Suddenly, more so even than it had taken form, the darkness was reduced to tatters. The oppressive, all-consuming void torn to shreds, leaving Celestia to watch as strips of ethereal darkness fell apart all around her, fading into nothingness like scattered ashes on the breeze.

It took a moment for the Solar Princess’ eyes to readjust. The figures before her were blurry, but their posture was unsurprising. One stood triumphant, the other, a crumpled heap at her feet.

A pity, she thought. Twilight had assured her that Starlight was a mage almost without equal. Against Luna she still would have stood less than no chance, but to see her dispatched so effortlessly was a disappointment all the same.

Still, she would need to commend Luna for her self control, bringing things to a quick and neat conclusion, rather than a long and messy one.

The elder princess took her tea cup in hand and brought it to her lips, but stopped just short as the pair came more fully into focus.

Something was off.

The standing figure was far too small to be her sister, and the one folded at its feet was nearly twice the size of the woman she had expected.

The slow return of sound, and with it, the words spoken between the pair, made things stranger still.

“I apologise for my behaviour!” She heard Luna’s voice grovel. “Can you ever forgive me?”

"Of course, I forgive you. That’s what friends do."

The teacup fell from between her fingers, clattering against the table.

It was not her sister that stood triumphant over a supine Starlight, but the opposite. Luna, returned to her usual form, lay sprawled along the floor, arms wrapped around Starlight’s leg, her head nuzzling against her jean-clad thigh.

By the time Starlight’s eyes met her own, the elder princess was already on her feet, her focus split between what lay immediately before her, and on all that surrounded her. The lingering presence of Luna’s spell hung in the air like a haze, obscuring whatever magic Starlight had cast, and making verification impossible.

She watched her sister cuddle closer, a sycophantic smile on her lips as Starlight tussled her hair, while Celestia bit her lip and clenched her fists.

She took a deep breath.

Intuition was all she could rely on for now. Whatever Starlight had done, she had done it quickly, and under duress, yet somehow with such skill as to leave no obvious trace, and with such power as to turn her sister, the most gifted user of mental magic in the realm into…

Nothing could be ruled out.

Such magic was not her area of expertise, but she was on her own for now, and would need to be prepared.

She watched Starlight give a strange gesture, reaching toward her own neck, but braced herself for something.

Anything.

Any spell that could-

“Sister?” Celestia whipped her head to the side and found Luna staring back at her, a furrow of concern between her eyes. “Sister, are you well?”

"I - " The solar princess returned Luna’s stare, then turned her focus across the table to Starlight, seated with fork in hand, as if nothing had happened. “What just…”

“Starlight was just explaining that a scheduling error has delayed the other guests.” Luna reassured, her hand stroking gently along Celestia’s forearm, bidding her to return to her seat. “Everything is fine, sister.” she added, her voice almost pleading.

Celestia turned her eyes to the room around her and found it… absolutely untouched, as if the last few minutes hadn’t even happened.

“Right - I - I - just -” she broke off a moment, the shakiness of her voice leaving it almost unrecognisable as her own. “I just thought I saw something.” the princess finished, reasserting her usual confidence.

“Really?” Starlight inquired as the Celestia returned herself to her seat. “Whatever did you see?”

“Nothing.” she half-growled, her eyes fixed on Starlight’s. “Nothing at all.”

Starlight’s magic called the empty cup towards her, the spilled tea evaporating under the blue of her aura as she refilled it and slid it back across.

“Are you sure, Princess? The way you jumped, you had us worried there for a second. I thought I might have upset you somehow.”

“I’m sure.” Celestia grimaced. “Just a trick of the light. Nothing to worry about.”

The teacup once again in hand, she did her best to focus. The remnants of Luna’s darkness were gone, as if they had never existed, and for all she knew, they hadn’t.

The prospect that Starlight had cast some sort of illusion was now front of mind, but that only raised further questions.

“Luna?” she asked, taking a sip and affecting her usual calm. "Do you sense anything… off?"

“How do you mean, sister?”

Celestia matched her gaze, studying her pale visage and finding nothing. Not a hint of deception, though still some vague sense of disquiet.

“Never mind.” She relented. “Just my imagination”

“If you are feeling unwell, sister-”

“It’s nothing, Luna.” she replied with a chill, prompting Luna’s silence, and her return to her tea.

Luna hadn’t noticed it, whatever it was, that much was clear and without proof, they would be back to the same argument as before. Perhaps that was Starlight’s plan, to divide them further, and somehow take advantage.

Magic powerful enough to affect her, and to craft an illusion so vivid, all without her sister noticing, should have been impossible.

What’s more, she couldn’t even place when it had happened, or what had happened before Luna had caught on.

None of it made sense. There were too many questions. The ‘how?’ aside, there was still the matter of ‘why?’. Why show her that vision? Why do it so brazenly? Whatever her plan, it had clearly failed, and yet she showed not even the faintest hint of it.

Celestia watched Starlight reach across the table, carving a wedge of cake with her left hand, her right reaching to her choker and - sliding the pastry across to her.

“Princess, I insist that you try a piece of this cake next. I think Pinkie Pie made it with you in mind.”

She stared down at it a moment, examining every millimetre from the layers of chocolate and strawberry filling at its centre, to the white sheet of frosting and candy rose on top. “You insist, do you?”

Starlight nodded, while Luna looked on, traces of concern still peeking from deep within her eyes.

As suspicious as Celestia was, she had nothing to fear from the food. Even the most potent of poisons could cause her little more than a stomach ache, and yet, something still seemed off.

“Very well, then.”

Her eyes never leaving Starlight's, the princess raised her arms and clasped her hands behind her head, the gilded straps of her dress spreading wide with them, and stretching ever more tightly against the enormous weight of her chest. However she had done it, Starlight had made a fatal error in tipping her hand. She had one chance to catch her at a disadvantage, and she had wasted it.

Still glowering, Celestia drew down towards the plate, the chill of the cool marble surface touching against the outer edge of her areola her nipples stiffening and standing at attention in response. She paused a moment to shoot Starlight one last withering glance, then buried her face in the sweet confection before her.

By the time the evening was over, Celestia knew she would uncover what it was Starlight had planned. She recalled well each of her recent defeats, and had learned from each and every one of them. She was still a princess, ruler of Equestria, and duty bound to protect the realm from would-be tyrants like Starlight. If her final act as princess was to protect her sister and her successor from this manipulator, she would do so gladly.

The white of the vanilla frosting sat plastered against her dark, flawless skin, while strawberry filling dribbled down her chin and along the long, inner slope of her breast as Celestia righted herself, her hands still fixed behind her.

“How is it?” Starlight inquired, that same smarmy smile carved indelibly along her face.

Celestia gave a wry smirk in reply, leaving chunks of of baked good to fall back to the plate and the table beyond, a frigid chill still infused in her voice. "Delicious."

A good poker face wouldn’t save her. Celestia would be watching her now, even more closely than before. Until now, all she had had were suspicions, but now she knew, and so did Starlight. Whether she let on or not, she was backed into a corner. She had gambled and lost, and would need to make another move soon. Even Luna would not be so trusting in an hour’s time.

Bending low again, the princess pressed her gold-painted lips to the table, sucking up the candy flower that had managed to mount an escape, before lolling out her tongue and lapping up what crumbs remained on the outskirts.

All the while, an eye stayed fixed on Starlight, waiting for her to make her next move, unwilling to allow even a single detail to go unnoticed.

Author's Note

So, with feedback from the previous chapter taken into account, this is the new path we'll be heading down. Hopefully it turns out a bit better.

Since I already had a great deal of bits and pieces laid out from the previous plan, I'm also able to experiment a bit with shorter chapters.

Historically I tend to avoid shorter chapters just because I feel stories like these lend themselves more to self-contained blocks. The lewd bits being contiguous is a plus, but it also means if they're all you're looking to get out of it, you need to do some sifting. I dunno, I'm rambling now, if you have a preference one way or the other let me know.

Cheers!