Things seemed to really happen on the weekend in Canterlot, between the balls, charities and symphony halls, there was a lot of entertainment abound for the well-to-do. But let us not forget the common pony, night clubs, wild parties, even observatories and night school for those that really wanted to better themselves.
Yes, a weekend in Canterlot can certainly be known as the place to be. This however, was not a weekend in Canterlot, it was an evening on a Wednesday, quite possibly the most boring day of the week known to all ponies, and nopony was free from the tyrannical clutches of boredom.
Certainly there were still some things to do, the observatory was open seven nights a week, and depending on where you went, you could find some small shindig going on, or a concert or two. The park was open to the public still, and there was always a few shops that would have a night crew running it. But for the most part, nopony wished to go out and wreck havoc on their sleep schedule when they had work the next day. So almost nopony did.
In the throne room, Princess Luna was possibly the only pony in existence to manage finding enjoyment on a Wednesday night. Few ponies had come in to see her, which was typical in the middle of a week, but there was still much to do. Between her duty to monitor her subjects with troubled dreams, her new found pet Tibbles, an in palace theater, and several guards to chose from to accompany her for several activities, she had her night pretty much planned.
"Dark Blade," she said, addressing the guard to her right. "I need an eight letter word that means night."
The night guard beside her shrugged with his leathery wing before looking to the guard on the opposing side of the dais, only for him to shrug as well. "Your majesty, I don't really do crossword puzzles. Perhaps you should ask Eventide, she-"
"AH! Eventide, thank you Dark Blade, you truly are a marvel." Luna then wrote the word down on the puzzle before scratching her head with the pencil's eraser. "Now if I only knew a word for, less likely to betray..." She trailed off, expecting one of the guards to pick up the slack and tell her the word, just like they almost always inevitably did. After several moments of silence she shrugged and went on to the next clue.
As she tried to think of a five letter word for, 'sheds feathers', the door to the throne room creaked open. "Luna? Luna, are you busy?"
Luna raised an eyebrow and frowned slightly as she unceremoniously dropped her pencil and crossword puzzle. "Well I was, but I suppose that I have room in my busy schedule for my only sister." She took her reading glasses off and folded them in a case before straightening up in the throne and giving her sister a big smile. "Now, is everything alright? You seem troubled."
Celestia yawned wide as she stepped forward and magically tightened her night robe before speaking. "Sorry, I just can't seem to sleep. I thought that maybe you could help me out with that."
Luna groaned and rolled her eyes at the statement as she crossed her forelegs across her chest. "Sister, I'm not some kind of sleeping pill you can just use at your convenience, you know that! Did you try a warm bath?"
Celestia blushed slightly at the question as she noticed the faces of the guards suddenly glaze over, no doubt thinking of her in a bath tub. "Non lingua communis, ut verius loquar coram custodibus."
Luna raised an eyebrow at Celestia for using the ancient language, surprised that she remembered it at all, despite having gained a terrible accent over the years. "Tu est relatus iocum, tu es nudus cunctis diebus, alia quam calceamentis, et armilla, et coronam?"
Celestia blushed again before nodding. "I see your point," Celestia said with a frown. "Well, I did try one, but well... I grew drowsy and fell asleep, I woke up thinking I was drowning." Two of the guards by the benches where parliament sat in day court suddenly snickered, and Celestia snapped suddenly. "See! That's why I wanted to speak in the ancient language!"
"Yes, but I won't be having you butcher a language that went out of style a century before we were born just to save you from embarrassment," Luna said with a casual flick of a hoof. The two looked at each other in growing silence, both waiting for the other to speak before Luna spoke up again. "So, what else do you want?"
"Well if you're not going to put me to sleep, can we at least do something together?"
"Well, we could always do what those young ponies are doing these days." She then thought for a few moments before asking, "Is Parcheesi still all the rage?"
Celestia shook her head at the question. "I don't think that we have a copy of that here."
"What about Ur, or perhaps Senet? I haven't played those games in centuries!"
"And neither has most of the world Luna," Celestia said with a light chuckle. "I have some cards, and there's a copy of Monopony somewhere around here."
Luna looked up and stuck her tongue out slightly at the last suggestion. "Ugh, I despise that game."
"Is it because you aren't on any of the money?"
"No, it's because you're making a stupid face on the money, and your stupid face money always winds up in somepony else's hooves. Not to mention it only takes about half an eternity for somepony to win."
Celestia frowned and let her ears fall flat against her head. "Oh, well, alright. I guess I'll just go back to my room to stare at my ceiling, because I can't sleep." The princess of the sun turned to walk away at a slow pace, making the room echo with the slow clip clop of her shod hooves.
Luna looked up at the ceiling as if looking at an invisible being. "Mother help me for what your other daughter puts me through," she muttered aloud. "Sister?"
Celestia turned around slowly and Luna saw that her older sister's eyes were wet, and larger than usual as she stuck out her bottom lip in an exaggerated frown. "Yes Luna?"
Luna rolled her eyes at Celestia before sitting up in her most regal pose. "I'll be happy to play whatever game you wish. Just, don't expect any sort of-" she stopped short as Celestia swooped up and grabbed Luna to fly up to the ceiling while spinning.
"Oh thank you thank you thank you! You're the best Luna!"
Luna responded in the only way she could manage at the moment. "Can't... breathe... getting... sick... let... go!"
Celestia looked puzzled for a second before her face lit up. "OH! Right, sorry." She immediately let go to let Luna plummet for a few seconds before her wings caught flight for her. "So, what game shall we play?"
Luna thought about it for a few seconds as the two descended to the ground. "That's a very good question, one which I don't have an answer for at the moment."
Silence passed as the two thought about it for a few moments. Suddenly one of the servants of the castle came into the room with a tray of small sandwiches. "I did not know her highness Celestia would be joining you this evening," the pegasus said with a smile. "However, I did make plenty for your lunch just in case you were entertaining anypony at this hour."
Luna and Celestia looked at each other and shared a deviant smile suddenly. "Excuse me, Lemon Breeze, is that correct?"
The pegasus finished setting up the tray before bowing slightly. "Yes princess Luna, I, er, I mean, that is my name your highness."
Celestia gave a puzzled look at her sister as her smile grew wider. "Luna, what are you doing?"
Luna raised a wing in front of Celestia's face to shush her before stepping forward to go on. "Tell me, would you do anything that we commanded of you?"
The Lemon Breeze looked confused for a few moments as she thought it out. Under any normal rationalized decision, if somepony asked her this question she would have replied with a no. This however was princess Luna asking her, and not somepony off the street. "Of course I would your highness, I would do anything either of you asked of me."
The princess's smile grew ever wider, and it took all she could to prevent herself from slipping into the old habit of laughing maniacally, least her psychologist would hear and come to see if Nightmare Moon was making a comeback. "So, what if I told you that there was, oh let's say, an invasion of Parasprites, and I told you to handle it, how would you do it?"
The pegasus looked puzzled for a few moments as she looked to her right with the tip of her wing under her chin. :"I suppose I would help by baiting them with a tasty treat?"
Luna continued to grin as Celestia tried not to look as puzzled as she really was. "Thank you that is all Miss Breeze," Luna said with a slight nod of her head. Lemon Breeze bowed to the two alicorns before leaving the throne room to handle the next job on her list. "Celestia," Luna remarked once the door to the throne was closed. "I believe I have your new game."
"Sister, I don't understand. What game? Do you mean we are just going to go around questioning ponies all night?"
"Nay my dear Celestia," Luna said as she wrapped her foreleg around Celestia in an overly tight hug as she stood on her hindlegs to motion with her other hoof. "These ponies would do anything we ask from them, so why not use that to our advantage?"
Celestia raised an eyebrow before delicately removing her sisters foreleg from around her. "Yeah, I don't think that's such a good-"
"Please, no talking while I'm interrupting," Luna said with a sniff. "Anyway, my challenge to you is a battle of wits. I recreate some problems from the past, and you do the same, and we use ourselves and some subjects to solve the problems!"
Celestia looked at Luna with a deep frown for several moments before raising a hoof to feel her forehead. "Are you feeling alright Luna? Maybe you've been working too hard, I can summon young Pinto to take over for tonight."
"Celestia, Pinto is over ninety years old, why do you insist on calling him young?"
"Everypony's younger than us," Celestia said with a smile and a wink. "Why I remember when he first started here for the night shift. He was so handsome, and creative, and smart. But what really impressed me about him was his big-"
"CELESTIA!" Luna quickly slammed a hoof down as she tried to hide a blush. "Thou art trying to embarrass me. I don't need to know about these things!"
"I was going to say resume," Celestia said with a grin. "Nice to know what part of the road your mind is on though, little sister."
Luna felt her face get warmer as Celestia teased her before slamming a hoof down and snorting with a regal pose. "That is quite enough. Find your resorces, ten problems you can recreate, no less than four trouble makers or villains you can throw into the ring to throw me off, no less than twenty friends, and some spells you can use as resources or events. You must include yourself as the leader, so no less than fifty six when you total everything."
Celestia groaned slightly as she rolled her eyes. "And where are we supposed to battle? And what's to stop me from starting off with my strongest player and spells?"
"Luck of the draw, place your assets on a scrap of paper. If you draw it, you may cast it. I'm off to collect mine, meet me at midnight!"
Celestia frowned at her sister as she left the room only to shake her head and laugh. If she wants to play this game, so be it. She looked around to make sure nopony was looking, grabbed one of the small sandwiches off the tray, then quietly made her way as quick as possible to the back of the throne.
She looked around quickly to make sure once again that nopony was looking before pushing on a secret panel with her hoof to reveal a hidden drawer. Let's see here, no not the fan, laser sword, the murder weapon I'm hiding for him, no... AH! She grinned wide as she pulled out a dusty yellow book.
She quickly blew the dust off and read the title to be sure. "The names, and addresses of everypony in Equestria and beyond, that you may or may not know but may need in a pinch some day, benevolent dictators edition. How convenient!" She opened the book up to a random page and randomly picked a name before writing it down on a piece of paper before laughing to herself maniacally.
Suddenly the door burst open to reveal the Royal Psychologist accompanied by several guards. "Alright I heard maniacal laughter, GUARDS! I need an almost-comfortable-but-not-quite-comfortable-enough couch, a very comfy chair, some quills, ink and paper, STAT! Princess Celestia, I will save you from a the fate of your sister's past, just relax."
Celestia looked at the approaching dark grey unicorn, the way she kept her purple hair wound in a tight bun with braided tails on either side so that not a hair was out of place. The way that her bright blue eyes flashed dangerously behind the fashionable glasses as her smirk grew wider. Yes, she feared this pony, the only one that could legally take her off the throne if she felt Celestia went off the deep end.
"Now now Black Shadows, take it easy, I'm perfectly fine, I just remembered a joke is all."
"A case of denial I see, it's a start but we'll break away those layers. Eventide!"
A night guard flew over with a cup full of quills. "Yes Momma B?"
"Get me, the comfy pillows!" Everypony in the room gasped suddenly as Eventide saluted and took off to find the pillows.