Twilight rises to her feet sharply, startling Luna and Celestia both. Celestia opens her mouth to say something, but Twilight is already crossing the space between the couch and the door, moving as fast as she dares without running. She yanks the door open and stalks down the corridors, dashing tears away as the door to the Princess' study slams behind her.
She will not cry.

She will not shame herself before her mentors or her subjects. She is a Princess of Equestria, a beacon of hope and light to the populace. Her duty to her kingdom and her friends has hurled her against some of the most dangerous creatures known to man. She has stood against foes from beyond the furthest star, stared down the evil warlord that Celestia's sister had become, fought toe to toe with the evil pretender-king Sombra, and even the shape-changing sylph "Chrysalis" and her horde. When Equestria's fate hung in the balance, Twilight Sparkle had stood firm, resolute in the face of the looming shadow of despair. However, she had not done so alone. She had been strengthened by the courage of her indomitable friends.

One of whom has now been taken forever from her.
Twilight feels physically sick as she stalks through the corridors, biting her lip as she tries to keep the tears at bay. Behind her, she can hear hurried footsteps and the soft gasping of Diplomatic Incident as he attempts to keep up with her. However, an immortal princess captured forever in her late teens can make much better progress than an ageing civil servant with a paunch and a preference for pipe smoking and Twilight can hear his footsteps fading behind her. She doesn't want Diplomatic Incident right now, or his homilies or sage advice.

What would he know anyway, he's just a civil servant. Twilight thinks bitterly as she continues down the corridor, in the direction of the west wing of the palace that leads towards the library and the observatory tower, the one place in the castle where she is guaranteed absolute serenity and solitude to think.

There isn't much to think about.

Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle's first ever girlfriend, her first love is dead. The finality of those words rings in Twilight's head like the snap of a coffin lid.

Dead.

Not unconscious, or lying in a hospital bed, or napping under her favorite tree.

Dead.
Twilight's grim musings take her through the library, sweeping like a shadow through her childhood refuge and up to the astronomy tower, the highest tower in Canterlot. From up here, she can see the whole city spread out before her, automobiles rolling back and forth like tiny beetles wending their way through the legs of huge cargo loaders that thunder loudly hither and thither. Cargo airships slowly cruise through the sky-lanes, their progress guided by tiny skiffs that twist and dance like pilot fish in the breeze, the light flashing off their solar sails like the sun glittering off motes of dust hanging in the sky. The buildings glitter thanks to the rain of the night.
The hustle and bustle of the trading city drifts over Twilight, a soothing blanket of normalcy whispering over her skin, seeking to comfort or smother her. To Twilight, it is utterly incongruous that the city is at peace when on the frontiers of the empire, soldiers are moving into fire positions, and heavy guns are being loaded onto trains and airships.

Rainbow Dash is dead.
Twilight's hand closes into a fist as she feels the tears come, bubbling up like lava in a volcano until she loses control and lets the tears flow down her face, away from the world. Here she does not have to be some immortal princess with the weight of an Empire resting upon her shoulders. Here she is Twilight Sparkle, who sings in the shower and has bad hair days. Twilight Sparkle who has just lost her friend. Twilight closes her eyes, remembering her precious moments with Rainbow Dash, brief moments of time that would be snatched from under the noses of committees or flight practices. Even then Rainbow Dash still dreamed of joining the display team known as the 'Wonderbolts' and of course -as Twilight was busy 'Princessing'- time for the two of them was very much at a premium. Add this to the paparazzi stalking their every movement, and it was a wonder that it lasted as long as it did.

In spite of all the obstacles arranged before them, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash had made it work for six glorious, wonderful months. Those moments still hang in Twilight's memory as golden glorious drops of time that will be with her forever. However, things got in the way. A humanitarian crisis with the Gryphonic Republics shelved holiday plans, extra practice sessions killed date plans. The breaking point came when a photographer for the Equestrian Herald managed to snap a picture of her and Rainbow engaged in a rather ferocious game of tonsil hockey.

The resulting media feeding frenzy had locked the castle down for two whole weeks, Twilight had been dragged before Princess Celestia, who had been understanding but nonetheless critical of Twilight's 'selection of partners'. Twilight had argued and fought her princess, begged and pleaded, but Celestia had held firm on this point. The Diarchy, or Triarchy as it had become, could not afford to waste a princess of Twilight's standing on a simple display team pilot, or at least that was Twilight's understanding of Celestia's lecture.
Two weeks later, she had mustered the courage to fly down to Rainbow Dash's cloud home to let her know that it was over. However, she found that Rainbow Dash had disappeared without a trace. That was two years ago, and Twilight has not seen hide nor hair of Rainbow Dash since. She had assumed that Rainbow Dash had gone travelling or transferred to the Wonderbolts' active duty roster, and she had not made any further effort to find Dash at Celestia's explicit command.

Now this ‘Arc Bolt’ has emerged in a unit that Twilight has never heard of, emerged and just as promptly died. Twilight is absolutely sure that Arc Bolt and Rainbow Dash are one and the same. After all, Rainbow Dash's name was plastered all over various posters for the Wonderbolts and the tabloids, so naturally a new name would be in order.

A voice punches through Twilight's thoughts, and she turns to see Princess Celestia gazing down at her, those bright pink eyes unreadable, that immortal face unyielding.
"Twilight," Celestia says quietly, walking over to the younger Princess, sitting down upon the balustrade of the balcony, her wings silently unfurling as her hair billows slowly in the sunlight, her face expressionless as she looks down at the younger princess, before reaching out and gently drawing Twilight's chin up until the junior princess is looking her mentor in the eye.

"What you did today was not intelligent, you do not walk out of a situation briefing, no matter how hard it is to hear what is said," Celestia's voice hardens. "Not only do you miss important information, but you run the risk of offending foreign dignitaries or upsetting generals. You are a Princess of Equestria, and I expect you to comport yourself as such."
Twilight's eyes snap closed as tears course down her cheeks in silent trails of silver.
"I'm sorry Princess; I heard about Arc Bolt, and I thought she could be-" she trails off, unwilling to vocalize the sentiment as her voice catches.
"Yes, you logically assumed she would be Rainbow Dash... There are no words I can say that will make it hurt any less, it is always painful when one loses a friend." Here, Celestia's expression becomes a little warmer, and she places her hand upon Twilight's shoulder. "I wish I could make this easier for you Twilight, but I have a job for you."

"Yes, I remember you were mentioning something about that." Twilight replies and Celestia takes a deep breath, obviously steeling herself to deliver unpleasant news.
"I'm sending you to the Khanate to negotiate for us to try and patch things up about this misunderstanding, Luna believes they're heading for civil war, or war with us, and I want your assessment of the situation. I also want you to try and do what you can to calm the situation down, or at least ease relations with whoever’s in charge once the dust has settled." Celestia says softly.

Twilight's mouth drops open in shock, and she wonders for a second if her mentor is playing some kind of sick joke upon her. However, one look at Princess Celestia's grim expression tells her that this is not the case.
"I see," Twilight says softly, the gears in her head whirling. "You're sending me because you can't send anyone else. You need to send a Princess because you sent a Princess last time. If you send anything else, then the Khans would say we are not taking the situation seriously. You can't go yourself since this place is potentially hostile, and Luna's just been booted out of there and Cadence is busy, so that leaves me..." Twilight whispers apprehensively hoping against hope that Celestia will tell her she's got the job wrong, and that she's only going to be expected to do research, or else she'll be nothing more than a figurehead. However, as Celestia nods grimly, Twilight's face pales.

"Quite right, you always amaze me with your perceptiveness," Celestia says. "Unfortunately you're right, I cannot send anyone else, Cadence is otherwise engaged, Luna is unacceptable and I cannot go since that would create all kinds of misconceptions about how to attract my attention." Celestia says, her lips becoming a thin line and her eyes narrowing very slightly. "I wish I could spare you from this, Twilight. If I could send anyone else I would, but for the reasons you've just outlined, it has to be a Princess and that sort of leaves only you." Celestia gestures, indicating Twilight with her open palm. Twilight gulps, taking a deep breath. She feels like she's going to throw up.

"This morning," Celestia continues sadly. "The Khanate's ambassador handed me a note telling me that they are displeased with our 'criminal intervention' on their soil and that he has been given leave to discuss all options when preparing a response." Celestia finishes, watching Twilight's face turn even paler as she speaks.
Twilight knows the euphemism all too well; it's a polite way to say that violence has not been ruled out as an extension of foreign policy. Twilight knows that those kind of threats are the sort of threats that you sit up and take notice of, especially when they start coming from the Khanate.
"How serious would you say they are?" She asks vainly, hoping against hope that this isn’t as severe as the whole thing sounds.

"Very," Princess Celestia replies grimly. "I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that this could be all that stands between us and open war."

"Way to layer on the pressure Princess," Twilight says, a faint nervous smile upon her face. "But yes, I understand, I will go and pack immediately." With that, Twilight turns to head to her room to start packing, but Celestia places her hand upon Twilight's shoulder, looking relieved.

"Twilight, I will not be sending you upon this task alone, you shall be accompanied by Diplomatic Incident, and you will be guarded during your stay. When you get into Khanate territory, you will be going to the Légion d'étrangers’ operational headquarters for that region, they will provide any muscle you need."
"You think I'll need muscle?" she asks and Celestia nods once more.
"It is in our interests to appear strong Twilight, the Khanate’s population can be notoriously prickly, they respect power and so you shall come with power. It would also ease my nerves a little about throwing you to the lions like this." Here, Celestia actually looks regretful, her billowing hair slowing down to a gentle crawl and her radiance dimming slightly.

"You're my most faithful student and...." Celestia glances away. "You should go; you have packing to do." Celestia says softly, sounding almost like the elder princess is beginning to choke up. The Eternal Sun turns her back upon the younger princess and gazes out across the expanse of her capital. Twilight nods shortly, rising to her feet and heading towards the door into the palace.

She has a lot to think about.