Lunar Diplomacy

Griffonia is the second largest kingdom next to Equestria, but despite this, Luna, who was on a diplomatic assignment about economics while Celestia was working with an even more boring royal wedding, was stunned to see how much it had evolved since her last visit over a thousand years ago. Its capital city was a gargantuan castle built out of grey stone blocks and its twisty roads were also made out of stone blocks. The only road that had a resemblance to a straight line was the main road that led to the King's Tower, which, as its name suggests, is where the royal family lived.

Luna looked up high and stared at the tip of the tower's roof, which had an impressive statue of Griffonia's first king, King Talon I. Luna lowered her head and looked at the gate to King's Tower. Next to the tower were two griffon soldiers, armed with swords and wearing the traditional military garb of Griffonia. Luna trotted up to them and once she was close by, the guards crossed their swords together, blocking her path.

"Halt," yelled one of the guards. "What business do you have with King Tiber IV?"

"Ahem, I am Princess Luna of Equestria," she replied. "I was invited by your king to discuss trade negotiations regarding our two wonderful kingdoms."

"Hmm, you seem reasonable enough. Wait here and I'll check the schedule."

The guard departed his post and entered the tower. Luna waited as instructed and stared at the other guard who remained at his post. Luna smiled at the guard, who remained still and expressionless. Feeling even more bored at standing still in silence, Luna tried to think of anything to say that would spice up the mood.

"So then, how do you do?" asked Luna in a polite tone.

"Pretty good," said the guard in a rough accent. "Not the most excitin' job, but someone's gotta do it."

"I haven't been here in ages. Has Griffonia's relationship with Equestria improved over the years?"

"I can't give you the history of Griffon-Equestrian relations out of my mouth, but from what I've seen, we get along."

The guard who left his post returned and motioned Luna into the tower. Luna followed his instructions and entered the tower, the large gate closing behind her once she entered. Inside a red carpet leading to the throne room was rolled out underneath Luna's hooves. Banners with the logo of Griffonia were hanged up on the wall to Luna's left and right with pride and symmetrical staircases went up the tower, spiraling in a small cylindrical shape to maintain room. Luna slowly trotted towards the throne room, her head twisting around all over the place as she took in the amazing sights around her. She was so distracted that she slammed her face into the door that led to the throne room. Luna shook her head and chuckled to herself before regaining her composure and opening the door to the throne room.

Inside the throne room was much like the one before it, only there were no staircases and there was a large, golden throne at the far end of the room. Sitting on it was King Tiber IV, who was talking with his children, Titus and Minerva. Upon seeing Luna, the king gently motioned his children to leave the room and the two griffons did as instructed, gazing at the presence of the alicorn as they walked by.

"Good afternoon, Luna of Equestria," said Tiber. "Let's cut to the chase and get this settled. As you may recall, we proposed that Equestria would get a five percent increase in the export of ores, while you decreased the price of the tariff by three percent. Does this sound like a fair trade to you?"

"Yes," Luna said, nodding her head. "The terms are agreeable. Shall we sign the document and make this official?"

"We shall. I'm a bit geriatric, so don't go galloping off without me."

Tiber rose off of his throne and walked over towards Luna. The two royals exited the throne room and waiting for them were five guards, their swords drawn pointing upwards with stern expressions on their faces. Luna looked at their expressions, wondering what was going on that would make them act like this.

"My king," said one of the guards. "There is a legion of changelings heading for us. Our spies claim that they really want to talk to a Princess Luna. What should we do?"

The king groaned and smacked his fist onto his hand. "Get them to spill the beans and if they're here to cause trouble, kick their sorry flanks."

"I'll provide some support," said Luna without hesitating. "I've got a bad feeling about this, and I want to make sure Tia is alright. I can provide some physical support for the other griffons, so don't worry about me."

"Are you sure about this? It could be dangerous out there, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"I have plenty of battle experience. I've banished the ancient King Sombra, who was no pushover, so I'm not worried about a couple of changelings, but thanks for your concerns."

"Okay then, I wish you and my soldiers the best of luck dealing with them. I'm sorry our meeting had to end like this. Let's meet up when things stabilize so that we can sign the agreement."

"Goodbye, King Tiber IV of Griffonia."

"Goodbye, Princess Luna of Equestria."

The two royals bowed to each other and Luna galloped to the griffon soldiers, all awaiting what Luna's strategy would be concerning her tagging along.

***

A number of griffon soldiers marched to the reported area where the changelings were with Luna trotting at the front. She wanted to try and talk to the changelings to find out why they want her, but Luna knew that such a task would be far from simple. The army marched over rolling plains, the slopes not too steep. A tree reached out of the ground and towards the sky in a few scattered places, but aside from that, the landscape was mostly featureless. Luna saw a blob of black off in the distance, which she assumed were the changelings. The mass was getting closer and closer, and Luna braced herself for a possible showdown. The figures approaching them were the changelings, and they all looked thrilled at spotting Luna at the front of the army she brought with her. The changelings halted their march, and what appeared to be one of their generals continued trotting towards Luna and cleared his throat.

"Princess Luna, it's surprising to see you here," said the changeling, his scratchy voice grating to the ears. "Queen Chrysalis is going to take over Canterlot, and all we're waiting for is the report that the invasion has begun. However, we want more than just a Celestia trophy, we want a Luna trophy too. Prepare yourself, for the awesome might of—"

Luna shot a powerful beam of energy at the changeling, sending him flying into the sky. The other changelings shuddered at seeing Luna dispose of their general so easily. They turned their attention back to Luna, whose eyes had a red flame inside of them.

"How dare you threaten Canterlot," shouted Luna in her Royal Canterlot Voice. "If any of you hurt my dear sister, you will wish you were never born. Run back to your hive and don't even think of creating chaos, and if you do, I promise that you will feel my wrath, but if you do anything tricky, my wrath will shake the earth. Make your move, changelings."

The changelings all had similar expressions of panic painted on their faces. One of the changeling soldiers trotted forwards and turned around to his fellow soldiers, his body shaking violently as he trotted.

"You heard her, get out of here," ordered the changeling. The moment he finished giving his command, the changelings all turned tail and fled the scene, all of them knowing the extent to which they would be punished if they tried to join their queen in the ambush on Canterlot.

Luna's spirits were calmed when she noticed that the changelings were keeping their word and not heading for Canterlot, but rather the base from which they probably came from. Luna looked back at the griffons, all of them with their jaws dropped. Luna winked at the griffons and smiled.

"That's the power of an alicorn princess," said Luna. "Impressed?"

"Totally," a griffon general replied. "Head on over to Canterlot and you can sign the agreement as soon as you can. The king will understand your concern for Princess Celestia, so don't waste time and get over there."

"Thank you, I will sign the agreement the day after everything has stabilized. For now, I say farewell."

Luna rocketed off of the ground and into the air. She flew as fast as she could and saw the sun setting and the night quickly approaching, which made her use 110 percent of her energy. As she was shearing through the sky, Luna noticed a shining light where Canterlot was and black specks flying towards the Everfree Forest and falling to the ground. Luna gasped, hoping that she wasn't too late, but the light felt lovely for reasons she couldn't explain. Luna continued on and when the sky had turned a dark blue, Canterlot was within her sights, but something was odd. Fireworks were being fired up into the sky and bright lights shone from Canterlot's central courtyard. She saw tons of ponies dancing and celebrating, and was relieved to see Celestia standing there, looking perfectly healthy. Luna landed directly next to her sister gently and looked at her sister's face.

"Hello everybody, did I miss anything?" asked Luna.

Celestia just stood there and when the other ponies by her rushed off to party and have fun, she looked at her sister and smiled. "I'll tell you everything that had happened later. For now, just have fun, and yes, everybody is alright. Did the meeting with King Tiber IV go well?"

"Yes, but we ran into a problem with the changelings. They threatened you and me, and the griffons told me to rush over here and sign the agreement once everything returned to normal. I'm just relieved to see you unharmed."

"I'm glad to see you are okay as well, Luna. Come on, let's relax and have some fun together, as sisters."