Before Twilight could stop her, princess Luna had pushed her way trough the crowd of ponies and was struggling for the door. Ponyville's citizens tried their best to get out of her way as quickly as possible, fearing the rage of the lunar princess. They shoved and pushed, but the mass of pony was greater than the space of the door. The result was a massive plug of ponies, which Luna just barely managed to push trough. The struggle had cost her one of her shoes, some of her feathers and most of her royal dignity. But a raging Luna was a force not easily stopped.
When she stood there, outside Rarity's boutique, she saw Rainbow Dash's highly questionable behaviour in the mud puddle.
"RAINBOW DASH!" she screamed. "What is the meaning of this?! I have had enough of your... your insane acts of... insanity! Let me finish my royal duties, which you have turned into a circus act! You have destroyed my whole day! In fact, you have made me look like a fool! You have made me fail my task! WHY?!"
Twilight emerged from the crowd and ran past Luna, shouting:
"Rainbow Dash! What are you doing?! I never told you to behave this way! This is madness!"
"Hush, Twilight! Don't say anything! I'm trying to get her really mad at me so she won't even remember that you and Rarity and Fluttershy forgot all about her visit! That way only I will be punished..." she whispered.
"But Rainbow! What about you?!"
"Don't worry about me! Save yourselves! I'll make sure she'll be only mad at me."
She then, as a really terrible idea, flung a bit of mud at the alicorn princess, hitting her right on the snout! Luna's horn lit up, glowing with terrible magic. She could easily have squashed the pegasus like a fly with her immense powers, but in all her rage she managed to refrain from using her magic. Instead she flung an even bigger ball of mud at Rainbow, who ducked and instead the mud hit Twilight in the back of her head! She dove face first into the puddle.
When princess Celestia travelled in Equestria she always used her golden carriage. On these travels she liked to follow a strict schedule, but sometimes the alicorn princess chose to show up unexpected to see what her empire really was like when nopony had time to prepare themselves for her visit. This day she had inspected a factory in Cloudsdale while her younger sister had been sent by her to Ponyville as a test. It was a simple task that Celestia had assigned her to see if she was ready to regain her duties as a princess of Equestria after her thousand year long exile.
And now Celestia had decided to stop by Ponyville to see if her sister had managed to complete this simple task. She had told her that she must do everything absolutely perfect if she was to be trusted with more important assignments. Celestia had her doubts as the younger sister might easily crack under pressure. She had always hated being tested. Always.
Now her carriage descended from above, slowly flying trough the clouds and down to Ponyville's Mane Square.
The sight that met her made the princess jaw drop. She saw a big crowd of ponies flinging mud at each other, rolling around in the dirt and behaving with the dignity of feral pigs.
"WHAT is going on?!" she screamed.
All ponies froze, staring at Celestia in silent dread. A tall, brown shape emerged. She immediately recognized her younger sister, covered in mud and with an expression in her face of total shock.
"Princess Luna! What in my own name are you doing?! What is this madness?!"
"I... I..." Luna said, reminding her of a little filly who had been caught with her hoof in her big sister's cookie jar. "It wasn't me! I wasn't throwing mud!"
"That's enough! This behaviour is beneath the dignity of any princess, even you! Now you will come with me back to Canterlot and we'll never speak of this again."
Then another mud covered shape slowly arose from the ground. It had wings and eyes in a reddish colour. The rest of it was unrecognizable underneath the dirt.
"I'm so sorry," it said, looking sad, probably. "It was all my fault. I was the one who started the mud fight. I also impersonated the mayor, sabotaged princess Luna's visit to Ponyville and behaved badly. If anypony should be punished, it is me and not your sister."
"And who might this be?" Celestia asked.
"I am Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty. And I can't betray princess Luna! I did this to her... to... to..."
"To save our reputation," said Twilight, or the moving pile of mud that was standing next to Rainbow. "She did it to buy me and Fluttershy time, but when the plan started to fall apart she threw herself into the mud and acted like a fool to make us look good in comparison..."
"But that's insane!" Celestia said and put a hoof to her face. "No, that plan is beyond insane... it doesn't even make any sense. Rainbow Dash, off all different things you could do you chose the most idiotic option possible."
"I panicked..."
"You threw mud at a ruling princess of Equestria because you panicked?! I have never seen such... pffftt... such.. pfff... insane...he he heheheHAHAHAHA"
And princess Celestia burst into laughter. She jumped from her carriage and trotted trough the mud, giggling at her subjects.
"Hmmm... haven't we forgotten about something...?" Twilight asked.
"I can't remember that I forgot anything," said Rainbow.
"Oh, I cant stand it!" she laughed. "You are all pardoned! Anyone up for some coffee?"
"I have coffee at my boutique, princess," said Rarity, who had managed to scrape of most of the mud from her coat. "I'd be honoured to welcome two princesses there the same day!"
When they entered the boutique Rarity began to make coffee. But there were more ponies than cups.
"I have some more cups in my cupboard, just behind this sofa," she said and pushed the sofa aside...
And then Fluttershy leapt from the cupboard!
The ponies watched in total bewilderment when she fled trough the door and away across Ponyville like a greyhound released from its cage.
"Dear princess Celestia, some things are not easy to explain..." Twilight begun to write in her friendship report.
"I'm right here," said Celestia and took her quill away from her. "Don't waste good paper."