Celestia awoke with a tired yawn. She stretched her forelegs and hindlegs as she lay in bed, her eyes still closed to stave off the process of actually getting out of bed for as long as possible. After a short debate, she admitted defeat, and opened her sleepy eyes to the dark room around her. She got herself our of bed and made her way over to her balcony with a yawn.

Upon stepping outside, Celestia noticed the distinct lack of her sister at the other balcony. With a raised eyebrow and a small shrug, she looked up to the sky to find that the moon was still high above the horizon. Her brow furrowed in confusion, before a pounding at her door commanded her attention. The white alicorn turned around and headed to her door with one more concerned glance at the moon as it lingered above.

Once she reached her door, Celestia used her magic to pull it open, revealing Dusk.

"Princess, you need to come with us to the observatory immediately." Dusk instructed, presenting a quick salute.

"What? Why? What's going on?" Celestia demanded, looking to the guard inquisitively.

"It's... Princess Luna. She's been in the observatory the whole night. She's in distress." Dusk explained.

"Take me to her immediately." Celestia ordered.

"Of course, your highness." Dusk responded, before turning tail and trotting toward the observatory, Celestia close behind.

The pair reached their destination within a few minutes. Upon arrival, they were greeted by Echo and several of the arriving royal guardsmares.

"She's right inside, Princess. She ordered that nopony disturb her, but she asked to see you once you were awake." Echo explained, grabbing the door to the observatory.

"Thank you, Echo, Dusk. Please ensure we aren't disturbed. Whatever happened must have been serious. The moon hasn't moved since I went to sleep." Celestia replied.

"Of course, Princess." Echo answered, before opening the door.

Celestia stepped into the observatory main room, the door quickly closing behind her. She instantly saw the younger alicorn laying on the floor in the center, her face buried in her hooves. The constellations above cast bright sparkling lights all around her and onto her coat, illuminating the room in a bright white glow.

"Luna!" Celestia cried, rushing to her sister's side.

Luna barely responded to Celestia's voice, nor to her touch as she pulled her into a gentle hug.

"Luna, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Celestia questioned, looking for signs of blood or other injuries on her sister's body.

Luna only managed to slowly shake her head in her sister's embrace. The lack of a verbal response prompted Celestia to pull away enough to look into her sister's eyes, only to find that they lingered on the floor. Her cheeks were noticeably damp with tears shed over the long night.

"Luna, what happened? Why were you crying?" Celestia pressed, worry and concern showing clearly on her face as she held her sister close.

"I... I ruined it." Luna whispered, sadly.

"Ruined what? Luna, please, tell me what happened." Celestia gently asked.

"A...A-Anon... I... I kissed him." Luna admitted, her gaze never leaving the floor.

"You kissed Anon? W-what did he do? Did he say something to hurt you?" Celestia questioned, her eyes widening in surprise.

"N-no... I messed up. I t-told him everything." Luna croaked.

Celestia felt a pit form in her chest, "Y-you mean..."

"Everything... He knows about Sunshine and Nightshade... He always suspected... I bucked up." Luna hung her head low again.

"B-but... we were going to tell him after estrus!" Celestia cried.

"I know that!" Luna screamed, her voice hoarse, "Don't you think I know? I've ruined everything."

"N-now Luna, things might not be that bad. I'm sure he just reacted emotionally, but deep down, he must understand-" Celestia began, attempting to reason.

"Don't you get it!? I bucked up! We bucked up! We've been lying to him ever since we met him, and now, after all the lies and deceit he finally knows the truth! HE BUCKING HATES US!" Luna screamed, making Celestia flinch.

"L-Luna..."

"And we deserve it! Why couldn't we just tell him the truth! Why the buck did we bucking do this, Tia!? All we had to do was tell him the truth from the start! We could've had a herd with him by now!" Luna continued to shout, "Now... now he's gone... and it's my bucking fault." Her voice died down to a whisper, followed by another choked sniffle.

Celestia looked down at her miserable sister and felt her heart ache. All at once, her wings fell limp by her sides, and she fell to her haunches, her mane even slowing in it's invisible breeze.

"I... suppose we really have bucked this whole thing up, haven't we?" She asked, already well aware of the answer.

Luna sniffled once more, "He's gone, Tia... gone to who knows where... and I doubt we can ever hope to get him back." She sulked.

Celestia felt her own tears threaten to spill from her eyes, "I just thought... that if we told him why we did what we did... he'd understand. At least... I wished he would."

Luna shook her head, "What even is there to get, sister? 'Sorry we've been lying to you this whole time, we hoped you'd be okay with it after we had you sufficiently in love with our alter ego's'?!" She snapped.

"You know it wasn't like that!" Celestia exclaimed, "It was never... never supposed to hurt him... we were only trying to make sure he was okay. I never... I never thought I'd fall for him, but now... now I can't imagine waking up without him down the hall to make my day just a tad brighter." She trailed off, her eyes misting over.

Luna finally managed to push herself to her haunches. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her foreleg before fixing Celestia with a bloodshot gaze.

"He's the first stallion in over a thousand years to make me feel genuinely wanted... to make me feel like I'm not the monster I used to be... how could we have been so stupid?" Luna croaked.

Celestia sighed, "I... I don't know, Luna. Maybe we're just not as good of ponies as we'd like to think we are... maybe we were too proud and bullheaded to just tell him the truth... maybe it's just that we've been approaching this from the wrong perspective this whole time, even." She admitted.

"What do you mean?" Lua asked.

"Anon's an alien. He's not like any stallion in Equestria. Maybe the reason we've messed this up so badly is because we keep thinking that Anon thinks like a stallion. In reality, he thinks more like a mare. How would you feel if the stallion you fell for turned out to be a stallion you hated." Celestia suggested, her head sinking just a bit lower.

"I... I would feel very betrayed." Luna agreed, sighing sadly.

Celestia nodded, "I... I don't know what we should do. Clearly every time we try to make things better with Anon we only make them worse. We hurt him every time we try to make him happier."

"Do we just... leave him by himself? What if something happens to him?" Luna responded.

"I don't think he'd want our help even if we did offer it to him..." Celestia murmured.

"What do we do? Surely there must be some way to salvage this!" Luna exclaimed, grabbing Celestia's foreleg.

"I think... for now, the only thing we can do is to give Anon some space, sister. At least, for a little while." Celestia replied.

"How long is 'a little while'?" Luna pleadingly asked.

"I... I don't know, Luna. Maybe a week... maybe a month... maybe a year. I don't know... I just don't know." Celestia sighed.

"We need to speak with him. We need to make this right, Tia, not just wait for him to come back." Luna shook her head.

"I wasn't saying we should just wait for him to come back. I was only saying that if we track him down and try to talk to him before he's ready to hear it... all we'll do is push him away even more." Celestia clarified, her voice lacking it's usual strength.

Luna's head dipped low as her withers sagged once more, "I... I know you're right. Faust, I hope he's okay... I...I just want him here so I can apologize again. Not knowing how he's feeling is driving me mad crazy."

"Mad and crazy?" Celestia tilted her head to the side.

Luna let out a mirthless chuckle, "It's a saying from his world. I thought it fitting."

Celestia half smiled, "He has rubbed off on us quite a bit, hasn't he?" She asked, her eyes downcast.

"Indeed... indeed he has."

"Faust I just hope he's okay."

Anon walked down the main road of the center district, his hands in his pockets, as his gaze stayed locked to the ground. He passed by a few ponies that were out and about, looking up to the sky to find the moon still there. Questions rang out all around him, but Anon payed them no mind. He simply kept walking until no more questions reached him.

Eventually, the moon sank below the horizon, and the sun slowly rose, lighting up the world around the tall man. He turned his head toward the rising sun, his brow creased ever so slightly before looking away with a small sigh. He continued along his aimless path, his gaze once more falling to the ground below. He found himself counting the individual stones cemented into the road as he walked along, losing himself in his senseless counting.

After some unknown amount of time spent walking with no real purpose, Anon found himself reaching the end of a cul-de-sac. He slowly looked up to see identical houses circling around him. He turned around to find more and more of the same house lining the street, all the way down to the corner.

"Military housing... Jav's house must be around here." He mumbled, his first words in hours.

Anon walked back down the cul-de-sac toward his goal, finding the house in question within a matter of minutes on the long street. He made his way up the steps to the front door and reached to knock, before pausing.

"Oh yeah... he's at the castle." Anon muttered, shaking his head.

He slowly and begrudgingly turned around once more before sitting down on the front porch, his back against the door. Resting his arms on his knees, Anon sat and waited for Javelin to return, his gaze locked onto the concrete ground before him. Birds chirped happily in the distance, yet Anon didn't so much as lift his head to gaze up at them as they flittered about in the morning sunlight.

The better part of an hour quickly passed, and before Anon knew it, he heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching him. The tall man didn't so much as look up to see the pony walking toward him, however soon enough, a pair of hooves came to a stop just in his line of sight.

"Anon? What are you doing here, dude?" Javelin asked, making his way up to his front door with a worried frown.

"Hey, Jav... mind if I come in?" Anon replied, not even looking up to acknowledge the unicorn in front of him.

"Uh, sure. Yeah, come on in, dude. Lemme get the door." Javelin answered, easily sensing Anon's bad mood.

As Anon moved to get to his feet, Javelin offered his hoof to the rising human. Anon paused as he looked down at the offered helping hoof, before slowly taking it, and being pulled to his feet. Once Anon was no longer blocking the door, Javelin quickly moved in and let the both of them into the house.

Anon lethargically made his way to the couch while Javelin closed and locked the door behind him. The stallion cast a worried look his way the whole time until he sat down on the couch and hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees. The guardstallion slowly made his way over to the couch and placed his hoof on Anon's thigh. The contact barely even registered on the man as he continued to sulk.

"Hey... listen, dude... you can tell me what's wrong. Something must have happened between now and last night, because first thing I woke up to was the moon still being up in the sky, the princesses locked in the observatory with about three dozen guards crowding around up there, and you missing from the castle. I spent the better part of an hour looking for you before Lieutenant Valorant told me to go home for the day." Javelin explained, his concern bleeding into his voice.

Anon remained silent for some time, causing the already deep crease in Javelin's brow to furrow even further as he thought of what to say. Just as the stallion opened his mouth to speak again, Anon cut him off.

"They lied to me." He whispered, his melancholy gaze stuck to the floorboards.

"Who lied? The princesses?" Javelin pressed, leaning closer.

"Yeah."

Javelin sighed quietly, "What did they lie about?" He inquired.

"What didn't they lie about?" Anon scoffed, his voice strained.

"Anon, I don't understand. Clearly I missed something massive last night. What specifically did they lie to you about? Your role? The arrangement to let you date outside of them?" Javelin questioned.

"They never let me date outside of them." Anon bitterly replied.

"What? What about Sunshine and Nightshade-" Javelin began.

"They ARE Sunshine and Nightshade! The whole fucking time they were pretending to be those mares to get on my good side!" Anon snarled, making Javelin recoil back.

"W-what?" Javelin shook his head in disbelief.

"Last night... Luna kissed me. She ran away and I chased her down," Anon held his head with his hands as he let out a slow sigh, "I found her in the observatory, and when I asked her why she did that... why she ran... she told me everything. Celestia was Sunshine, and Luna was Nightshade. They were pretending to be those mares for... fucking weeks."

Javelin looked shocked from the news. He tried for a moment to find some words, but found nothing. He blinked in astonishment for several seconds before shaking his head clear and finding his voice.

"B-but... this whole time? Why? What do they even get out of that? If they didn't love you in the first place, why pretend to as somepony else?" Javelin questioned.

"She said that they only wanted to check on me to make sure I was okay... and then, somehow they just... started enjoying spending time with me. That turned into something more, and before they knew it, they actually liked me and wanted a relationship with me." Anon elaborated.

"S-so... they actually fell for you after pretending to be somepony else? How... what did they think was gonna happen? That they were just gonna live that lie for the rest of your life? That you'd have four mares with two just happening to never be in the room at the same time as the others?" Javelin pressed.

"I don't fucking know!" Anon exclaimed, before letting out a shuddering breath, "I'm sorry... I just... I don't know."

Javelin frowned. He walked over to the side of the couch Anon wasn't sitting on and hopped up beside him. He placed his hoof on Anon's back and gently pat his back a few times before sighing.

"Alright, I got you, dude. Do you want to just vent, or do you want solutions?" Javelin asked.

"What?" Anon asked.

"I know how annoying it can be if you just wanna be upset for a bit and ponies keep trying to give you the solution. Sometimes, you gotta just let the anger and depression run its course before you start solving shit. So I'm asking if you want to just be upset, and I'll try to be as supportive as I can, or if you want to try to find solutions, in which case I'm also here for you." Javelin explained.

"Fuck, man... a bit of both, I guess." Anon shrugged.

Javelin chuckled, "Well... I'm not sure how much help I'll be... this is way above my paygrade... but I am here if you need anything." Javelin offered.

Anon sniffled as he nodded, "Thanks, man."

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Celestia paced back and forth in the throne room, a deep frown visible on her brow. She was slowly beginning to wear a pattern in the floor with her constant pacing, making Raven frown in concern as she observed from beside the actual throne. Even though they were only accompanied by a pair of guards in the massive room, it felt disturbingly quiet, save for the constant clopping of Celestia's hooves on the hard marble floor.

"P-princess? Are you alright?" Raven asked, her voice just a few octaves above a whisper, yet it sounded like a shout in the deathly quiet room.

Celestia paused mid-step. Her gaze, having been locked to the floor in front of her thusfar, slowly lifted and turned to look up to the secretary. Immediately, Raven felt a wave of deep concern wash over her at the sight of Celestia's bloodshot and barely open eyes.

"I... I think for once I'll have to say no. No, I'm not alright." Celestia muttered, sadly.

"What happened?" Raven quickly questioned, hopping off the throne steps and rushing to Celestia's side.

The solar princess, who looked anything but regal, lethargically looked over to her guards as Raven approached.

"Could you both please excuse us for a bit?" She asked, politely, yet with a clearly strained voice.

Both guards immediately saluted, "Of course, your highness." They barked in unison, before trotting out of the room.

Celestia watched them go until they were completely out of sight, as if to delay speaking with Raven for as long as possible. Once the stallions were gone, she slowly turned back to the secretary, a melancholy look in her eyes.

"Princess?" Raven pressed, easily seeing the dread in Celestia's eyes.

Celestia sighed before slouching to her haunches. Her wings fell limp at her sides, and she hung her head low, to the point where her crown fell off of her head, only to be snatched out the the air by Raven's quick magic. The secretary swiftly repositioned the regalia back on the princesses head, ensuring it wouldn't fall off again.

"Thank you." Celestia mumbled.

"Princess, what has gotten into you? I haven't seen you this depressed... I don't think ever. What happened?" Raven questioned, a small sense of panic in her voice.

"Anon is gone, Raven." Celestia said, simply.

"Gone? What do you mean 'gone'? Did he run off with Sergeant Javelin again?" Raven questioned.

"No, Raven. He left this morning. Last night... he found out about Luna and I being Nightshade and Sunshine. He left while I was asleep." Celestia admitted.

Raven's eyes widened, and her jaw nearly dropped, "What? B-but... how did he find out?" She asked.

"Luna kissed him last night. She realized the rather compromising position she put herself in only after it happened. Then... when Anon demanded answers, she admitted everything to him." Celestia elaborated.

Raven took a step back, "I... I'm so sorry, Princess."

"Don't be. This whole situation is my fault. I'm the one that went down there as Sunshine and let my hormones and dry spell get the better of me... I'm the one that pushed Luna to do the same... I'm the one who took that poor creature's heart and squashed it between my hooves," Celestia shakily sighed, "It's only fitting that I shouldn't get to see him before he leaves." She muttered, shaking her head in disappointment.

"B-but, Princess, surely you couldn't have known how things would turn out-" Raven started.

"Please don't try to excuse my behavior for me, Raven. Please... this whole ordeal has been my fault. From signing the law and forgetting about it in the first place, to lying to the only mortal I've genuinely come to want a relationship with in over a thousand years... it's all my fault. I don't deserve excuses." Celestia cut her off, hanging her head low once more.

Raven frowned, hard, "Princess, please listen to me! Yes, you've made some mistakes, but you're not a bad pony. This whole situation with the law isn't your fault. You wrote that seven hundred years ago, while you were still grieving over Luna's banishment. Nopony should be fit to write laws of any kind in that state of mind, but you did your duty well for a thousand years! The situation with Anon might be rough right now, but he's a smart colt, I'm sure he can see why you wouldn't just tell him how you felt upfront. He's honestly one of the most reasonable stallions I've ever met, if not, the most reasonable." She argued.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, Raven. Really, I do. I just don't think I want to hear it right now." Celestia replied.

Raven bit her lip, "With all due respect, Princess, I think that's why you need to hear it even more. Not coming from your secretary, but as your friend, I know you're a good pony. The situation might be bucked right now, but I know you'll find out how to fix it and win Anon back. From what I've seen, he genuinely liked Sunshine and Nightshade to the point of wanting a serious relationship with them! With you! Just because it came crumbling down doesn't mean it can't be rebuilt." She explained, standing her ground.

Celestia mirthlessly chuckled, "Raven, I truly do appreciate your candor and kindness... but I think it's misplaced. The situation with Anon is ruined... and I've irreparably damaged his trust in both myself and my sister. As much as I would love for him to understand why I did what I did... the fact remains that I was in the wrong. The path to evil is paved with good intentions, as they say."

Celestia pushed herself back up to her hooves, although her head remained low.

"Princess..." Raven pleaded.

"I think... I wish to have some time alone with my thoughts, Raven. Please inform everypony that I will not be seeing anypony for the rest of the day... possibly the rest of the week. Then please take the rest of the day off." Celestia said, turning to the throne room door.

Raven reached out to stop her, but before she could touch the alicorn, she paused. Celestia trudged away, leaving Raven there to drop her hoof back to the floor with a dejected sigh. With the princess gone, Raven found herself thinking over her words again and again.

"There has to be a way to salvage this situation, there just has to." Raven muttered, biting her lip in thought.

The secretary unicorn paced around in the empty throne room for a few minutes as she pondered.

"Where could Anon have run off to? His old home? No, no... I'm sure he probably wants to avoid the princesses and everything they represent right now... they gave him that property, so it's unlikely that he'd want to step ho-er, foot in there. Where else could he have gone?" She questioned, falling into the same hoofsteps Celestia wore into the floor earlier.

"What about friends? Aside from Javelin, I don't think Anon has any friends... well... maybe that's putting it too harshly. Still, out of ponies he trusts, the Sergeant is probably the only one left," She paused in her pacing, "Well I suppose that's my lead then. I'll need to find where he lives in the records, but first-" She turned to the door, "I need to go sort these nobles out for the rest of the day."

With that, Raven headed off toward the throne room doors, her mind set, and determination in every step.

Author's Note

Hehe secretary pone go brrrr