The vast majority of Celestia’s subjects assumed she was white.
To be sure, it was a reasonable assumption. After all, Celestia did appear white at a glance. Though despite all appearances and those assumptions would be incorrect.
As anyone who has had the distinct pleasure of spending time with Celestia in the right light would tell you, Celestia’s coat was, in fact, a delicate shade of pink.
This misconception was slightly bothersome to Celestia but it did differ to her some unique advantages.
For example, it made it exceptionally difficult for others to tell when she became features became flushed. The natural pink tone in her coat diffused the redness in such a way where one wouldn’t notice the difference if they were under the impression that her coat was actually white.
On the same note it was almost impossible to tell when she blanched, in fact, not even Luna herself could reliably recognize when the blood drained from her visage.
However, Celestia herself was acutely aware of the color draining from her face when she looked at the requisition form sitting on the desk in front of her.
“This has to be a coincidence,” Celestia thought to herself as she tried to maintain a semblance of calm, “there's no way he could piece it all together so quickly, there has to be a reasonable explanation for this." She tried to convince herself that was the case; however, no alternative explanation came. There was simply no other reason that could explain the form sitting patiently on the desk in front of her; it mocked her
Just like he would have.
“Discord…”
“He has to know by now, doesn’t he?” The possibility disturbed her far more than she thought it would; she felt vulnerable, exposed, and most of all alone. For a while coherent thoughts escaped her entirely and she was lost in a roil of conflicting emotions, the vast majority of which were ones she did not fully comprehend.
She thought about burning the vexing piece of paper and simply pretending none of this ever happened, like a foal would hide a broken window with a carefully drawn curtain. She also thought about direct confrontation, but that thought terrified her for reasons she could not explain.
“There has to be something I can do?” She thought. “Something? Anything?” Try as she might, she could think of no perfect solution, no easy way out.
“I’m trapped,” the thought brought a sort of twisted relief to her mind, “there's nothing left for me to do but wait for the inevitable.” She sighed and looked at the torturous form once again. She glared at it like a mother would stare at a child willing it to know what it done wrong, but the form stared back, either it was unaware of the problem or it simply didn’t care. She sighed once again.
“If I don’t approve this it will only prove my guilt,” she speculated, “maybe it’s just a coincidence, it has to be!” She convinced herself. “All I have to do is give it my seal and send it to the requisitions department and I can finally get on with my life.” She extended her magic to the ornate sealing device on the far end of the table and imposed it causing her seal to gently glide above the table. She could just stamp it and be on her way, it could be so easy just to get it over with.
But try as she might she just couldn’t find the willpower to do it.
She set the seal back in its place and let out a breath she was unaware she was holding. She brought up her hooves and let her head fall into them. Her mind raced with possibilities, contingencies, and eventualities; the more she thought about it the more powerless she felt about the entire situation.
For a while she sat there silently, just trying to calm herself, blind and deaf to the world around her as she tried to resolve her problems. The world would wait for her, just as it always had.
She was dimly aware of someone entering her private chambers; their calls to her, a subdued urgency present in the tone but obviously trying not to disturb her. It could wait.
She nearly leapt out of her chair when a voice called out just behind her.
“Sister, is everything alright?” The voice asked, with more than a hint on concern evident to her. Celestia turned to address the familiar voice.
“Luna, what brings you to my chambers at this time of day?” Celestia asked genuinely confused. Luna frowned at her and replied.
“Nightfall is upon us, sister,” Luna said softly, “you need to lower the sun so that the day may come to an end,” she paused and gave Celestia a worried look, “are you sure that you are alright?” Celestia took a moment to properly compose herself properly, she smiled up at her sister.
“Forgive me, time passes me by sometimes,” Celestia said as she stood up and began to walk to the balcony adjoining her room, “why don’t we go take care of that now?” She opened the door and stepped out into the waning sunlight.
The sun was only an hour behind its normal schedule, though it was uncharacteristic for Celestia to forsake her duties for even a minute. Luna followed her sister to the balcony as her face set itself in an image of pure concentration; her horn glowed with gilded energy as the sun began to set rapidly. Celestia brought the sun down to the horizon and set it back on its normal pace for the night, there was no need to deprive Equestria of a beautiful sunset just because she was a little late.
Luna and Celestia stood on the balcony and watched the sky slowly shift through different colors and hues much like a child would shift in bed, as if it were getting comfortable before preparing for a long nights sleep. However, whereas Celestia’s gaze was strictly leveled on the horizon, Luna’s focus soon shifted to something that was far more important to her than the greater world around her.
“Sister?” She said to Celestia, once again breaking her from her reprieve.
“Yes, Luna?” Celestia asked Luna, her eyes still firmly fixated on what was so far in front of her. She was surprised when she felt a warm muzzle brush against her side.
“You work too hard,” Luna said frankly but with concern, Celestia was about to interject with a rebuttal but Luna cut her off, “don’t bother denying it, we both know how worked up you can get about the little things. Go off to bed and I will finish your paperwork for you, you need to rest and you know it.” Celestia thought about rejecting the offer for a moment but the promise of sleep proved far too enticing to pass up.
“Thank you, Luna,” Celestia looked at her younger sister and then turned her gaze to the ground beneath her as she said; “I know not what I have done to deserve a sister as warm and caring as you Luna.” Luna replied without skipping a beat.
“Absolutely nothing!”
Celestia was aghast for a moment; she looked to her sister and was greeted with a sly smile. A smirk spread over her own face as they both burst into a fit of giggles. When they both calmed down Celestia finally returned her sisters affection with a loving nuzzle of her own. She turned around and began walking back indoors as the final rays of the sun were extinguished by the impending night, she left on a little ritual that the two shared since they were foals.
“Good morning, sister.” Celestia said as she went off to get some well-deserved rest.
“Good night, sister.” Luna echoed as she watched Celestia retreat to her bed.
Luna lingered on the balcony for a little while longer; she still had work to do. As the sun was finally out of the way the moon could be raised. Luna may not have had as much raw magical power as her sister but she prized herself on her finesse; the blank canvas of the night sky gave her plenty of room to exercise her creativity.
The stars, unimaginable distances away, twinkled softly as she shifted the air currents in the upper atmosphere. The moon could be set on an infinite amount of paths with all of the phases from a brightness of a full moon to the intimate dark of a new moon. Every night Luna took it as a personal challenge to paint the sky in a way she never had done before. When she was satisfied with her night she slipped quietly inside and snuck over to her sister’s desk.
She sat down and looked at the paperwork that was troubling her sister so; she was surprised to see that there was just a solitary page resting on the surface.
“Curious.” Luna said to herself, very much confused. She lit her horn with a touch of magic, just bright enough to cut through the gloom of the chamber but not so bright as to disturb her sister. She carefully read over the form in front of her.
It was a fairly standard payroll acquisition form for a private investigator, one Dual Vision. Luna didn’t understand how such a simple form could give her sister so much trouble. She could not comprehend it, until she reached the bottom of the form. The submission line, she read it aloud to herself.
“Payment requested by the authority of The Crown in the name of Lord Discord.”
Finally the pieces began to come together for Luna. She sighed to herself, illuminated only by the light of her horn. “Sister, whatever am I going to do with you?” She asked no one in particular as she completed the form added it to the pile of paperwork that was already completed. With an idle thought she sent the papers to the ministry where they would be properly enacted.
Before she left to her own study for the night Luna carefully went over to her sister’s bed. As she approached she noticed the telltale distress of a pony suffering though a nightmare. She quietly gathered energy into her horn and released it in a shimmering cloud that spread over Celestia’s sleeping form. She smiled in the darkness as Celestia slowly relaxed as she was released from her torment; before she turned away from her sister, to leave her to her rest, she uttered three final words.
“Pleasant dreams, sister.” Then she was gone.