Investigation

Yawning, Celestia woke up and stretched. She quickly put on her royal jewelry and ran down to the kitchens.

As she rushed, she didn't notice the form of a sleeping purple dragon, who snorted to life when he heard the slam of the door.

To prevent Luna's suspicion, she hastily made a stack of pancakes for each of them, slowing down only to carefully decorate the top pancake in each stack with a fruit and whipped cream face. Plates of pancakes floating behind her, she hurried to the dining room and barely put the last fork in place before Luna strode in.

"Celestia, you've really outdone yourself this time," Luna said, eyeing the chocolate chips and dollops of whipped cream, all meticulously arranged with raspberries and blackberries and dusted with powdered sugar. "Anyway, Twilight and her friends are coming over for a visit later this evening. Nothing special, they were planning on helping Rarity with an upcoming event at Canterlot Carousel, and wanted to stop by for an early dinner. I already took the liberty of sleeping for a few more hours in the middle of the night so that I'd be well rested for the girls. And Spike."

"I didn't know Rarity was hosting an event. I thought I'd be invited, at the very least," Celestia joked. Luna's stomach did a flip inside of her, and she scrambled to come up with a believable cover for their slip. Celestia noticed her sister's expression and said soothingly, "I take it you weren't invited either?"

"Yes, it's a, um, smaller event."

Slowly, Celestia realized that the visit to Canterlot Castle would interrupt her time with the mirror. Because she and Star Swirl had already done the bulk of the research, all she had had to do was replicate it. She was so close, and it was only a matter of time before she could cross over into the mirror world. All she needed was one more day, and she could finally see Sombra again.

"I don't know if I'm going to make it to dinner," she replied, voice wobbling.

"Nonsense. I even double checked your calendar, which has been surprisingly empty these days. I thought you were busy with events most of the time. But anyway, you don't have anything else going on today, and I thought that we could make something special together for the, ahem, seven of them, because it's been a while since they visited Canterlot Castle."

Celestia gulped. She doubted she was getting out of this one. Oh well, Sombra. It looks like I won't get to see you until tomorrow. To her sister she sighed, "Fine. What did you have in mind?" While the sisters rushed off to cook a decent sized dinner, the Mane 6 was down in the tunnels under the castle. As they walked, Pinkie stared at the signs on the walls and tried to think of what various words meant.

"Twilight, I remember that the sign on the library had another word for library instead of just the word 'Library,' but I forgot what it was. I remember it was really long and started with an… e?"

"It's called an Atheneum, Pinkie," Twilight laughed. "And it should be right around… here." She pushed the giant doors open with her magic and gasped.

Applejack gave her a sideways look and said, "You've already seen the library, Sugarcube, and it hasn't changed much."

"I know, but I forgot just how big it is, and how many books it has!" Everyone rolled their eyes, but laughed and kept walking. Star Swirl's research stretched on for who knew how long, but this time, the girls knew where they were headed.

Celestia's workspace took up an entire large side room. She already had a mirror that stood against the far wall, and notes and papers covered every inch of the table in the middle. Her cluttered work spread over to a few shelves on the sides of the walls. Twilight eagerly sifted through the clutter and pulled out a battered notebook. Its black cover had clearly seen better days, and the majority of the pages were ripped or folded over.

"Who wants to look through these?" Twilight gestured to the pile on the table. Fluttershy slowly picked up another notebook, this one much smaller than the one Twilight held. Rarity joined the two of them and used her magic to organize the papers into neat piles.

Rainbow gave an exaggerated yawn, "Research sounds boring. Pink, AJ, you're coming with me. Maybe Celestia had some extra work in a more exciting part of the library."

Celestia was getting antsy. It almost seemed like Luna was purposefully taking a long time in the kitchens. So far, they had prepared large serving bowls of soup and salad alongside a casserole, but Luna insisted on making a pie for dessert. She disappeared into the pantry to find the right berries for the filling. Even though the purpose of this dinner was to keep Celestia out of the library, Luna wanted it to taste good.

"What kind of berries do you prefer, Celesita?"

"Whatever you like, Luna."

Celestia let her mind wander to the mirror. Out of curiosity, she called into the pantry doorway, "Luna? Do you mind if I slip away for a few hours? I'll be back before lunch. It seems like you have everything under control."

Lost in thought about the berries, Luna replied, "Mm-hm. Sure."

An escape! Celestia launched herself out of the kitchens, still not noticing Spike off to the side. Frowning, he strode into the kitchen.

"Luna?"

"Spike! You're supposed to keep yourself hidden! What if Celestia sees you?"

"Um, she left." "She what? We must get down there at once!"

Celestia sensed something was off as she speed-walked around the library. The door to her workspace was wide open. She warily poked her head inside and gasped.

"Twilight? Rarity? Fluttershy? What is going on here?"

Twilight cleared her throat and stepped forward. "Princess, what you're doing here is wrong. Remember what happened last time? Excuse me for being blunt, but you can't gamble with the fate of both Equestrias like this. Who knows what will happen this time around?"

"But Twilight, I just need to see what happened to Sombra. I-"

"I know that's what you want, Princess, but you have to calm down. I know it hurts, but the pain will fade. I promise."

Celestia paused and took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry, Twilight."

Before they could stop her, Celestia's horn glowed yellow. She zapped the mirror with her magic.

Twilight came face down in dirt. She lifted her head and blinked. Everywhere she looked was gray and bleary.

A dark gray hoof stepped in front of her face. A pegasus stallion in a familiar black helmet glared down at her. She barely had time to mumble, "That's a funny hat," before he roughly shoved her to her hooves.

"Twilight Sparkle, you and your companions are under arrest by the order of King Sombra."

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amajorhehe - Thank you so much! I'm glad I gave you that impression.

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