7
Once they had returned to the castle's ground floor, Celestia led the way to a small conference room. In the room was a round table surrounded by a dozen chairs. She gestured for her guests to be seated while she firmly closed the door to the room. She and Luna then seated themselves and faced their guests.
"So," Tia asked, making sure to keep her voice calm and non-threatening, "please tell me how you happened to come upon those changeling eggs."
Kira sighed. "It's all my fault, Your Majesty." She was no longer calling the princess by her name; that didn't seem appropriate under the current circumstances. "I felt like I had to see the escape tunnels."
Tia frowned. "Why? And how did you get down there?"
"Well," said the fox, "let me answer the second question first. When you led us on the tour of the dungeons, I cast a spell that would allow me to return there if I needed to."
The princess' eyes darkened. "Why did you do that?"
Kira sighed again, a sigh that was almost a groan of despair. "Because I wanted to be able to return to the dungeons later." She paused for a moment, and when she continued, she was nearly sobbing. "Please understand, Your Majesty. I'm a fox. I have certain instincts. And one of those is that I can't stand to feel trapped. By placing a magic portal in the dungeon, I gave myself a way to escape from the castle if necessary."
Tia's dark glare turned into a look of puzzlement. "A way to escape from the castle? Why would you need a way to escape from the castle? You and Sir Toby are free to leave any time you wish."
"Are we?" asked the fox. "I haven't felt so sure of that, Your Majesty. After all, you had a guard watching our every move."
"Oh," said the princess, and now it was her turn to feel embarrassed. "I didn't mean for you to feel like you were being watched. I dispatched Sergeant Cloudrunner to help you find your way around the castle. That's all."
"I realize that now," Kira replied, "but at the time I was afraid that maybe we weren't going to be allowed to leave. You kept insisting that we stay, and the guard was watching us constantly, and … well …"
"You thought I might be holding you and Sir Toby as prisoners," Tia interjected, sounding horrified. "Lady Kira, I'm terribly sorry that I gave you that impression. Truly I am. I assure you that I never thought of you two as anything but welcome guests."
"I know," said the fox, sounding miserable. "I'm sorry. But instinct is a powerful thing, Your Majesty. When I started thinking that I might be trapped, I decided that I'd better do something to make sure that I had a way out. Just in case, you know." She looked down at her feet. "So I set up a magic portal in the dungeons. Then, when everyone else was asleep, Toby and I went back to the dungeons, to make sure that there was an escape route we could use if necessary. We weren't actually planning to leave the castle. It's just that I couldn't sleep until I was sure that I wasn't trapped, that I had a way out if I ever needed it. All I was planning to do was to confirm that there was an escape route, and then I was going to go back to bed." She shook her head sadly. "But then we found the changeling eggs."
Toby spoke up. "Once we found those eggs and the broken door, we knew that something was wrong and that you needed to know about it, Your Majesty. So we had you awakened right away."
"Now I understand," said Tia. She pondered the situation for a long moment. "You know," she said at length, "you could have just gone back to bed. You didn't need to wake me. If you'd just gone back to bed, I'd never have known about your nocturnal dungeon visit."
"No, Your Majesty," said Toby, "we couldn't do that. We knew it wasn't right for those eggs to be there and for that door to be broken open. We couldn't just go back to bed knowing that everyone in the castle might be in danger."
"So you decided to warn us," Tia concluded, "even though you realized that it meant you might place yourselves in danger, by revealing that you'd gone down into the dungeons without my permission."
Toby nodded. "Exactly, Your Majesty. I'm a knight of the Holy Brotherhood. I believe in doing what's right, not just doing what might keep me out of trouble." He paused, then added, "Besides, Kira and I wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if we didn't warn you about the danger. Think of how we'd feel if one of those changelings hatched and then went upstairs and hurt you. We couldn't let that happen, Your Majesty. We had to warn you."
"I see," Tia replied in a quiet, thoughtful voice. She remained silent for a long moment. "Well," she said at last, as a smile came to her face for the first time since she had been awakened, "I suppose there's nothing more to discuss. Do you agree, Luna?"
"I do," her sister replied.
Celestia turned back to her guests. "Then please follow me."
She led the way out of the conference room and down a corridor. Crossing into the throne room, Tia made her way to the main hall at the castle's entrance while Luna and their two guests followed. They emerged from the castle out into the darkness, where two guards stood at the ready.
Tia spoke to the guards. "Hello, gentlemen. Would one of you be available to escort my guests into town, if they choose to go?"
"Certainly, princess," replied one of the guards.
"Thank you." She turned toward Kira with a smile. "There, Lady Kira. You see? You and Sir Toby aren't trapped; you may leave wherever you wish. You may go by yourselves, or you can have a guard escort you."
"I appreciate that, Your Majesty," Kira replied. "I feel better now. Thank you."
The princess nodded. "Please call me Tia. And now I'm going back to bed. I probably won't be able to get right back to sleep, however, after all this excitement, so I think I'll settle down with a cup of tea. Please feel free to leave if you like. Or," and here her smile grew brighter, "if you prefer, you and Sir Toby may join me for tea in my suite."
Princess Luna gasped. "Tia! We never allow visitors in our private quarters!"
"I think we'll make an exception for these visitors," said the older princess, "seeing as how they were willing to put themselves in danger in order to make sure that you and I and everypony else in the castle was safe." She smiled at Kira and Toby. "If you're leaving, please allow me to wish you safe travels and to let you know that you're welcome to return whenever you like. But if you prefer to join me for tea, you're very welcome to do so."
"We'd be honored to join you for tea," said Kira.
"Then let's go," Tia replied in a cheerful tone.
She led the way back inside the castle. A few minutes later, the two princesses and their guests were in the residential wing, where the guards stood open-mouthed at the sight of the guests entering their ruler's private suite.
Kira and Toby found Celestia's parlor quite homey and comfortable. There were cushioned chairs and a beautiful leather sofa, but what they noticed first was the princess' pet; she had a phoenix sleeping on an ornate golden perch at the far end of the parlor, and the bird uttered a loud squawk at sight of the fox and lion.
"Calm down, Philomena," Tia said to the exotic bird. "These are friends."
Luna instructed one of the guards to send for tea, and a fresh pot arrived soon afterward. Then the four settled down for a late-night (or perhaps early-morning) chat.
"I think you should know," Luna said to the two visitors, "that this is quite an honor my sister is granting you, allowing you to enter her private living quarters."
Tia waved a hoof. "Oh, let's not make a big issue of it, Luna. Lady Kira and Sir Toby have proven themselves worthy and honorable friends. And while it's true that I rarely permit ordinary castle visitors into my parlor, my friends are welcome here any time."
"We're honored to be considered your friends," said Kira. "But I'm not sure we really deserve that honor, seeing as how we had the foolish thought that you might be forcing us to stay in the castle against our will."
Toby gave his mate an ironic smile. "Oh, we had that thought?"
The fox frowned. "All right, love. You didn't have that thought. I did. And I feel pretty silly about it now."
"It was just a misunderstanding," Tia shrugged. "And I made it worse by assigning Sergeant Cloudrunner to you without explaining why. Anyway, let's forget about all that. The misunderstandings have been cleared up, so now you and Sir Toby can resume your vacation."
This comment cheered up everyone, and the conversation shifted to the subject of how to best enjoy a vacation in Equestria. Luna described a few of the local attractions, and Tia offered to show the visitors around Canterlot once her duties permitted. Eventually they made plans for the upcoming weekend, and everyone was enthused. But by then everyone was also sleepy … except Luna, who was accustomed to being awake at this time of night. So they bade each other good night, and Luna volunteered to guide the two guests back to their room in the admiralty suite, since they hadn't yet mastered the maze of corridors within Canterlot Castle.
Tia went right to sleep. She wasn't entirely pleased when her morning alarm sounded; she would have liked at least another hour in bed. Still, duty called, so she rose, showered and prepared for her day. She cheered up at breakfast; she was quite hungry this morning, so the breakfast fare tasted delicious. And she was pleased to hear a report from the captain of the guards to the effect that every inch of the dungeons had been searched, with no more changeling eggs having been found. Now she could feel certain that there were no dangers lurking beneath her castle. She was humming to herself and enjoying a croissant when Luna showed up, looking unhappy.
"Why, sister," said Tia, "what's wrong? It's a beautiful morning and the latest threat from the changelings has been eliminated. Why so glum?"
"I took our visitors back to their suite," Luna grumbled, "and suggested that we play a hand or two of Hearthstone. But Toby fell asleep midway through the first hand, so Kira took over for him."
"What's wrong with that?" Tia asked.
Luna grimaced. "She beat me. She beat me seven hands in a row."
"Oh," Tia replied. "Well, she said that she was a college valedictorian, so you should have expected that she would be clever."
"That fox is very frustrating to play," Luna continued. "She lures you into traps. She makes you think you've got her in trouble, then springs a surprise. It's maddening."
"Well, don't feel bad. She tricked me too. She sneaked into my dungeons, and I didn't have the faintest clue that she was down there."
"I'm going to beat her," Luna muttered. "I don't know exactly how, but I will. Playing aggressively doesn't seem to work. I guess I need to be trickier."
Tia shook her head. "You're going to try to out-fox the fox? Perhaps you had better just try playing some other game with her. Monopoly, for example."
"I'm going to beat her," Luna repeated over her shoulder as she stalked away. "Just you wait and see."
Tia watched her sister go, then suppressed a chuckle and took another bite out of her croissant.
THE END
