Celestia knew that she shouldn't cross that line. Not... Not yet. She stepped along the wall of the plain little side corridor. A pretty looking solid white hoof bumped out the edge of the door from the corridor into the main hallway. The guards didn't notice. She then leaned her face over, and one of her eyes locked upon that special bedroom door.

Celestia's stare moved up and down the sparkly dark blue frame, and then she focused right on the small hitch on the side of the door. She took a deep breathe. Okay... It will be easy. I couldn't possibly be more easy. Just one moment. She watched two burly guards lean down upon the wall a little lower. They both looked off to the right.

Dazzling Marks walked up with his little pushcart along the other end of the hallway. He nestled a hoof upon the pile of various papers. He sighed. Two other burly guards then appeared a few feet behind him. Celestia leaned her head down, and then she pushed the door just a little bit ajar. Alright, just about time... They all move together in their little huddle for a second. They all look at that end of then corridor. Just a few seconds, of course, but it's all I need.

She made a devious ltitle smile. I'm the goddess of this world-- the most powerful and smartest and fastest creature anypony could ever know. Obviously, I can handle this. She visualized teleporting right in front of the door, throwing it open, dashing inside, and then flinging it back shut with both immense speed and gentle, delicate precision. Perfect!

Marks made some little joke that the guards all laughed at. He then lifted the top of a little white box-- revealing a set of cupcakes. From Luna to Strawberry, no doubt... And she's giving to the extra ones to her guards. I'm surprised she didn't snarf them down herself in a matter of seconds-- those crazy new food cravings of hers! The guards all suddenly shifted their eyes over, and Marks did the same. "Now!"

*Poof*

Celesia smiled. She surveyed the darkened room around her. Her eyes bounced from the stack of Equestrian high society magazines to the scattered electronic cables to the soft little bunny doll that Luna snuggled with. A gift from... from... Discord... She shifted her head about-- trying to shove down all of those memories into her deepest subconscious. She then stepped out into the center of Luna's bedroom.

Well, I see that I've still got that sneaky touch... She glanced up, down, left, right, and then paused. It has to be... somewhere...

*Squeak*

Her upper right hoof flew into the air. No, no! Celestia bounced forward with her other hoof, and then she slid upon something wet and papery. The alicorn tumbled up towards the poster-covered wall. NO! She immediately lit her horn with magic.

Celestia found himself floating in the air-- just inches away from smashing into a pile of little metal minuatre ponies. She let out a satisfied breath. That would have been... loud. She magically shifted herself over, and she sat upon Luna's bed. Her eyes burned at the offending squeaky blue cube, which had bounced right on top of Luna's pillows. Celestia leaned forward and rubbed her face against the cube's numerous 'Welcome to Hoofington' labels.

"One thousand years on the moon, CUBE," the sun goddess growled, "Your day shall come, we assure you."

She leaned back, and then she surveyed the wall besides the bed. No... No... Nope... Wow, she likes DJ P0N-3? Really? My Lulu? And... Wow, just look at how wet P0N-3's mane is on that poster! She blinked repeatedly, trying to come back to her senses.

A-ha! Celestia stood up tall upon the bed, and she gazed at Luna's diary upon the little grey shelf. She's... She has to be using the... Celestia eyed the edge of the diary. Yep, she's using the hair trick. She delicately lifted the one tiny strand of Strawberry's sweet-scented hair off of the shelf. She hung it right at the top of the P0N-3 poster.

"Well, then," Celestia said, and she held the diary out right in front of her face. She almost felt like salivating. She cracked it open a little and then picked a section right in the middle. Lulu... Oh, Lulu... She took a little breath, and then she read aloud.

"Dear Flanders," she began. She stopped. Flanders... Ah, yes, of course: 'Flanders'. Flanders... Flanders! WHO IS 'FLANDERS'? She closed it and flipped it around from side to side. She then decided to keep reading. "I couldn't wait to try out the new lipstick on him! I know that he's just going to lose it!" Celestia rubbed with her hoof at the bright blue kiss mark upon the page.

Well, she's going to... have fun with that... She flipped ahead a few pages. Several of them went on and old about official royal business and how it bored Luna to tears. It also bored Celestia almost to tears to even think about reading about it. Celestia suddenly stopped. She gazed down at a page with illustrations.

"Dear Flanders," she read, "I've gotten very worried about these backaches-- especially today. Like I wrote before, Strawberry and I met in the northeast courtyard today and we had the best time anypony could possibly imagine. We played this little game at the fountain, and I pretended to buck him. But even just bending over in that way to pretend made pain just shoot into me like kinves against my skin." Luna had then drawn a cute little frowny face.

"I suppose on the one hoof that it couldn't come at a worst time-- since my headaches haven't gotten any better despite all those potions that Marks promised couldn't fail," Celestia kept reading, "Yet on the other hoof, I just have this little angel that perks me up and never lets me down. I just take one look at him, and I can already feel that warm touch of him just leading right up along my back. His tips of his hooves move across my flanks so flexibly. Such little rubs, such little pushes nestling his skin right against my..."

She stopped. She curled her legs together, and she tried to slow down her breathing. Not the... Not this 'intense'... That's not what I'm looking for. Well, okay... It's exactly what I'm looking for. Celestia gazed at the little illusuation that Luna had drawn-- a wide open lunar horizon with all of the stars flashing above replaced with strawberries. She rubbed her hoof along the ends. She's... She's so lucky...

Celestia turned to the newest page, and then she sighed. "Dear Flanders," she read, "I can't keep thinking about yesterday. Back when it was, well, our anniversary. Of course, we didn't take things that far. We couldn't. We knew we shouldn't. At least..." Celestia clenched inside as she saw the tears melted into the paper. "Oh, I just can't think anymore. I can't feel anymore. It doesn't make sense to anyone except us. WHO CARES!" Luna had underlined that last word twice.

Celestia could have read on. She could have flipped back to several weeks ago to see what her sister thought of her. She could have peeked through to see more seedy details about her whirlwind romance. Yet even though she wanted to, she just couldn't. She couldn't stand anymore. She magically lifted up the diary and carefully put it back into place. She looked over at Strawberry's strand of hair, and then she moved it right back where it had been.

"Oh... Lulu..." she muttered, "I'm sorry... I'm really sorry."

*Rustle*

Celestia's world seemed to melt before her eyes as the door slowly edged open. Her heart pumped over and over again to the point that it would rip out of her chest. This can't be happening! She shut her eyes tight. She threw a magical cloud over herself.

*Poof*

Blasts of freezing cold air shot down along her neck. She clutched at the thin air with her hooves. In a split-second, she tumbled down onto the frosty ground. She opened her eyes, but she couldn't see anything except solid whitish-blue walls in all directions.

Celestia leaned down, and then she bucked behind her with all her might. The metal wall shot out behind her. She paused, and then she eyed a set of nervous looking bright green unicorns sticking their heads along the sides. She saw table upon table of baked goods behind them.

"Princess... why are you in the freezer?" the tallest of them asked.

"It was... a... a..." Celestia stammered. She bounced out of the frigid little room. "A... special... royal... administrative..." She rubbed her head around and threw little icy sparkles out of her mane.

"Health inspection!"

(To Be Continued)