"Whenever Princess Celestia is questioned on her affinity for cakes or other sweets every reporter gets the same answer. 'I like to taste the fruits of my labor, my little pony.' To this day everypony has heard this answer, but nopony has an answer to the myriad expressions the Princess would give. What we do know is that different sweets have different expressions tied to them. Cake makes her happy, Moonpie makes her melancholic, and Custard make her nostalgic."
- Gadabout, The Princess's Sweet Tooth, 2002, Equestrian Press.
When Stalwart's great hammer spoke, He was certain he had lost his mind. Granted, watching after the Princesses had probably already driven him insane. Princess Lunar Glow was perfectly content most of the time with quiet study in the Library, the rest of the time she craved attention, which could be a handful during meetings or addresses to the public. Princess Celeste Aurora was by far the bigger problem. From the seemingly boundless amounts of energy she possessed to her perchance for practical jokes and getting herself into trouble the Princess was single-hoofedly responsible for most of the grey hairs Stalwart had grown over his tenure.
However, Stalwart had not been in charge of watching the Princesses that day, so he was fairly confident he hadn't finally lost his mind, which meant that this WAS actually happening and he was suddenly faced with a choice. Stalwart let out a deep sigh and looked back over his shoulder at the weapon lying innocently against the wall, as if it didn't just toss another major problem into his lap. Although, he couldn't bring himself to be upset. The desperate, almost pleading tone played a large part in that.
Stalwart ran through his quickly put together plan again, knowing full well that any misstep would result in the destruction of this somewhat living being at best, and a bloody mob for his head at the worst. Firstly, I must somehow creep through the castle quietly during lockdown following the assassination attempt. Secondly, somehow I must convince Princess Lunar Glow to lend us her Majesty's magnificent mind. I will most likely need to gather a bribe from the kitchen before hoof. Third, put aside a portion of my day to teach It. Stalwart crept out into the hallway with a quick glance down the corridors, that familiar rush of adrenaline born from sneaking around the castle at night when the Princesses grew restless from their sedentary lifestyles kept him alert and cautious while carrying his weapon low to the ground so the glow of his magic would go unseen. "Alright, firstly, we must stop by the kitchen, then onward to The Princess's chamber." He lifted the hammer slightly higher so he could whisper to it, feeling only moderately silly at the situation he was in. "Okay It, I'm taking thee, Oh right. thee is It. But only when Something does it. Understand?"
For a moment there was no sign of life from It, leading Stalwart to question his sanity again, before It responded. "Understand." Stalwart waiting for a second longer but it soon became clear that It had nothing more to say. Stalwart shook his head softly before continuing on his path making sure to put on his knight persona when passing by servants and soldiers but taking alternate paths when he recognized the Eleanca among them, their sensitivity to magic would alert them to It.
it had taken almost half an hour but Stalwart was now standing before the kitchen servants entrance, hesitant from the very recognizable sounds of a certain princess with a major sweet tooth filtering out of it. "Shit. This wast not in the plan, of all the nights for her to get creative." Stalwart grumbled to himself as he leaned It against the doorjamb and rolled his neck to stretch out, knowing that getting either past her or convincing her to turn a blind eye to his presence was going to take a large amount of patience and effort. Stalwart took a deep breath, asking the stars for strength before silently opening the door and marching in.
Contrary to the sounds he had heard before entering the kitchen was almost perfectly clean, and Princess Celeste was doing an admirable job at keeping any mess she made while baking contained. 'Impressive, I have never known Her Highness to stick to a task for so long.' Speaking of, Stalwart thought back to the moment The Princess had taken up this new hobby, the way her eyes had lit up when a foreign chef brought something called 'Linzer Torte', a new culinary invention made of 'short' bread covered with preserves and sliced nuts and topped with a pattern resembled a lattice fence. The treat was an overall success to the royal family, especially to the elder Princess.
Celeste took to what was being called pastry with an unmatched gusto, devoting all of her being to not only learning how to make it, but adding her own twists to the recipe to create her own pastries. Recently, Celeste had expanded her repertoire to the point that she could no longer come up with anything new, so she had been not only sending letters to every culinary contact the royal family had, but was also involved in as many culinary classes her parent's would allow her to sign up for. All of that seemed to culminate into this moment, the Reanent Unicorn utterly focused on the ovens in front of her with a piece of parchment that held her "Magnum Opus".
Stalwart slowly surfaced from his mind, the pride he felt at the effort the Princess put into baking notwithstanding, as he leaned against a nearby counter to watch over her. Celeste for her part did not notice when he entered, furiously triple checking every step she had written down to make absolutely sure nothing would go wrong right at the end; where every sleepless night experimenting would come to a glorious crescendo. Once Celeste had managed to calm her rampaging thoughts she let out a pleased hum and let her head softly rest against the large bag of flour she had lugged onto the counter space next to her little workstation. Stalwart took this as his opportunity to make his presence known, and lifted his hoof to clear his throat loudly, the sound making Celeste flail for a moment before she caught her balance.
Celeste whirled around with a wild eyes, her tied up mane nearly coming undone with the motion, and promptly deflated once she saw it was just Stalwart and that she would not be getting in trouble for being out past curfew. "Ser Stalwart Shield! Thou art lucky that thee art Our friend, fiend!" All of Celeste's fake anger dissipated with her laughter, turning her head just enough to check the oven behind her as she continued to speak. "What art thou doing here at such an hour? We know thee quite well, and thou hast never broken curfew." With a gasp Celeste snapped back around to look her fellow Reanent in the eye, glee painted across her features and settling into her cheeks with the size of her grin. "Art though breaking the rules!? Ser Shield, how awful of thee."
Stalwart felt that if he rolled his eyes any harder they were liable to never come back down as Celeste came over to nudge him in the side. "As much as I am sure that thou wouldst enjoy the notion immensely, this is... A special circumstance. And I shall NOT be telling thou anything until the matter is settled, hopefully without incident." Stalwart nudged Celeste back, causing her to squeal and to scamper away from him with a pout now that her fun had been interrupted. "Thou may be able to help me, however." Stalwart mused as he looked over to Celeste's oven. "I am in need of a bribe for thy sister. May I trouble thee for a portion of whatever you art making to use as such?"
Celeste regarded him with a cool gaze before she spoke slowly. "Thou may, but not without payment in kind." Celeste turned to face Stalwart fully, standing at her full height to look down at him, every bit The Princess and none of the Mischievous Imp she was before. "These are Our terms, Thou must set aside one full day and night to spend with Us and Our Sester. Thou must reject any other request for thy time as well." And here she dropped the Commanding Ruler role and settled back into her skin as the elder sister. "In truth We hath seen less and less of thee as thy duties have grown due to thy new position and Our Sester has expressed her concern for her friend, Concerns that We share. We, both Our Sester and Us, are worried that thou art working thyself into the grave. Lunar Glow especially. Thou must remember that rest is a requirement, not an option, friend." Celeste's face fell, worry shining through and causing guilt to eat away at Stalwart's heart, he had been rushing back and forth between assignments with little to no rest time between them and it was beginning to show in his results.
Stalwart sighed, the realization that he had not been the best companion to the young royals laying heavy upon his heart and soul. 'This at least,' Stalwart thought to himself, raising his gaze to Celeste's hopeful one, 'Is something I can do, once a week. Once again, they hath guided me back to the path.' Stalwart stepped closer, raising his hoof and extended it out to The Princess, steel in his eyes as he straightened out and resolutely made his promise.
"I swear on my honor as Knight of your Mother's roundtable to not only rise to the opportunity thou hath presented to me, but to set aside a time once a week so that this conversation may not be needed again." celeste could only smile and happily grasp Stalwart's hoof in her own as they shook, a teasing glint entering her eye once the heaviness of this encounter had passed them by.
"Then we hath a deal Ser Stalwart. Lunar Glow will be most pleased." And like Celeste had planned it all out, the magical timer above the oven alerted them both to the fact that Celest's project was done. Celeste moved back over to the ovens using her magic to put away everything she had pulled out before opening the oven and carefully pulling out her result; a large and fluffy layered confection of differing colors, so soft and moist that there was visible steam coming off of every surface her creation had. Celeste gasped, stars in her eyes as she carefully placed it onto the nearby cooling rack. "I did it, I did it! uh, We did it."
Stalwart shook his head and looked away from the blushing Princess toward the as of yet unnamed treat. "Thou didst well Princess." Stalwart wandered over to where Celeste had left the recipe, idly glancing over it as The Princess was nearly vibrating in her excitement. "Hath thou a name for it?" Stalwart asked as he wandered back over, holding an apple in his magical grip, slightly concerned that The Princess still hadn't moved from her spot staring at it.
Blinking as she got ahold of herself, Celeste turned with a manic gleam in her eye that caused Stalwart to take a step back in slight fear of what Celeste was capable of in this state, the apple falling to the floor. "Oh how thee doubt Us Stalwart! " Celeste grabbed the recipe in her magic and looked around for a quill, quickly remembering that she was in the kitchen and instead decided to say it aloud, she proudly named her creation. "Kaeka!"
Stalwart tilted his head, tentatively repeating what he heard, slightly confused. "Cake?" Celeste stopped for a moment, processing what Stalwart had said before turning with a large and bright grin.
"Oh that is a MUCH better name! Cake it is!" And with that said and done Celeste grabbed the older Reanent in a tight hug and gazed happily at her newly named 'Cake'.