//------------------------------// // Chapter 30 - Vacation // Story: Further Tales From Day Court // by Blade Star //------------------------------// Kill me. Please, somepony, anypony, put me out of my misery. I don’t want to live on this planet any more. Okay, maybe I’m being a touch dramatic, but I was going ever so slightly crazy as I stood next to Celestia’s throne. I’d been called in consult on what initially appeared to be an interesting case relating to the succession of the throne, but it had quickly turned sour. You see, in Day Court, cases are brought by petitioners. They can be anypony from accomplished politicians to your average Joe. And then there was Nit Pick. He was a wannabe lawyer, and had apparently skimmed through a few legal textbooks. And he was using this knowledge to try and argue that the princesses’ abdication was illegal and demanding that they cancel their retirement plans. To be fair, he had started with at least a semblance of rationality, arguing that any changes to the sitting government had to be approved by at least two thirds of the nobility. But when Celestia had gently brushed aside these points, his arguments had quickly devolved into long, painful rants about how only Celestia and Luna were fit to rule. He turned out to be one of those wackos that, despite the assurances to the contrary, believe the princesses to be goddesses. I’m not even going to argue the point of a pony arguing with a god. We’d been stuck listening to this ad hoc Ted talk for the past half hour. But as much as it annoyed me, he had a right to make his petition, in its entirety, without interruption or censure. So there was very little anypony could do to stop him. I had no choice but to sit and listen to his inane prattle. Celestia and Luna, for both were present in court at the moment, were also getting tired of Nit Pick’s drivel. And unlike me, they had a way out. I’m not quite sure how to put this, but over the past week or so, the princesses have been repeatedly ditching court in order to go and help ponies in trouble. I’m talking full on, don capes, dash out of the window, save the day type stuff. At first it was just a little odd, but lately, they’ve been using it as a get out of jail free card for when court gets too dry. And they were planning on using it right now it seemed. “And that,” Nit went on, entirely ignorant or uncaring of the bored faces around him. “Is why you cannot lawfully retire from your positions, princesses.” At least, we all breathed a sigh of relief as he finally stopped talking. Now, Celestia could give him her response to his petition. Obviously, she was only going to give one response, and that would be a big, fat no. But to her credit, she would always dress up her rebuttals into polite language. She was just about to open her mouth to respond, when the rambling moron started again. “Furthermore!” he declared, pointing his hoof in the for emphasis. I almost screamed as I did my best to stay composed standing next to Celestia, scroll and quill in hand, taking notes for future reference. I cursed the protocol that required the legal advisor to be present for all legal cases. At that moment though, a young guard burst into the throne room, startling Nit Pick out of his rhythm. “Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” he exclaimed as he caught his breath. “A huge turtle is attacking Sweet Apple Acres and is threatening Ponyville. Princess Twilight is doing her best to hold the creature back, but it’s eating half the trees and will reach the town in minutes.” Oh no. The two princesses were on their hooves in an instant. “We shall aid our fellow princess!” Luna declared in a heroic sounding voice. “Indeed, my sister,” Celestia agreed. “Come, there’s evil afoot! Day Court is hereby temporarily suspended.” And with that, the two of them leapt through the nearby open window and took flight, leaving me, and the rest of the court staff to stand there. At first it was nice to get some time off when those two went off to save the day. But at this point they’re using any old excuse to bunk off. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see them take a more active role in the affairs of ordinary ponies. But they are also pretty much essential to the continued functioning of the Equestrian Government. I resolved to have a talk with Celestia when she got back. Like it or not, this was getting out of hoof, and as her legal advisor, it was my job to remind her that neither she nor Luna can go neglecting their royal duties to go play heroes. “Celestia,” I said, as the three of us sat down to lunch. “As your friend, and legal counsel, I really have to ask that you stop with these excursions.” I was in full solicitor mode now. As much as it hurt me, I couldn’t afford to be too gentle with this. We needed the issue resolved sooner rather than later. “But, Roger,” Celestia replied, taking a sip of her tea. “Surely you’d agree that when our subjects need help we should be there to protect them.” I nodded. “From threats both foreign and domestic, yes,” I agreed. “However, helping a lost Fillies Scout troop find their way out of Whitetail Wood does not count as that. Tia, if nothing else, your and Luna’s continued absence from court could eventually force the nobles to bring a petition for dereliction of duty against you.” Princess might be the top job in Equestria, but like any good leader, Celestia never placed herself as the proverbial boss. She was a ruler, but she also served her subjects. A ruler has responsibilities and duties, as well as immense power. And while it was nice to duck out of court once in a while, it was now beginning to have a noticeable effect on day to day matters. The docket was piling up quickly, and cases that had been brought on Monday still weren’t heard by Friday. “Alright,” Celestia admitted. “So maybe we went a little overboard today. It’s just so draining being in court all day long.” “Indeed,” Luna agreed. “While my own court may be quieter, so much of it is inane drivel, pointless debates and irrelevant minutiae. We both miss those days where we battled monsters, protected our subjects with magic and might, and were not so constrained by the shackles of Equestrian politics.” “Look, there’s no harm in doing any of that,” I said. “But you need to indulge in all this outside of court hours.” “Ah yes,” Luna replied with a hint of annoyance. “Is that before or after I walk the dreaming world, or sister here teaches class at her school? The role of a princess is a difficult one, Roger. But of late the load has gotten too much to bear.” “And I do so miss those old days,” Celestia added. “Helping to keep back the Everfree Forest with Starswirl during Sombra’s attack really brought back a lot of memories.” Only Celestia could be wistful about a near apocalypse. Although I suppose it did show how tiresome her job was at times. She went on. “Before we retire, Roger,” she said. “We want our subjects to see us as ponies they can turn to for help, not just some distant rulers who occasionally appear to raise the sun and moon.” I could see where they were both coming from. God knows I certainly didn’t mind these breaks in routine. But in my case, I had a loving wife and family to go home to every night. For the princesses, their job was almost their whole life. It wasn’t something they did nine to five. As Luna said, even in sleep she has her work protecting the dreaming world. And Celestia had been pulling double duty for a thousand years too. “What you need,” I suggested. “Is a break; a holiday, away from Canterlot and all its foibles. You’re both too worked up being stuck in court all day. I can see how these little adventures provide a distraction for you. Perhaps you could consider taking something of a sabbatical for a week or so? Maybe you could even temporarily turn things over to Twilight; give her a chance to see what it’s like running the show.” Both princesses seemed to like that idea. I could see the two of them planning silently all the things they wanted to do. You’d have thought that after a thousand years you’d have done and seen it all. But I suppose, with their job, it was easy to not necessarily live a life, no matter how long it was. The two of them were just about to come to an agreement, when a young guard burst into the room. “Princesses!” he called. “Princess Twilight and her friends are meeting in her castle. There seems to be some sort of friendship problem in Ponyville.” And before I could say anything, the pair had taken off straight out the window. Sighing to myself, I poured a fresh mug of tea and resolved myself to the fact that court would be shut for at least another twenty minutes. Well, as it turned out, the friendship problem as it were, that Twilight and her friends were meeting about, was more of an intervention for Celestia and Luna. Like me, they were getting a little worried by their constant ‘help’. Twilight was even starting to worry that they were changing their minds about retirement, something Bones quickly leapt at and grabbed with both hooves. Celestia was quick to reassure her former pupil though, that they were still set on retiring. As she'd said to me, Celestia explained how much they enjoyed taking a more active role in the lives of other ponies and yearned for the old days of adventuring together. It was then that Pinkie Pie came up with a cunning plan, and for once I mean that. She reminded the princesses that there were plenty of fun things to do in Equestria besides stealing the Elements’ shtick. The pair had wanted to do a lot over the years, such as when Celestia had a go at acting in Twilight’s play to celebrate her 1,111th year of ruling Equestria. But given how much their royal duties occupy their lives, they’d never gotten a chance to try half of it. So the little pink genius suggested that the pair of them make a bucket list of things they’d always wanted to do, and then take a vacation to cross some of them off. Together, they cam up with the idea of Celestia and Luna taking about a fortnight or so off to go on vacation, and at the same time, Twilight would get something of a trial run in managing Equestria, with me and her friends on hoof to help out if needed. It was a good time for it. Provided Tia cleared her diary of the stacked up appointments, the only thing on the books for the next couple of weeks was that stupid swan gala; nothing major really. In short, it would be good for both sides, letting the princesses work all this nervous energy and excitement out of their systems, and giving Twilight a chance to get to grips with running a nation. So, when the two of them returned about forty five minutes later, and after apologising for dashing out on me, we got to planning. The pair would have two weeks off to travel around Equestria, ticking off the things on their bucket lists. Twilight would come up to Canterlot the day after tomorrow with her friends in tow, with the handover happening that evening. The only hiccup would be the small matter of raising the sun and the moon. Twilight was an alicorn sure, and had magic beyond your average unicorn, but until her accession of the throne, she wouldn’t have anywhere near enough power to move the two celestial bodies without nearly exhausting herself each time. To that end, they reached out to their old mentor Starswirl, who provided them with a most useful little trinket. It was sort of like a pocket watch, with a winder on the top. Imbued with a portion of their alicorn magic, this clever device would allow Twilight, using it in concert with her own magic, to look after raising and lowering the sun and moon as needed. Beyond that, her temporary job was nothing beyond her and her friends. She would hold court on a semi regular basis. As soon as word got out about the princesses going on vacation, petitions dropped off markedly, although that was also to be attributed to the Royal Swanifying, being a major even in the noble social calender. Other than that, Celestia and Luna gave Twilight a few parting words of advice and then temporarily stepped down from their duties. While the young alicorn and her friends got settled, I headed up Celestia’s chambers to wish the pair well on their holiday, and possibly lend a hand with the packing. I found the two of them, rather alarmingly, dressed in Hawaiian shirts. Although I must say, they wore them rather well. And they both looked absolutely adorable with their ethereal manes done up in ponytails. “Hey, you two,” I said, rapping on the door frame of the open door with my knuckle. “All set?” The two sisters didn’t acknowledge me at first, since they were both struggling to close their suitcases. While the both of them were planning on travelling fairly light (after all, without a need for clothing, it was a lot easier to do so in Equestria), they still had a good two full suitcases each. Right now, Celestia was using all her earth pony strength to try and force the suitcase shut. Falling back on old gender norms, I stepped in to help. “Here, let me give you a hand with that, Tia” I said. Putting all my weight down on the lid, I managed, with a deft shove, to force the suitcase shut and do up the latch. Feeling ever so slightly smug, I turned to my friend, who took this moment to blow a stray lock of mane out of her eyes. “Thank you,” she said, sounding just a touch annoyed. “And to answer your question, yes, we are all set to go.” “Oh I can’t wait to get started,” Luna said, prancing around like an excited filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve. “There’s so much to do!” Pulling out her own, quite lengthy, bucket list from her saddlebags, she excitedly began reviewing her plans for this ad hoc vacation. “Where are you heading to first then?” I asked. “Manehattan first of all,” Celestia said. Ah a classic start to any holiday. “I trust you won’t have any problems minding the store as it were until Luna and I get back.” “Oh relax, Tia,” I replied with a wave of my hand. “We’ll be fine. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” Okay, in hindsight, that wasn’t the smartest thing to have said. In fact, looking back, I might as well have been calling on Discord to come and cause as much chaos as possible. Still, to start with, things went pretty well. Celestia and Luna departed and Twilight and the others took over running things. The day went by smoothly, with no major problems, and I went home that evening calm and relaxed. It stayed that way for the next few days. Twilight really did seem to have a handle on running the country. She certainly didn’t seem to be having too much trouble with the Royal Swanifying preparations, particularly with her friends to help her. A few days after they left, I received two postcards, courtesy of Derpy, from Tia and Luna. The two had already been on quite the adventure across Equestria and had sent me a little update on their progress. As I climbed into bed that night with my wife, the two of us had a look through the postcards and photos they’d sent. “Well, it sure looks like they’re having a lot of fun,” I said to Margaret as I passed her a photo of the two of them going on a log flume ride at a theme park. I couldn’t help but laugh at Celestia’s mad grin and Luna’s look of absolute terror. “I never pegged Celestia for an adrenaline junkie,” she replied. “All that serene calm and coolness, no matter the disaster. Now, Luna, I figured she’d want to do something a bit more relaxing. Although I’m not quite sure why she’s sending you so many postcards.” “Well, she does have this sort of...fascination with the postal service,” I reminded her. It made me laugh the first time I heard about it, but Luna does really find the Royal Equestrian Postal Service absolutely fascinating. When she went away into exile all those moons ago, the only way to send messages was to take it yourself, or hire somepony to do it for you, with little chance of success if it was more than a few miles. Now though, you could send a letter from Manehattan, and it would be in Vanhoover, signed, sealed and delivered, in two days at most if it went by first class. And that’s ignoring the telegraph network that lets news get flashed across the country in an hour at most. And to be fair, if you stop and think about it, it is a really interesting system. So many intricate parts all working together, carrying millions of letters daily, with a vast network of ponies, trains, boats and airships, allowing ponies to communicate with virtually anyone anywhere, so long as they have a name, an address and a post code. On the Celestia front though, I have to admit it surprised me at first as well. I figured that Celestia would, like Luna, be looking to relax, kick back, and maybe look to pick up a couple hobbies that she never had a chance to get into in her younger years. So imagine my surprise when I get a picture of her going over Neighagra Falls in a barrel. The two princesses were polar opposites in terms of what they wanted from this vacation. And reading their individual letters, it seemed that they were beginning to grate on each other a bit. Luna wanted to relax, and Celestia wanted to live life to the fullest. I’ve known them too long not to see the disaster that was looming. But I didn’t have a chance to worry about that, as things in Canterlot were starting to come unstuck as well. The Royal Swanifying, and yes, that is the name of this utterly ridiculous gala, is a party hosted annually by Celestia, as a celebration of the swans which live in the lake near the centre of the castle gardens. As in Britain, all swans are property of the head of state, and it is actually a fairly serious criminal offence to harm, injure, or kill a swan, and I actually did once have to assist the princess during a case involving the ancient law. Of course, the gala is just another social occasion where rich snobs get together to hob knob with each other and Celestia usually has to put on her best princess mask and put up with it. Of course, this time, she was quite happily zip lining, kayaking, and cave diving her way across Equestria with her sister in tow, and instead Twilight would be the one to run the gala this time. It’s not a big occasion, and nothing like the Grand Galloping Gala, so not too much in the way of work is required. Still, there was plenty of scope for things to go wrong. I happened to be one my way to the throne room when things first began to unravel. I’d wanted to give Twilight a quick update on the few cases that Day Court had to hear this week, providing her with a simple briefing and some clip notes. However, on my way there, I ran into a friend and two jackasses. In order, they were Fancy Pants, the de facto head of the nobility under Blueblood, and one of the few nobles I get along with outside of court, and Jet Set and Upper Crust, who are idiots. Together though, the trio were the heads of the Royal Swanifying Committee, and were responsible for planning the gala and making all the arrangements. What, you didn’t think Celestia did any of that did you? She’s got enough on her plate as it is, without needing to worry about some simple little party. All three of them, both nobles and petty bourgeois alike looked displeased. Although Fancy did brighten up as he saw me. “Hello there, Fancy Pants,” I said as our paths crossed. “How goes the Royal Swanifying?” I figured that Twilight would be glad to have his help. Jet Set and Upper Crust not so much, but Fancy has helped run things for the past few years and has been very good at it. Celestia pretty much leaves him to it these days and enjoys the party. Like me, she gets along very well with him. Turned out though that I’d guessed wrong. “Frankly sir,” Fancy said, with no small amount of disgust. “I don’t give a damn!” I was taken aback. “What ever is the matter?” I queried. Fancy was usually such an easy going chap, and very hard to provoke. A lifetime of dealing with Blueblood and other members of his own social class I suppose. “The three of us offered to help Princess Twilight and her friends plan the event,” Fancy explained crossly. “And the girl just turns around and snubs the offer.” Ah yes, for all her progress, Twilight still isn’t always the best at reading social cues. It’s something Tia’s going to have to work on before the coronation. Fancy continued. “She was going on about how she needed to show Princess Celestia that she and her friends could manage things on their own.” Ah, I saw what was up. It seems I’d given Twilight too much credit, and she thought she, as princess, would need to do all the work. Surely she knows Celestia delegates most of her duties, including legal rulings I might add. “I’m sure it was not her intention to cause offence,” I replied, attempting to smooth things over. “Allow me to go and speak with her. I’m sure I can make her see her mistake, and she’ll be happy to have the assistance of the committee.” And so I passed the trio of still annoyed toffs and made for the throne room. All it would take would be a quick explanation. I think what most likely happened is that Twilight assumed that this was all some sort of test on Celestia’s part to see if she really was up to the challenge of running Equestria. The last time Twilight had a fit over a test was when the Crystal Empire returned, with similar Twilighting results. I was just about to pull on the handle, when a single yellow eye with a red pupil appeared on the door. “I’m sorry, Roger,” Discord said in a creepy monotone. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.” I jumped about a foot in the air as Discord’s eye was joined by its twin, and his mismatched form formed out of the throne room door. “Dammit, Discord. Do you really find it so hard to just walk up to somepony?” My friend shrugged his shoulders. “What can I say? I saw an opportunity for a good sci-fi reference and I took it.” I tried to sidestep around him ,but he was too quick for me, blocking my way with his snake like form. “Look, I just need to talk to Twilight for a minute,” I said. “Then I’ll join in whatever weird scheme you’re running now.” But with snap of his talons, Discord brought the door handle to life. The brass handle ran all around the door in an effort to avoid being grabbed. Eventually I gave up and looked up at my best friend. “Alright, I’ll bite,” I said. “Why can’t go in there? Is the Tree stopping me for the umpteenth time and making me bite my tongue?” Discord looked a little surprised; a curious expression to see on the face of the physical incarnation of chaos. “What? No,” he replied. “I just wanted to bring you the newest dispatches from Celestia and Luna. It sounds like they’re having quite the spat.” He handed me a small stack of letters and I started reading. He was certainly right about them falling out. I’d seen from the get go that the pair each had differing ideas on what to do on their vacation. Celestia was dead set on thrill seeking and cutting loose, while Luna wanted to relax and unwind from the stresses brought on by her job that followed her into the dreaming world. It seemed that this had finally come to a head when Luna went off on Celestia for not doing any of the things she wanted to do. Celestia countered by complaining about all the art galleries they’d gone to, and other supposedly ‘boring’ things Luna had picked. The argument eventually boiled over when Luna said Celestia actually wanted to rule Equestria alone and never cared about her input, while Celestia criticised Luna for not knowing how difficult it was to run the country and be her big sister. They ended up screaming at each other in their versions of the Royal Canterlot Voice and parted ways bitterly. “Oh hell,” I muttered as I read through the most recent one from Tia. “That’s the last thing we need.” “Well, you can hardly blame them,” Discord replied. “They are sisters after all. Plus, you were stupid enough to ask what was the worst that could happen. As the avatar of chaos, I can tell you that that is very much tempting the fates.” “Cut me a break, old man,” I replied. “I’ve spent the better part of fifty years not having to watch what I say like that. Well, at least Twilight has the Royal Swanifying more or less under control.” Discord folded his arms and looked at me with no small amount of contempt. “What?” I asked, shrugging my shoulders. “You’re an idiot,” he replied. I didn’t hear anything more from either of the princesses until they came back to Canterlot and I was reunited with them in pony. And let me tell you, I was sure glad when they did come back, because, possibly thanks to my poor choice of words, we sorely needed them. Let’s see, where to start? Well, I never did get a chance to go and see Twilight after I ran into Discord. With Celestia and Luna away, I was directly in charge of overseeing any legal petitions coming before either Day or Night Court. That included the preparation, hearing the petitions and making rulings. In essence, I was doing Celestia’s job as far as legal matters were concerned. Needless to say, that took up, oh, about ninety percent of my time. There were plenty of cases involving the law that Celestia didn’t need advice on, and so had no reason to call for me. But now I was getting every legal case in Equestria on my desk. Everything from patent and trademark disputes, high profile criminal cases, to challenges to case law. If it was important enough to be heard by Day Court, I was dealing with it. It certainly gave me an idea of just how much Celestia had to deal with on a daily basis, and this was just a portion of the petitions she heard. I honestly found myself wondering how she hadn’t gone completely and utterly insane after all these years. Twilight too was having similar problems. After dismissing the Royal Swanifying Committee, the whole thing had fallen on the shoulders of Twilight and her friends. Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re capable mares, with a pony with expertise in party planning and fashion counted in their number. But standards in Canterlot, and I say this with no disrespect to my dear Ponyville, are a great deal higher than some little valley village that has a population under a thousand. While the committee were no longer there to help, they were there to complain, and loudly at that. Twilight and the others couldn’t do right from doing wrong. It got to the point where the usually friendly and unflappable Fancy Pants began to lose his temper with the six of them. After all, regardless of what I might have to say on the matter, this was an important social and political event in the royal calendar. The upshot of all this pressure was that Twilight did was Twilight does best, and came close to having something of a nervous breakdown, which in all honesty doesn’t give me a great deal of confidence in her ability to lead Equestria as a monarch. Her friends did their best, but it simply did not cut the mustard here in Canterlot. Luckily though, it was at that point that Fancy, near the end of his rope, asked the same question I’d been planning to ask Twilight before I ran into Discord. He asked her why she had been trying to organise everything herself, instead of delegating the role to the committee as Celestia usually did. That was lightbulb moment for the little alicorn. She’d misinterpreted the whole thing and thought that, as princess, it was her responsibility to do everything. With this revelation, which didn’t occur to her previously, which is in itself quite odd, considering that Celestia has pretty much delegated the task of protecting Equestria to Twilight for the last few years, Twilight managed to get things back on track, re-enlisting the help of Fancy and his friends. As a result, the Royal Swanifying was a resounding success. The nobles were pleased to see that the young princess and heir apparent seemed to have a good handle on running things, delegating tasks and allowing herself to focus on the big picture. I actually ran into her myself at the party and we both got caught up on what had happened this past week. Despite the success though, I found myself dwelling on the two absent princesses. Neither of them had written me since they’d had their blowout and parted ways with some pretty harsh words exchanged. I figured that they’d make up in the end, but it still saddened me to see the pair fight. Having said that though, the two of them did have valid arguments. Neither had gotten the vacation they wanted, having to compromise for the other. And as a wise man once said; a compromise is a solution where neither side is satisfied. A couple of days later, having still not heard anything from either of them, I decided enough was enough. Given how mobile the two had been over the last week or so, I’d not been writing them back, simply enjoying the postcards they’d sent. Now though, I found myself writing two letters, one for each of them, counselling them toward making up with their sibling. It was funny in a way. A lot of ponies see Celestia and Luna as being somehow above the usual foibles of ponies. Some even still mistake them for gods. But these two are very decidedly one of us, and more than capable of being wrong. They were following in a time honoured tradition of vacations; falling out with your travelling companions. I’d just finished my letter to Celestia and was partway through my letter to Luna when the sunlight suddenly vanished. Now, you see, my office window faces east, so throughout most of the morning, I get a fair bit of natural light in through the large, panoramic windows that are such a common sight in Canterlot Castle. I also knew that the weather schedule today was nothing but clear skies, and given the way it had gone completely dark instead of merely a little more overcast, I knew it wasn’t just a passing cloud. Puzzled, I got to my feet and took a look at the window. I was in for quite a shock. There was an eclipse on. There hasn’t been one of those since the...unpleasantness involving Luna and her dark alter ego. Just as suddenly though, the moon shot below the horizon at a rate of knots, and the sun flew right up to the midday point. Then the moon shot up and the sun rapidly set. Then both started darting around the sky like a pair of balls on a pool table. Needless to say, this unusual celestial phenomena caused quite the minor catastrophic social upheaval in Canterlot. Ponies were, as if often the case in times of danger, running around like headless chickens. I headed for the throne room to see what was going on. The best explanation I could think of, judging by the sporadic way the sun and moon were moving, was that that little gizmo the princesses had left Twilight had gone haywire. As it turned out, I was actually right on the money. While Twilight might have gotten a handle on running Equestria, her little magic amplifier had gone bananas. Sunburst sent some advice in trying to reset it, but an overstressed Twilight wound it past its limit and the whole thing broke making things even worse. I honestly wondered if the gravitational forces might soon start doing damage to the planet. Now there’s a way to go. Luckily, help was at hand. Celestia and Luna had made up after running into each other. Finding travelling Equestria decidedly less pleasant without their respective travelling companion, they’d managed to reconcile and take back the unkind comments made previously. The pair had been making their way back toward Canterlot anyway when their respective celestial charges suddenly went haywire. While Twilight was not yet powerful enough to control the sun and moon on her own, the two sisters were. With no small amount of effort on their part, they managed to bring the sun and moon to heel, with Luna placing the moon back below the horizon, to await the setting of the sun, and Celestia manoeuvring the sun back onto its proper course, to steadily cruise through the sky until dusk. Needless to say, we were all glad to see them again, and I was glad to see they hadn’t let their brief rift form into something worse. Still, that didn’t stop me poking a little fun at them. “I thought you said you two were taking this holiday to get this whole ‘save the day’ thing out of your system,” I said as the two alicorns landed. “I promise, Roger,” Celestia said as she folded her wings to her sides. “That’s the last time.” She smiled as she went over to check on an ever so slightly flustered Twilight. Unbeknownst to any of us though, those two, along with Discord would be saving the world one more time before the reign of the Two Sisters finally came to an end.