As the guard ushered First Class into Luna's study, she found the Princess sitting in a rather exquisite mahogany chair staring intently into the fire. For somepony like First Class who dealt with nobles on a regular basis, the intended message was clear - 'I am unhappy, and brooding over the cause'.
Her years of experience saw her build a resistance to such intimidation tactics. She knew Luna was well aware of this, as well as being aware aware of Luna's awareness of First Class's awareness, and as a result they were both aware that Luna did not need to use such methods for their intimidation value, but had an unquenchable flair for the theatric.
There was, however, no defense against the raw intimidation power of the immortal moon-mover. Still, First Class managed to enter the room without noticeable trepidation "You wished to see me, Princess?"
Luna's response was short, but held no discernible emotion "Yes. Sit."
A gesture with Luna's hoof and a soft glow drew First Class's eyes to a cushioned bench as it moved into place before to a tea table. As she begun trotting over she noticed that Luna's chair had already been repositioned to sit across from the bench. First class found this quite disconcerting, and would later look back on it with a little resentment due to it causing her hooves to get away from her for a moment. Luna watched this in silence, saying and showing nothing until First Class had taken her seat.
"Will you have tea?" Luna asked, or said; First Class was unsure if it was intended as a question or an order.
First Class nodded "Yes, please". She was a professional - resolving uncertainty was her job.
Cups appeared before the both of them, and First Class knew immediately this was going to be one of those problem meetings.
It was barley tea. She hated barley tea.
As Princess Celestia's aide it was her responsibility to ensure that when her Princess took tea that anything she could request would be in stock, and as such she was keenly aware of every variety of tea in the castle, was on a first-name basis with the various suppliers, and practiced meticulous record-keeping so her mental inventory would always be accurate. Her one 'misuse' of power, if it could be called that, was to ensure the castle stores never contained barley tea; the Princess normally took tea with her when there were no other guests to entertain, and while the Princess had yet to ask for barley tea specifically she quite often asked for anything new in stock, for or a list of teas in stock she hadn't had in awhile. Key words being "in stock". She did not know where Luna obtained this vile concoction, but First Class would ensure that however much was left was never part of the castle's stores. To date, she believed it to be the finest deception ever successfully pulled on Celestia.
Still, she followed Luna's lead and took a sip; she had asked for it, technically, and she would drink it without showing a hint of her disgust.
"Were you aware," Luna began a few minutes later, First Class's cup already half drained "that in the past year the Canterlot-Ponyville rail line has had over a thousand of what they call 'animal impact events'?"
First Class shook her head "I'm not even familiar with that term, Princess.". She relaxed a bit internally - She could hazard a guess what the term meant, but if this was about the trains then she wasn't in the line of fire.
"That would be why they use it." Luna frowned "It means the train hit an innocent creature, and hurt or killed it. They chose the term so this... charnel affront would be hidden behind sanitary words. Why has this problem been masked instead of corrected? Do ponies even know this happens at all? Do they even care? Do they think about this when they buy tickets?"
First Class paused for a moment as red flags went up - Luna was speaking to her instead of Celestia. The words "plausible deniability" ran through her head as she realized her answers could cause some rather serious problems. For her.
Officially, Luna was asking a common pony about common pony life.
Unofficially, Luna was making an end-run around Celestia so she could act on her own to fix a problem before Celestia could stop her, and use this conversation to foist it off on First Class. She had a duty to answer completely and truthfully, so her only hope would be to bend the conversation into a proper crash position in the hopes her career would survive.
First Class regretted relaxing moments prior - she shouldn't have doubted the omen of barley tea.
"The ones to talk to would be Fluttershy and Princess Twilight Sparkle; if anybody would know, and anybody could fix it, it would be them."
A good, solid deflection. The now-former elements would at least distract Luna long enough for First Class to talk to Celestia, and- Luna was glaring at her. Why was Luna glaring at her?
"I asked you." came the clipped words of the agitated diarch.
With all the calmness she could muster, First Class answered "I don't know, Princess. I suppose it's something we don't think about much; I guess everypony kind of assumes it happens. I don't think there's anypony to blame, I think it's just a sad fact of life nowadays."
First Class winced internally - it wasn't her best work, and she wasn't sure how she could recov-
"Quite." came the simple statement from Luna
This prompted an uncertain "Princess?" from First Class.
The Princess finished her tea, prompting First Class to do the same.
Setting the cup down, Luna continued "It is, indeed, a 'sad fact of life' as you put it. Ponies are mildly aware of it, but they do not let themselves become concerned with it. Until, of course, it is pointed out to them."
The bottom dropped out of First Class's stomach as she realized she had been played. She has no idea where this was going, but felt there was an object lesson in her future.
A few short stacks of paper appeared with the hallmark glow of Luna's magic and landed on the table, the teacups having apparently decided to be somewhere else moments prior.
"Following the recent... encounter, I have been researching changeling culture."
She floated the top stack over to First Class
"You may read the full report later" Luna stated casually, First Class well aware that the 'may' in this case meant she was being given permission to delay the now-required reading until after this meeting was over. "But for now, I will go over the relevant details.
The changeling practice of escape dossiers is used by infiltrators as an emergency means of escape in the event they are discovered. Their production requires detailed observation and surveillance of a pony who is well known and respected, which represents a significant investment of time and resources. As a result their usage is controlled very strictly; they are used only as a last-resort, and the punishments for misuse are... Severe.
We have determined that Ambassador Wildcard's request for an escape dossier was almost certainly sent on his first day in office. That would put it prior to your initial meeting; he could not have requested your dossier specifically. More to the point, using an escape dossier to research the background of a romantic interest is exceedingly unlikely; discovery and punishment aside, as you said, had he asked you would have answered."
First Class was visibly frowning at that point, not even bothering to hide her displeasure at this point - the fact that changelings had been spying on her for a 'significant time' just made things worse. At least it was comforting to know Wildcard wasn't as creepy as she thought he was - she was still disgusted, but would sleep better at night knowing he wasn't stalking her. Still, that left one vital question.
"What does this have to do with trains?"
To this, Luna smiled "The common link - social normalcy. Ponies use the train for the sake of convenience. They do not think of what happens to animals as a result, it is simply how things are. Meanwhile, Changelings use escape dossiers for the sake of survival. They do not think of what happens to ponies as a result, it is simply how things are."
First Class fumed at this "Does that make it okay to spy on ponies and dig into their lives? To take their identities? We're not animals!"
Luna was unphased by First Class's loss of composure "I would think each pony so victimized by changelings would rather keep their suffering than trade lots with the animals. Answer me this, however: Do you begrudge the changelings that have used these dossiers to save their lives? Do you resent that they live because of these dossiers?"
First Class took a deep breath, and held it for a moment as she calmed down. Luna had her at that, but she wouldn't go down without a fight "No. No, I can't. You're right. But now-"
Luna held up a hoof as she cut First Class off "But now the practice is over, and we will punish any caught engaging in it."
Sighing, First Class set her head on the table "I suppose I understand, but I'm still not going to forgive Wildcard - that's what this is about, right? I deserve better; he shouldn't have kept it."
Luna nodded sagely "I'm sure. Tell me, why did you drink the tea?"
First Class's ears went up at this "I enjoy tea! I take tea with Celes-"
With a shake of her head, Luna dismissed that "Excepting, of course, barley tea. Which I should note has been absent from the castle stores since you were hired, if your inventory records are correct."
Blushing furiously, First Class was barely able to speak "Oh. Um, heh. Well, I kinda asked for it."
The grin on Luna's face made it clear she was enjoying this "True, and swallowed your disgust to avoid insult."
First Class buried her head under her fore hooves to hide her embarrassment. "Okay, you've made your point."
A stack of paper landed on First Class's head "Have I? You work out of my sister's office so this particular piece may be familiar to you. It's a fairly standard document; I understand the Captain - excuse me - General ensures that there is one for every person living or working in the castle, as well as foreign officials, major domestic political figures, and a smattering of other beings of note..."
First Class whimpered "Oh, no."
Luna flipped through the remaining stacks of paper as she went on "Yes, it seems that as a matter of policy we now keep up to date dossiers. Officially, this policy was enacted following the wedding invasion as a measure to identify imposters when other methods of detection are unavailable."
First Class moved her forehooves up on top of what she now knew to be wildcard's dossier, and pressed it down into her face in frustration. It was clearly far more extensive than the one he had had on her, which she suppose was Luna's way of unofficially informing her in that the Moon Princess served as the nation's spymaster and had Wildcard under careful surveillance.
"I am a featherbrained idiot. How did I forgot about these? How could I buck things up this badly? You win, just tell me what else you have in that pile so I can leave and beat my head against a wall for a few hours," she lamented.
The remaining paper ruffled as it slid over to First Class. She couldn't see it, but she could feel Luna grin. First class rolled her head to the side, pushing the dossier off so she could look at her Cheshire-grinning diarch.
"Blank paper. I did not think the two documents physical weight matched that of their importance. I cannot and will not ask you to forgive Wildcard, only to understand how things were. Your time may be better spent talking to him instead of trying to dent the walls; remember that he is under orders to avoid you, so if you do wish to resolve this conflict you will have to approach him. I will contact Twilight and Fluttershy to see what can be done about the trains, by the way.
You are dismissed."
While normally First Class would have held to strict protocol, it was clear that Princess Luna was enjoying seeing behind First Class's proverbial mask. With that in mind, she simply tucked the report on changeling society under her wing and walked out the door, pointedly leaving Wildcard's dossier on the table.
Unseen and unheard by First Class, Luna smiled softly to herself. This would correct most of the needless tension at war meetings, and smooth operation here was vital to the war effort. More importantly this would shift the scales of debt between her and Wildcard in her favor; he would side with her, and if things go as she expected then First Class would advocate for him. Underhanded? Yes, but necessary; Celestia was the heart and soul of the nation, but war is heartless and soulless. Luna was none of these things, simply pragmatic. She could make the decisions Celestia couldn't, in several different meanings of the phrase. Celestia was not in a mindset fit for war; she would choose the most peaceful option even if it was the worst. She had spent centuries attuning herself to peace and harmony, and it was best for Equestria that she be that way. Celestia could certainly retrain herself for war, but that would take time, she would still be couched in her old mindset, and for decades afterwards she would not be quite so fit to rule in peace as she had been before.
As long as Celestia made no hard choices she would avoid the taint of war; Luna would save her by drowning out her voice on the war council. The cosmic irony of taking power from her sister so her sister could better rule later instead of keeping power and motivated by love instead of envy was not something she found funny.