//------------------------------// // An Important Announcement // Story: How Many Princesses Does It Take // by Georg //------------------------------// How Many Princesses Does It Take An Important Announcement It had been over a year, but Celestia was still getting used to having her sister back. The habits of many pony lifetimes made her fight off the urge to use her magic to raise the moon at night once she had put her own sun to bed. Her attempts had not always been successful, thus the balcony she preferred to use for that occasion had eventually gained a sign, although Celestia had not been the one to put it there. My moon. Hooves off. Love you. Today the Day had been quite busy, leaving the Princess in charge of the chaos moving at a brisk clip from dawn to the present, and although all Celestia really wanted was to stagger back into her bedroom and sleep until time for her sun to emerge, there was a greater desire that swept over her in the darkness. She stood there for a while, looking up into the sky while counting the stars and considering their rearrangement, as if somepony was moving the furniture around in their house. No matter how tired Celestia was, she would not be able to sleep until she found out just why the heavens needed to be shuffled tonight. It certainly was not for dusting, because Celestia had been quite conscientious about keeping the night sky clean during Luna’s thousand year absence. Although the first thing her sister had done upon returning was to scurry about in the night sky with a dustrag in her mouth to chase invisible flecks and complain. Celestia did not mind in the least. Sometimes, Luna was the happiest when she was complaining. All the musing she was doing did not get Celestia one step closer to solving the dark conundrum, so she heaved a sisterly sigh and turned her path to Luna’s tower with long, slow strides. It was a longer walk than she liked, but flying in the darkness was just tempting fate, particularly when so many of the stars had been shuffled into new locations. The bedroom door was open to promote a cool breeze through the darkened room, which Celestia picked her way through cautiously, far too aware of a Minotaurian toy manufacturer’s gift of ‘Princess Luna’s Lunar Fortress With Working Asteroid Projectors And Light-Up Moon Signal.’ Thirty-nine thousand pieces of tiny plastic blocks⁽*⁾ now littered the carpets and floors of the castle, turning a casual night stroll into something akin to wading through a minefield. The Royal Guard was even rumored to have purchased several of the plastic block playsets with the intent of using them as caltrops in the event Canterlot was ever invaded again, although Celestia suspected their main purpose was to give off-duty guards something to do in the barracks under the excuse of ‘wargaming’ or ‘strategic tactical exercises performed in restricted space environments.’ (*) Some assembly required, HA! “Celly!” called out her sister. “Be careful where you step. I dropped a piece out of the Intruder Fun Slide Into The Pit Trap Of Doom, and I’m not quite sure where it went.” “Here you go, Luna.” Celestia floated the slightly flattened piece of plastic over to her sister and limped onto the balcony with her. There was really no delicate way to approach the subject of stellar rearrangement, so she added, “What are you doing with your stars this evening, dearest sister?” “Progressing into the modern age. It hath been far too long since I have cleaned up the obsolete constellations and expired prophecies,” explained Luna while moving another star. “Ponies are used to the constellations where they are. Perhaps you should leave some of the more popular ones,” said Celestia slowly while fighting back a well-deserved yawn. “And what was that about prophecies?” “Of course.” Luna gestured with a loose star, which probably caused some astronomer to have a bad case of vertigo. “Certainly you remember how we inscribed the events of the future into the stellar firminent in order for the peasants… I mean common ponies to be prepared.” Celestia thought back and nodded. “The practice has fallen out of favor in modern times.” “Merely the clutter,” said Luna, turning back to her task. “Once a prophecy hath run its course, there is no reason for the announcement to remain. After all, the weather schedule for the city only lists the current week and month, not all years back to the first cloud being manipulated.” “Quite true,” said Celestia with a short nod as she watched the stars move into their new locations. “Plus it gave me the opportunity to bring the sky into compliance.” “Oh?” Celestia frowned slightly while looking up into the sky, her lips moving as she spelled out the letters. W-E H-A-V-E U-P-D-A-T-E-D O-U-R P-R-I-V-A-C-Y P-O-L-I-C-Y…