Celestia were standing by a war table in a tent, surrounded by ponies I didn’t know. It was a dream, clearly based on an old memory. I suspect triggered by the war games.

Very old, she was smaller and shorter, about Cadence’s size and her mane was pink.

I slowly moved around the table to stand next to her to look at the map. I didn’t recognize the place, somewhere along the ocean.

Tapping my hoof against the grass covering the ground beneath the tent, I solidified the dream around us, wiping the ponies around us away, leaving only the tent and table.

Celestia blinked and looked around before she turned to me, “You’re not letting my ponies sleep!”

“Hello to you too, Sunshine. And only the ones still in the game,” I said with a smile, shifting a wing to brush my cloak a bit to the side, “The rest can sleep tight.”

She shook her head and shifted slightly, “That’s cheating. It was meant to be your guards and mine testing each other.”

I nodded in agreement, “It would have been. If we had not involved ourselves into the entire thing.”

Celestia didn’t look happy. Not happy at all.

“Page, I have fought more battles than you can think of. You don’t want me to take direct command of my forces,” she warned me as she moved closer, “You’d lose.”

“Never did plan on fighting you, Sunshine,” I said with a smile, “Luna kick my tail every time and… if I’m to be completely honest, I’m pretty sure you’re stronger. Even if you likely have been falling a bit out of shape sitting around for a thousand years.”

Celestia blinked and her wings flared in annoyance, “Excuse me!?”

“Well, I didn’t see any pillows on that throne of yours and it’s quite hard. Good thing you always bring your own. It’s kind of smooth, round and with such a nice solar print.”

Oh yeah, that’s a pissed off goddess.

For a second anyway before her wings folded again and she smiled, “…You’re trying to make me angry.”

Damn it.

She shook her head and moved closer, “Making me angry and have me make hasty decision wouldn’t have worked anyway, Page,” she cooed and nosed at my ear, “That’s a beginner’s mistake. I’m not a beginner.”

I flicked my ear and swallowed, “Uhm… nobody would ever mistake you for a beginner. I… You are clearly quite experienced.”

She is… quite close.

“Mmm, you have no idea,” she murmured into my ear as she and moved past me, brushing her wing along my back, “but maybe you can find out.”

This was not the plan. This definitely not according to plan!

“Still, nice to know you are paying attention to my ‘pillow’” she continued and glanced back at me over her shoulder with a playful smile, “So… going to end the dream now or do you want to continue?”

“You win this round, Celestia.”

“Why, am I making things hard for you?”

Lighting my horn, I let the dream collapse in the middle of her laugh. Just because I could, I didn’t put her to dreamless sleep, I sent her waking up with the adrenaline rush of a nightmare.

I take what little victories I could.

But the laughing didn’t stop as the dream were replaced by the shimmering dreamscape.

Instead it changed tone.

Turning around, I saw Luna laying on the not-ground laughing so she cried.

“You were watching,” I commented and moved to settle down next to her, “It’s not that funny.”

“It really is!” she said with a grin, slowly calming down, “You really thought that would work? On my sister?”

I shrugged my wings, “Kind of hoped it would at least work for a little bit. But it wasn’t that funny.”

“No, but how easy she turned it around on you was!” Luna giggled and nuzzled at my ear, “My Page, you’re going to have to try a lot harder than that to get one over her.”

Didn’t seem to be difficult at all actually.

I did not just think that.

“…You’re not helping,” I grumbled at her before turning to give her a kiss, “What’s the guard up to?”

“Not telling.”

I looked up at her, “My Sky, I need to know how the guard is mobilizing. When they plan to counter attack. I need a spy.”

Changelings were good, but I needed to know what they were doing right now. Celestia wouldn’t have them just sit idle, she already knew they didn’t get to sleep before she went to bed.

I had kept the ones doing night watch awake during the day after all.

Luna smiled, “A spy?” she asked and shimmered into a unicorn with white coat and a diamond cutie mark revealed by the red silk dress she was wearing.

She looked like the spotting image of Shimmering Diamond, the main character of the spy novel I wrote.

Oh my.

“…Does that mean you take the job?”

“It means that you can try to convince me to.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I opened my eyes and stretched my wings before pushing the blanket off and sitting up, rubbing my eyes.

As soon as I were properly awake, I headed out of the tent past the guards standing outside, “Wake Lady Shimmer and the Commander, get everypony moving. We have two hours until sunset and when it comes, we can’t be here.”

“At once, Sir!”

Luna refused to break even during the most horrendous torture so I had to assume they were coming now.

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