White and Pink

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.