Canterlot hadn't seen this much unrest since the Millennium of Calm started. Even the recent uptick in domestic and foreign conflict did not rile up the ponies of Equestria as much as this.
No doubt Twilight Sparkle will be here any minute now. Luna sighed. All this because her damned sister refused to get out of bed this morning. When she thought about it, it was almost scary how much their subjects relied on them. One tiny misstep could send the nation into chaos.
Luna stood and gazed at the stage before her from her safe area to the stage's right. Peeking around the corner, she witnessed mobs and mobs of ponies, most of them outraged. Signs read: Not My Princess, Luna is Looney, and even For the New Lunar Republic. Yikes. Ponies were taking this pretty far.
Princess Luna took a moment to gather her thoughts. How did we end up in this position? Just last night, Canterlot was happy as could be at the Horseshoe Ball. And now...
Luna's eyes widened.
Last night at the Horseshoe Ball...
Celestia has had her fair share of events, parties and balls over the hundreds of years. But she can't recall one as downright pleasant as this one. She was sitting at a table with a smattering of other royal ponies. She was leaned back in her chair, beginning to slump over but just as active in the festivities.
As she glanced around the table, she realized she did not know most of the ponies' names. Celestia giggled. How silly of me.
Well, there was no time like the present to bond with her fellow ponies!
Celestia took another swig of birchbeer and placed it back on the table a little too hard. "Well, this table is feeling a little too somber for my tastes." Her face darkened, a sneer appearing on her face.
"Would anypony like my hoof in dance?" Her eyes were wild, a mischievous smile appearing. If it weren't for the alcohol, the ponies gathered near her may have thought she looked dangerous. Perhaps she did, anyway.
No one volunteered.
"No? Are you snobs too dignified to have a little fun every once in a while?!" Celestia slammed her hooves into the wooden table.
The royals glanced at each other warily. Though they were silent, they were communicating by body language that they should all probably get up and dismiss themselves before things got out of hand.
Celestia was determined, however.
"DJ!!" she yelled over to the end of the room, where a group of violinists stared at her in confusion. Her yelling attracted the rest of the room to her table. "Spin up some Sapphire Shores! It's a great night to be alive!!"
From behind a curtain, Spike the dragon peeked his head out. "You mean me?" the little dragon questioned.
"Of course I do, Spike!" Celestia barked. "You brought that *hic* fancy sound machine after all!"
Sheepishly, Spike wheeled out a turntable from behind the curtain. He now had a full and attentive audience. As Spike awkwardly set up, he could feel the pitying gazes of the more sober ponies in the room.
"Didn't think I'd get a use out of this thing, but whatever," he mumbled to himself. He quickly set up a playlist.
As the pony pop sensation Sapphire Shores started belting out the notes, Spike could only look up in helplessness at the crowd. Specifically, at one alicorn who found herself on top of her table.
"WOOOO! Come on, my little ponies, are you gonna let your princess dance the night away by herself?!" The wood below her started splintering, unable to handle her frantic and erratic dancing.
Princess Luna came back from the mares' room just in time to see the table crack and her sister flail onto the floor. Realizing what she had done, Celestia burst into laughter. With the music stopped and the ponies around her stoically silent, her laughing sounded like a cackling witch on the verge of insanity.
Luna, her face terminally red, escorted Celestia from the party, profusely apologizing for her sister's behavior. When Luna tucked her in that night, she was just thankful that the situation had settled down. She never thought once that Celestia might be hung over the next day. They were both powerful, demi-god monarchs after all.
The present.
That was my fatal mistake, Luna thought. I underestimated the power of alcohol.
Just then, she felt a familiar hoof on her shoulder. She spun around.
Before her was the Princess of the Sun, She Who Calls Forth The Dawn, her beloved sister, and her current target of fury. Dark bags were hanging loose under eyes. Her ethereal mane was frazzled. She seemed to sway back and forth as if she could fall over at any instant. In one hoof, she held an entire gallon container of potato salad - half full with a spoon tucked inside.
"Hello, Luna," Celestia croaked out, albeit with a smile.