“Oh Twilight, why didn’t you come to me in the first place,” Celestia asked herself. I would have helped you if you had asked. Did this thing really scare you that badly?” Celestia had just finished the first entry in Twilight’s journal and wondered as to Twilight’s actions and state of mind. It wasn’t like her to do something like this without informing Celestia, and even more so to actually fake a letter from her.
‘Did this thing really scare you that badly?’ Celestia thought to herself. She was about to read the next entry when her balcony doors flew open to reveal a dark blue alicorn.
“SISTEEEEEEEEEEEEER, WE HAVE COME TO INFORM YOU IT IS ALMOST TIME TO RAISE THE SUN!” she yelled in a booming voice, punctuated by a thunderclap from somewhere. Celestia, to her credit, wasn’t startled at all from the display.
“Really?” Celestia asked and got up to find the moon was almost over the horizon. “My, how time flies.” Turning away from the window, Celestia moved to a nearby mirror and focused on prepared for the coming day. Luna, confused by Celestia’s behavior, joined her.
“Is something the matter sister? You seem distracted.” Celestia sighed at Luna's question.
“I’m fine Luna; I just didn’t get much sleep tonight.” Celestia debated whether to tell Luna about Twilight’s visit. “I just had a visit from an old friend.”
“Really? Wondrous, who was it?” Luna asked.
Celestia placed her crown on her head. “Believe it or not, it was Twilight Sparkle.”
“Really, she’s alive?” Luna asked and Celestia answered with a nod. “WONDEROUS NEWS, WE HAVE NOT SEEN HER FOR SO LONG! TELL US, HOW HAS SHE BEEN?”
“Unfortunately, not too well,” Celestia said, “She’s been in serious trouble for the past few years.”
“How so?” Luna asked. Celestia motioned to Twilight’s journal.
“She left me her journal and said it would explain it all, although I’ve only finished the first entry.” Luna walked over to the journal, lifted it telekinetically, and flipped it to the first page and started scanning. Luna was a faster reader than Celestia, so she would be done soon enough.
While Luna was doing that, Celestia walked out onto the balcony to raise the sun, an act that was almost second nature to her. When she had finished, Celestia re-entered the room in time to hear a knock on the door. The two sisters looked at each other and Celestia magically opened the door. Behind the door was one of the royal guards, who was only letting a small bit of worry leak through his calm military exterior.
“Your majesty?” he asked and saw both Celestia and Luna and sighed in relief. “Oh thank goodness, you’re both safe.”
“What’s the matter?” Celestia asked, curious about the guard’s worry. The guard sighed again.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there has been a theft from the royal vault.”
“WHAT?!” Luna yelled, dropping the journal, “What do you mean there’s been a theft, that’s impossible!” Celestia motioned
for Luna to quiet down.
“Would you care to explain what happened?” Celestia asked seriously. If the guard meant that vault, this was a big problem.
The royal vault in Canterlot castle was one of the most secured holding areas in all of Equestria. It was under guard at all times of the day and few ponies even knew how to open the door. Inside was the backup to the royal treasury and, what worried Celestia the most, a vast collection of magical artifacts ranging from tier 5, lowly items which mostly served as test beds for spells and the like which were mostly kept as a reminder of hardships, up to Tier 1, the kinds of items that in the wrong hooves could cause a widespread cataclysm.
“Well,” the guard started, “From what I know, sometime during the night when the guard for the vault were changing shifts, the thief snuck to the vault, knocked the guards out, and got into the vault. When I left, they were doing an inventory of all the items in the vault.”
Celestia closed her eyes in thought for a moment before walking to the door and said, “I need to see this for myself.” The guard moved out of the way and Celestia turned back to Luna. “Are you coming, little sister?”
Luna jumped a little from the question and shook her head. “I’m sorry Tia, I’m a little tired. I’ll just take care of a couple errands and go to bed.”
Celestia nodded. “Ok, we’ll let you know what we find out,” she said and left the room, the door closing behind her. Luna waited a few seconds before levitating the journal again and finished reading the entry she was on. When she was done she set the book down, thought for a minute, and then moved outside to the balcony. She stared at the distant Ponyville and the Everfree forest near it.
‘Was there really a painting at the old castle?’ Luna thought, ‘I don’t remember seeing one the last time I was there.’ Luna stared at the forest a moment longer before hopping onto the railing. ‘I have to investigate.’
Luna took a deep breath of the early morning air and started leaning forward. When she felt her hooves leave the railing, she opened and with a flap started on her journey toward Everfree.
Celestia and the guard had just reached the vault, which was buzzing with activity. It didn’t take long for Celestia the captain in charge of the investigation. The guard excused himself while Celestia talked to the captain.
“Captain,” Celestia started while the captain bowed, “what have you found out?”
“Well your majesty, from what we found very little was stolen. All Tier 1 and most Tier 2 items are accounted for though.” As the Captain explained this, the two passed a couple guards, one barely awake and the other unconscious.
“They were the ones on guard last night. The theft must have been recent because they were still unconscious when the shift change happened,” The captain said and Celestia leaned toward the guard who was awake.
“Can you remember anything from last night?” Celestia asked. The guard shook his head.
“I think we were standing guard like normal. I thought I heard a noise and went to investigate. I didn’t find anything, so I was going to go back when the thief tackled me. I’m not sure what happened after that.” The guard rubbed his forehead, hoping to jog his memory.
“We believe the thief used some kind of knockout drug on them,” The captain said, “they should be fine in a few hours. What worries me about this is the door.” Celestia nodded and the two went to the door.
“That’s been worrying me too,” Celestia said and they stopped in front of said door, which lay wide open. “It’s near impossible to break into, and even if it could it would take hours.”
“That’s the weirdest part about all this,” the captain said and motioned to the door. “It was exactly like this when we found it. It was opened normally.” Celestia looked at the captain. “Whoever this thief was knew how to open the door and had the means to do so.”
Celestia let that piece of information run through her head. It certainly narrowed down the suspect list: the only ponies who could open the door normally were Celestia herself, Luna, and in case something happened to the both of them the door could also be opened by an Element of Har-
“No, it couldn’t be,” Celestia whispered to herself and hoped that thought wasn’t true.
“Your majesty?” the captain asked.
“It’s nothing, I just had a thought. Continue the investigation and let me know what you find.”
“Yes, your majesty,” the captain said with a salute, to which Celestia nodded and walked away. The captain lowered the salute as another guard came up and saluted.
“Sir, all Tier 2 and 3 items are accounted for.” He said.
“And the treasury?” the captain asked.
“Every bit accounted for,”
The captain nodded. “Alright, continue the search.”
“Yes sir,” the guard said and went back into the vault, leaving the captain with his thoughts.
‘What was this thief looking for?’
The Everfree forest rushed underneath Luna, who was focused only on the castle looming ahead. When she was close enough Luna dropped to the ground a skidded to a stop. She looked up at the castle and felt a twinge of sadness at the state it was in.
‘It’s been so long,’ Luna thought as she entered the castle. Luna did her best to ignore the plants and rapidly decaying walls as she made her way through the castle and up to the room where Nightmare Moon was defeated. It had been a long time since that day and Luna had mostly come to terms with what happened, though it still hurt.
Shaking the memories from her head, Luna turned right and found what she was looking for. The painting had definitely seen better days, with the colors fading away due to the years, though the imagery it held was still vivid. The sight of ponies running and dying from a now unseen figure was definitely different from just reading a description about it.
Luna shook her head and concentrated. She started by probing the wall around and underneath the painting for any traps that might trigger. When she found nothing, she tested the painting itself for anything similar and also found nothing.
‘No enchantments and no traps. I guess it’s safe to remove it.’ Luna took a few steps back just to be safe before reaching out with her magic and gently pulling the painting off the wall. The painting floated over to Luna, who inspected every side of the painting. Luna checked the empty hall before she and the painting vanished in a bright light and reappeared in her room back in Canterlot.
The day seemed to stretch on for Celestia. She had spent the day doing what she must as a ruler, which mostly entailed listening to requests from across Equestria and passing judgment on them. Everything from tax reforms to land disputes passed before her. Soon enough, the final matter for the day was brought before her and Celestia rendered her judgment. When they left, Celestia let out a small inaudible sigh before the door opened and a guard walked in. He bowed when he got to Celestia’s throne and pulled out a scroll.
“Your majesty, we have the results of the vault break in ready,” he said and held the scroll out, which Celestia took a hold of with her magic and brought it in front of her to read. “Out of all the items in the vault, all have been accounted for except for one Tier 4 artifact.” Celestia read through the scroll until she came upon the missing item.
“The sword of sacrifice has been stolen?” Celestia rolled the scroll up and set it aside, “Is that all that was stolen?”
The guard nodded and said, “All the other artifacts were left untouched as well as the treasury. It would seem the thief was looking for this sword specifically.” Celestia looked at the ground in thought. “Do you have any orders, your majesty?”
“Dispatch a couple search parties for the thief, they couldn’t have gotten far,” Celestia said, “And don’t worry about the sword itself, it’s been dormant for years and shouldn’t pose a problem.”
The guard nodded in affirmation and bowed again before leaving. With that done, Celestia got up from her throne and made her way to her room. She had already started the process of setting the sun when she came up to Luna’s room to check on her. Celestia knocked a couple times and waited a few moments before Luna opened the door.
“Yes, big sister?” Luna asked.
“I just thought to let you know it’s time to raise the moon.” Celestia said. Luna looked behind her and saw the sun setting.
“My, how time flies,” Luna said and turned back to Celestia, “Thank you for informing us.”
“What are you doing in there Luna?” Celestia asked and tried to peek inside the room, “Are you researching something secret?” Celestia then flashed a playful smile, “Or maybe something else entirely?”
Luna’s eyes widened in shock, “No, it’s nothing like that! It’s just something caught my curiosity and I wanted to look into it.” Luna then looked away sheepishly, “And besides, you can’t blame me for feeling a bit of nostalgia, can you?”
Celestia continued to smile. “No, I can’t. What are you looking into?”
“I don’t want to trouble you if it’s nothing, but if it is something I’ll let you know.”
Celestia nodded, “Of course little sister. Oh, and about the vault, the only thing stolen was the sword of sacrifice.”
“Really,” Luna asked and Celestia answered with a nod, “Interesting, thank you for letting us know sister.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” Celestia said, “Good night Luna, and good luck with what you’re looking into.”
Luna nodded, “Thank you, I’ll need it.” Luna then closed the door and Celestia continued to her room. When she got there, she finished setting the sun as Luna’s moon rose over the horizon. Celestia then took off her golden accessories and turned to Twilight’s journal, the other thing that stuck in her head for the day. She lay down on one of the cushions, lit a few candles for reading light, and continued to the next entry of the journal.
This may be the last update for a while. I got some real life stuff to take care of, but hopefully it'll get done soon enough. Just a heads up.