Secret Keepers
Luna's eyes widened. “Wait, don’t cast the spell yet. Celestia, you do realize that you’re going to have to go through every trial as well. Don't you?”
Celestia's ear twitched. “What are you talking about, Luna? The law only pertains to the fiancé of an Alicorn Prin… Princess. Oh.”
Twilight blinked twice as Celestia and Luna frowned at each other. “What, what is it? I don’t understand. What didn’t you notice, Tia?”
Celestia smiled nervously down at Twilight. “Well, the wording when I wrote this... I never dreamed that there would be any other Princesses other than Luna and myself, so the law is a bit…”
“What my foalish sister means,” Luna interjected, “is that the law is written in such a way that it states she also must endure the trials.” She tried to keep a serious expression on her face, before a grin cracked and she fell over laughing.
Celestia rolled her eyes at Luna, clutching her belly and tears running down her face. “Yes, Luna, it’s all very funny—but the point remains that because of my wording, I have to join Twilight in her trials.”
Twilight frowned. Her ear flicked as she tapped her chin. “Hmmm.”
Celestia glared at Luna—still laughing her flank off—before looking over to Twilight, deep in thought. “Twilight? What is it?”
Twilight sighed before gently taking the law book from Luna’s grip. “Something just occurred to me. If we both must pass these trials, since I’m also an alicorn Princess... did Shining Armor have to as well?”
“Actually, Twilight, I have a confession to make.” Celestia stared at the floor, her face flushed. “Your brother was allowed to marry my niece the traditional way because… I completely forgot this law even existed.”
“Allow me to explain,” Luna said, interrupting Twilight’s protest. “At the time, as you know, we had high suspicion of an imminent attack on Canterlot. That situation seemed more important than digging into the archives for a law that even I only vaguely recalled. Since we knew we were going to be attacked, the nobles agreed to a stance of extraneous circumstances. So they were allowed to marry without following the law.” Luna shrugged.
Twilight snorted. “Yes, well… that’s still not fair. If we have to do this, then there is no reason that they shouldn’t as well, even after the fact now that the danger has long passed. What use is a law if it’s just going to be ignored—particularly a law that might only see one further use in all of time?”
She shot a wink to Luna, who rolled her eyes.
“Believe me, Twilight Sparkle. The situational irony is not lost on me.”
Celestia gave Luna a soft whack with her wing. “That’s enough, Luna. Yes, it’s all very problematic, but it can’t be helped. I can’t have a normal pony do my background check, so I hope you’ve got a free day or two.”
Luna groaned as she got back to her hooves. “All right, Tia, all right. So are you casting the spell now?”
Twilight and Celestia glanced down at the spell book, lying on the floor between them. “No reason to delay, I suppose. We had better to do it now, and then wait until after to announce our engagement.” Celestia opened her bedroom door with a small pulse of magic. “Honed Edge, would you kindly fetch Kibitz then report back here immediately?”
The pegasus guard gave a sharp salute before taking to wing.
Celestia closed the door and smiled down at Twilight before leaning down and lightly pressing their lips together. Twilight whimpered as she tried to deepen the kiss, just to have Celestia pull back.
“If you could choose one friend to know that you and I switched bodies, my Twilight, who would it be?” Celestia wrapped a soft wing around Twilight’s back, offering support. It seemed she acted too quickly because as soon as she had asked the question Twilight nuzzled into her side with a sigh.
“There’s no need for me to do a pros-and-cons list in this case, Tia. There’s only one I’d trust with that information who isn’t already in this room. I’d like Spike to know.”
Celestia smiled. “Of course, Twilight. I could think of no other that you would trust as much.” She closed her eyes for a few moments, her horn glowing. A ball of gold energy materialized in front of them, revealing a curled-up, fast asleep baby dragon. He yawned and stretched his body.
“Huh? Twilight? Where in Equestria are we this time?” Spike blinked his eyes a few times and yawned before glancing up. He immediately jumped up and out of bed, and bowed. “Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! Sorry, I didn't realize you were here too.”
Celestia smiled before nuzzling him. “Spike, how many times do I need to remind you that you’re family?”
Spike blushed a little, but quickly recovered and nodded. “Sorry. Sometimes I guess I just forget. So, what's going on? You and Twilight... didn't have a fight or anything, did you?” He looked up wringing his claws. “Did you bring me here to mediate? I mean, there has to be a reason, right?”
Twilight giggled before wrapping her wings around Spike and nuzzling into his neck. “Actually, Spike, it’s pretty close to the opposite. Earlier this evening, Celestia asked me to marry her, and I said ‘yes.’ Now just hold on a minute—” Spike jumped into the air, whooping before Twilight caught him in her stasis magic and set him down “—unfortunately, it seems there is a law when it comes to alicorn Princesses and marriage. And that’s part of our problem.”
“Problem? Oh no!” Spike chewed his claws until shavings littered the floor. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Calm down, Spike,” Twilight said, pulling him into a hug. “It’s not too terrible. Just listen a moment. It was drafted with the intention of protecting Celestia and Luna—mostly Luna—should either of them wish to be married at any point, but because of its specific wording, it applies to Cadance and myself as well. So Celestia and I must each undergo three trials before we can be legally wed. One of the biggest trials is that we must spend a day as each other. Celestia asked me who I trusted to know what was going on. I didn't even have to think before I chose you.”
Spike just stared up at Celestia and Twilight for a few moments, blinking. Finally, he shook his head. “You mean that after you cast whatever spell this is, you’ll be Princess Celestia, and Princess Celestia will be you? Whoa! For how long?”
Celestia smiled. “Only twenty four hours. At that point, no matter where we are or what we are doing, we will return to our normal selves. But you must understand, Spike—this has to be kept secret. I trust the situation explains itself?”
Spike stood up straight and squared his shoulders. “I understand, Princess. You can count on me!”
Celestia smiled. “I never had any doubt, Spike.” Her ear flicked as a knocking came from the door. “Ah, our other witness has arrived. Please come in, Kibitz.”
The door opened, revealing an older unicorn stallion who trotted inside. He took a pocket watch out of his pocket and stared at it, as if expecting the time to say something other than what it did. “Your Highness, I take my job as Royal Timekeeper very seriously, but truly, do you have to pick the middle of the night to have uncertainties that need my assistance? In fact, why are you even awake? You know that if you don’t get to sleep at a normal time you’re just useless in the morning.”
He seemed to freeze in thought before glancing up at Princess Celestia. “You and your sister... aren’t planning on trading shifts again, are you? Not that I dislike the younger Princess, no, not at all—it’s just she’s simply not used to your time schedule, what with being awake mainly at night. Although it has been wonderful to see you awake more during the day, Princess Luna.”
While Luna nodded, Celestia chuckled, remembering the day that Luna had taken her spot ruling over the day. She would have to take Twilight to her ultrasecret spa some time. Maybe after they returned from their honeymoon.
“Have no fear, my loyal timekeep. Luna is not ruling the day tomorrow. In fact, for all intents and purposes, you may as well treat it as a normal day. In fact I beg of you, please do.”
Kibitz lifted a delicate eyebrow at Celestia’s wording. “Treating a day as normal ‘for all intents and purposes’ is much different than a day simply being normal, Your Highness. What trickery have you planned, Princess of the Sun?”
Luna—fighting to control her laughter—floated the law book over to Kibitz. “This should answer any and all questions that may arise.”
Kibitz slowly paged through the thin volume. Once he had finished, his eyes went straight to Princess Celestia. “If I’m reading this correctly, this law was created to protect both you and Princess Luna from stallions that would mean to harm you, particularly ones who sought to draw close through means of marriage. I assume that, with delusions of power, several stallions asked for Princess Luna’s hoof long ago?”
At the princesses’ nods, Kibitz sighed. “Therefore, I also assume that you were not in your right mind when you wrote out this law, Princess Celestia. Were you?”
Celestia fidgeted before releasing a small whine; no longer could she pretend. “You’re right, Kibitz. I was not in my right mind when I wrote this law. I had had far too much to drink that night, and my heart was hurting as I watched yet another stallion attempting to court Luna without love on his mind, only power. I simply wrote down three things that I thought would be most impossible unless love was truly on somepony’s mind.
“Although, having reread it now, I see where I made my most fundamental flaw. It is only with good graces that this spell lasts twenty-four hours. Imagine if it did not wear off. A pony that did not love Luna... they wouldn’t be willing to return to their own body, and who would believe my sister if she were in the body of another? This is why—not only for the nobles’ benefit, but for my own—I have asked for witnesses here tonight. You, Kibitz, are to be my witness, and Spike, Twilight has chosen you to be hers.”
Kibitz close his eyes momentarily before pulling out a small book and paging through it, a quill held in his magic.
Celestia cocked her head; that wasn't the reaction she had imagined. "Kibitz, what are you doing?”
Kibitz didn't even look up from his work. “Well, Princess, right now I’m reorganizing your schedule as to fit your wedding into the next seven days, and then I’m going to have to reorganize the next month, as I assume that you and the Princess Twilight wish to have a honeymoon somewhere other than Canterlot. I’m afraid that I can’t reorganize everything to fit before the seventh day.”
He paused, quill still at the ready, and looked up through his bushy eyebrows. “Could you possibly have your wedding in four days rather than seven? If we do it that way, you can leave on your honeymoon immediately, and not have to worry so much about the ambassadors that are supposed to be coming in three weeks. Truly, it works best for everyone. In fact, I’m certain that I can have the fourth day fully cleared for the wedding without a hitch.”
Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Spike all stared at Kibitz with their mouths open; all were amazed at how he could treat the most important wedding since Cadance and Shining Armor’s like nothing more than a normal appointment. It truly was mind boggling.
Celestia shook herself first and cleared her throat. “Well, you were certainly the right choice for Royal Timekeep all those years ago.” She looked towards Twilight. “Twilight, be honest with me. Do you think that Pinkie can plan the wedding in only four days?”
Twilight chewed her lip for a few moments before nodding. “If anypony is capable of planning a wedding in only four days, it’s definitely Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie Pie looked up from what she was doing with wide eyes. “Itchy tail, ear flick, eye flutter…” She gasped and sat bolt upright, throwing Gummy out of her mane into the air. “Princess Celestia needs her and Twilight’s wedding planned super-duper-fast! Well, they can count on me, or my name’s not Pinkamena Diane Pie: Party Planner Extraordinaire!”
Gummy landed back in her mane.
“Gummy!” Pinkie looked up through her curls to meet his eyes. “Where’s my secret weapon?”
The baby alligator just blinked lazily a few times.
“Excellent work! Thank you.” Pinkie zipped out of her room towards the kitchen; she returned a second later, holding a thermos, and quickly gulped its contents. Her eyes lit up with an unnatural light before she giggled and went right back to what she was doing.
Twilight shivered. “Why do I have a bad feeling right now?”
Luna shrugged. “Personally, I believe it’s something that just comes with being a Princess of Equestria. We get feelings of dread quite often—you get used to it.” Luna stretched for a few moments before taking the spellbook back into her magic. “I think we have stalled long enough. Now that the wedding date is certain, we have only four days to complete the three trials rather than a full seven. With that, I need the witnesses to sign this non-disclosure form. Normal legal mumbo-jumbo—trust me, you don't want to tell anypony.”
Both Kibitz and Spike scratched their names onto the form. Together, they stood back as far away from Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight as they could.
Luna opened the spell book to the right page and read the verse silently to herself. Her eyes began to glow an unnatural white until she slammed the book closed and aimed her horn between Celestia and Twilight.
A dark-blue bolt of power slammed into both of them, knocking them to the ground. The room lit with a blinding flash...
Stats
Page generated in 0.016 seconds
Total duration
947 users online
251,559 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Dis chapter, this story... 2good4me. Such wow, much YES!
Good Celestia no. Pinkie has ascended!
How will Celestia's background check even go?? She's like, tens of thousands of years old (probably).
What are they going to do? Track down every legend that *might* be her and her sister and construct some great big storyline of everything she's done ever?
That's not a background check, that's how you create a new mythology!
to be perfectly honest, with the recent marriage of an alicorn princess with none of this bull they'd be better off ignoring it and risking the drama of the nobles finding out
5920638
Not quite... It's worse. Shes discovered coffee.
Feel free to run in panic as a caffeine powered super hyper Pinkie throws a party for everything. Everywhere. At the same time.
Seems like Pinkie needs to call in Cheese, and Party Favor, and possibly an entire small herd of background party ponies.
5920824 It could be worse than that. It could be expresso, or redbull, or both, or some some special concoction so energizing it would kill anyone else.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/7/20/379622__safe_solo_pinkie+pie_animated_coffee_xk-dash-class+end-dash-of-dash-the-dash-world+scenario_artist-colon-inky-dash-draws_hyperactive.gif
I think it'd be less destructive if Pinkie put on The Mask.
Oh dear celestia....
Did... Did pinkie pie just drink...
Coffee...?!
Dear god she got coffee
5927861 That would probably turn her into a goth. Remember it releases your inner self, not make them crazy as shown when the villain got it.
please link it
error error "it applies to Cadance and myself as well."
/\
|
|
|
Pinkie and coffee is NEVER good. She’s too hyperactive as it is.
I have an idea, why not Celestia get the changelings to attack Equestria again? I think this would make things very easy.
Shining Armor better go through the trials, it's not fair if he doesn't and Twilight has to, along with Celestia.