Submerged

"Sister, you wish to see me?" chimed an elegant royal blue alicorn proceeding into the throne room. A nebula of stars flowed with a ethereal wind endlessly as her mane. Looking at her sister silently move from her throne to the floor of the otherwise empty room unnerved her.

"Luna, I need you to go to the Griffon kingdom to settle a dispute." the while alicorn said, looking down at her sister.

"But sister, I thought all was well in the Griffon kingdom? They have always been territorial, bu-"

"They attacked and killed several guards near the borders. I cannot leave Canterlot, you must go in my place!" Celestia said in anguish, making Luna focus on her face. Her eyes were dark. Celestia cared for her little ponies a great deal and for any of them to die in such a way surely wrenched her heart.

"Of course," Luna whispered bowing to her seething sister. Perhaps it is best sister cannot go... I fear her wrath may only make the situation worse. The tip of her nose touched her sisters hoof gently and she rose. "I... Sister, I am still behind in my studies of the new ways. I do not think it would be best for me to go on my own, I would surely stumble in the new world's diplomacy's." Luna mentioned tentatively.

Celestia calmed herself a bit, and sighed. She moved back a few steps and turned around, thinking. "You and my student Twilight Sparkle have been corresponding since Nightmare Night, correct?" she asked.

"Yes, since then we have exchanged many letters. Many of the new world books I have read were sent to me by her. Not to mention, she doth indeed appreciate my night." Luna said warmly.

"Then she can accompany you, she knows plenty enough to help you. I will summon her to the castle immediately and you two will leave on the morrow." Celestia forced, moving to leave the throne room without even a goodnight to her sister.

Luna turned to watch her sister leave, and then moved to halls herself. She nodded at the guards to the sides of the great doors and looked around for her sister to find she had already left. "Best not to disturb her..." Luna sighed and trotted to her room.

She moved to her balcony and looked up at her recently risen moon. The stars twinkled in the sky just as they did in her mane and she closed her eyes to think about what awaited her. After she had returned to Equestria after her banishment, she was very behind in the times. She had slacked off on her studies quite a bit before Nightmare Night. When she began conversing with Twilight Sparkle, she had been invigorated to pick up reading again. Reading anything but the new laws and court systems, that is.

"It will be nice at least, to see her once more. She truly is a charming mare, even if she doth not recognize such. I have not seen her or anypony that doesn't reside in the castle since Nightmare Night, I wonder if my speech has gotten better. Sister says it has." Luna mused to her moon.

_______________________

Back in her own room, Celestia hurriedly picked up a roll of parchment and a quill. Wasting no time she wrote quickly but no less refined in letters that swirled onto the page,

My most faithful student Twilight Sparkle, I am in need of your presence at the castle at once. I will send a carriage for you soon, please come as soon as you are able. My sister will explain for your summons on the way here.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia of Equestria

Rolling the parchment back up she sealed it and with a spark of magic, it was gone. She put the quill down and moved to tell her sister to go to Ponyville to retrieve Twilight at once. Despite their relations, Luna's room was in a much more secluded area of the castle so she could rest easy during the day while the castle was busy. So instead of walking, she used a teleportation spell that landed her right outside Luna's door so as not to surprise her.

While she would normally knock before entering her sister room, this time she rudely barged in to find her sister on her balcony. "Luna, you will take a carriage to Ponyville to collect Twilight Sparkle as soon as you can. Preferably now, though she might not be ready when you get there. If she's fussing over when to bring please advise her."

Startled a bit, Luna turned to find her sister quickly telling her what to do. Despite some apprehensions, she only submitted to her pained sisters will. She is simply upset at the moment, sister doth not mean to be rude. Luna reminded herself in her head.

"Of course, sister. I will address my night guards for a carriage immediately." Luna assured, moving to leave the room as her sister would be doing soon also. Celestia didn't move, however, and only moved to speak as Luna stood in the doorway.

"Thank you Luna, I am sorry to be so... Demanding." Celestia quavered a bit as she looked over her shoulder at her sister.

"Do not mention such, I do not mind." Luna assured her, trotting out into the halls to gather a carriage.

____________________________

As the guards and the carriage touched down gently near the Ponyville library, Luna could see the lights on and heard quite a bit of noise coming from inside. "Thank you, we should return soon," she murmered to the guards, stepping down off the carriage. They nodded to her and she knocked tenitivly on the wooden door. "Twilight?" she called out softly.

Almost immedietly the door glowed a light purple and swung with a somewhat loud bang as it hit the wall of the house. Surprised and taken aback, Luna moved back a few steps her eyes wide. "P-princess Luna!" studdered from a shocked purple unicorn.

"My apologies, sorry, sorry, just... getting ready." Twilight said uneasily with a terribly fake grin.

"You are thinking about the trip a bit too much, it is as my sister said. Twilight, you doth not need to pre-"

"Don't." Twilight corected, eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, sorry to correct you... and interupt you, please continue." She said slightly embarrassed, glancing at the tired looking baby dragon holding her saddlebag she had been furiously packing.

Luna realised she had been using yet another old world word that had been replaced while she was away. "No, thank you. As I was saying you shouldn't need to bring anything. Whatever you need can be provided at the castle. The issue at hand has gotten to my sister, she is a bit impatient at the time. We should probably leave soon."

"Oh, um, alright. Spike you'll be going to Rarity's right? I guess we can leave now then." Twilight said tenitivly.

"Yea, yea, have fun Twi," the sleepy baby dragon murmured moving past her and the princess out the door with his blanket in tow. Luna watched him curiously for a moment, before looking back down at Twilight.

"We should go then, Twi." The princess grinned slightly at the wide-eyed Twilight who never expect to be called so informally by the princess.

"P-princess Twilight is fine, really." Twilight flushed, avoiding the gaze of the alicorn.

"Tis a shame," Luna mocked dissapointment before going on, "then Luna is fine, as well."

Twilight brightened a bit, but was still apprehensive to calling a princess so casually. "Of course... Luna." she finished hesitently before they both moved outside to return to the carriage.

Twilight was slightly taken aback at the dark and spikey nature of the night princesses carriage, but didn't falter as they both loaded onto the carriage.

"Princess Celestia said you would explain my summons on the way to the castle, right?" Twilight asked as the carriage glided off the ground and into the air.

"Of course. Recently the Griffons attack and killed several ponies near the border. Since she is needed in Canterlot, I will be going to the Griffon kingdom in her place to discuss the matters."

"But where do I come in, I mean why am I going with you?" Twilight asked inquisitvly.

"I... am rather behind on my studies of the new laws and court. I fear I would stumble in the diplomacys, and as such Sister decided you would be as good a canidate as any to acompany me."

"I see... It's terrible things are going on like that. I wonder why the Griffons are attacking ponies now? We haven't had any problems with them recently. Not that I know of, anyway." Twilight said nodding.

"I was not aware of any recent disputes either, so this attack seems to come out of no where. Worry not, I hope now there will be a simple explaination... if there can be such a thing. I wish Sister would have told be more, but she was very urgent and distressed. " Luna ended on a sour note.

"I can only imagine, not many ponies are killed and Princess Celestia loves her little ponies dearly, I've seen her before when the occasional crime happens. It's terrible and she'll be in a sour mood for a few days. I can only imagine her hearing the news of several ponies killed, and seemingly without reason." Twilight frowned, remember the times she saw her mentor with those dark eyes.

"Is that so... she has changed so much since I was banished. After we overthrew Discord and his tyranny, the chaos did not die down so quickly. Bad ponies ran rampunt for many years, and crimes were not so sparce as they are now. She has softened, it seems. That is not a bad thing though, I do not think."

"I'd like to hear about it sometime, if you don't mind. How things used to be." Twilight piped quietly.

"I wouldn't mind." Luna whispered, and the two settled into a comfortable silence as Canterot eged closer to them.