White and Pink

Chapters

Life Intrudes
Searching For Answers
Epilogue
And Thus They Awake
Notes

Life Intrudes

Twilight opened the door to Celestia’s bedroom with a sigh. She entered silently. Behind her two figures entered: the pink pony with straight mane that was now Celestia, wearing a yellow party dress that covered her cutie mark; and a small purple dragon, carrying a small stack of books.

With a sigh of relief Twilight sat down, scanning the place. She used her magic to take a brush from the barely standing dresser, shook out the glass shards, and started trying to straighten her frazzled mane.

“Twilight, you look terrible!” The voice was Celestia’s, but the intonation was indubitably Pinkie’s, in a strange counterpoint to Twilight’s current pink companion.

The pink pony sat besides Twilight, an apologetic look in her face, and started to talk with Pinkie’s voice and Celestia’s intonation. “Sorry, I was… distracted by my condition.”

“Distracted?” Twilight put the brush down and glared at Celestia. “You tried to fly off a ledge twice, tried to use your magic to open doors thrice, dropped more things than I could count, and addressed the other train passengers as ‘my little ponies.’ I thought you wanted to keep this whole thing a secret.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” warned Luna.

“Sorry,” Twilight said in a softer tone. She turned to the pink Celestia. “I should not be angry at you. It’s just that I’m still grumpy at having to leave my friends in the dark. I know we must keep this a secret, and that Applejack would never be able to deceive anypony, but...”

The sentence trailed off as Twilight finally took notice of the two alicorns; Pinkie, in Celestia’s body, was sitting smugly on Celestia’s bed, a wider smile in her face than Twilight ever saw in Celestia herself, while Princess Luna was using a brush and her magic to braid the multicolored tail.

“What are you doing?”

The white alicorn inhaled. “Celestia’s mane was too ‘me,’ so Luna said she would do something about it, but my mane poofs back every time, so she threw the brush at the wall — Ouch, you don’t need to tug! — and started braiding my mane, and now she is braiding my tail.”

“Was it that bad?” said Celestia. “We could have said I was having a bad mane day.”

Luna eyed the pink pony flatly. “Celestia, normal ponies have bad mane days. Twilight and Cadance have bad mane days. I had bad mane days. You never, in recorded pony history, had a bad mane day, and I asked your aide to make sure. And yes,” Luna giggled, “it was that bad. Remember that time you decided to dissipate a full size tornado by yourself? Even the mane untangling spell I created to fix that mess was not enough.”

Celestia looked from one alicorn to the other, her face unreadably blank, and after a few seconds said flatly, “Just finish it.” After a few further seconds of awkward silence (apart from a soft snickering from Pinkie) Celestia added, “Let us get to the problem at hoof. What do we need?”

“A cake!” Pinkie looked hopefully at the stunned face of the three other ponies; at the mention of food, both her stomach and Celestia’s grumbled.

“What?” Luna looked from the white alicorn to the pink pony, her eyebrow raised. “You woke up, I presume, in a bakery, and didn’t get breakfast?”

“A bakery run by the two ponies that best know Pinkie Pie in all of Equestria, and that also have spoken with me personally,” said Celestia. “They were already suspicious of me as it was.”

“You could still have eaten on the way here. As I remember, those newfangled trains do offer meals on the way.”

“That is how I got Twilight Sparkle rilled in the first place, and I don’t fault her. Have you tried to eat without using your magic, sister? In a moving vehicle nonetheless? I thought to avoid the indignity of fumbling for my food or being fed by another.” Celestia looked from Luna to Pinkie Pie, whose face went from pleading to terrified during the exchange and was now shrinking under Celestia’s gaze. “And you seem to have famished Pinkie Pie yourself.”

“Uh.” All eyes turned to the small, slightly trembling purple dragon standing between Celestia and Luna, one arm raised. “I still r-remember where the kitchen is. Cake for Pinkie and Celestia. Anypony else wants something to eat?”

Celestia and Luna looked away, rubbing their necks with the synchrony that only long term quarreling can teach.

“Very well.” Luna looked back at Spike, an embarrassed smile in her face. “I shall partake in the cake with my sister.”

“Bring some extra daffodil and daisy sandwiches, Spike,” said Twilight, eyes aglow. It was at times like this that Spike earned the right to call himself her number one assistant. “And some snacks for you. We might spend a long time researching.”

“Got it!” Humming to himself, Spike left through the door.

“Great princesses we are that we need a child to put some sense on our heads,” said Celestia with a chuckle. “Now, what is the situation?”

“A confidential note was sent to Princess Cadance through the usual channels, she should be ready to help if needed. Your aide removed nearly everything from your schedule, and Pinkie did enough of your paperwork that you should be able to concentrate on your problem without raising suspicion.” Luna noticed Celestia’s raised eyebrow and glanced at the larger, white alicorn, amusement in her eyes. “You will be pleasantly surprised, I guarantee. Pinkie Pie also made a convincing, if theatrical, performance of a sick and aphonic Celestia in front of Raven and her assistant. No other pony was told, but Raven stated you have one appointment today that ‘would take a changeling invasion to postpone,’ by her words.”

“Hey, I wasn’t aphonic, I was just pretending to have lost my voice,” said Pinkie. Twilight brought a hoof to her face and shook her head.

“While we wait for our fare let us finish the planning.” The other ponies nodded at Luna. “We should also investigate Princess Celestia and Pinkie Pie’s yesterday whereabouts. I already looked through the guard’s Alicorn Log for yesterday and came empty, though Celestia might have asked to keep her whereabouts secret.”

“Wait, Alicorn Log?” Twilight shook her head. “Nevermind, you can tell me later. What about asking the guards directly? If Celestia left the castle, somepony must have seen her.”

“That is what I plan to do as soon as we finish here. But, unless we want every newspaper in Canterlot speculating on why Princess Luna is spying on Princess Celestia, I need to find an excuse —”

“Better than the last one, I would hope,” said Celestia with a mischievous smile. “Frankly, sister, insinuating I was seeing a stallion.”

Luna smiled back at her sister. “That was never my intention, and besides you had your fun teasing the newsponies.” Luna turned to again face everypony else. ”I have also sent one of my agents to Ponyville to find out what happened yesterday with Pinkie Pie.”

“You mean a Royal Shadow?” Pinkie shook her head in confusion. “No, wait, I’m Ponyville’s Royal Shadow, and I’m still here.”

“Wait a minute,” said Twilight, looking incredulously at the other princesses. “Pinkie is a secret agent?”

“No, Twilight,” said Celestia. “The Royal Shadows are volunteer information gathering agents. And Pinkie is singularly fit for the role; who else would you ask about anypony from Ponyville, or anything that was happening there?”

“Yeah, silly,” said Pinkie, looking at Twilight. “The secret agents are the Double Shadows.”

Celestia stood silent; Luna asked in a stunned voice, “Where did you hear that name?”

“I think we should focus on the problem first.” Twilight looked at the other princesses. “But we will talk —”

There was a knock on the door. “The cake and sandwiches, your highness,” said a female voice.

The four ponies looked at each other, Pinkie hurriedly burrowing under the bed covers.

“I will take it,” said Luna, already walking towards the entrance.

Reaching with her magic she carefully opened the door. Raven was waiting just beyond the threshold, effortlessly levitating a cake, with the corresponding plates and silverware, and a large sandwich tray.

“Your dragon assistant was held up, so I brought the food you asked for. May I come in?”

“What —” Twilight felt a hoof over her shoulder. Looking back, she saw the pink pony assume Celestia’s unmistakable, commanding expression, the kind of glance that could stop a dragon cold on its tracks.

“This is about the Changeling Protocols, isn’t it, Raven? Is that why you mentioned changelings earlier?” said Celestia, walking to the door.

Raven took a half step back, her mouth agape and eyes wide at the approaching pink pony; a split second later she steadied herself and assumed a blank expression again, drawing a respectful glance from Twilight.

“If you know about it, then you know why I’m here and what will happen if I don’t give the all clear signal.” Raven turned to Twilight, a faint glimmer of kindness in her eyes. “Don’t worry, your dragon is safe and sound, assuming he is the Spike that lived here until recently.”

Twilight blinked a few times. “What is happening here?”

“She thinks we might be changelings,” said Luna in an unamused tone. “The sick act was less effective than we thought.”

Celestia sighed. “You might as well get inside. I assume you had a twice layered Mistweaver’s Mind Ward spell cast on you and are carrying a concealed alarm device, so even if we were changelings — which is not the case, I assure you — you would have nothing to fear.”

Raven looked between the ponies inside. Her eyes settling into a determined stare she entered the bedroom, depositing the cake and sandwiches atop the desk and turning to face the other ponies. “Now, where is Princess Celestia?”

Luna closed the door and turned to Celestia’s bed. “Pinkie Pie, you may come out.”

The bed cover shot upward revealing a white alicorn, her multicolored mane fully braided and the tail nearly done, smiling like a bubbly schoolfilly. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, but you already knew that. You see, I know we already met, but last time Princess Luna wanted me to pretend to be sick, so I decided to pretend I had lost my voice, which means the last meeting it didn’t count. Nice to meet you!”

Raven blinked. “And you expect me to believe she is Princess Celestia because?”

“You misunderstood,” said the pink pony, removing her dress and exposing the sun cutie mark on her hindquarters. “I expect you to believe she is Pinkie Pie and I’m Princess Celestia, and that we somehow switched bodies.”

“Sister, let me start.” Luna’s horn glowed; the light in the room dimmed, despite the glassless windows open to the morning sky, and a phantom moon with Luna’s cutie mark appeared in the center of the bedroom. After a few seconds the moon vanished into snowflakes, the light returning to normal. “The agreed upon signal. Do you now believe I am Princess Luna?”

“Of course, your highness,” said Raven while kneeling. She turned to the pink pony. “Princess Celestia, if you might.”

Luna shook her head. “It’s not possible, nor necessary. I vouch —”

“Wait, sister. It’s better to dispel this misunderstanding beyond doubt.” Celestia turned to Raven. “Will the passphrase suffice?”

Raven eyed the hornless pink face of Celestia. “Given the circumstances, and Princess Luna’s assent, yes.”

Celestia inhaled and set her face in a perfectly neutral expression; when she spoke her voice was utterly devoid of emotion. “Pretty pink pony princess prancing past prime pantries.” The room was immersed into a stunned silence, broken only by a low giggling in Celestia’s voice.

“I’m not sure I can believe your highness’ tale, but the passphrase is correct. Forgive me for my previous rudeness.” Raven walked to the door, her horn aglow. She levitated two notes out of her small saddlebag, crumpled and burned one, the other disappearing in a magical flash. “The changeling alarm is now over and Spike should be released. Now, how may I be of assistance?”

“Princess Luna mentioned you cleared my schedule, but that one of the appointments would require a changeling invasion to postpone. I hope that was just a codeword for the Changeling Protocols.”

“Unfortunately, no.” Frowning, Raven levitated three cake slices into plates. “Your appointment stands, and you know what he does when he feels slighted. He is already cross at the meeting having been moved due to your earlier ‘indisposition.’”

“He sounds like a grumpy mean-pants to me,” said Pinkie, taking a slice of cake with her hooves.

“You could say that,” said Celestia with a half-hearted chuckle, as she bent over the desk to reach the cake slice Raven slid towards her.

Luna took her plate, looking between it and Raven. “Can you ask the guards where my sister went last night without raising suspicion? I was going to do that myself, but having Celestia’s aide doing the inquiring would be less conspicuous.”

“Understood. Celestia brought a delicious batch of muffins last night and you want to find out where she got them from. I’ll have my assistants look at it.”

“Wait, that is not —” Luna noticed both Pinkie and Celestia sniggering softly. “Ha. Very funny. So she is more discreet than me,” she said, putting the empty plate aside and getting back to finishing the braid on Pinkie’s tail.

“Twilight! What … happened?” Spike, nearly out of breath, had opened the door with a clash and entered the room. He stood a few moments breathing hard before continuing. “The guards told me there was a problem and wouldn’t let me through!”

“Raven is helping us find out what happened. Which reminds me, we have a lot of research to do.” Twilight looked at Luna. “Did you find anything about what happened?”

“Not yet. But it’s not any spell I’m familiar with, and seems resistant to the usual counter-spells. Pinkie Pie only remembers leaving her home shortly after nightfall and then waking up here.”

“It’s the same with me; I left the castle and the next thing I remember is waking up in Ponyville.” Celestia’s brow furrowed. “I can’t even remember why I left the castle.”

“I haven’t found anything myself besides the fact magic was used.” Twilight looked at the door. “I might be able to discover more about the spell with the books and magical laboratories of the castle and the magic school, but I’ve never read about a spell with this effect. And even if a spell like this exists, it still doesn’t make sense. You see, Princess Celestia is the most powerful magic user in the kingdom, how could anypony overpower her with a spell like this?”

“What if the pony that cast the spell didn’t want this to happen?” Pinkie looked at the just finished braid on her tail and swished it. “Oh, it tickles!”

Twilight frowned her brow. “What do you mean?”

“Hey, Twilight.” Spike lifted a claw. “Wasn’t that book you had me get last week about that? Something about mixing magics and side-effects?”

“Of course!” Twilight looked from Celestia to Pinkie Pie. “If somepony cast a spell on Princess Celestia, and she used another spell to protect herself...”

Celestia nodded. “It makes sense, and might explain why the usual counter spells don’t work. Twilight, would you start researching that possibility?”

“Me? B-but I don’t know as much magic as Princess Luna, or yourself!”

“My sister is right,” said Luna, stepping besides Twilight. “I might have more experience, but you have an intuitive grasp of magic that surpasses that of even my sister and I. Besides,” she glanced at Celestia, “my sister doesn’t have a horn at the moment. I will lend what aid I can, though there are other tasks I must attend to before I join you in research.” She turned to Celestia. “Sister, will you take the meeting with your recalcitrant noble?”

“Yes,” said Celestia, drawing a gleeful smile from Pinkie and a look of utter terror from Twilight. “Don’t worry, Twilight. We will find a way. And Pinkie Pie having pretended to be aphonic —” Pinkie raised one eyebrow “— to have lost her voice was fortunate; it will be far easier to keep the illusion that Pinkie Pie is me if she doesn’t talk.”

Twilight nodded. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, anything else I should be aware before I leave?”

Celestia shook her head. “I will brief Raven on our current situation, and meet with you as soon as I’m sure Equestria will not degenerate into anarchy during my absence.” She turned to her sister. “Luna?”

“Nothing for now, Twilight Sparkle. Though I will make sure to relay any information my agent uncovers in Ponyville as soon as it arrives. The sooner we solve this issue, the better.”

“Thanks anyway. See ya later!” said a pink pegasus stallion with a golden mane, waving.

“Sorry for not being able to help. Perhaps you should talk to Lira, she talked to Pinkie yesterday.”

The pegasus stood in place for a few seconds watching the creamy colored mare as she left. Talking with Bon Bon had been no more useful than the dozen or so other ponies he had interviewed. Pinkie Pie apparently didn’t tell anypony where she was going, and only left after dark, when few ponies were outside.

He walked towards the fountain, absorbed in thought. Princess Luna had explicitly told him to only question Twilight Sparkle’s friends as a last resort, an idea he agreed with, though for different reasons. Luna wanted to give Twilight the chance to tell her friends what was happening, whatever it was, before they found out; the pegasus, on the other hoof, was concerned that the heroes that helped defeat Nightmare Moon, Discord, King Sombra, and Queen Chrysalis might be able to see through his masquerade.

But he was nearly without options; he had been able to confirm with the Cakes that Pinkie Pie was with them until moonrise, but he couldn’t find anything about what she did after that. And if he continued to question ponies he would be noticed, no matter which excuses he used. Now, which of them would —

“Look out!”

He looked towards the shout and saw the speeding, blurred, buzzing… something… too late to take to the air. Fear giving him strength, he jumped to the side, blasting his wings to increase his speed. Landing sideways too fast to stop, he tucked his wings and let the momentum carry him, in one fluid movement rolling sideways until he ended on his hooves.

“Wow, that was so cool! Is that kung-fu?”

The pegasus looked at the speaker, an orange pegasus filly atop a scooter. Isn’t she one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends? Well, it’s not as if I approached her in the first place.

“Hi, pleased to meet you. I’m Serenity.” He smiled. What was it he heard about that filly again? “I bet you have some wicked moves with that scooter, kiddo.”

“Thanks! Name’s Scootaloo. Want to see some of my tricks?”

“Not now, kid, sorry. I need to find where Pinkie Pie went last night.”

“Huh?” Scootaloo took half a step back. “Are you some kind of stalker?”

Serenity waved one hoof in front of him. “No no no no, I’m just trying to help her. Pinkie left one of her saddlebags somewhere last night, and before going to Canterlot today she asked me to bring it to her. I’m going to Canterlot myself later today, you see. But she forgot to tell me where she left her saddlebag.”

“Oh, well.” Scootaloo smiled shyly, rubbing behind her head. “I don’t know where she went. But I did see her taking a walk with Derpy last night.”

“Gray mailmare, right?” Serenity smiled when he saw the filly’s nod. Finally he had a lead. “Do you know where Derpy is?”

“I don’t know.” The filly’s eyes brightened. “But Fluttershy is waiting for some special feed she ordered today. I think it’s Derpy that delivers those.”

“Thanks! See ya later!” said the pink pegasus, already speeding in the direction the filly pointed.

Luna. The Princess of the Night and of Dreams, Championess and First Negotiator of Equestria, Huntress of Monsters, and holder of more titles than anypony except Celestia; a pony that commanded such powerful magic that there were international treaties restricting when and where she could engage battle.

Right now she had found her match: boredom. And, to make things worse, the livelihood of hundreds of ponies that live and work within the borders of the Griffin Empire depended on her not falling asleep.

It all seemed so simple at first. The immigration and citizenship treaty was nearly done, Celestia having called a number of favors, and used her presence in the negotiations, to get better terms for the ponies living in the Griffin Empire. Terms that a few powerful supporters of ambassador Gaufrid of the Griffin Empire wanted to wipe, but there was little the ambassador could do apart from finding an excuse to declare the negotiations invalid.

Then, Luna thought bitterly, enter a new princess in place of Celestia, unfamiliar with the treaty and nearly falling asleep from dealing with Celestia’s crisis when she should be sleeping. She barely had time to skim the rather complete dossier about the negotiation, which included everything from a recap of the previous meetings to a report on the fighting style whose mastery the ambassador was proud of.

Luna would usually be the equal to her sister in a negotiation, specially with the griffons, who clung to their old traditions, but the dual handicap of tiredness and lack of preparation was too great. The ambassador, sensing her weakness, quickly moved to press his advantage, and in fifteen minutes had Luna feeling the treaty slip from her wingtips.

That was when the game changed. The cabinet secretary, a stocky and short pony that could give Celestia a run for her bits in a negotiation table, came with a set of perfectly valid letters granting him the authority to conduct the negotiation in place of Celestia; Luna could smell the still wet ink of the approval stamps.

But the ambassador was not done. Equestria’s diplomats thought his original plans were to get the current treaty thrown out by forcing a grave breach of protocol. Such as, for example, having the presiding princess leave or fall asleep, which Luna assumed was his idea when he started to talk in a monotonic drone. She nearly gave a bitter laugh; the Princess of the Night and Dreams ruining a treaty by falling asleep would be comic if it weren’t tragic.

Luna caught herself slipping into sleep for what seemed like the hundredth time and looked at the clock; it had been barely half an hour. Luna cursed again under her breath for having cancelled so many of Celestia’s meetings for the day and not put some dummy meetings in their place; she had unwittingly given up on her best chance to force the meeting to end on time. If the ambassador knew about her mostly empty schedule — and she had to assume he knew — he could try to extend the meeting to a few hours.

And even if Luna avoided falling asleep, she couldn’t spare those hours; she had to find a cure for her sister and Pinkie Pie.

She started to close her eyes again, managing to turn it into just a leisurely blink, when she remembered something about ancient Griffon customs; it would be a gamble, but it was worth the risk. Luna’s eyes gleamed as she waited for one of the ambassador’s constant and long pauses.

“Excuse me, Mister Ambassador. This negotiation seems to be dragging over trifles. I propose settling the remaining issues over a trial by might, Aquiline rules. I will be championing for Equestria, of course.”

The ambassador looked at Luna with wide eyes. Not as wide as the secretary’s, but he still reminded her of a manticore that just saw an incoming blast. “I can’t possibly accept. The magical power your Highness carries is legendary, as is your strength.”

Luna smiled. “The Aquiline rules, as your Excellency certainly knows, are to first blood, and thus negate the strength difference. They also dictate that no magic shall be used, a rule that we can enforce by a magical horn ring that I shall wear, and that shall be given to you at the end of the duel.”

The ambassador looked conflicted; deciding to not leave him time to think, Luna looked around the room, at the ambassador’s honor guard. “Your excellency can choose any of your guard as your champion, if you would rather trust another’s skill. Or perhaps, if you think an alicorn fighting a griffon is unfair even when the alicorn can’t use her strength and is honor bound to not use her magic, we can go back to how we were negotiating earlier; I’m feeling refreshed already in any case. It would be a shame, though; the last time I saw a Griffon fighting was over a thousand years ago, and I crave for another chance to see such an impressive display.”

The ambassador looked back, the fires of pride, greed, and anger sharing his eyes. Now, Luna thought, let us see if I have bitten more than I can chew.

Celestia, Pinkie, and Raven were walking down the corridor, the expression of unbound glee in the white alicorn contrasted with the poorly concealed grumpy expression the pink pony wore.

“In other words, she only needed a brief explanation of protocol while I had to go through an hour of basic protocol lessons. All of this because Princess Celestia is known for flaunting such a disregard for protocol that ponies expect her to not even know protocol. Clearly I have some image issues, which my aide never thought to mention before,” said the exasperated pink pony, who was dressed in a black business suit.

“It’s not like that, your —” A stern glance from Celestia made Raven clear her throat. “— Pinkie. Princess Celestia is known for not following protocol, true, which thankfully means she didn’t need to be briefed. On the other hoof you do know the protocol, but the protocol for a princess, not for assistants. And while Princess Celestia doesn’t care about others following protocol in her presence, the noble we are meeting surely does; if we are going to go through this meeting without putting your pink head at risk then Pinkie Pie, special advisor to the aphonic princess, needs to have a perfect grasp of protocol.”

Celestia sighed. “And I’m still not comfortable with you dressed like that.” She stole another glance at Raven, dressed like a maid.

“Neither am I, but it’s needed. We can’t have the princess using her hooves for mundane tasks in the presence of that unicorn noble, so while she can’t use her own magic, she needs a maid. Until we are ready to reveal what is happening to a real maid, I will be doing that role.” Raven stopped in front of a large, gilded double door. “We are here.”

Celestia nodded and looked towards Pinkie, who managed to look almost regal in a pink gown and with her mane and tail braided; even her posture was better than expected. “Now remember, Princess Celestia is currently unable to speak. You may eat and drink — slowly, please — anything offered, but let Raven serve you. After each question you must take time to consider the answer and pretend to whisper to me; I will do the actual talking. You must also nod in agreement if he ever asks if you really said something to me; if he is to be angry at somepony, that somepony should be Celestia, not Pinkie Pie. Nod if you understand.”

Pinkie nodded once, making a zipping gesture over her mouth. Raven nodded at the other two ponies, her pale pink magic opening the doors and revealing the richly furnished (though uncomfortable, thought Celestia) Golden Hall[5].

Inside the room, with his golden mane impeccably coiffed, paced a pearly white unicorn stallion, a frown dominating his face. He looked at the alicorn in the middle of the group, a sour smile in his lips, blatantly ignoring the other two ponies. “Ah, aunt Celestia. What is the reason for this unseemingly hold up?”

Concerned by the lack of motion in her companion Celestia looked up at Pinkie; the white alicorn seemed frozen, staring unblinkingly at Prince Blueblood. Celestia cleared her throat, hoping that Pinkie would stick to the plan. “Your highness —”

Blueblood finally noticed the pink earth pony, and shot a menacing glare towards Celestia. “You! Weren’t you with that nasty white unicorn during the Grand Galloping Gala?”

Celestia cursed internally, having forgotten all about the last meeting between Prince Blueblood and Pinkie Pie. Her mind raced to find a minimally acceptable explanation, perhaps something involving a long lost twin, when the voice coming from Pinkie’s current body froze her in her tracks.

“Hey, she was not nasty! She was just angry that you were a meany-pants and used her as a shield!”

Blueblood’s jaw hung open; Celestia wasn’t sure a white pony’s face was supposed to ever become that purple. Finally, after what felt like the longest seconds in her life, Celestia heard Blueblood speak in a low tone, almost growling: “Who are you, and what have you done with my aunt?”

She attempted to facehoof, nearly falling over when Raven hurriedly pushed her and Pinkie Pie inside the room and slammed the door.

Luna was trotting down the hallway, humming to herself. She could kiss whoever did the report on ambassador Gaufrid and found out that he always starts a duel by feinting a lunge to the right; he might even have been a worthy opponent for the First Negotiator of Equestria[6] in a fair fight, but in a duel to first blood, having your opponent know your first move was as good as forfeiting. To make things better, the action, brief as it was, had driven away all sleepiness from her.

That was already a victory worth commemorating, but it got even better when the secretary offered to deal with or postpone anything else on Celestia’s schedule. Luna wasn’t sure how much he had found out, but not only it was not worth worrying about, this would allow herself, as well as Celestia, Pinkie Pie, and Raven, to fully dedicate to finding how Celestia and Pinkie Pie switched bodies and reversing it. Perhaps a small gift showing her gratitude would be in order; Luna had heard from Celestia that the secretary loved tea —

Luna’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door slamming. Not merely a common door, either, she thought as the reverberations went on; this one had gravitas.

She turned her head, ears swiveling. Trying to find the source of a sound inside a castle was always tricky business, but nopony alive, except for Celestia, had more practice in that than Luna. And besides, few doors in the castle could sound like that.

Luna finally decided on a particular corridor, the one she had fervently wished wasn’t the source of the sound. The one that went through the fanciest, and most boring, rooms in the castle.

Oh well. The guards and servants knew better than to slam a door for anything less pressing than a suit of armor traveling at ballistic speeds or an angry owlbear charging[7]. With Celestia’s schedule mostly empty, the kind of pompous fool that would even consider slamming a door inside what was, effectively, the princesses’ home was thankfully absent; on the downside, this meant that the slamming door was likely related to Celestia, and the corridor from which the sound came made Luna certain of that.

Walking down the new corridor, Luna stopped in front of the Golden Hall. If the sound really came from this corridor, those would be the doors; looking at the enormous, golden monstrosity[8], Luna could almost feel ongoing vibrations. Perhaps leaving Celestia and Pinkie Pie to deal with whichever noble had the audacity to insist on an audience with the princess had been a bad idea.

She approached the door, straining her ears, but it was from her horn that she sensed something; a silence spell just inside the doors, far less elegant that her own spells but still effective. Luna considered just barging in, but remembered Raven’s warning; this was a noble that, by Celestia’s orders, was never to be scheduled a meeting with Luna, and Celestia would never give such an order lightly.

Cursing her own lack of foresight for not inquiring about the noble, Luna scanned the corridor around her; a neighboring, unoccupied dining room, looked promising. One with large, alicorn-sized windows that could be completely opened, if she remembered correctly. Going through it at a gallop, Luna opened a window and flew through it in one single motion; free of the confines of the palace, she turned towards the windows of the Golden Hall. From outside she could see just who…

She folded her wings, letting herself drop two stores before flying away. Celestia was on her own this time.

Searching For Answers

Twilight was concentrating intently on a single passage of Proper Shield and Counterspell Use. It was the closest thing to a book about fumbled counterspells she could find, and even then it was mostly useless for her research; it was all about which defense spells were best used against each kind of magical attack, with precious little information about what happened if the wrong spell was used.

Teeth gnashing, Twilight levitated the book. It closed in a small thunderclap, spinning in place, ready to be thrown into the closest wall… and was then placed atop the ever-increasing pile she dubbed “the useless books.” Old Lemony Ink would already have a fit when she came to organize the combinatorial magic wing, and Twilight didn’t want to add creased covers to the old librarian’s list of grievances[9].

Holding the edges of the desk, Twilight breathed deeply and slowly until she was sure her voice wouldn’t come as a growl. “Spike, did you find that book on factorial magical formulas?”

“Coming, Twilight.” The soft clicking of clawed feet running on the hard floor abruptly ceased. “Uh, Twilight?”

“What is it, Spike?” Twilight let go of the desk and turned, coming muzzle to muzzle with Princess Luna. “Gah!”

“How goes your research, Twilight Sparkle?” Luna looked around; there were various book piles on the ground, and in the shelves around Twilight there were obvious and large vacancies. Atop the desk was a stack of paper, already the size of a slim book, drawings and annotations visible on the top one.

“Well,” Twilight pointed at one of the smaller book piles, “I didn’t find any spell that could do that alone; I mean, I found three rituals that could separate mind and body, and perhaps one of them could be modified to switch two ponies’ minds, but none of them could be performed in a single night, much less on an alicorn.”

“That was not the full extent of your research, I see,” said Luna, glancing across the other piles of books.

Twilight pointed at a second, larger pile. “I searched for a combination of spells that could have affected them but didn’t find one either, the result would be too weak to work on an alicorn. But Pinkie and Spike’s suggestion has merit; if one of the spells was cast by the victim, the side effect could bypass even Celestia’s magical defenses. I’ve already found about a dozen combinations that might cause a mind switch...”

Luna waited a few seconds before raising one eyebrow and adding, “But…”

Twilight dropped her head. “But unless I can isolate the specific spell combination I can’t reverse the effects. Attempting to reverse the wrong spells would be far too dangerous. At least the side-effects should dissipate in a few days, perhaps a week, so even if we don’t find a cure...”

“About that,” said Luna, looking directly at Twilight’s eyes, “Pinkie Pie acted more like Celestia than herself a few times. Do you think the side-effects might be wearing off?”

“She did? That might be bad.” Twilight lowered her head pensively, hoof in her chin. “The mind switch is supposed to end instantly; if Pinkie is acting like Celestia, their personalities might be getting mixed. It should be temporary, but the more time before we undo their switch, the longer they will need to revert to normal.”

Twilight lifted her head, her eyes glittering with hope. “Do you know where Celestia is? Now that I know what to look for, If I can scan her for any residual magic perhaps I can narrow down the possibilities.”

Luna shook her head. “She is not available, unfortunately; her meeting just started and I have no inkling of how long it will last. And this time I can not help her. She neglected to mention that the noble she was meeting is Prince Blueblood, and we are not on speaking terms right now.” Luna took a hoof to her chin. “Perhaps, if you can tell me what to scan for and entertain Prince Blueblood for a while, I can —”

“Not gonna work,” said Twilight flatly.

Luna raised one eyebrow. “Did something happen between you two?

Twilight gave Luna an exasperated look. “You have no idea how hard it was to bear his… Agh, even remembering it makes me want to scream! He wouldn’t stop about how unworthy of being a princess I was just because I was born a commoner! And then he would go again and again about how my friends were uncultured vandals because of something that happened long ago!“

“If that is so,” said Luna, “I won’t insist. If you don’t think bearing with him worthwhile —”

“It’s not just that. He will not receive me.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Do go on.”

Twilight avoided Luna’s gaze. “Well, I might have used the Mouth Zip spell after he insulted my friends one time too much. If I as much as put a hoof inside the same room as him, I’m afraid he will go on a tirade about my terrible commoner behavior that will last a few hours.”

“Ha! I wish I could have seen his face!” Luna cleared her throat. “I’m expecting my agent in Ponyville to report soon; with some luck we might find where this mess started. While we wait, do you still require my assistance with the research? It seems like the best use of our time.”

“Thank you, I can use some help. I still need to catalogue all spell combinations, accidental or not, that could affect the mind.” Twilight pointed to the haphazardly stacked pile of papers on the desk. “Those are my research notes, if you want to follow what I’ve already researched; just leave me the top sheet. If you need to ask anything, or have any suggestions, just tell me. Those” — she pointed to a pile of books about the height of Celestia herself, where right now Spike was adding another book with the help of a ladder — “are the books I still have to go through.”

Luna looked at the indicated pile of books, at the larger piles of books Twilight already went through, and let out a low whistle before turning towards the desk.

“Uh, Princess Luna?”

Luna stopped and turned towards the newcomer, a lime-colored pegasus. Luna threw a disarming smile in her direction.

“Green Haze, wasn’t it? Do you require something?” Luna said, raising one eyebrow.

“I, uh, asked everypony on duty last night, but couldn’t find where Celestia got her muffins yesterday. Sorry.”

Luna furrowed her brow for a few seconds, and then her face brightened. “Right. Muffins. Did you find some hint, at least?”

“Well, a maid and one of the pegasus guards saw her going southeast; the guard thinks she went to Ponyville. But,” Green Haze frowned, “ nopony saw her returning.”

Luna nodded. “Thank you, you have done a greater favor than you can imagine. You may —”

“Wait!” Twilight had lifted her head from the book she was reading and was looking directly at the pegasus. “It’s raven who asked you to find about it, right? Are you her assistant? Do you know when Princess Celestia’s meeting with Prince Blueblood will end?”

Green Haze looked from one princess to another. “Uh, no. Not as such. But when I was coming here I heard a butler comment that no tea was asked. Princess Celestia —”

Luna finished for her. “Always asks for tea if a meeting is longer than a few measly minutes. You are proving yourself a great help today, though I must ask you to leave; I have something to private to discuss with Princess Twilight.”

Green Haze kneeled. “Of course, your highness.”

When the pegasus was out of the library, Luna turned to Twilight. “What do you think, Twilight Sparkle, is it worth waiting for my sister a small while?”

“Well,” said Twilight, “it would certainly save us work, and likely even save some time. But if Blueblood sees us, he could cause a ruckus.”

“I have a way to avoid that. Come, Twilight, let us see my sister.”

Serenity had looked around for Derpy for a while. How hard could it be to find the only gray mailmare in town?

Harder than I assumed, Serenity answered herself. After fruitlessly searching for more than an hour, he decided to just wait under a tree, close to Fluttershy’s cottage; if all else failed, he could just ask Fluttershy. Her animal friends might have seen something that escaped other ponies.

He didn’t have to wait long; soon after he settled down, Serenity heard a humming coming from above. The gray mailmare was swaying to the tune, pulling a small red cart with the drawing of a letter on the side, oblivious to how the packages in her swaying cart were precariously rocking around. She landed in front of Fluttershy’s door with a smile, and knocked to the rhythm of her humming.

Serenity backed a while, turning to hide behind the tree before Fluttershy could answer the door.

And saw himself muzzle to muzzle with a bear.

He had heard about how the animals around Ponyville loved and protected Fluttershy, of course; he had also heard that none of her animal friends would ever harm a pony. But, seeing an animal so larger than him curl its lips, revealing its fangs, Serenity wasn’t keen on testing whether the bear would see him as just another pony.

Taking a few tentative, slow steps backward, Serenity kept eye contact while attempting a soothing chant of “Nice bear, nice bear.” Perhaps he could dodge the first attack and…

“Mister Bear, where are your manners! What did I tell you about scaring other ponies?”

The bear looked to its side, towards Fluttershy’s cottage; it looked almost ponylike, dropping to four legs in a hunched posture, its ears flopping and its head lowering as Fluttershy’s scolding reached it. That was all the opening Serenity needed; he jumped back and took to the skies.

Remembering why he was here, he looked back at the cottage; the gray mailmare was nowhere to be seen. Groaning, Serenity was trying to decide whether to start a search or to wait for the mailmare at her home when he noticed the red cart against the blue sky. He smiled, dashing after the mailmare, the sound of Fluttershy berating her bear fading behind him.

“Hey, Derpy! Wait!”

Derpy stopped, hovering in place, looking back with her head tilted. In a few seconds Serenity was at her side.

“Hi, I’m Serenity. Pinkie Pie asked me to search something for her, something she lost last night, but she forgot to tell me where she lost it. Do you know where she went last night?”

“Sure! It was…”

Derpy started flying in circles, a look of confusion in her face.

“It was the Everfree Forest. But I don’t know where… Ah!” She flew straight for a tall tree.

“Did you find it, Derpy?”

“No. But I remembered that a bit after she entered the forest I saw Celestia flying in front of a big tree; I think it was this one.”

“Was it close to here? Do you remember where the moon was?” Serenity flew up again, scanning the ground around the tree for any kind of track.

“The moon was over the tree. It was very beautiful, how it illuminated Celestia’s mane.”

Serenity looked at the sun and mentally plotted a line from east to west, passing over the tree. East of the tree would be inside the forest, so he went west and… there, a trail.

“Derpy, come here. Was it around here that you saw Celestia?”

Derpy flew over to him and looked at the tree. Her face opened in a smile. “Yes! How did you know?”

“Luck, I guess. Thank you very much, Derpy! You really helped me!”

“You’re welcome!”

Serenity started scanning the ground while the smiling mare vanished in the distance. Soon he found what he was looking for: marks of a pony passing. Remembering the mailmare’s contagious happiness he started humming a song and, still following the trail, was soon walking among the trees.

Celestia lowered her head on the desk and put her hooves over her ears.

“You were told to keep silent. Just that. Do you realize how grave a tragedy you almost caused?”

“I already said I’m sorry! And he was insulting Rarity and looking funny at Celestia!”

Her two companions seemed oblivious to her distress, too intent on their own bickering. Though the two mares were whispering, In the cozy studio Celestia favored for her desk work — the small one, with a large fireplace and dark wood panelling over the walls — even whispers easily carried over, hammering her desk[10]. She spat a pencil and lifted her head.

“Would you two stop already? I don’t blame either of you.”

Two pairs of eyes turned to her, and the room went deathly still.

Sighing, Celestia turned back to the her work, or her attempt at work. Luna had been right; Pinkie Pie’s plans for the Spring Celebration were impressive, with only a few changes needed. She is one of the best party planners in Equestria after all, Celestia reminded herself.

But doing the changes were proving harder than she thought; not only she hadn’t been able to fully concentrate, on the sheet in front of her the pencilled lines were losing the fight against her slobber. Writing with the mouth, after centuries without practice, was far harder than she expected.

“Hey, whatcha doin’?”

Celestia looked up at what was, for all effects, her own face with an impossibly large grin, in a body that was nearly hopping in place in barely contained excitement.

It was funny how the same pony first made Prince Blueblood froth at the mouth, to then recruit him into blocking any requests to see Celestia and Luna until the switch could be reversed; all it took was some insinuating from Pinkie, with that same absurdly wide grin, that she had forgiven Prince Blueblood and would work hard at becoming his friend if she became stuck with Celestia’s body, and thus, in a certain way, became family to him.

And the hugs; those helped too.

Even more amusingly, Celestia suspected it wasn’t an act at all. Knowing Pinkie, she would try to befriend King Sombra if she thought it was possible. She shuddered, thinking of how it would feel to hug Sombra...

“Celestia? Are you listening?” Pinkie’s pronunciation, with Celestia’s own voice, brought Celestia back to the real world, to a childish expression of confusion in the white face that looked at her almost muzzle to muzzle, complete with a tilted head. Celestia gave up any pretense of seriousness and giggled.

“Sure. I was just thinking.” Celestia pointed at two lines of the seating arrangement, where the two griffon dignitaries were listed. “You did great, but did you know that the Northern Griffin States and the Griffin Empire are not at peace? They are just in a truce, and their current representatives dislike each other.”

“That is —” Pinkie stopped hopping in place and put a hoof to her chin; by her tone, celestia suspected her mane would have deflated a little if it wasn't braided. “That is not good. Not at all. I could have caused a fight.”

Celestia giggled. "Don't worry, I can fix it in a jiff. I find working on those details quite entertaining, actually. Do you want to watch?”

All the concern left Pinkie’s eyes in a moment. “Yay!”

“You know, this enthusiasm does suit you.” Raven took a couple steps closer. “But —”

Celestia sighed. “I know. My sister’s theory. But you worry too much, I’m not becoming Pinkie Pie.” Celestia looked at the enthusiastic white face by her desk. “So, Pinkie, let me show you how to plan the seating. Just look at it as finding who is a friend, and who is —”

Celestia started to shudder, her currently straight pink tail going curly for a few moments. “W-wha-at is h-happe-ening?”

“P-pinkie s-s-sense,” answered the also shuddering Pinkie Pie. “Oh, it’s over. Something will happen in the Everfree Forest.” She turned back to the seating arrangements. “So, who are the friends here?”

Celestia blinked. “Aren’t you concerned? This… pinkie sense of you, Twilight made it sound like it was important when she described it to me.”

“Nah, not really. This one doesn’t feel like —” Pinkie’s eyes started to glow. “Oh, cool! I’m in the middle of a forest, I think it’s the Everfree! My pinkie sense never did this before!”

“It looks like my alarm spell… Pinkie, quick! Tell me what you are seeing.”

“Okie dokie Loki!” Pinkie closed her eyes. “It’s funny, things get clearer when I close my eyes. I spy… there’s just a bunch of trees. Wait, there is something gray in the middle, like a stone outhouse. And a… pink pegasus looking funny at it? Hey, it’s Serenity, but there’s something strange with him!” Pinkie suddenly opened her eyes. “It stopped!”

Raven looked from earth pony to alicorn. “What just happened?”

“It’s not something meant for other ponies…” Celestia looked from Pinkie to Raven, and thought about Luna; if she had told Luna where she was going, and what she was doing, last night, they might have been able to undo the switch already, perhaps even in time to avoid butchering her schedule. “But it will be better to have more ponies in the know. Across the millennia I have recovered, and hidden, artifacts and dark magic that could cause harm to Equestria, hiding them in safe places protected by magical traps and alarm spells. What Pinkie saw might be one such place, though if it’s really in Everfree, it’s one that I don’t remember.”

Celestia turned to Raven. “Let us go tell Luna and Twilight what happened.”

“Tell what, sister?”

Luna, Twilight, and Spike were at the door, a scroll floating in Luna’s magic.

“According to Pinkie, there is something happening in the Everfree Forest. It might be related to a series of safes I created to hide dangerous magic.” Celestia looked at the scroll floating by Luna. “But we can talk about it later. Did you find something?”

Twilight and Luna exchanged a glance, and Twilight spoke, “Princess, do those vaults have magical protections? Can you remember what they are?”

“Let me see.” Celestia touched a hoof to her chin. “Nothing dangerous. Defense spells around the object to collapse the chamber before anypony can get to it, something to scare ponies away outside the vault, and in the middle, some kind of teleport spell to get the intruder away to safety, and…” her eyes went wide.

“A forgetfulness spell mayhaps, sister?”

Celestia nodded back at Luna. “It explains why we can’t remember anything. So, did you find what happened? How to reverse?”

“From the scan we did earlier, we now know both of you were hit by a forgetfulness spell,” said Luna.

Twilight floated a few sheets out of her saddlebags. “According to Candlelight’s theorem, while magically relocating multiple ponies simultaneously is perfectly safe, even when they are the subjects or initiators of extraneous magical effects, doing this same procedure while the ponies are subject to spells that affect their mental faculties has a slight chance of their psyche being placed in the wrong vessel.”

While Celestia nodded, Spike looked at the utterly confused Pinkie Pie and Raven and answered their unstated question: “She’s saying that teleporting two ponies while casting mind spells is a bad idea.”

Celestia looked hopefully at Twilight. “And can you reverse what happened?”

“Well, not yet.” Twilight shuffled a few of the sheets of paper in front of her. “I think I know which teleport spell was used, but I couldn’t isolate the forgetfulness spell. You wouldn’t happen to remember which spell you used on those vaults of yours, would you?”

“No. I couldn’t even remember that a vault existed in Everfree. But I can tell you that I used different spells on different vaults.”

“Then we will have to analyze it in loco,” said Twilight, looking at Luna.

“Do you know where this vault is? Pinkie’s sense was apparently vague,” said Celestia.

Luna unrolled the scroll she had brought. “My agent found it and sent back a map. Twilight still has some research to do before she can revert the spell, but now that she only needs a few books, we don’t need to be in the library to complete it.”

Raven stepped forward. “Perhaps I should stay here with Spike. In case anything happens you should be able to send a letter to Spike, which I can forward to Cadance if needed.”

Celestia nodded. “Seems sensible.” She turned to Luna and Twilight. “But how will we reach the vault in the first place? I can’t currently fly, and I don’t think Pinkie Pie can either.”

Luna looked at Celestia, a mischievous glimmer in her eye. “I have solved that already. But you will owe me a chariot ride, sister.”

“Is this the structure you saw, Pinkie Pie?” Celestia was cautiously pacing around the small, square and gray structure. It was one of her vaults, of that she was now certain; how it’s similarity to a stone outhouse, only with downstairs inside, escaped her until today was still nagging her.

“Yep. I’m sure.”

Celestia looked towards Twilight and Luna, both of them walking around the structure since they landed, horns aglow; and then back to her sister’s chariot, and the stack of books by it. She wasn’t even sure how Twilight managed to fit so many books inside the chariot, though she was afraid that Twilight would give her a lecture about data compression if she asked.

She was still marveling at the number of books when she heard a muffled explosion, and the sound of thousands of wings; a large column of bats started to emerge from the vault, engulfing Luna and Twilight, only to vanish in a blast of blue light.

The two princesses soon came back smiling, Twilight speaking for the pair.

“We found out the spell you used. Or spells, rather. The spell used to turn ponies away is one of Luna’s devising, the Ghost Bats. Just beyond there are two linked magical traps that require a passphrase to disarm, but I could determine which forgetfulness spell was used; it’s the Fretful Forgetfulness spell, Solar variant.”

“And can you reverse it?” Celestia’s relief was almost palpable.

“From the possible combinations, it is the one we hoped for, apart from the fact there are two teleport spells mixed rather than just one; your own and the far more powerful one from the vault. We think you attempted to teleport yourself and Pinkie to safety when the vault defenses hit you,,” said Luna. “Though this forgetfulness spell is quite strong; the effects on your memory should be permanent. Does any separate record of the passphrase or the contents of the vault exist? Even knowing the spells used does not allow us to bypass them, and If this vault is as important as it sounds, determining if its contents were perturbed is important.”

“No I don’t have,” said Celestia in a slightly irritated voice. ”But shouldn’t we first attempt to undo the switch to then worry about the vault?

“The cure is very simple, actually, I won’t even have to use the other books I brought,” continued Twilight. “We just need to teleport you two at the same time while casting any spell of the Lunar school, to counter the lingering influence of the Solar forgetfulness spell; the right combination of body and mind is always linked, so if both are teleported simultaneously while the magic keeping them switched is subdued, there is a large chance the side effects will cease on their own.”

“So,” said Celestia, “What are you waiting for?”

Epilogue

Inside Celestia’s studio, Raven looked from the window, where the sunrise could be seen, to the plans for the Spring Festival she had fixed the seating arrangement for. “Impressive. This is even more detailed than Celestia’s own plans.”

“I know, right?” The small purple dragon seated on the desk smiled at her, pride in her friend clearly showing. “That’s Pinkie for you; she can really plan a party.”

“I can, can’t I?” A smiling pink pony, her mane completely puffed, walked through the door.

“Pinkie!” Spike ran towards her. He prepared to jump on her neck, but stopped short. “It’s you, isn’t it? I’m not trying to tackle Celestia, am I?”

“Indeed that is Pinkie Pie.” Celestia stood at the door, her usual smiling, her mane and tail waving to an intangible wind. “Though right now I would like a small, private party to celebrate the end of our ordeal. I believe my schedule is still empty, right, Raven?”

Raven looked back skeptically. “It is indeed empty, your highness. But —”

“You still worry that something of Pinkie remained in me. Rest assured, I’m in control, and in any case Twilight assured me any side-effects would be temporary.” Celestia turned to Luna. “What do you say, Sister, care to join us?”

“Not this time,” said Luna, suppressing a yawn. “I have been awake for over a full day already. Good night.”

Luna stretched languidly, bathed in the red light of the sunset that entered by her large bedroom windows, after sleeping through the day.

It was deserved, she decided. Yesterday she wasn’t able to sleep at all, chasing hints of how to bring Celestia back the whole day, and then went directly into her night duties.

She chuckled, imagining if it was possible for her to even fall asleep while dreamwalking. At least, if it happened, she could claim that it was just a dream, that it was not the real Luna.

Well rested, Luna decided to spend the time until she had to raise the moon at the observation deck. Just some calm, quiet…

And, as she arrived there, a gray pegasus pulling a small red cart. Seeing the princess the pegasus smiled widely, announcing, “Delivery!”

It was unusual, but not completely unheard of. Luna smiled back, asking sweetly, “Which one is my package?”

“This. And this. And that. And…” The gray pegasus shrugged. “ I think all of them.”

“What?”

Tossing one large envelope towards Luna, the pegasus said, “Twilight asked me to deliver hers first. She said you would understand.”

Luna caught the envelope in her magic, opening it and its contents in one fluid movement. “This is a copy of the Daily Jingle. What — Wait, ‘Luna in love with Muffins?’ What is the meaning of this?”

Reading the article Luna groaned. It was written by one Blotted Letters, the same reporter that once turned a silly joke Luna made about Celestia needing a special somepony into an article about Celestia having a secret lover.

Luna sighed. It was obvious the excuse about finding where some muffins were purchased would leak; Luna just never imagined it would be reported as a full search by half of the castle staff. Which meant…

She lighted her horn and lifted the parcels from the pegasus’ cart, examining them. As she feared, every one was a bunch of muffins, sent by express delivery; seemed like half the bakers from Manehattan to Las Pegasus wanted the chance to impress a princess with her newly revealed “favorite food” and, perhaps, earn a royal commendation. She groaned…

And noticed the pegasus looking lovingly at the muffins. Smiling, Luna asked, “Do you like muffins?”

The pegasus’ face lit like a winter heart. “Oh, yeah, very much.”

“Can you keep a secret?” asked Luna with a wink.

On the bottom of the vault, a shadowy form stirred, forgotten.

And Thus They Awake

Pinkie Pie buried her head on the pillow. Why was it so bright here? In the white, soft depths her forehead furrowed; had her room ever been this bright?. There was something wrong, she could feel it; besides the lump she could feel pressing against her forehead, of course, though that was wrong too. First thing in the morning, fluff the pillow.

She tried to figure out what the other thing troubling her was, but she was too tired to think. I will find it out when I wake, no problem...

“I’m late!” Pinkie rolled out of the bed —

And fell to the floor with a gasp, her bed sheets tangling around her body; the bed ended a good half roll before it should. Massaging her rump, she looked around; slowly her eyes grew to the size of saucers, her jaw hanging slack, as she scanned the unfamiliar room from behind the bed.

The room was about the same size as her workshop and bedroom, but that was it; everything else was different, and Pinkie was certain that whoever decorated this room loved sunny vistas. The ceiling made her think of a perfect summer day, azure with a large yellow, wavy, sun drawn in the middle; the walls were taken by large, clear windows, with large and varied bookcases, ranging from ancient to modern, filling almost all of the remaining space, with so little of the wall itself visible that Pinkie had to search for a while to find that, yes, the walls were white; the floor around the bed was covered by a thick green carpet, from where Pinkie half expected Gummy to burst out at any time chasing a turkey.

Then there was the rest of the furniture, most of it in a dark wood that looked like… She looked at the bed frame; it looked like cherry wood. But if it was really cherry it was so dark, so old, that even Granny Pie would have called it ancient. And the polish, thought Pinkie, making faces at her distorted reflection from the round bed pole and laughing at how it made her look like a different mare; Every single piece was polished to a mirror finish, from the bed with yellow and blue sheets Pinkie fell from to the ornate dresser, from the utilitarian nightstand to the large desk almost buried under book piles and stacks of paper. It was like standing in the middle of a yard sale of slightly used ancient furniture.

Pinkie took a hoof to her chin. This couldn’t be anywhere in Ponyville; Pinkie knew everypony in town, including where they lived, and this room, with all those windows, couldn’t fit in any of their houses. Well, perhaps it could fit in Filthy Rich’s villa, but Pinkie was sure he would have something in a bits motif, and there was nothing of the kind here; instead, this room’s decoration screamed of...

“Celestia!” The door flew open, a dark blue alicorn entering. “Why didn’t you raise the sun? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Celestia?” Pinkie looked around, kneeled to look under the bed, and, dragging the bed sheet still tangled on her torso, trotted to the wardrobe, which she nonchalantly inspected. “Nope, not here. Are you playing hide and seek? Can I play too? I’m really good at it!”

“What manner of game are you playing, sister?” said Luna, narrowing her eyes. “And what did you do to your mane?”

“We are playing hide and seek, silly. We are looking for Celestia. And what do you mean, my mane? It’s the same way as —”

Pinkie stopped, looking at the familiarly puffed mane. A mane in bands of blue, green, and pink, that she was propping up with a white hoof.

By reflex she turned to the nightstand, stopping stunned when she didn’t find what she was looking for. Mirror, mirror... She looked around the room and desperately set off towards the dresser, and the mirror atop it; the face that stared back at her was white, sleek, and she finally discovered what the bump against her forehead was.

Pinkie inhaled deeply…

Luna was looking incredulously at Celestia as the Princess of the Sun, Sol Invictus, Dawnbringer, Defender of the Realm, and more titles than she cared to remember, known across all of Equestria and beyond for her collected calm in the face of disaster, glanced at her own mane and started running across the bedroom like a noble fleeing a tax collector.

She almost didn’t notice Celestia’s pupils shrinking until her eyes were nearly white, though, or even the flaring nostrils. From the moment Celestia flared her wings in shock and dislodged the bed covers, Luna’s eyes were glued at a single spot on Celestia’s hindquarters. The place where her cutie mark was.

Three balloons; two blue, the middle one yellow.

Her reverie was broken by that most dreadful of sounds, a fully grown alicorn inhaling deeply to scream[1]. The prospect of an Alicorn-power scream kicked Luna’s combat training into action, all the decades of it, more than most ponies have to live.

An instinct Luna had to fiercely fight down; all her training told her to shield herself, which, while a wonderful idea on a battlefield, would be disastrous inside the castle. The sheer intensity of what the royal sisters now called a Canterlot Tantrum[3], released in a confined space, would turn her sister’s bedroom into a mess that would make Discord’s Chaos Capital of Equestria look tame in comparison, and put at risk every member of the castle staff that were in, at the very least, the same wing of the castle.

Besides, Luna’s own bedroom was just behind the wall Celestia was facing, in the path of the presaged scream.

She considered a silence spell, dismissing the idea in less than a moment; it would take too long. So, in a desperate bid to save both her room and her hearing, Luna went for the next best thing: diving into Celestia’s bed and pressing the pillow over her own ears, while throwing a magical shield around Celestia (or would it be Pinkie Pie?).

The scream seemed to go on forever. Luna lay there, pillow firmly held in place, until the ringing in her ears got low enough to make sure that, yes, the scream had ended, and no, she wasn’t deaf. Removing the pillow she was pleased to see that her magical shield had held, which was always a good sign, even if it had barely held, judging by the cracks.

Luna glanced around the room; no visible structural damage, which hopefully meant that the roof wouldn’t collapse on top of them anytime soon, though the ceiling mural was cracked across the middle, and piles of glass shards stood in place of the windows and the mirror; large shards for the windows, and very tiny shards for the mirror, which Luna had, in her hurry, left inside her shield.

Luna’s eyes softened with concern as her gaze passed over the white alicorn, still looking at the now empty frame of the mirror; many of the shards from the mirror found a home within the mane of the white alicorn, but, apart from that, she seemed unharmed.

And, just as important, the wall shared with her room was intact, despite the sonic blast having knocked nearly every book down. Luna released her breath and closed the door with her magic.

“Did I really do this?” said the white alicorn with a soft, timid voice, moving her head slowly but erratically, scanning the broken windows.

Physically unharmed, at least, thought Luna, watching the puffed mane deflate slightly. Now that the crisis is past, what in Equestria —

“Your highness? Is anything wrong?”

Luna recognized the voice as Celestia’s aide. Good. If Celestia trusted her, she should be discreet. Perhaps I can explain —

Loud clanking cane from outside; armored ponies running to the door, and not few. That was bad, really bad; Luna wasn’t sure yet what was happening, but no matter what was wrong with Celestia, even the speculation that Equestria’s perfect ruler had anything more serious than a cold would spread panic like wildfire. And the palace guards were known as much for their gossip about the princesses[4] as for their skill.

So, they would see Celestia with a cold.

Luna glanced towards the balloon shaped cutie mark. First task, hide it. Luna lifted the still immobile white alicorn with her magic, and…

The tinkling of glass shards falling from her mane stopped Luna; in the morning light the puffed up, multi-hued mane, with all the bits of glass, looked like one of those obnoxious gaudy party wigs, spreading reflections across the whole room. Luna had to remove all that glass before laying her ward in Celestia’s bed, at least if she wanted to avoid glass cuts, but taking the shards out one by one would take long enough. By the noise outside the guards were already edgy; any longer delay and they might decide to break down the door before that — or send a pegasus to enter by the (now nonexistent) windows.

Now how was that multiteleport spell again…

“Your highness?” This time the voice came with frantic knocking and soft clinking.

“Yes! I mean…” Luna, her eyes firm — though she suspected she let a bit of desperation show — looked at the alicorn suspended in her magic; the alicorn’s eyes, previously moving wildly in all directions, assumed a calm but mischievous appearance as she nodded, opening and closing her mough and pointing to her throat.

Luna, a grateful look in her face, nodded back and turned to the door. “Celestia is indisposed. She had a nightmare and lost her voice after that last scream.”

“May I come in? Princess Celestia has a full schedule today. We need to discuss any needed changes as soon as possible.”

“Just a moment.” Luna concentrated, tiny pinpricks of magic appearing across the impossibly puffed mane and tail, with a few more on the alicorn’s coat. In a moment a small shower of glass shards materialized a few hooves above the dresser, falling with a soft tinkling sound. Gently shaking her ward’s mane, and satisfied that no more glass fell from it, Luna tucked her into the bed.

As an afterthought she concentrated again, encompassing the unruly mane and tail with her princess-strength mane untangling spell, and gave a smile at the result.

“Do come in,” said Luna, opening the door.

Outside the door was a small group of guards, most uncomfortably moving their ears; from their middle a young, bespectacled white unicorn, her dark brown mane and tail set in the same bun shape Luna often saw in grandmothers, entered, a large stack of scrolls trailing in her pink magic aura.

Luna closed the door and looked at the unicorn. The newcomer, despite her apparent youth, had an air of antiqueness; perhaps something of Celestia had brushed on her. Behind her dark glasses her eyes were alert, scanning the room as if she was already taking inventory of everything damaged or destroyed. Her cutie mark, a pen and an ink pot, proclaimed to the world that she wasn’t stranger to the written word.

She looked around, respectfully kneeled towards Luna, and went to the bed, concern in her eyes.

“Your highness…”

The white alicorn lying in the bed pulled the covers over her muzzle; moist eyes looking back at the unicorn, she started coughing and sneezing loudly, shaking the whole bed in her fit.

“Raven, isn’t it?” Luna paced to the unicorn’s side, doing her best to present a concerned smile, which was not hard given the circumstances. “My sister is not feeling like herself; she had a nightmare and, after that shout you indubitably heard, can not speak. She might not be able to attend her duties today. Would it be possible to clear her schedule?”

Raven looked from one alicorn to the other, finally settling her eyes on Luna. “Not without grave consequences, I’m afraid. The ambassador of the Griffin Empire would call it a personal affront; the cabinet secretary believes he is attempting to set back the negotiations about citizenship and immigration to the starting point, and any cancellation or delay might give the embassador the excuse he needs.”

Raven shifted her glance to the white alicorn. “There’s also a meeting with a noble that would take a changeling invasion to postpone, and Princess Celestia has left standing orders to never shift this specific noble into your own schedule, Princess Luna. Besides that, there is the usual assortment —”

Luna sighed. “Very well. Prioritize the meetings and bring me a list, with the briefings for the ones that must absolutely be dealt today by a princess; I will take those, but only in the afternoon. I need to take care of my sister first. That unbending noble will also have to wait until the afternoon to know if the meeting will still happen; we will give our answer then, according to how my sister’s health progresses.”

On the bed, the white alicorn nodded slowly.

Raven looked more closely at the alicorn in bed, her eyes going soft. “Shall I call a physician?”

“NO!” Luna, taken aback by the surprised look in Raven’s face, lowered her voice. “I mean, nay. My sister’s ailment is magical in nature. I will be personally summoning —” The white alicorn’s mane suddenly puffed up, drawing Luna and Raven’s gaze. “— the most qualified pony to deal with it as soon as we are done here. And say, do you know how Celestia deals with bad mane days? My own spells seem ineffective.” Luna finished with what she hoped was a disarming smile.

“Understood. There is nothing else that requires your highnesses immediate attention; I will make the proper arrangements and bring the documents and information you require. Now if you excuse me.” With a bow to each alicorn Raven left the bedroom, taking the unopened scrolls with her.

Luna gently closed the door after the aide, adding a silence spell around the room for good measure, and looked kindly to her ward.

“Am I in trouble?” came the voice from the bed. Luna could hear some apprehension in the voice, though not as much as she expected, given what she could guess of the circumstances.

“Not from me, if you answer truthfully.” Luna unknotted her brow and smiled, already anticipating the answer to her next question; that pony could be turned into a goldfish and she would still be unmistakable. “Are you Pinkie Pie?” The white alicorn nodded once, slowly. “Do you remember what happened?”

Pinkie nodded again and got out of the bed. “I woke up, and there was some bump on my forehead, then you came in —”

Luna lifted a hoof. “So you woke up like that.” Pinkie nodded, her mane becoming puffier by the second. “Do you remember what happened before? Or why you look like Celestia?”

Pinkie lifted a hoof, eyes gleaming. A moment later she closed her mouth and furrowed her brow, scratching her head with her hoof. “I don’t remember. The last thing I remember is that the sun was setting and I was helping close Sugarcube Corner for the day.” Her eyes suddenly went wide. “Oh, Wait. If I’m Celestia, is Celestia me? Shouldn’t we go help her? If she is super confused like me she could use some help!”

“It’s Celestia we are talking about. She can take —”

Memories of what happened just after one fateful Summer Sun celebration, when Luna first met Pinkie Pie and her friends, came back to her. Her favorite cup laying broken, coffee spilled everywhere, when her magic faltered; being stuck up a tree after ferocious wing cramps she hadn’t had in centuries; stumbling every time she went through some stairs because her very height felt wrong. Though she hated to admit it, she wouldn’t trust herself to get from her bed to the gazebo when she was as weak as when the nightmare was ripped from her, much less to get from Ponyville to Canterlot.

And Celestia had several centuries more getting used to being a tall, seemingly omnipotent alicorn, with powerful magic and capable wings. If Celestia switched places with Pinkie…

Luna shuddered and quickly conjured paper and ink. “Dear Twilight Sparkle, it is of utmost importance…”

Celestia was flying over Canterlot, enjoying the sunrise she had just conjured. Giddy with childish delight, she selected a sunbathed overhang in the cliffs above the city, where she could bask while enjoying the view.

From her vantage point she glimpsed as far as Ponyville, the land between spreading below her in a mosaic of greens, blues, and browns. The sound of Canterlot’s streets reached her as only the softest murmurs; Celestia closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, smiling as she imagined the ponies, her happy subjects, waking up for a new day and looking in awe at her dawn, a quite fine one if she might say so…

“Chocolate cake?” she said, her nose twitching at the pleasant, but unexpected, smell.

Celestia looked around, eyebrows knitted together. She should be too high for the city smells to reach her, at least until later in the morning when the thermals started going up the mountain. Moving to the edge of the overhang she jumped towards the city, majestic as an eagle taking off.

Though the wind on her wingfeathers felt dreamingly, Celestia blocked all her senses apart from her sense of smell, trying to follow the delicious aroma back to its source. It was of no use; the scent seemed to come from everywhere at once. And now the smell of cake wasn’t the only one anymore; Celestia could identify blueberry muffins, cookies, strawberry cupcakes… when she briefly closed her eyes, she could imagine that she was inside a bakery, and a particularly well stocked one, if not for her wings beating rhythmically. She could almost picture it, a bakery she had visited in the past...

She opened her eyes, slowly at first and then with a start, missing a wingbeat as she registered the changed scenario. It was still Canterlot, with all its landmarks visible, but this canterlot seemed to come from the dream of a crazed baker; streets paved with toasts, streetlights and even towers made of stacked donuts with colorful glazings, shingles made of cookies, walls of cake, colorful details made with icing.

A stray thought entered Celestia’s head as she glided down; either Discord decided to let his power loose on Canterlot, or…

Her thoughts were interrupted when, as she approached the ground, a pair of voices became clear. She looked around, searching for the interlopers, but try as she might she couldn’t find the speakers. Or anypony else, for what matters.

“We were worried when she was late. She always wakes up early, so full of energy! But when we came here to call her, her mane was like that, and when that happens she is never well.”

“I can help, but I need to talk to her alone. Can you give us a few minutes?”

Celestia recognized that last voice. Unless Discord was finally learning the difference between chaos and creativity, this was a dream, and a shallow one where the real world could intrude. Time to use that little trick Luna taught her; Celestia closed her eyes inside the dream and, with an effort of will, forced her true eyes open, in time to see a blue mare answer the previous question.

“Of course, Princess.” She glanced one last time towards Celestia; their eyes met for a few seconds, and Celestia could see the concern draining from the blue mare’s face before she turned around and descended the stairs with a sigh of relief.

Stairs with a red and white railing that looked like twisted candy. It was familiar, but Celestia couldn’t quite place it. A few candy stores in Canterlot had a similar motif, but...

Twilight Sparkle stepped in front of Celestia, a scroll floating in her magic; she kept looking at the stairs for a few seconds after the other pony disappeared, then looked at Celestia, one eyebrow raised inquisitively. “Princess Celestia?”

“What —” Celestia got up, or at least tried; the bed cover, unexpectedly, didn’t respond to her magic and tangled her hind legs, throwing her out of balance. She attempted to use her wings to correct her stance, to no avail, tumbling to the floor like an upside down sack of potatoes. She let escape an undignified yelp as she landed, blushing slightly when she imagined how ridiculous she must look right now.

“Princess! Are you alright?”

Celestia slowly picked herself off the floor, laboring to disentangle her hind legs from the bed covers until Twilight’s magic floated them away. Meanwhile Spike made his presence known by burping another scroll.

“I’m fine, Twilight. Though there seems to be something wrong with my horn.” Celestia gave a small hop. “And wings.” She looked back at her flank, pink and devoid of wings, and her face froze, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“Well, You don’t exactly have a horn or wings right now.”

Unfreezing, Celestia looked around; she noticed a small round mirror atop the nightstand, hurriedly stepping in front of it. She was greeted by a frowning pink face, with a straight and darker pink mane; definitely an earth pony. She looked back to Twilight and spoke, urgency in her voice.

“You know something about what happened. Talk.”

Twilight unrolled the scroll she was carrying in front of Celestia. In the writing of her sister, flourished even when hurried, was the request to go find Pinkie, who should be treated as Celestia, taking Spike together and waiting for further messages. The second scroll, which Twilight read together with Celestia, told the tale of how Pinkie Pie awoke with her, Celestia’s, body, nearly destroying Celestia’s bedroom with a Royal Canterlot Voice-powered panic scream, only contained by one of Luna’s shield spells.

Celestia sniffed. The smell of cakes wasn’t merely a dream, and a place finally came to her mind.

“I presume I’m at Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville.”

Twilight silently nodded.

Celestia looked around, noticing the stairs up to the inner balcony and a door leading outside.

“Let us go to Canterlot,” she said, already galloping up the stairs.

She was already going through the door, and galloping towards the outside railing, when she heard Spike say, “Isn’t that the outside balcony? How will she get down?”

What is he talking about? I need to go up, not down, thought Celestia as she jumped the railing, opening her…

Oh, horse apples. No wings.

She was ready to scream when a purple aura arrested her fall. Her moment kept her spinning, and soon Twilight came into view, her forehooves clinging to the railing and panting as if her heart was going to jump out of her mouth.

Luna walked down the hall, nodding back to the curtsies, while ignoring the surprised faces of the ponies she met. Was it so strange to see her about in the early morning, that everypony else seemed to be rendered speechless?

Well, perhaps that was so, decided Luna. The last time she had been up and alert at this time, apart from an Equestria-wide emergency, was before… what were ponies calling it nowadays? The “Great Celestia/Luna Rift?”

Things were progressing, at least. Twilight Sparkle had sent a note back; she was bringing Celestia, who was stuck inside Pinkie Pie’s body, to Canterlot, despite some early incidents she declined to elaborate upon. Luna’s meeting with her hoofpicked agent had also gone well; if fortune smiled upon them, she would know exactly what happened with Pinkie Pie last night, and hopefully also with Celestia, before the day was over.

Now, thought Luna, I just have to find the time to do all the meetings that couldn’t be postponed, devise a way for Pinkie Pie to fool whichever noble insists on seeing Celestia unless the sky is falling, invent an excuse for why Celestia is not doing any of her usual paperwork, and, of course, figure out a way to undo whatever befell on Pinkie Pie and my sister.

She sighed, passing through the last few rooms before Celestia’s bedroom and ignoring the guards scurrying about. Perhaps she should make the sky fall upon that impertinent noble in a very literal sense — no, that would just make things worse. Besides, she had to find a way to make Pinkie-as-Celestia as inconspicuous as possible before the first of the rescheduled meetings, a task she suspected —

Luna stopped, her ears swivelling, and glared at a door to her left. It was the door to Celestia’s private study.

Raucous laughter was escaping it in bursts. It didn’t sound like Celestia’s voice, but still…

Luna opened the door slowly, and was rewarded with, besides a faceful of streamers and confetti, one of the most ridiculous scenes she had seen since her return: Celestia — Pinkie Pie, Luna hastily added in a mental note — in the middle of the room, her mane and tail still fuzzy like a clown’s, dressed in a jacket that imitated a Zebra’s coat, and black…

Luna blinked. Pants! When did Celestia even got pants? At least they covered Pinkie’s switched cutie mark.

The room itself looked almost normal, if one ignored the streamers and confetti spread across the floor. Besides the usual utilitarian desk and cabinet Luna could see a portable black board, with scribbling she couldn’t make sense of, and a sampling of party decorations and supplies strewn around the floor and over the desk.

Luna cleared her throat loudly. “What in Tartarus is happening here?”

Finally noticing the intrusion Pinkie Pie turned to Luna, her eyes alternating between panicked and pleading as she gesticulated. One hoof kept making gestures towards her own throat, the other pointed at a corner of the room. Luna glanced at where the stretched hoof was pointing, ignoring the alicorn losing balance and falling forward; she saw an apprehensive lime pegasus mare there, collecting a stack of scrolls and envelopes.

Luna glared at Pinkie; she had just to stay in her room and keep out of trouble. That wasn’t too much to ask, certainly. Luna suppressed a growl as she turned to the pegasus. “What happened here?”

“I…” The already trembling pegasus seemed to shrivel under Luna’s scrutiny. Luna wondered if she had gone too far…

And then Pinkie was besides the lime pegasus, a white wing touching her reassuringly, a smile directed at her. The pegasus stopped trembling at once, swallowed, and nodded at Pinkie.

Luna was rendered speechless. This was not how Pinkie was supposed to behave; she had read all of Twilight’s friendship reports, at the insistence of her sister, and couldn’t remember a single time a scene like this was described.

But Luna had seen a scene like this many times. She knew a pony that, with but a gesture and a smile, could reassure others, give them confidence.

Her sister, Celestia.

“Your highness?”

The lime pegasus was looking expectantly at Luna, now with but a hint of fear in her blue-eyed gaze; even her green mane seemed less wild, though that could be pegged to how much she was trembling before. Luna reminded herself that the pegasus was not at fault and allowed a smile to show. “Continue.”

The pegasus glanced furtively at the white alicorn that was currently Pinkie, who gave a little nod back.

“I came to deliver the reports your highness asked for,” the pegasus said, taking two envelopes from the pile she had been assembling. “Raven also asked to bring Princess Celestia’s paperwork; she said it might help her pass the time. Princess Celestia told me she wasn’t allowed to use her magic until she got better —”

“Told you?” asked Luna, turning to Pinkie; the white alicorn raised a small blackboard on a stick with a single “Yep!” written. Despite the gravity of the situation, the sheer absurdity wrestled a genuine smile from Luna’s face. Turning back to the pegasus, Luna said, “Continue.”

“Well, Princess Celestia picked up the planning of the Spring Festival and asked me to help with the writing. We came to her study and started working on it.”

Luna turned to Pinkie. “The rest of the planning will have to wait. I have urgent matters to discuss with my sister.”

“Uh…” the pegasus raised a hoof. “We already finished the planning. Or Princess Celestia did, I just wrote for her. I’ve never seen something like it, it was as if the princess had the whole party planned in her head even before we started.”

Luna blinked, jaw agape. She left Pinkie alone for less than an hour. Celestia usually needed half a day to finish the plans for a festival as large as this; there was no way plans rushed to such a degree would stand to scrutiny. “Let me see what you have got.”

The pegasus passed a small stack of paper, the sheets covered in a neat, blocky writing. She wondered if she should try to soften the blow when she told Pinkie how she wasted the time…

But those plans weren’t bad. In fact they might impress Celestia herself. There were a few flaws her discerning eyes could notice, such as how the floral arrangements spelled “go home” in the Zebra flower language and the foreign dignitaries seating arrangement would probably spark a border conflict or two, but Celestia could fix those issues in a few minutes when she arrived.

And, Luna realized, Pinkie had just given her the excuse she needed to have Celestia refrain from doing any more paperwork for the rest of the day.

“This is looking good, but it still needs work. Celestia and I will finish it afterwards. Now, about those other reports…”

Luna put the festival plans aside and took the two presented envelopes with her magic, examining them. The first one had Celestia’s schedule and meeting notes, as she had asked; the other had…

“A report on Celestia’s hair styling through the ages?”

“Uh,” the pegasus looked uncertain, “I didn’t understand it either, but Raven told me to bring that to you, your highness.”

Luna glanced at Pinkie, and her unruly mane. Oh, right. Bad mane day. Looking back at the pegasus, she asked, “What is your name, pray tell?”

“Green Haze, your highness. I’m Raven’s junior assistant.”

“Please tidy up this room before you leave.” And now, thought Luna, time for some damage control. She put out her best smile. “And after you finish you may go knowing that you pleased both your princesses. But I must ask something else of you; Celestia’s condition is to remain a secret for the time being. Can we trust you with this secret?”

Luna could see the glimmer in Green Haze’s eyes becoming stronger as the praise and trust were laid on her. She hated manipulating others like this, but it was needed.

“You can count on me, your highness!”

Luna left the room, Pinkie in tow, leaving Green Haze in a flurry of activity as she collected all the wayward party supplies. As the alicorns were entering Celestia’s bedroom, Luna turned to Pinkie. “Where did you even find streamers?”

The white face formed an enigmatic, but silent, smile. Truly there was something of Celestia in Pinkie, and it was making Luna uneasy.

Notes

[1] A sound that, thankfully, was previously unheard of in recorded history[2]. Unfortunately, this meant that the castle staff failed to recognizing the deeply penetrating inhaling sound, resulting in a record breaking number of miscommunication issues and medical leaves among the morning staff.

[2] Though it did happen in unrecorded history; the historians of the time thought, perhaps rightly so, that nopony would believe the First Dessert Battle of Everfree — where the armies of the realm fled from two bickering mares until the chief cook took control of the situation — ever happened anyway.

[3] So named after an awry spell left a foal-sized Alicorn in its wake. Twilight is still not allowed to practice age reversion spells in either the Crystal Castle or the Canterlot Castle.

[4] As Luna discovered first hoof; Luna never expected her little joke to become a Daily Jingle’s first page “exclusive” about Celestia’s secret lover. Not that Celestia ever believed it.

[5] Better known as the Hall of Insufferable Fools among the princesses and their most trusted advisors.

[6] A title Luna earned back when “negotiation” was a more polite term for “duel”.

[7] Twilight is also not allowed to cast alicorn-strength magnetism spells in the castle. But the owlbear was not her fault.

[8] One of five doors in the palace chosen for the sound they made, and the only one of those where the intent was to maximize the sound. Pompous fools do love a good door slam, and sometimes pleasing pompous fools is a good political move.

[9] Joining items such as running down the aisles, hiding inside the library to use it past its closing time, and making book fortresses.

[10] Very useful when one wants to inconspicuously hear what her guests are whispering about; not so much when one wants to avoid annoying whispers.