While the remainder of their time in the park was peacefully pleasant, eventually the free period ended and Luna’s entourage had to return to the castle. The carriage ride back was quiet for some time. Thomas had questions, but wasn’t certain how to get them across.

Luna looked down at Thomas with a casual smile, unaware of his discomfort. “How was your first official encounter with the press?”

“To be honest, I could have done without,” Thomas groaned. “I don’t think I much care for life as a celebrity.”

“One interview hardly qualifies for celebrity status,” Luna countered, “but we understand your sentiment. We apologize for putting you in a position you weren’t comfortable with.”

“What? No. It wasn’t your fault.” Thomas denied. “And you did most of the talking, so it wasn’t that bad anyway. At least I didn’t make a fool myself and embarrass you in front of the media.”

“Your concern is much appreciated, dearest Thomas. However, we did not reveal thy existence to Equestria lightly.”

Thomas looked up at the alicorn expectantly.

“Under normal circumstances, the identities of the royal concubines are not broadcasted so openly so as to protect them from the tabloids,” Luna explained. “Such was the reason we asked you not to wear your uniform this night and why we did not volunteer your title until asked. However, your situation is unique, given that you are the only one of your kind in all Equestria, you are more prone to drawing attention. Lady Attentive Eye recently brought to our attention certain trashy articles speaking of a wild creature roaming the castle grounds and following us around as a pet.”

Thomas waited for the Princess to elaborate. “So?”

“So?” Luna scoffed. “So it was incredibly disrespectful to refer to thee in such a manner. Worse were the suggestions of having you confiscated by wildlife authorities and either put in a zoo or being released into the wild. The fools couldn’t even tell that thou art a male, referring to thee as ‘she’ or even ‘it’.” Luna seethed.

“I don’t really mind all that,” Thomas lied as he stroked Luna’s arm consolingly. “I don’t read most papers anyway, so I’d probably never even know. Besides, you’d never send me off to a zoo, right?”

“Of course we wouldn’t!” Luna snapped, causing Thomas to jump back as the Princess seethed. “But it does not matter. We knew what the tabloids have been saying. We knew and were becoming most agitated, especially yesterday when we received a letter from the Canterlot Zoo requesting thou be sent to them as soon as possible so their veterinarians could check thee for diseases.”

“Um,” Thomas glanced over at the guards on the other side of the carriage before looking back at Luna. “Didn’t you already get me checked out anyway?”

“Tis the principle of the matter,” Luna huffed. “We discussed it with our sister and agreed that it would be best to reveal the nature of thy existence under our terms, rather than let rumors spiral out of control and potentially lead to some unstable pony to try something stupid.”

Ignoring his fear, Thomas took Luna’s hand in his own and gripped it tightly. “Alright. I get it. You were just looking out for my safety and I appreciate that.” I belong to her, so disrespect to me is like disrespect to her.

Luna gave a grateful smile at his understanding, which he returned. Moonlight cooed at the adorable sight, much to the displeasure of Swift Scabbard who made her shrink in her seat under the weight of his glare. Luna and Thomas tried not to giggle.

“And Moonlight?”

“Yes, your Highness!” the guard jumped.

“I trust that… you shall continue guarding my little human. Now that there can be no doubt in his status, it is more important than ever that he be protected.”

Moonlight nodded proudly. “You have my word, Princess.”

As they neared the castle, another thought occurred to Thomas. Someone doing anything against the Princess’ personal sex toy would probably be a national scandal. Nipping this in the butt like she did was mostly just to avoid the hassle of having her competency questioned by the media for failing to protect her servants. That word weighed heavy as it lingered in Thomas’ mind. Servant. That’s what I am. That’s all I am. Nothing wrong with that, though. I’m pretty sure I basically outrank a lot of other ponies in the castle, not to mention at least half the kingdom is probably jealous of me, but I shouldn’t ever forget that I’m still just castle staff. For a moment he remembered Talon’s suggestion to ask what all his job really entailed, but that could wait for another time. They’d arrived.

**********

Luna’s entourage made their way to the throne room where she’d stay for the remainder of the evening to conduct the remainder of the night court. Once they arrived, they were met by a small mob of finely dressed ponies all clamoring to get the Princess’ attention, but she ignored them all and made her way inside. Lady Attentive Eye greeted them at the door and motioned for everyone to take their positions. Luna took her seat upon the throne, which was situated to the right of Celestia’s and distinguished by her cutie mark at the top, and looked out over the rows of chairs before her from her elevated position. The guards stood at their positions against the walls like silent sentries. Thomas stood at the door and waited to be dismissed to one of the back rooms on either side of the throne. Instead, Luna nodded to Attentive Eye and the secretary handed Thomas his book, gesturing he make his way to a chair off in the back corner of the hall where the nobles wouldn’t even notice him.

I’m actually sitting in for night court? Thomas thought dreadfully as he took his seat. Maybe they’re just testing the waters to see how well the aristocrats respond to me. They’ve seen me beside Luna before, but this’ll likely be the first time they’ve had to deal with me when I’m not being overshadowed by an alicorn.

Attentive Eye opened the door and welcomed the delegates as they entered. The mares and stallions all looked quite proud of themselves in their expensive garments as they filed in and tried not to look like they were racing to reach the seats closest to the throne. General business was typically held in the throne room or the assembly hall, depending on the size of the crowd, while more private meetings took place in Luna’s office.

Thomas attempted to hide by burying his face in his book, but that did nothing to impair his hearing. He caught more than a few nobles mentioning the ‘ape’ and how ‘it’ stunk up the room. Besides not being as close to Luna, Thomas’ main reason to hate the amphitheater was that it allowed self-entitled ponies to say whatever they wanted about him and not be heard by the Princess. No matter how many times he told himself their opinions didn’t matter, it still hurt. He was so focused on making himself as invisible as possible that he didn’t notice Luna’s ear twitch every time an insult was uttered.

When all were seated, filling up more than half the chairs in the room, Attentive Eye teleported beside Luna and the two began to whisper about something. Thomas caught them both glancing at him several times. The delegates had fallen into their own quiet conversations as they waited for the night court to have its late beginning.

Eventually Attentive Eye took her position at the foot of the throne and held her clipboard to her side. “All rise! The night court is now in session! Her highness, Princess Luna presiding!” she announced.

The delegates stood on command.

Luna gave a welcoming bow of the head. “Welcome, all of you. We thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to meet us this night that we may all strive to serve our nation as best we can. You may now be seated.”

The crowd did as instructed and waited patiently for the first matter of business to be called.

Attentive Eye unfurled the scroll and began to read. “Item G-8-34-C-2-4-9, proposed by President River Chaser of the McWinnies to amend the Code of Workers’ Compensation regarding hours worked overtime.”

“We will hear your proposal now,” Luna beckoned.

A stuffy looking cream colored unicorn stallion stood at attention and gave a low yawn. “Your Highness,” he bowed. “I come here not only on behalf of McWinnies, but all businesses that offer flexible hours to our employees to bring to your attention the matter of drastically increased labor costs in the last few months since the establishment of the night court. Since more and more ponies are going out at night, we have had to make considerable adjustments to our worker rotations to accommodate the increase in evening customers. Originally employees were asked to work the night shifts on a strictly voluntary basis with the assurance that such additional hours would be counted toward overtime. However, as the need for more night workers grows, we can no longer afford this system. What I and others are trying to do is to create a broader range of work shifts so that only working seven hours isn’t counted as overtime simply because those hours are at night. However, the unions have refused to negotiate with us at every turn.”

As if on cue, the moment he made his case, a unicorn mare with similar cream coloring to the stallion, made her stand on behalf of the workers in the union from the other end of the hall. “It is unconscionable to expect ponies to automatically make the switch from working days to nights. Not only is it stressful on the body, but on the relationships of ponies who are no longer able to spend as much time with their friends and love ones.”

“My sympathies to ponies making life adjustments,” River Chaser began. “However, ponies’ personal lives are their own business, not that of the business. Our concern is the wellbeing and performance of our workers while they are on the clock. The labor they offer at night is no different than the labor during the day and they should be paid accordingly.”

“All we ask for is fair compensation during this period of adjustment,” Stream Chaser addressed the Princess without even looking at the stallion.

“It’s been three months!” River Chaser countered. “When I started working as an associate of McWinnies, I put in twelve hour shifts on a daily basis because I knew my hard work would pay off in the end. That’s how I managed to make manager while some ponies were content to do the bare minimum.”

“Oh please,” Stream Chaser scoffed. “You’re bringing that up again?”

“No pony is being forced to work hours they can’t handle,” River Chaser ignored the mare’s comment. “Our employees are asked to work where and when they’re needed. Many businesses have required ponies to work night shifts in the past and it’s unreasonable to expect the business to pay more when the value of the labor hasn’t changed.”

“The value of the labor has changed because there’s more demand for night workers,” Stream Chaser sneered.

“Which is why we’ve hired more ponies to work at nights!” River Chaser countered.

“You’re just flank hurt now that it looks like you won’t have as much for bonuses to give yourselves for Hearth’s Warming, you’re trying to cheat your employees out of their hard earned bits.”

“You’re accusing me of cheating? Oh that’s rich coming from the mare who got her cutie mark in scheming!” he pointed to her exposed hip at the image of a thought bubble surrounded by waves.

“How dare you! I’ll have you know that my cutie mark symbolizes my creativity in coming up with solutions to problems no pony else can handle.”

Is that what that stands for? Thomas wondered. He’d been trying to read, but the show was just too entertaining. The two ponies had left their seats behind and were yelling obscenities at one another in preparation for their meeting in the middle of the hall. The surrounding ponies made their voices heard as well, either announcing support for one of the soon-to-be combatants, vainly trying to calm things down by yelling even louder, or speaking some other nonsense that couldn’t be distinguished over the chorus of their fellows. While all eyes were focused on the cream colored unicorns, Thomas looked up see Luna fidgeting in anger as she looked upon the scene. Knowing that look well, he threw his hands over his ears and braced himself for what was to come.

“ENOUGH!” Luna ordered in the Royal Canterlot Voice as she stood from her throne, silencing everyone in the room and a few birds on nearby trees. Even the cream colored unicorns had frozen mid step. “Night court shall not descend into anarchy under our watch.” Luna said sternly. “We believe that both of you have presented your arguments adequately, despite your foalish behavior. Is there any pony else with anything to add to the matter?” When there was no answer, Luna gave an affirming nod. “Then let us bring it to a vote. All those in favor of changing evening hours from overtime to regular time?”

Several ponies raised their hands.

“All opposed?”

Several fewer ponies raised their hands.

“Motion passes,” Luna said as she sat back on her throne. “Next item.”

Thomas couldn’t help but snicker at how the delegates grumbled to themselves like children who’d been told to eat all their greens or no dessert. It was always so satisfying to see ponies so accustomed to always getting their way suddenly being reminded that they weren’t actually at the top. The remainder of the night court was a much more sober affair as ponies discussed the issues like rational adults. Sorry democracy, but ya can’t argue with this kind of efficiency.

The delegates were much more civil in the following discussions as Thomas returned to his book. In fact, he’d been so wrapped up in the story that he failed to notice the mare sneak into the seat beside his own, causing him to jump when she coughed.

“Sorry,” the mare whispered with a smile. She was a grey earth pony with dark violet mane and a black dress. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Um, n-no problem,” Thomas stuttered as he nervously contemplated moving over a seat. “M-may I help you Miss.…”

“Lace,” the mare tilted her head cordially. “My name is Velvet Lace and I couldn’t help but notice you sitting here all by yourself.”

“I wasn’t bothering you, was I?”

“Not at all. I simply saw a colt all on his own and thought he could use some pleasurable company.” With her hands in her lap, Velvet leaned back in her seat and heaved her breasts out. “So, would you enjoy some company? I know I’d enjoy a lovely discussion with such a lovely colt.”

Thomas narrowed his eyes skeptically. “Discuss what, exactly?”

“Oh, just things,” Velvet trailed off. “We could talk about the weather, current events, the economy, or perhaps all three. Did you know my company is currently working on a new line of winter attire that is both fashionable and protective against the cold?”

“No. I didn’t know that.”

“Hardly surprising,” Velvet rolled her eyes. “My company’s competitors have been working quite diligently to keep our product off the market. They even came up with some ridiculous lie that our clothes use ‘hazardous’ materials,” she laughed. “Utterly ludicrous. I swear, they are only being so hostile because I’m an earth pony trying to get ahead in a city of unicorns.”

“Sounds rough,” Thomas nodded suspiciously.

“Saaaay,” Velvet’s expression brightened in realization. “Aren’t you Princess Luna’s Senior Concubine?”

“That’s what they tell me.”

“You must know what it’s like to be discriminated against, being the only one of your kind in the city.”

“How’d you know about that? The interview was only earlier tonight.”

“Oh darling, I am a very well informed pony,” Velvet tittered. “One does not get ahead in Canterlot by being ill informed of other important ponies. But on that matter, I was wondering if you could talk to the Princess about my terrible mistreatment at the hands of the elitists.” When Thomas didn’t answer right away, Velvet added “I’ll make it worth your while,” she punctuated with a wink.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass on that,” Thomas grimaced.

“All I ask is that you ask the Princess, perhaps in the bliss of the afterglow, to give the matter of my company a second thought,” she pleaded as she leaned in uncomfortably close.

Thomas studied the mare carefully, assessing if she were the sort to make a scene if she didn’t get her way. The nobility of the room already didn’t care for him, so if she made an accusation… He gave a conceding sigh. “What was the name of your company again?”

Velvet beamed excitedly. “Velvet’s Lace. And thank you for your help, you cute little monkey.”

Thomas just barely managed to avoid the mare leaning in for a kiss. He didn’t see that Luna’s disapproving stare had been lingering on him and Velvet for quite some time. And Luna didn’t notice that Attentive Eye had noticed her.

When night court finally concluded, Attentive Eye and the guards escorted Thomas and Luna back to their room. The attendants removed the Princess’ dirty clothes and served the pair their evening meal. Apparently Celestia was catching up on her beauty sleep and couldn’t be reached. The attendants left the pair in privacy after Luna finished lowering the moon and they closed the curtains. The pair ate their meals and chatted about the events of the day.

Thomas brought up the matter of Velvet Lace, making sure Luna knew that he knew he was being manipulated, but Luna assured that it was her own royal health inspectors who identified the hazardous materials in the fabric, and Thomas felt satisfied that he’d fulfilled his obligation.

Thomas considered asking Luna if there was anything she’d like to experiment with, but decided he wasn’t in an experimenting mood. Instead, he offered something he knew they would both enjoy and recounted the story from a movie he’d grown up with. Luna sat on the edge of her bed while Thomas walked about the room, acting out the scenes and doing the voices as he regaled her with ‘The Lion King’. A massage, bath, and three orgasms later, the alicorn and her human drifted off to asleep in each other’s arms with Luna gently humming the melody to ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’.

Thomas and Luna talk things out a bit, but not nearly as much as they should. We get a peak into the workings of Equestrian politics, and Thomas gets seduced by a cougar pony, though less of a cougar than the one he's currently sleeping with. We also get a bit more insight as to what these two do together besides bucking.