• Published 4th Jul 2014
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Judge Celestia: Upon the Throne of Justice - Aegis Shield



Celestia allows a radio show to broadcast cases from the Noon Day Court.

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Recess #1 Dinner

Judge Celestia: Upon the Throne of Justice
Part 5: Recess

Noble Cause rather bashfully entered the royal dining room, and was surprised by what he found. Luna and Celestia were lounging on their own sitting pillows, a nieghponese-style table between them, and a tea set already in use. “Ah, there you are,” Luna said gaily, nodding to the guards to let him pass, then dismissing them. “Come! Sit!”

“I like your mane this natural color, Noble Cause,” Celestia ventured from behind her teacup. “The orange suits you.”

“Pumpkin orange, my mom used to say,” the stallion smiled lopsidedly, settling on an empty pillow. While he was settling, Luna made a ‘keep it up’ gesture at her sister.

Celestia’s eyes searched a parchment that wasn’t there, thinking hard. “Hrm-merm… Perhaps I can borrow a captain’s helmet for you, from now on. I know I like my soldiers to look the same and appear as a uniform force, all white and grey and gold, but… I think orange suites you best,” she smiled. “Captain helmets don’t color the mane of their wearers.”

The stallion smiled, a warmth in his face. “I’d be honored!” Opening his wings and refolding them for comfort, he graciously accepted the teacup. The green liquid inside made him cock his head.

“It tastes pretty bad,” Celestia said. Noble Cause barked a laugh before he could stop himself, scrunching his muzzle with a hoof over his mouth. “But it’s good for you. Luna and I have a cup each evening instead of taking vitamins or any such thing, for our health,” she said.
Noble Cause looked down into his tea again, pondering. Well if it was good enough for a Princess— bottoms up. He took a deep drink before he saw Luna wince. The taste of tree bark, pepper, and feet hit his tongue. One of his wings, not both, shot out at an odd angle. As soon as he inhaled, the taste breathed and turned into mint and berry—what a bizarre drink! “You’re supposed to sip and then let it breathe, like wine. Suck in a bit of air.” Luna said, smirking at him. He obeyed, and the nasty taste slowly subsided. They sat in silence, sipping tea as they pleased for a long time.

Very suddenly the double-doors opened, and a maid came in bearing a cart. “Majesties… sir?” it came out like a question when she spotted a third pony at the table. Coughing once and regaining her composure, she put a placemat before each seated pony. (The cart had enough supplies for ten ponies, thankfully not just the royal sisters) She took the tea set and cups, putting what looked to Noble Cause like a bowl of water before each of them. Was it soup? It smelled funny…

Rather than try to strike up conversation with two Princesses, Noble Cause lowered his muzzle to taste it. “Noble!” Celestia’s massive wing came out and about his shoulder. “No no, its not—!” She stopped, for Luna was chuckling at her sister. The huge white wing lifted and the alicorn mouthed something cruel at her. “It’s not soup,” she finally told him. “You dip your hooves,” she showed him, “Like this.”

Noble blushed, straightening. “Got it,” he balanced on his rump and dipped his hooves a few times. The maid went about with a small towel, giving six fore-hooves a quick and gentle wipe-down. When she came to him, she caught his eyes. Silence passed during the brief moment, but curiosity and questions were in her gaze. Who was this stallion? She didn’t know. Not lingering, she bowed and was away with the bowls of water to her cart. “Tonight’s dinner is a sticky white rice with various condiments, bit-sized battered shrimp and an ice water to keep the flavor strong,” she said, bowing at the threshold of the royal dining area. “I’ll be sure to let them know of our… of our majesties’ guest.” She closed the doors gracefully, bowing once more as she did so.

“The poor thing needs a stiff mounting, uptight as she is sometimes,” Luna commented thoughtfully.

“Luna!” Celestia barked angrily. “Trim Tidy works very hard for us!”

“And yet she walks as though she has a stick in her backside when she is around us,” Luna said with a roll of her eyes. “Despite years of service.”

“It’s good ettiquite,” Celestia said, trying not to look at the stallion at the table that was watching them bicker.

“After years of being around us alicorns she should be able to at least look us in the eyes without feeling so nervous,” Luna huffed, “We are not gods, merely more potent than she. Don’t you agree, Noble Cause?”

Both sisters turned to look at him, and he froze like a deer in headlights. “Er-well, I’m certainly at ease around Princess Celestia when I work as bailiff.”

“Now there’s a lie even Tarturus wouldn’t swallow,” Luna snarked, egging him on a bit.

“No really! I feel like I have an important job! If someone threw something or tried to attack her, I’m the front line of defense!” he puffed his chest out a bit, rather proudly. Celestia ‘mmm’d into her hoof, pretending to cough. It didn’t hide the slight color in her cheeks. “Besides, not many ponies get to hang out with royalty every day,” he said. “I got hoof-picked for a reason, y’know.”

“Oh?” Luna said with interest.

“I took a bolt for a foreign dignitary once,” he turned himself sideways, lifting his wing. There was a rather obnoxious patch of naked skin at the base of the muscles. The star-shaped spot was a marred patch of tissue, no bigger than a bit-coin, but it was none the less impressive. “They moved me from Manehatten to here since they knew I could step up if the chips were down.”

“We have an impressive scar too!” Luna elated, pawing at her chest for a moment, “Look! We were stabbed in the breast, upon our own throne!” the massive stabbing-scar was hidden under her fur, but no less ugly.

Noble nodded, eyeing it. “I remember reading about that. It was a little over a year ago, wasn’t it? Your baliff turned out to be some sort of crystal-golem thing?” Luna nodded gravely, her eyes seeing the painful past. It was a spray of lightning and dark laughter only she could see and hear. Silence suddenly took the table, and Luna stared at her hooves. “Erm!” she caught herself, “I am hogging thy stallion, sister, do not let me dominate the visit!” she turned the conversation back to Celestia instead.

The white alicorn smiled embarrassedly. Her stallion, was it? W-well, she wouldn’t squawk and argue like an old mare. She’d already kissed his cheek several times, and he’d not protested.

A half hour or so of table talk and visiting went by. “…and that’s how Equestria was truly made,” Celestia smiled rather gracefully.

“Wowwww…” Noble Cause said in wonder, adjusting his religious dogma as best he could.

Just then the double doors opened once more and a few servants filed in, putting a nicely portioned plate in front of each pony. Then, just as quickly as they’d come, they were gone. Noble Cause studied his plate. A mound of white rice, a few utensils, and five or six puddles of sauce were arranged in a neat little rainbow in front of him. On a little saucer to one side of him was a lined-up arrangement of battered shrimp with three sauces to go with those. It suddenly occurred to him that he couldn’t dip his rice or his shrimp with any grace--- much less without getting sauce on his muzzle, in front of the Princesses. He stared at his food. Should he just eat the rice plain.

While he was contemplating, a fierce and silence argument was happening. Luna gestured at Noble with her muzzle. Celestia looked and saw the problem right away.

Luna gestured again.

Celestia shook her head.

Luna scrunched her muzzle and gestured harder.

Celestia shook her head harder.

Luna made a ‘look at him!’ gesture.

Celestia saw he was struggling, ears down.

‘Make thy move!’ Luna mouthed.

Celestia’s face went red and she looked back and forth between her sister and her… interest.

“Er, Princess?” Noble Cause made both Princesses freeze when he looked up. “A little help, please?”

“Uh? Oh yes, o-of course!” Celestia’s horn lit itself. The mound of rice on Noble’s plate separated into six or seven mini-mounds. Then the sauce blobs migrated, one each, into each mound. Luna rolled her eyes good-naturedly. Well there, the problem had solved itself.

“Thanks!” he leaned down to eagerly try the first one, pink tongue briefly flashing out to clean the spot on the plate. He chewed thoughtfully—it was orange sauce, how nice!

Luna’s brow rose at his… tongue efficiency. Celestia levitated a golden knife at the look in her eyes, threatening with a scowl. How dare she think of him that way! Luna made a ‘give up’ motion with her forehooves, ever the silent torturer. The smirk didn’t help, though. When Noble Cause straightened they were back to eating their own foods.

Noble Cause leaned, looking at the battered shrimp. While ponies could certainly eat meat, most did not save the pegasi tribe. They were known to be akin to the griffins, eating tiny sea-life like shrimp or crawdads when the occasion called for it. Taking one from the line, he tried that too—dipping his mane in purple sauce as he did so. His eyes crossed to look. Dangit! The meal continued mostly in silence, Luna trying to egg Celestia on, Celestia trying not to let Noble see this, and Noble stealthily trying to wipe his mane when they weren’t looking right at him. The shrimp was good, at least.

Finally Luna laid down her ace. “Well!” she stretched in front of a half-eaten plate. “I am filled for the evening, and the Midnight Court will begin when the moon rises! I must be off!” she rose, daintily wiping her muzzle. “May you both have a wonderful evening!” she bade, showing herself out.

Celestia watched her go with pleading eyes. Then the doors closed and she was alone with him. Noble Cause smiled that same attractive, lopsided coltish smile. She smiled back, her wings daintily unfolding. “Erm,” she said softly. “So what do you do with your time off, Noble?” she asked.

“Well my twin brother Lost Cause and I hike a lot, since Canterlot sits on a mountain,” he said, leaning to get another little shrimp for himself. “It’s fun to see how far you can see from the mountaintops.”

“Oh?” she said with interest.

“And when Canterlot’s below you, in the middle of the night, it’s like…” he paused, a dreamy expression crossing his face for a moment, “All the little lights are like the stars.”

“Looking down to see the night sky,” Celestia murmured. “How poetic…” she mumbled.

He nodded a bit. “Wh-what about you, then? What does Princess Celestia do with her off time?” Noble Cause asked. “Don’t tell me dirty romance novels and painting, there’s gotta be more than that.”

Celestia chuckled at herself, cursing inwardly at the stack of books that had been out in the open in her private apartments. “W-well, I spend time with my sister. She was gone a thousand years, so we always try to catch up a bit of the time.”

“Mhm?” he said with interest.

“And there’s Luna’s game closet,” she said offhandedly, smiling a bit.

“Game closet?”

“She collects board games, and insists we sit to play them like we did when we were fillies,” Celestia smiled fondly. She suddenly realized they were sitting much closer than before. When had that happened? Who had moved? Neither of them were centered in their sitting place anymore… both of them?

“That’s Princess Luna’s thing, what about you?” Noble insisted again.

“Well I… I erm…” Celestia looked to one side.

“Go on, I won’t tell,” Noble whispered, quite close now. They leaned close to one another, as though about to share an atomic secret. “Promise. What do you do on your spare time, huhm?” he wanted to know, ears perked.

“W-well I…” she lowered her voice a bit. “I like long, long bubble baths. Seven-hour ones.” She smiled embarrassedly at his shocked look.

“Bubble baths?” Noble Cause snickered.

“Mhm, I think I rubbed off on an old helper of mine as well. He started taking them and we would drain all the castle’s hot water in our two bathrooms if we took them on the same night.” Celestia grinned a little.

“That’s… cute,” Noble Cause admitted with a conspiratorial laugh. Suddenly he seemed to notice how close together they were as well. They studied one another for a few moments of silence. “I can just imagine you buried in a mountain of bubbles with your horn sticking out somewhere,” he whispered.

“Oh yes, I once dropped the bottle in the water…” Celestia’s voice was slowly sifting away like so much silken sand. They were drawing closer. “I was just buried… in…” she trailed off, for he was leaning up into her.

“Kiss-a-gram,” he husked softly, aquiver with anticipation. Tilting his head back for her height their lips—













Touched.
















Pressed.
















The rugged velvet of his muzzle pressed to her long, dainty one. She let out a rather pleased purr, tilting her head as her eyes fell closed. Like a parched pony in a desert suddenly being thrown a gallon of ice water… like a drooping flower soaking in the rain… Celestia recalled the happy warmth of fancy and male attention. They broke for breath, then kissed once more. His wings had half-opened in a virile display of interest.

“Princess---es…?” the words had died in Trim Tidy’s throat, and she stood there in the doorway. Celestia and Noble broke apart violently. A line of spittle went down Celestia’s lip, and she slapped herself to wipe it. Like two caught teenagers they stared at her, and she stared back. “I. didn’t. see. Anything.” She said robotically, backing out and closing the doors.

“Oh dear,” Celestia murmured. “This will spread like wildfire, I would wager,”

Noble Cause smiled awkwardly. “W-well… uhm…”

“I’m sorry,” Celestia said, looking over at him.

“I’m not!” he blurted, then caught himself. “I mean er…”

There were a few awkward moments, the two of them staring at each other. “You’re right,” she finally admitted. “What sort of world would it be if ponies were sorry for kisses?” he nodded, smiling his adorable, handsome smile. “Walk me to my apartments?” she offered. He nodded, and they rose to leave.



End of Recess