In the land of Equestria, everpony was living a happy life. Harmony was present, magic was in the air. Ponies lived, worked, and played together. All of the nation's citizens lived well, all thanks to the princesses that brought peace and order to the land.

However, all of this came with a price. In the royal castle in Canterlot, Celestia and Luna were exhausted with paperwork, responsibilities, politics, writing letters, and many more of the responsibilities that came with their caliber. For Celestia, keeping the kind, motherly persona she had was harder than it looked. As well as raising the sun every morning, Celestia was meant to read every single letter that was sent to her. Many days, she would read more than a thousand letters before the clock struck noon.

Luna had her own problems, too. Illuminating the night sky with the moon and her stars was quite a job, and she also had to deal with the less important paperwork that her sister's status was high for. The stress took a toll on each of the two sisters.

Just like the two sisters, Princess Cadence was incredibly exhausted. As ruler of the Crystal Empire, she had the responsibility of government paperwork, policies, laws, and taxes. It was very stressful, especially for only one alicorn. Cadence spent a lot of time in her throne room as she read through countless numbers of papers, letters and laws like her aunt Celestia.

All three princesses were completely wrecked with fatigue. Each of them would have given one of their hind legs for a break from the stress.

One day, Cadence was sitting in her castle going through the citizens' letters of complaint. Every single one of them was extremely petty and boring. She felt like she'd been awake for days. According to the clock, it was only eleven in the morning. When she opened the next letter, she was exasperated to find that it was about the portion sizes of the food at the Grand Gallopping Gala, which wasn't even held in the Crystal Empire.

Cadence dropped the letters on the ground in frustration. She'd finally had enough. "Shining Armor, do you think you could handle the rest of the complaints for today? I've been taking care of it all week, and it's given me a huge headache."

Shining Armor trotted into the room. "Sure, why not. It's not like I've got anything else going on today. You look tired. You should go and rest."

Cadence ran her hoof through her mane and yawned. "You know, Shining, I've been way too stressed lately. I really feel like I could use a vacation."

That night, Cadence, donning a cloak as a disguise, snuck out of her castle to the train station. Upon her arrival, she saw two tall hooded figures whispering in the corner of the platform. Just as the three had planned, Celestia and Luna had arrived.

"Hello, Cadence," Celestia greeted her adoptive niece. "It's always a pleasure to see you."

Cadence smiled. "Hi, Tia. I'm so glad you both could make it. Shining Armor said he'd cover for me while I was gone. Did you get anyone to help?"

Luna nodded. "We've enchanted the sun, moon, and stars to rotate on their own without our help. As for our duties, we've assigned Twilight Sparkle and her friends to take care of them while we are away."

"We are confident in their ability to handle them," Celestia added.

Cadence breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness! I can't imagine what would happen if we all just up and disappeared!"

The three alicorns talked about their stress, exchanging stories of rude citizens and horrible letters they'd received. They talked and laughed for hours, until the sky was streaked with the red of the enchanted sunrise.

Celestia laughed. "What was that pony drinking? Why in Tartarus would they complain to you about something as stupid as the size of the food at the Gala?"

Cadence snorted. "I know, I'd say they'd had a long night full of cider when they put that one in the box!"

"Celestia, Cadence, it's almost daylight. We need to get going if we don't plan on being seen," said Luna.

"How are we even going to leave Equestria without being noticed?" Cadence asked.

Luna thought for a moment until she remembered something. "Long ago, I learned a spell that allowed the caster to go anywhere in the world through a portal it created. It allowed me and my sister to travel with ease. However, the spell itself is very bright, and we won't be able to use it here without drawing attention to ourselves. We should go somewhere dark and secluded to do this, like our old castle in the Everfree Forest."

Celestia's expression grew somber. "Luna, it has been thousands of years since we last used that particular spell. It was also always quite unstable. Are you sure that this is the way we should go?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, I am sure. It was the most efficient way to travel," she replied.

And so the three alicorns took to the skies, flying over lakes, valleys, and the like before finally landing in a cave hidden beneath the Castle of the Two Sisters. It was secluded, hidden behind the veil of a weeping willow tree. A perfect spot to open the portal.

"Now, this spell requires the magical equivalent of three alicorns to produce," Celestia said. "Cadence, are you up to the task?"

"Of course," Cadence replied. "When we cast this spell, we will be able to go anywhere. Let's see where the portal takes us."

"One moment, Luna," Celestia said. "This spell is far from being mastered. We cannot predict what would happen were it to fail."

Luna turned towards her sister. "I am confident that we will be able to cast the spell. We all need a vacation, and I will do anything to get one." She took a deep breath. "Let us begin at once."

The princesses horns began to glow as they each focused all of their energy on casting the spell. Before them, a ball of magical energy began to form, growing bigger and brighter by the second. Eventually, the ball transformed into a vortex, violently sucking dust and rocks from the cave inside to an unknown place. However, it soon grew too powerful, beginning to take with it bats and other small creatures, and even beginning to pull the princesses to the other side.

"Sister! Cadence! The magic has grown unstable! We must shut down the portal!" Celestia had a look of terror on her face.

Luna and Cadence's horns flickered, the vortex fluctuating before ultimately growing bigger and more powerful than ever. "We can't! It has grown too powerful!" Luna yelled over the sound of the portal's vacuum.

The alicorns' legs began to inch towards the vortex against the owners' will. "We're being sucked in!" Cadence screamed, her face drenched in sweat from her futile efforts to resist.

The harder the ponies flapped their wings, the more powerful the vacuum of the portal grew. They were inches away from the core before accepting their inevitable fate and falling into the monstrous vortex. Screams of terror rang out in the forest as the portal closed, unheard by anypony able to help their senders.