It was an ill-kept secret among the guard pegasi that their Princess hated flying by chariot. On the rare occasions she did so she would hold herself in rigid formality, features drawn in tension, barely moving until the chariot landed.
But for her to not fly by chariot was even rarer.
Thus, it was with great apprehension that Swift Wind and Smooth Current saw their Princess land before them, her mane billowing as if caught in a gale, even in the gentle evening breeze.
Bowing low before their mistress they greeted her. “Princess Luna.”
She bowed in return. “Swift Wind. Smooth Current. Has anything of import occurred in my absence?”
“Your student caused some commotion around midday, but it was solved relatively quickly. The Ponyville representative spooked her upon first landing but, as Miss Sparkle is currently attending a party thrown by her, we believe little negative feeling endures.”
“A party?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Twilight Sparkle is attending a party?”
“Indeed maam.”
Luna's eyebrow quirked, her frown lightening. “This I must see.”
Nodding to the duo, she began to walk towards the library. Halting a step before the library door she turned back towards the guards, face once again stone. “Gather the rest of the guard stationed in Ponyville and prepare the evacuation procedure.”
Smooth Current stared back shocked. “Your Majesty…”
“Just do it. Please.”
They bowed. “Very well, Your Highness.”
As they flew away to find the rest of the guard, Luna sagged in relief.
Inside the library Spike tried in vain to get back into playing Pin the Tail on the Pony. Twilight had sent him back downstairs claiming she needed time to evaluate what he’s found before meeting with the Princess. Spike knew that was a lie. She was trying to protect him. But what, or who, was she protecting him from?
A knock came at the door.
Seizing the opportunity Spike sprinted past Pinkie Pie to open the door.
Outside stood Princess Luna.
Forcing a smile to her face Luna watched as the door opened.
Seeing the young Dragon behind it, her smile widened.
“Hello young Spike.”
“Princess.”
“Are you quite alright Spike? I do hope your day has not been too stressful. Did your sister manage to make any new friends?”
Spike scuffed the floor with his claw, intent on not meeting her gaze. “Fine.”
Restraining a wince Luna pressed on. “Do you know where Twilight is?”
“Upstairs.”
She attempted to step forward, but Spike stood still, blocking the doorway.
"May I pass?"
He hesitated for a moment, but stepped aside, still refusing to look her in the eye.
Taking one last worried look at him, Luna took her first step into the main room, hooves already heavier with guilt.
“Hiya Princess!"
Luna blinked. A bright pink pony had appeared in front of her. She glanced at the cutie mark. Three balloons. Clearly some kind of party pony. Seeing the hopeful smile, she found herself quite unable to ignore its owner.
“Hello my little pony.”
“You’re new right? What am I saying you’re really old. I mean you’re like one thousand, eight hundred and sixty seven. And that’s really really old! I meant new to Ponyville. I mean, I haven’t seen you before now, so you must be. And I always throw a welcome party, for new ponies. But you just walked into a welcome party that wasn’t yours. And it's super mean not to give a friend their very own party, especially if they're a Princess. Not that I'd give you any special treatment. That would be wrong. I love all my friends the same. But you don’t look super happy. What about if I made this an extra special Twilight Spike Princess party? Would that make you happy?”
She paused, looking up at Luna with hopeful eyes.
Luna hesitated. She didn't want to upset this pony. But she only had half an hour at best before her sister would return. She needed to talk to Twilight, to explain.
An orange pony with a Stetson hat put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “Maybe you should give the Princess a second there Pinkie.”
Reluctantly Pinkie nodded. "She has an awful lot to do. I can wait to put her party hat on."
“Could I take your saddlebags?” asked a quiet voice to her right, drawing the alicorn from her fierce internal debate.
“What was that my little pony?” Luna asked, confusedly looking around for the voice.
“I could take your saddlebags for you.” whispered the yellow pegasus hiding behind her pale pink mane who had already started inching towards the nearest corner.
Luna’s tentative smile widened. “I would be honoured for you to take my bag for me dear…”
“Fluttershy. Twilight helped me earlier so I wanted to help you.”
Eyes softening Luna crouched slightly so the pegasus could reach more easily. “Thank you for your kindness, sweet Fluttershy. Just put it somewhere safe out of the way, could you?”
The pegasus nodded, fluttering off to tuck the bag away safe.
“Now then Pinkie, just take it slow and I’m sure the Princess will be your friend in no time.”
“You're right Applejack. You’re such a good friend." the pony shaped ball of chaos squealed, pulling the other earth pony into a hug that looked only somewhat bone crushing. "Thanks for being honest with me. Sometimes I forget stuff like that when I'm super busy trying to make everypony laugh you know?”
She turned her hopeful eyes back onto Luna. They appeared to have doubled to the size of dinner plates. “So Princess...will you be my friend and join the party?”
As her old heart swelled in her chest Luna could only nod.
“YAY! Super duper triple Twilight Spike Princess Party!” Pinkie jumped up in the air, almost impossibly high, zipping over Luna’s head to land on the floor behind her. Luna blinked. 'Had she just landed on her head?'
“Everypony gets extra cake!” Pinkie cheered.
Luna put the strange behaviour out of her mind mentally tucking it away in a box marked 'In case of Discord.'
From out of nowhere the party pony pulled another cake out onto the table, adding it to the Victoria Sponge and gem encrusted Battenberg that were already present.
It was chocolate fudge with vanilla icing. Luna's favourite. How had she known? Luna hadn't eaten a piece in decades.
She felt her mouth begin to water.
Chiding herself, she forced herself to pull away.
She didn’t have time for cake. She didn’t have time for a party. She needed to talk to Twilight. She needed to apologise. She needed to explain things. Before it was too late.
Turning to the nearest pony, she gently tapped them on the shoulder. “Excuse my little pony, but would you happen to know where the upper floor is? I need to talk to Twilight Sparkle.”
The pony suddenly gasped, whipping around before falling into a deep bow. “I am so sorry Your Majesty. I should have been paying more attention.”
“Not at all Miss…”
“Rarity.”
“It was not your fault Miss Rarity. It is I who should apologise for startling you. It is to your credit that you responded to my call. Do you know where my student is?”
“Twilight? Of course! I’ll take you there myself.”
“That really is not necessary.”
“I insist. It’s not every day a pony meets a Princess. We only have one after all!”
“Indeed.” replied Luna flatly.
Rarity’s smile became forced.
“Anyway I can most certainly take you up to her; she's just up the stairs there.”
“Ah of course, thank you Rarity, I suppose one could not expect her to remain at a party, even if it is her own.”
“Oh I wouldn’t say that. As much as I do love Pinkie Pie, her parties can be a little overwhelming, especially for a first time. And she did seem more than a little stressed when she headed up there… I should hate to hate to have chased such a pleasant acquaintance away.”
“You are quite concerned. It gives me great relief to know Twilight has made such a good friend. She will need you for the troubles yet to come. If you should wish something that is within my ability to grant I would be pleased to grant it.”
Rarity blushed heavily, before pushing through. “There is one thing, actually. After Twilight mentioned your current lack in the formal wear department I did make you a little something. I would be honoured if you would wear it. You don’t have to, of course.”
“That is very generous of you Miss Rarity. However, I cannot accept such a gift now. I must see to Twilight and the end of this celebration first and would hate to see it damaged in the meantime." Luna smiled wanly. "Could you keep it safe for me?”
“Of course. Oh, I do hope you like silver.”
The glint of proud eyes as an old melted down broach was forged into a crown. “I adore the colour silver.”
Together they began to climb the stairs.
“...Now wait just one minute. Just how do we know this is the real Princess Luna?"
Luna looked up. A rather vibrantly coloured pegasus was now blocking her path, flanked somewhat reluctantly by the quiet Fluttershy from earlier.
"And how come she didn’t come with any guards? She’s not even wearing her crown. I’m not letting some impostor around Blasty.”
Luna automatically reached up to check. Celestia would kill her if she lost her crown today of all days.
Celestia would kill her…
She sighed in relief. It was still there. Something crinkled. Pulling her hoof back Luna saw a pink paper crown on her head.
Looking over at its equally pink culprit she saw no signs of regret and every sign of pouting.
“She's definitely an impostor. I mean look at that mane. It's ridiculous.”
“Look who’s talking Rainbow Dash. Besides just how many alicorns do you know?”
“Well excuse me for being suspicious of alicorn princesses appearing out of nowhere Rarity. She's clearly a changeling.”
“Really darling a changeling would never be so gauche.”
“Just because you dated one once doesn’t make them all McDreamy, Rares.”
“Oh what would you know Rainbow. You spent the whole day sleeping.”
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too."
As Luna watched, the argument between the two quickly devolved into pointless bickering that grew louder and louder until it threatened to give her a headache. She was about to give up and order them both to silence when the orange earth pony intervened.
“Will ya’all shut up before you send our only princess deaf!”
Though the additional voice did nothing for Luna sore ears, it did have the positive effect of momentarily silencing the other two.
“Now listen here Rainbow. There ain’t no real reason for you to think that this here ain't the princess. Especially as her crown's right there on her head.”
“But…”
“It was behind the paper hat Rainbow Dash.”
“Oh.”
“Maybe next time you’ll check to see if somethin's true before jumping to conclusions.” She looked back at Luna. “Anyway Princess, she’s right up there. Hope you can make her feel better. She’s been runnin' herself ragged all day on some crazy mission to impress you.”
“Oh I wouldn’t worry my little ponies. Twilight has already more than done that. Making five wonderful friends all within one day really is very impressive. And such virtuous ponies as well.”
She froze.
Looked at them again.
Laughter.
Honesty.
Kindness.
Generosity.
Loyalty.
She suddenly felt like retching.
The crushing weight of a loathing a thousand years suppressed grip her throat like a vice.
Twilight.
A filly in an old warehouse. Overwhelming power. An egg hatching. A star on a crystal tree replicated on her ward's flank.
Magic.
Luna reeled back from them in horror.
“It was a pleasure to meet you all. However we must now attend to our student. Excuse us.”
She bolted up the stairs.