Celestia stared at the literature on the table in front of her.
“Well, this isn’t so bad, I mean, how much can one pony write about Royal etiquette?” Her, optimism fell flat as she turned to book over to see the text: Vol. 1 of 15 on the spine.
She let out a defeated sigh as she turned to the first page and started her study, after all, Starswirl was always telling her that it was her “duty” to her kingdom to learn this and no doubt he would be testing her on it when he next taught her. She was still young, and having this, on top of her usual homework was a lot to expect from a young mare such as herself, royalty or not.
The castle she was taking residence in was still under construction, built especially for two young princesses: Luna and herself. Construction had been postponed due to preparations for the fast approaching Hearth’s warming eve celebrations. Only a handful of royal guards and a few cooks and cleaners were stationed to maintain the finished part of the castle during the holiday season.
“Tia?” called a timid voice from the doorway behind the studying mare.
Celestia turned round briefly to see a dark haired filly, a little younger than herself, standing with an innocent expression on her face.
“What is it? Luna, You know I’m busy” Celestia replied with an impatient tone.
Luna shuffled awkwardly. “It’s just that you promised that you would find time to play hide and seek tonight. I thought we could play in the new parts of the castle and expl-”
Celestia cut her off. “Look, I’m sorry, but Starswirl gave me a last second assignment and you know he’ll be mad if he finds out I’ve been putting it off to mess around, I need to finish this study for his lesson tomorrow. Not to mention that the new parts of the castle aren’t finished yet, they could be dangerous.” This time her tone was more sympathetic, after all, she did make a promise to pay her more attention to her over the next couple weeks.
There was no reply from the filly, but Celestia suspected that tears were welling up in her eyes, though the darkness of the doorway concealed them. Her sister was too young to understand the importance of her royal duties, duties that she would have to perform some day too.
This gesture would mean a lot to her, she had been neglecting her sister a lot more recently due to the increase in her royal responsibilities.
The filly’s dismayed silence broke her will. “Oh alright, I’ll be 10 minutes, then I’ll come find you. You better find a good place to hide.”
Luna sprang into action; she always knew how to push her older sister’s buttons.
Celestia shook her head and smiled, she then returned to her study, trying to absorb as much of the dull information as possible.
****
Celestia lifted her head and rubbed her eyes with her fore legs. It took a few seconds for the situation to fully register to her, she had fallen asleep. Her desperation to finish her study had left her exhausted and she had slipped from consciousness long enough to leave a large wet patch of saliva on the book in front of her.
She glanced out of the window to see the sun cresting the horizon. For a moment, she panicked, had she really slept all night? If so, she would never finish the study in time!
She sighed as she looked over to the corner of the room to see a candle still burning at the top of its wick. It was still evening, no more than an hour could have passed.
She composed herself and sat back down in order to continue the task at hand. She couldn’t help but thinking that she was forgetting something important… Whatever it was, it couldn’t be more important than her “Royal duty”, she mimicked out loud in Starswirl’s deep tone.
The white mare had been persevering through the book in front of her for a good 30 minutes before she shivered and her attention fell away from the book.
There was a draft blowing through the window to the door which was affecting her concentration. She liked to leave to window open to have some perspective of the time, so she went over to close the door.
She touched the handle just to receive the same feeling of forgetfulness that she encountered before. This time her brain pieced together the clues and she cursed herself out loud.
Her sister hadn’t closed the door on her way out to go and… She would still be waiting for her…
Celestia glanced back at the pile of reading material on her desk and then thrust the door fully open and walked, with purpose, towards the newest part of the castle.
****
After asking a few of the guards on night watch of her sister’s whereabouts, she had gained a good idea of the area of the castle where she was hiding. She knew asking the guards was “cheating”, but she really wasn’t in the mood to play fair, especially after keeping her sister waiting for over two hours now.
She was surprised that her sister hadn’t gotten impatient and come to find out what the delay was. Most fillies her age tend not to be very patient…
The last guard had observed the younger princess heading in the direction of a smaller study, attached to the new section of the castle.
Celestia entered the room and to her confusion, found it lacking the presence of her sibling.
After a brief search under the tables and behind the curtains, she came to a large bookcase, fully stocked with equine literature.
She knew of a few secret passages located in the older section of the castle, she frequently used them to cut short the travel time from place to place. The passages usually consisted of a pressure plate under a rug, or behind a loose brick, but she was aware of a secret door in the great library activated by pulling one of the books from the shelf. Starswirl had showed her this particular door and instructed her to never use it.
This bookcase bared all the marks of a secret door.
She put a hoof to her chin and scanned the names of the books on the spines.
Three rows down, her eyes came to rest on one book in particular. “Garry Trotter and the chamber of secrets”, the princess groaned, “well at least someone in this prison has a sense of humour, even if it’s not a very good one.” She muttered to herself.
She used her magic to pull the book at an angle away from the shelf. The book clicked and there was a short delay.
Celestia let out a pathetic squeal as the bookcase suddenly swung round and booted her head first into a dark passage. The bookcase continued its full rotation and returned to its original position, plunging the room into pitch blackness once again.
A few painful seconds later, the room was illuminated by the glow of the alicorn’s horn. The light revealed a large gilded mirror which was propped up against the wall parallel to the entrance.
Celestia noticed her reflection in the mirror. She was a crippled mess on the cold floor. She grimaced and jumped to her feet in order to recapture her regal stance, as if someone was watching and judging her.
Brushing the dirt from her coat, she continued her search through the new part of the castle.
The new part of the castle was styled in the same way as the older section, if Celestia didn’t know any better; she could have been walking in circles.
Although the new section was open for general use, it was just completed and the head of the construction team had advised to be cautious when navigating the area, while finishing touches were being completed.
“That’s a little creepy”. Celestia said disapprovingly.
She was looking from one end of a passage to the other end. The walls of the passage were lined with plastered torch mounts in the shape of pony legs.
She didn’t understand why the architect felt the need to give the castle such frightening wall decorations…
Trying to take no notice of the level of detail put into the sculptures, the princess trotted down the passage.
She got only half way through when she heard a noise that seemed to be coming from behind one of the walls. She froze and diverted all of her attention to listening for the sound.
She had heard the sound before. It was unmistakeable…
The sound of a crying filly, her sister’s crying.
She went into overdrive, this was no longer hide and seek, this was search and rescue!
“Luna!?” She screamed. There was no reply.
She galloped to the end of the hallway, just to find a staircase leading away from the sound. This made no sense… Then she remembered the mechanism that opened the secret passage in the bookcase.
This time, she did not stop to think, she just started pulling clumsily on all of the torches at each side of the room, alternating from side to side.
Many attempts later, one of the legs holding the torch shifted slightly as she pulled down on it.
This time, she was ready for it. As soon as the wall gave way to the room concealed behind it, the white alicorn gracefully leapt into the room, which immediately illuminated by her already glowing horn.
She didn’t say anything for a moment. She scanned the room, noticing a loose nail jutting out of the side of a wooden panel that she had narrowly avoided when she leapt into the room. Beyond the nail, there was a small trail of blood drips that lead to a little blue filly, nursing cuts on both her fore and hind legs.
Luna looked up long enough for Celestia’s eyes to meet hers, and for Celestia’s eyes to start to mimic the tears made by her sister.
The white mare ran up to embrace her sister as gently as possible.
Apologies started to fly. “This is my fault, I was stupid to let you to go here alone” Celestia choked.
Luna kept sobbing.
There would be plenty time to make it up to her sister later, for now, Celestia cleared her head and began her rescue mission.
She picked the smaller pony up and lifted her onto her back, she wasn’t heavy, but even if she was, she wouldn’t have cared.
Luna squealed in protest of the pain as she was removed the comfortable position she had crawled into.
She couldn’t have walked out with cuts on multiple of her legs, it would have been far too painful for a pony her age. Much easier to just lay there and wait for help to come.
****
The nearest guard had been just at the bottom of the staircase at the end of the “hall of hooves”, clearly just out of range of the noise made by the young princess. He was shocked to see the two figures stumble down the staircase, but managed to aid the older princess in transporting her precious cargo to the emergency room.
After her wounds had been tended to, and Luna had consumed half a tub of her favourite ice cream, Celestia sat on the edge of her bed, still shaking from the ordeal.
There was not much of a real threat to her sister’s life, but she felt awful none the less. She had let her royal responsibilities take priority over her own sister, just because she wanted to meet Starswirl’s deadline. But all of these feelings were void now. All that mattered was that she would make up the time she should have spent with her sister now.
Celestia picked up her sisters favourite book and read to her, this book was much more important.
****
Celestia entered the castle’s lecture hall for her weekly lesson on royal duties with Starswirl. She was dreading his reaction to her lack of study.
The first thing she noticed was the absence of her tutor.
She walked up his desk, confused as to his whereabouts. He was never late… He was the most punctual pony she knew.
A little note, stacked on top of a pile of books on his desk drew her attention.
The note read:
Dear Tia:
My sincerest apologies for not being able to make it this week, if you are reading this, you’ve probably forgotten. This note is just a reminder to finish your studies on royal etiquette for next week. Hope you and your sister are well.
Yours sincerely, Starswirl.
Two guards burst in to the room, to find their princess rolling on the floor, hysterical with laughter.
Author's Note
My first fanfic. The pacing is a little off, but I'm just trying this out, mostly to pass the time. I'de appreciate any constructive feedback. The cover art was made by myself. You can search abrasivemonkey on Deviantart for a few of my other works. Again, mostly just to pass the time, it's worth it if I entertained just one person :)
