Jackpot!
Luna felt like she had won the largest possible prize in a game of chance. It had been a long search, and many computers had given up nothing but smoke in response to her clumsy attempts to revitalize them, but she had finally found a working terminal. Not just a working terminal, either, but a working terminal with what appeared to be a wealth of information. Luna's eyes had sparkled with anticipation as the computer offered her an image gallery, electronic mail, and even books. Books! Luna was fascinated by the idea that a computer could contain a book. She had seen pictures of them, and she didn't know where one might be hidden inside a computer, but she certainly intended to find out.
She intended to find out just as soon as she got through the image gallery. She was on the first picture, and had been there for what could very well have been several full minutes. Looking her in the face were two smiling humans, one older male and a younger female, and between them was... something. A tiny little thing, probably no bigger than Luna's head, was curled up inside of a wicker basket, resting its head on a cyan pillow. It had a white coat, a pink mane, and Luna could just make out the shapes of wings on its sides and the tip of a horn poking out from under its forelock. Its legs were pulled in under itself, but Luna knew that if she could see them, there would be hooves at the end.
At the bottom of the photograph was the label "Dr. Rogers and Megan with Celestia".
Luna knew then that she was on the right track.This was Celestia, and Celestia was like her! Now she just had to figure out what Celestia was. She finally began moving through the images in the gallery. She saw other humans in the pictures, but these didn't hold her attention for long. Almost every picture was of either the young blonde human girl from the first photo, or Celestia. Luna watched in fascination as the little white pony grew, her development playing out in a slideshow of frozen moments of curiosity, discovery, and joy. She was almost as large as Luna when the caption at the bottom of a picture caught Luna's eye.
Celestia stood proudly at the forefront of a group of humans. The ones that had been identified earlier as Dr. Rogers and Megan were on either side of her again, smiling widely, and others that she recognized from earlier photos stood nearby, as well as a few new ones. The words "Second System Division" were engraved on the wall behind them, and under those words hung a banner with the words, "Happy 1st, Celestia!" The caption below read, "The Second System team poses with Celestia, Project LUNA's first alicorn."
Luna gazed at the photograph on the screen, eyes flicking back and forth from the pony in the center of it to the caption. Finally, she knew what she was.
"I am Luna," she said firmly. "I am Luna, and I am an alicorn."
Rays of sunlight streamed through the windows of Celestia's bedroom, illuminating the sleeping queen and wrapping her in their gentle warmth. She lay upon a bed that was still made, the covers were flat and untouched, and the only sign of use on the pillows was the indentation left by her head. The insistent warmth of the sunlight hadn't had its usual effect on the alicorn, and it redoubled its efforts as the sun rose higher under her own unconscious control, but had no success in waking her.
It was a loud knocking at the door that finally roused Celestia from her slumber. It had started off as a soft knocking, and then a more firm knock, but it had gradually progressed to a frantic pounding as earlier attempts provided no response. Her eyes flickered open and she lifted her head, ears flattening back in annoyance as she composed herself so that she could give a proper queenly response to the noise.
"Whadda'y'want?"
"Celestia!" The relieved voice of Michael drifted through the thick door, and the alicorn unlocked it to allow him in. "What's going on in here?" the human queried as he hurried inside, stopping at the sight of her laying on the bed. "Did you just wake up? Celestia, your court was supposed to start two minutes ago. Do you know how long I've been out there knocking? What's been up with you lately?"
Celestia cut off the human's torrent of questions with an impatient snort and a toss of her head. "Michael, nothing is up. I just slept in, alright? Running a world by oneself is hard work, you know." She put an emphasis on "by oneself" that made Michael wince.
"You're not still searching for a way back, are you?" he asked with a frown. "Never mind, we've gotta get going. Get your mane brushed, I'll tell everyone you're on your way." He ducked back out of the door, leaving a grumbling Celestia behind.
"But... what if I don't want to hold court?" Celestia asked the now-closed door. Getting no reply, she let out a frustrated grunt and stood up from her bed. With a flick of her magic, her hair was straightened and her coat was smooth. She only used the brush to mentally ground herself in preparation for the day anyway, and she was far too busy for such trivialities at the moment. Another flick of her magic temporarily suspended the local laws of physics, and she appeared in her throne room with a flash and a slight "pop", sitting serenely on her golden throne.
To say that her sudden appearance caused a bit of a stir would be an understatement. She had never teleported directly into her throne room before, always opting to appear in a nearby room or hallway and proceed to make her usual entrance. Conversation halted abruptly, humans and ponies alike stepped back nervously at the startling arrival of their deity and monarch.
It was at that moment that Michael arrived, pushing open the doors of the hallway that led to Celestia's private chambers. "Ladies and gentlemen," the human announced, "Queen Celestia will be..." He trailed off as he noticed the silence, and the smirking alicorn sitting on the throne.
"Holding court beginning now," the queen finished for him, her smirk not fading until she turned to face the assembly. "Step forward so that We may hear your concerns."