The train was taking an extended stop at Ponyville station to allow for the large amount of luggage to be removed. A whole group of ponies plus a load of hired movers were bustling around the end of the station, one was having a loud discussion about how best to move a desk.
Cloudy Sky however was watching the other group of ponies at the other end of the train. Six mares (plus a colt) on their way home.
Ducking behind a large potted plant, Cloudy willed her binoculars from her saddle bags and turned to peer at the group of ponies. It was at this stage that she remembered she wasn’t a unicorn and stuck her head in instead, holding them up with forehooves instead of magic she was only just remembering she didn’t have.
So... Twilight Sparkle. Ever since moving to Ponyville the little purple mare had grown up so much and was barely recognisable as the secluded bookworm who hid in a tower with books all day. Still, while growing and developing was fantastic and all, the prospect of the lavender unicorn growing away from those she had left behind in Canterlot was worrying. Even worse, the yellow earth pony had realised the other week that the prospect of Twilight having a colt friend was practically abhorrent. All of these realisations had crystallised at the party the night before and had lead to the snap decision to come down to ponyville to keep an eye on her. Getting away from her sister and the repercussions of the bet she’d lost was a pleasant side effect.
Sky shook off the memory of her sister’s smarmy grin and turned her attention back to the librarian, who was walking back into town with her four close friends plus Rainbow Dash's brother, reminding her of why she was there. These feelings weren't new exactly, but she hadn’t expected to have to confront them for another few years at least. Twilight Sparkle had only been out of Canterlot for two years and yet in that time had managed to make a large number of diverse friends and grow out of her shell into a magnificent young mare. Simply walking from the station the purple unicorn was greeted by no less than nine other ponies, four of them stallions. Remembering this time that she hadn’t the use of any magic the yellow earth pony had to crane her head around to take out her notebook, and propping the binoculars in her hooves and the quill in her mouth took poorly scrawled notes on each stallion and their interactions with the royal student. At the same time she decided to note never to go without magic again.
Something in the back of her mind though was niggling away, something wasn’t right with the scene in front of her. There was Twilight, with her five friends.....
Five? One stallion, Twilight and one, two, three, four mares..... Wasn’t Pinkie Pie with them a moment ago?
“Hi there!”
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Canterlot Castle, marble crown of the city of Canterlot, capital of the Pony nation of Equestria, seat of government, official home of the Equestrian Crown and the gods of the planet of Epona, was in utter chaos.
Ponies from every branch of the royal guard were being organised for a nation-wide search, government officials rushed from place to place enacting emergency planning for a transfer of governmental authority and servants ducked and weaved around them all in an attempt to keep every pony fed, watered and comfortable.
In the centre of the metaphorical maelstrom was a very real whirlwind of paperwork as the Princess of the moon sped parchment around her, speed reading, signing, amending and approving more documentation than would normally be processed in a month by both royal sisters combined in the space of a few hours.
There were many reasons for this massive expenditure of energy. One was simply because Luna wanted to push the limits of what she was capable of, and the activity of reading through four monolithic documents produced by the bureaucratic engine of government at once, understanding and amending them in a couple of minutes before moving on to four more was certainly a taxing challenge which she could relish in.
Another reason was that with Celestia unaccounted for and unreachable the full responsibility of running the nation fell upon the younger of the two Alicorn sisters, and Luna intended to make all the niggling little changes to the statute books she could while she didn’t have to explain them to the solar diarch. It wasn’t as if the moon princess was doing anything damaging, unpleasant or seditious, she loved her little ponies very much and only wanted the best for them, but she hated having to justify what she felt were obvious improvements to her sometimes slow to catch on sister. One time it took just over a week to convince Celestia of the dental benefits of introducing Fluoride to the drinking water system, and even then she had only succeeded when she presented an endorsement from Twilight Sparkle.
The last reason for all this furious activity was that if the lunar diarch wanted any free time while shouldering the full weight of the nation then she was going to have to blaze through as much work as she could in as short a time as possible, otherwise she would simply end up buried in the never ending stream of red taped parchment.
In the middle of it all, the dark blue Alicorn softly seethed. Whenever her mind a slight bit of spare processing power she directed it towards her quiet anger at her sister.
“When I see you again, sister dearest, I am going to thrash you so hard that you’ll be feeling it for the next thousand years....”
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Over in his office Shining Armour, Captain of the Day Guard, was also having a rather bad day.
One of his biggest responsibilities as head of Celestia’s Day Guard was the protection of the royal pony sisters, and it was inevitably this duty which lead to his greatest headaches. The two sisters could be as irresponsible as rambunctious as fillies at times but rarely had either of them disappeared spontaneously for more than a few hours. Ironically, he mused, it was always Luna which he had expected to pull a stunt like this first, not the usually more level headed older Alicorn.
Right now Shining Armour was considering how to phrase the letter in front of him. Twilight needed to know Celestia had decided to run off and now couldn’t be found, both because of her close personal connection to the princess, but also because as her protege and star student Twilight actually had responsibilities she may need to take up if Celestia wasn’t found. To be fair, it would be a long time before Twilight would need to be called upon, only if the Solar sister decided to be away for more than a month or so, but as one of the closest to the monarch Twilight Sparkle was also one of the best prepared to take up a role as senior advisor to Princess Luna should the need to rearrange the government on a long term basis arose.
Dear Twilight,
It is with regret that I must inform you that this morning Auntie Celestia decided to depart Canterlot for places unknown without warning.
Worry not little sister, while she told nopony of her decision to take this trip, a note was found which has been positively identified as being left by by her stating that she left willingly to take a holiday and we are not concerned for her safety, although all the guards in Equestria are on the lookout for her.
As you are aware however, there are protocols which need to be followed in the event of one of the royal sisters being unable to attend to their duties. While Auntie Luna attests that she currently has everything in hoof, should Auntie Celestia not return to us within the month then it is likely that you will be called upon to act as royal advisor, something which I know you are well prepared for and capable for.
I pray that Auntie Celestia returns to us long before then.
With much love from your brother,
Shining Armour.
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Twilight let the scroll drop silently from her magical hold and sank down onto the bed, head in her hooves.
“Oh Princess......what are you up to now?”