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// 98 - Conversation over Tea 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
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Magic lifted the cup to her snout and she sipped gently. "Sister, you're looking offput today."

That was an understatement. Luna had avoided the gaze of her sister entirely all through their shared meal. She raised her eyes to match the gentle but overwhelming visage of her sister, steeling herself. It didn't work. Like staring into the sun she controlled, Luna found her eyes darting away of their own will.

"Is something bothering you?" Celestia smiled faintly. "You can share with me."

Luna hated it. Why was she always so easy to see through to Celestia? She took a slow breath, trying to remind herself that she had once cursed the fact that her sister hadn't paid attention to her, and there she was, cursing that same attention. She really did... She deserved to be alone and miserable.

"Luna..." Celestia reached across the table and gently wiped away a tear Luna hadn't even realized had fallen. "Whatever it is, it can't be too terrible to share with me. Did somepony hurt you?"

Luna glanced up sharply at that. Did she know?

"Who was it?" asked Celestia gently.

Luna realized her error. She had given it away. "N-Nopony of import, sister." She forced a smile. "Thank you, for caring." She looked down and wrapped her magic around a small cookie, lifting it. "We are lucky to have you."

"But you won't tell me what happened?" Celestia had the scent of her prey, and she wouldn't be shaken from it.

The cookie splintered under Luna's stressed grip. "I just need time..." Time was one thing she had. All the time she could ever desire...

Celestia raised a brow lightly. "We have a wedding to attend in the coming months."

"Oh?"

She nodded softly. "Two donkeys in Ponyville. I'm told the groom spent most of his adult life seeking the bride. It's quite the series of adventures." Luna's chest tightened as Celestia kept right on talking, "Through thick and thin, against fearsome beasts and terrible injuries. That donkey wouldn't give up, and now they're together. It's like a story come true."

Did she know? She had to know. She was taunting... "It's nice when that works..." Luna snapped the cookie in half in her teeth, crumbs practically exploding from the violent display. "But we can't all have a storybook ending, now can we, Sister?"

Celestia raised a brow lightly. "One of the castle doctors filed a report."

Luna looked up, daring to meet her sister's gaze for a moment. "We can't imagine that's too rare, Sister?"

Celestia rolled a hoof. "Normally not, but they're normally not so... exhaustive. It seems this doctor has never had the opportunity to study one of your ponies before, and leapt at the chance. She's been serving as Night Watch's midwife and general physician."

"Is that so?" Luna plopped the other half of the cookie into her dry mouth. "Did she have anything interesting to say?"

With a twinkle of her horn, Celestia summoned a thick binding of paper to land on the table. "She had much to say. It was a bit of a chore to find the 'interesting' parts of it. Night Watch is recovering from her injuries well, and progressing as a mother without incident. Much of the rest involve her theories and observations on lunar pegasi in general." She sipped from her tea with a little slurp. "I seem to recall her relationship had something to do with you, Lulu."

Luna wound tighter like an overly worked spring. Had Cadance spoken to Celestia? "Y-yes... I might have pointed her in the right direction."

"It must be satisfying." Celestia smiled gently. "Playing matchmaker is a risky venture, but when it works out." She spoke as if from experience. "Do they know?" That gentle smile. That... infuriating little smile. "I imagine they must be grateful if so. It would take a blind pony to miss how greatly they love each other."

Luna clenched her teeth. How much did Celestia know?

"It's nice to see you taking an active part in such a social activity." Celestia sipped from her tea. "But if you feel nervous about it, Sister, please, you know I'm here for you."

"Stop taunting me!" Luna slammed her hooves down on the table, breaking off a third of it with a thunderous crack and sending baked goods flying to the ground. Celestia was silent, watching her. Luna heaved for breath, sinking slowly back to her haunches. "We're fine..."

"I see..." Celestia raised a brow. "If you won't talk to me, why not them? They would gladly accept your burdens, Luna, if you gave them the chance."

Luna trembled. How far would this teasing go? "That is not feasible, Sister."

"Oh?" She sipped from her tea, which was undisturbed in its little cup. "Have you asked them?"

She set her cup aside and her magic wrapped around the broken piece of the table, lifting it up into place and undoing the harm caused in Luna's outburst. "You never know what a pony can do until you give them a chance."

Elsewhere, Night Watch held her husband carefully. His breathing was labored in his sleep, and there was little she could do to ease that, so she did what she could, and held him as her eyes wandered the darkness of the jail cell they'd been thrown in.

"What are you in for?"

Night raised an ear at the familiar voice. "Discord?"

A serpentine neck extended from the next cell over and turned to look at them. "That's my name on the outside. My jail name is, hmm, Bob."

Night flashed a bright smile. "Tell me you brought Silver's slime back, please! He needs it."

"Oh, this little thing?" If he was holding it out, Night couldn't see it. "My my, he doesn't look so good."

"No... no he doesn't. Please, that can help him." Night clutched softly to Silver. "He said you're his friend, right?"

"Did he now?" Discord slipped from his cell entirely and through the bars into Night and Silver's without difficulty. "Was he joking around?"

Night frowned a little. "He jokes about many things, but not this. He's defended you." She glanced away. "Sometimes from me... He said you're a good pony, and fun."

"Is that so..." Discord swayed in place. "Well, I would help, but..."

"But?"

Discord shrugged. "Even I know it won't help while he's passed out"

"Who are you talking to?"

"Oops, that's my cue." Discord vanished with a pop before a guard stepped into view, shining his horn light around the cell.

"Stop making noise," he demanded of Night. "It won't make your sentence any less severe."

Night snorted at the back end of the guard. "To think I used to be proud to wear the armor..." She curled protectively around her injured husband, but there was little else for her to do but wait in the dark.

Elsewhen, Celestia faced a guard. "Please give this invitation to Mister and Missus Watch." She hovered a letter to the guard. "I will be attending a wedding ceremony, and perhaps they would like to join me. I'm not sure if Silver's attended an Equestrian wedding before."

The day guard nodded faithfully. "Of course, Your Majesty." He gave a sharp salute, and accepted the letter before moving off at a brisk walk to see the letter to its destination, but Silver wasn't in his room, or anywhere else he could find. None of the other day guards he queried were anymore clued in than he was. It was as if Mister and Missus Watch had simply vanished one day.

He was not a slow guard. He had one more idea and entered the infirmary. "Miss?"

Samantha looked up with that grin that always left him just a little shaken. "Good day, future subject. You're looking healthy." She pulled her stethoscope into place as she trotted towards the guard. "Just lay down on this table and we'll get right into the examination."

"Um, yes, thank you, but I'm not here for a check-up, ma'am." He waved the letter in his magic. "I'm looking for Mister and Missus Watch, have you seen them?"

Samantha's eyes locked on the sealed letter with obvious curiosity. "I haven't for over thirty-six hours." She tapped her chin. "They aren't due yet, so I didn't take alarm to that. Should I have?" She raised a brow. "Maybe I should activate her tracker."

"T-tracker? You have a tracker on Missus Watch?"

"Hmm? Don't all doctors do that?" She sounded genuinely baffled at the idea of not tracking her subject. "You want to find them, don't you? Seems like a fine time to put it to use."

He did want to find them, but a tracker? He was fairly certain putting a tracker on a pony without asking... "Did she consent to being tracked?"

"Of course she did," cried Samantha with a wide grin. "She and her husband asked me to make sure she and her foals were safe, and that's what I'm doing. Now then..." She trotted over to a strange little device and with a flick of her magic, it began to hum and beep softly. "We just follow this and we'll find my lovely star subject! Oh, excuse me." She put a hoof to her chest. "I didn't mean to imply you were any less of a fascinating subject."

"Um... forgiven." The guard tilted his head with growing confusion. He was alright with not being the star subject of anything involving Samantha. What a curious name for a pony. "Lead the way."

"Follow me!" She broke into a quick trot. He expected her to move out into the city, but her device floating in front of her guided her deeper into the castle. "They're below us, how fascinating!" She almost galloped to the nearest stairs. "Science awaits us!"

The guard was of mixed feelings. He was being led to his target, in theory, but that pony... "Please don't run through the castle, ma'am."

"You don't need to call me that." She smiled at the guard. "I've already seen more of you than you have. Call me Samantha, or Doctor if you must. I like Doctor..." Her eyes went half-lidded a moment as if she was savoring the word. "Hmm, right! We have a lost subject to locate." She swung back around, eying her curious contraption. "Still lower? We're as low as I know how to get." She gasped suddenly. "My subject learned how to tunnel! Fascinating! Can all lunar ponies perform this act?"

The guard shook his head. "I don't think that's the case... doctor. This way." He knew what was below them, and how to reach it, though he was growing more nervous. What did it mean?