Princess Celestia and her secretary, Raven, trotted down one of the many halls of Canterlot Castle. The latter was weighed down with a prodigious amount of paperwork, though the former was buoyed by joy in her heart. It had been only three days since the return of Princess Luna, and Celestia could still hardly believe it. In fact, finding accommodations fit for a princess might have gone easier had Celestia made adequate preparations beforehoof, but she had not wanted to tip off to the staff that something significant might be coming up - her plan, nebulous and reliant entirely upon others as it was, required the mare in the street to be kept utterly in the dark.
Raven was probably wondering why she had just giggled to herself.
Furthermore, she had not been able to shake a nagging feeling that if she were to prepare a suite for Luna, then she would somehow put a jinx on the whole affair and doom her own plan to failure. It was totally irrational, of course, but Celestia hoped that a silly old mare could be forgiven one or two superstitions.
She halted as she came to the door leading to Luna's temporary accommodations. The guards posted at the entrance were wearing the white coat and golden wargear of her own soldiery, another sign of the rush. Sooner or later the castle quartermaster would issue armour and coat-changing enchantments more suitable for her dark sister, but that was still off in the distant and half-formed future. The two guards saluted her, and if they felt any surprise at being assigned to serve a princess that they had never heard of before this week, they showed no sign of it. Celestia had no idea how they managed it. It had taken her centuries to get her Poker face that good, and even she slipped sometimes.
She rapped gently against the door, eagerly awaiting the reply. Even the sound of Luna's voice was like a rare treat after so long without it. She heard that wonderful voice almost immediately. "If it is another well-wisher bearing flowers, prithee inform the cook I shan't be needing lunch".
The smile that covered Celestia's face was among the broadest she'd enjoyed in years. "No such luck, Luna. Only me."
The door swung open quickly enough to pull poor Raven's mane out of its bun. "Ah, Celestia! Come in, come in!" She noticed Raven and her enormous stack of papers. "Ah, and who might you be? One of the castle clerks?"
"I'm Raven, your highness. I'm her highness' secretary!" Raven tried and failed to keep a note of smugness out of her voice. She was only a week on the job herself.
"Secretary…" Luna made a puzzled face as she turned the unfamiliar name over in her mouth like a new wine, "Would that be something like a seneschal?"
"Indeed it would", interjected Celestia. "Raven is new to this role, but already she is invaluable. Frankly, I don't know how I ever managed without her."
The three headed into Luna's chambers together. Naturally, the curtains were drawn tight, blocking out the early afternoon sunlight. Out of consideration for her guests, Luna opened the merest crack in them, allowing enough light over the long, low coffee table for Raven to set down her cargo. She was grateful for the chance to fix her mane without the heavy, bulky load.
The suite of rooms was the nicest set of guest lodgings in the castle. The furnishings and decorations were the finest money and royal authority could obtain, all pink crystal and pale gold. In other words, it was totally unlike Luna, and Celestia was sure that when she was given her own suite it would have much more in the way of deep blues and purples. Furthermore, the guest quarters did not have nearly enough black, spiky metal things lying around. Celestia had never quite understood her sister's love of dangerous contraptions, but she supposed Luna must think similarly of her own penchant for light and breezy designs.
"Now, Luna, you may be wondering why we've visited you with so much paperwork." Celestia waved a hoof at the pile on the table, which Raven was busily separating.
"I am. I assume it has something to do with me, not to put too fine a point on it." Over the past few days, she had been filling out her fair share of forms. Many a byzantine document had been marked with "HRH Luna" and a scrawled crescent moon. She was not even sure what some of them were for, but allegedly they were part of the process of reinstating her as Diarch. Luna was looking forward to getting her own Cutie Mark rubber stamp. Celestia had one, and she swore it sped up the whole process considerably.
"Yes, something along those lines. Luna, do you recall the school I founded here in Canterlot?"
Luna nodded keenly. "The School for Gifted Fillies. Thou wert rather proud of it, if I recall."
"Indeed I was, and still am. Well, times have changed a little since then, and to reflect that my educational pursuits are significantly more broad. The School for Gifted Unicorns - we started letting colts in, oh, I want to say 550 years ago - the Cloudsdale Lyceum, and the Sunshine Fund."
Luna blinked as she absorbed this new information. She had been doing rather a lot of that over the past three days. "Sorry, what was that last?"
"The Sunshine Fund? Well, you may remember the discussion we had about educating Earth Ponies shortly after that unpleasantness with the jam sandwich and the necromancer."
"Indeed I do. We agreed that the problem with building a school for Earth Ponies was that they were so spread out that any filly who wished to attend school might be unable, and the fillies who were able might not be willing."
"Just so. Well, about 800 years ago, I came up with a way to solve that issue. The Sunshine Fund helps Earth Pony villages build schools and train teachers. The schoolmistress in Ponyville was trained on the Fund, actually. I like to call them my little rays of sunshine."
"I see. And, if I may ask, why are we discussing education? It's important, of course, but I'm sure you know your own system better than I."
"You've hit the nail on the head there, Luna. My own system. My name on the sign, my Cutie Mark above the door, my statue outside, my rubber stamp on any of the paperwork that crosses my desk - nothing but me me me me me. I want to share them. Instead of "Princess Celestia's so-and-so", I want a nation full of "The Royal Sisters' so-and-so", and where better to start than with our foals?" Celestia's eyes shone as the idea took her over like a rider on a saddle. "Think of it, Luna! On either side of every school's door, busts of our heads. I could be in white marble and you in black, or perhaps we could use wood. Ebony for you and pine for me..."
Luna held up her front hooves to stop the tide. "Peace! Prithee, peace! Celestia, thou flatterest me. This is the greatest gift I could imagine, and were I worthy I would take it in a heartbeat. But I am not worthy! What do I know of teaching? Or of foals, for that matter? Last I knew them, Canterlot was a border town and any stallion who went about with unshorn fetlocks would be put in the pillory for a week and a day." Luna blushed. "I have since been informed in no uncertain terms that such things are no longer done."
Raven cleared her throat "If it helps, the stallion in question didn't really mind it. He says he's been through worse on assignments to foreign embassies." He had, in fact, made statements to the effect that he would be happy for Luna to tie him up again in a more intimate setting, but Raven thought it best to understate his position.
Luna sighed "Thou hast it right, seneschal. Foreign embassies. I feel an outlander, not somepony who should have schools named after her!" She slammed her hooves on the table, and winced as she heard it crack.
"The past is a foreign country", murmured Celestia, "and they do things differently there."
Raven cocked an eyebrow. "That's from a book, isn't it? That one about the two ponies sending love letters to each other?"
Celestia smiled gently. "Raven, you'd be surprised at how many of the seemingly wise and mysterious things I say come from some book or another. I am, simply put, a shameless cheat. But back to more important matters - Luna, how can you say that you aren't worthy? Why, back when you walked in ponies' dreams, I daresay you taught some foals more in one night than they might have learned in a month of school."
Luna ducked her head. "'tis not the same."
"Perhaps not, but it is still to your credit. I will hear no more of this nonsense about you not deserving it."
Luna sighed. She was familiar with how futile it could be to argue with Celestia once her sister had really set her mind to something. "You are putting your hoof down, aren't you? Very well. Perhaps a compromise."
Celestia nodded encouragingly. "I would certainly be open to that. What do you have in mind?"
"Do not rename any of the existing schools. They are not mine, and I have no claim to them. But…any new school that is founded from now on, could, mayhaps, be named for us. For both of us."
"Very well. We will have to be sure to attend the opening of the first new school. And the busts?"
Lune fixed her sister with a flat stare. "Don't push your luck."
Raven looked up from her stack of forms and files. She had managed to extract the documents required to rename schools going forward, but was struggling to put the rest of it back together in order. "Your highnesses, if I may?"
The sisters nodded in unison.
She struggled not to give in to a sudden burst of stage fright. "Well, if you'll be sharing the new schools, surely the Sunshine Fund will need renaming?"
Celestia gestured towards Raven with one wing. "See? Invaluable. I probably would have gone a week before that even occurred to me. The tricky part is going to be fitting both Day and Night into the same name. I suppose Starlight would technically fit that bill."
Luna rubbed a pastern under her chin. "I believe I know a suitable name. One that can not only fit both of us, but also do honour to another who deserves it more than I. How about the Twilight Fund?"
Celestia's breath caught in her throat. "I believe you have just made a certain unicorn very, very happy." She did not mention, and neither did she need to, that Luna had also made a certain alicorn similarly happy.