The heavy click of hooves upon marble echoed across the walls as three ponies moved within the castle. The hall was dark, illuminated only by a few meager lanterns set up along the walls; the moon cast long shadows through the paned glasses as the ponies continued through the dim passageways.
'Click, click, click'. Three white ponies marching towards the East wing of the castle, not so much as glancing at the portraits, tapestries, and plaques honoring the occupants of such a place. The carpet still smelled of detergent, the steaming having removed the dirt and grime after several groups of tourists had trampled over it in the previous day. Shadows all around the three surfaced from the dark of the room, contorted into menacing shapes by the panes of the windows, but no pony took notice, having been immune to their fright years ago.
The tallest pony, taking up the lead, drooped her head tiredly as the other two escorted her, yet again, to her dormitories. The wooden doors created a dead end farther along down the hallway, the blazing embalming of the sun on their surface going clear direction that it in fact housed the Goddess of the Sun, Princess Celestia. The lead pony's mane swiveled around aimlessly beside her as her pace quickened towards her room so that she may finally retire after a taxing day of government speeches. The two guards flanking her adjusted their step to keep up, but their expressions never changed from the blank, stoic stare they always wore, as per her command.
Their gaze was not enforced to make them look bored, or stereotypical. No, Celestia found that everything in life was to be easier if the opponent was unreadable. Therefore, the enemy could gain no information from their facial expressions, such as the exquisite detective Sherlock Hooves frequently did.
As they reached the doors of her private bedroom, Celestia turned to face her guards, her magic pushing the doors open quickly. "Well," she said to them, "it has been a lovely stroll with you yet again, but my, how did we get here so quickly!" she exclaimed hurriedly, eager to get inside without the usual questioning of how she faired. "Auughhh" she yawned loudly, "I am quite tired, so I think I'll be retiring right away!" she said, slowly slinking into the room.
She began to shut the doors when one of the guards caught it with a hoof. "Do you need-"
"No no no! Nothing at all! I am quite capable of everything that I might need throughout the night! Thank you for your concern, but you are relieved for the evening." With a smile, Celestia shut the door, listening for the shuffling of hooves as the guards left her in peace for the remainder of her night.
Celestia breathed out deeply, cursing herself for acting so jittery and out of character around her watchmen; she was just so excited to finally be alone, so that she may get out as quickly as possible. The princess ran to her bed, throwing off her golden shows, necklace, and crown, and placing them in her regalia box so that they would be as spic and span as ever in the morning. From under her bed, she fished out a small suitcase with her magic; tossing it on the bed in front of her, she quickly unlatched the locks with her teeth, flipping the dusty top off to reveal a few common items: toothpaste, a green sundress, reading glasses, some magazines, and some blimp ticket stubs that she had asked around for, claiming she was starting a "collection."
The regal white mare rushed to her mirror, quickly glancing at the clock in her fit. "I'm late! Oh no, oh no, oh no!"
She summoned a simple spell that she had copied from Chrysalis' magic after it struck her down at the Royal Wedding of her niece, and soon flames of green licked up and down her body, draining away her pure white coat, stiffening the hairs of her ethereal mane, and compacting her legs into those of an average pony. Her horn shrunk into oblivion, masked by the spell, but her wings only shrunk to the size of those of a normal pegasus.
Her famous rainbow mane had faded to that of a long, flowing teal, cascading over withers of soft, rosy pink similar to that of the light of an early sunset. Her eyes widened out from their usual small size so that they now resembled the sparkling, wide pupils of the Element of Laughter's. The suite mark of course had to be changed, and took the shape of a simple rose flower. Her head rounded out somewhat, so that at first glance she may be mistaken as Fleur de Lis' cousin.
Celestia smiled at the name of Fleur, her being one of the sane, tolerable ponies she had met during her social events. But Celestia had to remember to no longer respond to the famous Celestia, or Goddes of the Sun, or Princess, because for this night, she was no princess. For this night she was not a ruler, or a god, or an immortal monarch. Tonight she was Rosy Balm, and she would go see her family.
