-5-
Luna paced in the corridor behind the throne room. She had no contingent of guards or bodyguards surrounding her yet as it was early for her to have even arrived for her nightly court. Dusk had barely fallen which meant there was at least an hour of twilight she was required to give to her subjects. That hour was reserved for her and her sister to have dinner
That routine has also changed over the years. When once they dined together regularly, it was now more common for the princesses to dine seperately. Daily court made her sister more tired as her obligations of enforcing bans became more regular and commonplace. While that was an accepted loss, she still looked forward to sharing breakfast each morning.
But since this year's Summer Sun Celebration, her sister had spent all of her breakfasts alone, or taken in the throne room before court. Keeping that fact from public knowledge was difficult, but up until now, they had managed to do so with only minor difficulty. The tabloid fervor over their apparent 'falling out' when Celestia first became overwhelmed by work lasted for almost a decade. A repeat would be much, much worse this time around.
The door opened and Celestia stepped out into the hallway. Her expression was unreadable, but Luna could feel her frustration boiling off of her. The frown she tried to hide still tugged at her lips. It was as if she were scowling at herself for having such royal duties. That may have been the case, but Luna pushed those thoughts away from her mind. Instead, Luna practically pranced over to join her. "Sister! I was hoping you would join me for dinner tonight?"
Celestia feigned a smile. "That depends on what Dutch Oven has planned for this evening. Hopefully not pasta – it stains rather easily."
Luna frowned. "I believe it is taco night."
Celestia laughed, "Your new favorite food this year. What next? Ravioli? Pizza?" Luna held her gaze of concern. Celestia retaliated with her continued smile. Eventually she relented, "Of course. Perhaps it would do me some good to spend more time with you."
Luna smiled and had a bit of spring to her step as they proceeded to their dining room.
"What wakes you so early, Luna? I thought you liked to sleep in."
"I wanted company for dinner."
Celestia feigned surprise. "And no date? I'm shocked!"
Luna rolled her eyes and snorted. "As if a stallion could keep up with me."
A sly smile crossed her features. "Then perhaps a mare?"
Luna gawked at her. She nearly lost her balance as she stumbled over her hooves. "'Tia!"
Celestia let out a genuine fit of laughter as her flowing tail and mane seemed to swish about. Her smile grew wide and it seemed as though the sun was coming up instead of setting.
Luna had no choice but be drawn into it. She let out some stifled giggles as her stiff posture visibly relaxed. Laughter was still a good measure that part of her sister was still the same. If she lost that sense of humor... well, no matter how detached Celestia seemed to be, she was - for the moment, at least – still the same about some things. It almost made Luna's fears unfounded. Almost.
They entered the dining room together, still recovering from Celestia's jest. The servants waiting there for Princess Luna seemed surprised and relieved at her company for the evening. One of them, a stallion with a baby blue coat, pulled back both of their cushions for them to sit.
"Thank you, Guss," Luna said. Celestia nodded her thanks.
The stallion bowed and resumed his work lightning candles and the various oil lamps in the room. His curled pink mane bounced as he trotted from one place to another. In his finest, as usual, Luna made a note to give him a raise. Poor Gussied Up didn’t make enough for his discretion.
Another pony – one of the chefs, Thin Slice – stood vigilant by the table, her mane pulled back in a tight bun. Her chef’s apron and hat were in pristine condition, as if they were brand new.
"Cheese and jalapeños for me," Luna said.
"Garden vegetables and cheese, mild salsa, Thin Slice.”
She nodded and trotted off to the kitchens. Guss followed shortly after, leaving the two sisters alone.
They peered out of the glass doors by the table to the slowly darkening sky. Oranges and pinks seemed to be strung together by strips of blues and purples across the horizon. The brightest stars in the sky could barely be seen, but it seemed to draw the rest of the sky together with the soft tapestry. Not a word was passed between them.
When Slice returned with their food, she did her best to go as unnoticed as possible. The aroma of spices and warm salsa filled the air, the steam licking at the edges of the window. After a few minutes of silence, their view was slowly beginning to shorten under the gathering steam on the window. Another cool summer night, it seemed, was planned. Luna sighed. That meant a storm was on the horizon to cool things down – it was about time.
Celestia finally broke her gaze to focus on Luna. "Do you remember the first time we watched the sunset? Together?"
A smile played on edges of Luna's lips. "Of course. How could I forget?"
"Do you remember what we promised?"
Luna paused and her smile dropped. That was a conversation that before now, they'd only had three times. Luna's fear threatened to overcome her.
The first time, was right before they had gone to battle with Discord. His crazed tyranny had pushed them both to breaking point, and all over the world in a race to recover the Elements of Harmony. Right before they had assaulted the castle, Celestia brought up their promise. She reaffirmed it, of course. After that…
"'Tia," she said softly. Luna swallowed hard, taking the momentary pause to gather her courage. "I would never forget that promise. Even when I was Nightmare Moon, I never once forgot. I let you banish me in my moment of clarity during the nightmare."
Celestia closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, held it, and let it go. "Luna... I'm sorry. I know you did. I don't mean to bring up the past."
Luna held her gaze. When her sister’s eyes opened, she watched her turn away. It felt like a slap in the face and her cheeks reddened. "’Tia. I promised before, now, and forever, that no matter what happens, I will always love you and we will always be together. At the end of days, we will only have each other. We’re sisters."
"I broke that promise once-"
"You had to. I let you."
"I–"
Luna rose from her seat and pressed a hoof against Celestia's lips. She strode around the table and dragged her into a warm embrace. "It's alright sister. I'm not leaving you again."
Celestia buried her muzzle into Luna's coat. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She repeated the phrase over and over until it could no longer be distinguished from her soft crying.
Luna held her sister close, but outwardly, as she looked off into the distance, a look of panic was plastered to her features. She knew in her heart that something was horribly wrong. Only once had her sister cried over this conversation, right before she was banished to the moon. But here? There was no dire crisis to Equestria or their relationship, save for her slow hermitage. Luna had tried and tried to comfort her, to draw her away from her demons, but she had closed that door and kept it hidden from her.
What scared her now was that there was nothing more she could do to save her sister from herself – at least… nothing more that wouldn’t repeat the past.
--*--
Willowisp rose from bed late in the afternoon. It had been almost four weeks since her graduation to the Night Guard, and while she wasn’t regretting the decision, she certainly wasn’t enjoying the new routines. Nightly training sessions started before the moon rose, and they lasted until the sunrise. Each night would be filled with intense training routines – running and flying over miles of land, heavy combat training with weapons, she’d never seen or held before. On the nights where she needed to stand guard, she had to wear full combat armor, the heaviest protection in the castle, meant for war.
But in the last two weeks a new, crazy routine was added to her list of displeasure – doing all of her combat and flying in complete darkness. She lost count of how many bumps and bruises she'd suffered in the caverns below, flying only by sound to guide her. Being a batpony meant that she could harness her ancestor’s use of echo location. She personally thought it was a useless skill at first. It was painful and she felt like a blind mare being forced to fly through an obstacle course.
"Instinct is the fastest response mechanism our bodies have," Captain Lily had said. "When you cannot defend yourself with your eyes, your body must be prepared to do it for you."
Willowisp shrugged. So far she'd manage to catch on quickly. She could use echolocation to guide her in the caves below the castle, their preferred training grounds. But when it came to combat training? She was an utter failure. She’d managed to defend herself against basic swings just by learning her combatant’s preferred method of fighting. Changes in their fighting style, or a change in pace would give her no chance of defending herself. She was hard pressed to make it out without injury.
The batpony slid out of bed, falling gently to the floor. She sighed in content. Yesterday, she was given leave for medical care and recuperation. Running and fighting in the caves had worn out her hooves and the medic had to make sure she wasn’t going to seriously injure herself. A free hooficure wasn’t the best way to spend her short time off, but she seriously appreciated not having that pinching or stabbing pain in her hooves. Her hoofsteps barely clicked on the stone floor as she crossed to the bathroom door. She smiled – hopefully that would help prevent bruises in that night’s combat training.
Glancing in the mirror, her mood soured. Her short mane came with the downside of being unusually fussy when she awoke from her daily sleep. She grabbed hold of a brush and dragged it through her mane, pulling the knots apart by hoof.
Despite the tangles, there was something else bringing down her mood. Spending so much time in front of the mirror had reminded her of her obligation to the force. Mare or stallion, after being accepted into the forces, each pony needed to have their mane and coat dyed to that particular force – that, or they used magic to change it. Needless to say, she was happy with her colors the way they were. She blew a raspberry in annoyance. At least she'd get her colors back when she retired.
A soft knocking came from the door. She rolled her eyes - it seemed being presentable wasn't her most pressing task. She lazily flew over to the door so she could keep brushing, before landing and pulling on the handle.
There was nopony waiting for her in the hallway. Curious, she stuck her head out of the room and looked around. Maybe they were on their way to dinner? As per normal, there were some off-duty guards dawdling in the hallway towards the mess hall, but they were too far off to have been the perpetrators. None of them looked particularly out of breath, and since there was nothing waiting outside her door, it wasn't the mail pony.
Raising an eyebrow, she closed the doors and made sure to shut the lock. Her sense of caution was sufficiently peaked. Was it another test? She moved to look around her room for her gear, but her hoof caught on a small scroll slipped under the door. She picked it up in her teeth and went back into the bathroom to finish up.
A few minutes later she was idly spinning the scroll, trying to find some kind of seal. She'd pulled the paper open, but it was blank. She scrunched up her face in confusion. What was the point of sending a blank letter?
While she fiddled with the answer, her idle hooves managed to make something on the wooden holds slip. She quickly undid the wooden cover and let it clatter to the floor. A small note lay inside.
Your first mission is available. Report at nine o'clock for assignment. Burn when received.
Below it wasn't the symbol of the Night Guard as she was half-expecting. It was Luna's personal seal. A little bit of panic began to leak into her mind. She ran around the room checking to make sure the windows were shut and covered and that she was alone. Satisfied with that, she walked over to the fireplace and set the scroll ablaze. It disappeared immediately, as did the fire.
--*--
Willowisp was thankful that the entrance hall was still empty as it usually was before night court. Princess Luna never usually had visitors at her court until closer to midnight. Most nobles waited until the early hours of the morning - farmers mostly - to make their requests. Those that came during the night were mostly astronomers or ponies or those that couldn't make Celestia's court. Few seemed to actually pay her the respect she was due, if her earlier training held any indication.
Once while she was shadowing the court guards, one of the nobles came in to make demands of her for some land he wanted to purchase from the royal preserves. When she said no, he wouldn't even response to a reasoned argument for her side. They had to drag him from the court.
She cast her eyes over the room. Everyone and everything seemed to be in their normal positions, but in the hallway, she could see White Lily waiting for her. She hesitated. Was she supposed to go to practice as well? The normal locale was empty when she checked. Slowly, she crossed the room and into the other hallway.
"Punctual," Captain Lily said once she was close enough. The captain closed the distance between them rather quickly and nudged Willowisp forward. "Although being a half an hour early is a bit much. I see you got my letter."
Willowisp looked at her with a hint of confusion on her face. Lily jabbed her with her wing so it went unnoticed. "Free Fall suggested that we begin your training on a simple guard mission. Those guards can't sleep through the night without having somepony being awake they can trust."
Lily pushed her down another hallway. "I'm sure you're excited to get started. But there are a few things we need to discuss." She opened a door in the hall and shoved the startled recruit inside. The door shut quickly behind her as a magical aura covered the doors behind her.
"Good evening, Miss Willowisp."
Willowisp looked up long enough to drop down to a bow. Princess Luna stood in a shadowed corner of the room, resting against a small set of bookshelves. Beside her was the rather terrified looking unicorn mare she'd briefly encountered in the library, and... the tailor?
"Rise, please. This is a huge burden I'm about to place on your shoulders. Formalities are unnecessary."
"I, uh, I'm sorry, Princess." Willowisp spurted out. She rose to her hooves while Captain Lily took a seat at one of the tables in the room.
"Let me preface this discussion by saying that I am aware at how strange this might look. You three may know each other, or not, but I know your paths are rather different from one another. Very different.”
Willowisp looked over at the unicorn, who was taking in deep breaths. Her eyes were still widened and she was shaking slightly. The tailor, on the other hoof, seemed calm and collected. The only tell that something was up, was the constant sliding to the left and right of her forehoof.
"Now, I have my reasons, to which I cannot explain. But I am sending you, under the guise of a royal envoy, across the ocean to France. Your combined skills should be more than sufficient for the task. I need you to find a pony named Twinkle Swirl. The last time she was spotted by the Night Guard, she was in the south of France, on the Isle of Croupsica. I need you to find her and bring her home, along with what she has taken from the treasury. The fate of Equestria hangs in the balance.”