CHAPTER THREE
•••••••••••••••Twilight's POV•••••••••
"That's good." Luna said, smiling once again. "For a moment I thought that you really were thinking about your friends!"
I smiled, best I could. It was hard. I just felt like breaking down in tears, telling Luna that I might just die without them; and couldn't live another minute without them. But I couldn't. All these years I've been wanting to tell her, but I can't. It'll be like a slap to the face for her. I've built lie, after lie, after lie. It's not right. But I can't tell Luna. I just can't.
"Now." Luna continued. "As I was saying. After Breakfast we will be having a party. And ponies from all over Equestria will be coming! Exciting, right? Anyways, after that we will be having dinner, and then, well, the day is over. I know you will have fun."
"I'm sure I will." I said. I glanced at Celestia, but she wasn't there! I looked at Luna, wanting to know if she saw that her sister was gone. However, all Luna was doing was eating some of her breakfast, not paying attention. I wanted to tell Luna, but that might just send her her into a panic. I didn't want to do that, of corse. Instead, all I did was sit still. Maybe Celestia was going to set up the final decorations, or just getting something she forgot. She would be back soon.
After about 10 minutes of eating and finishing food, Celestia wasn't back. That got me extremely nervous. Luna didn't notice, for she was eating and talking with other ponies at the table. I made conversation with one mare and colt. They asked me all sorts of questions, like, how I was enjoying being a princess for example. I didn't even mention my friends. I wanted to, but they might not know who I was talking about. They looked about 30 years old, and weren't born when my friends were alive. After the conversation, I finished my apple, my strawberries, and all my other assorted foods.
"Wasn't this breakfast just great?" Luna asked me, whipping her mouth. I smiled. This breakfast was very good, if I do say so myself.
"It was." I stated. What surprised me was the happiness in my voice. "Thanks for the breakfast, Luna. It was really great!"
Luna laughed. "Glad to hear it, Twilight Sparkle." She looked to the seat where Celestia sat, and had a shocked look on her face.
"Where art thou sister?!" Luna cried in my face. I flinched, and wanted to cover my ears. Luna sure did talk really loud. Or as she called it, "the royal Canterlot voice". Celestia doesn't use it, but Luna sure does. When Luna came to Ponyville that one nightmare night, she was met with...mixed results. I told her to lower to volume, and spend time with others. I think the volume issue resolved a lot. Luna still used the "Royal Canterlot voice" but that was within the castle. She met all my friends during that Nightmare Night, except for Rarity. None of us knew where she was, but then Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister, told us that Rarity fell asleep in the middle of making a costume and couldn't take Sweetie Belle out to Trick-or-Treat. I felt bad. Sometimes, sleep could get the better of ponies. Especially if they had been working all night. I felt bad for Rarity. She didn't get to meet the new Princess Luna. What did surprise me however, was that Luna's voice did sound a bit like Rarity's. odd, huh?
"I don't know...." I told Luna, a worried tone filling my voice. "I looked over there and she was gone!" Then, Luna but her lip, looking frightened. As frightened as a little filly watching a horror movie. Luna then told me something, that I guess was only for me to hear.
" Twilight," she began. "We have to go look for my sister! We cannot have this wonderful celebration without her!"
I nodded. I really did wonder where Celestia ran off to. It was the right thing to do- go look for her. Maybe this little "Find Celestia" thing could get my mind off certain subjects. One of them being the memory of my friends. I needed to get them off my mind. I needed to focus on other things besides them, no matter how hard it was. What I needed to do was focus on other things. There were more important things to think about then the five ponies. Like finding Celestia and this whole coronation anniversary.
"But," I whispered back to Luna. "Wouldn't everyone here notice we were gone and freak out?" I asked. Luna ran a hoof through the top of her mane, trying to figure out what to do. Then, her attention turned back to me, and I saw panic in her blue orbs.
"Oh, Twilight, your right. But we need to look! This celebration will not be complete without my sister! What ever shall we do?" Luna asked me, panic filling her voice. When Luna said "what ever shall we do", I thought of Rarity again. I shook it off, trying to forget about my old friend. I then thought for a moment.
"Maybe we can just tell then we'll be right back in a minute. Do you think that'll work?" I asked my fellow Princess. Luna then shrugged, her soft velvet dress got wrinkled due to her shoulders rising and falling. Luna looked to the party guests. Most of them had finished their breakfast and were talking to one another at this point. Thankfully, none of them has seen that Celeatia has gone. Then, I got an even better idea.
"Hey Luna," I whispered. Her head quickly turned to face me. "These ponies don't look like they are even paying any attention. We could slip out of here without them noticing!" Luna's eyes lit up as soon as I finished. She nodded, agreeing with my simple plan.
"Okay, Twilight Sparkle." Luna told me, slowly getting up from her seat. "That seems like the best plan."
We both nodded to each other. Me and her quietly slunk down from our seats. Luna's dress brushed against mine as we crawled underneath the table, which was covered with a white sheet. After a few seconds Luna walked ahead of me, just a little bit. Luna attempted not to hit the top of the table with her wings or head. She was a bigger pony then me. Since we were on couches, none of the party guests could feel us underneath the table with their hooves. I was relieved. If anyone knew we were under here, then my plan could get ruined. Thankfully, I heard no one question anything from up above. Luna and I were as silent as a mouse, barely talking or making a sound at all, which reminded me of some pony that I used to know.....
(FLASHBACK)
I was walking along a dirt path along with my assistant, Spike the dragon. We had just gotten back from supervising the decor for the summer sun celebration, where Spike had met a pony that he fell head over heels for.
"Wasn't she wonderful?" Spike asked me. I could of sworn I saw blush on his face.
"Focus, Casanova. What's next on the list?" I asked him. Spike then opened his eyes wide and pulled out a list. He sat firmly on my back again.
Spike cleared his throat." Oh, uh, music! It's the last one!"
I suddenly heard a sweet melody coming from a few feet ahead. It was birds. I looked closer and saw that a cream Pegasus with a rose pink mane was conducting them. However, one of the birds this beautiful Pegasus was conducting was out of key. I thought that this must be the pony in charge of music. I decided to walk up to where she was.
"Oh my. Um, stop please, everyone, umm. Excuse me, sir? I mean, no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny-tiny bit off. Now, follow me, please. A-one, a-two, a-one two three-" I heard the Pegasus say to the off-key bird as I reached to where she was hovering. I then decided to greet her.
"Hello!" I greeted, loudly. Suddenly, the Pegasus gave a high pitched yelp and flew down to stand on the ground. All of her birds quickly flew away at the sound of my voice. Her surprised look turned into a worried expression as she looked at me.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to frighten your birds." I apologized. "I'm just here to check up on the music and it's sounding beautiful." I paused. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." I stopped again. "What's your name?"
The Pegasus shied away from me just a bit and spoke very quietly. "Um... I'm Fluttershy." I could barley even hear her.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" I asked as nicely as I could. The pony looked at me and then looked away.
"Um... My name is Fluttershy." She said even quieter. I could of sworn I was just imagining her saying something. That's how quiet her voice was.
"Didn't quite catch that!" I told her, nicely like I did last time. Fluttershy-the pony- gave a squeak and shied away from me. I looked over her shoulder and saw that her birds that had previously flown away had come back to the tree they were singing on.
I smiled weakly." Well, um, it looks like your birds are back, so I guess everything's in order. Keep up the good work!" I told her. Fluttershy then gave another squeak. I looked over at Spike standing a few feet behind me. I walked over to him.
"Well, that was easy." I told him. Suddenly, I heard Fluttershy fly up, and the fluttering of bird wings flying away. What got her so excited real fast?
Fluttershy gasped. " A baby dragon!" She flew over and knocked me over to see Spike. I fell back first onto the hard dirt. I quickly got up, brushed myself off, and went to go and stand behind Spike.
"Oh, I've never seen a baby dragon before." Fluttershy exclaimed. "He's sooo cute!" She cooed. Spike looked my way.
"Well, well,well!" Spike told me. All I did was roll my eyes. Before I could say something, Fluttershy spoke up again.
"Oh my, he talks. I didn't know dragons could talk. That's just so incredibly wonderful I, I just don't even know what to say!" Fluttershy cried. Spike smiled. Fluttershy smiled back, her blue eyes filled with happiness. If she didn't know what to say, then this could be my chance to go back to the library and look up The Mare in the Moon and the Elements of Harmony....
"Well, in that case we'd better be going!" I told Fluttershy, placing Spike on my back again. Fluttershy flinched and had a slight bit of disappointment in her eyes. I began to walk, and Fluttershy followed.
" Wait, wait! What's his name?" Fluttershy asked. I felt Spike excitedly move on my back.
"I'm Spike!" Spike told the cream Pegasus.
" Hi Spike, I'm Fluttershy. Wow, a talking dragon! And what do dragons talk about?" Fluttershy asked. I felt a conversation coming on....and I didn't like it. I needed to find out about the two subjects. The Elements and the Mare in the Moon.
"Well, what do you wanna know?" Spike asked.
"Absolutely everything!" Fluttershy exclaimed. I groaned.
Oh, great.
( END FLASHBACK)
The babbling of ponies above reminded me of Fluttershy's birds, and the way that Luna and I being quiet reminded me of Fluttershy. I didn't even realize that I was in a daze until Luna whacked me in the face with her long tail.
"Twilight!" Luna whispered loudly, though not as loud as to disturb the guest above. "Stop daydreaming! We need to go and find Celestia!"
I blinked a few times, and shook my head. I gave Luna an apologetic look. I sighed.
"Sorry..." I told Luna. Luna nodded and continued walking under the table. I walked behind her, glad that she said "Day Dreaming" instead of "Thinking about your friends". However, I knew that Luna thought that I was thinking about kind little Fluttershy and the rest of my friends. She didn't say it, because she knew what the answer would be. I wanted to stop thinking about Fluttershy, and just go and look for Celestia with Luna. However, I couldn't. Fluttershy was on my mind.
Fluttershy was one of the most kind, caring, sweet and helpful ponies I had ever met. She cared for me and my friends as well as her animals. Fluttershy's kind spirit, soft voice, and caring nature will never be shared by anyone ever again. She died along with the rest. Who could forget the time that Fluttershy gave that extra 2.3 to the Pegasus tornado to bring water up to CloudsDale. With out her, they would of been stuck at 797.7 and wouldn't have been able to reach the 800 wing power goal. Fluttershy was a shy, timid pony, but inside, she had a heart of courage. She walked up to a big scary dragon like it was nothing, even though she had been scared before. She participated in the Hearths Warming Eve pageant, even when she was too scared to go on. I respected her personality, and I still do now. Even though Fluttershy is dead along with Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. It hurts me inside, mainly my heart, to think that Fluttershy would never share her kind nature and loving personality again. All I can say is that I was lucky that I met her and that I miss her with all my heart, along with the others.
Luna and I finally got the the end of the table. The door wasn't too far away, and that was a wave of relief for me. The door close meant that Luna and I had a better chance of slipping out unnoticed. We had already walked under the table unnoticed, which surprised me. I really thought that the guests would notice by now. But no. All they were doing was continuing to talk and talk and not care where the three most important Princess' in Equestria were. Luna looked back at me, and nodded. Her eyes read "lets go", and Luna began to slowly walk from out behind the table to the door, as quietly as she could. I followed, being as quiet as her.
We slunk towards the opened door undiscovered by the guests. When Luna and I finally got outside the door and moved to the right so we couldn't be seen, we both gave a sigh of relief.
"We made it...." Luna whispered, since we were still close to the guests and the dinning hall. "Your plan worked!"
I smiled. "I guess it did! Now, we have to go and find Celestia, right?" As soon as I said that, Luna's eyes widened, and she nodded rapidly.
"Yes! Lets go look!" Luna then pointed with her hoof down the hall way, that was decorated with beautiful murals and pictures. "My sister's suite is down that way. That is probably where she went to. Lets check there, first. And remember..." Luna looked at me, a hint of coldness in her eyes. "No daydreaming."
I nodded, less happily. No daydreaming. Right.
Luna and I began to walk down the hallway. As we did, I looked at the murals and pictures. One of them showed Princess Luna and Celestia together. Another one of them showed the royal guards fighting against griffins, which was a very important battle of pony history. Ponies learn it when they get into 6th grade. From what the story tells, this battle changed the rift between griffins and ponies forever. Because of that battle, griffins and ponies could socialize and be friends.
Then, as we reached the end of the hallway, I noticed one particular mural that made me quickly look away and hold in tears. This pictures showed me, and all my friends together, wearing our Elements-the necklace, necklace, necklace, necklace, necklace and big crown thingy. We were all smiling, our eyes filled with happiness to be together. It made me feel so upset. I would never be able to hug them, smile with them, or even talk to them again. The mural was like another world, were all my friends were still alive, well and with me. However, that was just a fake world. The real world told the story of how my friends weren't here with me anymore.
I shook if off, and noticed that Luna and I had reached the end of the hallway. We where about to turn the corner to reach Celestia's room, when suddenly one of the the royal guards blocked our path. Since Luna was in front of me, the Guard talked to her.
"My Princess!" The guard began. "Shouldn't you be at the grand breakfast? What are you doing out here?"
I could sense that Luna didn't like what the guard just said. And I was right.
"Excuse me!" Luna bellowed. "You have no right to question your Princess of the night! I should have-" before Luna could continue, I stepped in between Luna and the guard. I faced the guard and gave him a weak smile.
"Umm...actually, Luna and I are out here because we need to look for Celestia. Breakfast is almost done anyways." I looked at Luna. Her angry expression turned into a slightly annoyed one.
"Yes. That is why we are out here. Now, let us pass, and promise not to question your Princess again!" Luna pestered the guard. The guard nodded and moved aside.
"My apologizes, my Princess'. Carry on." We began to walk away to Celestia's room when the guard yelled something else. "And Happy 1ooth, Princess!"
I flinched, thinking about what else this day marked. However I tired not to think about it. What I did need to focus on was where Celestia was and what she was doing. I really did wonder why Celestia abandoned the breakfast to go and do whatever it was she was doing.
After a few minutes, Luna and I reached Celestia's suite. Luna opened the large golden door to reveal a humongous room. Like My suite and Luna's suite, this room had a closet, a huge bed, a balcony, and tons of other items and places. Luna and I walked into the room and stopped in the middle of the floor, on a rug that had a picture of Celestia on it.
"Lets go look on-" but before Luna could finish her sentence, hoof steps could be heard. It made Luna and I jump, and look towards the balcony. For a moment, nothing happened. Suddenly, a white Alicorn with a flowing blue, green, purple and pink mane walked out from the balcony and to where Luna and I were standing. It was Celestia.
"Celestia!" Luna and I said at the same time. Luna gave a surprised expression, and it quickly turned into an annoyed one. I just gave a confused look. Why was Celestia out on the balcony?
"My sister!" Luna cried. "Why did you leave the most festive feast of breakfast? Why did you leave?" She questioned. Luna was about to say something more, when Celestia put up her hoof and Luna grew silent.
"Oh, it's alright, my sister." Celestia said. "I was just taking care of something. No need to worry."
"Why couldn't it wait until after breakfast?" Luna asked.
"It couldn't. I'm sorry I abandoned breakfast, but I needed to do this." She glanced at me with warmth in her eyes. "It's all okay now. Now, I think it's time for the party, no?" Celestia glanced up and the clock and then back at Luna and I. Luna still didn't look that happy.
"What was this important thing?" She asked. Celestia looked a bit uneasy. But it quickly turned into a sly look.
"You'll soon find out." Came Celestia's reply, as she looked at me for a few seconds. Luna and I looked at one another. Celestia didn't speak anymore, though I bet she had as much questions for us as we did for her. Celestia walked out of her sweet and down the direction we had just come. Luna looked at me confused.
"What do you think she meant? We were so worried, and finally found her and that's the only words we got out of her." Luna asked me while walking out. I couldn't help but ask the same question as i walked out with Luna. Why didn't Celestia tell us what she had just done? I was extremely confused. Also, that look in Celestia's eye was strange.
I couldn't help but wonder, was Celestia hiding something from me?
*************************************
END OF CHAPTER
A/N
Sorry for the long wait! Anyways, I'm going to start something from now on. I'm going to be asking a question at the end of each chapter for all of you to answer.
Question:
What do you think Celestia is hiding?
Leave your answer in the comments!
-Flarity