Princess Luna flew through the night air above Canterlot. The moon was slowly setting, and her night was coming to its end. Luna’s research had not been going well, and she had hoped a night flight would have helped shake loose some new ideas. It hadn’t. However, any excuse to get out and see Equestria after dark was worth it. Equestria was so different now than it had been one thousand years ago. The nights were filled with ponies going about their business; whether they be staying up late, getting up early, or suffering from insomnia.

Luna changed her course and began heading back towards the palace. Today was going to be a very good day. A fun day. A day spent among the masses, putting her theories to the test and hopefully finding her lack of sleep this past month had been worth it. It would be a day where she wouldn’t accidentally set fire to anything important. Or knock over a library’s book shelves like a row of dominoes. Or change a pony into a woodchuck. Which was an honest misunderstanding, and she changed him back right away and apologized, so there really was no reason to get so upset and—Luna took a calming breath. No, today wouldn't be like that. Today was going to be a good day. After all, it wasn't every day that Luna got to enter a competition.

The Worst Bakers in Equestria. At first Luna had thought it a joke, but the pony that had explained it to her had sounded serious. An actual competition where the objective was to perform as badly as possible. Luna had to see this. Even better, Luna also the weird inability to bake that would allow her to compete, or at least she thought she did. She had baked badly enough at her tryout to earn a spot in the preliminaries, but things hadn’t gone as bad as they had before. After the tryout, Luna had decided to pass the time until the competition by learning all she could about what made a bad baker a, well, bad baker. It was a decision she quickly came to regret.

Luna’s studies into the bad baking phenomenon were difficult at best and a complete and utter waste of time at worst. Finding and renting a private kitchen had been a difficult but necessary task after word had gotten around the palace of her soup fiasco. She had tried to replicate the results of her original cooking experiment many times. Frustratingly, each pot of soup had turned out even more delicious than the last. Whatever the magic was that Luna had felt that one time, soup wasn’t bringing it out anymore.

The soup wasn’t what mattered, though. This was a baking competition, after all.

Luna’s attempts at baking were equally frustrating. She had tried to make a simple batch of brownies fifteen times. She had been able to sense the magic during some but not all of her attempts. Five times her brownies had turned out fine, four times they had been slightly unpleasant-looking-but-edible, three times they had come out burned—with one of those times being before she had even put them in the oven—two times the brownies hadn’t even survived long enough to get into the oven, and one time... well... Luna preferred not to think about that one time.

There was apparently some way to control just how much bad luck the magic gave and even a way to make it affect things other than baking. Luna just had no idea how. The harder she tried to locate the source of the bad baking magic, the more frustrated she got. The more frustrated she got, the harder she tried to locate the source of the magic. It had become a nightly routine of hers that only ended with the banging of her head on a table when the frustration became too much. She had already run out of excuses why nearly every table in the palace library now had dents in them. Luna desperately hoped that being surrounded by some of the other worst bakers in Equestria would shed some insight into her research.

Luna landed on a balcony and trotted inside the palace. Her plans were set. All she had to do was sneak out of the palace, join the competition, study the bad bakers without drawing attention to herself, make it into the final eight, study the worst of the worst, find some way to raise the moon without alerting her sister, fail to hide the enormous amount of magic required to raise the moon, find an excuse to tell her sister when she showed up at the competition after sensing the enormous amount of magic required to raise the moon, and then die of embarrassment when all of Equestria finds out that the Moon Princess had been disguising herself for months so that she could do menial labor.

It was an absolutely terrible plan, but it was better than the last three revisions. Still, it wouldn’t do. Luna would just have to improvise today. She would start by getting her things and sneaking out before the sunrise. Nopony will be the wiser and there would be no—

“Good morning, dear sister.”

—trouble.

Luna turned towards a doorway and saw her sister smiling at her. “Sister?” Luna said nervously and then quickly regained her composure. “Yes. Good morning, sister. So nice to see you. I would expect you to be preparing to raise the sun.”

“As you’re so fond of saying, ‘I can do that from anywhere,’” Celestia said with a chuckle. “I was really hoping to find you before you disappeared into your studies again. We haven’t shared a morning meal in some time. I know it’s silly, but it feels like you’re trying to avoid me.”

Luna’s eyes opened wide. Her sister knew she was trying to avoid her. Well... Luna hadn’t been trying to avoid her. She had just been busy. Still, she should have found time, if only to avoid suspicions today. Suspicions she was making worse by standing there staring at her sister instead of answering.

“I would love to join you for dinner—I mean breakfast—I mean my third meal of the day and your first!” Luna said, giving Celestia her biggest ‘I'm not planning anything, and I'm definitely not being suspicious’ smile.

Luna and Celestia sat at their personal dining table. The rising sun could be seen through the window. Celestia was eating a bowl of oatmeal garnished with fresh fruits. Luna was also eating oatmeal, but the chefs had fried it into thin crispy cakes and served it as part of a fruit salad. It amazed Luna that she and her sister were basically eating the same thing, even though the food looked, and likely tasted, completely different. Perhaps she could persuade the chefs to let her into the kitchens again if she promised to look but not touch? Surely by now they had forgotten about the soup she had made that had driven Main Course, the head chef of the day kitchen, into an early retirement.

“So,” Luna said, breaking the silence. “What are your plans for the day?”

“Oh, the usual. Meetings for most of the morning followed by a talk with Professor Bastion to discuss the expansion of the university grounds. Then petitions throughout the afternoon.”

“Well that sounds... incredibly boring to be honest.”

Celestia laughed warmly. “It most certainly will be. I’m hoping I can finish everything up quickly. After all, the Worst Baker in Equestria competition is tonight.”

Luna nearly choked on her food. She swallowed hard then asked innocently, “T-the what?”

“The WBEs,” Celestia replied. “It’s a baking competition where the objective is to be the worst baker instead of the best. I saw it the last time they were held in Canterlot. It was quite entertaining. Rainbow Dash is the current champion and is going for her third straight win this year. You remember her, don’t you?”

“Of course. It’s hard to forget Rainbow Dash once you've met her, or any of your student’s friends, for that matter.”

“But our duties are to the ponies of Equestria,” Celestia said with a touch of disappointment in her voice. “It wouldn’t be right for me to rush my responsibilities just for my own personal enjoyment.”

Luna felt a pit open in her stomach. Her sister was trying to get her to confess, but it wouldn’t work. Luna quickly said, “Oh my! Look at the time. It’s been wonderful talking with you, sister, but I really must be heading to my room. I have plenty of books to hit before I retire for the day. Literally, of course. I’m afraid some of the older tomes have been infested with book worms and a good whack is the only way to get them out. Just ignore any loud noises coming from my room for the next hour or so.”

“Oh... alright,” Celestia said with a touch of sadness.

Luna got up from the table and knocked her seat over. She attempted to right it, but instead tilted it too far and knocked it over again. Through the clatter of Luna’s increasingly noisy attempt to right the seat, Celestia calmly ate her oatmeal. Finally, Luna grabbed the seat with her magic, righted it, and set it next to the table. There was an uncomfortable silence for several seconds as Luna stared at Celestia, who was still focused on her morning meal.

“Good day, sister,” Luna said with a bow of her head. She turned towards the doorway and left her sister to her breakfast.

Luna nodded politely to the palace guards she passed on her way to her room. She walked at a speed that she hoped would be interpreted as a purposeful stride and not a blind panic. Her sister had known she was planning to sneak out today. Not only that, but Celestia had also known where she was planning on going today. Okay, maybe she hadn’t come out and accused Luna of anything, but there can only be so many coincidences.

Maybe she should come clean? Just walk back to her sister and say, ‘I’m going to disguise myself and enter the WBEs today. Oh, and I’ve been doing things like things like this behind your back for nearly the past year.’ Luna blinked at how stupid that sounded. The worst part was that her sister wouldn’t get mad. She wouldn’t even be disappointed. She would smile and say how happy she was that Luna was enjoying herself interacting with the ponies of Equestria. Then her sister would encourage her to continue but to do so without a disguise. To go out and let Equestria experience the real Luna; to make some friends. Which, truthfully, wouldn’t be so bad, but she was supposed to be ruling Equestria along with her sister, not going on random adventures. True, most nights there was little that required her attention, but eventually, the Lunar Court would grow in popularity, and she would be just as busy as Celestia. Maybe even busier. Then Celestia would be the one with all the free time to sneak out of the palace.

Luna sighed as she reached her door. Today had been sounding like such a fun day, but now? No. Today would still be a fun day. She just had to sneak out and enjoy herself like she was planning. Luna locked her door behind her and used her magic to pull a saddlebag from under her bed. It was a simple brown bag, not at all like something a princess would use, and that was ideal for her purposes. She began to add items to the bags. Maps of Ponyville and the surrounding area, a marker, glasses—every good disguise needed them—adhesive medical strips, some rope—which was incredibly useful when needed—and a hat. She doubted she would use most of them, but better to be prepared than sorry. Luna then grabbed the last item she would add to her bags. This item was of vital importance.

Being an alicorn had its perks, with one of them being not needing nearly as much sleep as an ordinary pony. Luna actually didn’t need any sleep at all, but she started feeling wonky if she went too long without it. How much sleep had she gotten this past week? Or this past month even? It didn’t matter because she had the magical answer to staying awake as long as she wanted right here. Luna packed with love and care a thermos filled with the greatest invention ponykind had made during her thousand years of absence: coffee.

With her bags packed, Luna removed her royal adornments. She could disguise them with magic, but such personal items would act as a beacon for Celestia to follow if she chose to. Luna didn’t need to make it any easier for her sister to find her. She slid on her saddlebags and opened her window.

“Good morning, Princess Luna!” a passing pegasus guard said with a wave.

Luna smiled and waved back. Her sister had the guards watching her! Well... no... the guards were likely just doing their patrols. She should have been gone while it was still dark. She would have been gone while it was still dark if her sister hadn’t felt the need for sisterly bonding. Her sister wouldn’t have felt the need for sisterly bonding if Luna hadn’t been so caught up in her studies. Luna sighed. This deception had gone on for far too long. She would tell her sister the truth tonight, but for now she had a contest to get to and research to complete. She had to find a way out of the palace soon, or she was going to be late.

A different escape plan would be needed. Luna looked at the magic detecting rune on her balcony. It had been replaced during an inspection earlier that month. The poor unicorn that did the inspection was nearly in tears when she had found out that the Moon Princess’s bedroom had been unprotected. Luna’s confession to tampering with the rune had just made the whole scene awkward. Sneaking out had sometimes been difficult after that, but Luna had developed a new trick.

Short-ranged, focused-based, teleportation anchor. There was an official name for it that Luna could never remember. Probably because it had way more syllables than any word should have been allowed to contain. It basically meant that she had bound a small part of her magic in an object, and with a simple spell—relatively speaking as an alicorn—Luna could transport the object to her or she to it. The best part was that the runes around the palace weren’t designed to detect this type of magic. Closing her eyes, Luna cast the retrieval spell and felt a weight around her neck. Luna opened her eyes and looked in her mirror. She was now wearing that beautiful necklace she had purchased from the shopping district a month ago. She took the necklace off with her magic. Time to get this show started.

With bags and magical focus ready, Luna cautiously moved to her window. She watched the pegasus guards making their rounds. When she was sure nopony was looking, she threw the necklace towards the palace gardens. Then she waited. After she was sure no guards had entered the gardens looking for falling objects, she started to relax. Phase one completed.

Luna closed her eyes and focused on the necklace. She mentally reached out for it and willed herself towards it. She heard the rustling of leaves in the wind and the chirping of song birds. The wonderful smell of flowers drifted to her nose. Luna opened her eyes and took in the beautiful sights of the royal gardens. She glanced around and didn't see any guards or gardeners rushing to apprehend her. It looked like phase two had also been a success. Now she just had to grab her necklace. It should have been right in front of—

Luna looked down into a pair of brown eyes. She jumped back in surprise, ready to use her magic to bind and gag. However, it wasn't a pony looking up at her. It was a monkey, who was holding her necklace. Luna sighed in relief.

“Hello, little cutie. Are you holding my necklace for me?” Luna asked the monkey sweetly.

The monkey responded by screeching at her, then running and climbing up a tree. Luna looked up at the monkey holding her necklace.

“Oh, come on,” Luna said as she moved under the tree. “I don’t want to have to fight a monkey today, but I will if you leave me no other choice.”

Luna used her magic to grab a hold of the necklace and gave a quick tug. The monkey held tight and hissed at her. Luna prepared to pull harder, then stopped and rolled her eyes. She willed the necklace to her. A look of confusion came over the monkey’s face as the necklace vanished and reappeared on Luna’s neck.

Luna smiled smugly at the monkey. “Looks like I win this round.”

The monkey bared its fangs and leapt at Luna. She yelped in surprise and barely dodged the falling ball of fur and teeth. She quickly turned invisible and took off into the air. She hoped she was far enough away from any magic detecting runes. As she cleared the palace walls, Luna mentally added ‘taunting monkeys’ to her list of things not to do.

Luna continued to fly until she was near Ponyville. The massive stadium that would hold the contest was in the distance. She landed and when she was sure nopony was near, dropped her invisibility spell along with her bags. This morning was far more stressful than it should have been, but the worst was over. Luna found and removed her coffee thermos from her bags. She took a sip and enjoyed the almost-too-hot brew: her own personal blend. Luna considered magical, always-heated thermoses to be the second greatest invention Equestria had ever made.

It was time for a disguise. Luna’s horn began to glow and then vanished. Standing where Luna had been was an earth pony with a light-brown coat, dark orange mane, and a pile of coffee beans for a cutie mark. Morning Dew, she called herself. Luna sighed. This was likely going to be the last time she would be able to use this disguise. Once she confessed to her sister, it just wouldn’t feel right using it anymore. If this was to be Morning Dew’s final day, then Luna would make sure it was the best day ever.

Luna sighed in relief as she approached the stadium. There was still a long line of ponies waiting to get in. She hadn’t missed her chance to enter the preliminaries. She trotted up to the end of the line and waited. The line was moving slowly, with one pony being admitted or turned away every few minutes. Luna took a peak and guessed there were still a few dozen ponies in front of her. She pulled out her thermos and took another sip of coffee. It was going to be a long morning.

After a few more ponies had entered the stadium and a couple turned away, Luna began to notice a shape on the horizon. The shape slowly got closer until she recognized it as a pony. The pony was heading straight for Luna but moving very slowly. She watched the pony as its features became more visible as it got closer.

It was obviously a mare. She had an azure coat with a lighter mane and tail. She a star-filled, purple cape with a matching pointed hat. With the magician’s garb, Luna figured the pony was probably a unicorn. As the pony got closer, Luna could sense the magic inside her, confirming her suspicion. The unicorn walked up to Luna and took the spot behind her in line. Her hat and cape looked scuffed, and she had tired bags under her eyes.

Luna set down her thermos. “Are you alright?” she asked.

“Just fine... just fine...” the unicorn said wearily. “Up all night... chased by squirrels... so many squirrels... made it in time. Need to bake... only way to drain bad luck...”

Drain bad luck? What did that mean? Was the bad luck magic like a constantly filling pool that was used up as a pony baked? Is that why sometimes her baking turned out fine? She was baking too fast, and the pool hadn’t been able to refill?

Luna grinned madly. Maybe she would find the answers she was looking for today, after all. She decided to see if she could get the unicorn talking more. “So, ah... anyway. My name’s Morning Dew. What’s yours?”

“Trixie,” the unicorn said. She seemed to be having a hard time standing up straight.

“You look tired from all that late night... squirrel... activity. I have some coffee here.” Luna nodded her head towards the thermos. “You’re welcome to some if you’d like.”

Trixie leaned down and bit onto the thermos’ rim. She must have been really tired if she couldn’t even manage telekinesis.

“Only take a sip,” Luna warned. “I like it a bit stronger than most ponies, and—you just drank all of it.”

The thermos fell away from Trixie’s lips. Her eyes opened wide, and her whole body began to vibrate. “I can see everything,” she whispered.

“It seems I don’t know the definition of ‘a bit.’ It also worries me that I felt I made the coffee a little too weak this morning.”

Trixie began to make a high-pitched whine.

“Okay, don’t worry, I can fix this. Can you close your eyes?”

Trixie slowly shook her head side to side.

“Right. That’s not a good sign. Um...” Luna bit onto the edge of Trixie’s hat and pulled it forward to cover the unicorn’s eyes. “Any better?”

Trixie slowly moved her head up and down.

“Good. This next bit is important. Try to relax and ignore any strange feelings you may have in your stomach for the next minute or two.”

Luna looked around. Nopony seemed to be paying attention to them. Luna reached out with her magic and took a hold of the coffee in Trixie’s stomach. With a gurgle from Trixie, the coffee was magically transported somewhere else. Trixie’s whine lowered in pitch and volume until it had stopped.

Luna sighed in relief. Accidentally causing a pony’s heart to explode from coffee overload would have made this a very bad day. Luna also decided not to think about the number of coffee-based spells she had learned during her adventures.