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// CH8: Celestia 
// Story: A Dubious Welcome 
// by Maonyman 
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Princess Celestia gave a warm and motherly smile as the last pony was gently escorted out of the throne room. His issue had been relatively minor, but the stallion had been exceedingly grateful when she solved it so quickly. He stopped just outside the chamber and she happily returned his parting wave as the great doors slowly swung shut.
Celestia immediately slumped to the side with a deep and weary sigh. On the one hoof, she treasured her weekly open court sessions as one of the few methods to stay in touch with her subjects, but on the other hoof, some of those ponies were awfully tedious to satisfy.
One of her guards approached the side of her throne in a formal trot, the crisp click of his hooves echoing around her royal hall.
"Princess, that was the last one."
"Yes, Silver Spear. Thank you."
He leaned closer and lowered his voice, "Your sister told me she has a surprise waiting for you."
Celestia's ears perked up a bit and he leaned even closer, whispering conspiratorially into her ear, "A surprise that starts with 'e' and rhymes with 'lair'."
She rolled an eye at him with a wry grin, "And you both must feel ever so sly and clever for that, no?"
The guard immediately snapped to attention and saluted with one hoof.
"Yes, Princess! Of course, Princess!"
Celestia let out a bright peal of laughter as she slipped daintily to her hooves.
"Stop it, you silly colt."
"As you command!"
She rolled her eyes and wrapped a wing around his withers, nudging him forward.
"Oh do behave, Silver. You are delaying my sister's delightful gift!"
The stallion finally broke into a wide grin, relaxing his charade as he turned down one of the throne room's back passageways. Celestia followed in peaceful silence until a gentle voice called out from a side hall.
"Um, Princess? A moment, please?"
She slowed and smiled warmly at the meek unicorn mare.
"Good evening, Serenity. Could it possibly wait until morning? I suspect my sister is hiding an eclair from me."
"Oh, of course! Goodness, that sounds much more important than this stuffy old paperwork."
They both giggled and Celestia broke into a graceful trot to catch up with her guard. As they passed the open kitchen door, there was a friendly call and Celestia held up a wing in greeting.
"Hello, Dough Mortar! And shall I thank you in advance for my eclair?"
There was only a husky chuckle in reply and Celestia followed Silver Spear around the corner and into the private dining hall. Princess Luna was sitting casually at the large empty table and smiled as they approached.
"Ah, my sister! Did the weekly whining go well?"
Celestia huffed and glared at her with mock severity.
"Princess Luna, you must learn to respect the open court! It is of vital importance and the veritable backbone of our civilized culture. Why, without it, there may as well not even be a Canterlot!"
Luna somberly bowed her head, her eyes twinkling with suppressed humor.
"Of course, dear sister, you are correct. I hereby vow to forever hold such respect as is appropriate for such a critical function of our government." There was a beat of silence, then she smirked and added, "So there was a lot of whining today, then?"
The Princess of the Sun slumped into the adjacent seat with a heavy groan. "You have no idea. What kind of a grown mare cannot handle one single chicken? And I had two pegasi brothers trying to claim the same cloud, but for Tartarus' sake, the cloud was barely big enough to stand on, nevermind own! Oh, and do not even get me started on that old stallion that insists his donkey neighbor is casting 'dark and mysterious magic' and that 'ponykind will forever suffer' if I do not take 'urgent and decisive action'."
"Brewing a balding potion, I presume?"
"Of course he was."
They stared at each other for a moment, then they both burst out laughing and Luna wrapped a comforting tendril of magic about her sister's shoulders as they struggled to regain their composure. Celestia let out a wistful sigh and stifled one last chuckle behind a fetlock.
"Our silly little ponies... Goodness, remember the kinds of problems we used to have?"
"Indeed, sister, how could I forget?"
"Angry chimera attacks..."
"Failed spells destroying buildings..."
"Blatant racism toward earth ponies..."
"Rampant plagues with the strangest symptoms..."
They fell into a somber silence in remembrance of those dark and hateful times. Then Celestia broke the spell with another light giggle.
"And here I must deal with complaints about a chicken. ONE chicken."
Luna suppressed a giggle of her own and got that glint in her eye that Celestia knew only too well.
"Yes, well, originally I had thought to help you unwind after such an onerous and stressful day... but now I believe I will dedicate this to the blessing that is a boring and uneventful life."
And with a casual flick of her horn, the illusion spell dissolved and revealed two multicolored eclairs sitting not a horn's length from Celestia's muzzle.
"Oh... do my old eyes deceive me?"
"They most surely do not!" The night mare clopped her hooves excitedly and exclaimed, "For I have procured... Zap Apple Eclairs!"
Celestia stared dumbfounded at her sister as her eyes began to glisten.
"My dearest sister... do you know how long it has been?"
Luna hesitated, her ears folded back uncertainly. She had been expecting delight or even ecstasy, but this reaction was quite unexpected.
"Well... no, I do not." She averted her gaze and muttered, "It has been over a thousand moons for me."
Her tears flowing freely now, Celestia gently tugged at Luna's muzzle with her magic until their eyes met again.
"It has been as long for me, too."
Luna blinked twice in surprise, then with a breathless, "Oh..." she slumped toward her sister and extended a wing about her withers. Celestia responded in kind, and it was a long moment before either Princess was able to speak again. When they finally broke the embrace, Celestia lifted her eclair and held it up to Luna's muzzle with a smile, her eyes still damp with budding tears.
"Like old times, dear sister."
Luna returned the smile and lifted her own eclair to Celestia's lips.
"And new times to come."
Suddenly, a bright burst of green flame startled them both and a letter fluttered gently to the table between them. They both smiled patiently and set the eclairs down again as Celestia unfurled Twilight's letter and began to read.
At the first sentence, her smile vanished and turned to a hard stare.
Seconds later, her magic began to waver with emotion and she was forced to set the letter down upon the table.
Concerned by her reaction, Luna leaned over to read as well.
"Dear Princess Celestia, this is actually Spike writing to you, but I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do! Twilight said she was trying a new spell and said she'd be back within the hour, but that was this morning and I'm scared that something went wrong. She made this weird blue circle on the wall and stepped into it and then she and the circle disapp-ared. Plea-e, ca- yo-ou he--p."
His claw had obviously been shaking as he wrote and the last few words were barely recognizable. For a brief moment, both princesses could only stare at each other in utter horror. Then their horns glowed in unison and they teleported away, the zap apple eclairs left forgotten on their little decorative plates.