"Your majesty," Day Crow said through short-lived panting, "We may have a problem."
Princess Celestia was sitting atop her throne as she always had, and she was busy talking to two unicorns of royal stature as Day Crow had approached with the sudden message.
Celestia pulled away from her conversation to entertain the pegasi's words. "What message fo you bring, Day Crow?"
Day Crow approached the princess' throne, coming to a stop beside the two rather irritated unicorns. "Something has come up and I need to speak with you in private; this may be a more personal dilemma."
"If you say it is personal, can it wait until after our discussions, Day Crow?" Celestia asked kindly, hinting at the two unicorns under her, one of them nodding their head.
"Yes, can your words wait until after our royal meeting?" the blue, more dressed of the two unicorn mares butted in. "Our meeting is quite more impor--"
"--Two of the Pendants of Harmony have disappeared; this I am sure of," Day Crow spoke directly to Celestia, over the hypocritically rude unicorn.
Silence filled the royal throne room.
"I see that it cannot wait, then." Princess Celestia stood up from her seat at the throne, and began to descend to floor level, "Please, we can continue our discussions later," she nodded to the two unicorns, one of them more agitated then the other.
"Fine," the blue unicorn tilted up her muzzle, and with that her assistant followed her out of the room in a trot.
"I cannot tell which of the pendants had, but I can assure you that a third of them have gone missing."
"That is a problem," Celestia gazed at one of the stained-glass windows that stood beside the two, and came to a stop to directly question Day Crow. "Do you know how this may have occurred? No guard has came to me with any words of a breach in the elements' holding room."
"That's just it," Day Crow added, "I cannot tell how the two have disappeared, but I did sense that their disappearance was abrupt, more like they vanished."
"Vanished," Celestia echoed. She pondered on the subject. Vanished? No, it could not have been Discord, as he had been petrified in the Royal Garden. It couldn't have been King Sombra, due to how blunt he travels.
That leaves Queen Chrysalis, then... no. There had been the strictest laws on Changelings implemented in Canterlot yet, and whoever passed into Canterlot faced an invisible field that scoped out even the tiniest disturbance.
As Celestia narrowed down the list of possible suspects for such a secretive crime, another pony could be seen galloping towards the two.
This time, it was a royal night guard. "Your majesty," he spoke in a deep voice, one that matched his stalky lunar pony appearance and chain around his neck, "Two of the pendants of Harmony disappeared; I wanted to inform you immediately."
Celestia nodded her head to the lunar pony, and after looking at Day Crow, began a new conversation with the guard. "Day Crow had already informed me of the crime. But if you have any additional information, I would be glad to hear it."
"Oh, I don't think this was a crime," Night Hawk responded, looking at his sister Day Crow, who stood closer to Celestia than he did.
"Based on what me and my colts checked out in the pendant room, nopony even entered the area to take the two. When we did our routine check on the pendants, my colts we're sure they were secure 'cause of the room being all locked and bolted up. But I felt that feeling in my gut," Night Hawk continued, while Day Crow rolled her eyes.
"I needed to check up on the pendants just in case, and whaddaya know? Even though it was all bolted up like I said, two out of the jewelry box -- pssh -- gone," Night Hawk informed, adding a light scoff in the middle of his explanation.
"Yeah, well maybe a pony reset all of the locks after leaving," Day Crow added, glaring at her twin brother.
"Sis, I don't think a pony would be able to sneak past all of our stuff," Night Hawk retorted. "This ain't some game of sneak-into-the-kitchen-and-steal-the-last-cookie."
Day Crow was about to continue the obviously childish argument about the majorly important incident, that is until Princess Celestia reminded them of her presence by clearing her throat.
"I believe that the situation we have on our hooves is more important that the argument the both of you have involved yourselves in."
"I'm sorry, your majesty."
"Sorry, Princess." Day Crow inconspicuously jumped at her twin brother, rearing her head forward in a motion was she was going to gawk.
"I need to write a letter to Twilight Sparkle," Celestia thought out loud, turning her attention to Day Crow, "Would you please prepare the scroll for me while I follow Night Hawk to the sight of the disappearance, and prep the rest of the castle-grounds guards to seek out any suspicion?
Day Crow nodded, walking to a storage area beside the Princess' throne, while Night Hawk turned to the door, with the Princess following at his side.
"About the pendants, Night Hawk," Princess Celestia said as the Princess and the guard began to exit the throne room, "Did you recognize which of the pendants have gone missing?"
"I believe I do, Princess," the lunar pony stated. "It was the pendant of Loyalty and Kindness."
Celestia looked forward, and they were still walking through the hallway to the elements room, their footsteps echoing off the decorated castle walls. "Rainbow Dash... Fluttershy," she breathed.
