"Your royal highness, you're urgently needed in the throne room!" the captain's voice said over the intercom.
She grimaced as she looked up from her schedule for the day. There was still so much to do in preparation for the royal celebration. Well, not really. Pipp needed to do some more rehearsing, and Cloodpuff needed a pedicure to look his best, but she still had to put on a show about being busy. She'd find some excuse about things she needed to do and then really busy herself triple-checking to make sure all the wires and lighting were working correctly. This would be her younger daughter's big night, and she wanted it to go off flawlessly for her. Zipp might be who would rule, but it was Pipp who held the people's hearts and helped maintain loyalty. She was as important as her elder sister and wasn't just a spare to be ignored.
"I'll be there," she replied. "Have you found Zipp? It is an important day, and I don't want to have to wonder where she's galavanting around."
"We have reports that she was seen coming up from lower levels just minutes ago, your highness."
Of course, Zipp was down in the ruins. Haven had figured as much. She wished she could have told the guards to check there first, but she didn't want the guards to know about the place. It wasn't just a precious piece of history that needed preserving; it was where her daughter could do experiments away from the public eye and get some peace from reporters. Since she had shown it to her daughters, it was nearly impossible to keep Zipp away. The filly was obsessed with restoring their magic. That was all well and good, and it was an admirable goal, but she wished Zipp could have chosen another day to be down there.
"Call Pipp and have her find her sister and meet me there in the throne room, pronto. Pipp seems to have an extra sense dedicated to finding Zipp. I'm trying to have them present during more of these things, so I want them both there. Stress to her that it is urgent and not to lollygag posting videos!."
"She's supposed to be meeting with the press about her performance tonight, your highness," the captain replied.
Haven rolled her eyes. "Okay, have her do one quick video— quick! She can promote herself and send it to the press for them to air. She does best with those short videos anyway. Once she's done that, have her get her sister and get over here."
"I'll inform her, highness!"
"And what is this urgent matter anyway?" Haven asked.
"I prefer not to say over the phone, highness. We felt it was something only you could deal with."
She hung up the call and looked in the mirror, adjusting her crown. She had to look perfect; image was everything.
Her daughters came into the scaffolding above the throne room, and she flapped her wings at them.
"Hurry up and get yourselves ready! The guards will be announcing us at any moment, and we'll look pretty foolish if they have to wait."
"Fashionably late isn't a bad thing, Mom," Pipp said as she started attaching the wires to herself.
"It is when officiating royal duties," Queen Haven clapped back as she put her sunglasses on. "Especially for Zipp, who needs to be the one to show strength."
"Well, tell her not to go wandering off then," Pipp grumbled.
Zipp glared at her little sister. "I was busy."
"Busy going outside the city again," Pipp said, then stuck her tongue out at her sister.
Haven jerked her gaze over to her eldest. "What?! This is not the day for that! I give you freedom, more than my mother ever gave me, but you need to be responsible about it. This is your sister's big day! You need to be here for her."
Zipp continued to get her wires in place. "I'm here right now, aren't I?"
"Bow before our queen!" somepony yelled out below them.
Haven looked frantically towards Zipp. "We're going to be late! Hurry with those wires!"
"I'm hurrying!" Zipp whispered back, now rushing as the trumpet sounded.
The fanfare ended, and Zipp still wasn't ready. They were supposed to go down with the fanfare. This was a major embarrassment!
"Your majesty," an unfamiliar pony said somewhere below, sounding like a puffed-up sycophant.
Haven frowned and looked down below. Who was the pony even addressing? They weren't in view. She didn't see anypony in the royal area, only Cloodpuff sitting in front of the throne. Was the pony addressing the dog? Okay, not just a sycophant, but a blithering idiot then. She didn't feel as bad about making a late entrance now. This was probably a complete waste of time that she needed to get over as quickly as possible.
"Ready!" Zipp said.
Queen Haven rolled her eyes as the worker lowered her and her daughters down by wires, each of them flapping their wings as they went. Somepony had the good sense to play a music track over the speakers to correspond with their late entry. This was an official meeting, so they should all look dignified upon entry. She was pleased Zipp had recovered quickly and was looking the part to perfection. Zipp might not be the most punctual of her daughters, but never let it be said she couldn't put on her game face in an instant.
Her eyes drifted to Pipp, and she was thankful her sunglasses obscured how much they widened. Pipp was playing on her phone again, and the further they descended, the more focused on her phone she became, and the more her face slipped.
I'm not my mother. I'm not going to control what my daughters do. Pipp isn't even the heir, so she can get away with more. She's probably just excited about her concert tonight. Still, couldn't she at least put some effort into this? I'll need to speak to her later, after the show; I don't want to rain on her mood too much before then." Haven thought to herself as she came in for a landing. Zipp was probably paying just as much attention and noting her sister's behavior too and wondering why Pipp wasn't getting fussed at. Both of them would need to be spoken to.
Oh well, time to move this along. "Guards, state your business, and please, make it quick. We're on a very tight schedule today. Before the celebration, Cloudpuff needs his pedicure, Pipp needs to rehearse, and I need to practice my laugh."
She laughed a few times and inwardly cringed. Maybe she really did need to practice her laugh. That sounded so fake! "Hmm. Still not right."
"Your highness, we found these intruders in our territory," the captain announced and stepped aside to reveal two ponies.
She lowered her sunglasses and took a better look at them. It was an earth pony and a unicorn! Her brain did a backflip as it tried to go into damage control mode.
She pulled the sunglasses completely off as she gasped. "An earth pony and a unicorn in Zephyr Heights!" She still had no clue what she was supposed to do. This could cause a panic.
"We have them under control, your highness," the captain said confidently.
Lieutenant Thunder practically pranced up next to them. "Oh! And we deployed the shield."
The unicorn pointed to the tennis ball on her head and nodded while smiling like an idiot. She was pretty sure she had picked out who had confused her with the dog. These two seemed harmless. She still needed to play her part, though.
She started pacing. "Is this an attack on the night of our royal celebration? Why are you here? Who sent you?" She gasped again. "Nopony must know they're here!"
That should be good enough to make the guards keep quiet while she thought of something.
"Check it out, PippSqueaks, live from the castle...it's a real unicorn and earth pony," Pipp announced with excitement.
Haven could only stare at her youngest daughter with disbelief and horror.
"I know, right? This is so not a filter," Pipp said as she pointed her camera right at the two interlopers. Chances were she was live streaming that to the whole city!
"Pipp!" she said firmly and pulled the camera away from her daughter so she could smile in it instead. "There's nothing to fear. Those nasty little ponies have been captured. Your queen will protect you." She glared back at Pipp. "Shut it off."
She sighed in exasperation as she tossed her daughter's phone back to her. Okay, the city knew about the ponies, but she had reassured the public. Getting the ponies out of town was now going to be that much harder than when nopony knew they were here, but she would figure something out. These two were clearly harmless idiots who didn't know any better than to wander into the city. She wanted to just lock them up for the day and have the guards dump them out on the road in the morning. The public would probably forget mostly about them after all the hype Pipp's concert brought. Hopefully, Pipp's current antics weren't going to sabotage it from being that easy.
"Excuse me, majesty?" the earth pony called out to her. "Um, we only want to ask you a few questions about magic."
Haven's eyes spotted the book the earth pony had for the first time. She knew that book. That was Argyle's book!
The earth pony was in the process of asking a question when Haven flared her wings. "Guards! Please escort these ponies to the dungeon until I can question them properly. And confiscate the book!"
She saw Zipp's face had dropped entirely and that her daughter looked extremely distressed. Was she concerned about these ponies? Zipp did go outside the city often. Had Zipp been speaking to ponies of other tribes and not saying anything? She wasn't so upset that Zipp might have done it since she was guilty of the same thing at that age. She was more upset Zipp hadn't said a word to her about it.
As the guards confiscated the book, she watched as Zipp's concern escalated to the point it would be impossible for anypony watching to miss it. That was not normal. Zipp usually had much better control, even when she had objections to what was happening. That all but confirmed she recognized these ponies.
They were done here, for now. This wasn't over. She did need to question that earth pony about Argyle's book and what she was trying to do by coming here. The unicorn was less critical, a harmless idiot. It was not lost on her that it was an earth pony and a unicorn getting along, and maybe it was a sign…. no, it was best not to get her hopes up.
The worker above started raising them back up, and three of them did their appropriate performance. The earth pony was calling something up to her, but she wasn't paying much attention. Her mind was on what steps to take next.
Horsefeathers! She had just ordered those ponies to the dungeons. The dungeons were unsafe and unsanitary. They were fools, not criminals; they didn't deserve that, and she wanted them to understand she wasn't out to hurt them once she talked to them. She needed to rectify the situation quickly.
As soon as they were back in the scaffolding, she turned to Pipp. "I need your phone, now. I need to make a call."
Pipp hoofed it over, and Haven rapidly pulled up the correct contact.
"Captain, when I said dungeons, I meant the royal holding cell," she said as soon as the line picked up.
"Your highness, are you sure? Why would we—"
"Because I said so!" she half-shouted. "They'll be more amenable to talk if we treat them with a little kindness. Plus, I don't want to have to go down to the dungeons to speak to them, not right after a pedicure."
"Of course, your highness!" the captain replied smartly. "That is very wise of you. I'm sure it will lead to a much better interrogation."
"Good, see that they have plenty of food, and everything is up to a high standard in the cell. I'll deal with them after the celebration," she said in her most dignified voice before hanging up and giving Pipp her phone back.
With that taken care of, she could find out what was going on with Zipp.
She turned to face Zipp. "Now, I think we need to have a little— where are you going?!"
Zipp had already freed herself from her wires and was almost out the door before she caught her. "I have something to do. I'll see you at the celebration!"
"Young mare! You get back here! You need to stay away from the prisoners until I've— and she's gone already," Haven said as her ears wilted. Zipp was far too fast for her.
Pipp eyeballed her. "Do you need me to bring her back?"
Haven considered it for a second before shaking her head. "No. You focus on rehearsing. Tonight is all about you. I'll deal with your sister later."
She bet the entire palace treasury that Zipp was already making her way down to the royal holding cell. There was a sneaky way of finding out without making a show she was trying to find out.
She smiled at her youngest. "Why don't you go down to the holding cell and take a nice selfie showing the prisoners behind bars. The sight of it will help reassure the public we have everything under control, and it will boost the excitement about your concert tonight."
Pipp's eyes widened with excitement. "That's a great idea, Mom! That content will blow ponies' minds!"
Haven resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She actually approved of Pipp's obsession with social media. It gave her positive public relations and those relations extended to the rest of the royal family. Pipp might seem to take it to excess, but there was no such thing as too much good PR and goodwill. Haven might play the part in public, almost on instinct now, but she knew she would wilt under such constant viewership. She needed her downtime where she didn't have to pretend. However, Pipp seemed to thrive from it, and it made her happy. Pipp was also the perfect foil for her sister and allowed Zipp to remain more aloof. That was good, because while Zipp would still be under a lot of media pressure when she was queen, she wouldn't have to dedicate as much of her energy to placating the press thanks to her sister's efforts. The two of them made a perfect team.
You would be proud of the young mares your granddaughters have grown into, Mother. I wish you were still here to see them. Haven thought sadly.
Pipp was already off as well, leaving Haven by herself. Maybe she could go track down where the guards had taken that book.