“Luna? Luuunaaa?”
The voice of Princess Celestia, one normally so gentle that birds would fall weeping, resounded through Everfree Castle. The enchanted walls carried its echo through even the highest towers, in one of which happened to reside its intended recipient.
Princess Luna stirred in her hiding spot. At least sleeping somewhere other than her room had gotten her a bit of extra time. But she knew that if she stayed up in the observatory any longer, Celestia would start to worry, and Celestia got a little crazy when she was truly worried. With a sigh, Luna took to her wings and flew down the spiral staircase, and into the throne room. “Yes, Celestia?”
Celestia’s face was far from its normal placid expression. She looked positively frazzled, in fact. “Luna, it’s been half an hour since the moon should have been up! I’ve had to keep the sun on the horizon the entire time so that the sky doesn’t go black. Where have you been?”
“Sleeping in,” Luna replied curtly, though her horn glowed as she raised the moon into the sky.
“Luna! How can you care so little about your duties?” Celestia’s voice had the slightest hint of anger, just about the worst it ever got.
“Nopony else seems to care if the night comes. I bet they were all happy to get an extra-long sunset before bed.” Luna turned and went to go down one of the corridors.
Celestia bit her lip. She had actually heard some of the castle ponies admiring the prolonged sunset. “Well, perhaps for one day. I mean, twilight is very beautiful…”
“Oh, Princess, you speak too kindly of me.” A unicorn with a red-orange coat and mane of the darkest purple trotted down from one of the towers. A pile of books and scrolls in a cart followed behind him, the wood of the cart audibly creaking under the weight. By the look on his face, he was already starting to regret trying to say something clever.
“Twilight Sage,” Princess Celestia replied, her voice returning to its normal calm, “if you need to do more research, stay in the library. Don’t bring the entire thing with you.” She couldn’t help but smile when the young scholar made one of his rare attempts to sound self-confident. He was normally far too intimidated by social situations to even speak up. However, his outstanding performance at the Royal Academy earned him tutelage under the Princesses, who ended up spending more time teaching him to be less of a shut-in than anything else.
“I’m afraid, Princess, that I need to go into town with all of these. I have to see Shimmerdust about some glass lenses, and these books have all the research that needs to be referenced.”
“Lenses?” Princess Luna spoke up from the back. Twilight Sage was one of the few ponies she knew well, since he slept so irregularly that he saw as many nights as days. “You don’t need glasses. You don’t even need a monocle. Are you getting a fake monocle? I know you’ve always wanted one.”
Celestia smirked, “Or maybe that’s not what you’re actually going to see her for.”
“Erm, beg pardon, Princess?”
“ Really, Twilight, nopony would visit a lens shop as frequently as you even if they did need glasses. Perhaps there are…other needs you were going to have young Shimmerdust attend to?”
Twilight Sage blushed a bit. “Uh, not today, I’m afraid. I think I’ve devised a way to arrange lenses that will magnify things in a way that eyewear never could. I hope it could even show us something as distant as the stars. Perhaps gain more insight into their strange orbits, or why some shine more brightly than others. But it will take a lot of work. And that’s why I’m going to town now, since Shimmerdust should just be opening shop for the morning.”
“It’s night,” the two Princesses said in unison.
Twilight Sage lost his smile. “Oh. Oh, dear. Well…I suppose I should go to bed. We’ve gone uncounted years without seeing the stars up close. Another eight hours can’t do us too much harm.” Head low, he slowly walked back to the library.
“Oh, please tell me he isn’t planning to sleep up there,” Celestia said mostly to herself. She turned when she heard hooves walking the other direction behind her. “Luna? Where are you going? You should be on your throne holding court to hear petitions.”
Luna didn’t even turn to address her sister, “As if anypony will show up.” She disappeared around a corner.
“Luna? Luna, wait!” Celestia galloped, hoping to catch up with her before she was lost in the corridors of Everfree Castle. Unfortunately, it was too late. Luna was an incredibly elusive pony even when she was in plain view, much less when she managed to get out of sight. Celestia heaved a sigh and decided to make sure all the other royal duties were attended to. No doubt Luna was presently neglecting to attend to the rest of the castle. “I just wish that filly would let me talk to her,” Celestia said to nopony in particular. “she’s been getting more and more antisocial.”
After a short trot, Celestia arrived at the castle barracks. It was not a very large room, since soldiers were quartered in homes in the city of Everfree, using the barracks as mostly an armory. Equestria had lost the need for a strong standing army long before the sisters divine were even born. Still, the Royal Guard was kept at full strength, and somepony needed to keep them updated on the time change so that the shifts could get organized. As it stood, the Day Guard was just returning to the barracks, alabaster-coated ponies (mostly pegasi and unicorns) removing gilded armor. All except for one pegasus, who wore an illustrious captain’s uniform. As if she didn’t stand out enough, her tail of orange and yellow conjured images of a dancing flame even when she stood still. Celestia sighed and approached the captain.
“Flash Burn, you have been on shift for over a day now. You need to go home. Let Captain Pavise do his job.” The two Night Guard ponies bowed and quickly fled to their posts. The fiery captain bowed as well, but stayed.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but it’s necessary, Your Majesty. The notorious criminal, ‘Dark Blur’, is becoming more troublesome, Your Majesty, and he continues to evade us, Your Majesty.” Celestia held in her sigh. The entire Day Guard idolized Flash Burn for her talent and her steadfastness, but the princesses both found her incessant formality a bit wearying. Neither princess particularly cared to be called “Your Majesty” in the first place, but no matter how often they told the captain, she didn’t seem to be able to stop. The princess glared at the captain.
“Flash Burn, you can’t let your obsession with that scoundrel keep you from doing your job. Go home and get some sleep, or I’ll have you placed under house arrest and make you. I’ve been responsible for the sleep schedules of enough ponies today.”
Flash Burn gave the princess a quizzical look, “Your Majesty?”
“Luna slept in, Twilight Sage decided to spend all day holed up in his office, and now this. Really, I think something might be in the air. It’s even getting to me.” Celestia’s expression softened again. She realized that she too had been acting a bit stressed lately. “I’m sorry, Flash, for snapping at you. I…Flash?” Celestia just realized that the fiery pegasus was adrift in thought, beginning to blush. The princess quickly realized that she shouldn’t have said the ‘T’ word.
“Obsessing over my advisor isn’t a good reason to stay out of bed either, my little pony.”
Flash Burn’s blush began to cover her entire face. “Your Majesty, I…wasn’t…Your Majesty, it…Your Majesty-“
Celestia leaned in, smiling and nuzzling the pegasus affectionately, “Go to bed, and I’ll see you in the morning.” She pushed Flash Burn in the direction of the door, and the pegasus trotted off, obeying the princess’ request.
“I swear,” said the princess to herself, “sometimes it feels like I have to take care of the world by myself.”
Celestia woke up with the sensation of moonset. A quick look at the grand clock opposite her bed confirmed that it was indeed time for sunrise. She stretched out her limbs as she willed the sun to rise into the sky, and light crept into her eastern window. She took a look in the mirror to confirm that, as usual, she had a severe case of bedhead. It took 10 minutes of brushing to get her pink mane and tail to fall straight. Keeping up the appearance of the perfect princess was rather annoying sometimes. After a quick check to make sure she hadn't missed any patches of tangle, she trotted off to the grand hall.
Celestia was surprised to see her younger sister sitting at the foot of the Night Throne, chatting with a green-on-green earth pony of indistinguishable gender. She attempted to approach quietly, but it was no use. Her hooves on the stone floor rang throughout the chamber. Luna and the earth pony turned to look at her.
"Luna, while I appreciate you holding court, but you're supposed to actually sit on the throne when you do it," Celestia said with a smirk. Luna went wide-eyed.
"Oh! Yes. Court. I was...holding it. On the floor. I, uh...thought it would be...a good idea. To get closer to subjects. Like, closer, physically. But also, um...that other thing. Personally. Yeah." She gave her most adorable smile.
"But Luna," the green earth pony said quietly, "when I caught you here, you said you were just on your way to-mphphl!" The pony's mouth was suddenly full of silver-shod hoof. Luna looked even more worried, but Celestia just giggled.
"It's all right, Luna. I didn't need Amaranth to tell me you weren't being entirely truthful." The younger princess looked down at the floor guiltily. "Will you just promise me that you'll actually hold court tomorrow night?"
"But nopony comes," Luna whined.
"Oh, really? Would you like to know how many petitioners I see complaining that they come night after night for an audience, only to find an empty throne room?"
Luna responded in a flat voice, "Two this week, one last week, three the week before that, and-"
"Okay, okay!" Celestia had forgotten how disturbingly well-informed her sneak of a sister could be. "Look, I know that's not much compared to how many ponies come during the day, but I should be hearing zero complaints. We have a responsibility to all of Equestria, and these marks on our flanks to prove it." Celestia gestured towards her own flank, while looking at Luna's. The symbols that adorned their coats distinguished them from all the other ponies, even more than their possession of both horn and wing.
"Yeah, yeah," Luna rolled her eyes, sounding like she was chanting something by rote, "you with that big ol' beauty mark."
"And you with your cutie mark." Celestia nudged her sister gently. As often as she said it, her affectionate name for Luna's royal symbol never failed to make the younger princess smile. "Now, do you promise me you'll actually hold court?"
Luna heaved a sigh, "Okay, okay, I promise." She didn't actually sound sad or resentful.
"Now, off to bed with you." Luna gave her sister one last hug, and headed up to her quarters. "See you tomorrow, Amaranth."
"Good day, Princess," responded the earth pony. His eyes followed Celestia as she climbed upon her throne. "Would you like to hear my report, Princess?"
"Yes, Agricultural Minister Amaranth, I would love to." The green pony kneeled in front of the Day Throne.
"All the farms in the province of Everfree are reporting in normal. The flood in Trottingham was mostly averted, but some of the outlying farms were hit. There's already a relief effort underway. Uh...I think." Amaranth looked down. Celestia was unsurprised that he wasn't quite sure. His organizational skills were quite poor. "Damarescus seems to have finally dealt with those strange locusts. Apparently a wandering bard found a way to get rid of them. I didn't quite figure out what they meant. Zebrica should be sending everything on schedule."
There was an awkward pause. "And the royal garden?"
Amaranth perked up, "Ah, yes, well, the honeybee population is stable, and the tomatoes and oranges are coming in, and the hyacinths are doing just great!" The green pony was positively beaming. Celestia knew that there was nothing he loved more than tending to the royal garden.
Amaranth continued talking, but Celestia was distracted by a sight over in the distance. An unusual clattering of armor was quickly followed by an unusually contended-looking earth pony trotting into the throne room. She was dark brown, but her flowing auburn hair made her impossible to miss.
"Any problems, Amaranth?"
"Ah, yes, well, I've been having trouble keeping the morning glory off the wall..." the brown pony was now directly behind him.
"That's because I come through the front gate, dearie."
Amaranth literally jumped into the air. "Ah! Miss, I didn't see you there. I, uh, of course meant the flower. I mean, I know you're also Morning Glory, but I was referring to the decoration. Not that you aren't decorative! I mean pretty! I mean-" Amaranth simply began galloping away.
The brown pony held a hoof to her mouth to delicately conceal a giggle. "You knew exactly which flowers he was having trouble with, didn't you."
Celestia looked aside with fake guilt, "I'm not sure what you could possibly mean, Morning Glory." She couldn't keep the facade for long, and began to giggle herself. "Perhaps it may have been a little too much for the poor boy."
"Is Princess Luna here? I wanted to see her before she went off to bed."
"Sorry, you just missed her. Don't worry, she'll be holding court tomorrow night. I made her promise."
Morning Glory looked downcast, "Oh, I simply can't come tomorrow. Top Hat is holding quite the soiree that evening, and if I miss it, I'll lose the chance to meet some very influential ponies."
"Well, I'm afraid you'll just have to decide between playing your little political games and being there for your friend."
The earth pony glared at the Princess. "Oh, you're just loving this, aren't you. I know you don't like the way I work, Princess, but not all of us can simply wave our hoofs around and effect social change. My 'little games' are what got equal rights for zebras passed through the senate."
The princess never let her smile drop. "You know I appreciate your work, Morning Glory. But, you know, the night court lasts until morning. You can always stay up and go after the party."
"Well, not if somepony wants to take me home," Morning Glory said quietly. Celestia was thankful of how little she had to see of that side of politics. Ponies like Morning Glory took care of the backroom deals that the princess had no stomach for. She worried that her younger sister might be a bit more inclined towards such things, but she trusted her. Luna made good choices in friends, ponies like Morning Glory who had good hearts, even if they played dirty.
"I'm sorry, dear. I'll let her know you stopped in, okay? Meanwhile- oh, good morning Twilight Sage!"
The unicorn was once again descending from the tower with his cart, which, Princess Celestia noted, was even more laden than it was last night. "Good morning, Princess." Twilight Sage turned his head and noticed the earth pony at the foot of the throne, "Hey, what's the story, Morning Glory?"
Morning Glory rolled her eyes, "Twilight Sage, if you think I find that even the slightest bit original or clever, you've spent more time cooped up in that library than I originally thought." Sage gave her a guilty look and turned to head out the main gate.
"Oh, Twilight, you're heading to see Shimmerdust now?" Twilight turned back when he heard Celestia’s voice.
"Yes. I even checked the clock this time. She'll be opening soon. I can't be sure how long it will take to go over specifics, but I promise I'll be back in a few hours. This will probably need to be a multi-day project. At least I'll get good exercise bringing the books back and forth." Twilight's cart groaned seemingly in response.
Celestia thought for a moment. "You know, this really seems like an important project. Why don't you take a few days of special assignment? You'll get your work done a lot faster if it's not broken up into tiny pieces, and you can keep the books all in the same place you're working."
Twilight Sage looked surprised. "Oh, really? Thank you, Princess!" He began to smile as he once again continued out the gate.
"And I'm sure you and Shimmerdust could use the alone time." Twilight Sage began to speed more quickly out of the room. Celestia swore she could almost hear his blush in his hoofsteps.
Morning Glory took a seat by the side of the throne. "I'm not sure why you let him carry on like that. It's not befitting for someone of the Court to take time for dalliances with some commoner out in the lower quarters of Everfree."
"Morning Glory, you carouse with commoners from the lower quarters all the time."
"And I am a commoner, not part of the Court. Besides, it's all an important part of my work."
"So that little mare you snuck into the garden last week was part of some big power struggle?"
Morning Glory averted her eyes. "Well, I'm sure she was important to someone. Her father never seems to let her go anywhere. Someone needed to teach him what happens when you don't let your daughter have fun with colts."
"I see," Princess Celestia responded simply. "Well, how about you tell me what's going on in politics outside the bedroom."
Morning Glory began to fill the princess in on the various affairs of the Court. There was much hidden from the eyes of the princess that most political ponies wanted to stay that way. It was because of spies like Morning Glory that the royal sisters seemed so all-knowing and savvy.
Near the end of the briefing, a whistling sound began emanating from one of the adjoining corridors. It quickly grew louder, until finally, it erupted as a blazing streak burst into the room's center. The blur solidified at the foot of Celestia's throne into the form of Captain Flash Burn, in full uniform.
"Captain Flash Burn and the Day Guard reporting for duty, Your Majesty."
"What Day Guard?" Princess Celestia asked in an amused tone. Flash Burn looked to her right and left. Surely enough, she was alone. A furious fluttering of wings from the same corridor heralded a number of pegasi attempting to catch up, followed by the hoofbeats of a number of unicorns and earth ponies. Out of breath, they stumbled into ranks around their captain.
"Uh, apologies, Your Majesty." The Day Guard all glared at the captain. They would have been on time if she had started their march off on time. "I...I slept in."
Princess Celestia burst into laughter. "Perhaps next time you'll sleep every night so you don't have to catch up?"
Flash Burn's eyes were glued to the floor. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Alright, that's enough fun for the morning. Back to work."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Flash Burn stood up straight, still facing the princess. "Day Guard! Stations!" The entire Day Guard dispersed in a quick, orderly fashion to fill the castle and the streets of Everfree's upper quarter. Flash Burn remained in the throne room.
"Hey, what's the story, Morning Glory?" she said addressing the pony by the princess' side.
"Oh, Flashie, you're such a card," Morning Glory giggled in reply. The two walked towards each other and bumped their heads affectionately.
"So, how did you get in today?"
"Oh, you know, the guards know I'm allowed in here," Morning Glory waved a hoof in the air dismissively.
"Really?" Flash Burn raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Because they're still under strict orders to keep you out of the castle."
"Oh. Ah, well, if you must know, young Lieutenant Destrier seems to fall to pieces when a lady brushes her flank against him just so." She demonstrated on Flash Burn, causing the captain's cheeks to go flush.
"Uh, you do know he's married, right?"
"Really? Well, introduce me to his wife sometime, and I'll teach her all about it." This simply caused Flash Burn to blush even more. A quiet throat-clearing from the throne quieted both of the ponies.
"Perhaps, captain, you'd like to give me more information on your plans for the day?"
"Oh, yes, Your Majesty." Flash Burn once again bowed before the throne. "Normally, Dark Blur is inactive during the daytime, Your Majesty, but we believe that if we find a forensic specialist, Your Majesty, we may be able to figure out where he's staying based on his activity pattern, Your Majesty."
"Very good, captain. You should get to that."
"I'm sorry," piped up Morning Glory, "but did you say 'Dark Blur'?"
"Yeah, that's what he calls himself, we think," replied Flash Burn, rising. "Why, you know anything about him?"
"Me? Oh, no, I wouldn't know anything about that sort of thing. It just sounded odd, was all."
"Strange that you've never heard of him," said Princess Celestia, "since he's quite the plague on the nobles."
"Ahaha, well, yes, one can miss the occasional thing. It's not like I've ever had a run-in with him. I don't actually live in the upper quarter, you know." She waved her hoof in the air dismissively.
"Sometimes I forget," Flash Burn chuckled. The princess laughed as well.
"Well, Flash Burn, since you're headed to the lower quarter, there's a certain glass shop you may want to stop by. Twilight Sage is headed off to get some lenses. If you see him there, you can ask him about Dark Blur."
The captain's face lit up. "Oh! I, uh, yes, Your Majesty. I'll go do that, Your Majesty." Just like that, Flash Burn took off, leaving a trail like a flame.
Morning Glory glared at Princess Celestia once more. "Surely you can't be encouraging that foolish little crush she has on your advisor."
"I'm not encouraging it," Princess Celestia replied with a knowing smile, "and don't call me Shirley."
"Wait, what? Ooh!" the earth pony winced as she understood the princess' joke. "Nevermind. Why are you sending Flash Burn out to see Twilight Sage if you're not trying to get them together?"
"Because, my little pony, Flash Burn will be traveling to the shop as fast as she can, while Twilight Sage is trotting along laden with books. When Flash Burn arrives to inquire after him, the only pony who will be there to answer her will be Twilight Sage's filly-friend." Celestia's smirk got wider as she waited for realization to dawn on her confidante.
"Oh. Ohhhhhh. That was sneaky, Princess. I'm not rubbing off on you, am I?"
"Goodness, I hope not," Celestia replied in a jocular tone. Both of them laughed.
A few minutes passed before an alabaster pegasus in armor walked into the throne room. "Princess Celestia, requesting permission to open the gates to the public."
The princess smiled down at the guard. "Lieutenant Destrier, I thought you had already done that. Why, look who's sitting right here." Morning Glory stepped out from beside the throne with her most innocent expression.
"Um, I..." the pegasus could only stammer. The two mares up the staircase only laughed.
"It's alright, captain. If I punished guards for letting Miss Glory through, we'd have more prisoners than ponies to guard them. Go open the gates, please."
"Yes, Your Highness." The lieutenant slunk off in the most professional-looking way he could manage. The princess and Morning Glory waited until he left the room.
"Well, Princess, I should be going. I'm sure that my brother will be stumbling home shortly to attempt to wash off the smell of a night of carousing, and it's always fun to catch him." Morning Glory began walking towards the exit.
"You know, you talk about him all the time, but you've never snuck your brother up here to meet me or Luna."
"Ahaha," Morning Glory laughed delicately, "yes, well, he's never been terribly interested in coming up to see the palace. I'm afraid ambition doesn't run in the family, you know? Good day, Princess."
The princess stretched and adjusted her posture. The morning had been enjoyable and relaxing, but now she had petitioners to attend to. Very many whiny, self-interested, entitled petitioners. And she had to look nice for them.
"Oh, please tell me those aren't the Bluebloods I see coming in."