Princess Luna was sitting by the fireplace in her sleeping chambers, sipping tea and filling out some of her more dull paperwork. She didn't have any royal duties to attend to today because there would be some sort of royal Parliament meeting...thingy. Luna didn't know much about it honestly, except that a lot had changed in terms of Equestrian government structure in the last thousand years. Nowadays there was something about...balance of power and parliaments and written law. Celestia had assigned her heaps of reading on it all, but Luna had never liked reading. Besides, all she needed to know was that for whatever reason, it was now forbidden for Princesses to create their own laws. Quite the shame, really.
A scroll popped into view, causing her to spill tea all over herself and the stack of papers she had lying in front of her. Luna certainly enjoyed writing with Twilight Sparkle, having built a bond with her during Nightmare Night back in Ponyville, but she could never get used to the way Twilight sent letters to her and her sister.
Since Twilight had attended and participated in the...parliament thingy, she was probably writing to Luna about how it went. Which was strange—usually she would write to Celestia about such things, but perhaps Twilight had something to share with Luna especially.
Dear Princess Luna,
The Royal Parliament session was absolutely wonderful. I love having a say in the legislative portion of the constitutional democracy that is the Sovereign Republic of Equestria. Being so involved in the Equestrian government makes me feel like I'm on my way to becoming a real Princess!
Luna noted to herself that, in case Celestia insisted on enforcing Luna to learn about all of this government stuff, to kidnap Twilight and bribe her into writing any papers or taking any tests for her.
Anyway, I'm actually just writing to tell you that 1) I'm sorry and 2) I voted against it.
Yours,
Twilight Sparkle.
Sorry for what? And voted against what?
Suddenly, ten members of the Royal Guard, accompanied by an old-looking stallion with a curly white powdered wig, whose name and occupation Luna could not remember despite Celestia forcing her to learn about him just last week, entered the room. As the members of the Royal Guard proceeded to load an at this point extremely confused Princess Luna into a Royal Chariot, the stallion read from a scroll:
“By amendment thirty-one of section four of paragraph one of article five hundred ninety-two, the Equestrian Parliament decrees that the Royal Naptime shall be, as of now for exactly one week, be taken into effect.”
“NO! STOP!” Luna yelled.
“My most sincere apologies, your Highness,” an overseeing officer of the Royal Guard said as he bowed to her. “But it is the written law.”
“THEN BURN THE WRITTEN LAW!” Princess Luna boomed as she switched to the Canterlot Royal Voice.
“Uh...” the overseeing officer shuffled his feet nervously. “That would be treason, your Highness.”
“THEN AS THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT, I HEREBY DECLARE THIS CURSED AMENDMENT TO BE PUT OUT OF EFFECT!” Princess Luna paused. What was that word again? Ah, yes-- “VETO!” she bellowed. “VETO! VETO!”
Princess Luna stopped speaking as she noticed that nopony was listening to her. The elderly stallion with the scroll had disappeared and the members of the Royal Guard were calmly lugging her chariot through the castle.
“I SAID VEEEEETO!” Princess Luna bellowed again, especially enunciating the word in case everypony misheard. “V-E-T-O!” she spelled, clearly agitated as she switched back to her regular voice. “Why isn't anypony listening to me?”
“It is a special decree of the Parliament, dear Sister,” Princess Celestia said calmly as her chariot, being pulled as well, rounded a corner and moved alongside Luna's. “It is the written law and was appointed almost unanimously. We have no choice. We must abide.”
“Which law, dear Sister?” Luna asked.
“The Royal Naptime law,” Celestia said gravely. “Which states, if I may summarize: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna must go to the Royal Naptime location, where they shall take a Royal Break and do absolutely Royal Nothing for one Royal Week.”
A few unicorns, one of them the Captain of the Royal Guard himself, fired beams of magic at a tree that immediately widened into a gate-like entrance.
“The Royal Naptime location, your Highnesses!” a guard announced. The princesses were levitated out of their chariots and in front of the portal, side by side. “We shall see you in a week.”
“This is absolutely ridiculous!” Luna exclaimed. “I demand to see my lawyer!”
“Your lawyer is a member of the Royal Parliament and strong advocate of the Royal Naptime law,” Celestia said.
“Then I demand to have him executed!”
“I retract that command,” Celestia said quickly to the Captain of the Royal Guard.
“'Twasn't a command, 'twas a demand!”
“Your Highnesses? The portal?” a guard asked, cocking his head towards it.
“Ah, yes. Of course,” Celestia said calmly. Pushing a scrambling Luna in front of her, she quickly bode farewell to the guards, who would pick them up in a week's time.
“STOP! IN THE NAME OF EQUESTRIA, I DEMAND YOU TO STOP!” Luna yelled, thrashing about, but being physically smaller than Celestia, she was not able to prevent the inevitable.
With a strange whooshing sound, the two sisters fell through the portal.
–
They awoke at the same tree in the Gardens near the Entrance. The members of the Royal guard that brought them to the portal, however, were gone. In fact, nopony was in around. From what Luna could tell, she and her sister were transported to a weak magical copy of their Castle, along with the immediate surrounding area.
A weak magical copy would be a breeze to overload. Luna took an aggressive stance, kneeling low into her haunches as she lit her horn and prepared to force herself, as well as Celestia, out of their prison.
“Luna! What are you doing?” Celestia exclaimed, and quickly rushed over to her sister and wet the tip of her horn.
“We must escape this dreadful prison!” Luna said. “I was simply doing such, dear Sister.”
“No, Luna,” Celestia said calmly. “The law requires of us that we stay here for a week.”
“THEN THE LAW IS WRONG!” Luna exclaimed.
Celestia put a hoof on her younger sister's shoulder. “The Parliament passed this law for a reason, Luna. Everypony needs a break from their occupation occasionally. The Royal Naptime law was put in place to ensure that we Princesses receive a break as well. Our so-called “prison” is merely the means necessary to ensure proper privacy during our vacation time.”
“You...you like this?” Luna asked, clearly revolted.
“The time is rather inconvenient for me, as I had other plans for next week and projects in session. But now that it is in effect, I suppose I shall use the time to take a relaxing week off. Perhaps I shall read a few books, or catch up on sleep. I would suggest for you to do the same, dear Sister.”
Celestia looked at Luna, who had The Look on her face.
“You are going to do the same, right?” Celestia asked quickly.
Oh, no.
The Look was a look Celestia knew well. It was a look that combined giddiness, malice and mischief. It was a look that Celestia...actually hadn't seen in a long time. Not since before the rise of Nightmare Moon. But that was beside the point. The point was, The Look never meant good news.
Luna grinned slowly. “We shall certainly enjoy ourselves, dear Sister. That is certain.”
As Luna galloped into the castle, Celestia could only stand still and groan. Luna sporting The Look and talking about ENJOYING herself? The last time Luna had enjoyed herself, the entire Royal Guard had been turned a jarring shade of neon blue for a month.
It would be chaos this week. Only that was certain.