Sabbatical

Chapters

Royal Pains
Masks
Arrival
Cobwebs
Red Thread

Royal Pains

Sabbatical
Chapter 01
“Royal Pains”

Time.

Time is such a cruel thing.

We measure it in seconds, hours. We create little machines that exist only to measure and display it. We write times down, record dates, and stress over lateness and punctuality. We obsess over it.

And yet for all we do to keep track of it, to measure it, it never cooperates with us. Time is not an even tick, as much as the second hands of our clocks might like to insist that it is. Time is malleable. And it is a pissy, fickle bitch too. When we least want time to continue, it flows quicker than we can follow. When we find ourselves agonizing over each passing second, time aggravates us by slowing itself.

But it is without a doubt the worst when you are a being who has lived for millennia and will live for millennia to come. Years and decades can pass in the blink of an eye, when sometimes it takes eons for a single second to go by.

These were the thoughts that Celestia absently entertained as she stole quick glances at a clock hanging on a wall at the far end of a room she was sitting in. Her glances were fast and furtive, so as not to alert anypony else in the room that she was carefully watching the time.

She sighed as she saw that this particular night, the second-hand was making a slow and ponderous journey around the circular fixture.

She was bored.

This was nothing new, of course. She was almost always bored the moment she set hoof in this room. The room in question being a meeting hall deep in in the West Wing of Canterlot Castle.

A sudden clearing of a throat snapped her from her thoughts and she levelled her eyes at the pony who had made the sound. She smiled.

“Yes, Mayor Mare?”

The Mayor of Ponyville was gazing at her over her glasses with a mildly disapproving look; an expression that melted away as soon as she remembered she was speaking to a Princess.

“Your Highness, is everything alright? I couldn’t help but notice you having some trouble ah... concentrating on my presentation on Ponyville’s weather patterns. Perhaps I should postpone moving my petition forward to a later date?”

“Not at all, Mayor. Forgive me, you can continue.”

The aging earth pony nodded graciously and opened her mouth to continue, only to be interrupted by a gruff voice to Celestia’s right.

“It would seem the Princess is bored, Mayor.” The voice was deep and gravelly and it was followed by a succession of coughs.

“Magus,” retorted Celestia, not bothering to turn her head towards him, “It would seem you’ve been hitting the pipe too much lately. It’s bad for your health. Not to mention it makes you wholly undesirable as a kisser.”

There was a soft *snirk* from one of the ponies in the crowd before them.

Magus didn’t bother answering to that, either out of fear he might offend the princess, or the refusal to give her the satisfaction of a rebuttal. Instead the unicorn smiled sympathetically at the Mayor. “Perhaps it would be best to postpone your petition for an extra weather team until next meeting.”

“Actually, miss Mayor,” Celestia interrupted, “I was just about to ask you to move on from your reports to your actual petition. You can ignore Magus.”

Magus coughed again. “Your Highness, if you are having trouble concentrating tonight, it might be best to end the meeting early.”

Oh, hell no. There was no way that was happening. No matter how infuriatingly slow the clock might be running, this meeting wasn’t going to end until Celestia willed it. There were plans to be made. There was a particular item on the agenda that she was absolutely positively aching to get to. And if it meant standing through an extremely boring presentation, the end of which she could probably predict anyway, then so be it.

“That won’t be necessary.”

Another cough. “Your Highness, it is well within my right as Vizier to end this meeting early. You created these monthly meetings as a way for city leaders to come together and coordinate plans for the entire country. And as your political advisor and the pony who presides over these meetings, I think it may be in our best interests to end if your Highness is unwell.”

This time she actually swung her head to look at him, staring down the gray-maned unicorn. “And it is well within my right to tell you...” To tell you to fuck off, was what she wanted to say, but she stopped herself before she could form the words. Swearing in front of her council would, more likely than not, send the wrong message. “...to tell you that your position is appointed, and thus can be un-appointed at any time.”

Not bothering to even gauge a response from him, she swung her head back to the Mayor, who was looking back and forth at the two of them with an uneasy smile. She stole a glace over the entire crowd before her and gauged their expressions. The room was rather tense, as tended to happen when she made such remarks at her political advisor. She noted that the mayor of Cloudsdale was shuffling uneasily, but that may only have been because the room was crowded and she wasn’t used to stone walls.

She smiled, hoping to diffuse the mood. “I apologize again, Mayor Mare, please continue.”

As the Mayor of Ponyville continued her tangent about cloud formations and hay roofs, Celestia found her mind wandering once again. Drat it all, she screamed internally. Just one more presentation after this and we can finally move on to the last topic of the night.

She looked across the low thin table she was lying beside at her sister, who seemed to be listening intently. If Luna was bored, she didn’t look like it. Celestia sighed again. It seemed like the Mayor’s speech was going to go on for at least another twenty minutes. Sudden inspiration guided Celestia to scoot herself closer to the edge of the table and splay her legs beneath its tablecloth, taking on the appearance of her attempting to move to a more comfortable position. Praying that her sister was taking a similar position on the other side, she extended a hind hoof. To cover the movement, she bent her head down to meet a teacup she picked up from the table.

At last she found her sister’s legs, which were also splayed out beneath the table. There was a small gasp to her left and her sister’s eyes widened as Celestia realized she was moving too far and had tapped Luna on the flank. Luna cleared her throat softly and shot Celestia a glare. She ignored it.

Let’s hope that after a thousand years she still remembers this, thought Celestia as she tapped her sister’s hind leg with her own three times. Luna’s eyes narrowed as she was thinking. Then it suddenly dawned on her what was happening and Celestia saw a look of recognition pass her face. Luna reached out with a hind leg and returned the gesture, tapping Celestia three times.

The two of them did not take their eyes off of the Mayor as they exchanged hoof taps of varying speeds and positions. This was a language they had developed long ago; decades before Luna’s entrapment on the moon. It was a form of communication created for this very situation; the two of them, their legs hidden under a clothed table, and each bored out of their minds as they suffered through intense political banter at the weekly meetings. They could communicate magically, but if they did that their horns would glow. And it was considered rude to do so while somepony was talking to you. Celestia was glad Luna remembered this way of communicating; the meeting had just gotten slightly more bearable. She reached out with the first message very slowly. This was not a quick language. It could take minutes to say a single sentence. But at least it was better than slogging through a boring meeting alone, as she had done for a thousand years.

[By the SUN I am so bored,] Celestia tapped.

[You look it. Everypony can tell.] Came the reply. A slight smile played across Luna’s mouth.

[Screw you. I had to do this by myself for a very long time. A thousand years, in fact.]

Luna’s eyes narrowed distastefully. [Was Magus here for part of that?]

[For a few years. He hasn’t changed a bit, though. Annoying, as always.]

[Sweet stars, how can you do it?]

Celestia smirked slightly. [It wasn’t easy. I’m glad you’re here. You can stop me from strangling him.]

Luna coughed. [Now now, dear sister. You elected him. You must lie in the bed you’ve made for yourself.]

[Are you sure I can’t just send him to the moon?]

Celestia gasped as her sister’s hoof shot out and hit her in the stomach. This wasn’t part of their covert communication; it was just a kick. But she was sure that if it had a meaning in their strange sisterly language, it would have represented Luna shouting her name rather loudly.

[Kidding, I’m kidding.] She assured her sister.

[Anyways, we’d best stop. I think we’re coming to the last bit.]

Celestia perked up, her ears shooting forward as she gave her full attention to the crowd before her. She realized they were all looking at her expectantly. They had all finished presenting their petitions and were waiting for her response. She quickly cleared her throat.

“Ahem. Thank you all for your presentations. As always, I shall take the night and next morning to review all of your petitions and Luna and I will make our decisions. We will have full answers to all of you tomorrow.”

“And with that,” interjected Magus, “We come to the final part of tonight’s meeting. As you all know, the Spring Festival is coming up in just a few days. This will be our last meeting before then, so it’s in our best interest to begin our celebratory coordination now.”

This was it, thought Celestia. The moment she’d been waiting for. Her favorite time of the year. The Spring Festival. There were many things she enjoyed about her duties as a Princess, but planning and celebrating the Spring Festival was by far one of her favorites. She felt anticipation building in her as she reveled in the prospect of decorating the castle, attending festivities in Ponyville, and discussing the menu for the castle staff.

“...however,” continued Magus, “There is one more item to discuss.”

Celestia felt her eye twitch. She couldn’t bear the thought of another interruption keeping her from her delicious Spring Festival plans.

“And what would that be?” Celestia’s voice cracked as she addressed her Vizier.

“Well there’s a royal mandate that comes into effect on this very date.”

“A royal... mandate?” Celestia had a hard time forming any kind of response. The plans, though! Who cared about royal mandates? There were colors to pick for banners! Cupcakes to sample for receptions!

“Yes, your Highness. A royal mandate.” He flicked his head to the side, his horn glowing with magic. From beside him he pulled a large thick tome and flipped it open, ruffling through the pages. “In what appears to be your horn writing.”

“And where did you get that book exactly?” Celestia was quite sure she didn’t recall giving him any materials like that when he was appointed.

“Oh this? This old book was buried in the Canterlot Archives. Law section.” He stopped on a page. “Ah, here it is. Princess, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about the mandate you wrote to be activated this month, this meeting, did you?”

“Of course not!” exclaimed Celestia. “But... why don’t you read it aloud for everypony to hear?” She had no clue what he was talking about.

“Of course, your Highness.” He levitated a pair of glasses onto his face and bent low to blow a thick layer of dust off the page. The book was clearly very old. He spoke aloud what he read:

“Royal Mandate 17712A
I, Princess Solestia Sun-Bringer do hereby decree that on the coming of the first end-of-week of the second month of the year 1012, I will take a mandatory Sabbatical.
The purpose of this two-month break will be rest and recuperation away from the constant stress of royal duties. During this time, my rule shall be passed to my sister. Should my sister be unable to perform her duties, rule shall pass to my parliament of city leaders.
This Sabbatical is MANDATORY, and shall be repeated once every 1000 years.”

Magus snapped the book shut.

There was a dead silence in the room as everypony stared expectantly at the Princess.

Celestia wore nothing but an amiable smile as her eyes flicked back and forth. She was at a loss for what to say exactly. She struggled to find some words, but failed, and the silence wore on awkwardly.

“Princess?” spoke up Magus.

“Yesss?” She swung her head the unicorn, the smile not leaving her face and in fact intensifying as she ground her teeth.

“This is your hoofprint here.” He tapped the cover.

“Of course it is.” Her voice was strained.

“And exactly 1000 years have passed since the original induction of this mandate.”

“Indeed they have, Magus.”

The room was silent once more. Nopony was sure what to say exactly. Celestia had quite a few things she wanted to say, of course. She was beginning to remember the fact that she may have signed such a mandate a thousand years in the past, though her memory on why and when was a tad fuzzy. And she was rather interested in how Magus had found such an old document that had been written centuries before he had been alive. Furthermore she was curious as to why exactly he had decided to bring up this obscure mandate at such an inopportune moment. However she couldn’t really begin to think of a way to address the situation. She was a bit at a loss to explain anything.

And what of Luna? Celestia felt unease rippling through her. Apparently she’d have to relinquish her throne to her younger sister for two months. How would Luna deal with that?

Thankfully, it was Luna herself who broke the silence by clearing her throat. “Perhaps we can postpone the effect of this mandate but one more day this year, so that we can finish with this meeting? If Celestia were to take a Sabbatical right this very moment, that would leave me to make all these decisions myself. Not that she hasn’t properly briefed me on the situation already.” She said the last part through slightly clenched teeth and provided Celestia with a rather off-putting smile. “And this meeting seems to have an extra large load of petitions. I require her assistance in the deliberations.”

This seemed to diffuse the situation and all ponies present nodded in agreement. Many were as surprised as Celestia at the unexpected call, but all seemed to settle down.

Celestia rubbed her head with a hoof. It was one of those nights, it seemed. All of a sudden planning for the Spring Festival didn’t seem so fun anymore. More than anything, she needed to get out and get some fresh air.

Once more, the second hand of the clock seemed to slow down.

=-=-=

Things were tense with Celestia and her sister the next day at breakfast. She didn’t like it when things were tense with Luna. It reminded her too much of their last fight; the one that had ended with Luna imprisoned. Whenever things were awkward like this, she tried to find a witty way to break the ice. But this time she was at a loss for words. She didn’t really know what to say.

She knew exactly what Luna was probably thinking. She knew her sister was probably apprehensive about having to take control. She was sure Luna was probably angry that she had never told her about the mandate; one that she admittedly had forgotten about. And she knew Luna was most likely more than annoyed that the previous night, Celestia had taken to the skies in flight immediately after the meeting without a single word or backward glance.

She’d needed that flight, though. Flying helped her clear her head. It helped her think. And tracing the stars of Luna’s beautiful night with her wingtips had calmed her down from the shock of embarrassing herself in front of her council by neglecting to put a very important mandate on the meeting schedule. It also allowed her a moment of thought as to how exactly Magus had found that old tome, and what his motives were behind bringing it up. Though she put those thoughts off for later. It was more important to consider how her departure would affect Luna. It wasn’t like she could ignore the mandate either. She’d made it, and refusing to stick by it could incense parts of the population. After all, what good were laws if even the lawmakers didn’t abide by them?

She’d finally remembered then, while tracing the various constellations that dotted the night sky, why exactly this mandate had been made. Why she had signed that silly law into place a thousand years ago. Remembering it made her blush, despite the age of those memories. Luna would not be happy about the reasons. Of course, if she was lucky, Luna wouldn’t ask. But her luck seemed to be running out as of late.

So she stayed out all night, finally falling into a fitful sleep atop a cloud above Ponyville

But now it was morning. And here she was, at the breakfast table in the Princess’s private dining room, sitting across from her sister. She stole a glance at Luna over the issue of the Canterlot Times she was hovering in front of her face. Her sister seemed calm and collected. Luna was staring at her small handheld gaming device, splitting her magic between pressing buttons on it and levitating a spoon to her mouth from a cereal bowl.

crunch crunch

The sound of Luna’s chewing on her breakfast cereal was unnervingly loud in the strangely silent room. Most days, the room was filled with Luna and Celestia’s sisterly banter. And Luna was rarely seen at meals with her video games, partly out of common courtesy, and partly because breakfast was one of the rare times they were alone together. Today, however, Luna seemed to be pointedly ignoring her.

crunch crunch

The sound seemed to echo. Celestia almost jumped at it. She was unsure of how to start a conversation and the sudden noise was actually frightening in the oppressive silence. Celestia put her newspaper down. It was time to talk, she decided. But what to talk about? Of course! The petitions. They’d have to discuss the petitions put forth at the previous night’s meeting. She cleared her throat and took a breath.

“One. Year.” Luna spoke before Celestia could even open her mouth, and Celestia actually jumped at the noise this time.

There was a pause.

Celestia smiled brightly and made an inquisitive, “...hmmm?”

“One year,” repeated Luna, as though saying it were the most obvious thing that one could ever think of. She levitated another spoonful of her cereal and chewed louder this time, almost as if she knew the sound was grating on Celestia.

“I don’t follow.” Celestia’s smile didn’t disappear.

“I’ve been back for a whole year.” Luna put her handheld down, paused the game, and leveled a very calm demeanour at her sister, though her words held the weight of somepony very angry. She smiled as well, though her smile was very off-putting.

“You certainly have!” agreed Celestia. “And you’ve picked up modern speech very well, too. No more unnecessary royal ‘we,’ and I hear you’ve been brushing up on your modern colloquialisms as well” Celestia laughed nervously.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant I’ve been back for over three hundred and sixty-five days, and during any one of those you could have told me about this ‘sabbatical’ business. Yet you’ve somehow neglected to.” Luna gave her a pointed look and took another spoonful of her cereal.

crunch crunch

Celestia tittered. “Well, you know, things get hectic quite often here, and it must have slipped my mind. Every day.”

“Cut the bullshit, Tia,” spat Luna. “I’m sitting over here, looking at the prospect of running a country almost entirely by myself for two months. Don’t sit over there with that stars-damned dumb smile and think that I’m going to take this calmly. I’m nervous, angry, confused, and all of those emotions are running wild because you forgot. Admit it, you forgot! Probably a couple hundred years ago.”

“Such language!” scolded Celestia. “Really, where did you learn to talk like tha-”

“Been brushing up on my modern colloquialisms,” shot back Luna. “Now shut up and just tell me what’s going on.”

Celestia frowned. “A princess should know what kind of language is appropriate and what is-”

“Fuck.”

“Really, Luna, this is immature, I am trying to-”

“Cunt.”

Celestia sputtered. “Is this your way of getting back at me for-”

“Zigger.”

“Deluna Night-Giver!” Celestia nearly shouted, using Luna’s ancient full title. “I may have made mistakes last night involving ancient laws that yes, I have forgotten, but this silly display is going to get us nowhere! You are starting to make me very, very angry.”

“No, thou hast made us angry!” raged Luna, her eyes alighting with sparks. Her mane billowed out behind her, growing darker as she slipped into the old tongue, in her anger forgetting modern speaking. “We have a burden placed upon our shoulders now because of thy negligence. We are being thrust into a political world we do not yet fully understand, forced to provide a force to rise the sun on our lonesome, and asked to remain in a place to make decisions for a nation that still fears us! And that thou wouldst sit before us and pretend all things art so calm and quiet that thou could lecture us on our language, is, as thou wouldst speak, immature!”

Her royal Canterlot voice echoed throughout the entire room, and Celestia heard a guard outside the door shift nervously. Luna calmed herself then, her mane lowering and flowing outward as it did normally. Her expression, however, did not change and she continued to glare at Celestia.

Celestia sighed. “First of all, I’m sorry. Yes, I should have remembered this and been ready to prepare you for it. That is all entirely my fault. Secondly, you won’t be entirely on your own. You’ll have the council, and Magus will be here to advise you as he has advised me for many years now.”

“Wait, what?” Luna ceased to be angry, and now she just looked horrified. “I’m going to have to deal with that old grandpony by myself for two whole months?” She was calm now, slipping back into modern speak.

“Look, I don’t like his tone any more than you do, but he has a good head on his shoulders and his advice is always sound.”

“Celestiaaaa....” Luna whined.

“I’m sorry, sister. That’s just the way it is. Continuing from where I was, the nation will be fine. Yes, there are things to deal with between you and the common ponies, but it will be fine. Everything will be fine. And I know you can handle the sun. I raised both the sun and moon by myself for a thousand years. You can do it for a couple months. After all, the sun is only a few thousand times bigger than the moon.”

“It’s sixty-four million times larger.” Luna sighed.

Celestia raised her morning brew tea to her lips and blew on the top of it. “Well, don’t give yourself a hernia.”

“That isn’t funny!”

Celestia giggled then, a wholly un-princess-like sound. At the very least, the tense mood was almost diffused. “Everything will be fine, Luna. I promise. I’ll take this little break, and then I’ll come back, and everything will be as it always was.”

“Well, what about the policies we discussed at the meeting last night?” Luna protested. “We still have to decide those. I’m going to have to present those to the council soon, and you won’t be around to back me up.”

“Oh come now, Luna. Let’s be honest. This is easy. Tell me, what did you decide on the propositions?”

Luna thought for a moment, chewing and then swallowing. “Mayor Mare’s petition is solid; they need help with their weather team and Cloudsdale can pick up the slack. I’ll deny Cloudsdale’s petition for more funding because that money needs to go into the Canterlot Fund for Homeless Foal Education. Magus can claim all he wants about our social security plan, but we’ll go forward with it anyway. And lastly, the bill for military expansion is denied.”

Celestia nodded. “See? You’re doing fine.”

“But we have to make these decisions together!”

“And everything you’ve said is something I agree with,” assured Celestia.

Luna sighed again, returning to her cereal. She pouted as she spooned another mound of the no-doubt over-sugared substance into her mouth. The meal went on in silence for a moment, and Celestia picked her newspaper back up to peruse the gossip section that was running a piece about a local DJ who had been outed.

It was Luna who broke the silence again.

“What in the world pulls you away from your duties, anyway?” she asked.

“...hmmm?” Celestia didn’t take her eyes of the paper.

“Oh come on, sister. Everypony knows you love your job. You take pride in your fair ruling, and joy in running the country. I’ve never heard of anything that could take you from your Pride and Joy, Equestria.”

Celestia cleared her throat. “Well, sometimes you get tired, and you need to take a break.”

“You never get tired of being Princess. You love your people. You’d betray even your closest kin for them.”

The jab stung, but Celestia knew it was just a jab. Her sister had slipped back into the normal routine of banter. “I got tired,” she answered. “I needed a break. It was a year after we’d had our little fight, and I felt drained.”

“And why at this time of the year? You absolutely love planning for the Spring Festival.” Luna continued, disregarding her sister’s excuse. “Nothing can tear you away from that.”

“It just happened to be around this time that I got tired, that’s all.”

“The timing is curious.”

“It’s just your imagination.” Celestia didn’t really like the direction this particular conversation was going.

“Wait...” Luna’s ears perked up and she dropped her spoon.

Celestia’s heart sank. She set down her paper.

“Wait...” Luna repeated. “... I think I got it now...”

“You have nothing.” Celestia was beginning to get very nervous.

“What’s that holiday that happens on the last day of the Festival? The one with all the pink and red decorations, with that heart that is shaped nothing like an actual heart?”

“You’re thinking of Hearts and Hooves day, your Highness.” It wasn’t Celestia that answered, but a voice beside them.

The two of them jumped at the sudden intrusion. It was just a server, come to refill Celestia’s tea.

“Yes, that’s the one!” exclaimed Luna. “The one where they celebrate love! Lovers gather and admirers drop love notes anonymously! Strange that your sabbatical should coincide with this holiday.”

“Pure coincidence, sister..”

“Oh don’t give me that,” Luna shot back. “Come on, tell me. I’m starting to get an idea.”

Celestia coughed into her hoof. “I just needed a break, that’s all. Nothing more.”

“Bullshit.”

“What have we said about language, Luna?”

“You owe me the truth, Celestia.” Luna rested her chin on the table “Please?” Her pupils widened and she pouted, giving Celestia a look she hadn’t seen in over a millenium.

Celestia sighed. She knew she wasn’t going to get away from this. Her sister would hound her mercilessly if she never got a straight answer. “Fine,” she said. “Fine. You’re right, there was more to it. For once in my life, I needed to get away for this particular holiday. I wanted to take a vacation for the Spring Festival and Hearts and Hooves day, so I created a silly mandate and set the renewal date for every thousand years, hoping everypony would forget about it afterwards. And everypony did, except that I forgot it had been written down. I really should have secretly burned that book sometime in the past couple hundred years.”

“So why did you need Hearts and Hooves day off?” asked Luna. She was grinning now, still resting her head on the table and looking up at her sister

“You know exactly why.” Celestia sniffed and sipped her tea.

“Tiaaa...” Luna’s expression was aggravatingly happy. She probably knew how much it was pissing her sister off.

Celestia frowned “Ugh, don’t make me say it.”

“Tiaaaaaaa...”

“Okay, fine! So I had a lover and I wanted to spend a few private months with them, and kicking it off with a festival geared towards lovers and a holiday created to celebrate love seemed like a really romantic and amazing idea! I’m allowed to fall in love every few millennia, am I not? I’m still a pony with feelings like love and lust and I am entitled to act on those, okay? Gosh.”

“Tiaaaaaaaaaaaaa...” Luna’s voice was starting to break up into laughter as she lifted her head from the table.

“What!”

It was Luna’s turn to giggle now. “I’m sorry sister, but it’s just too funny.”

“Well at least you’re happy now.” Celestia was more than a little annoyed.

“So why’d you need to create a fake mandate, anyway?” Luna asked. “You’re the princess. You can do whatever you want, go wherever you want. I’m sure the populace would understand if you felt the urge to go on a romantic retreat with your husband.”

“W-well...” Celestia stuttered. “We weren’t married, first off. And it was kind of sort of a secret. In a way. A little bit.”

Luna rose a hoof to her mouth. “Ohohoho, an undercover romance? How unlike you, Celestia. What was it like? What did you do?”

“I’m not even going to answer that.”

“Oh come now, sister,” goaded Luna, “You owe me here. Tell me what you two did for two months.”

“Dear. Sister. Luna. Disabuse yourself of the hope that I will ever recount any of my romantic escapades to you.”

“At least tell me if he was gorgeous or not.”

Celestia cleared her throat. “She was quite beautiful, and let me assure you, the time off was well spent.”

“A mare?”

“Yes, and now you understand why it was kept a secret. Relationships like that were not exactly common in those days. And they were frowned upon.”

Things were quiet for a few moments as Luna processed this.

“What was her name, if I may ask?”

“Amber Skye, with an ‘e’ at the end.”

Luna giggled. “That sounds like a pornstar’s name. Actually...” She thought for a moment. “... it is a pornstar’s name.”

“I will not have you sully the name of my former lover with such accusations. And why exactly do you know that?”

“You have your secrets and I have mine.” Luna looked like she was about to burst into laughter.

“Whatever.”

Celestia went back to her tea and newspaper, every once in awhile looking back up to see that Luna was still staring at her with an expression of contained mirth. She shook her head disapprovingly and raised her cup to her lips, taking a long sip.

“So I guess this is a good time to mention that I might be pregnant,” blurted Luna.

Celestia spat out her tea all over her newspaper and doubled over, coughing. “WHAT!”

Luna burst out into laughter, pounding the table with a hoof.

“Luna, that isn’t funny,” scolded Celestia as she wiped her mouth off with a foreleg. “Don’t wait until I’m drinking to do that.”

“Pure coincidence,” answered Luna, still shaking with laughter.

“The timing was curious.”

“It’s just your imagination.”

Celestia sighed and stood up from the table. “In any case, it’s time to get moving. We have things to do. You have to present your decisions to the council, and I have to get working on a disguise so I can move about freely and unnoticed while on my little forced vacation.”

Luna turned to her half-finished bowl of cereal. “You are right, I’ll finish up quickly.” She began shovelling food into her mouth at an alarming rate.

Celestia rolled her eyes and turned to leave.

“Oh, wait! One mo’ fing!” Luna called after her with her mouth full of sugary cereal.

“Hmm?” Celestia turned back

Luna swallowed. “I looked up the word ‘sabbatical’ in a dictionary last night. Interesting definition.”

“What about it?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well it said it was basically a vacation, though the word ‘sabbatical’ is usually used to describe a break that a college professor takes to get away from constant teaching, or one a scientist takes to get away from their research work. It also said that usually during these vacations, the pony makes use of their vacation to finish up personal research, or a book they’re writing. I was just wondering why you used the word ‘sabbatical’ instead of ‘vacation.’ I figured it was to make it sound more businesslike or official. To make it sound like you were still getting work done or something.”

Celestia smiled warmly. “As a matter of fact, I did finish up a research paper during that time. It was never published though, for various reasons.”

“Oh? What was it about?” Luna looked at her sideways and shoveled a ridiculous amount of cereal into her mouth, chewing slowly.

“It was a dissertation on esoteric sexual positions between two mares.”

Luna choked on her food.

Masks

Yo if you're wondering why this took so long to update refer to my blog post entitled "So... how about those updates, huh?"

-mbulsht

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Sabbatical
Chapter 02
“Masks”

Rarity certainly was perceptive, Twilight would give her that. She was a fair judge of character, but she could always tell when a friend of hers was down. Even if they were trying to hide it.

And Twilight had certainly been trying to hide it.

So naturally she was a tad uncomfortable spending some time alone with Rarity, something she considered as she shifted in the mud bath she was currently lounging in.

Rarity had taken her by surprise in the early morning, waking her up in her library home with a loud rapping at the door. She had answered the door, mane unkempt and coat ruffled from her bed covers, only to be bombarded with her marshmallow white friend insisting that they take the morning off together. Something about a special down at the local spa. With Hearts and Hooves day coming up, the Spa Sisters, those devilish twins, were offering discounts for mares wanting to spruce up for dates. Twilight had refused at first, of course. There were things to do. There were always things to do. Inventory of books, list making, not to mention preparing for the upcoming Festival. But Rarity had waved them all away and insisted.

And when Rarity absolutely insists upon something, one way or another you eventually end up giving in.

So now she found herself lying beside her friend in a luxurious bath, trying to wave off questions that were both uncomfortable to hear, and distressing to know were coming from Rarity.

“W-well it’s not like I’m lonely or anything,” said Twilight.

Rarity was looking expectantly at her and seemed disappointed at her answer as to why she had remained single her entire stay in Ponyville.

“It has been a year since you’ve moved here, and not a single date!” Rarity clutched a forehoof to her breast. She half-swooned sideways into the mud bath. “I can only imagine the crushing loneliness.”

“Rarity, there is no crushing loneliness.”

“Twilight, come on, you don’t think that we, your friends,” she said, gesturing wildly at nopony in particular around them, “don’t notice? How you sigh longingly when you think we’re not looking? How you’re always skittish and a tad bitter as Hearts and Hooves day comes around each year?”

“Well of course I’d be short with ponies during Hearts and Hooves Day!” exclaimed Twilight, making a small flippant splash in their mud bath. “Like any other holiday, I see business at the library rise a bit, I have to help ponies make plans for big events, and I’ve got all my friends absolutely insisting that I take time off to spend a morning or afternoon with them!”

“I’m not saying that your life is easy, I’m merely asking you to look deeper within yourself to examine the emotional reasons behind why Hearts and Hooves Day would present more of a bitter response from-”

“I’m not bitter!” Twilight interrupted. “I’m not lonely! And I certainly don’t ‘sigh longingly’ all the time!”

“You do too sigh, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Do not,” repeated Twilight, sinking belligerently into the bath.

“I saw you sigh yesterday when I was browsing in the library,” Rarity quipped primly. “And you were staring off at the young adult fiction section.”

“I was lost in thought.” Twilight crossed her forelegs.

“The young adult romance fiction section.”

“Completely not thinking about what you think I was thinking about.”

“And,” added Rarity with finality, “I saw some of the books missing from that section half-read behind the counter where you were standing. Really, you’d picked some of the trashiest ones. If you’d simply asked, I could have recommended some absolute gems in the genre. Like Austen’s ‘Northanger Stable’ or perhaps her brilliant ‘Manesfield Park.’ I mean really, that you got even halfway through Stephanie Neigher’s first novel without setting the heathen text on fire-”

“Okay, okay!” Twilight cut her off. “So... maybe I feel a little disappointed that maybe there isn’t a special somepony I’ve got to spend my H-and-H day with, but it’s not for lack of trying! I mean, I don’t close myself off from other ponies and I’m friends with almost everypony in Ponyville, I just have never... well, felt that way about somepony.”

“You mean to tell me that there isn’t a single stallion in Ponyville you don’t train that longing gaze of yours on? Or mare,” she added, raising her hooves defensively. “I don’t judge.”

Twilight shook her head. “Not at all. Maybe I just haven’t studied enough.”

“Now Twilight, really,” chided Rarity, tapping Twilight’s forehead with a hoof. “How many times do you have to be told that some things can’t be learned from books?”

“Well then what, Rarity?” Twilight was exasperated. “What?”

Rarity tapped Twilight again, though this time it was a tap of reassurance. “What indeed, dear Twilight. What indeed. You don’t have to worry! Your generous friend Rarity is going to be here by your side every step of the way!”

Twilight sighed. “How reassuring.”

Rarity either didn’t notice the sarcasm in her response, or chose to ignore it. “Trust me, Twilight Sparkle. One day it’s going to hit you. You will see a pony and that heart of yours will get all aflutter and you’ll start wondering if you’re pretty enough...”

Twilight’s only reply was a vague noise that cannot be reproduced in text.

“I’m glad you opened up though, Twilight,” continued Rarity. She held Twilight’s face between her forehooves and pulled her close. “It’s like the therapists back at my rehab center used to say; the first step in fixing your problems is admitting that there are problems to be fixed! And that methamphetamines will buck up your teeth.”

The two of them laughed then, and the mood was lifted as they talked and joked the morning away.

=-=-=

Apparently, it didn't take too long for Luna to wrap up her meeting with the council, because Celestia had hardly settled down in her room before she heard her sister slam the door to the room next to hers. Within a matter of seconds she heard the high-pitched sounds of electronics being powered on. And through the walls that separated their two rooms, Celestia heard the distinct opening strains of the orchestral menu music that heralded the start of one of Luna's most-played online shooters.

Celestia let out a breath sharply, narrowing her eyes. Her sister really did play too many games. She worried about that. If she left, what was there to stop Luna from wasting her life away in front of TVs and Monitors while the political decisions stagnated? She scrunched up her face, determined to put it out of her mind. No matter. Even if Luna locked herself away, it was only for a couple months, and Magus could probably handle things just fine.

She turned herself to the large ornate mirror that stood in her room next to the large window overlooking the wide plains and rolling hills of Equestria. Angling her body side to side, she examined herself from various angles. Again she sighed. Her rump was starting to look a little larger than before. She suspected it was probably all the cake and stress. In fact, she thought, if she would ever have to describe her job to anypony who didn't know what a princess was, she'd probably tell them it was just a lot of cake and stress.

“So, who am I?” She asked her reflection.

Who, indeed. There was no way she was going out in public on a vacation without a different name, face, and back story. The disguise would have to be foolproof, too, down to voice modification. Not that it was difficult; Princess Celestia was not unaccustomed to putting on the skin of another pony, as it were. But this would be different. This wasn't like those times she'd dash a new color, remove her wings and change her size, just to pop down to Neighrut to peruse the bazaar. This was a long-term gig. She needed to literally become a new pony.

She thought for a moment. Then, closing her eyes, she powered her horn and performed the transformation spell she'd done many times. When she opened her eyes, a young stallion stared back at her from the mirror.

She took a breath. “Hello-” she put a hoof to her mouth as her normal motherly voice came out. “Oh, whoops, forgot to change the voice.” Her horn glowed as she down-tuned her vocal cords. “Hello.... hello.... no, deeper.... hello...”

Satisfied, she cleared her throat and spoke again. “Hello. My name is Fetlock.” She tapped her hoof to her chin. “Uh... I'm a consulting detective from... hmmm... Canterlot? No, that's not very realistic.”

She groaned and shook her head, the spell reverting it self and returning her to her normal bum-beginning-to-get-fat look. Trying again, she closed her eyes and powered her horn. When she looked again, an older gentlemanly stallion with a receding forelock and a short salt-and-pepper mane stood before her.

“Hoofner,” he said. “Name's Hugh Hoofner. I'm a publisher of magazines for...”
Again, a shake of the head and she dropped the disguise. That one wasn't going to work.

The pattern repeated itself. Sometimes a stallion, sometimes a mare. Here was miss Withers, an actress. Here was Frostmane, the poet. Here was Mareilyn Maneson, a singer/songwriger. But each time she threw on a face and a name, it didn't feel right. She couldn't think of a proper story, a proper name, a distinct way of speaking.

Much like a fanfiction writer trying to begin the next chapter of his story, she was overwhelmed by the blank slate, by the sheer oppressiveness of unending possibilities. And like the metaphorical writer, who finds himself suddenly watched online by an unexpected amount of forum users who continuously clamor for his next chapter, she kept starting it up, piecing it together sentence by sentence, but getting frustrated and deleting the whole thing and starting over.

It just always felt wrong.

“So who do I become?” she said, raising her voice in frustration.

Just as she let out her exasperated outburst, she heard Luna let loose a stream of obscenities from the adjoining room. She raised an eyebrow at it; their mother would have been very disappointed if she could hear Luna now. Then an idea struck her. Perhaps Luna would know what sort of pony she could disguise herself as.

As she drew closer to the door to Luna's room, the sounds of guns grew louder and louder, as did the sounds of Luna's exasperated moans and swear words uttered under her breath. Celestia nudged the door open with her hoof and peeked her head in. Instantly, she was bombarded with the smell of pizza, chip dip, and sweat. She coughed. It was certainly a good thing the common ponies never got to see inside the Princess's private chambers, else they might be horrified. Bed unkempt, royal clothes strewn about everywhere, pizza boxes shoved in the closets when the trash bins became full. And the wires. Dear Sun, all the wires. So many consoles hooked up to so many televisions, and in one corner of the room a computer with a massive display. Luna was without a doubt the messiest Princess in the history of Equestrian Princesses. Celestia opened the door all the way and stumbled over to the window, tripping over cans of soda and half-eaten bags of Cheetos. She threw the window open wide and turned to her sister.

“Really, Luna, it couldn't hurt to clean your room every once in a while.”

“I did,” replied Luna, not tearing her eyes away from her television. “Yesterday morning.”

Celestia could hardly believe that her room could get so messy in so short a time, but when it came to Luna and junk food, anything was possible really.

“So what do you want?” Luna asked, refusing to tear her eyes away from the game she was playing.

Celestia walked over to her and watched Luna's avatar run around its little virtual world, jumping and ducking between cover and firing what appeared to be a very large machine gun at other players. She could certainly see why this game could be interesting as a pastime, but she found it difficult to believe ponies could be so hypnotized as Luna was.

“Just wanted your input on something,” Celestia replied.

“Uh-huh” it was a noncommittal noise.

A shot rang out through the television speakers and Luna swore very loudly as her character crumpled to the floor.

“Oop...” a voice came from the television as a player on the other end spoke up. “Saw you scanning the windows for me, but I caught you first.”

Celestia saw that whenever the voice talked a small notification popped up on the screen with a little speaker icon, denoting the user that was talking. The icon read “FarrierBlue.”

“Ughghghhhhh, that is IT!” Luna tossed her controller to the side.

“Sorry Princess, maybe next time!” yelled FarrierBlue from across the ponynet.

Luna made another incomprehensible noise of frustration and unplugged her PonyStation 3, severing her connection to the game. She tore off her headset, put it down, and got up, stretching her legs.

“That damn player constantly drops into games that I'm in and spends the entire match just messing with me,” she told Celestia, kicking a hind leg back to get rid of her stiffness.

“Aww... maybe he likes you.” Celestia grinned reached up and gave her sister a pat on the head.

Luna brushed her sister's hoof away. “No, it's griefing and it pisses me off.”

“So you've been telling people online that you're the princess?” Celestia asked.

“Are you kidding me? If I told people that it would be all gifts and free kills and 'here Princess let me do that quest for you.' Bullshit like that. I like playing the games, and I'm not going to use my status just to let people bow down to me in the virtual world.” She sighed. “He just calls me that because I used to slip into Old Equestrian when I got angry a lot, like an old royal.”

Celestia giggled. “So it's like a pet name.”

“I'm going to kill you.”

“Anyways,” said Celestia, clearing her throat and hoping to change the subject, “I came in here to ask you for some help. I can't decide on a form and I'm having trouble coming up with a name.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Why? Just make up a name, slap some new colors on your face and walk out the door.”

“It's not that simple.” Celestia sighed and walked over to the window to peer out at the grounds below. “I have to literally become somepony else and I have to have an airtight story that makes sense so that nopony asks any questions or gets suspicious. Everypony is going to know that the princess is out and about, and I really don't want them finding out who I am.”

“So use the name and face of somepony you knew well.” Luna flopped down on her bed and let her head hang over the side, looking upside-down at Celestia. “That way you don't need to make anything up.”

“That's called 'identity theft' and is illegal, you dingbat.”

Luna laughed. “No no no, silly, I mean like somepony who's been gone for a long time. Like... well, why not Amber?”

Celestia whipped her head and glared at Luna. “If you think I'm going to wear my late lover's face just to amuse you, then-”

“No! No, no. Not what I meant!” said Luna, waving her hooves placatingly. “I mean, she's been gone for a long while. Longer than anypony except you and I have been alive. Nopony's going to remember her and what she looked like. And you knew her well, so you know her story and origins and all that, so you won't slip up and mix up facts about your disguise or anything.”

Celestia bit her lip. “Well, that certainly is true, but then I'd have come up with some sort of excuse...”

Luna rolled over on to her stomach. “What did she do? How did she come to know you?”

“She was my speech writer, among other things. Sort of a personal aide.”

“Really now, sister, you had a secret romance with your secretary?”

“She was so much more than just a simple Secretary!” Celestia bristled. “She was by my side constantly, and was extremely faithful in her service. She made my job as Princess bearable and the only reason I haven't hired another pony like her in the past thousand years is because nopony could ever do her job like she did.”

“Oh, I bet she did one hell of a job on you,” shot back Luna, waggling her eyebrows. “Sorry!” she quickly added, as she saw Celestia step forward angrily. “Couldn't resist. But honestly though, that's perfect! The perfect cover story. Ponies will wonder why they've never seen you, and it's because you're cooped up in Canterlot Castle and you rarely get out, doing your civic duty. What with high-and-mighty Celestia out taking a break, her speechwriter would be on break too, right?”

Celestia thought for a moment. “Yes, well I suppose that makes sense. And I already know everything about her, so I'd have an airtight story. But I don't know.”

“And what better way to honor her memory, during the Spring Festival and Hearts and Hooves no less?”

“Well...”

“The best part,” added Luna, “is that you don't even have to think about the visual disguise. You already know what every part of her body looks like. And I mean that seriously. With only slight innuendo.”

Celestia chose to ignore the joke. “Alright,” she said. “Let's try that. Let's do it. I'll do it.”
She stepped to the center of the room to give herself space to work with. She expelled a breath sharply. Closing her eyes, she sent her mind back a thousand years. Back to the memories of a mare she once held twixt her own forelegs. Back to a mare she once kissed, once took to her bed. Back to a mare who was, without shadow of doubt, beyond

=-=-=

beautiful. There really was no other word to describe Amber, Celestia decided as she stepped back from her lover to get a full look at her.

“...well?” said Amber Skye, giving her an inquisitive look. “How does it look?” The unicorn gave herself a little twirl, showing off the dress she had just stepped in to.

Celestia's eyes traced the simple lace frills that lay across her tail and rump, up her slim, defined back, to the base of her deep navy blue mane, down around her small chest, where it was clasped with a silver lock.

“Perfect,” Celestia said softly, feeling her face begin to heat up. “You're absolutely perfect.”

Amber rolled her eyes “The dress, Princess.”

“Of course!” Celestia's voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. “That's what I meant, of course. The royal tailor did a fine job, and you'll look quite presentable standing next to me while I give my Spring Festival Opening Speech.”

Amber looked down at the dress, and shifted her hind legs to feel how comfortable the dress was to move about in. She took a few experimental steps, and then a short little hop. Celestia laughed, watching her.

“You don't wear these often, do you?”

“They are hardly practical. I spend most of my days reading and studying your foreign policy so I can write your speeches, in case you have forgotten. There's no need for me to really wear anything.”

Celestia leaned down to nuzzle her in the middle of her neck. “You really should wear them more often.”

“You forget,” Amber retorted playfully, “that I am vastly more interested in what lies beneath.”

They both pulled apart and laughed, a clear crystalline sound that echoed throughout the empty halls of the West Wing.

“Well...” began Amber once they'd quieted down, “I think we are done here. And since everypony's gone for the night, and the cleaning company won't be around for hours...”

“Hmmm?” Celestia cocked her head.

Amber sauntered towards her, stretching her neck up to put her mouth inches away from Celestia's.

“All I'm saying is, you helped me get into this damn complicated thing.” Amber's voice lowered to a whisper. “So why don't you help me get out of it?”

“Hhhhh...” It wasn't a reply so much as it was a small noise Celestia made in return.

Without another word, Celestia reached up a hoof and brushed Amber's forelock aside. Lowering her head, she pulled from deep within her well of magic and light up her horn. It would be tricky to remove this intricate of a dress by herself, but she was well practiced. Well practiced indeed. She exhaled as she activated a spell, feeling her magic

=-=-=

coursing through her horn. Then, with a final push, she let it escape, long tendrils of golden light enveloping her body, lifting and changing it. Molding it into something new.

There was a bright flash of light, at which Luna covered her eyes. When she peeked them open once again, it was not Celestia she beheld standing before her, but a much shorter young unicorn mare.

She sat there and stared for a moment.

“So...” said Luna, getting off of her bed to circle around and see all angles of Celestia's new disguise. “This is Amber, hmmm?”

“Ah, it's not finished yet,” said Celestia. With one last flick of her horn, she conjured up a small pair of shiny black rectangular reading glasses that rested on the end of her nose.

Luna giggled. “She looks like a bookish speechwriter, that's for sure.”

Celestia turned toward Luna's mirror and gazed at her reflection. She gasped softly when she found herself face to face with a mare she had not seen in far too long.

“I see why her parents named her Amber,” said Luna, reaching up to poke her. “Soft orange fur. An amber coat. And a pretty dark navy mane to compliment it. Darker orange eyes, and a pair of cute glasses. Small wonder you fell for her.”

“Yes...” said Celestia, not tearing her eyes away from the mirror. “Small wonder indeed.” She shook her head. “It's just kind of weird, though.”

“Hmmm?” Luna was busy inspecting her flank and the quill cutie mark that adorned it.

“I mean, it just feels a little odd, seeing her when I look at myself in the mirror. And it feels strange actually being in her skin.”

“Celestia, please.” Luna didn't stop inspecting her cutie mark. “It's not like it would be the first time a part of you has been inside her.”

“I'm going to kill you.”

“And you know what else is strange?” asked Luna, ignoring Celestia’s response. “How much Amber reminds me of that student of yours. And not just because they are both unicorns. I mean, look at her mane. It's nearly the same deep shade of blue, similar style with a straight cut across the bangs. She's simple, bookish, very librarian-looking. And the quill cutie mark; she's into reading, writing, studying. Makes one wonder how you look upon your faithful student, if this was the pony you were secretly bangi-”

“I swear to Sun,” snapped Celestia, “That I have heard your jokes about me and Twilight Sparkle quite enough times. And if you continue that train of thought, I will send you on another millennium-long expedition to our natural satellite, and refuse to let you come back until you've drafted a three-volume thesis on the properties of moondust and its relation to the taste of cheese.”

“Touchy, touchy,” Luna clicked her tongue. She smiled. “She is beautiful, though. Amber, I mean. I can see what drew your eye to her.”

“Yes,” Celestia said, calming herself. “She was very beautiful.”

Luna hopped back up onto her bed. “So why didn't you marry her?”

“I told you that already.” Celestia sat herself down on the floor. “You know full well that a thousand years ago relationships like this were frowned upon. Doubly so since we were of two completely different levels in the class system. One never married below their station, you know that.”

“Well, yes, but you're the Princess! You could have exuded a little power. Yes, the commoners would have whispered nasty things amongst themselves, but nopony would dare challenge you. If you had truly been serious in your relationship, even I would have stepped aside to let you marry.”

Celestia shook her head. “It was more than that.”

“I hear a needlessly complicated story coming on.”

Celestia sighed. “Not really, she just... well, she was...” a pause. And then, “She was in an arranged marriage.”

Luna didn't say a word, but she formed an “oh” with her mouth, understanding.

“Yes, you get it.” Celestia dug at the carpet with a hoof. “If our relationship had gone public, the scandal would have ruined many things.”

“I see.”

“It's really a shame she hadn't been born just a few centuries later. Arranged marriages would have gone out of style by then.”

“Wait... really?” Luna leaned forward. “They don't do arranged marriages any more?”

Celestia looked over the rims of her reading glasses at Luna. It was the piercing gaze of an annoyed librarian. “And here I thought you'd caught up on all your history lessons. Welcome to the twenty-first century, my dear.”

“Huh.”

The two sat there for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts. It was Celestia who broke the silence. “I think you're right, dear sister.” She stood, stretching her legs. “I'm going to keep this form. In honor of the mare who meant the world to me.”

“Here, here! Lost Love! Honor! The stuff of those romantic novels I know you hide under your pillows when you think nopony is looking.”

Celestia laughed now, taking the joke in stride. “In the spirit of the season, right? Anyways, I think I should be going now. It's getting on in the afternoon and I'd like to make it to Ponyville with enough time to find a place to stay for the night before finding something to entertain myself with for the month.”

“Will you come back to visit? Or are you just going to leave for the whole month?”

“Oh, Luna. Don't worry. I'll come back all the time. But it will have to be at night when you're off your royal duties. I'm not supposed to involve myself in that business, it being a Sabbatical and all. But I'm sure the two of us will have plenty to talk about.”

“Well then off with you!” Luna made a shoo-ing motion with her forelegs. “I have games to play. There are brains to be shot out!”

“Of course, sister. I'll not keep you from your blood and gore any longer.”

Celestia turned to Luna's large window. Reaching up with a hoof, she pushed it open and put her forelegs up on the window sill. She was just about to spread her wings and leap out when Luna spoke up.

“Probably not the best idea, sister. Jumping out the window, I mean.”

Celestia turned to look at her. “Hmmm?”

Luna indicated her small back with a nod. “Amber's a unicorn.”

Celestia stood there for a second, and then burst out into laughter. “Oh, my!” she exclaimed. “Could you imagine my face if I jumped out the window with a bare back and tried to fly?”

“No, but I could imagine the colorful decoration your insides would make on the stone pathways of our garden.”

“Okay, okay” Celestia backed away from the window and shut it. “This time for sure.”

She closed her eyes, concentrating on a teleportation spell that would land her on the pathways just outside Ponyville. She was just about to activate it when Luna interrupted again.

“Wait!” she yelled.

Celestia jumped, and the magic on her horn fizzled out. “What!”

There was a pause. Then Luna took a deep breath. “Seriously though,” she said. “They don't do arranged marriages any more?”

Celestia let out a frustrated groan. Not even bothering to answer, she shot her sister a very annoyed look and disappeared in a flash of amber magic.

And suddenly, Luna was alone in the room save for a few wisps of smoke from her sister's teleportation spell and the faint smell of burning pages that accompanied it.

=-=-=

-#-#

=-=-=

My friend flavinbagel helped me design the color scheme for Amber Skye and he was awesome enough to do a quick two-minute doodle of what she looks like. Much thanks to him and his knowledge of color theory and other things that are confusing

Arrival

Sabbatical

Chapter 03

“Arrival”

“SHE WHAT?” Twilight nearly screamed. It had been a long time since she had been this ruffled, but for once there was a truly legitimate reason behind it.

The Mayor of Ponyville sighed. With one hoof she slid her glasses from their perch to hang around her neck, and with the other she rubbed her temples. “Please, miss Sparkle,” she pleaded. “There is no need to raise your voice in my office.”

The two of them were standing in Mayor Mare’s office in the humble City Hall of Ponyville. Well, Twilight was standing. The Mayor, having just returned from the morning follow-up meeting with the Princesses, was sitting dejectedly in her seat behind her desk, thoroughly bemused by the fact that she and Twilight were having the conversation in which they were engaged. Twilight, rather than puzzled, was looking agitated. Manic, almost.

“I’m sorry, Mayor Mare It’s just... and there simply has to be a apple-sized wax formation in my ear,” Twilight declared, dramatically massaging an ear with her hoof, “but I could have sworn that you just told me that Princess Luna changed the location of this year’s Spring Festival to Ponyville.”

Mayor Mare sighed. “That is exactly what I just said.”

“Ah....wh...bu-” Twilight’s face contorted as she tried to say something, but all that came out were a series of sounds that were nonsensical at best.

“I see you’re distressed. Imagine how I felt this morning. Me, the damned Mayor, being told this out of nowhere, less than a week in advance of the Festival.”

Twilight seemed to find her voice all of a sudden, and chose to raise it. “But last year it was decided that Cloudsdale would host the Festival this year!”

“Your voice, miss Sparkle.”

Twilight sighed and connected hoof with forehead. “Right, sorry. I’m just a little overwhelmed here. The timing is just terrible. I mean, you’ve got a calendar here, right? The Festival begins this year on the Ninth of the Second. Today is Sunday the Fifth, and that’s this Friday! And you were notified of this change only just this morning?”

“Yes, giving us less than a week to prepare for something most cities have a year’s time to prepare for. And by us, I mean you and me. Since you were in charge of organizing the minor festivities Ponyville was going to have on Hearts and Hooves Day, I’m afraid it now falls to you to aid in organizing the Spring Festival.” The Mayor glanced over at her calendar. “I’m more than a little incensed that they did not decide to tell us this at the last monthly meeting. And the fact that Celestia probably had no hoof in deciding this irks me to no end.”

Twilight was pacing now, her mind working to formulate plans for the Festival. “Yes, and I’m going to need every resource available if this is to be pulled off well. There will be lists, of course. Lists will have to be made. I’ll have Spike begin drawing up some-- wait.” Twilight stopped, and slowly swung her head to look directly at the Mayor over her desk. “What was that about Celestia?”

The Mayor let her chin rest on her desk as she looked tiredly up at Twilight. “I’m quite certain Luna made this decision all on her own. Celestia was not at the meeting this morning. She was there last night for the monthly planning meeting, but didn’t come to the follow-up. It’s likely many of the decisions announced this morning were Luna’s entirely.”

“And why exactly did Princess Celestia decide to skip one of the most important meetings of the month?” Twilight was on edge. It was almost as though the universe had lost all sense of organization and logic. Celestia skipping out on a royal duty? Unthinkable.

“Ohohoho...” The Mayor laughed mirthlessly. “That’s the best part, actually. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it. She went on sabbatical last night. For a whole month. I’ll be surprised if she even had any say in-”

“SHE WHAT?” Twilight shouted once more, causing Mayor Mare to jump out of her seat.

“Twilight Sparkle, I swear to everything that is holy.” The Mayor spoke through gritted teeth. “If you raise your voice to my face in this office one more time, I will replace every single almanac and encyclopedia in your library with the 500 book-long Muddy Adventures of Buttons the Pig and mandate that you do a weekly Saturday children’s book reading until you’ve finished the entire series one chapter at a time.”

Again, Twilight apologized with a sigh. “I’m sorry. This is all too much here. There is so much to do and so little time left to do it in.”

“Which is why,” the Mayor responded, pulling a series of papers from a drawer in her desk, “you will have the full support of the Mayoral office, as well as a good amount of extra funding. Feel free to use the City’s money to hire more help. I’ll draw out a pass with my signature for you. It should get you some support from local businesses too.”

“Well that’s reassuring.” It was indeed reassuring, though Twilight still spoke the words with a heavy coating of sarcasm.

The Mayor gave her an extremely annoyed look. “There really is no need to take that tone with me. It’s not like I don’t have my own work cut out for me as well. You won’t be doing this all by yourself. And I hope,” she added, looking at Twilight over the rims of her glasses, “that you can get your friends to help us. I’m sure we can put on the best festival possible if you, your friends, and I do our level best.”

“Right.” Twilight closed her eyes, took a deep breath, let it out, and then turned to leave the Mayor’s office. “I have a lot of work cut out for me right now. And that means I need to get going. I’ll have a plan drawn up by tomorrow. Oh, and Mayor?” she added, “Thanks for notifying me the moment you got in from Canterlot.”

“You were the first pony I called.”

“Well, make sure I’m not the last; we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” the Mayor held up a hoof, remembering something. “Luna told me to make it a ‘Festival worthy of a Princess.’”

“Great. More pressure.” Sarcasm abounded as Twilight rolled her eyes. “Let’s just heap it on, Ponyville can take it!”

With that, Twilight opened the door and raised quill and parchment to her face in one deft motion, exiting the office and beginning a checklist at the same time.

“Post office first, I think,” she muttered to herself, as her she made her way out of City Hall.

=-=-=

The mayor of Cloudsdale was not happy.

To be fair, the mayor of Cloudsdale was rarely happy. It was one of the hazards of her job. Cloudsdale was a difficult city to maintain, with its roaring weather factories and bustling residential districts perched precariously on a foundation comprised entirely of evaporated water. When you build a city out of clouds and on top of clouds, it doesn’t matter how magical your hooves are. Your house is still liable to disappear from existence at the slightest misstep.

But today, she was decidedly unhappy for a completely different reason. The reason in question was Princess Luna. The meeting the night before had been a complete circus. Celestia had clearly been paying more attention to the clock than to any of the petitions being forwarded, and on top of that, it seemed that Luna had made all the decisions on the petitions by herself anyway. And Celestia forgetting an important mandate that she herself had written? Far be it from a lowly Mayor to question the way a demigoddess might think or act, but Celestia had been undoubtedly un-princesslike at their monthly meeting.

The Mayor of Cloudsdale sighed as she stood, forelegs on the fluffy cloud railing of her bedroom balcony. She knew she looked a mess. Her normally well kept blue and white manebun was coming undone, she could feel it. And she was quite certain the brown patch on the side of her white coat was from the Appleoosan representative who had sat next to her the previous night. Filthy stallion probably hadn’t bathed in days. She sighed, taking in the late morning air and looking out at the vast busy city below.

“Sleet?” A voice from inside called her name.

“I’m outside, Snow.” She didn’t bother to turn around as she heard the faint puff sound of her husband’s hooves on their cumulus carpet. “I didn’t see you when I got in,” she said.

“I was out at the market, getting you some breakfast. I know the swanky food they lay out at Canterlot Castle never really sits right with you. Figured you’d be hungry.”

Sleet smiled. “A lifesaver as always, Snowstreak.”

She felt her husband’s forelegs wrap around her stomach in a warm embrace as kissed her neck.

“Not in the mood, Snow.” she sighed again

“Not in the mood for what?” her husband said softly, pulling his head back. “Sitting back in bed, eating breakfast, and telling me all about the decisions the Princesses made this morning that has you ruffled and sighing while you look off into the distance? I have muffins, by the way. And bagels. With your favorite jam.”

“What on earth,” Sleet muttered, “did I ever do to deserve you?”

“Well for one, you hold a lucrative public office job in a profitable industrial city that manages weather for an entire country.”

Sleet laughed and turned around to walk back in. “In any case, I’m glad you’re as thoughtful as you are. I’m starving.”

Snow led her back into the bedroom whereupon he grabbed her, hovered into the air, and plopped her gently down on their bed. “Now you stay there,” he said, “while I go and get your breakfast.”

As he left, Sleet giggled, a sound thoroughly inappropriate for a mare of her age and maturity, and wriggled her way into a more comfortable position on the bed. Snow always managed to make her feel better, no matter how bad her mood was. Like a college filly. Almost.

When Snow returned with her breakfast, gallantly perching it on a tray on his back, he pulled up a small mass of cloud to sit next to the bed.

“Now,” he said, pushing the tray up next to her, “Tell me all about todays business.”

“Well, first of all,” Sleet said, taking a bite from a bagel, “The Fpring Festifal if not going to be in Cloudfdale thiff year.” She swallowed. “After all that damn planning we’ve been doing for the past 6 months, they switch it to Ponyville, of all places.”

“Really.” Snow raised an eyebrow. “They’ve only got what, five days now to pull it off?”

“Oh, that’s not the issue.” Sleet waved a hoof dismissively, taking another bite and finishing it before talking. “They’ll pull it off. They’ve got that crazy smart unicorn living there, you know the Princess’s hoof-picked student. The issue is now that stupid Mayor Mare has yet another thing to lord over me for the next year. Stupid Mayor,” she fumed, “Her name is ‘Mare’ I mean can you get any more... just...ugh.”

“Heh.”

“I mean really, where is the reasoning behind switching it all of a sudden? We’re one of the most organized cities in the country, we’ve been planning for ages, and all of a sudden they just give it to a bunch of small-town country bumpkins?”

“I’m sure there’s a reason behind it.”

“I don’t think there’s a reason behind any of the decisions this month. You know, they pulled our funding petition? How do they expect us to produce their weather efficiently and at a consistent degree of excellence? And all this, on top of the fact that Celestia is going to be gone for the next month because of a stupid law that she wrote once upon a time.”

“Well this,” said Snow, patting his wife reassuredly, “is indeed a mess. But,” he added, “it’s not a mess we have to worry about. Cloudsdale’s run on this budget for almost a year, it can run on this budget for another month. Plus, we’ve got all this time, money, and labor force freed up from having to set up for the Festival. It was going to be hell on earth for us anyway, having to set up ground-level festivities.”

“A bright side to this at last, I guess.”

“And,” he continued, “There’s always next year. The Princesses will have to give the next Festival to us after this little blunder. This way, you can see how Mayor Mare does her country bumpkin Festival, and then plan a Festival to one-up hers.”

“Ohhh...” Sleet scrunched up her face. “Oh youuu... careful now, your optimism and gentle charm might actually rub off on me.”

“Your job is to make tough decisions. Mine is to make you smile and feed you breakfast.”

Sleet laughed, and then swatted him playfully.

=-=-=

Sweet Apple Acres was, more often than not, a calm and serene place to behold. As one could probably guess from their name alone, the Apple family had little stock in raising anything other than the fruit-bearing trees of their namesake. So beyond a few much-loved family pets, the only things living out in the acres of field were a silent and wooden species. Applejack preferred it this way, where on a pleasant day the loudest sound aside from the leaves rustling in the wind was the steady and persistent thock thock of her hooves coaxing those delicious ruby wonders from their perches.

It was certainly better than their distant relatives, the Pigslaughters, whose ranches could be heard for miles around, and whose neighbors prayed every day for a thunderstorm to drown out the awful gut-wrenching noise.‘Tain’t natural, what they do, Applejack’s granny would sometimes remark. That noise, ‘tain’t natural. Whenever they were brought up in conversation, Applejack was always perfectly happy to gently remind everypony that the Pigslaughters were in-laws; relatives in a legal sense only. And under her breath she would often curse the cousin of hers whose shady-at-best shotgun wedding had bound their families together.

Honestly though, Applejack would silently ponder, what kind of family lives entirely off of exports to the Griffin Kingdom, hoovers up ridiculous amounts of land, and doesn’t provide a single service to their community or country? Who takes on a disgusting job for the sole reason that it’s lucrative to export delicacies to a foreign nation? With no care in the world for their neighbors or the land that they misuse? Filthy capitalists, that’s who, she would always conclude.

But if there was one good thing, one miniscule sliver of a silver lining to the storm cloud that was the harsh reality of being legally related to such filthy capitalists, it was that they put context to Applejack’s relatively simple life. In a sense, they made Applejack appreciate the small things in her career.

Like the fact, of course, that the loudest sound in her beautiful farm was her hooves on wood, and was accompanied only by Winona’s joyful barks and the music of the leaves in the wind.

So naturally, when Applejack’s ears picked up the distinct pop of air being displaced, followed by the tinkling of dissipating spent magic, she turned a curious head to see what manner of pony had materialized.

And sure as sure can be, a young amber colored mare stood out in the dirt road that ran parallel to Sweet Apple Acres. Squinting her eyes against the light of the high sun, Applejack observed this newcomer. She was quite sure that she had never seen this mare before, though something about her was very similar to somepony Applejack knew. From her vantage point atop a small hill, out of the mare’s line of sight, she watched as the golden-orange coated pony walked closer, looking about and drinking in the ambient surroundings with both curiosity and appreciation. This was clearly a pony who didn’t get out much, Applejack figured.

Applejack prided herself in being able to know a pony before knowing them. Perhaps it was her affinity towards the natural magical force of Honesty that allowed her to see past the masks other ponies put up, but Applejack had always been a fair judge of character. Rarely did she misjudge ponies, and more often than not she was spot on, something that managed to actually impress her more intelligent and learned friends. She’d only once been horribly wrong, and the consequence of course had been a rushed wedding, questionable pregnancy, and the lifelong shame of being distantly, very distantly and don’t you forget it, relatedto a family of murderers.

As the mare drew nearer, Applejack was able to see a small pair of reading glasses perched upon the mare’s muzzle. This, coupled with the her simple and neat manestyle made Applejack think of books, and books made her think of Twilight. That, and the horn. The mare was a unicorn. So here, Applejack concluded, was a young mare on spring vacation from a university. Or perhaps a freelance writer. A smart little thing who probably never got out of her home much, let alone was able to view large tracts of Apple Family land very often. A city filly, if you will. An urban-dwelling introvert who was probably taking a trip to the country to get away from work or school. Much like the Spring Break trip that Applejack’s putrid floozy of a cousin had taken before she came back with a baby and family-shaming baggage.

“Filthy capitalists,” Applejack growled, almost involuntarily. A knee-jerk response to her memories.

The wind must have carried the sound, or she must have spat the words loudly enough, because the amber mare’s ears flicked and she whipped her head up to look at the source of the sound. Presumably because it was a quiet day, and sudden sounds draw attention, or perhaps because it isn’t often that a unicorn materializes in a serene country setting and has their thoughts broken by the words, “filthy capitalists.”

Applejack smiled widely, deciding to pretend as though she had never spoken and trotted down the hill towards the fence that ran twixt farm and dirt road.

“Howdy!” she called. She stopped at the fence, propping herself up on her hind legs with her forelegs lazily draped over the top. She adjusted her hat with a jaunty smile. “Ain’t seen you ‘round here before.”

The young mare smiled, her head tilted and her eyes half-lidded. She was quite pretty, Applejack decided. Not beautiful, like Rarity, or hot, like Rainbow Dash. But she had a quiet and subdued charm. And when she spoke, she had a light and unobtrusive voice.

“Hi.” She stepped over to where Applejack was standing and stopped across the fence from her.

“In town for a vacation?” asked Applejack.

She nodded. “Got some time off, so I decided to pay Ponyville a visit. It’s been a while since I was here last.”

Nailed it, thought Applejack. Aloud, she said, “Well in that case let me welcome you back to Ponyville! It’s the greatest thing, havin’ this farm here right on the main road leadin’ in. I get to greet everypony who comes and goes. Where you visitin’ from, miss...?”

“Amber,” she said. “Amber Skye.”

Applejack kept her smile wide, but her left ear twitched at the name and in the back of her head she swore she could recall the name being associated with a porn star.

“I’m visiting from Canterlot,” continued Amber. “Taking a break from my er... writing job.”

Double nailed that one, thought Applejack. Still got it. “Well ain’t that right nice. I hope you have a nice stay, now. I won’t keep you no longer.”

“Thanks.” Amber turned to leave. “Actually,” she added, as though remembering something, “Could you tell me where I could get a place to stay here? I heard Ponyville was going to have some minor festivities on Hearts and Hooves Day and I’d like to be around to see that.”

“Well, if it’s rooms you’re looking for, you can look ‘round the inn, they usually got a good number of empty rooms. That ‘uns down this road, past the town square and a huge tree that’s our library. If money’s no object, then you can try the local Spa, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“What do you mean, ‘if money is no object?’”

“I mean they got a few real expensive places to stay there. Turnin’ it into some sorta country spa resort, their owners are.” Applejack waved a hoof dismissively. “I don’t know much about it though. I’m not really the spa type, as you can probably tell.”

“Actually,” said Amber, “That’s probably perfect. Thank you so much! I should probably get going though.” She waved and turned to leave once more.

As she watched Amber walk slowly up the dirt path leading into town, Applejack bent down and bit off a long grass stalk, chewing the end and letting it hang lazily out the side of her mouth. This newcomer certainly was nice, she decided. She couldn’t shake the odd feeling she’d gotten from hearing her name, though. As she was considering this, she felt a large warm body sidle up next to hers.

“Hiya, Mac.” She didn’t need to turn to look, she knew immediately who it was.

“Newcomer?” Big Macintosh, her brother, was a stallion who liked to talk efficiently. Even if it meant mangling grammar just to be able to say fewer words.

“Yup. She’s quite nice, too.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Weird name, though.” Applejack squinted. “Well not really weird, just gives me a weird feelin.’”

“Oh.”

“You ever hear the name ‘Amber Skye?’” She turned to look at her brother, whose stony expression gave away almost no emotion.

“Yup.”

“It’s a porn star’s name, ain’t it?”

“Yup.” Big Macintosh blinked. “I mean....uh, what?”

“Thought so.” Applejack laughed and jabbed her brother playfully in the side to punctuate her words.

“Ow.”

=-=-=

If there was one thing that Angel was good at, it was being an insufferable cunt. Fluttershy would often find herself thinking this about Angel, and would usually reprimand herself with a mental wrist slap, chiding her subconscious for bringing up thoughts that were Not Very Nice. When you really think about it though, it is quite funny. You’d expect somebody with a name like “Angel” to be a soft, cuddly, and kind being.

And Angel was indeed soft, and cuddly. In fact he was the very embodiment of soft and cuddly. A small curious white rabbit whose fur was as down and always well kept, something Fluttershy prided herself on when it came to her care of her animal friends. But a kind rabbit Angel was not. He was indeed, as Fluttershy so often thought and then chided herself for thinking, an insufferable cunt.

And today seemed to be no exception.

It was not often that anypony ever got to see Fluttershy’s patience and carefully-composed facade break down. And were one to really think about it; it was likely Angel who got to see it most, as often he was the cause of it. Oddly enough, he was often also the cure for it. Fluttershy loved him dearly, and a quick nuzzle and a light chitter would always bring a smile to her face. But an impish asshole he could be nonetheless.

And with these thoughts, Fluttershy ambled slowly down the path leading away from her house, handing out mental wrist-slaps to herself every five seconds. She wasn’t sure where she was going; there was no real destination in her mind. But the walking at least meant she was out of her house and briefly away from the stress of having Angel around.

She exhaled sharply. Her baby had been quite particular about his meal tonight, despite her constant reminders that he should eat healthy. But Angel had been adamant to the point of harassment, and in the end she relented and gave him what he wanted. As she trudged the soft tamped dirt path she made a resolve to improve his diet the next day. In the back of her mind she knew she would probably relent again and again, but the resolution made her feel better.

How pathetic, a new thought came to rise in her mind. What a pitiable manner. There was no resolve; there was only empty promises. Empty promises to the self and to the animals under her care. The thought made her throat tighten and she coughed to hold back an unexpected dry sob. It was no way to raise her animal friends, the unwanted thoughts continued. If she couldn’t do what was best for them because she was too weak to sometimes say no to them, then what business did she have parading her cutie mark around?

Fluttershy stopped her walk to take a deep breath. Brooding on the subject was not going to get anything done. For now, she had her resolution, and come hell or high water she was going to act on that resolution the next day, even if it failed. That, at least, was surely a step forward.

It was times like these, times that occurred often, which she thought about Twilight Sparkle. If there were a friend among her little group that Fluttershy respected most, it was Twilight. Twilight, with her vast knowledge and seemingly endless supply of solutions, advice, and always-ready-to-listen ears. For whom “citation needed” was more than just a motto, it was a way of life.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to talk to her, Fluttershy decided. Talking to Twilight always made her feel better. To be fair, talking to any of her friends made her feel better, but with Twilight it was different. Twilight was a listener first, Fluttershy liked to think. Even her oldest friend, Rainbow Dash, had a hard time really understanding Fluttershy’s problems. It wasn’t that Dash didn’t care, she just had a very different attitude towards life. An attitude that didn’t really allow for the understanding of more timid and careful ponies. Invariably Dash would always say something like “buck up” or “you just gotta work at it,” which were all very nice, if ultimately unhelpful. She never held it against Dash, of course. Dash was simply in a different world.

Rarity and Applejack too weren’t always the best, one who cared not for what other ponies thought of her, and the other who obsessed about her public perception to the point of it being disturbing. Pinkie Pie could rarely help either. Though no matter how hard Fluttershy stretched her imagination, she couldn’t think of a single pony who could ever really take any intricate life advice from Pinkie Pie. Or give it, either. Dash may have lived in a different world, but Pinkie lived in a different world.

No, good ol’ empirical Twilight was the best for times like these. Even if she didn’t understand or couldn’t provide real advice she would, at the very least, listen to all the points of data from as many angles as her mind could handle before drawing a conclusion. That was the scientific process, after all. That was the method of deduction.

It had been a while since Fluttershy had really gotten to spend any kind of time with Twilight despite how much she enjoyed her company, and this seemed like as good an excuse as any. For that thought, Fluttershy once again chided herself. It wasn’t an excuse, she shouldn’t call it that. Calling it an “excuse” would imply that Fluttershy would grasp at any reason to visit Twilight. And that simply wasn’t true. Why would she do that?

As she made a turn at a fork in the path that led towards the library where Twilight worked and lived, she smiled a content smile and nodded to herself. This wasn’t an excuse. It was a legitimate reason. She was going to visit her friend for some advice, and nothing more. There was no reason other than that Twilight was the most logical choice to hear out her angst. Absolutely no other deeper reason at all.

Of course, deep down Fluttershy knew that this was a lie. But she chose to ignore those thoughts. Because that would mean admitting that she could lie so easily to herself. And what kind of pony would Fluttershy be if that were the case?

Goddess forbid that the embodiment of Kindess lie to itself.

=-=-=

The owners of the local Ponyville Spa, those beautiful twins, had been very kind.

Amber, that is to say, Celestia, had appreciated their services immensely. She had never actually been inside the spa despite having wanted to visit it for a while. A proper spa resort it was becoming, that was for sure. When the twin owners had offered to let her tour the suite facilities, Celestia had almost immediately paid for it. The rooms were luxurious, almost to the level of her own private royal bedroom. The rest of the facilities, however, went far beyond what Celestia enjoyed in the comforts of her castle. Magnificent outdoor baths, relaxing saunas, and a brunch menu that would put her royal cooks to shame. Naturally, if one paid for the highest available package, their rooms would come with smaller, more intimate versions of everything the spa had to offer, to the point where Celestia saw one of the rooms had a stone bathtub that was larger than her custom-built alicorn-sized bed.

The spa sisters had been kind enough to even offer to throw in an extra day pass to the entire resort, in case Celestia wanted to, as they put it, “bring a special friend in for Hearts and Hooves.” The blue one had also added that they had stress tested the beds for something, but before she could say what her sister had ribbed her harshly with a hoof and all that came out was the syllable “fuc-”

So of course it was understandable that the Ponyville Spa’s Gold Package, which included all these wondrous bells and whistles, had a price that came with a significant number of zeros attached. Celestia hemmed and hawed about the deal, but eventually gave in and pulled out her checkbook.

Regulations be damned, she had thought. It was her sabbatical and she was going to spend it how she liked, and if that meant abusing the checkbook that funneled straight from the national treasury, then the royal accountants could get bent. She was going to pamper herself in ways she had only dreamed about. The best part, she figured in retrospect, was that nopony would complain until after she got back. Nopony save Luna knew who she was disguising herself as, and since Amber had been a government employee, Celestia never really had to actually lie about where she’d gotten the checkbook. In fact, Celestia could probably say all kinds of things about the inner workings of the government and it wouldn’t be lying. Amber had been privy to inordinate amounts of eyes-only information. After all, there’s no better place for gossip than the pillow talk corner.

That last thought made Celestia blush, and she shook her head as she made her way into the town square. She had her place to stay for as long as she cared to write large checks that would likely anger her treasurer, so what to do now?

The library came to mind almost immediately. Celestia stopped to consider this. She certainly wanted to visit Twilight. But she would be coming as a pony Twilight had never met. Introductions would have to be made, idle conversation. Was she ready for that? She thought about this for a moment. Amber had been close enough to Celestia to know about her special students. There was excuse enough for Celestia to pretend as Amber that she already knew all about Twilight. But would the disguise be foolproof enough? It seemed to have worked on Twilight’s farmer friend.

And if the element of Honesty could not see through her magical mask, then surely that was enough?

Celestia cleared her throat. So that’s what it was going to be. She was just a visitor. A young writer working for the Princess who was looking for something to read in her idle time, and using that as an excuse to visit the student her employer constantly talked about. That seemed good enough.

The library was just north of the town square, and when Celestia got to it, the sun was beginning its descent. Immediately she noticed that somepony was milling around outside the library, and she recognized the pony as Fluttershy. Fluttershy was peeking in one of the side windows. Celestia thought this was odd, and stopped a fair distance to observe.

After a few moments, Fluttershy came away from the window and went up to the door, took a deep breath, and raised a hoof to open the door. Then she stopped, thought for a moment, put her hoof down, and then paced for a few seconds in front of the door.

“What on earth is she doing?” Celestia murmured to herself. She was out of earshot, and Fluttershy wasn’t looking in her direction, so she stood still to watch the scene.

Fluttershy repeated this process of walking up to the door and raising a hoof, only to drop it and pace. She repeated it again and again. Seemingly unable to decide whether or not to go in, she finally gave up after five minutes and sighed, then turned to walk away, presumably back to her house.

Unsure of what she had just witnessed, Celestia waited until Fluttershy was gone before walking up to the library. She made a mental note to investigate further. But more important things were currently in front of her.

She was going to walk in, browse, and introduce herself. She was going to gush about Twilight, pretending she had heard all about her amazing life as a student to the princess. She was going to have a lovely conversation and mention that she was in town on vacation. She was going to select a book or two, and use those as an excuse to come back. Maybe she would raise a topic about some scholarly endeavour that Twilight would be interested in. And maybe, just maybe, she might be able to do what many teachers wish they could do, but cannot for professional reasons.

Maybe she could become friends with Twilight, if only for a while.

Now wouldn’t that be nice.

Cobwebs

Sabbatical

Chapter 4

“Cobwebs”

When Fluttershy arrived back at her house, her spirits dampened and her face perpetually stuck in a dejected expression, the last thing she expected to happen was for something to come along and make her smile.

Two somethings happened, actually; a rare occasion for her.

The first was that the moment she opened the door to her homely cottage, she beheld Angel sleeping peacefully on a pillow cushion on her dining table, having finished the entirety of his meal. The entirety, meaning the parts he had refused to eat just over an hour earlier. She suspected he had eaten his dessert first, something she constantly had to discourage him from doing, but at least this was a step in the right direction. She sighed softly and smiled at his sleeping form. A cunt he could be, but at least he had done what she asked in the end.

The second something that lifted her spirits was that she stepped on an envelope near her doorway. This was a common occurrence, and it wasn’t the envelope that would eventually cure her blue mood, but rather the contents of it. Cocking her head, she stared at the white parcel and raised an eyebrow. The mail had already been delivered earlier in the day, so this was something priority that had been sent that day. This wasn’t something that happened often. She rarely got any mail from anypony at all anyway. So it was with curiosity that she used her teeth to tear open the top and remove the small note from it.

She laid the note out and planted her rear on the floor to read it.

Friends,

Some rather distressing news has been broken to me this morning by our mayor involving the Spring Festival coming up in a few days, and how Ponyville will now be hosting it. As you can probably guess, I’ve been put partially in charge of planning it. Naturally I have hair falling out of my mane by the hooffull from the stress of having to do in less than a week what most ponies will have almost a year to do. So I need your help. I really, really need your help. Please meet me tonight at 8pm at our usual table at the cafe. Drinks will be on me, of course. Some of you will no doubt need them when I tell you what we’re going to have to do.

-Twilight

Forget the tone, forget the circumstances, forget the nature of the note. Fluttershy almost didn’t even care about what was in it. Her heart soared when she read the words “I need your help.” Twilight needed her. That alone was atonement for her pathetic display earlier, out in front of the library. Twilight needed her and come hell or high water, she was going to be there for her friend.

With another sigh, this one of happiness, she threw a small blanket over Angel’s sleeping form and began preparations to feed all her animal friends an early dinner. She wouldn’t have to cook for herself tonight, either, she realized. The day kept getting better and better.

=-=-=

Much to Celestia’s disappointment, it wasn’t Twilight who stood behind the librarian’s desk when she entered the Ponyville Library. Instead she found Twilight’s friend Rarity, who greeted her with a gracious smile and a warm welcome. She asked after Twilight and gave her name. Rarity notified her that Twilight was currently otherwise disposed elsewhere in the library-slash-makeshift-home and that if Amber was, in fact, looking for her, then she would have to wait a bit and while you’re at it why not browse our shelves?

That sounded like a fair idea, Celestia decided, returning the greeting and welcome with a few words and a flip of her navy blue mane. And since she was in disguise, Celestia felt absolutely no shame in making a beeline for the Romance section to select a few of the trashiest specimens she could find. Nopony would know about her small obsession with the fictional trope-tastic love stories if she was in another pony’s skin, after all.

The first thing she noticed upon reaching the section, however, was that there were large holes in the shelves, where book upon book had been checked out.

“Yes, my dear, I’m afraid a good portion of our Romance novels are currently off the shelves,” called Rarity from the desk. “They have all been er… checked out already, you see.”

Celestia waved a hoof over her shoulder as a response, rather than speaking. She was already quite lost in her thoughts.

For some reason, she was unsettled by the sight of the Romance section. It wasn’t the gaping holes where ponies had checked out large numbers of books, she knew that. But beyond that, the thought eluded her. It seemed important, however, because the feeling was ever-present in her mind. So she stood there, raising a hoof to her chin, thinking deeply.

There was something very specific missing from these shelves, she realized. Though try as she might, couldn’t imagine what it was. She knew, for whatever reason, it wasn’t going to be here, whatever it was. But the fact that she knew that, and the fact that it wasn’t there tickled the back of her mind as a reminder that she couldn’t, for the life of her, think of what it was she couldn’t think of.

“Are there…” she began aloud, but stopped.

“Are there what, madame?” Rarity asked

“I’m sorry, I’m just looking for a very specific author,” Celestia said. “I’m sure their work isn’t here, but for some reason I can’t recall the name.”

“Actually, I’m quite well versed in the genre, perhaps if you describe to me a book, or give me a title?”

Celestia thought for a moment. She didn’t know any titles, she realized. Because she had never read any of the author’s books. Of course she didn’t know the author’s name either. There was only a vague feeling of there having been an author whom she’d always meant to read, but never had.

It was a strange catch-22 she found herself in; she needed to find a book by an author she couldn’t remember, but couldn’t remember the name of a book with which to divine the author’s name. She thought and thought about the situation; what had the books been about? They had been romance novels, she knew that for a fact. And they had all involved something very important to her. A subject in romance to which she was drawn strongly.

Rarity, sensing that she was not going to finish the thought, launched into a line of conversation with some sort of explanation about Twilight and books, but Celestia was deaf to it. She was already losing herself in thought.

In the back of her mind, in some dark and sidelined recess of her memory, an idea sprung forth. There were places in her memories that had begun to develop cobwebs, something she had noticed a few hundred years earlier. The memories build up over time, and some get pushed aside. So like an old grandpony digging through their attic to relive the bygone years of their youth, she mentally blew the dust off of a small box in the attic of her mind.

The novels, she remembered.

She had always meant to read them, but for some reason had never done so.

They were important to her.

Why?

Because they were about something dear to her heart. A collection of plotlines that she felt a deep and personal connection to.

And then, like the sun peeking over the horizon, the distant memory dawned upon her.

The author had written many stories about

=-=-=

“Royals and commoners?” Celestia asked incredulously. “I realize you are working in the bounds of fiction, but the topic will surely draw criticism.”

Amber looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. “Really, we live in such a ridiculous world. They will be just stories, after all. The old conservative pundits may whine and moan about how they glorify something that is socially unacceptable, but I argue the opposite. Writing a story about the impossible coming true is a lesson to never let go of the dreams that make you.” A small laugh. And then, “Besides, you and I both know that it’s not impossible, no matter how wrong others may think it is.” Her last sentence was in jest, even if it was true.

“Just fiction, though?” Celestia lay down next to her. “Will they just be stories, or will you be drawing from your own experiences?”

“All the writing I do,” answered Amber, “whether it be for your speeches and mandates, or for the books I wish to write, draws from my personal experiences.”

Celestia nodded. “You will have a hard time publishing them, though. And you should be careful to not draw too much unneeded attention.”

“Oh don’t worry.” Amber tossed her mane in annoyance. “I won’t write anything scandalous. I wouldn’t dream of slandering your reputation.”

“It’s you I’m worried about,” Celestia placated. “I will outlive the criticism anypony can lob at my rule by at least a thousand years. But I don’t want you to get caught up in it.”

“Books are a male-dominated industry anyway. I’ll be using a pseudonym to get published.”

And that was that. She answered in a matter-of-fact tone that intimated no argument. Her mind had been made up, and nothing Celestia could say from that moment forward could ever dissuade her.

The two of them lay there for a moment, Amber caught up in her manuscripts, and Celestia gazing out a nearby window, her body pressed up against Amber’s. She was content like that for a little while, feeling Amber’s rhythmic breathing against her side.

“Why are you really writing these?” Celestia finally asked. She had been afraid to ask it, but curiosity often wins over fear.

“Because when I leave this job I have with you, I will have to put my skills to work elsewhere. A trophy wife I may be to my betrothed, a prize to be paraded around in a marriage of familial convenience, but I would like to still make some money of my own. I don’t particularly feel like settling wholly into the role of stay-at-home wife to a rich husband; a mare whose only duty is to pop out children and greet guests.”

The answer stung, but it wasn’t an answer that Celestia wanted. “You know what I was asking,” she said.

“And you know the answer,” retorted Amber.

“I just think it would be best for you to… that perhaps it isn’t mentally healthy-”

“Do not think of me like that,” Amber interrupted, almost angrily.

Celestia drew her head back in surprise; that had stung. “I hadn’t finished.”

“You needn’t finish. I know what you’re thinking.”

Celestia scoffed. “What am I thinking that I shouldn’t, then?”

“Do not imagine me as some poor young mare caught between her love and her duty to family. That is such a miniscule part of this.” Amber whipped her head around and stared at Celestia with a piercing gaze. “Do not weave such a picture of me in your head. That I write these books out of frustration born from a love that I always knew would never last. I write these not for me. I write these for you.”

“For me?”

“I know you, Celestia.” Amber’s eyes softened to a look filled with both love and guilt. “As arrogant as it may sound, I know you better than any other living pony. I know you in a way only a lover could. And so I know how much my leaving hurts you. This is not the foolish pride of a mortal who thinks herself equal to a goddess, but intuition born from laying beside you night after night. We cannot be together any more, Celestia, and I know it hurts you more than me.” Her gaze fell to the ground. “I regret not telling you sooner about the arrangement.”

“Well I don’t.” Celestia wasn’t angry, but her voice was harsh nonetheless. “I don’t regret a single minute of it and if I had the chance I would do it all over again. I don’t care if we now have to go our separate ways. We knew the danger when we started this, we knew there might come a day when it became too complicated. But we did it anyway. Both of us; you and me.” She paused for a moment. “Besides, we’ll be able to send each other letters. Nothing conspicuous about a Princess and her former assistant exchanging the occasional friendly letter.”

“Letters that can be intercepted, Celestia,” said Amber with a sigh. “We won’t be able to write anything truthful, anything real in them. Lest they be found out by those who would blackmail. Which is why,” she said with finality, “I write these stories.”

“A bit cliche, don’t you think?” Celestia laughed. “Hiding messages in books.”

“Not hidden messages.” Amber poked Celestia in the side with a forehoof. “The stories themselves will be my love letters to you. Written in secret, delivered to presses by close friends, and published under a fake name.”

“How will I respond, then?” asked Celestia. “How will I return your messages?”

Amber stood and flicked a tail dismissively. “You won’t need to,” she said. “I’ll know.”

“But if I don’t… how can you possibly-”

“Because I’m stronger than you, Celestia.” Amber turned to her lover. “Not in magic or physical prowess. But in heart, I have always been stronger. I can bear what is coming. I do not know if you can. So please,” she asked, almost begging, “please read them.”

“I will.”

“I will write so many of them, I swear,” Amber’s voice was beginning to break. Her lower lip trembled, and for all her talk of strength of heart, she was on the verge of tears. “I’ll pour every last ounce of my love into them until I have nothing left to give. And I’ll hope that somehow it reaches you.”

Celestia stood and wrapped her in a tight embrace, just as her composure failed. Betwixt her forelegs, Amber’s body shook as she gave quiet sobs. Celestia too felt tears brimming upon her eyes, and she let them fall. There was nopony to see the two in this distraught position, huddled together in tears. And Amber was probably the only pony save her sister that Celestia would ever have let see her weep.

“I’ll read them all. Every single one,” Celestia said. She ran her hoof through Amber’s mane, whilst tucking her into her chest with the other. Softly, she repeated, “Every single

=-=-=

“-book here is catalogued by our town librarian, so I’m sure she’d know right away if…” Rarity’s voice trailed off as she saw that the newcomer was lost in thought, eyes glazed over, and that she had been preaching to an empty congregation. “Miss Amber?” she asked tentatively. “Miss?” she repeated, louder.

This seemed to yank the mare from her reverie and her gaze snapped up to meet Rarity’s

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was so lost in thought that I… well I was just…” she cleared her throat. “...some memories came back from many years ago,” she explained vaguely.

“Right,” said Rarity. “Well Amber er… what did you say your last name was again?”

“Skye.”

Rarity blinked and paused for a second. She was quite sure that she had heard that name before, though from where she couldn’t remember. The thought tugged at her from the back of her mind. She shook her head.

“As I was saying miss Skye,” Rarity continued, “I’m sure Twilight could help you better than I. I’m only standing in here for a few minutes while she takes care of some business.”

“It’s fine,” Amber replied. “It wasn’t that important.”

Rarity was about to open her mouth to answer that with a query, but all thoughts down that line of conversation vanished with the sound of hooves descending the stairs that led down to the library from the living space above. Both Rarity and Amber looked up to follow the sound and saw Twilight coming down.

“I gotta say, Rarity, I really don’t think I can- oh… there’s somepony here.” Twilight stopped mid sentence when she saw Amber standing by the Romance section.

Twilight smiled brightly at Amber as she took her place next to Rarity behind the front desk. “Hi there! You must be visiting from out of town to see the Spring Festival.”

“The… what?” Amber asked.

“The… nevermind.” Twilight cleared her throat. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I run this town’s librar-”

“Oh, I know full well who you are,” interrupted Amber. “I’m Amber Skye, and it really is a pleasure to meet you.” She trotted over to the counter excitedly, placing her forehooves upon it so that she could lean over to talk to Twilight. “I’ve been meaning to for a while.”

“Do I… know you?”

“Most likely not.” Amber waved her hoof. “But I’ve heard quite a bit about you. I work in the castle, you see. Closely with the two princesses. So naturally I’ve heard all sorts of stories about you and your friends. And the thrilling tales of the Elements of Harmony.”

“That’s really odd,” said Twilight. “I used to live in the castle. Last year, in fact. But somehow I’ve never managed to actually meet you. What do you do, exactly?”

“I’m a sort of… personal assistant to Celestia. Among other things, I primarily work as her speechwriter. It isn’t surprising we’ve never met, I’m usually locked away in an office reading up on foreign policy and drafting Her Majesty’s rhetoric.”

“I see. What, um…” Twilight coughed. “I really want to ask this question, but I don’t know if it will be appropriate.”

Amber cocked her head and smiled, saying nothing, but waiting expectantly.

Again, Twilight coughed. “I was just wondering…” she twirled a hoof in the air. “What does… what sort of things does Celestia say about me?”

Amber seemed taken aback by the question, but answered readily. “All kinds of things. How you work yourself to exhaustion, how you’ve been diligent to the point of it almost being frustrating, how hard it is to tear you away from your books and your studies…” she trailed off as she saw Twilight turn her head to the side, a blush creeping up her cheeks. “B-but that’s absolutely nothing bad!” She rapped her hoof on the table. “Celestia has so much respect and love for you as a teacher, you couldn’t possibly begin to understand! She talks about you so much, why, I feel like I already know you!”

“That’s…” Twilight laughed. “That’s actually really relieving to hear.”

It was at this point that Rarity began to zone out of the conversation. The two began talking very animatedly about subjects that Rarity was quite disinterested in. Her ears choosing to ignore every word, she sat there watching them and losing herself in her own thoughts.

Amber certainly seemed like a nice pony. Sharing a similar love for romantic stories with Rarity undoubtedly raised Rarity’s perception of her. She was definitely cultured. And knowledgeable. A mare in her position needed to be; world history, economics, Equestrian politics, all these things were necessary for a speechwriter to do their job. Especially for such a high-profile ruler.

Like Twilight, in a way, she thought. Here are two mares who both read a colossal amount of books. Amber probably read the dryest of non-fiction imaginable for fun. So much like Twilight. She laughed inwardly. These two were certainly going to be fast friends.

And for a moment, Rarity’s mind, warped by the inordinate number of romance novels she’d read over the years, imagined that they could easily fall for one another. The conventions were all here; the liked the same things, they talked similarly, and they had a similar fashion sense. Both were simple in nature, but complex in mind. And Amber was certainly beautiful.

I’d ship it, Rarity said to herself. She’d never dare to say such words aloud, but thinking them was hardly a social faux pas. A fine pairing.

And for the first time (though most certainly not the last), she entertained the notion of bringing them together. Twilight had been frustrated earlier at the spa. And Rarity, in her divine intuition, had discovered the reason through incessant poking and prodding. Perhaps a little bit more of that poking and prodding could be done, she wondered. Perhaps the two could be pushed into neat little spots next to each other on Rarity’s immense Mental Map of Relationships in Ponyville. Perhaps she could cure Twilight’s romantic quandary with this chance meeting. Perhaps it was time to put the “shipping” goggles on and play Grand Matchmaker. What could possibly go wrong? After all, it was a noble cause.

Twilight could have herself a pretty little marefriend.

Now wouldn’t that be nice.

=-=-=

A knock at Luna’s bedroom door disrupted her match.

Fighting games were on today’s menu, since she was pointedly ignoring her shooters, having been thoroughly trounced by that FarrierBlue character. She had never seen his username in any of the lobbies for her fighters so she felt herself safe.

The noise at the door caused her to jump and look away, giving her opponent enough time to seize the moment and launch into a long and complex combo that knocked her character out for good. With a sigh of frustration, she turned her Ponystation 3 off and trotted over to the door. Her face was twisted into a look of extreme annoyance, though when she saw who was at the door, it melted away instantly and turned into a look of forced cheer.

“Why hello, Magus. Is there something you needed?” she asked through gritted teeth.

The old unicorn coughed once, a wet sound brought upon by the years of inhaling pipe tobacco. “Your Highness, I’m here to remind you that you haven’t finished signing all of the paperwork laid out for you this morning.”

Luna’s eye twitched. She could have sworn that she had finished all of it, but knowing herself there was likely a large amount of work left that she had blown off earlier to play games and quickly forgotten about. “Oh, thanks for reminding me, Magus. I’ll get to that right now, actually.”

“I’ll walk with you to the offices. There is a small matter we must discuss.”

Luna closed her bedroom door behind herself and began walking down the hall. “What is it?”

Another meaty cough. “I’m afraid your decisions this morning have ruffled a few feathers. The mayor of Cloudsdale is not very happy with the decisions you made.”

“The decisions are final.” Luna huffed.

“Why exactly did you decide to change the location of the Spring Festival?”

“Personal reasons.” This was true to an extent, but Luna was not about to tell him the exact reason.

“Well far be it from me to question the decisions of the Princesses, but in one fell swoop you’ve managed to anger both the Cloudsdale and Ponyville mayors.”

“I’m sure they are up to the task.”

Magus sighed. “Your Highness, may I speak freely for a moment?”

“I wish you wouldn’t,” muttered Luna under her breath.

“What was that?”

“I said,” Luna answered, turning to look at him, “Please do.”

“Ponyville accounts for one eighth of Equestria’s main crop. And Cloudsdale accounts for the entirety of the nation’s weather. Now, I will never say that your Highness’s rule is not absolute, but I don’t think these are cities that you want to arbitrarily anger.”

Luna didn’t have much to say to that; there was little to say anyway. Magus was right, and the decisions she’d made had been made with the knowledge that some might not be happy about them. So all she said was, “Thanks for the advice, Magus.”

At this point the two had reached the offices of the Princess of the Night. And when Luna nudged the door open and saw the immense stacks (more than one oh goddess, was her first thought) of paper on the desk, she groaned inwardly. She wasn’t about to do it out loud; she refused to give Magus the satisfaction of hearing her frustration.

At this point she would have rolled up her sleeves if she had worn clothes with them, which she would have worn if ponies wearing clothes with sleeves were a regular occurrence.

“Time to get to work.”

=-=-=

“So tell me about the Spring Festival,” said Amber.

Her long conversation with Twilight had been wrapping up for some time as they ran out of topics to throw at each other. Sometime during the marathon of vocal communication, Rarity had migrated over to a shelf and was absorbed in what was likely the only form of entertainment in this library-slash-livng-space.

“What was that?” Twilight had been staring at Amber but she had spaced out for a second during their dwindling conversation.

“You asked if I was here for the Spring Festival. Are you guys getting an influx of ponies staying here for the ground-level festival in Cloudsdale?”

Twilight laughed mercilessly. “Heh… no, actually. This morning Princess Luna switched the location of the Spring Festival to Ponyville. Apparently she went so far as to suggest it be a festival ‘fit for a princess.’”

Amber’s eye twitched. “She WHAT?”

There was a very loud sound as Amber slammed her hooves on the front desk. Rarity was snapped rudely out of her reading and both her and Twilight looked up at Amber in surprise.

“I’ll help.” That was all that Amber said.

“You’ll what now?” Twilight didn’t follow.

“I said, I’ll help. I organize things like this for the Princesses all the time and you guys only have a few days to plan and execute this beast. I don’t know why Luna would do that out of nowhere, but that is really, really inconvenient, and you’re going to need lots of help.”

“Wow, Amber, I don’t know. Aren’t you on like… vacation or something?”

“Yes, I am. But it’s Spring Festival time. You should be too, and Luna made a rather…” Amber looked as though she were going to say something quite rude about the princess, and it made Twilight raise an eyebrow. But instead, she continued, “...well, a rather inconvenient decision. Do you not want my help?”

“No! Not at all. It’s just…” Twilight twirled a hoof. “I didn’t expect somebody to just drop on my doorstep and help out, is all.”

“Well luck favors the…” Amber’s squinted, trying to remember the last of the saying she had started. “...the lucky, or whatever. Tell you what, where are you guys meeting to plan this?”

“The cafe, out in the town square. It’s our usual meeting spot.”

“Well I’ll be there shortly. I just need to get a few things prepared.”

Without so much as a backward glance or parting word, Amber was out the door.

“Well, I do say,” Rarity did indeed say as she put her book back on the shelf next to her. “That was quite nice of her.”

Twilight didn’t answer. In fact, it was almost as though she hadn’t heard a single word Rarity had said. She just stood there, with a quizzical look on her face, staring at the entrance to the library from which Amber had just left.

“Twilight?” Rarity asked. “Twilight, dear.”

Slowly, Twilight swiveled her head to look at Rarity. “I wish…” she began. “I wish I didn’t have to do this damn festival.”

“You and me both, darling. It’s going to be so much wo-”

Twilight didn’t even bother to let Rarity finish her thought. “Because it just hit me.”

“What just hit you?”

Twilight laughed. She laughed and laughed. She laughed at the absurdity of it all. That of all times, when she had no time to act, no time for frivolities, she would realize this now. That such a thing would, as she had said, hit her.

“What is so funny, Twilight?” Rarity was beginning to worry about her friend’s mental state.

Twilight’s laughter ceased and she wiped away a tear. Smiling widely at Rarity, she had but four words. Four words that told Rarity everything she needed to know.

“Damn, she was hot.”

=-=-=

The cafe in the town square was a quaint affair. It had a small indoor seating area, and most of its seating capacity was located outside. These tabelle al fresco were where Twilight and her five best friends (as Rarity called them, “the girls”) often met when they did anything together. Particularly, a table in the north corner that sat apart from the rest.

It was at this circular table that Celestia now sat, surrounded by five of “the girls.” Twilight sat in the seat closest to the enclosure fence. To her right, Fluttershy, and her left, Applejack. Across from her was where Celestia had planted herself. Rarity had taken a seat next to Applejack, and Pinkie Pie in between Fluttershy and Celestia. All were present, save Twilight’s friend Rainbow Dash, who was late. This came as no surprise to any of them (“fast as she is, for some reason she is always late,” complained Rarity with a sniff) so they were sitting around and chatting. Orders for food had been made already so that Rainbow Dash would arrive at the same time as their plates.

Introductions had been made, and each of the five,soon-to-be-six, had welcomed Celestia graciously to the table. They needed no introduction for Celestia; she had already heard so much about them through Twilight, but all of them had yet to meet Amber. Except Applejack of course, who was surprised to see her again (“well if it ain’t the newcomer!”). They had all been very forward with greetings and questions about her job. Except Fluttershy, of course, who mumbled something as she sat down next to Twilight, and then remained silent for most of the ensuing conversation, her only communication a light smile on her face and the occasional nervous twirl of her hoof through her mane.

“So what’s it like,” asked Applejack, “Workin’ for the Princess? We hear all about the castle and Canterlot from Twilight, but Twilight’s never worked for the Princess.”

“Well, it’s like any other job in government,” replied Celestia. “I get paid lots of money to make things run smoothly, and even more money to never say anything bad about my employers.” This wasn’t exactly true; Celestia had never needed to encourage her employees to keep quiet about her. There was the occasional need, however, for her to strongly encourage certain cabinet members to keep their mouths shut about Luna’s various hobbies.

The five around her laughed and for a few moments there was a small bout of silence.

“Jeez…” Twilight exhaled sharply, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. “Where on earth is Dash?”

“She’ll come swooping in just as the food hits the table,” reassured Rarity. “She’s punctual for food, at least that can be a constant with- speak of the devil.”

The food had just arrived, and as if on cue, there was a light clopping of hooves as Rainbow Dash came out of the main cafe building and started walking towards their table. She wasn’t alone, however. Behind her was another young mare with a white coat and an electric blue mane. The white mare was wearing a large hat, pulling it down over her eyes, as if she were trying to vaguely disguise herself.

“Oh, she brought her marefriend, lovely.” Rarity muttered under her breath. “Late and with an unannounced guest. That loud uncouth tramp, no less-”

Twilight shushed her and the Amber felt the table vibrate as Twilight connected a hind hoof with Rarity’s side. Rarity gasped and forced a smile, pretending as though nothing had happened.

“‘Sup guys?” Rainbow Dash pulled up a chair for her marefriend and sat down in the one that had been left for her, next to Celestia. “Sorry I’m late. Can’t fly with my uh…” she paused. “I guess you haven’t really been introduced. Guys, this is Vinyl Scratch.”

Another round of introductions came, and within seconds, everybody was once again acquainted with everybody else.

“Amber Skye?” Rainbow Dash said, her mouth full of food. She wolfed down half her dish before passing the other half to Vinyl. She swallowed. “Isn’t that like, a pornstar’s na-”

Again, the table vibrated as hind legs shot out to meet midriffs. This time it was Dash who gasped.

“Amber’s going to be helping us out,” said Twilight. “She offered to help when she heard about what happened with Princess Luna, and is being very gracious by doing so.”

“That’s actually great,” said Rainbow Dash after that was over, “because I can’t stay too long. I know, I know,” she added, “I got your message, Twilight. But I just can’t help.”

“You…” Twilight sighed. “Dash, I’m going to really need you for this Festival this week. There are going to be all kinds of weather control that needs to happen for this Festival to work. And you’ve got the most experience here.”

“I know.” Rainbow Dash looked incredibly guilty as she cast her eyes downward. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I just can’t.”

“Why not?”

Dash cleared her throat. “Well, you see, I…” she shot a glance to the white mare standing next to her. “Vinyl and me, see, we’re-”

“I’m sorry. This is my fault.” Vinyl spoke up. Her voice had a distinct rasp to it that denoted years of chain smoking. “I didn’t know about all this Spring Festival stuff. But Dash and I have made some plans already, and they all have to do with me. See, I’m a music performer and DJ up in Canterlot. Not to brag, but I get a lot of attention. Some of it has been negative. And this morning, the gossip columns for the local newspaper got a little too personal-”

“And you’re trying to get away,” interrupted Celestia. “I saw the article this morning.”

“You actually read the gossip column?” Pinkie Pie spoke up. She had been surprisingly quiet this entire time. “I thought the only mare here who enjoyed reading about other pony’s horrid life failures was Rarit-”

Another vibration as yet again hoof met stomach. Pinkie Pie laughed.

“‘Local DJ Outed’ is a pretty fascinating title at 7am before coffee,” Celestia admitted. She turned to Vinyl. “I completely understand.”

“Really?” the musician’s dark red eyes widened.

“Yes. Sometimes you need to get away from the public. Sometimes rumors fly around, or you’re involved in something you don’t want others to know. So you’re asking Dash to come with you because she’s a rock, right? Loyal to the end. She’ll stick by you no matter what others may think. Because you need the moral support. Because she’s your marefriend and you want to spend time with her, and because it’s great to be out of the public eye sometimes. Right?”

“You speak from experience.” It wasn’t Vinyl who spoke, it was Rarity.

“Well, I-” Celestia stopped herself. She couldn’t really go around talking about how experienced she was because it would inevitably end up on the subject of why she was so experienced and who she had such experience with. “Yeah, a little.”

“So anyways,” interjected Rainbow Dash, “Vinyl and me are going to have to get out of here. We’re thinking about traveling, but we don’t really know where yet. Somewhere far away, though.

Somewhere far away, indeed. Celestia was no stranger to the concept. She and Amber had, a thousand years in the past, tried many times to get away. And once, they succeeded marvelously. That had been the beginning of the sabbatical mandate, hadn’t it, she wondered. Then she realized, there certainly was a place for Dash and Vinyl to get away to. The same place she and Amber had gotten away to.

“Actually, miss Dash, I might be able to help you out there.”

“Hmmm?” Rainbow Dash and Vinyl had been conversing in soft tones with each other.

“I know of the perfect place for the two of you to get away.”

“Really?” Vinyl Scratch smiled, her eyes shining.

“Yes, actually. There’s this…” she trailed off, frowning.

“This...what?” Dash prodded.

Celestia tapped a hoof to her chin. Where exactly had it been again? She realized she couldn’t remember.

“Hell, I’ll take any place, really.” Vinyl Scratched sighed. “maybe outta the country. Ponies probably don’t know me across the border. Shit, I’d settle for a deserted island at this point.”

“An island!” Celestia nearly shouted, causing every pony at the table to jump, and some heads to turn.

That was it! Celestia finally remembered. The one place she and Amber had gotten away to all those years ago. The memories rushed back to her from some long forgotten corner of her brain.

There had been an

=-=-=

“-island out in the middle of the Eastern Ocean,” Celestia told Amber.

The two were sitting in the Hall of Records in Canterlot Castle’s West Wing. Celestia was showing Amber a page from a large tome that had clearly been sitting there for a very long time.

“And what, exactly, have you been keeping a secret island for?” Amber cocked an eyebrow.

“Well it’s not completely a secret. I mean, any flying creature can probably find it really easy. We bought it from the Griffons a few hundred years ago, and cordoned it off for goverment use. We don’t allow ships to travel to and from it unless they have a special Pass to dock at its port.”

“But why, though?”

“A few hundred years ago, Luna was negotiating borders with the Griffon Kingdom. She agreed to push ours back a fair distance in return for some of their islands, which we felt were uncomfortably close to our mainland ports. At the time, I was also in talks with Neptune about sea currents, so I took this island to use as the location of our negotiations. After that was resolved, we decided to simply keep it, and keep it a secret.”

“So you have a secret island. That nopony knows about.”

“Nopony but you, Luna, and I. And a few very tight-lipped guards who are loyal enough to keep their mouths shut.”

“And you intend to use this for our plan?”

“Yes.”

Amber grinned. “It’s perfect. Secret, far away from prying eyes, and surrounded by beaches.”

Celestia closed the book. “This will be our last time together, Amber. My sabbatical begins today. In two months, you’ll be marrying Lord Blackriver and I will be signing your resignation. We have until then.”

“And we have a damn island. We’ll make the most of it.” Amber nuzzled Celestia’s shoulder. “The Sabbatical plan was a stroke of genius.”

“I wasn’t finished, though,” continued Celestia. “I was just saying that this doesn’t have to be the last time we see each other forever.”

Amber pulled back. “What?”

“Luna and I will be keeping this island for Royal use. Even after you’ve married, there’s no reason we can’t still meet here.”

“You know that’s a horrid idea. What if my husband finds out?”

“I know,” said Celestia. “I just want you to know that the possibility is there.”

Amber thought for a moment. “Even you cannot tell the future. Perhaps circumstances may change.”

“Yes. So, here.” Celestia lifted an envelope with her magic. It was sealed with wax, stamped with a royal seal, and had several markings on it which denoted it as an envelope not to be opened by anypony save its recipient. “In this envelope, which is an envelope only you can open, is a note. If ever we are to meet on that island again, you will read that note to a ship captain from the East Trading Company.”

“East Trading Company?” Amber asked.

“The company whose ships we use to transport goods and equipment to and from the island. Their ship captains are the only ponies who know how to get there by boat. More importantly, they’re sworn to secrecy about any cargo they transfer.”

Amber took the note with her magic, and tucked it away in a bag. “Just in case,” she said. “I pray that one day I may be able to use it.”

Celestia rested her chin upon Amber’s neck. “So do I.”

Not for the first time, Celestia felt a surge of sadness as she thought about Amber’s imminent departure from her life. With this wave came the tightness in her throat, an ache that brought with it a wetness in her eyes.

I’ll be alright, she thought to herself. I’ll be

=-=-=

“-alright, Amber?”

Celestia was snapped out of her thoughts. Before she had realized, her mind had taken her on a journey down memory lane. “Hmmm?”

It was Twilight who had spoken. “I said, are you alright? You spaced out there for a second.”

Celestia coughed. “Yes, I’m fine. I was just trying to remember something for miss Dash here.” She turned to Rainbow Dash. “Tomorrow, meet me at the library. I’ll have some things to give you, and a place for you to stay out of the public eye.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I need to get some things first. But I promise, it will be absolutely, completely,” her eyes shined. “awesome.”

Rainbow Dash pumped a hoof in the air. “Yes! Thank you so much, Amber. I know we’ve just met and all, but you’re totally cool, alright?”

Celestia laughed.

With that, Rainbow Dash and her companion stood to leave. They had only shown up to tell Twilight and the girls about their situation. So, with a wave, they left.

“I honestly can’t believe,” said Rarity as she watched them leave, “that she would abandon us for that hooligan.”

“Now, Rarity,” chided Twilight, “Dash and her get along very well, and Vinyl seems nice enough.”

“She’s a simple and wild mare and I do think she is a bad influence on Dash.”

Applejack scoffed. “Y’all didn’t seem to have a problem with simple wild mares last night when we-ooff!”

Applejack was cut off as Rarity violently kicked her in the shins beneath the table. Again, Celestia’s glass jiggled from the vibrations.

“Well I think she’s pretty cool,” Pinkie chimed in, either unaware of, or pointedly ignoring what had just happened.

“All I’m saying,” Rarity said, “is that Dash isn’t being very Loyal here.”

“She absolutely is,” Celestia defended. “She’s being loyal to her marefriend.”

“I mean to us,” said Rarity.

“It’s very simple,” explained Celestia. “She’s in love.”

The girls all gasped at the same time.

“Nuh-uh, no way!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Dash in love? That’s crazy!”

Applejack nodded. “I’d never say nothin’ bad about a friend, but she has been hoppin’ between relationships like a rabbit for as long as I known her.”

“But Rarity has made a good point.” Celestia said. “She didn’t once think about helping out. The embodiment of Loyalty right there, and she’s not being loyal to the friends she’s known longer than Vinyl. So Vinyl is more than a friend. Loyalty is her element so long as friendship is involved. But love? Friendship may be what gives us magic, but Love is another level of power entirely.”

Rarity sighed. “Of all ponies to fall in love with, Rainbow Dash would fall in love with a DJ.”

Twilight rapped her hoof on the table. “Girls, we’re forgetting the most important thing right now. Dash is going to be leaving and I still need somepony to take her place! Weather, the fireworks show, I had a lot of work planned out that she could do better than anypony. But with her gone, who’s going to-”

“I’ll do it!”

Everypony at the table paused. It was Fluttershy who had spoken up, and loudly too. She hadn’t said a word the entire evening and now she had just started. They all looked over at her. She was sitting straight up, her lips pursed together tightly, and her face turning bright red. Evidently she herself was surprised by her own words.

“Fluttershy, I can’t ask you to pull double duty. Especially since…” Twilight trailed off, not wanting to point out that Fluttershy probably wasn’t the most reliable when it came to things Rainbow Dash was particularly good at. “Well… I just couldn’t ask you to take over for Rainbow Dash entirely.”

“I said I’ll do it. I’ll do it.” The redness in her face became darker, but she wore a determined look.

“Are you su-”

“Absolutely.”

“You do realize that she was going to be pulling fireworks and weather duties, ri-”

“I know.”

“Fluttershy, do you even know what fireworks ar-”

“I want to help you, Twilight!”

That last response was nearly shouted, a volume that many of the girls didn’t even know was possible from Fluttershy. Celestia raised an eyebrow. She had met Fluttershy a few times, and this was almost like seeing an entirely new Fluttershy. She wondered for a moment about where this was coming from, and came up with a few ideas. She’d have to talk to Luna later, she decided. Luna would be able to tell for sure.

“Well…” Twilight hesitated. “Let’s go through the plans first, before we decide completely on everybody’s roles. There’s a lot of ground to cover, so we should probably get started before midnight.”

Everypony nodded. It was time to get down to business.

And so they did.

Red Thread

A/N: please consider reading my latest blog post! I have been working with another musician for the past six months on an album, which is finally out! thank you for your support!

Sabbatical

Chapter 5

“Red Thread”

The sun was already well below the horizon by the time Celestia materialized on Luna’s windowsill. With a swift kick, she knocked in the windows and fell clumsily into Luna’s bedroom. The noise of her window slamming open and a body slamming into the floor made Luna jump about three feet into the air from her position on the floor in front of the television. Her headset flew off one direction and the PS3 controller she had been holding flew off in the other as she let out a cry before tumbling down into a heap of legs and unkempt mane.

“For the love of Mother do not do that to me,” she hissed, standing up and flipping her ragged hair out of her face.

“Sorry, I…” Celestia grunted as she rolled to her feet, and dropped her Amber disguise, resuming her normal imposing goddess form. “I meant to teleport to your window from Ponyville and knock, but when I got up here I realized I didn’t have wings. In my panic I just kicked the window in and leapt.”

The two paused and stood there, each huffing and trying to calm their racing hearts. Finally it was Luna who broke the tense silence with a laugh.

“Has the one day away from being in a Castle made you stupid, sister?”

“Actually, I was going to ask the same thing.” Celestia, without bothering to ask, made herself right at home on the side of Luna’s bed.

“Uh oh, I know that tone.” Luna was joking, but at the same time still wary. She sidled up next to Celestia on the bed.

“There’s a lot that happened today, but before I tell you all about that, I need to ask you about your sudden inexplicable decision to put Ponyville through hell this week.”

“What?” Luna frowned. “What on earth are you talking abouuu...oh...hohoho, you mean the Spring Festival.” She adopted a sheepish look. “Surprise!”

“Do you know…” Celestia said, rubbing her temples, “That I am now involved in the tiny planning committee responsible for making the Festival a success? That on my sabbatical, my vacation, I’m still doing royal duties?”

“Why on earth would you… what?” Luna scoffed. “I changed the location to Ponyville to bring the party to you, not give you extra work.”

“Yes well in the process you’ve dumped all the work on my star student, so I’ve naturally gotten involved.”

“Actually,” said Luna with a laugh, “That works out perfectly. I was hoping maybe you’d get to enjoy the Spring Festival with your star student. But now you get to work on the project with her and have the perfect opportunity to ask her out-”

“You have overused that joke so much that no longer is it unfunny, it is also infuriating.”

“... and perhaps this experience planning the festival with your star student,” continued Luna, pretending she had not been interrupted, “will help you in the future planning your wedding with your star student.” She laughed and leaned away from Celestia, in an attempt to dodge the blow that Celestia would aim at her head.

But a friendly sibling cuff to her ears did not, in fact, ensue. In fact, when Luna looked over, Celestia seemed to be stuck, her eyes staring off into the distance, and her mouth partially open. As though she were in the middle of speaking a thought, but had been frozen in time. Luna’s brow furrowed.

“Sister?” she asked. “I… was just kidding.”

Celestia did not respond. In fact, she did not even move. She continued to stare off into space, apparently lost in her thoughts.

"Did you hear me, sister?" Luna asked again. "I said I was only joking about

=-=-=

The Wedding.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful, as all weddings should be. A large and elegant cathedral had been selected for this, the happiest of occasions. Row upon row of gorgeous well-kept mahogany pews were set facing the pulpit, which had been flowered and adorned with white lace. The cathedral’s many rows of towering stained glass windows threw an ocean of vibrant color over the congregation that had gathered to witness the joining of two ponies in love.

But there was no love here.

Weddings were supposed to be times of rejoicing; tears shed were to be shed in the name of joy. But for the first time ever, Celestia felt no happiness at a wedding. No tears of happiness fell from her eyes. And no words of congratulation would be uttered from her lips this day. Outwardly, she wore a smile of course. It was a rare sight to see the Princess of Equestria take time out of her schedule to attend a pony’s wedding, so those gathered here today greeted her with a mixture confusion, surprise, and adoration. So she maintained an external presence or regality and benevolence. But inwardly, she was grim. This wedding was something she knew had been coming for a long time. But no amount of emotional preparation could truly have made her ready for this day.

She politely asked an usher for directions to the rooms where the bride and groom were preparing, and was directed to a series side rooms along one of the adjoining halls.

Walking this hall, a simple affair adorned with a red carpet and few light fixtures, felt like the longest journey she had ever taken in her life. The rooms were down at the end, and the hall seemed to stretch further and further the more steps she took. She could not get to these rooms fast enough. Yet at the same time, she was glad for the seemingly physics-ignoring cathedral halls. The conversation she was about to have was one she did not ever want to engage in. This conversation was going to be the end of many things.

When at last she reached the first room, that of the groom, she reached up and lightly knocked on the wooden door.

“Enter.” The voice from within was deep and kind. Happy, too. Not surprising considering the time and place.

Celestia came into the room, lightly closing the door behind her. She cleared her throat politely. The stallion, the groom of course, was sitting across from the door at a small table and mirror, straightening his tuxedo. Through the mirror, he looked back at who had entered, and nearly fell out of his seat when he saw who it was.

“P-p-princess!” He nearly shouted. He stumbled out of his seat and turned around to bow to Celestia. “I had no idea you would grace my humble wedding with your presence!” He spoke in a manner that denoted a lifelong presence in Equestria’s most bourgeois of societal circles, which was not surprising given his title and family.

“Lord Blackriver,” spoke Celestia in a very official manner (for it was all she could truly muster), “please rise. Bow not to anypony today, for it is your wedding day. You should be rejoicing.”

“Yes, Princess.” Lord Blackriver rose to stand almost eye-to-eye with Celestia. He was tall, an imposing young Lord of the southern Equestria regions.

“I am here,” continued Celestia, “to give you my blessing upon this joyous occasion.” There was hardly any joy in Celestia’s voice, which was filled with nothing but royal officiality. “For, as you know, today you wed one of my most trusted advisors. Amber Skye has been invaluable to me these past few years, and I would hope that she will be to you as well.”

“I thank you deeply, my Princess.”

Celestia knew she could not be unkind to Lord Blackriver. For as much as she did not want Amber to marry this stallion, she could not fault him for it. The blame was not upon him for her heartbreak.

Suffice to say, she thought to herself, this situation was fucked.

“I am afraid,” she said, “that I cannot stay for the proceedings. Business calls, and I cannot ignore it, even if my dearest advisor did invite me.” This was a lie. There was no business, there was nothing for her to do this day. But she could not, would not, absolutely refused to stay for the entire wedding. She knew that nothing good could ever come of it. “But I had to come to give you and her a few words nonetheless. So hear me now: Amber is, without complaint, without a single word, and without any ounce of resistance whatsoever, leaving my employ for this marriage. There is no real reason for her to do so, but she is doing so regardless. Understand that she is giving up a position of power and wealth in Canterlot to care for your household and land and… future children, so dedicated is she to a marriage that neither of you chose. Take this, young Lord, as a sign. A sign of her purity and devotion to you and your family.” It was all Celestia could do to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

“Of course, Princess. I fully understand this. I regret that Canterlot will be losing a valuable advisor because of our family’s marriage proposals of the past.” Lord Blackriver shifted uneasily.

“Do not be.” Celestia assured him. “ Know that I give you my congratulations and best wishes. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she said as she opened the door to leave, “I must give a few words to your bride.”

“Of course, Princess.”

Celestia shut the door behind her as she left, and walked across the hall to another set of doors, upon which she knocked with a heavy sigh.

“Come in, Celestia.” Amber’s voice called from within.

The sight that Celestia beheld within the room was one that twisted her heart. Amber, beautiful as ever, wore a most graceful wedding gown, white as new-fallen snow. It fell around her body lightly, as though it were made from the softest down. Amber stood, wearing what was probably the most expensive piece of clothing she had ever touched, and it was for a wedding Celestia wanted no part in.

“I knew it was you,” Amber said as she stood and turned to face her lover. “I knew you would come to see me before my wedding to tell me you would not be able to stay.”

“I…” Celestia was not sure exactly how to word her thoughts.

“You can’t stay, of course,” she continued. “You wouldn’t be able to. You can’t sit in those pews and watch me make vows with a stallion you have just met. You aren’t strong enough.”

“No,” said Celestia, finding her words. “I am not.” She stepped forward.

“I know.” Of course Amber knew, she had always known. “But that is all well.” She sighed. It was sad, but she did it with a smile. “This is farewell, Princess. Not in the traditional sense. We will have many opportunities to see each other and greet each other and exchange pleasantries. But from this day forward, nothing will ever be as it was. So, goodbye, Celestia.”

There was pain, Celestia thought. There was pain all over her. In her chest, in her lungs, and in that metaphysical part of her that nopony could touch. But she did not cry. There were no tears left. They two had cried all there was to cry. So she too smiled through her pain and replied, “Goodbye, Amber.”

It was then that Amber stepped forward and gave Celestia the last kiss she would ever receive from her for the rest of her life. It lasted but a moment, but the surprise and love behind it twisted the pain in her chest beyond belief. There was a brief burning sensation in her heart.

When the too-short kiss ended, Amber turned back to her mirror with these final words:

“Don’t forget the books.”

Celestia said something, but she would never remember exactly what it was. It wasn’t important anyway, there was little else to be said. With a heavy heart she turned to leave, trying her best to keep composure and mentally calm herself. It would be alright, she told herself. She would be

=-=-=

“...alright, sister?” Luna’s voice was laced with worry.

Celestia snapped from her reverie and looked over at her sister. “Hmmm?”

“I said,” repeated Luna, “are you alright? Your eyes glazed over there for a second.”

“I…” Celestia faltered. “I was lost in a memory, that’s all. Sorry, what were we talking about?”

“We were talking about the Spring Festival. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Celestia cleared her throat. “Yes, yes, I am fine. As I was saying earlier you…” she thought for a moment. “...you really shouldn’t have put all that pressure on Ponyville.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Yes, I understand.” After a moment, she continued, “Well in any case, the decision has been made. Besides, I have never liked the Cloudsdale mayor. We’ll have to give the Festival to her next year, but at least this year I got to rile her up a bit.”

“You really shouldn’t push that,” Celestia warned, though she did so with a laugh. “She does control the weather, after all.”

Luna rolled onto her back. “You know, that’s exactly what Magus told me earlier today which, by the way, he has been a great help. I still think he’s an insufferable stuffy old buffoon, but he never fails to make sure the royal duties get done.”

“It’s why I hired him.”

“Well enough about that.” Luna waved a hoof at Celestia. “Tell me all about your lovely day with Twilight. And her friends.”

Celestia did.

=-=-=

Rarity, as was often the case, felt extremely suspicious.

After the dinner meeting, she had followed Twilight back to the Library so that she could extract details from her purple friend. Details about Amber, that is. But as the two chatted away into the late night at the front desk of the now-closed library, Rarity let her mind wander off from their conversation. There were pressing issues that needed to be sorted out in silence. Twilight’s words had shaken her that afternoon, after their first meeting with the amber mare.

Shaken in a bad way, Rarity decided. She was, after all, suspicious.

But why, though, she wondered to herself. Where was this uneasy feeling coming from?

It definitely involved Amber. The whole thing was far too suspicious. A morning of heart-to-heart with her dear friend Twilight about Twilight’s platonically-inclined brain clashing with her lonely mind, and then that very afternoon a single mare walks through the doors of the library perking Twilight’s ears, interest, and possibly sex drive? It was very convenient, Rarity thought. Far too convenient.

But the natural-born shipper that lived in the darkest depths of Rarity’s mind was shivering with giddy anticipation. She was going to get to play matchmaker! She loved doing that. So suspicion be damned, she decided against her better judgement. She was going to put the two together if it was the last thing she would ever do.

Rarity’s knee-jerk advice to Twilight would, under any other circumstances, be that Twilight slowly get to Amber over the course of many months. But the schedule was going to be accelerated since neither pony knew how long Amber would be around. Of course, this subject was not brought up at all during the conversation, Rarity was only thinking it to herself. Twilight seemed perfectly happy to babble on and on about Amber and their shared love of literature.

Then there was the issue of Amber’s name. This too did not come up in the conversation, but Rarity put a lot of thought to the subject. She knew she had heard the name before, but she couldn’t remember where. Rainbow Dash had almost pulled a hefty social faux pas earlier that evening by bringing up the pornography industry. As Rarity thought about it, she realized that Amber Skye was likely the name of a porn star; it had the right kind or ring to it. But Rarity was quite sure that wasn’t the origin of her recognizing the name. She rarely partook in pornography, and only if her body became especially needy beyond her normal remedies. So that was out.

But the trail stopped dead there. Rarity was completely unable to put name to origin. It was a bit of a dilemma, and it annoyed her to no end. She was certain that she would remember in due time, but until then the name would nag at her from the back of her mind.

She faded from her thoughts and brought her mind back to the conversation she was having with Twilight. If Twilight felt suspicious or apprehensive about anything, it certainly didn’t show.

And, Rarity supposed, that was probably good enough.

=-=-=

“Why on earth would you need to see that?” Luna asked.

She and her sister lay next to each other on Luna’s bed, a position they hadn’t moved from for over an hour. Their conversation had taken many twists and turns since its beginning, Celestia moving from talking about her day, to some of her thoughts, and finally to the topic the two of them found themselves currently discussing.

“There is something I need to know,” replied Celestia. “And to do that I need you to show me the Threads.”

“This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with what I’ve been saying about Twi-”

“No.” Celestia didn’t even let Luna finish. “I need to check the Threads between Twilight and Fluttershy.”

Luna scoffed. “I see how it is. You’re going to play matchmaker for the Spring Festival, aren’t you?”

Celestia waved a hoof. “What do you think I’ve been doing all these years with you gone? Only the Princess of the Moon can tug the Threads, but Hearts and Hooves had to continue on even with you trapped away. I had to take your place as Cupid.”

“Cupid?” Luna raised an eyebrow. “I do not recall such a name. I do recall that at one point there was a festival dedicated to orgies and I had to often sift through the Threads to make sure lovers made their way to each other.” Luna laughed mirthlessly. “That was a chore, let me tell you. Who would have thought that partaking in a giant mass orgy would actually be detrimental to one’s unspokenly monogamous relationship with the opposite sex?”

“Yes, well, times change. As do legends, and the characters of such legends. A while ago, not long after you became forcibly preoccupied cataloging moon dust, there was a fire in the East Wing here, and a large portion of historical records were burned away. That, combined with the ever-moving sands of time caused quite a bit of historical knowledge to be twisted and warped. If you’re really interested, go look up the legends of the god ‘Cupid.’ In any case, the traditional ritual orgy was replaced with a less sexualized holiday, and later a festival was added. I had to change it.”

“Why did you change it?” Luna was aghast. “I know that the Spring Festival is one of your favorite times of the year, but if I recall correctly, you used to wait with such eagerness for those days of feasting and flesh rubbing.”

Celestia chose to ignore the latter half of Luna’s words. “As I said, only the Princess of the Moon can sift through the Threads of Fate, and see the lover’s destinies. I couldn’t view the Threads like you could, so I had to make a holiday with a lot less chance of cheating and sexual deviancy so I could still do your duties.”

“It’s just as well.” Luna shrugged. “Those holidays got pretty hectic. But anyways, you need to see them for what, again? Something to do with Twilight?”

“Just show me.”

“Very well.” Luna hopped off of the bed and walked over to the window. “Come,” she called to her sister. “We shall have to leave this plane first.”

The two of them sat before the window. Luna closed her eyes as her horn began to glow. Celestia followed suit. This was a spell the two had done many times throughout the years, and was one of their most useful. Celestia felt herself get cold as all warmth left her body through her horn. Then, when it seemed like all traces of heat were gone from her, she felt herself leave her body from her horn.

This felt a lot like dying, though Celestia didn’t know it. She wouldn’t come to know the feeling of death for many millennia, but when death would eventually embrace her, her last thought would be of how much dying felt like casting this spell.

To a casual bystander, it would have looked like the classic cartoon death. The two sisters seemed to lose all energy, their bodies falling to the side. And from their cold unmoving bodies, two small horse-shaped clouds rose. Like ghosts.

Astral projection was an ability they had both learned from their mother, countless ages past. It was how they traversed great distances, communicated with each other from different countries, and once or twice it had been used to spy on other world leaders.

Celestia, now a formless haze of pure spiritual energy, turned to look at her body. Making sure her physical form had fallen to the floor safely, she turned back to her sister, who was also hovering a few feet from the ground.

“Ready?” Lunas voice seemed to echo from everywhere at once.

“Show me.”

Luna’s ghostly form flew out the window. To be precise, it flew through the window. Once outside, she did a small loop and there was a bright explosion of light. Celestia followed her outside and watched as this light, visible only to them, spread across the landscape below them. And where it touched, thin red bands of energy began to appear, stretching this way and that, across the city below.

“Looks like you’ve done well for yourself,” spoke Luna.

“Hmmmm? Oh.” Celestia saw what she was talking about.

Millions of these thin red threads stretched from all directions at once, some she could see coming from nearby windows and others seemed to go on forever into the horizon, converging just outside Luna’s bedroom window. Through the window, she could see them all sticking directly into her own chest.

“Your subjects love you, that’s for sure.” There was a hint of bitterness in Luna’s voice.

Celestia looked over at Luna’s body through the window. There were many threads from throughout the kingdom, and beyond the horizon, converging in her chest as well, but it wasn’t even half the amount that Celestia had.

“Well…” Celestia wasn’t exactly sure what to say. “The Threads aren’t exactly the best way to gauge-”

“The Red Thread of Fate,” recited Luna, “is a manifestation of the metaphysical connection a pony has to those they love. Whether this be the platonic love of a strong friendship, the reverent love one has of their gods, goddesses, and rulers, the strong romantic love one has with their soul mate, or the lust a pony has for those they desire. Each of these threads represents one of those kinds of love. They are the best gauge for which of us is more loved and respected, and which is more feared.”

“I never knew…” Celestia breathed. “I never knew that it was… like this.”

“You never asked.”

“I’m…” Celestia wasn’t sure how to proceed. “Well, I…”

“But forget that bullshit,” Luna spoke up, her mood becoming suddenly chipper. “That’s boring. Let’s talk about this!”

Luna’s spectral form reached a hoof out and plucked a particularly thick string that was coming out of Celestia’s corporeal body. It made a sharp twang! sound. Celestia wasn’t sure one was supposed to do that, but she didn’t say anything.

“What is it?” Celestia asked.

“See this?” Luna pulled it out of the large mass of threads so that it could be seen better. “The way it glows, how it pulsates? And every few seconds, a light shoots along it towards your body?” She smiled wickedly. “This one, whoever he is, is madly in love with you.”

“How can you tell it’s a ‘he?’”

“I can feel it,” Luna answered. She plucked it again. “Feels like a dude.”

“How sad,” Celestia thought aloud. “That there is anypony out there in love with me when I have no intention of returning any of it.”

“Oh don’t say that, dear sister,’ Luna’s smile grew even more wicked, if such were possible. “Maybe he’s nice. Or maybe he has a nice big black coc-”

“I really don’t think we should be on this subje-”

“Or maybe,” Luna interrupted, pretending she herself hadn’t been cut off. “he’s an important prince and it would be a good political marriage. Really, you’ll never know unless you meet him. And if I just give this string a little tug…” she made another twang! with the Thread. “I can get him to come running for you like nothing you’ve ever seen.”

“I’m quite certain you’ll do no such thing.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Luna let the thread go, letting it settle back into place. She shrugged. “I don’t think the Powers That Be would appreciate me abusing the Threads. Anyways, who was it we were looking for again?”

“Fluttershy.” Celestia was glad to get away from the previous topic.

“Right, right, that’s that Kindness one, right? She has butterflies on her flank or whatever, something pansy like that.” Luna muttered to herself as she began picking through threads in the air. “Her Thread’s got a real distinct smell. Dandelions and birdseed, oddly enough. Probably fits her perfectly though. Ah!” she exclaimed. “Here it is. Come on, follow me.”

Luna put a spectral hoof on the thread that evidently lead to Fluttershy, turned, and then her astral projection shot off into the distance. Celestia barely had time to realize what was going on before she too shot after Luna, trying not to get left behind.

In a matter of seconds, the two ghostly forms found themselves hovering outside the window of Fluttershy’s cottage. They passed through the pane and sat in the air above Fluttershy’s sleeping form.

“We’re looking for Twilight, right?” Luna spoke. The two of them could not be heard from the form they were in, so Luna did not bother to whisper.

“Right.”

Luna began picking through the threads running into Fluttershy’s chest. “It’s lilacs, if I remember correctly,” Luna said under her breath. Or whatever passed for breath in their plane. “Lilacs and something else…” Luna nosed through the threads. “Ah, parchment!” she exclaimed. “A smell of lilacs and parchment paper, how like her.”

Luna pulled a thread out carefully and held it out to Celestia.

“Well?” Celestia asked.

“Well what? You wanted to see it, now here it is.” Luna twang!ed this one louder than the others.

“Yes. But I’ve never seen these before. I have no idea how to read them.”

“Oh. Right.” Luna brought the thread close to her face to inspect it. “Well, these little pulses of light…” She traced a small dot of light that was moving along the thread with a hoof. “They’re going from Fluttershy’s chest, along the thread to the other side. But nothing’s coming back. Not to mention…” She tugged the string a bit, testing its strength. “It’s pretty strong. Thick too.” She sniffed it. “It has both their smells.”

“And that means…?” Celestia crossed her forelegs, waiting for the answer.

“There is love here.” Luna let the thread go and it snapped back into place. “Most of it coming from Fluttershy. She has a lot of love for your student. Twilight, however…” Luna rubbed her chin. “There is potential there, but no love. Not yet. But all it will take is a small push.”

“Then I have my work cut out for me.” Celestia floated back through the window.

“So what are you going to do, then?” Luna joined her and the two made their way back to their bodies in her room.

Celestia turned to her sister and smiled, at least as far as a smoky projection can smile.

“That’s easy,” she said. “I’m going to have fun.”