the air. Fragrant watched as they swirled around the room. They’d both moved from the office to the living room because there was more space for the two of them and the lighting was better. “I’m never going to be able to do this! It’s not even words any more, it’s just squiggles!” he cried. Fragrant gritted her teeth at his theatrics, but she had to admit they’d been at this for hours now. They’d made good time so far but there was still so much to do. “Why does Kibitz have to be so picky? There’s nothing wrong with most of this! I’m just copying it all out again for nothing! It’s all just pointless!”
“Max!” exclaimed Fragrant.
“Sorry, sorry. I’m just tired!” He bent over to gather up his papers again.
“I know,” she said, resting an arm on his back and leaning into him, “but you need to keep going. There’s not much left to do.” She glanced over at at the document on the table, estimating that it was about two thirds done by now. Most of the actual legal technicalities of it had been worked out, so it just the hard slog of writing the whole thing up correctly remaining.
“There’s pages and pages and pages,” Max complained.
“Yes, but it’s for the good of your people. Won’t you be happy when you see the trains coming into Saddlezberg?”
“I guess so,” mumbled Max straightening the papers and leaning over them again. “I guess there isn’t that much more to do.”
“Tell you what, how about a little encouragement?” she said blushing at her own idea.
“What do you mean?” asked Max sounding intrigued, his ears swiveling towards her.
“You complete a page of the bill, and you get a kiss,” she leaned forwards and pressed her lips against the side of his face, leaving a red mark behind. “Like that,” she whispered in his ear. Max’s eyes widened and he lunged forwards to take the quill in his mouth and began to work on the sheet of parchment in front of him. Fragrant smiled. It was nice to know that she was so motivating.
***
“I’ve finished another.” exclaimed Max presenting the side of his face to Fragrant expectancy.
“That was only a few lines,” she said examining the page.
“But I always start a new page for new sections!” he protested.
“I suppose so,” she considered, “maybe you’re due half a kiss? A nuzzle, maybe?” she leant forwards resting her head against his side before rubbing her mane against his face.
He took in a deep breath. “Perfect,” he grinned, “On to the next section.”
***
“Are you stretching this out?” said Fragrant suspiciously. “I’m sure you didn’t have this much left to do.”
“Well I thought I could do with rewriting a few of the earlier sections, just to make them clearer,” Max said guiltily.
Fragrant considered for a moment. “Fair enough,” she admitted, pressing her lips against one of bandages around his barrell.
***
“Was that last section two or three pages?” asked Fragrant blinking blearily.
“Um, I don’t know,” admitted Max yawning into his hoof. “Three, I think. Maybe four?” he said hopefully.
“That sounds about right,” mumbled Fragrant bobbing her head forwards and puckering up.
***
Fragrant struggled to open her eyes. Just one last stretch should do it now, since there were only a few more pages still to correct and write up. She just had to make sure Max stayed awake and on task. She looked over towards her coltfriend, but his head was resting against the desk so she reached over to give him a shake. Then she caught a glance at the completed document on the table. After several long moments, her languid thoughts came to the conclusion that she must have dozed off for a bit and missed the last few pages. Yawning, she flicked through the document and could not find anything missing. With a sigh, she let her head drift down and rest next to Max’s.
“Well done,” she whispered, “I’m proud of you.” She gently laid another kiss against his neck and tried to stand up, but she felt far too relaxed right now for anything that complex. They probably had two hours or more before the bill had to be filed and that would be plenty of time to have a quick nap. She let her eyes drift shut again. Maybe she should be acting with a little more urgency, but Max was so very comfortable to lie on. She really didn’t feel like moving right now.
Max gave a yawn and stretched. The pony lying on him gave a whimper and snuggled closer to him before relaxing again. This feels very nice thought Max, even though he wasn’t exactly in the most comfortable position. There was a book digging into his flank, but he would not have shifted position for all of Equestria and maybe a few of the Exarchys as well. Without opening his eyes, he sniffed. Yes, it was definitely Fragrant draped over him. It was nice to think he could recognise her by scent alone. He wondered how they had ended up sleeping together this time? It tended to happen quite frequently, but it did get a little frustrating that things hadn’t gotten further yet. Fragrant seemed to be a little flighty about the next step in their relationship and he didn’t want to push her into anything she wasn’t comfortable with. They should probably talk things over but there didn’t seem to have been the right time yet.
Yawning again, he tried to think back to what had happened last night. He hoped he could remember so he could repeat it later. He remembered Fragrant coming over for a date, but he’d been busy with something, so they’d had dinner together. Then there had been a lot of time spent on something important…
His eyes snapped open. The completed bill sat on the table in front of him with only a few drops of drool on its cover. He swivelled his gaze to the window. To his relief, the sun wasn’t up yet, but the glow entering the building suggested that it wasn’t far off.
There’s probably less than half an hour to deliver the bill to the castle!
Fragrant could make it there in a few minutes by wing, so he tried to turn to get a good look at her without waking her up. She looked so peaceful right now with her mane disheveled and covering much of her face. There was no way he was going to get her up to finish his task. He would have to make the journey himself.
Carefully, bit by bit, he crawled out from under Fragrant. He tried to be as gentle as possible, first freeing one reluctant hoof, then another, and finally his tail which was nearly completely covered, before he could begin to crawl forward. For a moment, Fragrant tensed, her wings tightening around his barrel. He froze, but then she gave a snort and relaxed, rolling away from him. Max took his chance and quickly scuttled away before Fragrant could reach out for him again. Her face scrunched up in sleep, apparently not happy to have lost her source of warmth and her limbs started to blindly reach out trying to find him while she gave a grumble of displeasure.
Quickly, he rushed upstairs and grabbed a pillow and blanket from his bed. Trotting back downstairs as quietly as possible, he put the pillow in his former place. Fragrant grabbed at it, burrowing her muzzle deeply in it and taking a sniff before seeming to accept it as a replacement, then relaxing again into a deeper sleep. Grinning like a fool, Max gently laid the blanket over her and turned to leave, but couldn’t resist leaning in and gently kissing Fragrant on her forehead. “I’ll be back soon,” he whispered. Fragrant mumbled some reply which he didn’t understand before he turned and headed to the door, quietly letting himself out before galloping at full speed towards the castle.
Panting heavily, Max rushed into the palace entrance hall. It felt good to really push his limits, but some of the wounds he had suffered at the hooves of the Corona cultists were really aching. He would probably needed a few more weeks of healing before he’d be back to full strength. He’d got a few strange looks while he’d gone barrelling through the town weaving his way through the early morning crowds. It was lucky that none of the guards had stopped him on the way here but he guessed they recognised him and were used to his eccentricities by now. Leaping up the stairs in giant bounds, he quickly tried to visualise where the records room was from here, twisting in the air while rushing towards the appropriate door and barely avoiding a unicorn bearing a large stack of papers coming the other way. “Sorry!” he cried when his passing sent the forms flying, leaving the scribe desperately reaching out with his aura to try and catch them all.
Max reached the door to the Central Stores just as a middle aged unicorn mare, her grey mane done up in a strict bun was starting to hang up a sign on the door. “Sorry,” panted Max his hooves scrabbling on the floor as he clattered to a halt. “I, I need to file something.”
“Come back tomorrow. We’re closed,” intoned the clerk not looking away from the door.
“Please, it’s really important, and it has to be done now!” exclaimed Max glancing over at a window. The sun was just starting to edge over the horizon.
“I said we’re—” The mare turned to face Max, then a shocked expression passed over her face for a moment. She blushed and held a hoof to her mouth, seeming to stifle a gasp or a giggle. “Oh! Um, Baron Max isn’t it? It looks like you had an... um... busy night?”
"Huh?" Max tried to give what he hoped was a winning smile. "Well, yes. I guess so. There was a lot to do and it was pretty hard going, but with a bit of help, I managed to power on through."
“I bet it was hard,” said the scribe with her eyes twinkling. “It’s been a few years now but me and the husband used to...” she trailed off. “So, um, what can I do to help you?” she asked, shaking herself.
“I need to have this stamped and filed,” said Max holding out the completed bill.
“I can do that,” the scribe said quickly flicking through the papers with her eyes flicking between Max and the bill. “Then you can get back to doing whoev— I mean whatever you were doing.”
“Thanks! Actually, I think I could do with a bit more time in bed because I didn’t get all that much sleep.”
“So I can see,” said the mare raising an eyebrow. “Just a minute.” She produced a stamp from somewhere, laid the bill against a nearby table, and proceeded to slam the stamp down against several of the pages. “If you could sign here,” she pointed to a line on the form, “and here. Now I’ll date and sign it here, and we’re all done. This should be put on the schedule for the correct committee within the next month.”
Max felt a rush of relief through him. Finally, it felt like he was actually getting something done. “Thanks!” he exclaimed leaning forwards and planting a kiss on the cheek of the scribe. “Thanks!” he repeated.
“Oooh! Oh, that’s alright, it’s my job after all,” she said, her cheeks glowing brightly.
“And you’ve done it really well! But I won’t keep you, and I’m sure you’ve got things to do now the working day is over.”
“Yes, I better get home. My husband—” she looked over Max again licking her lips “—well, I think he might be very happy to see me today.” She lowered her gaze.
Max nodded. He should get home as well, see if Fragrant was awake, and maybe see about making breakfast. There was some of the food left over from last night if nothing else.
Max returned home at a more reasonable pace and carefully opened the door, hoping to not wake Fragrant. He didn’t need to have worried, because she was already up and had apparently had time to smarten herself up a little since he could see her mane was neatly combed. “Morning Fragrant,” he called as he entered, “I managed to get the bill filed just in time!”
“I’m glad to hear it. After all that work you put into it, hopefully things will go…” Her voice trailed off after she turned towards him, and she held a hoof to her mouth.
“What is it?” asked Max looking around. “Is something wrong?”
“You went out looking like that?” she exclaimed, giving a chuckle.
“Like what?” said Max, turning on the spot as he tried to get a look at himself. Sure, he probably looked a bit ruffled after staying up all night, but he couldn’t be that bad, could he?
“Oh, Max. What ever must ponies have thought of you?” She giggled again. “You look... well you must have given some ponies some very odd ideas about what you’d been doing.”
“What is it?” said Max, increasingly agitated trying to see whatever Fragrant had picked up on.
“Mirror,” gasped Fragrant before bursting out in laughter at his actions. “Look at yourself!”
Frowning, Max rushed up the stairs to examine himself in the mirror there. He gasped, his entire face was covered in red lipstick marks from where Fragrant had been kissing him. They didn’t stop at his face, though. The distinctive smudges of her dark red lipstick stood out very well against his coat and the white of his bandages, up and down and all around his barrel and flanks as well. She’d been very thorough.
“Oh!” he exclaimed out loud, suddenly realising why the Night Court Clerk had been acting so strangely. Luna only knew what she thought they had been up to. “You do know,” he added when Fragrant joined him, still giggling, “this is your fault.”
“I don’t recall you arguing last night.” Fragrant leaned forwards and planted her lips on his own. “I missed a spot,” she explained once they broke apart.