A Blinding Flood of Light
Luna blinked forward and heaved herself up onto the dock roof, surveying the guards below with malevolent intent. Oh, how many wonderful ways she could sneak past… .
As she sat in front of her keyboard in the dark study, the monitor casting her shadow on the wall, Luna couldn't help but smile. She would have to write a letter for the inventor of this most wondrous device — no, a single letter would not do. She could send a thousand letters and it would still barely hold a candle to her gratitude. She needed something better. Perhaps she would send one of the Night Guard, if this genius creator was a mare.
In any case, she pressed on, dropping onto an awning and blinking again over to the bridge's roof. Several metal watchtowers swiveled their spotlights toward her, closer, closer still… and past her. She sighed, and smiled, teleporting to a second roof off to her right.
She scrambled over the metal frame and leaned against the crenelations, holding her breath as she waited for the watchtower to finish its whining rotation and look away from her again.
A knock came at the door. "Luna? Luna, are you still alive in there?"
Luna scowled. "We are."
Celestia stayed mercifully silent for a moment, and she took her opportunity. She scrambled over the low wall and blinked across the courtyard into a bush.
It was only when she arrived that she noticed the guard patrolling the path.
He murmured a short, "uh?" That was all it took to send Luna into a frenzy. She slammed a hotkey and clicked, praying that she could eliminate him before he noticed her.
Her crossbow whirled up on screen, a huge tank mounted on the end of its bolt. She slid her mouse and sent it aiming up at his chest just as he started to realize what he was looking at, and clicked.
The bolt flew straight for its target, exploding in his chest and sending him flying down the stairs. She picked up the corpse in a shoulder carry, keyed for her teleport and shot down to the bottom of the steps, leaving the body in a dark corner under a tower of scaffolding.
Celestia coughed. "Can I come in?"
Luna's eye twitched, and she continued raking at the controls. "You may enter, dearest Celestia."
She scrambled up the scaffolding and onto a wall overlooking the fort's courtyard, waited for a guard to pass, and crept up the stairs to a higher level. Meanwhile, Celestia pushed open the door and stepped into the room, her multicolored ethereal mane streaming behind her, as always.
She glanced at the screen and sighed. "Luna, do you know what time it is?"
Luna squinted. She was sure there was a way into the keep from here… oh, and there it was. A convenient vent opening on a ledge. She smiled, and blinked out onto the ledge, hugging the marble wall as tightly as possible as she crept toward it. "It is around, oh…" she thought about it for a moment. She'd started around one. "Three in the morning, We believe?"
Celestia shook her head, and whipped open the curtains. A blinding flood of light filled the study, and Luna had to shield her eyes. She crawled into the vent as best she could, given the circumstances, and half-whimpered from the pain at the sudden brightness.
Her sister did not sound amused. "It's ten in the morning, Luna."
Luna flinched away from the light, and attempted to hide under her desk. It would be a tight fit, but maybe if she sucked in her gut… .
Celestia tromped over to the desk, and a moment later, the fan's whirring halted, as did the hard drive's whine. Luna prayed that her sister had not done what she thought she had just done, and peeked out from under the desk.
She clenched her teeth and lunged at her sister. "Celestia, no! You cannot! You will damage Our hard drive! We were only going to play one more level!" She sniffed, and glanced up at the blank monitor. "And… We were so close to finishing." She pouted. "Sister, please?"
Celestia's tone and expression stayed firm. "Luna, no. It's far past your bedtime, and you've already told me that you were going to play just one more level a dozen times this morning."
Luna offered the most pitiful expression she could muster, filling her eyes with sorrow, dropping her ears, even extending her lip another few inches, but her sister's heart was of stone. "I said no." Her expression softened slightly. "Luna, please. Don't make this harder than it has to be. I am your sister. You know I only want the best for you."
Luna scowled, and stalked out of the room. Celestia watched her leave, and waited until her footsteps faded away. She glanced around the room to make sure nopony was watching, then shut the door. She plugged the desktop back in, gave the power button a slight nudge, lowered herself into the seat, and waited. Luna's starry wallpaper filled the screen a minute later, and it's dozen of icons an instant after that.
Celestia grinned and shook her head. "Tsk, tsk. Little sister, you really should have a password on this thing… ."
She slid her cursor up onto a promising icon, one of a strange glyph on a gloomy background, doubleclicked, and chuckled. Holding court could wait. She had real business to attend to.
Like beating her sister's ghost run, for example.
Celestia sipped her tea and stared at her sister across the table. Neither had said anything since they arrived around ten minutes earlier. A breeze rippled through their ethereal manes on its way down into Canterlot, and she shivered. The aroma of burning logs drifted up from the houses below. Luna shifted on her seat, and glanced around the terrace.
Celestia coughed into her hoof. "Well, was there anything you wanted to talk about, Luna?"
Luna winced, and turned back to her sister. "Not in particular."
Celestia set her cup down on the table and stared into the tea. Their meetings always seemed to end up like this since her sister's return. Perhaps she should have brought a book for her, as a peace offering. She coughed into her hoof again. "How has the night court been going?"
"Dead, as always." She sighed, and set her head on the table. A moment later, she blinked. "Oh, but that reminds me. One of our retired guards, Skyward Dream, passed away last night. He never married, and his family is deceased. I thought I would let you know before the Captain did, so that you may prepare."
Another job to do: planning and attending a funeral. She sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. He was a good pony." She twitched. "Err... thank you, Luna."
She waved a hoof. "Do not mention it."
They were silent for another three minutes. An odd odor reached her, and she wrinkled her nose. "Do you smell something burning?"
Luna cocked her head, sniffed, then shook her head. "I do not, sister."
Again, the awkward silence rolled over them. Celestia glanced around for something to talk about, and her gaze landed on the library behind Luna. "So, have you had time for any reading lately?"
That was always a popular subject. Luna's eyes lit up. "Oh, of course. There is this most marvelous tome, by an H.P. Hoofcraft, I believe. Delightful work of literature. You should read it, if you have the time."
Celestia's gaze had wandered. "Oh, I'll... think about it."
Luna continued on in the background. Celestia wasn't listening too closely. After several minutes, she remembered where she was and began to listen again. "There is one truly magnificent scenes involving a creature that exists outside equine thought. I found it properly terrifying." She blushed. "I believe I may have upset the librarian with my fun, however."
Celestia coughed, though this time not out of awkwardness. "Luna, are you sure you don't smell anything?"
She sniffed the air again, and screwed her face up in revulsion. "Ah. Now I smell it. It smells like burning... ." Luna's eyes widened.
Celestia coughed a second time. "Burning what, Luna?"
Luna tried to look unconcerned. "No, I am sorry. I have simply been reading too much horror for my own good, sister."
Celestia glanced around the platform, but she couldn't see anything obvious. Luna said, "Sister? Is something the matter?"
Celestia wandered over to the edge of the platform, and looked down at the city skyline. She didn't have to search for long to find the towering cloud of putrid black smoke that was the source of the odor. She traced it down to the source, an open flame, and... was that Discord standing next to it?
He wore a pair of sunglasses, and held a marshmallow on a stick in one claw, which he held over the open flame. He waved to her with the other claw.
"Hellooo, Tia! I took care of the funeral arrangements for youuu!"
