Transparency: Q. Mint Jewelip

Recon's mouth felt dry.

She had just told Celestia everything. Positively everything.

The Princess of the sun, supreme tactician and strategist of Equestria's noble line, protector of the ponies, herald of the burning gaze of destruction, mastermind of the fall of EVERY one of Equestria's foes to date, and also, coincidentally, the single most powerful being in the history of the planet.... and, well... she'd been quiet while she was sitting across from her for a while.

Recon knew what it meant when a ruler was quiet.

Bad things.

Bad things of the order of 'pristine rain of doom and destruction upon those who would offend me'...

Bad things of the order of 'ah ah ah... naughty naughty. Time for a spanking your entire family line will feel'...

Bad things of the order of .... well.... Recon wasn't a particularly creative changeling, but she knew when it was time to fold.

And she had folded.

Recon had folded so completely that she was certain her designation within the hive would become 'origami' the moment Sleep Dep found out.

Assuming, of course, she lived long enough for Sleep Dep to find out...

... also assuming that Sleep Dep would let her live long enough for a new designation to be made.

But all that was beside the point!

Celestia.

KNEW.

Recon fidgeted a bit, idly poking one of the little almond cookies on the EXTREMELY expensive tea saucer.

Celestia knew she had been ordered into the city, but that she wasn't ordered to watch troop movements.

The cookie looked light and flaky, a delicate golden color with a floral design artfully stamped into it.

Celestia knew she had been watching the guard barracks, but only long enough to know where they were.

It looked perfectly baked, the tiny cracks and folds of the dough making it clear that the baker was a true artist.

Celestia knew she had been watching the gatehouse, but only until the first shift change.

It smelled divine. The earthy aroma of the slivered almonds mixing and playing against the delicate richness of butter and sugar combined to create a truly captivating temptation.

Celestia knew she had been watching the merchant strip, but only until she had spotted a fountain.

And the texture was simply marvelous. The crispness of the caramelized sugar melded with the delicate layers to make the treat simply melt in her mouth.

Celestia knew she had been watching the Grande Approach to the palace, but only until the morning deliveries had started.

But the flavor! The flavor was magnificent. Nearly orgasmic. Between the richness of the butter, the smoothness of the heavy cream that had been folded in, to the almost sinfully sweet sugars and the tantalizing whisper of honey to compliment the heady decadence of imported almonds.... she... she couldn't help herself as she took another bite.

Celestia knew she had been told to watch the raising of the sun and moon... but that she had been interrupted by the giant love bubble of death that had sent Chrysalis' army to the far reaches of Equestria.

Recon shuddered a little, doing her best to keep herself from hyperventilating.

Celestia looked concerned for her. FOR HER.

Recon swallowed the lump of soggy cookie she hadn't realized had been sitting in her mouth for slightly more than a minute.

Celestia was scary as ... oh look! Another cookie! And she could simply taste the love the baker had put into his work!

-~oOo~-

Steel Bulwark and Velvet Trampler stood stock still as they watched the changeling 'guest' nervously glancing around the room. It was their job, after all, to watch it... to maintain the sanctity of the palace as well as the general demeanor of the Guard and Canterlot as a whole. The Guard, in general, but the Royal Guard specifically, were responsible for both the day to day protection of the city as well as the public image they, as agents of the Princesses, presented.

As such, the two found themselves in a bit of a conundrum.... or pickle.... pickledrum maybe?

Well, whatever the case, the two were somewhat perplexed as to what they were supposed to be doing.... exactly.

The changeling had been arrested: true.

The changeling had been detained: true.

The changeling had been a private 'guest' of Princess Celestia herself: also true.

The changeling had NOT been formally charged with anything... and had developed a mild case of verbal diahrea in which it confessed to pretty much everything anypony could think of, as well as a few things nopony really understood: rather unpleasant imagery.... but true none the less.

And the changeling had been served cookies and tea, then left to its own devices, albeit under Guard watch.

All of this amounted to a slight bit of mixed messages for the two of them as they "stood watch" over Celestia's "special guest" just in case "she needs anything."

Making matters worse, it appeared that it was a bit of a flighty, nervous little thing - having stayed almost precisely in the same spot as when Celestia had left it. In fact, Velvet Trampler was pretty sure it hadn't even left the cushion it had been sitting on since Celestia has started serving tea.

A soft snort from Velvet's side drew his gaze momentarily to his compatriot. The Unicorn Stallion, Steel Bulwark, was shaking his head slightly as he levitated over another small platter of cookies from a cart the waitstaff had just delivered. Taking one himself, he offered the platter to Velvet before floating the rest over to the twitchy changeling.

"Real terror, this one, eh? Looks about as monstrous as a starving kitten" The stallion smirked before frowning slightly as the changeling flinched away from the floating platter of cookies. "Oh come on... seriously? It's afraid of the cookies now? Velvet, go and drop these off for that thing. Can't have Celestia saying we weren't hospitable to the invading army and all."

Velvet raised an eyebrow slightly at his commander's comment, but dutifully took the platter from the glowing magic touch of the unicorn and slowly strolled over to the twitchy changeling, careful to keep his wings tight against his sides so as to appear as non-threatening as he could.

The set of pale blue eyes that turned on him almost made him flinch back, memories of the invasion, of seeing hundreds of the black bodied, fanged, blue eyed monsters raining from the sky wreathed in globes of green flame seemed at odds with the cowering little creature before him. And, quite without thinking about it, he found himself kneeling down and taking off his helmet.

"Hey, it's alright. No one's going to hurt you here," he murmured softly. "It's okay. You're okay. We're just here to make sure nothing goes wrong, alright?"

He managed a slight smile and nudged the platter a little closer with a hoof.

The changeling blinked back at him a moment before carefully leaning over and taking a cookie, its eyes never leaving him for a moment.

Steel sighed internally at the sight. Here he was, one of Celestia's own, specially chosen, specially trained, ROYAL GUARD... and his subordinate was kneeling down, plot in the air, taking off his helmet and making googly eyes at a confirmed spy and infiltrator.

If it wasn't for the fact that it was the first time the changeling had stopped shaking since Celestia had left, he would have branded Velvet's hide himself.

'Must be lowering the hiring standards again' he thought.

-~oOo~-

Princess Luna was smiling as she sipped her coffee while watching the day pass from a secluded balcony hidden away in one of the arches of an unnamed hall. Below, servants carried out their duties, stopped to chat occasionally, and otherwise reminded her of the time she had lost among her subjects.

Normally, such time would be spent sleeping... resting from a long night of guarding her subjects dreams from both internal fears and external threats.

Normally, she would be resting, regaining her strength and whiling away the time as her sister cared for their country as the sun crossed the sky.

Normally, there would be meaningless babble or some fleeting gossip which would grace her ears as the citizenry passed by, unknowing of her constant vigil, but today... today she had deigned to remain awake and watchful.

She wasn't normally a morning, noon, or afternoon pony. Not really a ~day~ pony on general principle, but after that little exchange earlier where her sister had told her of the latest ~invasion~, well, she couldn't really pass up a chance to watch her sister twist in the wind a bit.

Yes, it was a bit mean and, yes, she would likely look back on her actions with just the faintest touch of shame, but those were concerns for Future Princess Luna. Those were concerns she would look into resolving after, and only after, she had satisfied that little part of her that liked to see her perfect sister make a mess of things.

That little part of her was currently cheering.

Another sip of the ink-black coffee brought Luna's attention back to the moment however.

First and foremost, she had to make sure there was no legitimate threat, no real danger to anything or anyone, before she could truly enjoy the show. So, with an amused smirk, she summoned up a short checklist of important targets throughout the city and castle. As the 'invasion' had so far seemed both small and mostly harmless, she relegated external points like the Manehatten shipyards and the Crystal Fields of the Empire to background threats. Other points, much more local and immediate, would concern her more. The airship piers, the treasury, and the consumable storehouses were appropriately secured. The civic houses were likewise protected. A quick message to the apothecaries earlier had assured her that appropriate stocks of medical supplies and antitoxins were stationed throughout the city with enough learned staff to administer them should the worst come to pass. The armory was still staffed and all martial tools accounted for.

She considered other potential avenues of attack... the 'invasion' might simply be a distraction tactic after all... but in the grande scheme of things, the population of Canterlot had learned a valuable lesson from the wedding invasion: they had learned that they should always be prepared.

When she saw that Celestia had added "The Royal Blend tea" and "the scullery's cake stores" to the list of official threat points, she nearly choked on her coffee.

Granted, Celestia was probably referring to avenues by which poisoning might come, but to word it as such on official documentation... well... "Cake Flanks" was going to be a new nickname when it came to teasing again.

Skimming the list, she found her lips continuing to curl into a smile before she had to cover her mouth with a hoof to prevent the laughter that was welling up within her from alerting the peasantry below to her presence. A task made infinitely more difficult as she witnessed one of her sister's assistants scurrying around with a list of his own and a troubled look upon his aged face as he fled down a side hallway.

Moments later, she teleported to one of her favorite places to watch the peasants. A little nook, high above the polished marble floor of the throne room antechamber. It was, for all intents and purposes, a glorified waiting room... a shining, expensive, immaculately finished, gilded waiting room.

And so, from a ledge, three stories above the gallery floor, Princess Luna watched as a cluster of nobles broke into the nearest approximation of a riotous mob as had ever been seen in Canterlot's recent history.

Stifling another bout of laughter, she summoned a treat the friend of her sister's student had introduced her too... a bag of popcorn... and set about watching the entertainment below.

-~oOo~-