Luna's eyes had shrunk to narrow slits. She stared straight at the poster for what felt like years. She saw Celestia gripping her little sister with all of her strength. She saw Celestia rubbing her mane down across Luna's neck. She saw Celestia's hooves wrapped tenderly across Luna's chest. She saw Celestia's warm smile brightening up the whole scene-- little sparkles of sunny love going up along Luna's shoulder.

"Tia..." she muttered for the hundredth time. She instinctively moved even closer to the poster. Her hooves nudged against the end of her bed, and her horn scraped a little bit across the wall. Tia, please, I can't... I can't...

*Snap*

The tattered remains of the poster flew about the room. Luna smacked her hooves against the wall. She took a deep breath. Yet, instead of screaming, she nudged her face silently against the new blank spot on the wall. A few tears trickled down along the walls edge.

"Tia," she whispered. She dug her hooves into the wall, and she shut her eyes tightly. She then collapsed upon her bed. Please... How many 'procedures' have you had yourself? Is it... Is it because... She made a little sigh, and her mind flashed back at the parade of stallions that she had seen in her older sister's hooves.

How many times have you given up yourself... And then been left alone, Tia? How many times have you been abandoned-- or had to abandon them yourself? How can you... How can you even... Think of Strawberry like that? He's not that. He's my... my Prince. Luna wanted to cry for the umpteenth time, but her mind fought back. Oh, Tia, I'm... I'm so selfish. I haven't been caring at all how you feel. The blue alicorn clenched her teeth. I'm sorry.

Luna then rolled about the sheets. She bundled herself up like a caterpillar going into a cocoon. She let out a painful whine, and then she clutched her bottom hooves together. She opened her eyes and gazed straight upwards. Her eyes danced along the edges of the little paper sun on the ceiling-- a gift from Celestia back from her last day of kindergarten.

Luna couldn't help but smile. She shimmed up out of the sheets, and then she held her hooves up. She playfully waved them up in the air towards the sun. She stretched, but she just couldn't quite reach. Luna smiled even wider as she motioned her hooves around-- pretending to hold the sun in her grasp.

I love you, Tia. I know that you're only... You're trying to look out for me. You're trying to protect me. I know it. Luna stepped off of the bed and rested upon the middle of the floor. You're doing your best. You're looking at the future... At what could happen... Luna glanced back at the paper sun.

She had been so sad and so nervous; she hadn't been able to remember anything from two plus two to what blue mixed with pink made when the teacher asked. Celestia-- especially back then-- felt every last little emotion that went through Luna's mind, and she knew what to do. Celestia had even magically blessed her drawing so that it would last forever-- or at least close enough.

"Forever," Luna whispered. And that's what... I don't have with Strawberry and I. We have everything. Everything except... forever... She leaned her head back upon the bed. "I just don't know what's... I don't know what it all means. I don't know what can happen..."

A sudden thought popped up from deep within the ball of confusion inside Luna's mind. That thought pushed and shoved all of the others out of the way. She blinked. She suddenly had what felt like an alien-like voice inside of her. I could always ask... IT.

"No, of course not, I shouldn't," she muttered, "IT... IT... Some ponies have been literally driven insane from witnessing IT." An alicorn is far from being 'some pony', though. "I'm in enough trouble with Celestia as is." Then why would talking to that thing make a difference? As the saying goes, 'you can't fall off of the floor'. "Not to mention that... using IT would... No. Using that thing would be too risky. It's also so dangerous."

What Celestia won't know... won't hurt her... Luna felt surprised at herself for even thinking this way. As well, isn't it the only real way to see what really will happen? Yet she had to admit that-- as much as it meant crossing so many lines-- she had to try. Her heart told her that she had to get a peek into the future. Her heart screamed at her that she had to at least try.

"Yes..." she said. She stepped twoards the door. She felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "I'll at least... try to use that... that horrible, horrible thing." I owe it to Strawberry. To Tia. To myself.

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Celestia jotted down the total upon the receipt, made her standard initals, and then she threw the paper onto the still growing pile. She didn't mind that this was a total waste of her time. It bugged her that it was a rather un-enjoyable waste of her time. Royal protocol intrudes again! As... ALWAYS...

Celestia coughed. She magically lifted over another glass of tea, and she sipped it. Strawberry's tea... The sun goddess delicately placed the glass back on the coaster. She glanced across the smattering of papers-- one item of financial mumbo-jumbo after another-- and then stared at the floor. She sighed.

She instinctively took another sip, and then she paused. Strawberry had such a good taste in... He's... Oh, for goodness' sake! She nudged her head upon the table.

"It doesn't matter what you do, or what you say," Celestia whispered, "Strawberry, you'll always be a part of us. That ship has sailed." She blinked-- halfway hoping that the paperwork would dissapper when she opened her eyes again. She sighed once again.

Oh, Lulu, I would understand if you never spoke to me again for a thousand years. For everything that I've done to you-- sending you away, failing to save you, and... She ran her eyes up the glass with Strawberry's concoction, which the alicorns had taken to like butter to toast. Then, I took you away from the unicorn that meant so much to you... That means so much to you...

Celestia suddenly stood up. She looked over at the window besides her. She had to set the sun relatively soon. Celestia's gaze wandered across the various royal offices to one of the branches of the royal bakery. She traced her eyes upwards along those wonderfully silly yellow curves along the bakery's roof that curled up at top-- just like cupcake frosting. She thought about how, somewhere in Ponyville, that familiar unicorn would be just finishing at Sugarcube Corner.

Celestia walked through the door, paused, and then turned towards a tiny corridor. She trotted through a side door into her personal study. He's just finishing up with work now, and Luna never sees him at this hour. Celestia hunted around the wall of cabinets upon cabinets for a particular drawer. She locked eyes with her reflection on the mirror for a split-second, and then she moved over to the stack of clothes boxes.

Luna just hates to interrupt him when Pinkie Pie is trying to run through the last minute orders. Luna doesn't pry into his work. The white alicorn ran through two of the walls with no luck. She felt so frustrated that she panted.

"There we are," she muttered. Celestia magically yanked the entire drawer off of its hinges. She flung it right up inches away from her face, and her eyes pried into every inch of it. She then pulled out a sleek metal tube.

The sun goddess ran her eyes along every last stark, silvery inch of the device. She magically placed it over her head, and then she nudged it along her neck. She leaned over, and she locked the ends against each other. She heard a satisfying 'snap'. Celestia brought her head back up. She grinned.

Celestia stepped over towards the right. She focused her eyes upon her reflection. It wasn't really her reflection though-- not anymore. Celestia moved ahead and pressed her face against the glass. She then ran her eyes down the soft, reflective blue body of the goddess of the night in the mirror. It's the body that made Photo Finish the best selling photographer in the history of Equestria.

Better than any old 'illusion spell'... The Luna in the mirror smiled even wider. This wonderful dose of magic fools friends, family, and even... husbands and wives. Or a potential husband, for tonight...

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The stallion's face buried so far inside the textbook that it almost seemed to be eating him. Luna's stare moved down from the glossy layer of pages across his thick, messy green mane to his sickly pale white body. The thick green strands from his tail nudged around the chair's legs-- intertwined like vines on a monument.

Something tells me you haven't had a marefriend since elementary school. Luna took an obnoxiously deep breath. The stallion remained in place. She ran her eyes along across the thick white desk over to the pile of cards and the set of dice at the corner. Luna then leaned her head down . "Ahem!"

Nothing happened. Luna held her front hooves a few inches atop the desk. She flung her head up-- glancing for second at all walls and walls of books and bookshelves that went on for almost infinity-- and took a breath.

*Slam*

The stallion bounced up at least five feet into the air. The chair did a little twist about, and then the stallion stood up atop it. He instinctively made something like a ballet dancer's pose with his hooves.

"Why, I'm terribly sorry," he babbled, "Your..." He stopped. His eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets. "Your majesty!"

"Yes," Luna replied.

"It's s-s-such... an honor to s-see you at the Royal House of R-Records," the stallion eked out. He leaned over as if to kiss her hoof, but he suddenly stopped. He turned a little shade of crimson, and then he leaned back.

"We are here to find something important," Luna said. The stallion smiled. The blue alicorn thought that he had the goofiest expression she had ever seen aside from Twist.

"Certainly... I can locate any book ever published..."

"It's not a book."

"Any magazine--"

"It's not that either."

"Any newspaper--"

"No, it's not that."

"Any written record that--"

"It's NOT... a 'record' at all..."

The stallion curled back into his chair. He seemed just as dissapointed as confused. His mane poured over his eyes like branches along a weeping willow. He wiggled a little in his spot, and then he took a breath. "I believe... Well, I apologize for being so forward, but..." he said, and he tapped his front hooves together nervously. "I think that your majesty has made a mistake. The National Archives are for physical items. This place is for informational purposes only."

"We require a physical item," Luna replied, and then she leaned her whole body forward across the desk. The stallion's face flashed from red to white to purple to grey in a matter of seconds. Luna then positioned herself just inches away. He clearly felt an odd combination of fear, confusion, curiosity, and infatuation from Luna's incredible beauty.

"I... please..." he stammered.

"We require usage of IT. We need," she put full royal force into the words, "To use that special device. To use IT. To use 'I' 'T'..." She spelled out those words with absolute conviction. "The machine that we have been instructed about."

"N-n-no," he replied.

"NO?"

He flinched, and he threw his hooves over his face. He cowered deep in his chair. "The Information Technology... The IT... has... Well, your majesty..." He jiggled in place. "For the entire history of Canterlot, Princess Celestia and Princess Celestia alone has had the right to use the machine."

"We," Luna declared, and she put so much force into the word that the stallion's hair fluttered, "Shall use IT. Now."

The stallion popped out of his chair. He wandered over to the edge of the desk, and he pointed out at a lonely corner of the room. Luna looked out at the particularly ominous set of stairs leading almost straight downwards. The stallion took a few more steps. He paused, and then he leaned down. He magically lifted up a set of keys to unlock a drawer.

He then lifted up the second set of keys that he got from inside that drawer. He stepped out besides Luna in the middle of the record room. He paused once again, and then he looked right back at her face.

"You won't find what you're looking for," he said.

"Don't tell us, something like that," she began. The stallion moved over and then stood directly in front of her. She didn't see definance in his face. It looked more like worry-- like a father eyeing her daughter's first date.

"The device is not magic. It does not tell you what will happen. It is only a difference engine that calculates probabilities-- powered by magic. It's principles come from science. As such, it is limited. Profound, yes. But it's limited," he said. He saw that those words bounced off Luna's ears, and then he strained his voice. "Please, your majestly. You will not-- you cannot-- see what will be. You will only see what is most likely to happen in your future."

"Semantics!" Luna called out.

The stallion stood up tall, He then hurled himself over in the air. His hoof smashed the side of the counter. The cards and dice spilled across the floor.

Luna started to look down, but then the stallion held his hooves over the little pile. He locked eyes with the blue alicorn. She saw an intense kind of fire burning in his eyes.

"What did I just roll? What number is on the dice?"

Luna rolled her eyes. "Really, now, we can't."

"WHAT. NUMBER. IS. ON. THE. DICE?" He found the courage to almost scream at her.

"Seven."

The stallion then moved his hands away. Luna moved her head down. She stared right at the little pile.

The two dice stared back at her with the two little black dots looking just like eyes. She bobbed her head from the left die and it's 'one' roll to the right die and it's 'one' roll. She let out a deep sigh. She then looked back at the stallion.

"Why did you say seven?"

The blue alicorn said nothing.

"You won't find what you're looking for."

The stallion then silently trotted along the middle of the records hall to the top of the stairs. He leaned back, glanced at Luna's steps right behind him, and then he moved down the stairs into the inky blackness.

(To Be Continued)