Princess Celestia sat on her dias trying to keep her mind off of the coming night. She sighed and glanced down at her captain of the guard. “Are all the preparations set for my visit to Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration, Captain Armor?”
“Everything is in order on our end, Your Highness. We merely need to make certain the little town is ready for us.”
Celestia nodded and opened her mouth when a scroll materialized in front of her. Oh, Twilight, what secrets have you discovered that need to be shared? She levitated the scroll before her eyes and read silently. “Have you been spending time with your sister, Captain?”
Shining broke protocol for only the briefest of moments as a slight sigh escaped him. “I...I’m sorry, Your Highness. Twily, er… Twilight and I haven’t been able to see each other as much as she’d like. Between her studies and my duty to you, our schedules very seldom allow us time to visit each other.” Shining straightened himself to attention before continuing, “Erm, your highness, permission to speak freely?”
“Of course, Captain.” Celestia took her quill and began to write a response out. My dearest, most faithful student, Twilight…
“I worry about my sister. Twilight’s always been a little ‘excitable’, but lately she seems to keep herself locked in her room more often than not. I know her studies are important, but I’m afraid that the longer she spends muzzle-down in those old books, the more likely she is to stress about something that she’s read. And who know’s what old ponies tales she’s likely to fall for?”
“Would you mind if I used some of that in my response to her? Hmm... Captain who is our overseer this year?” Celestia considered a plan a millenia in the working coming to a head. My final pieces are moving into position. But, which of you are to be my pawns, my little ponies?
“This year’s overseer is Sergeant Bright Spark. Shall I bring her to you?”
“Actually, I’d like you to reassign her to the celebration here in Canterlot. I think Twilight needs to get out of the castle. My most faithful Twilight is going to be the overseer this year and I have an extra assignment for her.” She grinned while writing in the final sentence while speaking aloud. “Make some friends.”
“Of c-course, Your Highness,” Shining replied, more than a bit shocked. “I’ll see to it that Sergeant Spark is reassigned immediately.” With a sharp salute, Shining spun on his hooves and trotted out of the courtroom.
Celestia smiled in a motherly fashion until his hoof falls faded from her hearing, then she slumped. “Oh, Shining Armor, I understand your fears more than you know. Hidden Blade, I know you’re there.”
Stepping out of the shadow of the throne, a periwinkle blue pegasus mare with a cloud white mane seemingly appeared out of nowhere. “Good thing I work for you and not against you, Your Majesty,” she said with a slight bow, “Else, I’d be worried that my technique was slipping.”
Celestia grinned. “I am indeed lucky to have you, my little pony. I have something I must tell you.”
“I live to serve, Your Highness. What do you ask of me?”
“Did you read that book about the two sisters I assigned you a week ago?” Celestia asked after making certain they were alone and the door was locked.
“Aye. Though, I must admit, Princess, I am a bit confused as to why you felt it necessary for me to read an old ponies tale. I’m not sure exactly how a foal’s story is important to the security of Equestria, or its current ruler.”
“That is because the story is true.” Celestia felt a lump in her throat and swallowed hard. “I-I am the elder sister in the story.” She allowed her eyes to close, trying to force back her emotions. “I have a younger sister.” Celestia felt her chest heave. “H-her name is Lu-na.” Her voice broke as she said her beloved sister’s name.
As Celestia’s personal guard, and her most trusted, few things could ever shock Blade. This bit of news, however, rocked her to her very core. Even unknown to the Princess, Blade had made certain to do extensive research into the Princess’ past as to better understand not only her charge, but what might bring about a threat towards her. Composing herself quickly, she said, “The story, is real? You truly have a little sister on the moon?”
“And she is imprisoned upon its surface.” Celestia allowed a tear to fall down her cheek. “Oh, Luna…”
It was completely out of character for Her Highness to lose her composure. This obviously was a serious matter. For the first time, in quite possibly ever, Blade saw Celestia not as a ruler, but as a pony, with fears, regrets, and feelings that were not much different from anypony else’s. It took all of Blade’s resolve to keep from becoming emotionally attached to the situation as well. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. That must have been… difficult.”
“I had no choice. She refused to lower her moon. I... I tried so hard to get her to lower it. I was a foal, and I did not realize the truth of why she had done it. How the ponies treated her... Oh, Luna, Luna I was so blind! I had to use the Elements. I-I thought they would heal her, not imprison her!” Celestia bowed her head, her tear drops splashing onto the floor of the dias. “Luna…”
It happened in an instant, she couldn’t explain it. Never before had it happened, and most likely, never again would it. Blade’s legendary speed caused her to be at Celestia’s side before even the first tears puddled. She delivered a gentle nuzzle to the princess, reassuring her that she wasn’t alone now.
“Oh, my Princess, I cannot imagine your suffering. I-I…” Suddenly Blade recognized the breach of protocol and quickly tried to move away.
Celestia wrapped a wing around her as her chest heaved, needing the touch of another pony. “P-please, just for a few moments... forget who I am?”
Blade instantly returned the wing hug and cradled the much taller mare as best she could. Guiding the white alicorn to her knees, she tightened the embrace and cooed softly into Celestia’s ear. “Hush now, quiet now... I may not be her, but let me shoulder your pain. You don’t need to do this alone, Your Highness.” She looked into Celestia’s eyes before continuing. “You have trusted me to keep you safe in the most turbulent of times. If my life can be given to spare yours, I shall gladly surrender it. Now, let me help you with this. I may not begin to fathom how things are or were between you and your sister, but I do understand when somepony needs somepony to lean on. And if I can, I will be that pony.”
Celestia sniffled and cried into Blade’s shoulder for several minutes. Not much is intelligible other than “Luna” and “sorry, forgive me…” Finally, she sits up and wipes her red eyes with a kerchief “There’s more, Blade.”
Feeling that the bonding moment had passed, Blade sat at ease and looked to her ruler. “Of course, Your Highness. How may I serve?”
“On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid her escape. Luna will be returning tonight, but... I-I am afraid she will still be The Nightmare and, I… I am unable to use the Elements anymore; they have rejected me. And I can’t kill Luna… I can’t, Blade, so I cannot be there at the Summer Sun Celebration, but in the same regard, I must be there.”
Taking a deep breath, Blade asked the ten-thousand bit question, “Your Highness, are you asking me to…”
Celestia’s eyes widened. “No! Never! I want Luna back beside me, not… not that! No, I need to take a different form during the Summer Sun Celebration. If it is Luna who returns, I will regain my form and welcome her home with loving hooves. If… The Nightmare returns, well... I have another plan in that case. I just need you to watch over me while I am in disguise.”
Relieved to hear that her skills as an assassin weren’t going to be necessary, Blade exhaled deeply. “And here I thought you were asking for something difficult. As if I’d leave your side, Your Highness.” Standing at attention once again, Blade became all business once again. “So, Your Highness, you shall travel in disguise. Undercover protocols state that we’ll need to make sure we have emergency removal procedures in place, should we become compromised. If the situation is as you say, I recommend that you have a delayed emergency teleport ready for yourself so that you can quickly return here to the castle or a safe house of our choosing. It might also be prudent to at least let Captain Armor know that his detachment needs to be on standby for a siege if you suddenly reappear here. That merely leaves the matter of our disguises, to which, I assume, you already have an idea?”
“You will leave your armor behind. Other than that, I do not believe a disguise for you is necessary.” Celestia considered, “As for myself, I cannot be identified. I am thinking going as a blank flanked filly. Orange like my sun, with grey eyes like the moon, and just a touch of pink with a light pinkish purple mane.” She looked outside at the bright sun. “A pegasus, perhaps?”
Blade pondered this. “It would make for easier cover. If you were to disguise yourself as a young filly, it wouldn’t be a stretch if you aged it right for my cover to be either your sister or mother.”
“Mother, I would think, Blade.” Celestia glanced around before her horn began to glow, her body rearranging itself into a much smaller form. Her white fur darkened to orange with a foal-like softness to it, and her multicolored mane and tail slowly ceased waving in a solar breeze and lay flat against her head before turning a pinkish purple cut into an almost colt cut. Celestia’s large wingspan shrank down until her wings were not much bigger than a foal’s. Finally, her horn vanished and her eyes turned grey.
She looked up at Blade. “Well?”
“Oh, dear Celestia!” Blade exclaimed. Had she not witnessed the transformation herself, she would hardly believe the pegasus filly before her was her Princess. Slowly, Blade circled the now blank-flanked Celestia. Her eyes scanned the princess’ polymorph for any sign of inconsistency. Having found none, Blade came muzzle to muzzle with the youngling. “You’ve really outdone yourself this time, Your Highness. I dare say you’ve done this a time or two…”
Celestia nodded. “When Lu-Luna was still with me, we would disguise ourselves as normal ponies. Just for a few hours. Then we’d go to the taverns or to eat. Sometimes we’d even spar with one another... Play together....” Her tiny shoulders slumped. “Maybe if I had continued to do so, she’d be here next to me. But I became too important to disguise myself as a normal pony… I grew angry when she would wake before the cycling at night. I was… I was a horrible big sister!”
“With all due respect, Your Highness, if we want this plan to work, now is not the time to mourn. I know it will be difficult, but we must maintain our cover. There’s no room for error, here. I guess the next question to cover is just exactly what to call you.”
Celestia considered this for a moment. “You remember that colt the other day? The one whom Wise Break took his scooter from after he used it in the hallways?”
Blade chuckled to herself, “Oh yes, quite the little troublemaker. Cute young fella though. Definitely reminds me of somepony I know.” Blade wistfully remembered her own fillyhood, getting into just enough trouble to cause her parents headaches. “I believe he called himself... *snort*... Scooter Lord.”
Celestia nodded. “Obviously a fake name, but it gives me an idea for my own name. Scootaloo.”
“Scootaloo, Scootaloo.” Blade let the name roll off her tongue. “I think that will work. The chances are slim that anypony would know my code name here, but for the sake of OPSEC, I’ll use the alias, ‘Clear Skies’.”
“I’ll leave a message that I have left for Ponyville.” She took the quill in her mouth, carefully scratching out the message and leaving it on her dias. “Get on your belly please, M-mom?” Scootaloo blushed. It’s been so very long since I referred to a pony as ‘Mom’...
Kneeling on all fours, Blade helped Scootaloo onto her back. Amazingly, the former alicorn princess was light as a feather. Blade blushed a little at the thought of a filly calling her ‘Mom’. I could get used to it, though. “One last thing before we go, Pr..er…Scootaloo.” The blue pegasus grabbed her white saddlebag from behind the dias. Throwing it around her wing, Blade stretched all of her muscles and walked towards an open balcony. Celestia could feel every fiber of Blade’s body tense as she prepped for take off. When she felt sufficiently loosened up, she looked back at the orange pegasus riding shotgun on her back. “You might want to hold on,” she said with a lopsided grin.
Scootaloo looked around then wrapped her forelegs around Clear Skies’ neck. “Ready, Mom.”
“Okay, then. Here… we… GO!”
Like a shot from a cannon, Skies took off almost vertically. The wind blasted through both ponies’ manes as Skies leveled her ascent out. Once in the updraft around Canterlot, she used little effort to glide amongst the winds carrying her way from the high perch she took off from. With a slight incline, Skies cut her altitude and made the turn towards Ponyville. She didn’t know what the small village would hold for them, but she did know that if Celestia was involved, it was going to be anything but boring.