Sunny Skies and Pinkie Pies

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

Chapter 1

Sitting atop her throne, Celestia tapped a forehoof against the golden dais. The soft click of metal upon metal echoed through the long hall. She blinked as she became aware of the sun streaming through the stained glass window on her left, the light casting its glow onto the floor and reflecting up into Celestia's right eye. In fact, if she were to lean a little further, the beam of light would hit her right in between the eyes, but not actually into them. She let herself frown that much deeper. Is this what I've been driven to?

Sighing, she turned to her right. “Sure Strike, what time is it?”

The royal guard looked toward Celestia for a mere moment before returning his blank gaze back to the massive doors ahead. “I apologize, my princess, but I am uncertain. If you wish, I could have one of the stallions check.”

“No no no. There is no need for that.” Celestia shifted on the cushion she was sitting on. “I am just... concerned.”

“I wouldn’t worry, my princess,” he said as he kept his stare forward. “The train is well guarded by many soldiers. I am most certain that it is simply running late. It wouldn’t be the first time the train was delayed.”

“Yes. Of course. That is most likely the case. Thank you, Sure Strike.” Celestia smiled, shifting again. “Your reassurances are most welcome.”

He nodded his head. “You are too kind, princess.”

I'll eat my slippers if he actually believed that one, Celestia thought to herself.

This was supposed to be a historical event that would change the nation for ages to come. A day to be remembered for centuries. Indeed, the paths of so many ponies in the land would be altered in many dramatic ways. In just a few minutes, Twilight was going to stroll through those massive oak doors with royal soldiers standing at attention and the setting sun beaming in. Here, amongst pomp and circumstance she would accept the first of many formal lessons on ruling over Equestria. Yet, this event was somewhat unfortunate. She and Luna decided to keep all of this subtle, most ponies never knowing importance of this day until it was well past. Alas, such is the nature of these things.

Granted, that was all assuming Twilight ever showed up in the first place. Even with her guards and thoughts to busy herself with, Celestia counted every second Twilight was not at her side. Her student's train was scheduled to have shown up almost an hour ago. It didn't take even half that time to get from the train station to the castle. What was holding her up? Did the guards at the front gate really go through the typical, absurd security hurdles with Twilight as they did with every other guest? If that was the case, there would be more than a few heads that would roll.

“My princess, do you require another cushion?” Sure Strike asked, looking at Celestia with somewhat narrowed eyes. “You appear to be quite... restless.”

Catching herself still fidgeting, Celestia quickly stopped and gave him one of her signature smiles. “No no. That will not be needed. I... was just trying to get comfortable. I think I found the spot though.”

“I would not worry about Princess Twilight, your Highness,” he reassured. “She will be perfectly fine.”

“Hmm?” Celestia cocked her head to the right. “Of course she will. Why would she not? As you said, the train is perfectly safe.”

“I was talking about her upcoming lessons. I heard they’d be quite difficult.”

“Oh! Well I am definitely not worried about that.” Celestia smiled and sighed. “If there is anything I know Twilight is good at, it is obsessively studying from books and scrolls. If anything, the importance of these lessons makes her more likely to take them to heart.” Sure Strike stood for a few moments, his mouth shut. Eventually, he simply nodded and turned back to the front of the hall.

Yes, the lessons that Twilight would partake in for the next two weeks would be some of the most important that she would have to learn, if some of the most mind numbing. If there was any shred of silver lining Twilight’s upcoming lessons, it was that there were sunny skies on the far end of it. After all the boring stuff of the first week, the rest of the teachings would be more of the dynamic and elastic functions of diplomacy. Celestia always felt that dealing with the various mayors, petitioners, foreign ambassadors, and even the occasional stressful military negotiations were the real fun in the job. Numbers always ended up being the same when you put them together—one and one always came up equaling two—but put two ponies in a room together and the outcome was always different. One day they would come to a peaceful agreement to both demilitarize their borders and engage in a long coexistence. The next they would both be locked up in the dungeon for dozens of counts of battery.

Celestia smiled. “Sure Strike.”

“Yes, your Highness?”

“If he is available, could you please invite Ambassador Steady Hoof over for lunch next month? I have not talked to him in far too long.”

“Ambassador Steady Hoof...” Sure Strike trailed off, tilting his head down to the floor a little. After a few seconds, he turned to Celestia and asked, “Isn't he the one that—”

“That was thrown into solitary for a week for headbutting that griffin diplomat and trying to bite your ear off three months ago, yes.”

“I... will send a message to him as soon as I can, your Highness.”

“Good.” Celestia closed her eyes and smiled wider. “He always was an interesting one. A little rough around the edges sure, but he always seemed to be able to get the job done when needed. That isn't even mentioning his—”

The main doors to the throne room were thrown open, startling Celestia's eyes open. Through the open doorway was the very pony that she was hoping to see. Celestia brought herself to her hooves and watched Twilight make her way through and into the marble-tiled throne room. Guards flanking the sides brought themselves to attention as Twilight walked down the red carpet leading straight to Celestia herself.

Yet, something was wrong. Instead of the excited, filly-like bounciness that she loved seeing from Twilight, Twilight had a much more subdued step. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, her mouth was formed into a scowl, and her wings were not spread wide in regality but folded tightly against her sides, twitching every so often. Something must have happened either on the train ride or the security checkpoint, for any worse of a mood and Twilight might literally be smoking out of her ears.

Still, Celestia's voice held onto its cheer as she greeted her close friend. “It is wonderful to see you, Twilight Spark—”

A burst of sound and colors in the form of horns, streamers, and circus animals suddenly announced the arrival of another pony. A very familiar and very pink pony. “Hiya, Princess Celestia!”

Celestia couldn't help but to rear her head back and scrunch up her brow tightly. “...And Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie Pie hopped and skipped her way down the red carpet. It was only a few seconds of bouncing before she finally made it alongside Twilight, yet she never stopped her bounces. The leaps continuing, Celestia watched as the hops appeared to defy gravity, her body staying in the air much longer than should have been possible. Yet, that wasn't the reason Celestia's mouth was slightly agape. That reason was because she was wearing the most curious outfit, though calling it a costume would be much more appropriate. Pinkie had a pair of lavender cardboard cutouts that were tied to her sides with white ribbon, the paint globbing near the tips of the artificial wings. Affixed to her head via a thin black string, she wore a green and white striped party hat. However, instead of being placed on top of her head as it should have, she had the hat tied to her forehead, right where a unicorn's horn should be.

That is one of the more... creative alicorn costumes I have seen, Celestia thought to herself, her mouth still slightly opened.

Before Celestia could ask one of the many questions on her mind, Twilight cleared her throat. “Pinkie was in the library when Spike got your request. When she heard that you were inviting me to Canterlot to learn from you and Luna... well...”

“Alicorn party!” Pinkie squealed in excitement, a hop coinciding with the yell.

Twilight rolled her eyes before looking back at Celestia, her mouth pulled to one side. “She... kinda wanted to come along for, as she put it, 'some of the party action,' and wouldn't take no for an answer.”

“I see.” Celestia grinned as she looked at the yelling and hopping quasi-alicorn before her. “Pinkie Pie, you do realize that dressing up like an alicorn doesn't mean that you are an alicorn, right?”

Pinkie kept on hopping away. “Oh I know, but I couldn’t miss out on an alicorn party! Those never ever happen! I mean, how often do you and Luna and Twilight and Caddie dress up and everything for a party? That's why I decided to come as an alicorn! See, since I dressed up as one, it means I'm invited! Right?”

Celestia snickered. “Against that logic, I cannot help but to concede.”

“Yay!” Pinkie hopped over to Twilight and bonked her on the tip of her nose. “Told you!”

“But,” Celestia said as she held up a forehoof, cutting Pinkie’s celebration short, “we are sadly not having an alicorn party, Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie stopped in mid-air, slowly coming back to the floor as her face froze. “You... you aren't?”

“Unfortunately, no. We are not having any parties.”

As soon as those words left her, the ribbons and strings keeping Pinkie's horn and wings attached to her body snapped. She didn't move as both clattered to the rug under her. “Aw, shoot.”

Twilight shook her head. “Told you.”

Again, Celestia snickered. Despite the plans she and Luna had for the two weeks with Twilight, Celestia couldn't help but to wish that Pinkie was the one that was right. Instead of going about the various ins and outs of ruling over a nation, the four of them—plus maybe a few choice guests—could all go to an “alicorn party,” with everypony dressing up in the best alicorn costumes that they could think of. It could even be some kind of contest, with the best costume getting some kind of prize. Granted Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Cadence—if she was able to show—would most likely have to be barred from the contest. Granted, that sort of rule hadn’t stopped her from entering contests in the past, but she’d put the rule in place anyway. Sadly, all of that would have to wait for another day, for there was work to be done.

She turned away from Pinkie, talking to the mare who was actually supposed to be here. “Twilight, I am glad that you were able to make it on such short notice.”

Twilight gave a short bow before looking back up. Even after all these years, she still had the same wonder in her eyes as when she took up being Celestia's student so many years ago. “You know I would drop anything for you, Princess. I'm ready to learn everything you can show me.”

“Indeed, I am sure you are.” Celestia stepped down from the dais and walked up to Twilight. She leaned forward and gave Twilight a quick nuzzle against her cheek. Twilight eagerly returned it. “However, the instruction can wait until tomorrow. You have been traveling, and no student of mine is going to dive straight into her books without a good meal and a good night rest.”

Twilight pulled back from the affection. “But Princess!” she protested, “I'm ready now!”

“Oh, I am quite certain of that. However, I must insist.” Celestia rebutted, always keeping her gleeful grin fixed upon her face. Twilight always was prone to wanting to do as much as she could as fast as she could. It was the point where if she wasn't forced to sit down and relax every so often, Celestia was sure Twilight would go insane from the stress. At times, Celestia felt like she was more and more in charge of making sure Twilight had fun and relaxed in her life as opposed to actually trying to teach her anything. This was especially true considering how Twilight appeared to have made it her life goal to learn everything that had ever been printed ever.

Twilight's mouth worked itself, her forehooves stepping in place. “But... but...”

“Twi-Twi,” Pinkie interrupted. The excitable pony quickly bounced over to Twilight and gave the unicorn a little nudge. “Listen to Princess Celly Belly!”

For the second time since the two walked through those double doors, Celestia scrunched up her brows. Princess Celly-Belly?

“Alright, alright.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “I get it. I'll relax. But first thing in the morning, we're getting down to studying. Deal?”

Celestia nodded. “Deal. In the meantime, Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie faced Celestia, beaming, “Yes?”

“If you like, I could have my personal chariot ready for you to go back to Ponyville in ten minutes.” She nodded. “Much more pleasant than waiting for the train and you would be back home in no time at all.”

“Oh... umm...” Pinkie's head dropped, her eyes turning downward. With a sigh, she muttered, “That'd be nice. Thank you.” Pinkie slowly took a one-eighty to face the door and made her way out of the room, hooves creating two grooves in the carpet. With each step, more and more of her pink mane and tail lost its bounce. The various pieces of Pinkie's costume that had fallen off of her earlier tangled themselves on her hooves, dragging across the carpet as Pinkie walked.

Oops. Time to backpedal. “Or, if you would rather, you could stay here in the castle while Luna teaches Twilight all of the more... scholarly tasks that she must learn.”

Pinkie's frown quickly turned upside down and she sprang back with a single hop. “I can!? Really!? Oh! Can I hang out with you the whole time? Huh?”

Twilight's head turned sharply. “Pinkie Pie! I think Celestia is too busy to entertain you.”

“Now now,” Celestia said. “Sadly, I do not think... actually, yes. We could do that.”

“Really!?” Pinkie leaped, doing a triple backflip. “Saw-weet! Just think, the two of us—princess and peasant, ruler and subject, big pony and little pony—crashing balls and galas until we pass out! Then, we do it again the next night!”

Celestia covered her mouth to stifle a small laugh. “Well, unfortunately I do not recall any balls or galas coming up anytime soon, but I am certain we could think of something to 'crash' while Twilight is up to her ears in her studies.”

Teeth showing, Pinkie cheered, “Yay for no studies! Yay for princess outing!”

Turning towards Twilight, Celestia nodded. “Now with that detail settled, how about we get something for dinner. Hmm? I am certain Luna is dying to see the two of you.”

“Ooh! Ooh! Luna's waiting for us too!?” Pinkie began hopping around in circles now. “I didn't get to say hi to her at Twi-Twi's 'I just saved Equestria for the millionth time' party!” Barely letting the words leave her mouth, Pinkie zipped along, leaving a cloud of dust and discarded cardboard appendages in her wake.

Smiling to each other, Twilight and Celestia walked side-by-side, making their way towards the dining room. “So Princess,” Twilight started, “You're not going to be the one teaching me?”

“Not this week, no,” Celestia said as she followed the dust trail Pinkie had left behind. Does Pinkie remember where the dining room is in the first place? “Like I hinted at before, Luna is going to teach you all of the stuff that is... well...”

“Tedious?” Twilight offered.

“...Mind-numbingly boring.”

“Ah.” Twilight rolled her head. “And what kind of stuff is involved in the ‘mind-numbingly boring’ section?”

Celestia shrugged. “You know, all things involving tax code, business law, and other busywork that I could use less of. Honestly, if I could, I would simply hire a ton of ponies just to deal with it all that garbage and forget all about it for good.”

“But that’s the sort of thing I like though! Numbers, numbers, and more numbers.” Twilight snickered and stuck out her tongue.

Celestia snorted. “A sad truth that I must live with every day of my life. How I failed you so much, I will never know.” Making a left turn down the hall, Celestia continued to follow the still lingering dust. “Still, I refuse to teach you those sort of things. Lucky for me, Luna was all too happy to volunteer in my stead. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance.”

Blinking from the dust, Twilight took a half step to the side. “Sorta like Pinkie jumped at the one from earlier?”

“I said jumped, not froliced.”

Twilight continued to laugh quietly. “Gotcha. Well, if Luna is teaching me those things, what are you going to be teaching me then?”

“Well, after you get a grasp of the paperwork, I’ll show you how to properly deal with all of the... well, for lack of a better term, pleading, begging, and downright repulsive ankle-biters that want everything you have, and then some.”

“I see...” Twilight muttered to herself, the mare losing the smile as she looked down at her hooves. Gazing down at her student, Celestia smiled at how much Twilight had changed since she left for Ponyville so long ago, and not just physically. The day before her student left, she was all about academics and books, completely shutting out everything else in her life—her family, Spike, and Celestia herself being the sole exceptions. In fact, Celestia was fairly certain that Twilight didn't have any friends before moving to Ponyville. Now, Twilight was a flower in full bloom. She had the most amazing friends and discovered that the magic of friendship could beat any curse that anypony could ever come up with.

Granted, that didn't mean Twilight wasn't completely obsessed with studying and research, and it definitely did not mean Celestia was going to turn down Twilight's inevitable offers to perform the majority of the crown's paperwork. Really, it would be rude of her to deny that opportunity to her most loyal and faithful of students.

Celestia was broken out of her thoughts when Twilight’s voice cut through. “So anyway, how have things in Canterlot been?”

“Oh, you know, the usual, with delegates from the surrounding kingdoms coming over and trying to swindle the cushion out from under my rump.” Celestia closed her eyes and let that smile on her face grow twice as large. “But there are a few stories that I cannot help but laugh at every time I remember them.”

“Like?”

Celestia opened her eyes to make sure that she didn't meet the door frame to the next hall. “Well, it started when the Lords of the Changeling Territories visited and wanted to discuss the trade imbalances between our nations. For context, this started around the time Chrysalis falsely proclaimed herself their leader and attacked us. See, the Territories felt that it was criminal that our ‘barbaric racism' after her invasion was allegedly destroying their domestic industry. Meanwhile, my ponies were insisting that it was nothing of the sort. Tensions started to mount, there was an accidental racial slur on Duke Sly Lips, one thing lead to another, and then...”

“...And then,” Celestia continued, Twilight's and her own laughter nearly derailing the entire story, “Discord figured that deciding where the border bridge was to be built was too boring a subject and the minotaurs were not properly dressed for court, so in the middle of their introductions he turned every single one of their hats into turnips!”

Considering the way Twilight's laughter erupted tenfold, Celestia saved a fair amount of tea by waiting to tell this story. “He... he did what!?”

“Turnips the size of pumpkins!”

Twilight shook her head. “How did that disaster go over?”

Celestia bit back her laughter. Barely. “Honestly? Either they did not realize it until after they left the castle or they did not want to risk offending me by calling me out on it. Either way, they spent the next hour and a half negotiating with the turnips on their heads!”

She and Twilight both burst out in laughter, Celestia herself shutting her eyes from the forming tears. How the two ponies didn't fall to the ground clutching their sides was a wonder. Instead, the two hobbled down the hallway, barely able to walk straight as they made their way to Twilight's and Pinkie's guest room.

After putting down the sun, she was ready to go to bed herself. It had been a trying day, and she felt every moment of it in her joints. If it wasn't for the sweet company that Twilight was gifting her, she was sure that she would've turned right around and made her way back towards her bedroom and into the blissful land of dreams. Instead, she was more than happy to visit with her student and talk about some of the more interesting and notable encounters she'd had in the past few weeks for a couple more minutes. All the while, Twilight was able to talk to her about all of the little things that had happened in Ponyville since Twilight’s coronation.

Alas, the hallway was only so long. Thus, at the end of her story, Twilight and Celestia stood before the guest room that her guests were to stay in. Smiling ever wider, Celestia thought back to all the little memories that were contained in Twilight's former room. It had been several years since Twilight studied directly under her, but during that time Twilight would spend almost all of her nights here in this very room doing whatever it is that she wanted. Most of those things involved book. Yet, the fondest of those memories were of when Twilight was young, the two of them laughing and playing the evening away until Twilight finally tired herself out, curled up against her side, and passed out.

“Anyway, Twilight, I will see you at breakfast tomorrow before you start your lessons,” Celestia informed as she nodded.

Twilight nodded as well. “Of course, Princess, I couldn't imagine—”

“Weee!”

Whatever Twilight was going to say was silenced with that squeal. Both alicorns turned to the room and saw a bouncing pink blur jumping from bed to bed, performing as many flips, spins, and other acrobatics as possible. The amount of athleticism that Pinkie was displaying in her little performance was quite impressive. Celestia wondered if she’d practiced such a routine every night. Regardless of the circumstances, the picture of Pinkie jumping on both beds, ruining the work that the castle maids had put into tidying up the room, was a sight to behold.

Twilight sunk her face into her hoof. Celestia's smile only grew.

“Every time I see her, I always forget how rambunctious and full of energy she is,” Celestia whispered as she watched the acrobatic display.

“You're telling me,” Twilight muttered back. She leaned up closer to Celestia. “You sure that you can handle Pinkie tomorrow?”

Celestia took her eyes off of the cartwheeling pony and gave Twilight the most reassuring grin that she could. “You act as though I never housed a bouncing bubbly pony in the castle before.”

Twilight's mouth opened for just a moment before she paused, a slight blush forming on her face. “I... I was just a filly back then.”

“My statement stands.”

Coughing a few times, Twilight shook her head. “Yes, well, like I said, I was a filly back then. This is completely different. Pinkie's not a child. She's—”

CRASH!

Celestia turned her head back toward the room and saw that Pinkie had overshot her last jump, landing on a now very much destroyed vase. Pinkie rubbed her head and looked at the two of them by the doorway. “Oopsie.”

“...she's a hoofful.”

Celestia giggled one last time and, with a yawn, turned around. “You worry too much, Twilight. I've been ruling over Equestria and all of its ponies for several millennia now. A few days with a single overly energetic pony shall be a welcome respite to the normal droll.”

With that, Celestia made her way away from the room. Still, she was able to make out the faint muttering of Twilight. “You have no idea.”

Chapter 2

Celestia knocked on the bedroom door. “It is time to wake up, my ponies.”

As soon as the words left her tongue, she heard a loud crash, a groan audible through the cracks of the closed wooden door. Not bothering to ask if she was alright, Celestia poked her head into the room. The room itself was in a much more… used condition than it was when Celestia saw it last. The bedside table was still missing a vase, but the shards of ceramic and the flowers that were once in it were no longer strewn across the room. Either her staff were a very quick bunch or her favored student had taken the initiative. It didn’t matter really.

Pushing the door open, she stepped into the room. Looking around, she noticed that neither of her friends were in bed. Of course, with a crash like that, the thought of still being asleep was… silly, but it was still important to take stock. Though, not only was one of the beds missing the pony, but also the sheets and pillows as well. Pursing her lips, she continued to make her way into the room in search of the two mares that were supposed to occupy it.

As soon as she reached the middle of the room, she heard the distinct sound of water running in the bathroom. Celestia rolled her eyes. Of course somepony was in the shower. Should have been obvious. One pony accounted for, if the identity not readily available, she turned to the left, noticing something that was undoubtedly Twilight’s: dozens upon dozens of scrolls, books, and letters from economists and linguists were strewn about the desk. “I knew that Luna was going to give her some homework, but dear me,” she whispered.

Shaking her head, she heard a small groan to her left. Shifting her attention there, she noticed a lump of pink wrapped in white sheets. Giggling to herself lightly, she shook her head for what felt like the tenth time that minute. Getting close to Pinkie's face, Celestia whispered, “Pinkie Pie, are you alright?”

Pinkie slowly brought her only free leg to her head. “Mama? Is that you?”

Celestia giggled. “No, dear Pinkie Pie. It’s me, Princess Celestia.”

“But mama,” the mare whispered, trying to roll over to her other side. She was... unsuccessful. “I don't wanna go work in the field today. I just wanna tell the princess how cute she looks in a sundress.”

“Oh?” She snickered. “Which princess?”

“Mmm… all of them.”

“Oh? And have you seen any of the princesses in sundresses, Pinkie Pie?”

“Hmm… No.” There was a pause for just a second. “Well… I saw Twi-Twi in one. She looked like a cow.”

Celestia raised her hoof just in time to cover the snort. “I’ll let her know. It’s time to wake up.”

“Hmm… five more minutes.”

“Oh darn. I was hoping you wanted to get up. I heard that there were some tasty pancakes that were just begging to be eaten and they might be gone in three minutes.”

“Pancakes!?” Pinkie yelled, jumping out of the burrito-comforter in a blink. “There's pancakes somewhere? Where!?”

“Remember where we had our dinner last night?” Pinkie nodded her head, her eyes wide and unblinking. “There may or may not be pancakes there right this second. If you go there now, you can—”

Celestia stopped talking upon seeing that the pony shape in front of her was only a cloud of dust. Smiling, Celestia could hardly believe how that pony could move so quickly: she missed Pinkie's grand escape and had only blinked once. Further, how that large amount of dust had somehow found its way into the middle of the room was something quite odd. I’m going to have to talk to the cleaning staff about that later, she thought to herself. Granted that wasn’t even touching the question of how she shaped the cloud of dust into the shape of a pony, but some questions are best not asked.

She heard the sound of the bathroom door opening behind her. Turning her head, she saw that indeed the bathroom doors were open, hot steam billowing out from the room beyond. It obscured her vision of anything passing through the doorway, though she could hear the sound of hooves on tile as the pony came out. As the mist dispersed, Celestia could finally make out the towel-clad Twilight Sparkle, her tail still dripping with water.

A blink, and Twilight broke the ice. “Did I hear something about cows eating pancakes?”

“Bye bye, Twi-Twi! I'll see you laters!” Pinkie yelled as she waved wildly.

Twilight waved back once before passing through the door on the opposite side of the room with Luna; off to perform her studies with her sister, with a lot of the yawning added in for flavor. Granted, if any two ponies would be more interested in the subject as opposed to having free time, it would be those two. What that said about the sanity of them, she did not want to ponder.

Hopefully the rest of the day would be more exciting than breakfast itself. The idle conversation that the four shared was quite lacking in the sense of actual enjoyment. If there was one thing she hated more than doing behind-the-scenes paperwork, it was talking about the behind-the-scenes paperwork. On and on Twilight went, with “nominal and real exchange rates” this and “capital taxation policies” that. Heck, with the way Luna and Twilight were going back and forth on the subjects, it was all she could to not fall asleep in a pancake pillow.

Thankfully, Pinkie was there to provide a small amount of entertainment. Indeed, the highlight of the meal was when Pinkie took a single, massive bite to fill her entire mouth with what had to be at least five stacks of pancakes. With Celestia’s, and undoubtedly her sister’s and Twilight’s, mouths gaping in awe, Pinkie devoured the entire stacks... then asked for more. That was enough of the food to last Celestia half a week, let alone until seconds! How did Pinkie do that? Better yet, where in the name of the sun and moon did that pony keep all of that food? It had to have something to do with how Pinkie was the avatar of laughter, for there could be no natural explanation that would explain the phenomena.

Further testing would be in order. Maybe later today

Shaking her head, she looked down at that very pony, who was currently standing right next to her in the otherwise empty dining room. I shall be alone with a pony for an entire day, she thought to herself. This will be interesting. With the exception of Luna, Twilight, and maybe Shining Armor, this was the very first time that she had been alone with somepony for any amount of time in… what had to be decades. Every other interaction with anypony was either under the suffocating watch of her guards, surrounded by ponies at formal parties, or in the middle of governmental business with throngs of officials. The select times that she actually a chance to have fun or leisure of late was spent with a nice book and some tea.

Taking a hint from last night’s and this morning’s antics, Celestia was certain that Pinkie didn't want to partake in that sort of activity. She'd have to go to her fallback plan.

Celestia had her mouth half agape when she stopped, realizing that she didn't have any other sort of entertainment to think of, let alone a fallback plan. Indeed, the only other thing that Celestia could think of was to discuss the politics of late, but that was easily one of the more terrible ideas possible. Discussing politics with Pinkie Pie?. The only thing that would come out of that endeavor was probably a lot of confusion about what either one was talking about, a half destroyed china set, and probably some unintended war being started with the breezies or something just as irrational. Most likely involving said china set. Yeah, that was definitely a poor idea.

“You okay, Princess?”

Celestia blinked, and saw the the pink face that was right up against her own, the scent of maple syrup entering her nostrils. She didn't suddenly recoil in shock, but she definitely pulled her head back to a safe distance. Nodding once, Celestia replied, “Why yes, Pinkie Pie. Thank you for your concern.”

Pinkie looked at Celestia for a second longer, before pulling back herself and hopping around the massive dining room table. “Okie dokie! Well... whatcha wanna do?”

“Well...” Celestia trailed off as she thought to herself. There had to be something that the introverted princess could do with extroverted Pinkie that didn't consist of bodily harm or property damage. Tea already resulted in both. Reading as well. So was painting, writing, board games, and everything else dealing with art or design. If there was ever a time her brain needed genius, this was it.

Celestia just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “How about I show you all the secret areas of the castle?”

Pinkie stopped hopping and flew towards Celestia with much wider eyes, their faces now once again right up against each other. “There are secret areas in the castle!?”

Are there?

“Of course, Pinkie Pie.” Celestia nodded. “This castle has been around for almost a thousand years and has changed so much since its early days. Many of the rooms in the basement haven't been used in decades. Even I don’t remember most of what is down there.”

“Reaaaaaaally?” Pinkie sat down and began to rub her chin with a forehoof. “Sounds suspicious. How come I haven't heard of these rooms? ”

Celestia leaned closer and winked at Pinkie with a smirk. “Because they're secret. If you had heard of them, they wouldn't be secret, now would they?”

“Maybe, but Twilight used to live here when she was a filly! She totally would've explored these areas!”

“Pinkie Pie, have you ever known my student to pass up a good book to go do anything that might be considered exciting?”

Pinkie stopped rubbing her chin and, after a second, pointed at Celestia. “Touché.”

“Indeed, Pinkie Pie,” Celestia replied with a chuckle. Turning around towards the hall, Celestia made her way to the old entrance to the lower castle. Or at least where she thought it was. “Care to join me on our wondrous quest?”

Immediately, Pinkie hopped up next to Celestia and and walked side-by-side with her. “Ooh! It's like some sort of adventure book or something, with lions, alligators, and monkeys that want nothing else but to steal me away so that you can rescue me!”

“Me, rescue you?” Celestia rolled her eyes. “I thought that the heroine was supposed to save the princess, dear Pinkie, not the other way around.”

“True, but I don't think that I would do a very good job at saving you. You're much stronger than me, and thus much more qualified to save my pink flank!” Pinkie giggled, bouncing down the hall.

“This is coming from the pony that has had a hoof in saving me more than once.” Celestia winked at Pinkie.

Pinkie winked back. “Oh, I'm just one simple pony in a team of six. You're the mare with the plan.”

Celestia looked up to see a wooden door off to the side of the hall—the degraded planks much more ragged than the rest of the doors in the hallway. Indeed, and I hope this plan is a good one…

“And this, apparently, is another one of the many guest chambers that we have down here,” Celestia groaned as she looked inside the room, or at least the remains of said room. The only things inside were the frame of a single bed, what used to be a large drop rug, and a doorless wardrobe. Sighing, she covered her face with a forehoof. “What is this? The tenth one?”

“It's the seventeenth!” Pinkie hopped into the room, inspecting every single one of the archaic pieces of furniture. It was a quick search. “Well, unless you count those two itty-bitty teeny-weenie ones as halfsies. Then this is the sixteenth.”

“Right.” Celestia rolled her eyes as she also stepped into the room. For a moment, she was tempted to join Pinkie inside of the room to explore, but the thought of what might currently be... inhabiting the “rug” was all that was needed to blow away that thought. “Why in the name of the sun and moon do we have so many of these?”

“I don't know!” Pinkie hopped up next to the bed and inspected the sturdiness of the bedframe with her hoof. “Maybe you had a lot of guests that needed lots of rooms back then?”

Celestia thought back, but the memories of the early days after Luna’s exile were foggy at best, let alone how many guests stayed at the castle at that time. All for the better. “I don't recall exactly how many stayed at the castle back then, but I'm sure it wasn't this many.”

Pinkie looked back, and winked at Celestia. “Maybe they were special guests then.”

She knew it was a joke. She knew full well that Pinkie was baiting her into a trap. However, she sprung it anyway—the thought of having so many... “servants” at her bidding like that sent a small blush to her cheeks. It was hopefully not noticeable through her white coat, but she knew if Pinkie looked hard enough, she’d surely notice.

Thankfully, Pinkie either didn't seem to notice or didn’t bother to mention it, for after a simple wink Pinkie turned away and looked at the ragged room some more. Another second, and Celestia finally spoke. “I've never had guests like that, Pinkie Pie.”

“Are you suuuuuuuure? You're a princess, after all!” Pinkie exclaimed as she hopped out of the room. Onward to the next door. “I mean, you can do whatever you want!”

Celestia followed close by. “I am quite sure, Pinkie Pie.”

“If you say so, Celly-Belly.” Pinkie opened the next door, and leaped into the room. “Coooooooool!”

“What'd you find?” Celestia asked as she rounded the corner. “You... found another bedroom.”

“Not only a bedroom, but there a maaattress in here!” Pinkie zoomed up to the bed, and gently pressed against the ruined thing a few times. “I... think the springs need a doctor.”

“I think this floor needs an entire hospital wing to itself,” Celestia muttered as she looked around the bare stone walls of the bedroom. How could there be such a ruined area inside the castle that she was currently living in? More than that, how could she have let it get this bad? Did it compromise the structural integrity of the rest of the place? She’d have to send for an engineer or twenty to make sure the castle wasn’t just standing due to habit.

Pinkie circled the bed, continuing to watch the archaic piece of furniture. She was a predator; it her prey. Lowering herself, she growled and pounced on the bed, determined to make the victim her new trampoline. However, instead of the satisfying bounce that the pony was most definitely expecting, she crashed through the mattress, falling straight through to the floor. Blinking, Pinkie looked at her legs and found that she was left with her body sticking out of the top of the mattress and her legs sticking out of the bottom.

Celestia couldn't hide her snicker.

Pinkie looked down at the hole she created. “Hmm,” she hummed to herself, looking at the open floor around the bed, then back at the hole. She then looked to Celestia, then to the floor, then finally back to the hole again. Whatever Pinkie was planning on trying to do, it would have to be something creative. With every single movement that the mare made, she simply got even more stuck in her little prison. Hopefully the springs weren’t actually hurting her legs or sides any.

“Having a problem?” Celestia asked as she took a few steps forward, coming right up against the bed.

“Nope! Nope! Nuh-uh!” Pinkie said as she wiggled a little bit more under the confinement of the prison. “This is... exactly what... I planned... to do...”

She near at the corner of the bed and placed her hooves on one of the bedposts, resting her head on top of them. “I see. And what was it, exactly, that you were trying to do?”

“I was... trying to... uhh...” Pinkie squirmed a little bit more before stopping her struggles and looking at Celestia. “Make you laugh?”

She giggled lightly, still gazing at the silly pony trapped in the bed. “If that is what you were intending, then I assure you you definitely succeeded.”

Pinkie looked at her and giggled lightly. “Good. Can you get me out then? I'm a teensy bit stuck.”

“Only if you say you're sorry.” Celestia said with a wink.

Pinkie cocked her head. “Sorry for what?”

“Say you're sorry for implying I’m that desperate for company in bed.”

Pinkie gasped, instantly attempting to come over to Celestia's side. However, Pinkie stayed exactly where she was. If anything, she got a little more stuck. “Celly-Belly! I would never say that you were a loosie goosie!”

She tried to keep her face straight, but Celestia couldn’t help but to sputter at those words. “I'm.... I'm what?”

“Loosie goosie! You never heard of the phrase?”

Celestia coughed a few times, shaking her head. “I most certainly have not.”

“Hmm. Well, you aren't one! I know, because I know a few that are, like this one time, I saw Rainbow Dash—”

“Pinkie Pie,” Celestia closed her eyes as she interrupted. “Truly, I would rather not know.”

“Okie!” Pinkie replied with a wide smile. “Sooo... umm... sorry for kinda sorta not really calling you easy peasy pony. Now can you help me get out of here? It's really cramped and everything and my knee has an ichy that I can’t reachy.”

Celestia smiled and, with a nod, used her magic to tug at the mare. As soon as she wrapped her magical aura around Pinkie, the mare burst out into incredibly loud laughter. “Sorry,” Celestia grunted, still pulling on Pinkie. Twisting and turning in her desperate attempts to both get out of the mattress and Celestia's grip, Pinkie squealed and hollered. The harder Celestia tugged, the more that Pinkie laughed, until nothing but loud gasps of laughter filled the air. Though, considering how much Pinkie was laughing, Celestia's wasn't sure which was worse for the mare at this point: the confines of the mattress or the constant tickles of her magic. She considered it punishment for the earlier comments, and left it at that.

With a final tug, Celestia plucked Pinkie out of the mattress. However, the pull was much stronger than she intended it to be, for as soon as Pinkie popped out, she soared through the air towards Celestia. Fortunately for Pinkie, though not quite as much for herself, Pinkie landed right on top of the princess, the two yelping at the impact. With a twist and a tumble, the two collapsed in a heap.

The two ponies were left panting together, Celestia actually a little exhausted from the ordeal. That wasn't even mentioning how exciting it was to get the wind knocked out of her due to a hefty pony projectile. Note to self, practice magic more often. From on top of her, Pinkie was desperately trying to get air back into her lungs after the long spouting laughter. Unlike Celestia though, Pinkie seemed satisfied with the results. “Thanks... thanks for catching me, Princess,” she panted as she laid her head on Celestia's chest.

Nodding, Celestia merely lay there on her back, patting Pinkie's back with a forehoof. “It... it was nothing, Pinkie Pie. Are you alright?”

“Yeppies!” Pinkie closed her eyes, squeeing a little bit in excitement. After staying there for a few seconds, she snuggled her head into Celestia's chest more. “Hey Celestia, did you know that you are super duper comfy?”

“That's nice, Pinkie. The floor is not though,” Celestia muttered as she squirmed from under Pinkie Pie. Apparently catching the hint, Pinkie rolled away and jumped up, allowing both of them to get back onto their own hooves. Despite the little bout of embarrassment—a bout that Celestia would make sure to remind Pinkie never to repeat to anypony—their little adventure into the depths of the castle had been interesting. Granted, both needed at least one shower to wash off the various amount of dust and muck that that gotten on their coats, but interesting nonetheless.

Still, it was an adventure that Celestia had had quite enough of. Stomach quietly growling, she motioned toward the door with her head. “Pinkie, how about we get out of here and see if we can get some lunch, hmm?”

Hopping up to her side, Pinkie looked at her and nodded. “Okie Dokie! Sounds good!”

“Good, please follow me.” Celestia replied as she turned toward the door. If her internal compass was anything to go by, it was only a hallway or two until the two of them got back to the main stairwell. From there, it was an annoyingly long trek up the several flights of stairs until they got to the main level.

Just as Celestia stepped into the hallway, Pinkie was there next to her, bouncing around as if nothing had happened. “I had fun adventure, Princess! Did you have fun? Huh? Did ya did ya did ya?”

Celestia sighed. “I suppose it…” she trailed off. Thinking back at the… adventure, she stopped in the hallway. Even if it was not wrought with danger and treasure like books tended to promote, the two had battled many obstacles and explored areas that nopony had seen in many years. Sure, the two of them less battled their way through the pitfalls and more bumbled their way through them—the whole mattress incident along with the closet filled with three dozen primed bear traps fresh on her mind—but in the end, it was an adventure. An entertaining adventure.

“Umm… did ya?” Pinkie asked again.

Celestia turned to Pinkie and nodded. “I did indeed, Pinkie Pie.”

“Good! Because I'm looking forward to tomorrow night!”

“Tomorrow night?” Celestia stayed planted where she was, watching as Pinkie jumped off into the distance. Shaking her head rapidly, Celestia trotted up to Pinkie and said, “What do you mean by that?”

“Hmm?” Pinkie kept on hopping. Sideways now. “Well, after lunch, I have lots of things to do and places to see and knick knacks to pick up so I can go back home with presents for everypony in Ponyville, but tomorrow night I'm ready to do something else!”

“I see...” Celestia trailed off. She turned to her right, climbing the stairs they had just arrived to. “I believe I can come up with something.”

“Then it's a date! Last one upstairs is a rotten potato in a hammock!” With that, Pinkie zoomed up the stairs, leaving nothing but dust in her wake. Celestia debated walking up to a servant and asking what the heck was up with the dust problem in the castle, but Pinkie already had a pretty large head start on her. Instead, she merely shook her head, and proceeded to climb the stairs to join her guest.

Author's Note

I wanted to get this published on Sunday. I'm three days late.

Just goes to show I suck at keeping on schedule. :ajsleepy:

Chapter 3

“Princess, this is a horrible idea.”

“Twilight, please. I believe I know what I am doing.”

“But Princess! Think about what you are about to do for a second.” Twilight yawned before continuing. “This is Pinkie Pie we're talking about. Super excitable. Likes to talk a lot. Can't sit in one spot for long. You know, the Element of Laughter?”

Celestia nodded to each of these points, checking them off in her mind as things under the list of things she was expecting her student to say. “And I have been in her company for nearly a week now. From the activities that we have participated in, I believe I have a proper feel for what she would like or dislike. I have repeatedly seen Pinkie show much appreciation of music and I am certain she will share my appreciation of the fine arts.”

Twilight stopped walking in the hallway and scrunched her brow deeply. “Which Pinkie Pie are you talking about? Because it sure isn't the one that's been in the castle with us.”

Celestia let out a light chuckle and lightly shoved Twilight with her side. “I am certain that she will enjoy this. Trust me.”

“I bet you five bits she won't.” Twilight sighed as the two of them finally made their way to the guest room. Stopping in front of the door, Twilight shook her head. “Seriously though, anything but this would be better.”

“Well, then don't look at the evening like that. Think of it as a celebration of how you are half done with your studies,” Celestia replied, winking.

“Not dying of embarrassment tonight would be a better celebration,” Twilight muttered under her breath. Shaking her head, Celestia opened the door and the two stepped into the room. A gasp escaped both Celestia and Twilight as they looked at the room. Namely due to the pony in the room.

Pinkie Pie was already dressed for the occasion in what must have been one of Rarity's newest creations, and Celestia had to say it was probably the best one yet. Starting from the small of Pinkie's back, a narrow and dark maroon fabric went all the way down the middle to the floor, a rippled design giving the edges of the piece a perfect amount of flair. From either side of these, a sheer yellow fabric fell to either side of her body, giving the look of both a formal dress suitable for the occasion, as well as the new “edgy” fashion that was apparently in style lately. A golden saddle, golden foreleg coverings, and what looked like electric blue glass beads woven into her mane completed the ensemble.

“Well... how do I look?” Pinkie asked, causing Celestia to recoil back and shake her head. Apparently she had been spending the last few seconds gawking like a colt on prom night. Worst yet, apparently the subject of her inspections had noticed, for Pinkie was looking at the floor sporting a blush.

Coughing, Celestia replied, “You look wonderful, Pinkie Pie.”

“Thanks!” Pinkie looked up to meet Celestia's eyes, but still kept her blush. “You look really super-duper pretty too.”

Looking down at her dress, she could only smirk. If Pinkie's dress is new and full of modern zeal, then mine is definitely a blast from the past. The best way to describe her dress was “scorching,” at least according to the designer. Everything about it was supposed to remind the ponies around her of her place as the sun princess. The upper body of the dress was a dark maroon color, similar to that of the cooler sky in a sunset. However, from her midsection down, it shifted to a bright yellow. That yellow went down the majority of the dress, until right around her legs, where it shifted to orange, then pink, then red, then finally back to the original shade of maroon. At each stage, there was a yellow trim separating each section, giving the look of fire lapping at her sides. Golden slippers, small pink runners, and a massive depiction of the sun on her chest completed the look.

“Thank you,” Celestia replied, still unable to tear her eyes off of the mare in front of her. “It's actually quite an old dress, but I'm glad you like it.”

A warm silence befell the two of them as they admired how each other looked. Personally, Celestia felt that Pinkie looked the best, but she was also certain that Pinkie would think otherwise. Strange. She couldn't recall the last time she actually stopped to enjoy how a pony looked. In terms of attractiveness at least. It had been... at least a century? Maybe more? In fact it—

“Ahem.”

Celestia whirred her head around and faced Twilight, who was unfortunately still standing right where she was forgotten. “Yes, Twilight Sparkle?”

“I know you're forcing me to join you on your little escapade, but do I have to join you in your staring contest as well?” Twilight giggled as she stepped through the door. “By the way, you look lovely Pinkie. How did you get those beads into your mane?”

“Oh, I tripped.”

“You... tripped?”

“Yep!”

“...I see.” Twilight shook her head one last time. “Well, whatever works. Shall we be off?”

Pinkie turned around to Twilight and cheered, “I'm ready if you are!”

“Good, then let's go.” Twilight said as she turned toward the door. “We better hurry though. We're already late as it is, and you know how I got the last time I was tardy.”

“Don't we all.” Celestia rolled her eyes as the three giggled. Allowing the laugh to dissipate, Celestia faced Pinkie and asked, “Would you like me to escort you, Pinkie?”

“Yeppies!”

“Then let us be on our way.” Together, the three ponies made their way out of the room and down the hallway. The entire way, the halls were as dead as the main road of a ghost town. To her knowledge, Luna was already in bed after the long day of instructing and the majority of the servants on staff today were either on their way home or were tucking themselves into their quarters for the night. Sure, there was the random pair of guards on patrol here and there, but with the exception of the formal greetings there really wasn't any conversation between any of them.

Hooves beating against the aging wood of the drawbridge, Celestia finally spoke up. “So, Pinkie, do you want to know where we are going?”

Pinkie stopped looking at the stars above, and closed her eyes in glee. “Of course! Unless it's supposed to be a surprise, in which case I'd still wanna know, but I don't think I should know because it's a secret. Of course, if it's a secret and you don't wanna tell me, then I really really really wanna know. Unless that means...”

Celestia lightly laughed as Pinkie yapped away. It was only until the chatterbox finally went silent did she finally reply. “No no. I assure you that it is anything but a secret. We're going to the Tenor Clef Theatre.”

Pinkie gasped and zipped up right next to Celestia's nose. “We're performing in a play!? Oh my gosh! You should've told me that we were! I would've gotten my lips prepared!” Pinkie zipped away, and began to blow raspberries into the air.

“Pinkie Pie, we're not performing in a play; we're watching an opera.” Celestia smiled, looking at the eye-rolling Twilight at her side.

Pinkie stopped working her lips and turned back to the two alicorns. “We're not?”

“Of course not.” Twilight came up to Pinkie and nudged her side. “We're only going to be watching the ponies onstage sing. Let the professionals do that sort of thing.”

As Twilight walked off, Pinkie hopped forward. “But I'm a professional!”

Celestia approached to Pinkie and shared a friendly nudge. “I'm sure you are, Pinkie, but let us allow the ponies onstage to entertain you for once. Hmm?”

Celestia walked off to catch up with Twilight, leaving Pinkie behind her. Soon afterward, the sound of hooves on the drawbridge once again resounded, followed by a mutter. “Oh, alright. But only because you asked nicely.”

The Tenor Clef Theatre was filled with hundreds of ponies from every corner of Canterlot. Every single one of them held some sort of useless title that they wanted desperately for everypony to address them by. Lord and Lady, Duke and Duchess, and everything in between, each made sure to rub their status of wealth and lineage into everypony's face in their game to rise to the top. Sure, she had her title of “Princess,” but she would like nothing more than to have everypony finally drop that thing, and be much more informal to her. Alas, such was the culture of the city, and it was not going to change anytime soon.

Yet, every single one of them was silent for the act that was onstage right now. Onstage, several of the best vocalists in all of Equestria were gathered together to sing to their audience. And sing they did, from the highest of sopranos to the lowest of basses, they filled the hall with their voices. Every one of those voices held the heart and soul of their owner. The melodies and supporting harmonies that each filled the air with was perfectly in tune with the others, with nary a missed note or a bad cue contained in it all.

Just in front of the stage itself the orchestra sat, providing their skill and expertise to drive the performance onward. Despite their commanding presence, they held no dominion over the stage. They were there only to serve the vocalists as they worked their magic. Sure, there was the violin or the baritone that would rise up and play its melody above them all in a grand solo, but for the most part they merely helped to fill the empty spaces in the music.

Above all of it, in the royal box seats, Celestia, Twilight, and Pinkie sat and enjoyed the opera in their own ways. Twilight had long since decided that she was going to enjoy the opera how she always did growing up: nose deep in a book. Celestia had chastised Twilight thrice now over it, but had long since given up on it. Pinkie Pie had initially enjoyed the opera in the more typical fashion, but after just the first scene she very apparently grew bored of merely listening to the songs, instead deciding to sing along in her robust voice. Celestia wasn't sure if Pinkie could be heard from the surrounding seats, but if she could the other patrons had very good poker faces.

As for Celestia herself, she was more pleased by the company of her two wonderful friends than the show itself.

In fact, the more that Celestia sat there and listened to the opera, the less she actually listened to the singers on stage and the more she found herself listening to Pinkie's singing. Sure, Pinkie was more just attempting to hit the notes than anything else—Pinkie simply belting out random words rather than Old Equestrian—but it was entertaining all the same. In a way, Celestia found that the singing that Pinkie was gracing her with was much more enthralling than the actual singers onstage.

Pinkie turned to Celestia and the two locked eyes. Her smile growing even wider, Pinkie began to sing even harder. Perhaps it was the life that Pinkie had beyond the performance. Perhaps it was because Pinkie was giving Celestia her own personal performance. Perhaps it was the way the world seemed to melt around them, leaving the two of them in their own little secluded dream. Perhaps it was the way that Pinkie had not a care in the world to how anypony would react from her song. Regardless of which one of these reasons was the case, Celestia knew one thing for sure—taking Pinkie to the opera was the best idea she had thought of in a long time.

Suddenly, Pinkie's song ended half done. Exclaiming in a surprisingly hushed tone, she whispered, “Be right back!” before zipping out of the door and into the hallway behind it.

Celestia watched the doorway for a few more seconds before turning to Twilight and whispering, “And here you said that this was a bad idea.”

“Hmm?” Twilight hummed as she lifted her snout out of the book she was deep within. Never letting the book go from her magic, she continued. “Oh, you mean bringing Pinkie here. I still say it was a bad idea.”

Celestia smugly grinned. “You said she would be bored. Instead, she appears to be enjoying herself, and quite so.”

Twilight shook her head, and looked back down at her book. “True, but I'm sure the Gems in the balcony next to us are more inclined to side with me.”

Smiling even more, Celestia grabbed Twilight's book in her magic and yanked it away, the unmistakable whimper of protest not escaping Celestia's ears. “Twilight, I am certain the Gems are much too far away to hear anything Pinkie is singing.”

Twilight turned toward Celestia, and she swore that she saw a glare in those lavender eyes of hers. “And if they can hear Pinkie's singing?”

“In all honesty? They will gripe in private, but would never risk saying anything to me or anypony else about it,” Celestia said. “To them, their reputation is everything. To have it besmirched in the eyes of one of the princesses? It would be a tragedy.”

“You have way too much smug in your voice for comfort.” Twilight narrowed her eyes further. “What's going on?”

“Why nothing, my dear student. I simply wish for all of us to enjoy ourselves. I personally am very much enjoying myself. I can easily see that Pinkie is having a lot of fun as well.” Celestia leaned a tiny bit closer and let her grin grow that much wider. “It appears that only one pony here is trying to ruin the fun.”

Twilight's eyes flew open. “What are you talking about? I'm having a great time! Spectacular!”

Celestia nodded. “I'm sure, Ms. 'I'm going to read a book instead of enjoy the opera' Sparkle.”

“But... I was on the interesting part! I was at the part where you have to estimate the rate of corruption and tax evasion among—”

“What in the world!?”

“Who is that!?”

The two of them both looked down to figure out what was going on, their previous conversation forgotten. As soon she saw, Celestia wished she hadn't looked for the sight nearly brought her to take wing and intercept the incident. Down onstage, the actors and actresses were all standing as still as statues watching the scene before them unfold. The orchestra, whether they did not realize what was going on or because of force of habit, continued to play music as if nothing was wrong. On the stage stood Pinkie Pie, reared up on her hind legs...

“And to the very highest cloud we'll climb! Forever, our loud shouts musically chime!”

...singing her heart out.

“Oh dear,” Twilight whispered, her voice barely audible through both the singing and the collective gasps and murmurs of the crowd below. She sank a little in her seat. “This... this is bad.”

Yet, neither princess dared to stand and try to stop the scene before them. For all appearances, the rest of the crowd below must have felt the same way, for the sea of statues refused to budge. To their credit, a few stagehands were able to collect their mental facilities enough to attempt at ending the spectacle, but the singer-turned-trapeze-artist was much too agile for even the pegasi among them. After several more failed attempts—some ending with collateral pies to the face—they simply gave up, surrendering the next few numbers to the flying pony above.

“Princess,” Twilight wavered, turning towards Celestia. “Shouldn't we do something to stop this?”

Celestia considered her options for a few moments before she asked, “Twilight Sparkle, do you remember what I told you after your very first Grand Galloping Gala that you attended with your friends?”

“I think so. I remember you saying you were happy we caused—” Twilight stopped, her eyes widening as the gears in her mind turned.

The maniacal smile affixed to Celestia's face widened tenfold as she sat back in her chair. “I have always believed that livening up these monotonous events is for the best. I aim on continuing that philosophy.”

“Just let the suuuuuuun shine down on the land...”

“It's too bad Twi-Twi is a lying party pooper!” Pinkie exclaimed as she hopped down the street.

Celestia looked around to find a familiar street. A few names looked familiar, but none of significance. “I trust that when Twilight says she was tired that she meant it.”

“Psh! Yeah right! She's at the castle right now reading about how to count bits,” Pinkie said.

“Undoubtedly,” Celestia relied. “But do you really think we could convince Twilight to come with us?”

Pinkie turned her head and winked. “I have methods. Proven methods.”

“So do I, but I have found that picking my battles is the proper response to her constant stubbornness. This was not one of those battles.”

“Hmm! Well I think that—” Pinkie stopped and gasped. “We're here!”

She looked up. “I... may I ask why we are going here again?” Celestia asked, looking up at the bright neon lights that wrapped all around the building. The vast majority of the lights were vibrantly colored with the most flamboyant colors of the spectrum. Most were simple lines, outlining the edges of the building, while others were more... creative with their use. Wire caricatures of several ponies in various states of drink consumption—and apparently inebriation—covered the entire face of the building. Add in a few words here or there and there wasn’t a single space left that Celestia thought could have lights placed. Tacky? Probably. Visible from miles around from the air? Definitely. Still, she was thankful none of them depicted any mares doing... other things.

“Because while that opera was alright,” Pinkie explained with a smile, hopping closer and closer to the building, “a place like this won’t ban my entire family name for all eternity from entering after I get up and start singing!”

“True,” she replied, tapping her hoof against her chin. “Why did we ditch our dresses with Twilight anyway?”

“Well duh! We’d look absolutely ridiculous wearing those things here! Most ponies in this place don’t wear anything. Well, except for a necklace or something, so I kept the beads,” she explained, bouncing up and down all the while. She suddenly stopped bouncing, giving Celestia a not-so-subtle wink. “Plus, getting out of those dresses was much more fun than getting into them. Don't cha think?”

If there was a drink in her mouth, Celestia would have spat it out right there and then. If Pinkie realized what she just said, then she showed no sign of it. Instead, she simply hopped around Celestia, a toothy grin undoubtedly on her face. She was only thankful that she had chosen a unicorn for her disguise rather than a pegasus one. Having her wings flared in shock was not something she wanted to do in the middle of the street.

She chose to react as innocently as possible. “I never really thought about it myself.”

“Well think on it, then get back to me!” Pinkie slung a foreleg around Celestia’s shoulders and pulled her forward. Celestia was again made aware that she was currently the same size as her friend. “Until then, it’s time to get this party started!”

The sudden urge to run away really really quickly flashed through her mind, but she brushed it off nearly as soon as it came. “I agree,” she replied. With that, she trailed right behind Pinkie, sticking close to her guide on this curious journey of sorts. Yet, she could not help but to thinking of what would happen if she were to be discovered here. Sure, it was well known that she liked to have fun, but here? Even if she didn't care what the nobility thought of her, there were lines that she shouldn't cross. This was skirting close to many of them. She shook her head. Best to think of the here and now. Of course, in focusing on the here and now, she became well aware of her lack of height, and the view it gave her of Pinkie's backside and the curvature of Pinkie's hips as she—

“Hey Celly,” Pinkie suddenly asked. “Have you ever had the feeling that you were being watched?”

Celestia immediately closed her eyes. “No I have not felt that feeling ever in my life. Let’s just keep walking.”

“My thoughts exactly!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Well, except that we’re already at our seats, so we shouldn’t still be walking… so probably not even close at all to what I was thinking after all. Hmm. Anyway, you sit here, and I’ll be right back!”

Looking around again, Celestia realized that the two had made quite a bit of progress while she was distracted. The neon lights that were shining outside were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the curvature shapes of neon had been replaced with the modern feel of the interior, with flat edges and corners everywhere. The pillars, tables, chairs, and booths were all squared off, creating sharp corners throughout. From under every pillar, a bright neon glow emanated from the floor, casting their green and red glow throughout. Yes, there were candles in the room as well, but they were overpowered by the floor lighting.

That wasn't even getting into the pounding music that was drilling itself into Celestia’s skull. While she could barely hear the main melody, the bass was coming at her from every direction, vibrating the table itself with the beat. It was quite the stark contrast to the music that she was enjoying a few hours ago—both the opera's and Pinkie's. The music there had been... well... the bass was not playing fortissimo when the winds were playing pianissimo. Already she was feeling the headache from doing nothing but listening to this.

Thankfully, Pinkie returned shortly after with a tray gripped firmly in her mouth. On the tray, two tall and skinny glasses were carefully balanced—both square of course—with green liquid inside swishing side to side, nearly spilling out with each of her steps. With careful movements, Pinkie placed the tray onto the table, not spilling a single drop from either of the drinks. Celestia could only look at the pair of drinks that she swore was glowing.

Moving her head closer to the drinks, Celestia asked, “What... what are these?”

“They're a wicked recipe that I came up with a while back, specially requested by little ol' me!” Pinkie giggled, sliding the other closer to Celestia's side of the table. “I call it the Green Gummy Goo.”

She eyed her drink for a few seconds before looking at Pinkie “What makes it green?”

“Oh, It's a combination of a few things, but it has a little bit of pasteurized grass and Midori in it, among of things that are a sacred secret that only the chosen few shall have the honor of knowing.”

“Like the bartender?”

Pinkie nodded. “And not you.”

“I see.” Celestia leaned into the drink, carefully sniffing it. Smelled toxic. “What do you call this again?”

“The Green Gummy Goo!” Pinkie exclaimed, not drinking her brew yet.

“Green Gummy Goo. Hmm.” She looked at it for a few more moments before saying with a quiver, “Why is the drink glowing?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Not sure really. Tried to find out once, but it ended poorly for everypony in the room.”

“Hmm.” She looked at the drink again. “And why is the drink bubbling?”

Pinkie merely wiggled her eyebrows at her. “What? Never seen a drink boil before?”

“Pinkie, the drink is cold. There's ice in it!”

“And that's what makes it great!” Pinkie grinned even wider. Gripping the drink with her forehooves, she brought it up to her lips. “Well? You going to try it?”

Celestia looked back to the glass and watched the bubbles rise and burst at the surface of the drink, spilling light in all directions. Gripping the drink with her magic, she thought about the possible repercussions of inflicting her insides with this liquid. There were few things that Celestia drank and ate in her past that had ended up causing pretty rough results to her—most being considered delicacies in Saddle Arabia—but at least she was pretty aware of what those things could do to her if the results were poor. This was an unknown.

After a few more seconds, she shrugged. I'm sure Luna could make another sun before the world ends or something.

With that, she lifted the concoction to her lips, turned to Pinkie, and smiled. “Bottom's up.”

Author's Note

Oh look, we're back on track schedule wise! Neat!

Chapter 4

“And then the stoooooone fell into the mirror!”

“Wait wait wait!” Celestia shouted, flapping her wings as she did a little hop. She didn't bother looking around to see if anypony was around to see her little dance. “How does a stone fall into a mirror?!”

“Because, dear Celly-Belly,” Pinkie shouted, attempting to defeat the Princess in their noise complaint contest. How dare she! “The stone is not a stone at all!”

Celestia gasped loudly, her jaw dropping as the words were spoken. “It’s not a stone!? Then... then... what is it then!?”

Pinkie took a step to the left, widening the gap between the two of them. “See, the stone is actually a metaphor for the mind of the common cricket.”

“A cricket?” Celestia shook her head. The road still looked just as blurry. “Then what does the mirror represent?”

Pinkie pounced into the air, beaming all the while. “It represents another cricket of course!”

“Oh!” Celestia gave up on seeing the road clearly tonight. It appeared to not be cooperating. She'd have to see the civil administrator about making the bricks more obedient. “But what does one cricket falling onto another cricket mean?”

Pinkie leaped even higher. “See, in the song, while it sounds like it, it's not... hic... it's not an action at all!”

Luna, why didn't you light the moon a little brighter tonight? “That doesn't make sense. What does the dropping represent then!?”

“Simple! It's just another cri-YIKES!”

Twisting the wrong way in the air, Pinkie flailed her legs around rapidly to try and regain her balance. Thankfully, Celestia was still alert enough to ignite her magic and catch Pinkie before she decided to passionately kiss the pavement. Letting out a deep breath, Celestia righted Pinkie, though she still held onto the mare. “Are you alright, Pinkie Pie?”

“Wooooow!” she yelled out, her eyes wide. “Good thing you caught me, or I'd probably be Gummy two-point-oh. Thanks!”

Celestia sighed. “You are most certainly welcome. Let's not do that again, shall we?”

“Indeed-a-lee! Wait!” Pinkie speedily ran with her little legs, her still airborne body slowly turning around so that the two faced each other. She narrowed her eyes and pointed a forehoof at Celestia. “How come I'm all loopy doopy and you're all a-okay!? Did you fake drink those drinks?”

“Trust me, Pinkie, I am not a-okay.” Celestia shut her eyes and shook her head again. The road was still broken. Dang. “There... are just a lot of reasons why I still have more acute faculties.”

“But you’ve never been to my faculties,” Pinkie said as she intensified her glare. “How do you know... hic... whether yours are cuter than mine. Huh?”

Celestia shook her head. “No not… I mean that there are a lot of reasons why I am able to actually talk without slurring.”

“Ah.” Pinkie reared up and crossed her forelegs. “Such as?”

“Well, for starters, I'm at least twice your size and have two extra appendages.”

Pinkie pointed at her. “I can drink Big Mac under the table, and he's only a little bit smaller than you!”

“And second, I only had three of those drinks, and they nearly knocked me out.”

“So?”

“You had ten of those Gummy Gloop things.” Celestia half grinned. “I counted.”

“Oh... right. Yeah... oopsie?”

“Oopsie indeed.”

The two of them stood there for a little while in their playful stare down. Strange. Now that Celestia got a good look at her, Pinkie was a very beautiful pony. Well, she had already known that Pinkie Pie was beautiful, but this was the first time she really realized it. It had been centuries since she had taken a nice, long look at another pony in this particular way. And yet, here she was, doing it for the second time in a single night. She wanted to look away, but at the same time she couldn't break her gaze from those brilliant blue eyes. A soft wind blew past them, catching Celestia's ethereal mane and throwing it across her face. It obscured her vision, but it allowed her to see Pinkie's bubblegum mane flow in the breeze, the tight curls holding true despite the gust. Pinkie's soft lashes bounced with every blink, those long hairs thick and without flaw. Even with her habit to eat everything and more, Celestia couldn't see a single bit of body fat that was out of place. Sure, the mare had a little bit of pudge here and there, but it was all in the right places.

“Princess?” Pinkie whispered.

Blinking, Celestia remembered that Pinkie was looking right back at her. Thank the sun and moon that it was dark out, for she was definitely sporting a blush. “Oh! Um, yes, Pinkie Pie?”

“Can you... umm... let me down now?” She squirmed in air, not really making any progress in any direction. “I'm feeling a little weird floating here.”

“Oh!” She released Pinkie from her magic, dropping her from the air onto the cobblestone road. “Sorry, beautiful.”

Pinkie looked at her hooves and brushed some accumulated dust off of them—stumbling all the while. “It's okay. I'm sure you—” She stopped talking. Pinkie lifted her head and trained her vision right at Celestia. “Did... did you call me...”

Damn drinks. “I... I didn't say anything,” Celestia lied, keeping her face as straight as possible.

The tiniest of grins appeared on Pinkie's face. “That's not what I heard. I thought I heard—”

CRACK!!

Lightning streaked across the sky. Three seconds later the ominous scent of rain appeared in her nose. Thanking the sun and moon and all of the stars for the distraction, Celestia looked up and saw that while she and Pinkie were drinking, the weather ponies must have gathered together a storm for the night. Strange. She didn't remember there being a storm happening until well past midnight... wait. Was it really past midnight? That was a horrific thought, especially for her future self that was going to have to wake up at dawn. Just the image of what she was going to do to her alarm clock made her wish there was somewhere open to buy a fruit basket to say sorry to it in advance.

The sound of rain hitting the road behind her closed that subject to only open up a very much worse one. Gazing behind her, Celestia said, “Pinkie Pie, I think we're going to have to run back to castle. Ready?”

“But... but... fifteen.”

“Fifteen? Fifteen what?”

“I had fifteen drinks to drink!”

Whirring around, Celestia looked at that oh-so-very guilty face. “What? How!? I made sure to count every one!”

Pinkie's head dropped, her interest in her hooves becoming very strong all the sudden. “I... may or may not have had something to drink at the bar while you were in the filly's room.”

“Oh, for the love of...” Rushing forward, Celestia used her magic to once again grab Pinkie. She then not-so-gently threw the mare onto her back so that Pinkie was riding her. “Just hold on!”

She took off, galloping down the streets of Canterlot. If it was just her on a normal day, she would have been able to easily take to the air and outrun the rain without a problem. Outrunning the average storm was something that she could do in her sleep. Even if she couldn't, flying over it was even easier. However, this was not a normal day. There was the fact that she now had a pony-sized passenger on her back weighing her down and restricting her wings' motion. Not only that, but with the way that those three drinks were making her a tad bit dizzy and flying went from second nature to being a criminal offense. Add the fact that Pinkie was flailing her hooves in the air as she cheered and hollered, and the two of them would probably crash and somehow burst into flames the moment they got five meters off the ground.

The sound of the rain was growing nearer with every passing second. As it grew louder, she felt the prospects of staying dry evaporate. Thankfully they weren't that far from the castle now, so there was still the possibility of the two of them making it inside before the rain really caught up to them.

It was right around that moment that the soft roar of the downpour transformed into a pitter-patter on her head. “Oh, shoot.”

“Shoot? More like weeeee!” Pinkie yelled out from atop her back, squealing all the while. “We're running in a wicked thunderstorm! It's like a movie!”

“It's not... as fun... when you're... the one running in it.” Celestia huffed, her chest already feeling like a fire was inside it. Note to self: go on diet.

With those words, the drops transitioned into a sheet of rain, destroying any evidence of the delicate work she put into her makeup earlier that evening. Silently cursing the storm, she took a left turn, leaving the limits of the city proper and into the wide expanse outside the city. Up ahead, she was barely able to see the castle just a couple hundred meters ahead before the rain obscured it from vision. Yet, the slight view that she got was enough to reinvigorate her, giving her the energy to continue on.

Her hooves no longer clattered on cobblestone. Instead, the splashing of water replaced the sound as the muddy water licked at her hooves. Another crack of lightning lit up the area, yet the rain was too thick to permit sight of the castle. In the dark, she could just make out glowing lights cutting through the storm. Celestia fixated on those lights, spurring herself forward with all the strength she had left. All it would be is a few more seconds and they would be out of this place. It was just a few more paces later that she was able to make out the moat that surrounded the castle.

She glared at the view. Of course the drawbridge is up.

“Oh, pickles!” Pinkie exclaimed. “We gotta wait for the thingy to come down!?”

“I... am not... waiting.”

Before Pinkie could reply, Celestia took a quick turn to the right, leaving the path set before the two of them. Her hooves sunk into the ground with every step, throwing mud all over her belly and sides. Getting nearer, her eyes narrowed in determination. Celestia snapped her wings wide and let the the water flick off of the oily feathers, droplets bursting in all directions.

Celestia felt Pinkie's grip on her neck tighten. “What are you—”

She leaped into the air as high as she could, her hooves sinking deep in the mud of the riverside as she did so. With strong beats, she flapped her wings, taking the pair over the moat. She felt the weight of the extra pony on her back in her wings, the muscles in her chest tightening. She wished she didn't have to flap her wings, but she dared not leave her fate to a risky glide. Thankfully, Pinkie wasn't flailing around as fanatically as before, so the universe sought to have at least one thing working in her favor.

Her hooves slammed onto the ground just before the grass line, once again experiencing the feeling of mud around them. She jumped again to step up onto grass and ran until she found cobblestone. Never before had the sound of hooves on stone been such a wonderful gift. Even with the rain pouring down and the main doors well within sight, Celestia couldn't help but to let her sprint slow to a trot.

Suddenly, from atop Celestia's back, Pinkie Pie started laughing. “That was fun! Do it again do it again!”

For whatever reason, that statement caused Celestia to join in on the laughter. “You wish to ride me down the streets of Canterlot in the middle of the night while it's raining again!?”

“Duh! That was the best part!”

“Don’t count on that happening,” Celestia said as she burst through the main doors to the castle proper, sighing when the rain finally ceased its assault on her. Even if they both were completely soaked to the bone, both she and Pinkie were still laughing. As they laughed, Pinkie slowly slid herself off of her back, thankfully avoiding the delicate wings that hung limply at Celestia's side. The sudden relief of the weight against her back was a godsend, finally letting Celestia take a full breath as opposed to the half-gasps that she'd been forced to take since she started running a little bit earlier.

The laughter coming from Pinkie suddenly intensified, drawing Celestia's attention to what the pony was becoming amused by so much. Following the pink hoof visible in the corner of her vision, she saw that it was pointing straight at a rather large mirror. Or, more importantly, the two ponies in the mirror.

Celestia, in very stark contrast to how at she much preferred to present herself on a normal day, was a disaster. Her regalia was missing—Twilight had taken them back to the castle before this little adventure—making her appear a little more exposed than normal. Yet, that was the tamest of any of the calamities that had befallen her. Her once pristine white coat was now soaked through and through, while the hair on her legs, sides, and belly had turned a nice shade of grayish-brown. That wasn't even mentioning how her normally prismatic flowing mane and tail were weighed down from water, now dragging on the floor. The one saving grace was that, despite being exposed to the rain for so long, the oil on Celestia's feathers allowed her wings to stay mostly dry, though a healthy amount of preening was going to be needed later.

Granted, it was Pinkie that Celestia was more interested in. She was in just as bad of shape as Celestia was. Pinkie's bright pink coat was soaked completely through, though unlike Celestia, her hooves were not caked in mud—a feature that she was somewhat envious of. Pinkie's mane and tail, unlike their typical curly and bouncy selves, were mere loose waves, nearly straight as they sagged under the weight of rainwater. Noticeably absent from Pinkie's mane were the beads that she had at the beginning of the night, so either she had removed them while Celestia wasn’t looking or they were lost in the run. Of course, that didn't take away at all from the beauty Celestia saw in Pinkie.

Pinkie nudged Celestia in the side. “So... still think I'm beautiful?”

Celestia's eyelids widened and she averted her gaze to the tile. “I have no recollection of what you are implying.”

“I think you do, Celly.” Pinkie nudged Celestia's side again. Harder this time. “Admit it.”

“I still do not know what you're talking about.”

“Yes you do.” Pinkie turned and walked toward the stairs leading to the bedrooms. Stepping on the first step, she spun back around. “Don't deny it. Why did you say it?”

Celestia followed her. “I… I didn’t say anything.”

“Hmm,” Pinkie hummed, starting to walk backwards. Before she could even take a single step, Pinkie tripped up on herself again, falling backwards with an “eep.” Thankfully, for the second time tonight, Celestia was able to catch her, though this time she physically caught her instead of using her magic. Before she could make sure Pinkie was alright, Pinkie rolled over in Celestia's forelegs, boring her blue eyes into Celestia's own. The wide smile that she was holding before was gone. Instead, it was replaced by the slightest upturned lips. Pinkie slowly blinked, her pleading blue eyes sparkling by the chandelier above.

Celestia gulped. “Are you alright, little one?”

Pinkie blinked again. “Ever think I'm asking you to say it again... because I liked it?”

Heart beating faster than it was when she was galloping through the streets of Canterlot, she let those words sink into her. What do you mean by that? What am I thinking, of course I know what you meant by that. More important question: what do I think about it? Her lungs still burned from before, but now her stomach was in turmoil. Having the mare in her forelegs right now, asking those sort of questions. She didn't know what to do about this. All she knew was that she should do something.

Something crazy.

She shifted the way she was sitting, bringing her face closer to Pinkie's. At the same time, she also gripped her tighter. Pinkie shifted herself, getting comfortable in Celestia's forelegs. It was only then that she noticed Pinkie was breathing much heavier and faster than before, almost matching the speed of her own uneasy breaths. Half the distance had been eliminated between the two of them, Pinkie quickly licking her lips as her eyes grew slightly wider.

“You’re beautiful, Pinkie Pie,” Celestia whispered. A gasp was aired from Pinkie, the mare now breathing much, much faster than even Celestia was.

“You're beautiful too, Celestia,” Lemon Drop whispered back, leaning forward in return.

“No!” Celestia yelled, dropping Pinkie.

Pinkie slammed into the stairs, her back making a loud “thump” against the marble steps below. As a squeak escaped Pinkie's lips, Celestia's stumbled away from Pinkie Pie, her own eyes watering over. She stumbled to the other side of the stairs before Pinkie was able to move. Pinkie rolled over to her side, staring at Celestia with the most confused look that had ever graced a pony's face. There should have been some sort of explanation in order, but there was no way that she could say anything right now. Not with the tears that were re-soaking her face. Not with the betrayal that felt.

So Celestia's turned tail and ran. Despite knowing full well that she needed to explain something to Pinkie. Despite knowing how innocent Pinkie was. Despite how she was the one who had initiated that whole situation. She was the one that fled without answers. Water splashed all over the steps as she clambered up the stairway, her muddy hooves ruining the runner. Making it to the top, she turned left and, ignoring the loud pleas from the mare she left behind, continued to run. From there, it was a blur to make it all the way down the short series of halls to her room. Not pausing for a moment, she nearly tore the door off of its hinges opening it. As quick as she could, Celestia ran through and slammed the door behind her.

Author's Note

Nothing to see here.

Chapter 5 Author's Note

Just an FYI, I screwed up a name in the previous chapter. In the text...

“You're beautiful too, Celestia,” Butterscotch whispered back, leaning forward in return.

...the name is supposed to be Lemon Drop, not Butterscotch. Sorry about that.

No on to your regularly scheduled programming.

Chapter 5

Celestia lay in her velvet bed. The plush, violet fabric did nothing to make her feel more comfortable. Due to how wet she had been after coming out of the rain just minutes before, the bed was soaked through, leaving her on a miserable mess of a cushion. She didn't even want to think about what was happening because of the mud on her hooves. The golden pillow that was typically at the head of the bed had been tossed across the room, and now lay slumped against the door to the hallway. Throwing the pillow that she had been cuddling with had been a mistake, but she wasn't going to stand up to get it now.

To her right, the fireplace had been eagerly lapping at a pile of logs when she had entered the room—most likely set by her aides in anticipation of her return—but it had long since been reduced to glowing embers. To her left, the stained-glass window, adorned by a single shooting star, barely let any moonlight into the room. Add in how all of the candles had blown out when she slammed her door shut earlier and only the flickering embers and the tiny rays of candlelight from the hall illuminated the room.

Gripping the edge of the mattress, she let her tears continue to fall. “I cannot believe I let myself become such... such a fool tonight. Why could I not just... just act sensible?”

If she was expecting an answer from her ruined bed, she was going to be sorely disappointed. Instead, she was greeted only by the sound of her own sobs. Shortly after she slammed the door to her room, she had heard hushed whispers from the hall, though none of them had dared to try and console her or figure out what was wrong. She wished that one of them would have opened up the door and asked what was wrong. She desperately wanted to hit somepony with something right now.

The taps of hoofsteps sounded from outside her door. She stifled her crying and perked her ears up. However, after at least half a minute of this, the only sounds that welcomed her were the occasional, quiet pop from the dying fire. She realized then that she had been holding her breath, and released it in a haggard sigh. Did I simply imagine it?

It was then that a soft knock came from the door.

She stopped breathing again, only this time she was actually aware of her actions. Who would think about knocking on her door this late into the night, especially with the bedroom lights being out? She had planned on throwing something at whomever was stupid enough to disturb her woes, but for one of them to actually have the audacity to go through with it? Hopefully, whoever it was would simply take her silence as a signal to just go away—nopony that served her would dare enter her room while she was sleeping. Granted, if one of them did decide to disturb her sanctuary this late in the evening... well... hopefully that pony had his or her will documented.

There was another knock at the door. Louder this time. “Sister? Are you doing alright?”

Of course it is my sister. Coughing, she replied, “Yes, sister. I am... doing quite well. I was hoping to get to sleep soon.”

“We need to talk first. May I come in?”

Celestia quickly wiped her eyes. “Umm... I... do we absolutely have to talk now?” she asked, her voice as steady as she could keep it.

“In a purely literal sense? I suppose not,” Luna replied through the door, opening it immediately afterward. She heard her sister step into the room, but Celestia refused to look. Instead, she stared at the pitiful excuse of a fire remaining within the hearth. There was a pause from Luna at the doorway before the door shut, turning the room dark yet again. Another light soon returned, much more muted than before, flickering from behind Celestia. As the hoofsteps came closer to the bed, the light grew brighter, but just barely. Eventually, the hoofsteps got to her bed, and with the sound of a candlestick tapping against the floor, Celestia saw her pillow magically levitate in front of her face. “However, I do believe that you are in desperate need of somepony to talk to.”

Taking the pillow from Luna, she scooted over to the far side of the cushion, placing the pillow under her chest to give her some support. Still, Celestia continued to look at the embers. “What could anypony possibly need to talk about at one in the morning?”

Her sister slid up next to Celestia, pausing as soon as an audible squish came from the cushion. A couple seconds passed, but Luna continued forward, laid down, and pressed her side against Celestia's own. “Actually sister, it’s much closer to five.”

“Five?” Wow, I had been out much later than I anticipated. “And how long have I been in here?”

“Hmm... I would say... about thirty minutes? Possibly a little more? I am somewhat uncertain.”

“Half an hour?” Celestia rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Why did it take you half an hour to finally come check on me? One of our nosy guards finally decided to act? First time for everything.”

“Actually, none of the guards came to get me. Before you ask, neither did any of the overnight servants either.”

Furrowing her brow, Celestia asked, “Then how did you—”

“I found Pinkie Pie in the hallway, crying.”

Celestia lowered her head and closed her eyes. “I see.”

“Sister, what happened?”

Celestia tried to hear if there was a crackle from the embers. There was none. “Nothing happened.”

“Bullshit!” Luna barked. Celestia almost yelped at the word, whirling around to face Luna. Her sister was giving her a glare that could cut diamond. “Do you really think that I would believe that!?” Celestia couldn't find her tongue. “I woke up from you slamming the door to your bedroom. I came out to investigate what was going on, and I find Pinkie Pie sitting on the floor of the foyer . She was soaking wet looking at the large mirror in there, crying her heart out. I brought her into my room, dried her off, and asked her what was going on. Wanna know what she told me?”

Celestia looked to the side. “I can take a guess,” she muttered.

“She told me how she was a ‘real jerk’ to you and how she ruined her friendship with you! She told me how she wanted to show you how you were really a special pony to her and how she instead made you feel 'super-duper sad' when she said something mean to you..”

Celestia looked back at her sister, only to be met with the same menacing glare that Luna had been holding the entire time. “She... she did?”

“Yes, and I can tell you right now that that story was a lie. You and I both know that she would never say anything that would be insulting in the slightest. Even if she did, we all know that you have thick enough skin to take an insult.” Luna continued to stare right through Celestia. “What happened really?”

She closed her eyes and looked away. “I—”

Luna grabbed her head with a hoof, forcing Celestia to look into those blue eyes of hers. “Do not lie to me.”

Celestia matched her sister's gaze, trying to calculate what the best course of action would be in this situation. Luna's glare was horribly telling, but the light in the room was still as dark as night so her features were obscured. If Celestia wanted to, it would be entirely possible for her to make up a simple story of misunderstood words and her sister would probably buy it. Just let her emotions from the entire experience take over again, let a few tears fall from her eyes and just blubber about how Celestia was reminded of the time she had to send Luna to the moon or something. Luna would buy it.

She had her mouth half open before she stopped. Was she about to lie to Luna about something like this? Not only that, was she about to lie to her sister using what was undoubtedly the most damning scar in her history? That is what she, the Sun Princess, had been reduced to? Taking out her pain on others, then shifting the blame onto Pinkie? Was she really treating this like some political wheel and deal?

Celestia gulped, looking at the cushion between the two of them. Slowly, she trailed the tip of her hoof across the velvet, drawing random designs. Before she could finish her flower drawing, her hoof was covered by deep blue, stopping her motions. She never looked up, but she could feel the soft smile that Luna now wore. “Celestia, it's alright. I will not judge you.”

She nodded. Even with the reassurance, she could feel the heavy thumping of her heart against her chest and the shortness of her breath. “I... I think I might... like Pinkie Pie.”

As soon as the sentence ended, Luna let out an amused snort. Looking back up, Celestia sent the sharpest daggers at Luna. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” Luna sputtered out, giggling all the while. “It is just... of course you like her. Everypony likes her. She is a nice pony and everything. A little on the energetic side for my own tastes, but very much likable.”

“No no no.” For a moment, the urge to slap her sister across the face was an intriguing one. “I mean that I... well...”

“Oooooh” Luna let out, her laughter drying up. “Well, umm, congratulations? I am confused on how this is a negative.”

“But I... just... can't.”

“You cannot?” Luna scrunched her brow as Celestia shook her head. “And... why not? I do not recall any law that would forbid or restrict you from engaging in romance, binding in matrimony, or any other activity I might have missed. Even if there was, give me five minutes and I shall make sure to change it myself.”

Her head sunk to the pillow beside her and she whispered, “Lemon Drop.”

“Lemon Drop? Oh! Lemon Drop! Hmm... Lemon Drop...” Luna whispered to herself, tapping a forehoof to her chin. “I've heard that name before... that's the name... of... your last love?”

Celestia slowly nodded. “My only love.”

“Is Pinkie that similar to Lemon Drop?”

“No, she is not.” She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “In fact, I dare say she was more similar to Twilight than anypony else I know.”

Luna rested her head on the pillow next to Celestia and said, “Alright. I still do not understand. What is the problem?”

Celestia rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “It is a long story.”

“So?” Luna rolled over next to her, allowing her head to bump into Celestia's. “If I recall correctly, the sun does not rise for about two hours. I have until at least then.”

“Are you sure you want to hear it?” She leaned to the right and rested the side of her head against Luna's. “I'm a bad story teller.”

She felt her Sister shrug. “I have heard griffins tell stories. I shall survive.”

Sighing to herself, she thought back to those memories. She gave herself a minute to gather her thoughts, then started. “Well... it was about five hundred years ago. It was autumn, I think. I met Lemon Drop when she was nothing but an aide charged with tidying up my bedchamber. It was on the anniversary of our... well...”

“Argument,” Luna offered.

She nodded. “Yes, our argument. I was going to spend it as I normally did: in my room, simply thinking and hoping you were doing well. That year, though, was a very tense year. Saddle Arabia's civil war was spilling over into Equestria and threatening to draw us into it, the Griffin Provinces were demanding we give them provisions to help them with their poor harvest or they would have to resort to force, the Buffalo Tribes were causing a lot of violence in our border towns, and the dragon Mesarth decided that Los Pegasus was part of his domain and we should cede it to him. I was a complete disaster, sobbing like...” Celestia shrugged, “...like I am now, I guess.

“Anyway, so I'm sobbing, and she comes into my room with a plate of sweets. I tell her to leave, but she doesn't. Instead, she just walks in, sets the tray down, lays in the bed with me, and lets me sob into her coat. We were there the entire night together, or at least until I fell asleep. I don't think she said a single thing the entire time. The next morning she was gone, but I had to know who she was. I eventually found out later that week, and... well... one thing led to another, and two years later, we were saying our vows. Needless to say, we never had foals, but that didn't matter too much to us. In fact, it was she that decided to found the Celestia School for Gifted Unicorns. She said that they were all our children.”

Smiling wider, she continued. “There was this one time, the two of us were going on a trip to the Buffalo Tribes out west to see to formalizing our treaty with them. We were taking an airship, which at that time was completely new technology. Now Lemon Drop, the dear, was probably the most curious pony that I could imagine knowing. More so than Twilight even. Well, she wanted to know how this thing worked, so she goes below deck and starts fiddling with the boilers and such.”

“Oh dear,” Luna whispered. “What happened?”

“Well... she wasn't entirely satisfied with just looking at the outside of all the pipes and engines. She wanted to know how the things worked on the inside. Of course, she also didn't want to bother anypony with her little questions. So instead of asking for help, she starts messing with the steam pipes and everything, and... well... she accidentally closed a valve that is supposed to remain open at all times. Well, that night, when we were all having dinner in the galley, there was a large bang from below deck. Apparently, every single boiler exploded.”

Luna smiled. “Every single one?”

“Well, I think every one. At the very least, enough so that the airship had to make a nice, hard landing in the middle of the desert. Damage was completely irreparable. To her credit, Lemon fessed up to the entire thing, though I think the only reason she did was because she knew that there wasn't anything anypony could do to her. I mean, I don't think anypony on that ship was dumb enough in anger to try and do anything to a princess! Fortunately, we were already nearly there anyway, but we still had to walk through the desert, deal with the meeting, and then walk all the way back. A trip that was supposed to take a week ended up taking three months because of a simple turn of a wheel.”

“Wow,” Luna whispered. “Crazy.”

“Yeah.” Celestia sighed, her smile faltering. “But those good times did not last forever. As the years went by, she started to move slower, take longer to learn things, and her magic grew weaker. We both saw and knew it, but we decided to just live out life to the best that we could together. She refused to have it any other way, for even then she still had many years. Yet, like all ponies, eventually... she...”

She felt a forehoof wrap around her shoulders. Shuddering at the touch, Celestia leaned into Luna and buried her face into her sister's chest. “I miss her so much Lulu. I can't... I can't go through that again. It... it killed a part of me. I... I just can't.”

“I see,” Luna replied, gently stroking a hoof through Celestia's mane. Celestia didn't let her tears fall this time. Instead, she simply shuddered in the comfort of her sister, relishing the contact that she desperately needed. “So, that's it?”

Celestia's heart fell. “What?”

Her sister continued to stroke her mane. “Your love life. You decided that forsaking romance in its entirety is the most optimal choice to live out your eons.”

“Yes! No! I don't know!” Pulling away from her sister, she looked straight into her eyes. “Luna, I... what should I do?”

“To be honest, I do not know for certain.” Luna rolled over to her hooves and stood—an action that drew a whimper from Celestia. Luna made her way over to the doorway, placing a hoof on the latch. “There are many questions and considerations to think about, but I cannot help you with them.”

Her sister opened the door, revealing Pinkie Pie.

“I believe you two need to discuss... many things. Oh, and please do not chastise her for listening in. I instructed her to do so.”

Those instructions provided, her sister let Pinkie stride into the room, removed herself, and closed the door. Celestia could barely bring herself to watch the pony at the door. Pinkie was shaking like a leaf barely attached to its tree. Whether that tremble was from depression, fear, or a mixture of both, Celestia was not certain. What she was certain of was that Pinkie was making her way toward the bed right this very second and Celestia herself was trembling in utter terror. Wordlessly, Pinkie's hooves let soft taps echo against the floor. She could hear Pinkie's speedy breaths alongside her own. Celestia wanted to look away, but some force greater than her own kept her eyes on the mare.

“Princess Celestia,” Pinkie whispered, pausing to gulp. “I... I'm sorry that I spied on you. I know that Princess Luna said for me to, but... I still feel wrong about it.”

“It is alright, Pinkie Pie,” she replied, her eyes frozen on Pinkie's face.

“Still, I shouldn't have been a mean spy pony.” The tapping from before continued, even with Pinkie not moving forward any more. It was only after a few seconds did Celestia realize that Pinkie was nearly dancing in place. It was not a happy dance. “I'm... I'm also super sorry for being a super jerk face.”

“No, Pinkie,” Celestia closed her eyes and shook her head. “You were not the one that was being unfair. I acted very harshly to you earlier. Too harshly.”

“It's okay, Princess.” Pinkie's tapping stopped. “I... I get pretty cray-cray when I get super super happy and I don't think at all before I act. I mean, I sometimes forget that you're so... um... so...”

She smirked. “Old?”

Pinkie gasped. “I would never call anypony old! Especially to their face!”

“Wise decision.” She shook her head once more and forced out a single giggle. After that, the room grew quiet—the sole exception being the constant tapping of Pinkie Pie's hoof. Celestia still kept her eyes closed, not willing to try and figure out what Pinkie might be thinking, for she was much too worried about the mare finding out what she herself was thinking. Even if this wasn't a chess-match or a political deal, the tension was just as strong and the stakes even higher.

“Anyway,” Pinkie suddenly said, breaking the stalemate between the two. “I know you... umm... still love Lemon Drop, and I don't wanna trample on top of that. Like I said before, I'm sorry. I'll... I'll make sure I'm gone before—”

“Pinkie.” Celestia finally opened her eyes, letting her gaze fall upon the backside of Pinkie—the mare turning around just recently to face the door. “I... wait.”

She stopped, turning her head around. This time, when the mare spoke, there was a distinct quiver in her voice. “Y... Yes?”

“I don't...” Celestia trailed off, butterflies in her stomach ramming in all directions, refusing to allow her any time to stop and think about the right words she needed to say. Taking a deep breath to try and steady both her stomach and her beating heart, she tried again. “I... you're right, Pinkie Pie. I still love Lemon Drop, more than anything. But I... I think I like you too... I think.”

Pinkie slowly turned all the way back around, facing Celestia fully. “You... you do?”

“I think so. I mean, I like you, but I still love Lemon. It's complicated, weird, I have no idea what I'm saying, and it's completely unfair to you.” Celestia sniffed, wiping her nose. “I am making no sense at all, I know, but what I—”

“Hey,” Pinkie whispered, closing the gap between the two. Like trying to touch a fire, the pony reached out carefully and, with the lightest touch, laid her hoof on Celestia's cheek. “I think I understand what you are trying to say. Maybe. Just let Pinkie know what you want.”

She leaned into the welcome hoof. “I think I want to... try this. Maybe.”

“You sure?”

Celestia placed a hoof on top of Pinkie's and nodded. “Yes. I am certain. But... I am going to need to take this slow. Really... really slow. Are you... okay with that?”

“I can do that.” Pinkie immediately said as she nodded. However, after a few seconds, she stopped nodding and looked away. “Well... actually... I'm really really not the slow type of pony, but I'm going to try my hardest!”

Celestia leaned into the pink hoof more. “That is all I can ask for, Pinkie.”

Nodding her head, Pinkie whispered, “So... what do we do now?”

“What now indeed,” she thought to herself. What would a normal couple do after getting together? Should they kiss each other? Should they cuddle together? Heck, were the two of them even a couple at all? She did say that they were taking it slow, so maybe a few of those assumptions on what a normal couple would do now were not true. Yet, saying that the two of them were together only brought up a whole new slew of questions. Like, how slow was too slow? With so many thoughts going through her mind, it was only the beautiful sight of Pinkie's face—the single candle flickering its dim light across her features—that kept her true.

Her brain failing her, she decided to throw out everything and just go with what she desperately wanted most. Grinning, Celestia lit her horn and picked Pinkie up off of the ground. Even though Pinkie waved her legs around in her struggle, Celestia was undeterred in bringing Pinkie around the room. Carefully, she placed Pinkie at the far side of the bed—the only area not entirely soaked from her—and stood over her. With Pinkie on her back under her, Celestia couldn't help but to let her grin grow even wider.

Blushing furiously as she lay on her back, Pinkie gulped. “Umm... what are you doing?”

Celestia smiled wider. “This.”

Her hoof connected to the pink and fuzzy belly, immediately sending a burst of laughter from Pinkie's lips. Celestia laughed herself as she moved her hooves up and down along the stomach, relishing the gleeful noise that was filling the room. Pinkie tried several times to swat away the attacks to allow some respite, but her feeble defense was to no avail. Rubbing her forehooves all along Pinkie's belly, Pinkie was shown no mercy to the horrific torture that Celestia was bringing upon it.

Tears in Pinkie's eyes, she swatted at the hooves again. “Stop! Stop!”

“No,” Celestia replied, her hooves never slowing down as she assaulted the mare.

Celestia heard Pinkie sigh as she snuggled up closer, a smile firmly planted on her face. Feeling the warm body at her side, she pulled her wing tighter, forcing Pinkie to cuddle as tightly as she could with her. The sounds of the mare snoozing at her side was barely audible over the recently reignited fireplace, but signaled Pinkie's slumber nonetheless. The light of the fireplace's flame danced along the two of them, both warming and comforting them in its warm blanket.

Looking at the pink pony that was snuggled up against her, Celestia couldn't help but feel a warm fluttery feeling in her chest. It had been forever since she felt this way toward a pony. Sure, she had those occasional, lust-filled moments of ogling a random stallion or a mare every so often that any adult pony would have, but this was something deeper—something special. It was the warm feeling that reminded her of long ago, right around the time that she first started to get to know Lemon Drop. She didn't know if it was the same exact feeling that she had back then, but she was sure that she liked the fuzzy mood that it put her mind in.

Still, to assume that she was ready to dive headfirst into a relationship would the be gravest error one could make. If anything, she was the pony least ready to devote herself to a romance in all of history. Celestia couldn't bear to turn away from her past and what she had done back then, but she also couldn't bear to think about what she would do if Pinkie were to up and leave, leaving her all alone again. She couldn't love two ponies... could she?

Looking down at the mare under her wing, she knew that she was at least right in her decision to be with Pinkie in the first place. Past that, everything else was a haze. Could going about this relationship in such a slow fashion, especially knowing Pinkie, work at all? What if Pinkie wanted something more from it faster? Could Celestia handle that? So many questions; not many answers.

Celestia looked up at the window in front of her, making herself certain of at least one thing. “I promise Lemon, no matter what, I shall not ever forget you.”

A single snore escaped Pinkie's nose, startling Celestia out of her thoughts and drawing her attention back down. Pinkie was sleeping with a tiny grin on her face—a grin the mare almost always wore. With every breath, the bubblegum mane bounced. Celestia could barely make out Pinkie's eyes darting under her eyelids, most assuredly having a magical journey in Luna's Dreamscape.

The sun princess smiled. “But... I think... I think you'd be happy for me.” Snuggling deeper with the mare by her side, she closed her eyes and smiled. “Happy for us.”

Chapter 6

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