Equestrian Diplomacy

It was time to wake up. By now Celestias body was so attuned to her sleep schedule that there was little need for any sort of alarm. She yawned. It was about Ten minutes before sunrise and she began her usual routine. Walk to her washroom, wash her face and eyes to remove the icky morning eyecrust, relieve herself, put on her regailia,  go to work. Now for chores, she thought to herself as she walked to the balcony to begin her never-ending duty of raising the sun. In truth at this point Celestia was not bothered by her chores. She loved to raise the sun, it was part of her. It was warmth, the wealth of her life and nation. She loved to step out and feel the cool dew in the morning air. Life was always good at sunrise.

Of course, her joy was always interrupted by the other never ending duty of attending to her little pony's. Including there social, political, and economic needs. So Celestia walked out of her room and began her usual stroll to the thrown room. As she walked she greeted the guards and the royal servants in her usual fashion. She always enjoyed greeting the palace residents, it was a welcome distraction and short delay to what always followed. Royal Duties.

"Her Majesty, Princess Celestia," the usher anounced as Celestia walked in through the red carpet. As usual, there was a line of griffons, ponies, and other races outside waiting to speak with her. "Whats first on our list today?" Celestia said to her secretary Raven. "Well, first you have to speak with the Griffon Ambassadors to re-organize the trade agreements for there lesium ore," she said, "After that, there's the Mayor of Sea-Sattle coming to discuss tensions between the Resident Earth pony miners and the seaponys that live in the coast, apparently there are some disagreement about soil pollution. After that there a few grant requests and and complaints from local land lords and the nobility." she finished.

"Wonderful," Celestial said to herself. Just what i need to start my day, more complain'ts from the nobility, she thought

dryly. "Show in the Griffon Ambassador's," She said to Raven. She nodded and proceeded to open the door. "The Princess will see you now," said Raven to the Griffon ambassador's. There were three in all. One older, and clearly the leader, as well as two others. The oldest, and clearly the one who was in charge was, was a middle aged rooster. He was accompanied by a younger rooster and a hen that both looked about the same age. As she spoke and opened the door, the three gave her a slightly nervous look. The oldest quickly composed himself though with a demeanor of practiced stoicism. "Right then," the oldest said to no one in particular.

As they walked through the twin doors the younger two muttered to one another. There first time in Canterlot, both were impressed by the show of both beauty and wealth that was exhibited on the walls of the castle. "Princess," said the elder griffon as politely as possible. "I am Alden FeathersWorth. We are honered to meet you your majesty." "And I you, Ambassador FeathersWorth." said Celestia, with her coy, emotionless, half smile. Years of politicing had given Celestia masterful skill at not betraying her emotion, it was an endearing quality and one that served her well over her long rule.

"And who are these to foal's you've brought with you today?" said Celestia. "These two are my assistants," said FeathersWorth as he turned and Gestured the two to introduce themselves to the Princess. "I am Lilliana, Princess," said the hen with only a smidge of nervousness. "Harper, you majesty," the young cock proceed, keeping his tone respectful. "Excellent, well now that we all know each other i feel we can begin. Would care to start Alden," said Celestia, catching him slightly off guard with the use of his first name. "Well as you may know your Majesty, our shipments of Lesium have been late, or in only partial quantities and that's if they arrive at all. The Diamond dog's raids of our trade routes to Equestria have become more aggressive of late. Our forces are simply to spread out to handle them sufficiently, what with most of them off on our east borders keeping the Dragon population under control. At the rate were going we won't be able to keep the miners paid, and no more miners means now more ore," said Feathersworth.

"I see, so what do you recommend ambassador." replied Celestia. "Troops your Majesty, placed strategically along the northern trade-routes. We figure that if we can protect the trade routes in the mean time, we could eventually garner our forces enough to hunt down the packs of diamond dogs responsible for all the theft and loss of life in the mean time," said FeathersWorth. "This seems like a good plan, Ambasador, but we cannot agree to your request just yet. Give me time to discuss this with my Sister and General BuckHorn. When we arrive at our decision we will let you know as soon as possible. Your countries shipments of ore are very important to us and we would hate to lose your valuable trade, " said Celestia in her most even and diplomatic Voice. "In the mean time make yourselves welcome, feel free to explore the castle grounds as well the rest of Canterlot. If you wish to leave the premise just let Captain of the Gaurd SteelHoof know and he will assign you escorts. Would you be joining me and my sister for dinner this evening?" "We would be delighted your Majesty," said Feathersworth, as he and his to assistants bowed slightly, and were then escorted out of the conference room.

"Well, that wasn't bad at all," said Harper. Lilliana replied "I thought that she'd be terrifying, but she seemed kinda like just a regular pony, aside from the glowing mane and all." "Don't let looks fool you, underneath her friendly demeanor lies a methodical, calculating, and ruthless ruler. There is a reason Equestria has been Stable for over a thousand years, they're herd creatures after all and She is there leader."said FeathersWorth "Well so far I like these pony's, they've been nothing but friendly and very generous. Though a few of those suits back there were giving us some looks i could do without," said Harper. "Ponies sometimes have trouble adapting to new creatures, its just there nature. Give them time and they'l get used to you more than not. Unfortunately we probably won't be here long enough for that, as soon as the Princess's arrives at a decision were to go back to Griffonstan to give the news to the counsel," said FeathersWorth "Kinda a pity, "interupted Lilliana." I would have like to have seen more of Canterlot. Its so big...and shiny..and there so much here to buy. I could stay and shop forever." at this the two roosters laughed a little and went on there way as they were escorted out through the halls.

Celestia never enjoyed organizing war matters, it was always her sister who had been skilled in the arts of war. Still though, in Luna's thousand year absence Celestia had gotten lots of practice. She had personally prevented two invasions, not counting the recent changeling raid on Canterlot. Matters of war were no stranger to her, but still she detested ever having to send her little ponys off to battle. Each life was precious, but being a leader means that one understands the greater good. She would give this matter some thought, but she already felt that FeathersWorth's suggestion would be exactley what her sister and General BuckHorn would recomend. There was simply no negotiating with diamond dogs, other than that at hornpoint. Celestia and already tried and failed numerous times with packs of Diamond dogs to negotiate peace treaties. The problem was that the packs never had unified leadership for long enough to decide on anything for long. As soon as a pack changed alpha's, every order or prejudice of the old alpha was thrown out the window and the pack becomes a blank slate. She would give this matter more consideration later.

"Shall i show in Mayor RainDrop, " said Raven. "Yes show him in, might as well get through with the important appointments right away," replied Celestia to her secretary. Raven nodded and headed to the door to retrieve the stoic and drably dressed representative of Sea-Sattle. Mayor Raindrop was not known for being a great leader or a bad one. In truth little had happened in the community of Sea-Sattle. What little did happen was usually handled easily by the local guard garrison. Still, Raindrop had done his duties diligently as could be asked, and he gave fantastic speeches, so he held favor within the community despite his lack of social acuity. "Hello Princess," RainDrop said as he entered the Room and gave a little nod as an implied bow. Celestia was a little impressed, he showed almost as little emotion upon seeing her as she herself expressed when meeting with her little ponies and foreign dignitarys. "What brings you to Canterlot Mayor RainDrop," she said in her warmest and most pleasant voice as she eyed him with her famous half smile.This served to disarm him slightly. "Troubles i'm afraid, it seems we have disagreements with the sea-ponys living on the coast," replied RainDrop in his most serious demeanor.

"Odd, we've had barely any contact with the sea-pony's in the last 300 year's," Raindrop paused at this comment momentarily forgetting just how old their beloved princess actually was. "Can you describe the problem for me a little," she said. "Of course Princess. As you know a large portion of are economy is in the carriage and chariot industry, even some of your personal chariots were developed in our local factory's i hear." Celestia smiled at this, her personal chariot was one of her prized possessions and there were few material things that held any real value to Celestia at her age. "Indeed, my little pony's do love there carriages," she said warmly. At this he frowned a little. "Indeed Princess, the problem is the growing demand and the methods used to make our chariots. Old methods simply applied the use of the local forestry. Sea-Sattle timber is some of the best and strongest material in the entire nation. Each vehicle was hand made piece by piece. More recently however the demand for metal components in chariots and wagons have become more common. Demand has gone up, and with it the factorys. These days its not uncommon for a factory to produce 150 wagons a day. All with metal barrings and bolts. Some even have metal seat frames of all things!" he grunted a little and cleared his voice.

"I think i see where your going with this, but please continue, " she said. "Yes Princess, the problem isn't so much the timber but the new metal pieces that go into our products. The demand for iron and its refining have put most of the black-smiths in the region out of work. Its getting to the point where if a pony wants a horseshoe he has to buy it in bulk from the forges," Celestia chuckled at this a little. Raindrop simply stared attentively. "The problems, " he continued, " originate primarily in the methods were using to mine the iron." "How so RainDrop?" She asked. "Well Princess, I'm sure you are familiar with come-to-life spells," he replied. "Of course," she nodded. "Um," he muttered, "the method applied involves using a magic-hydraulic piston shovels to move large amounts of soil into new fangled come-to-life separator machines. The heavier iron ore is deposited on bottom while the waste soil is deposited into channels that flow down-stream into the Pega-cific ocean. When these machines were invented it seemed like a dream come true to any one who worked with heavy ore's. Suddenly you could get a month's worth of iron for a fraction of its former cost and effort. Unknown to any at the time these machines have one great draw back. Namely, magical residue.

Celestia's half-smile was suddenly drained to her full stoicly unknowable frown. The soils been poisoned, this is very bad, she thought to herself "Do you mean to tell me RainDrop that my ponies have been tainting the water supply?!" She asked both slightly shocked that she didn't know about this sooner, and at the ramifications such a thing would have on the marine life or even any pony who drank from the river down-stream. "Yes Princess," he said solemly. "Im afraid the magical residue is poisoning the soil. I'm only just coming to learn about the problem myself. I can only imagine the ecological impact this is having. Its no wonder the sea-ponies are upset with us. I've tried talking to the mine and refinery owners. They won't budge from there position. Too important to the economy, they say! Ha, if I dont mine the ore Pony-Joes mine down the road will! They say. I'm fed up princess, i don't know how to handle this situation and its getting out of hand. Now the sea-ponies are issuing an ultimatum to shut the mines down, or there will be ramifications they say. We need your help princess," He finished as he let down his head solemnly in defeat.

"You did well coming to me my little pony," She smiled, taking on the motherly role that she so often played with her subjects. At this he raised his head and his ears perked. "It is the sign of a good leader to know when he needs to asked for help, and you've done just that. I think I need to schedule a visit to Sea-Sattle. The last time i was there it was just a small lumber community. It must be a thriving city by now," she said slightly cheerfully. "Yes princess, its quite the metropolis these days. I'm sure our local citizens would love a visit from there princess, but what our we going to do about this soil polution?" He asked quizzically. "Well I have an idea about that," she said, "In truth my tour will be to fold, i will visit Sea-Sattle yes, but I won't be stopping there. There's an old friend that needs a long over-due visit." And I had better pack my scuba mask, joked Celestia to herself and softly smiled.

"Thankyou Princess, when can we expect you?" Asked Raindrop. "Some time soon, i'll send a messenger a week in advance letting you know when ill arrive. That should give my little pony's enough time to prepare, should it not?" she asked back. "Yes, of course princess. Thankyou," he said and with that Celestia signaled a guard to escort RainDrop out of the Conference Room.

"A busy morning so far ins't it Raven," she said to her secretary as he was busy scribbling something down on a piece of parchment. "Yes Princess, and you still have a meeting with Regal Coat and Rolled Oats, as well as the Ladies committee for a Better Equestria, and about 4 different grant request's from different ponies..and thats just the rest of this afternoon," replied Raven.

Celestia rubbed the base of her horn with her hoof..It was going to be a long afternoon...