Everything was sparkling golden as Celestia’s carriage arrived fashionably late to the opening premiere of her latest film. The carriage door was opened by her attendant and out stepped a muscular mountain of a stallion. The four-time bodybuilding champion, and last year’s winner of the title, Mr. Equestria, Iron Boss. Boss smiled widely and gave only a small wave to the crowd before he helped out of the carriage who he knew the crowd had really come to see. Out of the carriage stepped Princess Celestia, dressed in her absolute finest, looking as glorious as the breaking sunrise over the horizon.

Celestia strutted down the carpet, showing off every glorious asset of her ensemble. The crowd swooned and awed at her. Stallions wanted her. Mares wanted to be her. And as she ascended the last step before entering the movie theater, she gave the crowd a double take, winked, and spread her wings as a glamorous aurora gleamed around her. She was fabulous. She was magnanimous. She was–

SKRAAAK–*NYACK* *COUGH*

“No! No! Nooooo!” Celestia groaned as she buried her face deeply into her pillow.

There were no more lights. No more fans. No more movie premier. And no more Iron Boss. Instead, there she was in her bed with only a squawking, hacking, wheezing phoenix as her audience.

From her perch, Philomena coughed so hard that she molted at least ten more feathers.

“Oh, just burn up and be done with it, you stupid bird brain,” Celestia groaned, half-considering to throw her pillow at her pet.

Philomena’s answer was to loudly belch up a beakful of embers, which smoldered onto the carpet.

Celestia rolled over to scowl at her balcony doors, longing for the day to come where she would be able to get a good night’s sleep that wasn’t interrupted by Philomena’s histrionic fits. The dream had already long departed her, and there was the beginning of the daily grind winking her in the face. Unable to face such a dreadful thing, Celestia covered her eyes with her hoof, taking solace in the last few moments of darkened solitude. A smirk inched onto her face as she thought she could see herself being bench pressed by Iron Boss.

HWOO-HAA-HACK!! A-HACK!!

“Alright, already!!” Celestia snapped, kicking off her sheets and rolling out of her bed. Her hooves wobbled slightly as she hit the floor with a mighty clop, and she shambled over to her bathroom with her head low and her eyes squinted.

It would have surprised anypony to learn that the beloved solar princess was anything but a morning pony. No matter how bright and chipper she tried to present herself, her desire to be back in bed always shone through even more brightly. It was only after she had a chance to ease into her morning that she appeared as the benevolent princess the kingdom knew and loved. But as she rifled through her medicine cabinet with her eye half-closed and her teeth clenched, not even the serving staff would have dared to bother her.

She found it. Avian cough syrup. Phoenix Phormula. Guaranteed to make the sorest throat sing like a canary. Celestia rolled her eyes after scanning the label and trudged out to treat Philomena.

There was a loud clack as Celestia slammed the bottle of cough syrup onto the table next to Philomena’s perch.

“Open,” Celestia demanded.

Philomena’s beak opened wide.

Celestia opened the bottle and dumped almost a quarter of its contents down Philomena’s throat.

The phoenix’s eyes watered from the intense bitter flavor that gushed into her mouth. Before she could spit it out, Celestia’s hoof clamped over her beak, and Philomena was forced to swallow.

“Good girl,” Celestia said, capping the bottle and absentmindedly flinging it onto her bedside table.

Now that her bird was taken care of, Celestia could begin her day’s work. Without even bothering to step out onto her balcony that morning, she flared up her magic and directed her horn toward the horizon. Moments later, the sun rose up. Since her heart wasn’t quite in her work that day, Celestia decided to use a sunrise that was her usual go-to whenever she wasn’t feeling up to snuff. The sun was risen, and she was able to move on with the rest of her schedule.

First stop was back to the bathroom. There, the sink was filled up with cold water, and Celestia dunked her entire head beneath the surface. The shock of the cold water snapped every one of her nerves into working gear, and she yanked her head out of the frigid sink. With a spurt and a sputter, Celestia got the water out of her eyes, nose and mouth, then grabbed the nearest towel to dry herself. All those years of staying up late and sleeping for only three or four hours a night were beginning to catch up with her. But at least she wasn’t covering Luna’s duties again.

As she brushed her mane, Celestia’s mind wandered back to when they were fillies. Even as a young princess, Luna wasn’t much for socializing or making a spectacle of herself. Despite that, she was always the one who broke the rules and led the charge. When Celestia was sitting obediently in the classroom with Starswirl the Bearded, Luna had cut class to go exploring the Everfree Forest. Sadly, that side of Luna seemed to wither away as she got older. And it diminished even further after her return from the moon. Inviting her to the most recent Grand Galloping Gala was just her most recent attempt to coax that side of her out again.

Much to Celestia’s surprise, Luna had agreed to join her. And it seemed to have done her a world of good. She had been spending more time out of the castle, seemed to be making new friends, and had even dyed and cut her mane into a new style. Something that she had always wanted to do as a filly, but their parents had never allowed. As for herself, no such thought had ever crossed Celestia’s mind. She was always happy to have her aurora-patterned mane the way it was. That and the thought of what her mother might have said if she saw her mane bleached inhibited her from doing so.

The rest of her morning ritual was completed without incident, and Celestia walked onward to the dining room. The moment that the doors were open, she was met with a surprise guest. Sitting at her usual spot at the table was Luna, who looked up from her meal with a mouth full of spicy buffalo cauliflower and fried potatoes.

“Aren’t you usually asleep still?” Celestia asked as she rounded the table to her seat.

“Normally,” Luna said. “And what about you? Aren’t you supposed to be doing your morning duties?”

“Oh, let the fiduciary papers lay on my desk until they turn yellow and brittle,” Celestia said, taking her seat and ringing the service bell. “Service!” she snapped.

The kitchen staff had expected Celestia to be in one of her morning moods, and quickly delivered a prepared plate of toast with grilled mushrooms and tomatoes, beans, and a serving of blueberry buckle. As quickly as they set it up, they disappeared, never once daring to make eye contact with Celestia until at least ten o’ clock.

“Now, on to business,” Celestia said, before taking a forkful of the toast.

“Business?” Luna wondered.

“You don’t change your schedule at all unless there’s been some development. Because unless you had something to tell me, you wouldn’t be awake already,” Celestia said.

“Not awake already. Awake still,” Luna corrected.

“What?”

Nearby, one of the waiters noticed that a single glass of orange juice had been left on the serving trolley. Just as he was about to deliver it, he heard Celestia’s sharp admonishment from Luna’s confession to staying awake up to then.

“I don’t know. I just felt I couldn’t sleep. So I decided to treat myself,” Luna said, indicating her fillyhood favorite meal.

“Couldn’t sleep indeed. After the night you had, I’m sure you’ll be wired well until sunrise tomorrow,” Celestia said.

The waiter balanced the glass of orange juice on his snout as he stealthily crawled beneath the table.

Luna chomped off nearly an entire crown of cauliflower when she heard her sister’s aspersion. Her mouth filled with an overload of the sour, spicy heat of buffalo sauce, before she spat it out into her napkin and dropped it onto her plate.

“Eh-heh…Wha-What night I had?” Luna innocently asked.

“Don’t play dumb, Lulu. I had hoped to check on you last night to make sure you weren’t going to come home drunk as a skunk again–”

The waiter’s ears pricked up when he heard that. Then he quickly resumed his mission.

“--And what do I find? Your room empty, and none of the castle staff has seen you since the moon went up!”

Celestia pounded her hoof on the table, making the waiter flinch. The glass wobbled atop his snout. He moved quickly beneath it, steadying it to a precarious perch on the very tip of his nose.

“Erm…Well…There are other things to do at night. Besides staying cooped up in one’s room to watch over the dreams of sleepers,” Luna weakly said.

The orange juice slowly rose up to the table.

“What, Luna? What are these things?” Celestia irately asked, swinging her hoof wide.

The waiter had to duck to keep the orange juice from spilling.

“I…I…” Luna said biting her lip and averting her eyes from her sister.

Celestia waited impatiently, tapping her hoof on the table as she glared at Luna.

The glass of orange juice was nearly on the table, but began to wobble heavily as the waiter tried to slip it onto the tabletop.

Completely unconsciously, Celestia magically retrieved the glass from its expected place on the table and drank it without looking in the waiter’s direction. Now that he was in the clear, the waiter scuttled away from the grumpy princess.

“I…found a potential lead into identifying that strange pegasus,” Luna finally said.

“Oh, really?” Celestia said, her mood suddenly seeming to brighten with intrigue.

Luna sighed internally, taking a bite of her potatoes to mask her relief.

“Just what did you find out?” Celestia asked.

“Skylar Rose,” Luna said through her mouthful.

“And? What does this mean?” Celestia said, motioning for Luna to continue.

Luna swallowed quickly, “That’s her name,” she said. “More than that, I learned that she has a younger sister.”

“Does she now? Do tell,” Celestia said, noticing then that her glass was empty.

The waiter had almost crawled back to the kitchen when he heard the dreaded dinging of a fork on Celestia’s glass. Before him, a trolley with a carton of orange juice slowly rolled to a stop against his hoof. The other wait staff waved him back toward Princess Celestia, and the waiter’s ears drooped as he realized his path that morning led back to the lion’s den.

“We have a name for her as well. Rosy Flower. And, brace yourself, she’s a student at your school,” Luna said.

“This is incredible!” Celestia said, leaning eagerly toward Luna and creating an opening for the waiter to quickly approach, “What else did you learn.”

“That was about all,” Luna said.

“That’s all!!?” Celestia snapped, jabbing her fork into the table.

The waiter had to move his neck out of the way as he reached for the glass, just before Celestia’s fork came down.

“What about a location? A motive? Accomplices? Criminal history? Can we pinpoint her older sister as the culprit in that stabbing? Honestly, Luna! Where is your mind on these things?” Celestia fumed.

She magically reached for her glass again, finding it was still empty. Once again, she tapped her fork against the glass, more aggressively this time. The waiter kept a low profile, slowly rising with the carton of orange juice.

“I had already questioned little Rosy about all of these matters, but I didn’t see it necessary to press her. Not when she was clearly already so distressed by them,” Luna said.

Celestia opened her mouth to speak.

“And I would advise against sending any city guards to question her either. She’s already had a bad history with them,” Luna said.

Celestia closed her mouth and grumbled. For a second time, she reached for her glass of orange juice, and this time found herself drinking heavily from an entire carton of the stuff. For a moment she looked quizzically at the carton, then shrugged, then placed it beside her plate.

“Do we at least have a record of residence on either sister?” Celestia asked.

“I’m afraid not. They seem to be changing residences faster than we can track. Not any official residence, that is. I’ve learned that they’re going between motels. As there is no constant record of their stays, it’s easy to assume they’re using false names,” Luna answered.

Celestia rolled her eyes and thought that she saw something move to her side. When she looked, she saw nothing but the empty room and turned back to her sister.

“And what do we know of her accomplices?” Celestia wondered.

Luna’s mind flashed to the one name that she knew for certain. Needy. An associate from Capper’s days in Kludgetown who she had tried to investigate. Only, there didn’t seem to be any record of him on file in any kingdom. As far as anypony was concerned, he was just a civilian with a clean slate. And that was far from enough to do anything to incriminate him or any of the others.

“Nothing,” Luna muttered. “But I feel that once I get a lead on Skylar Rose, I’ll be able to identify the others that she was with.”

“Then it’s only a matter of time,” Celestia grimly said, taking another bite of her toast. It was not a pleasant subject for the morning, so Celestia decided that a change of topic was in order. “Since you’re going to be awake, what do you have planned for the day?”

In a very mechanical motion, Luna stopped herself mid-bite of her meal. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but there was some intention beneath Celestia’s words. Something that she was keeping to herself for the time being. But after so many years of being the younger sister, she knew ways to coax it out of her.

“I’m not quite sure just yet,” Luna said.

The moment she finished speaking, she thought about Capper. Whether he would be too busy to meet up for a short excursion that day, or what he was thinking after their kiss the night before. And she quickly stopped herself from smiling the moment Celestia refocused into her vision.

Luna sat silently as she casually took another bite of her breakfast, feeling the gaze of Celestia bore into her. But her mind couldn’t shut out her thoughts of Capper. She knew that she wasn’t his first, and that he had probably tomcatted around with loads of other mares back in his home. Or were the females of his species called mollies? Whatever the case, it was a comfort to Luna that he seemed genuine in his affections for her. In fact, he seemed like a teenager who was falling in love for the first time ever since their date at the restaurant. And she felt no different during their time at the boardwalk. Everything had been mutual between them. The euphoria of something real. The affection of blossoming love. The bristling of nerves on the first date. Especially the nerves. In fact, the one thing that relaxed Luna more than anything was knowing that Capper was nervous too, and that he did nothing to hide it. The purest form of honesty had presented itself in his vulnerability, and her heart began to melt inside of her as she remembered.

Celestia reappeared in the corner of her vision, silently appraising her. Waiting for her to give something away.

She was hooked. But she still needed to be teased. Luna picked up a nearby spoon and looked at her reflection in it.

“I think,” Luna said, turning her head slowly to each side. “I think that I’d like to add some highlights to my mane. Trixie told me I’d look cuter with black highlights.”

The reaction from Celestia wasn’t what she expected. Instead, her sister began laughing, holding a hoof over her mouth to keep from making a scene.

“Really, Lulu. I don’t exactly follow style trends, but I know that what you’re trying for has been outdated for at least twenty years,” Celestia said, holding her sides with her free hoof.

Luna’s face soured in an instant, delivering a bemused glance to Celestia.

“And just what’s wrong with that? Perhaps I want to try something different, instead of the same old style some of us have been wearing for the past millennia,” she said.

Celestia stopped laughing immediately and her face turned a slightly brighter shade of red. “Some things just never go out of fashion,” she said.

“Only in one lifetime,” Luna quipped, taking profound pleasure in her sister’s agony. “Is it dawning on big sister just how old she’s become?”

“You’re no spring chicken either!” Celestia snapped. “Two years makes no difference in the eyes of the ages!”

“No. But in these modern ages…” Luna provocatively said.

“Oh, give it a rest,” Celestia said. “I’ve spoken with Twilight, and she says you’re still at least three hundred years behind the times.”

“Twilight? Dear, dear me. Have you seen the bangs on that filly? There’s at least a century between her mane and the rest of her ensemble,” Luna said.

Celestia’s answer was to take a heavy drink from the carton of orange juice. As irritating as Luna could be, Celestia recognized something through the fog of her morning mood. Ever since the most recent Gala, Luna’s behavior had changed drastically. Lunchtimes in the city, instead of the palace. A surge of creativity that filled up her wall with more pictures from her sketchbook. Nighttime appointments that kept her out until odd hours. Coming home drunk from parties. It all formed pieces of a picture that was beginning to drift together.

One last gulp and Celestia put the carton on the table.

”That’s it,” she said.

“What’s it?” Luna wondered.

“Who is it?”

A nerve crackled and frayed somewhere in Luna’s spine as she asked, “Who’s who?”

“Whoever you’re seeing that is making you so happy. That’s who.”

A feeling like a thousand tiny firecrackers going off at once rattled in Luna’s skull as beads of sweat perspired on her forehead. Anxiety settled itself upon her shoulders, making her wobble slightly in her seat, before it felt as if her seat steadied itself without any effort from herself.

“Th…There is nopony,” Luna managed to say.

“I don’t need the Element of Honesty to know that that’s a steaming load of horse apples,” Celestia said, jabbing her fork at Luna. “I’ve seen Cadance make dozens, if not hundreds of ponies swoon like you are with just one flick of her eyelashes. So tell me, and be truthful about it: who is this stallion you’re seeing?”

Luna strained her lungs as she tried to surreptitiously take deep breaths in through her nose. Slowly, her mind began to conjure up a way to tell the truth, but without actually telling the truth.

“I’m not seeing any stallion,” Luna said, feeling the anxiety drift from her, knowing that technically there wasn’t actually a stallion to speak of.

Perhaps there was some way that she had said it that confused her sister, because Celestia was giving her a very odd look.

“What? What’s that face you’re making?” Luna wondered.

“It’s not a mare, is it?” Celestia asked.

There had never been such a spit take seen in the royal palace in centuries. Especially when Luna hadn’t been drinking anything. As she watched her sister sputter, Celestia took Luna’s napkin and began mopping up the mess that she had made on the table.

“Wh…How can–What made you think–What?!” Luna stammered.

“I’m only saying that I’ve never seen you spend any significant time with any stallions, but you always seem to be in the company of Twilight and any of her friends. I just thought that–”

“Oh my stars, Celestia! Give it a rest!” Luna incredulously said. “I spend time with them because they’re the only ones who don’t think I’m going to blot out the sun again!”

“Ah,” Celestia concisely said, realizing that she knew that perfectly well. “Sooo…You truly aren’t seeing anypony at all?”

“No!” Luna adamantly said. “Can a mare not just be in good spirits for finding other things to do with her time? Instead of the same old grind we’ve been doing for thousands of years?”

“Calm down, Lulu. I was only asking,” Celestia said, standing up from her place at the table and magically picking up her platter and the carton of orange juice. “I’ll be finishing my breakfast in my office. As it stands, the paperwork will make for more pleasant morning company than you.”

Celestia left in a huff, leaving Luna huffing at her spot at the table. Of all the ponies she could spend the morning with, Celestia was the last pony anypony at the castle would have wished to do so with. The image they all had of a bright, perky, bubbly Celestia at the crack of dawn was such a skewed fantasy that it almost made Luna laugh. Still, she was gone, and the peril of revealing her social life had passed.

As she took another bite of potatoes, she reflected on her blossoming relationship with Capper. Most of all, her thoughts were haunted by the idea of whether or not Celestia would approve. She knew all about Capper’s shady past, his nature as a pathological liar, and how he had once made a living by scamming people out of their life savings. That wasn’t to mention his attempt to sell Twilight and her friends into slavery. But Luna had seen another side of him. One that grew from leaving his checkered past behind him. Or perhaps it had always been there, waiting to come forth once again. And he would never have attempted to bring her into it. If anything, Capper was trying to make himself into a better cat for her.

Luna gently squeezed her hooves together on the table, and she smiled to herself. Because of her, the lowliest creature she knew wanted to make himself worthy of her. And he had come so far since their first meeting. And every time since then, she could see something that she hadn’t before. Each time, something new appeared to her, though he was still the same cat she knew. Always the same, always a surprise.

Luna jumped as Celestia’s chair wobbled on its own. Shuffling out from beneath it came the waiter who had served her undercover. He cracked the stiffness out of his joints, then shook himself loose.

“For what it’s worth, Your Highness, I think it’s great that you found someone. Love is love, no matter who it’s from,” he said.

“Bring me more potatoes, and I’ll forget about your eavesdropping,” Luna said, pushing her plate over to him.

Author's Note

It has been way too long and the funny thing is that this chaper had been done for a long time. I just never posted it until now. Let's hope I can slow down a bit and finish this.

As always, Till Next Time!!!