Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
*
Princess celestia sat quietly on her balcony overlooking the entirety of her holdings, the fading sunlight casting the city of canterlot in its dark, orange glow. The princess of the sun drew out a soft sigh as she watched the bustling forms of the ponies go about their business down below. All this land had known for the past several generations was peace; war and death was but a distant memory, only remembered in dusty tomes and old lecture halls. Why would any-pony waste their time on such things when they could work on their farms without fear of them being razed to the ground.
It was with these thoughts in mind that celestia turned back to the problem at hoof. She looked again to the peice of parchment on her Balcony table; the peice of parchment that would undoubtedly change the course of history in equestria for years to come. She already knew what the contents were, but read it again anyways, the tiredness in her eyes apparent.
War was coming she knew, but it had all started with a simple misunderstanding, a mistake that could have been avoided. Some argument about trade and tariff agreements between some traveling merchants from the griffin kingdoms and an equestrian customs officer that went wrong. The merchants demanded that they be allowed into equestria without paying the proper sum to which the customs officer refused. Being as hot blooded as the gryphon's are violence ensued, which wouldn't have been such a major thing if the caravan hadn't been guarded by a griffin military detachment. Several guardsponies stepped in to the fight leaving several dead and wounded afterwords.
Griffin king Paxton did not take the news well when he was told, declaring it a blaring act of war on equestrias part, according to the letter that was sent to celestia. She now put the letter back on the table and rubbed the back of her neck working at the stiff tendons and muscles. How many times had she played through this same scenario throughout history, how many lives were lost in those ancient battles and what was there ever to gain from it? History did have a tendency of repeating itself she had found over the years, new generations making the same exact mistakes and shortcomings as the previous before them. It hurt her to see that and there wasn't much she could do about it, but she had learned to just roll with the punches nowadays.
"Tia, are you okay?" Came the familiar voice of her sister, Luna, the godess of the moon.
"Why yes, dear sister," celestia answered, turning to the blue alicorn," why do you ask?"
" you just seem kind of distracted today;distant almost. That's not like you, sister."
Celestia looked into Luna's dark blue eyes," its not something you need concern yourself with tonight we shall discuss it tomorrow. Anyways was there another reason you came to see me?"
"Yes, actually. More guests are arriving sis, tonight looks to be shaping up into a proper royal ball indeed," Luna said excitedly, like a filly about to go to her first day at school.
Celestia was taken by surprise at this news before remembering that they were throwing a masquerade ball tonight for a particularly philanthropic noble house." Yes indeed sister, that it is. Go down and mingle with the guests, I'll be there momentarily,"
" alright ,celly, see you in a bit. I can't wait to try out that pecan pie they were making in the kitchen earlier today," Luna said briskly walking out of celestia's quarters and down to the court-yard. Celestia chuckled slightly at her sisters foalish antics but knew it was all in good fun, she was still trying to adjust to the present day after all. Looking down at the ponies in their masquerade costumes brought more warmth to her heart, they looked so silly.
Her gaze eventually fell back to her sister, who was busy talking to a stallion in a servants outfit, while inspecting a peice of what she presumed was pecan pie. Even now, with Luna back and free from the clutches of nightmare moon , it still hurt her heart to look at her sister after all these years, after all she had been through. She should have listened to her sister all those years ago. If so all that pain and loneliness could have been avoided. But Luna was here now, with her and that's all that really mattered.
Celestia walked back into her quarters preparing herself for the presumably long night ahead, straightening her mane and pelt to perfection for the posh royals that usually came to these events. As she did this she thought back to the letter and what it meant for her nation. A draft would need to be instated, troops trained and deployed to the gryphon kingdoms and battles fought. Ponies and gryphon's would die, not just soldiers but civilians as well; she didn't like to think about civilian casualties too much.
TheThe gryphon's were a hardy people that she had fought long ago when their society was little more than rough barbarians living in the dry, shale hills of their current lands. Even then they were formidable opponents capable of mass damage to her own highly trained and equipped soldiers. She could just imagine how much stronger they were as their empire had taken control over a sizeable chunk of land south of equestria and formed and actual army. That was a problem for tommorow though, right now she had a ball to attend and appearances to keep up.
She straightened the last of the knots out of her hair, which resumed its usual floating demeanor and stepped back out onto her balcony. With that celestia extended her wings and jumped over the railing, easily gliding through the air regally to where a crowd of ponies had begun to gather. Maybe after all this was done she would be able to get some pecan pie herself.
To be continued...
