Getting a day's reprieve (once Twilight and Luna had arrived, at least) had been lovely, but Celestia could not hide from Court for long; not if she wanted to avoid an open panic from either her subjects (The princess is gone!) or herself (The paperwork has swallowed my desk!). As such, Court—or rather, Day Court, now—began again as usual the very next day after Twilight delivered her little Dear Both Princesses, Why Don't We Calm Down, Stop Trying To Piously One Up Each Other, and See If We Can't Enjoy Ourselves speech.

Celestia, however, was having trouble focusing on the proceedings. It had been all very good for Twilight to say a few soothing words and pull them all into a lovely three-way snuggle, but not much had actually been... decided, or figured out, or anything, really. They'd all gotten rather distracted. Now, though, without the warm, soothing glow of Twilight or Luna's presence, the worries were pressing down on her again, like the yoke of an ancient, rusted plow.

Well, that metaphor didn't quite work. She moved the sun every day, after all, and the sun was quite a bit heavier than any yoke, and took more effort to move than a blunt blade ever had through dirt that any pony had ever tried to farm. She filed that one away under 'needs work'.

Anyway, it really was ludicrous, she was beginning to fear. She couldn't be reviving the old... thing with Luna at this late a date. They couldn't possibly manage the modifications to the histories without using a bit more truth than she particularly cared to. And Twilight--! Sun and sky, it would take a century at least for her to live down bedding her own student before she'd even graduated. Though... what was a century of embarrassment for her, measured against a fleeting few decades of joy? On the other hoof, what would ponies say to her poor Twilight?

What a mess. What a mess.

Celestia chased herself round and round the inside of her own head for most of court. There was certainly nothing better to think about. Certainly nothing more useful:

No, Fancypants, the budget already groans under the weight of the current allotment for statuary. We do not need another work featuring Fleur, not even if the sculptor tacks on wings and pretends it depicts Luna.

No, Marshall, the Guard is quite adequately funded to meet any conceivable threat that it could possibly hope to fight. No, we will not draft the Element Bearers!

No, Prince Blueblood, you may not mount a punitive expedition on Ponyville. No, nor Manehattan, nor the Kingdom of Griff, nor even Zebrica, as tempting as it would be to have you out of our hair for that long.

Why yes, minister Skulking Shadow, we would be interested in reports regarding possible changeling activity.

Wait, wait, hold on one moment. What was that last one?

***

Twilight ran for her life.

Well.

Maybe not her life per se. But definitely her life in a metaphorical sense. Her life as a mare who had not admitted to Rarity that she had drunkenly slept with both princesses, perhaps. Her life as a mare who did not, in fact, call her lifelong mentor and idol 'Celly' in public, possibly. Yes, in those senses, she was definitely running for her life.

Rarity was calling something after her. She couldn't make out what, but it definitely sounded like it was spoken through that horrible, wolfish grin. Twilight ran faster.

Her desperate gallop conveyed her straight out of town. Self exile? she asked her hooves, Desperate, but possibly the correct move in this case. Her hooves had no words to answer her with, so she slowed to a fast canter and relaxed into a faraway frown as she considered her options. A mere withdrawal to Manehattan or Vanhoover, or a full retreat to Draconia? Staying inside the borders would be much simpler, but it would also be easier to find her... maybe if she stayed on the move?

Twilight was too deep in thought to see Applejack, and Applejack was too busy pulling a cart in the opposite direction to see Twilight. The collision was gentle, and didn't destroy anything, which was surprising considering the way Twilight's day had been going so far. She shrieked in surprise and alarm anyway.

“Whoa, sugarcube,” exclaimed Applejack, who was put on edge by the shriek in a way that a simple little bump just can't manage, “what's got you so durn jumpy?” There was warmth and concern in the earth pony's voice, but Twilight was in no condition to hear it.

Twilight squeaked out “Nothing!” in reflex, then paled. This was Applejack. She had just lied to Applejack. A moan of despair escaped her lips involuntarily as she backed away with wide eyes.

Applejack, for her part, took a tentative step after the retreating unicorn. It wasn't nothing, that was certainly clear to her. It would also have been clear to a blind diamond dog. If she could just get Twi to take a moment, catch her breath, and tell 'ole Applejack about it...

Applejack's hoof fell, and Twilight squeaked again in time with the soft clop. Her horn blazed, and she winked away without looking where she was going.

***

Teleporting blind is extremely dangerous. The nature of the spell causes whatever one is winking into to move aside to allow one to materialize. This works great in the open; that's what produces the familiar gentle puff of displaced air that accompanies an arriving unicorn. It also works fairly well for the unicorn herself if she is arriving underwater, though whoever she's visiting will probably get a good tumble.

Solids, too, will be pushed aside by the spell. On the one hand, this keeps one from mistakenly splicing one's brains with a wall. On the other hand, displaced solids tend to either bounce right back to where they had just been (crushing the hapless teleportee anyway) or, if enough energy has been dumped into the spell, they will continue on the path they'd just been set upon.

Fluttershy's living room wall was a humble thing--softwood framing covered in simple plaster over straw.

It exploded.

It was not a load-bearing wall, fortunately, so Twilight was able to stand where it had been and pant out her panic without the roof falling on her head. She stared sightlessly into the forest for several heaving breaths, trying desperately to collect herself and form some kind of plan.

She drew one last, shuddering breath, and began to leave the cottage behind at a slow trot. She'd have to send Fluttershy an apologetic letter later, from Zebrica or Camelopardia.

Twilight rapidly considered and discarded various plans for crossing the Equestrian border undetected. Behind her, a yellow pegasus emerged from under her couch and began to slowly flutter after her unicorn friend with a look of grave concern.

***

Rainbow Dash stood upon a cloud and scowled. She'd already busted enough cumulus to make Cloudsdale happy (ten seconds yadda yadda; already bored), and she was at loose ends. The guard pegasi who had been drawing the royal chariot she'd seen had been stern and unyielding—no fun at all, and supiciously silent about what they'd been doing in her sky. An empty chariot was a pretty weird thing to be dragging around over Ponyville, but they hadn't cracked under her expert interrogation, so she had resolved to bide her time.

She looked down from her perch, and noticed Fluttershy floating gently at flight level double-zero. She couldn't help but smile fondly, but she wondered what 'Shy was up to—she was moving pretty fast, for her, and straight on and deliberate. Her eyes drew an automatic line straight out on 'Shy's heading, and she frowned. That looked like Twilight, but she was alone, and running hard. Something must be up Only one thing for it, then! Dash jumped and leaned backwards, flipping herself off the cloud and into the air, and accelerating toward Twilight. She'd find out what was going on. She didn't worry about collecting the rest of the girls, though--no doubt AJ and Pinkie and Rares would come running to see why she was being so awesome this time.

***

Twilight was trapped. Rainbow Dash had swooped in out of nowhere, dive-bombing and forcing her to her belly to save herself. She had risen and turned to flee, but Dash had simply kept right in front of her, about a pony-height above Twilight's head, lounging on her back with her wings rowing lazily.

Stupid stupid stupid! In her panic, she'd run straight back the way she'd come, and there had been Fluttershy, who had alighted carefully before her as she'd skidded to another halt. When she'd turned to flee again, Applejack and Rarity had come running up from town, Spike riding on AJ's back and frowns creasing their brows. They were frowns of concern tinging on panic, kindled by Twilight's hysterical flight, but all Twilight could see in them was judgement and anger.

Twilight wheeled one more time, rearing on her hind legs and kicking at the air with an involuntary whinny, but Pinkie Pie was already, unaccountably, there. She burst from a bush between Twilight and the Everfree, in a cloud of multicolored leaves that had been hastily cut into square confetti. She was smiling, but Twilight could see it was a bit forced. No doubt trying to mask her disgust with the purple unicorn.

But she was definitely trapped. Trapped trapped trapped. Trappety trapped. Four ponies on four sides, and Rainbow turning tight circles overhead. Nopony below her, though, and she considered tearing a tunnel into the ground to escape with her magic.

Oh...

Magic. Right.

She began to charge up her horn again, and all five of her friends started toward her, their faces (even Pinkie's) etched with concern and worry.

And that's when Spike threw up a scroll with Celestia's seal on it.

Author's Notes:

Admit it, you all thought I was dead, didn't you?

Well, I'm not. I'm a shambling horror of an undead construct, cruelly reanimated to write.

I hope you like it.