The carriage slowly moved along the street of Canterlot, approaching the castle gates. I leaned against the couch, looking out through the window as the city slowly moved past outside.
"You seem a bit melancholic," Celestia commented from her place across from me.
"Not really," I said and shifted to look at her, "I'm really looking forward to spending a week with Luna," before I frowned slightly before I shrugged, "...Okay, maybe I am a little," I then admitted, "But more in a 'vacation almost over, back to reality' kind of thing."
Sighing softly, Celestia nodded, "I know how you mean. And we still have to deal with..."
"..Yeah," I admitted and flicked one ear in slight annoyance. Not looking forward to that.
The carriage came to a stop and Leaf opened the door for us. She and Shade stood on one side of the door, a pair of Solar guards by the other side.
Celestia exited first, stepping down to the ground before I followed her out. Despite the sunlight, I had left my day goggles in the baggage. My guards wore theirs, but I didn't want to look like I needed them right now.
Stretching, I half spread my wings and soaked in the warmth of the summer sun for several moments, my eyes closed before I smiled at Celestia, "We should go see Luna."
"We should," Celestia agreed and we headed off towards Lunas tower.
It may be late afternoon, but I knew she would already be awake. I knew my Luna, she would not like to miss our return. A pair of Lunar guards stood by the entrance of the tower. They gave us a bow as we approached, one of them reaching to pull the door open for us.
I followed Celestia inside, leaving the six guards behind to decide among themselves how to arrange things.
Celestia paused by the door, glancing at me before she smiled and lit her horn, holding it open for me and allowing me to enter first.
I smiled back and slipped inside.
...It's strange. On one hoof, it was like coming home. Everything looked the same as always, smelled the same, had the same feeling to it. On the other... it wasn't really home anymore. Had not been for years. Nocturnis was my home.
But this place had such nice memories to it.
Luna looked up from her place on the couch, a steaming hot cup of coffee sitting on the table next to her and she lit up as she spotted us. Neither of us said anything, she just slipped off the couch and I crossed over to her.
I stopped, my nose brushing against hers before I hugged her tight as she sat down, her forelegs and wings going around me, her cheek resting against the top of my head and for several long moments, nothing else in the universe existed.
Finally letting go of the hug, I gave her a small kiss, "Missed you."
"Never would have guessed," she teased and gave me one in return with a smile before also letting go and getting back to her hooves.
Celestia had entered and closed the door while Luna and I were busy. Luna smiled and crossed over to her, "Sister. Welcome back."
"It's good to be back, Luna," she said and gave her a hug with one wing. Luna hugged back before taking a step back, glancing between Celestia and myself.
"Did you enjoy your practice trip?" she asked with a small smile.
"I did," I agreed as I jumped onto the couch, "I learned a lot."
Celestia nodded, "Page is a very good student, when not blowing himself up."
"Hey, that only happened once!"
Celestia raised an amused eyebrow at me.
"...Okay, twice, but I'm not counting the water thing. We just got splashed!"
Luna looked between us before her face fell slightly and she sighed, "I see."
Celestia shook her head, "Luna... neither Page nor I are especially dumb. We saw through your plan fairly easily," she said softly.
Taking half a step back, Luna looked at her with slightly wide eyes before she looked at me.
I nodded, "My Sky, I'm not as experienced as Sunshine, but I am the alicorn of stories. Lying to me is fairly difficult if I pay attention. Besides, I'm not dumb either. It was fairly obvious what you three were trying to do."
Luna shook her head in frustration before she sighed, "What's wrong with you two!?"
"Luna," Celestia said, "Page and I, we have our reasons not to-"
"But you're miserable!" Luna exclaimed loudly, wings raised in annoyance as she stomped one hoof, "You try to hide it, but I know you! I know you better than any other pony!" before she looked at me, "And you, My Page," she said softly, "You look at her the same way you look at me."
I took a deep breath and then sighed, flicking one ear, "I love her," I said quietly.
"And I love him," Celestia said with a small smile, "But it's not the right time nor place. For a multitude of reasons."
"And why is that?" Luna asked, turning back to her, "No, instead of actually being happy, you just flirt constantly and then go mope. You here, Page in Nocturnis! Just kiss for buck sake and be happy! What's wrong with you two!?"
"It's not that simple," Celestia said firmly and I could tell her own temper was starting to flare up, "We have to consider the political situation, the distances, the ponies around us. And I'm not sure how it's any of your business!?"
"Of course it's my business!" Luna countered and pointed a wing at me, "My husband!" she said and then pointed a hoof at Celestia's chest, "My sister! I want you two to be happy! And you're both bucking miserable! And it’s your own fault!"
I shook my head, "Luna, it's not that simp-"
"So?" Celestia said, interrupting me, "Even if it was so, but what does not give you or anypony else the right to try to force the issue! And don't think I didn't notice the little details about your choice of retreat for us! Chilly even in the summer, large fireplaces! One extra large bed!"
I had noticed all of that as well. One was a coincidence. Half a dozen was enemy action.
"Thou are a fool, sister!" Luna exclaimed and stomped one hoof, "We found somepony we love, somepony we both love! Somepony that will be able to stay with us! We once dreamed of this in vain! And thou are hesitating!?"
"Because of you, Luna!" Celestia answered just as loudly, wings rising in manifest annoyance, "Because I don't want to do what I once did to you again!"
Luna gasped, "How dare you!? That has-"
That's when things broke down into a screaming match. I flinched before rubbing my eyes with a hoof.
This was going worse than expected. And what's even worse, things were escalating.
Fast.
Lighting my horn, I used a spell to amplify my voice as I made every shadow in the room deepen and gather around me. If it worked on a bunch of nobles, maybe it'll work on a pair of alicorns. Enough to interrupt them anyway.
"Shut up and sit down! Both of you!"
Celestia and Luna both flinched around and looked at me in surprise with wide eyes as they went quiet before slowly sinking down to sit on the floor, Celestia's wings rising quickly behind her again.
I slipped off the couch and walked up to look at both of them as I let go of the spell.
"You two has a lot to talk about, a lot of which is quite a while overdue I think, and does not involve me," I told them quietly, "And you will do so without yelling at each other or frightening the ponies of Canterlot or I will be incredibly pissed with the both of you. Meanwhile, instead of having a nice homecoming, I'm going to go to the Pathfinder and get drunk while trying to think of a reason not to head straight back to Nocturnis tomorrow. If you two manage not to kill each other before then, do let me know."
Then I left, stalking down the stairs and out into the sunlight, leaving them both behind.