Celestia halted right in front of the side door-- almost crashing into the tiny stone dragon decorating the wall. She took a deep breath, and then she nudged the door. Locked... Locked? Well, this is MY CASTLE-- isn't it? She concentrated with her magic, and then the door popped slightly off of it's hinges. She leaned over and slid it across.

The auburn-haired pegasus froze once again. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Celestia glanced around the tiny cubicle-like dressing room, and then she stepped right in.

"Pri-Pri-Pri-ncesss ssssssssss..." the pegasus stammered. He clutched the soaking wet towel in between his legs. Celestia's eyes traced down drop after drop of soapy water as it flowed from his mane across his dark brown body and onto the bottoms of his hooves.

The battle that his confidence waged against his nervousness took a sudden turn in favor of the latter. Celestia forced herself in-- the space barely holding the two ponies. She turned back for a moment to slide the door back shut. The pegasus panted so loudly that she could feel his breath upon her skin.

"Well, then, here we are," the sun goddess said. She then flinched. That's not a very... romantic turn of phrase, is it?

"I... I..." the pegasus whispered. He went from scared panting to full blown jittering. The alicorn smiled, and then she pressed her side against the cold metal lockers upon the wall. Without saying a word, she magically lifted up the pegasus' towel. She curled it delicately across her neck. Drips and drips flowed down across her sides and down through her mane.

"Your highness requires some," she began, and she searched for the right words. Come on, now! Decades upon decades of poetry lessons from Equestria's finest... What of it, now? "Additional... administrative services..." She leaned down and nudged even closer. Ugh... What was that?

In the pegasus' mind, Celestia might as well have been reading from a shopping list-- her soft yet regal tone of voice drove him out of his mind. He panted faster and faster. He nudged himself forward as well. A little bit of soapy something bounced out from under his hoof.

The pegasus tumbled down with a 'thud', and his bottom hooves thrust down around Celestia's legs. She smiled even wider. We'll see how things go, Lulu, we'll see... The princess leaned back-- her tail and plot wagging slowly. She then pounced.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

Lightening shot out from the thick clouds right besides Celestia. She didn't know why-- she had seen far worse strike her very body itself without harm-- but she let out a soft, girly scream. She moved forward through the misty field. She glanced around in front of her... but she couldn't see him.

"A-ha," a voice popped up behind her. She hopped to the side, and then she made a happy sigh. Her eyes stared out at the sky as the horrible mass of inky black clouds piled up thicker and thicker. She traced down the globby red bits that rained out-- almost like thick strawberry jam-- onto the foggy ground. She wandered over.

*Creak*

She paused, and then she trotted over even faster. A thick metal swing-set popped into view through the mister. She gazed up ahead at the lone draconequus at the farthest right swing. Celestia walked over, and she eyed across his face. That smile. That cunning, intelligent smile. He could save Equestria dozens and dozens of time over before lunch, and still he'd have time to spend all afternoon reading me poetry.

Discord silently pointed at the swing besides them. Celestia nodded, and she stepped a little bit forward. Another blast of lightening without thunder landed right in front of her. She froze. Another blast came down behind her. The thick, red strands of energy seemed to glow with something... alien. Hate. Fear. Anger.

She took a seat besides Discord. Celestia bounced back, and she swung. Discord merely sat in place. He said something to her, but she couldn't hear it. She saw his lips move, but no sound came out. All she could hear was that horrible metal squeak at her every swing.

*Creak*

Discord said something else. He smiled and waggled his paws in some kind of joke. He waited for a response. When Celestia shrugged aimlessly back, his contented face seemed to melt. The princess thrust her hooves forward and stopped the swing. She eyed the draconequus' mouth as it opened up wide and controted into a horrible, artifical-looking frown His teeth looked like kitchen knives.

"Just wait! Wait a moment, please!" Celestia shouted. She couldn't hear herself over the squeaking. Neither of them moved, but that awful noise went on and on.

*Creak* *Creak* *Creak*

The princess jumped off of the swing. She waved her front hooves at Discord. The draconequus kept on looking to his right-- eyes staring where the princess had just been. Celestia nudged herself closer. She went to touch him across the side of his face-- just like she had done thousands of times many years ago. She moved forward her hoof, and the draconequus dissapered.

She blinked. She saw something like a poof of inky black dust flow through the air down onto the ground beneath the swing. She felt like screaming.

"It means," Luna said somewhere behind her. Celestia span out through the misty darkness twoards her sister's voice.

"Means... means..." Celestia stammered. What on earth is going on here! The red globs rained down harder and harder. The coarse, disgusting material dripped down across her mane and the sides of her face. She didn't seem to go anywhere as she ran. She took a breath, and then she galloped ahead even faster.

*Splat*

Celestia halted. She concentrated, and she felt her horn glow. Yet the material stuck onto the eyes tighter than ever. What... I can't believe that...

"It means that I love him," Luna said somewhere in front of her. Celestia's heart sank, and she knew what would be happening next. She knew what she had said to her sister next.

"Love has nothing to do with it," Celestia heard herself say. Those words from her memory seemed to scratch down across the edges of her ears and then thrust themselves inside. "It's your position. It's MY position, Lulu. It's OUR future. I can't have it jepordized over something like this." Celestia heard her sister crying. "It's not just the public scandal that would follow from an unacceptable husband. It's... It's..."

"You know, Tia.... You know what it was..." Luna's voice went on as the tears flowed between words, "It was him that brought me back, when the elements of harmony hadn't worked..."

"Yes, yes," Celestia heard herself say, "You took him back to your bedroom, and the two of you... went ahead and... and... That was what changed you." Celestia had known that that statement was a lie back then, but she had said it nonetheless.

"I asked him... to be my prince," Luna's voice replied-- showing a deep conviction in every word, "And at that exact moment that he said 'yes', Nightmare Moon was no more. Because it was love. Because 'Every princess deserves a prince'."

"PRINCE!" Celestia screamed. She banged her hooves upon the shifty ground. "PRINCE!"

The sun goddess opened her eyes. She looked up at the kitchen appliances stretching along the wall. She suddenly felt the cold floor tiles upon her face. She pushed herself up, and she surveyed the room for the lightswitch.

Celestia then glanced down at where she had sat. The massive puddle of drool seemed to flow into the grout-- staining it. She held out a hoof to turn on the lights. She stood in place, and then she sighed.

"Oh, oh," she muttered to herself, "Lulu... I'm sorry."

(To Be Continued)