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[MyLittlePonyTales]

Princess Luna decided that today was the day she was going out into Canterlot. She'd been cooped up in the castle for far too long, even with her most recent venture...
She had yet to get to really know her subjects, as she should...she would be a ruler next to Celestia soon...she hoped.
Luna gulped as she stood outside the castle doors, two guards on either side of them. The showed no emotion, no signs that they knew she was there—like they were just statues. Had it been Celestia alone, things may have been a little different. Celestia always had an escort when she left the castle, even though she probably had enough power to take care of herself.
But, perhaps there was more to it than that...perhaps the guards were there to help other ponies, just in case something went wrong. At any rate, it seemed almost like the ones at the door were ignoring her...
What if things were the same down in Canterlot? What if ponies simply ignored her...or worse? Who was to say they'd even like her? And who could blame them, after what she'd done... Luna turned back at these thoughts, letting her doubts get the best of her.
But...Celestia wouldn't let anything happen to her, right? If something were to really go wrong, the castle wasn't that far away, in any case. This was Celestia's city, surely she'd notice if there were any sort of disturbance. Besides there, there were guards around. And like it or not, Luna was in charge of them too.
Luna boldly took the first step down the palace stairs...and nearly tripped. She decided that a slower pace might help ease the nervous stiffness in her legs.

So it was that Princess Luna found herself in the middle of Canterlot, glancing awkwardly around at all the shops and bustling creatures. Past getting up the courage to come down here, she didn't really have a plan...
She swallowed, hoping that nopony noticed. Which way should she go?
Glancing back and fourth, Luna was still as muddled as ever. Where should she go? What should she do?

[Tempest Rime]

Tempest sighed as she walked down one of the many unfamiliar streets of Canterlot.  The yearly reports from the ponyville weather bureau had been misfiled, and hadn't gotten sent out with the regular mail, so she'd taken it upon herself to visit the capitol to deliver them to the head offices of the nature bureau personally.  Unfortunately, she'd underestimated just how far Canterlot was, and she'd thoroughly exhausted herself flying the whole way.

She'd dropped off the paperwork without much trouble, but was left at a loss for what to do next.  She was in no condition to make the fight home.  Tired and overwhelmed by the city, she wandered aimlessly, gawking at the architecture.  She'd never seen anything like it before.  Sure, Cloudsdale had been impressive, but it was all clouds, and she'd grown up there.  Ponyville architecture was nothing like it either, everything there was small and spread out.

Since her wings were tired, she had to crane her head to see everything from the ground, and she failed to notice the Princess as she was walking, and bumped into her awkwardly.  "Ahh, oh my, pardon me miss."  She didn't consciously notice the presence of both wings and a horn at first, but she vaguely recalled Luna's face from the ceremony they had held for her after the whole Nightmare Moon fiasco, though she couldn't place her.

"I... uh, do I know you?  You look familiar.  Are you alright, you seem a bit lost.  Like me, actually."  She gave a small nervous laugh.  "Heheh, lost..."

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Luna was standing rather dumbfounded when all of a sudden somepony bumped into her. She expected whoever it was to graciously apologize, after they realized exactly who they had run into. Perhaps they'd bow—something Luna still wasn't quite comfortable with—ask if she was alright, repeatedly, and otherwise cause an unnecessary commotion which would likely draw the attention of everypony nearby. And then they'd know that Princess Luna was here, and after that...well...
But it wasn't at all how Princess Luna had expected. The apology wasn't even quite an apology, just a simple, "pardon me", as if Luna were just some common pony. She didn't—she didn't RECOGNIZE her? How could that be?
Well, Luna hadn't exactly left the Canterlot Castle all that much, barely at all...but surely everypony knew of her return? And weren't her signature horn and wings a dead giveaway that she was no ordinary pony? Something just didn't seem quite right with this situation.
Lost. This pony thought she, Princess Luna, was lost? Well, it hadn't taken long for somepony to notice. At any rate, perhaps this was a good time to meet somepony new...Luna suddenly got jittery. Speaking wasn't exactly her forte since her return. Celestia was so busy, and the guards weren't much for conversation...So she'd talked to very few. But, it was time to pony up.
"Well, I suppose I'm not surprised that I was recognized. I am Princess Luna. And who might you be?"

[Tempest Rime]

"P-Princess!?"  Tempest's eyes widened, and she glanced back to the wings.  "Oh my goodness, I'm sorry, I didn't even notice... I should have recognized you immediately from that ceremony thing back in Ponyville."  Now she was making a fool of herself in front of royalty.  Just great.  "I didn't mean lost, I mean, I did, but you live here, right?  At the castle, so that's stupid, you just looked sort of distant, like someone might look if they were lost, even if they weren't..."

Now she was rambling.  "I, uh, oh, I should bow, shouldn't I?"  She dropped down on her knees quickly.  "I didn't meen to be improper, your highness.  It is 'your highness', that I should be calling you right?  I've never spoken to royalty before.  Please forgive me if I make a mistake."  She gulped nervously.  She didn't want to get banished or something, and she didn't know anything about Princess Luna aside from what she'd heard in Ponyville.  And that was mostly from Rainbow Dash's bragging.

[Parodius]

Scale Model walked along the streets, a map and a textbook floating alongside him as he explored.  If he was going to be spending quite a bit of time in Canterlot, he might as well get the sightseeing out of the way so he wouldn't be tripping over his own hooves and bumping into things.  "... Do I want to look at the castle gates?  Or should I go look at this fountain here?  ...though, there's lots of neat little nooks and alleys..." he murmured as he strolled along.  He looked up and around from his map.  Noting a couple of ponies, he gave a cheerful smile and a wave of a hoof.  He then blinked and lowered his hoof self-consciously.  This was the big city, he reminded himself.  And the capitol at that!  He wasn't sure if ponies around here bothered polite greetings or not, but he'd gotten quite a few odd looks his first week here.

His nose goes back to his map and his ponderings before a thought tickled his mind.  ... Was there something up with one of those ponies?  He looked over once again.  "Hmm... wings and a horn.  Don't see that very often."  ... Wait a minute.  Wings AND a horn??  "HOLEY MOLEY, IT'S-"  Scale plugged his mouth with a hoof to stop his surprised shout of realization as his map and book fell to the ground.  He looked around, then knelt.  That was what one was supposed to do, right?   Was he kneeling properly?  Did he need to say something?  How long was one supposed to kneel?  Did his mane look okay?

[riverhippo]

Every once and a while, Granola Gracie tours through the Whitetail Wood, looking for interesting specimens of plants.  Occasionally, she will get sidetracked into discovering a generation of rare flowers that grow in an opening in the forest,  free from greedy oak trees to steal all of the sunlight.  On this particular moment, Granola began wandering north up the foothills towards Canterlot.  She was so invested in the flora she was discovering, that she didn't even realize how far she had traveled and how late it had been getting.  She was close enough to the city to where she would look back to find a dusky horizon outline what would be a long dark trip home.  Sighing to herself, she made the obvious decision to stay a night in Canterlot.

((OOC: not sure what time it is, hopefully early evening is OK))

She excited herself with the fact that she got to visit the royal town.  She hadn't been here for quite sometime.  And to her excitement, the first thing that would not-so-surprisingly come to her mind would be the possibility that the royal garden would be open to common citizens on a beautiful day like today.

She trotted briskly towards the palace, where the city of Canterlot was bustling around.  Granola halted.  She spotted a small group of ponies gathered at the steps of the royal palace.  As she tip-toed closer, she realized who the center of attention was.  "Princess Luna," Granola quietly whispered to herself.  She had never seen her before.  This had been her first trip to Canterlot since the thousandth year of Summer Sun Celebration, and Luna's existence in Equestria was fairly renewed.  Would Granola know how to contain herself?

Granola slowly walked towards the common direction of the palace (and it's garden) hoping that perhaps Luna and her crowd would possibly meet her halfway.  After all, she didn't want to impose if Luna was a little guarded on her interaction with other ponies.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Oh dear, this green Pegasus was beginning to make a scene. Somepony was sure to notice now...Not that Princess Luna really fit in in the first place, what with already being taller than the average pony and being an Alicorn. There wasn't really anything she could do to blend in.
Luna glanced up as another pony casually waved in their direction, then walked off...only to turn back and suddenly bow, as if the thought just occurred to him. She lifted one hoof and then lightly stamped it on the ground, in a subconscious nervous gesture. But then, what had she expected? She was a princess, after all, and Celestia certainly couldn't go anywhere without anypony noticing. It wouldn't take long for the whole city to know she was out and about, surely.
And even as she thought this, she saw another pony approaching. Oh dear. Luna wasn't used to so much attention, and it just didn't bode well with her. She could feel her chest tightening and her breathing growing ever so slightly louder, and perhaps a bit faster. Her heartbeat quickened, and she fought the urge to just run away.
This was just childish! Luna had a duty to her subjects, just as Celestia did. Luna swallowed, trying to push back her nervous feelings and the screaming thought in her mind to just run away.
Looking down at the green pony, her innocent look could've seemed like a glare from that angle. She cleared her throat before she spoke, hoping that it didn't sound as shaky as she felt. "Luna—that is, Princess Luna will do just fine." She'd almost told her to call her Luna, but that was far too informal. She was a Princess, and there were certain...rules, that had to be followed, by royalty and citizen alike.
"That's fine enough, thank you. You may all rise." Luna said to the bowing ponies. She stifled the thought to tell them not to bow. She was royalty, after all, as was Celestia, and much as bowing drew attention to her, it was customary, and even perhaps necessary.
Princess Luna picked up the Unicorn's map and book from where they had fallen, and offered them to him. This wasn't too much, right? Princesses weren't supposed to do work, but they were supposed to help their fellow pony... The objects wavered in the air as her concentration faltered. This—This was fine. It wasn't anything hard or difficult. Not actual work. Right?
Well, it was too late now. Anyway, she was a Princess, she could do what she pleased, even if it involved labor. But she wouldn't look very Princess-y if she was doing something Celestia wouldn't do. After all, everypony probably expected her to act like Celestia. But she couldn't just drop the map and book now, that would be rude.
Well, what was done was done. Luna just hoped that she would make it through the day without somehow looking like a fool.

[Parodius]

Scale model rose as he was bidden, checking his mane briefly.  He blinked as his book and map were lifted, taking control once the shock wore off.  "Err... ahh... thank, you, Princess.  I... uh... do the princesses USUALLY wander around outside the castle?  I'm somewhat new in town... so I'm not familiar with those things.  ...Ma'am."  His mind drifted a little as he thanked and explained.  Wow.  One of the princesses... he'd have a heck of a story to tell his parents when he got back home.  ...  though he wasn't sure if they'd believe it or not.  He coughed into a hoof again.  "Err... not that... I mind bowing or anything.  We're supposed to bow and be nice and everything, right?  That's what I read in books and see in plays and stuff."  He scuffs at the ground.  "Err... Hello.  I'm Scale Model," he greets the other pony and Luna, not noticing the approaching pony just yet.  "It's nice to meet you.  I'm... ah... looking around the city, so I don't get lost in between classes at the university or anything."  ...  Did he need to add that explanation to them?  His nervousness must be getting to him.  He took a deep breath to calm down, then smiled.

[Tempest Rime]

"O-of course, Princess Luna.  It's an honor to make your acquaintance.  I, uh, is there anything I can do for you?  I've never met royalty before!  Oh, I can't wait to tell Aqua Drop about this!"  Her initial panic overcome, Tempest began to grow very excited.  Sure Princess Celestia visited Ponyville on occasion, and she'd seen Luna before, but she had never actually had the opportunity to speak with them.  Everypony in Ponyville was so informal, but the nobility were so much more proper, it was rather refreshing.

A small crowd was starting to gather around the Princess.  "Oh, I am Tempest Rime.  Uh, and I am at you service, Princess Luna, if you need anything."  She paused.  "I'm really sorry, again, for bumping into you.  I didn't expect royalty to be out here.  Er... why are you out here, anyway?  I mean, if it's not too much to ask, I don't mean to question you."

[riverhippo]

Granola grew a little nervous, as she noticed all of the other ponies bowing towards Luna, while she just stood there in the distance.  She wasn't exactly sure how to act.  She glanced to the left a right inconspicuously, looking for something to occupy her attention so that she would not be mistaken as a rude pony unwilling to bow before royalty.

However, she bounced her eyes too much, because near past the area of the palace, she could see the Royal Garden she dreamed of seeing.  Why wait for the next Gala to see the beautiful plants when I can go see it now? Granola thought.  As Granola began to daydream about what lies inside the Royal Garden, she involuntarily smiled and giggled at the excitement of it all, and her pupils watered and grew to the size of melons as she imagined.  Just then, she noticed two very muscular royal guards standing at the gate to the garden.  It appeared as though public access would not be available today.  Granola scuffed the ground softly in frustration.

The Luna crowd began to migrate slowly down the road, and Granola seemed a little relieved that not too much attention was drawn to her.  But then she realized something.  If there was anypony who could get her into those garden gates without stirring up trouble, it could be Luna.  Granola then rushed a little towards the Luna pony armada and slowed down as she got closer.  She began to fret as she didn't know exactly how to present herself.  Do I bow twice, because I didn't bow before?  Do I kiss her hooves?  Do I buy her a gift?  Granola was so worried that she would embarrass herself in front of royalty, and that, even worse, Luna would reject her wish of going into the garden.  Play it cool, Gracie, you can do this.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Princess Luna's mind was a blur. There were so many ponies out here. And her fears...had been for naught. Everypony seemed to like her—but then again, what if they didn't? What if they were just being kind and polite because they knew she was Celestia's sister? Whatever the case, Luna had a reputation to uphold.
Turning to the yellow Unicorn, Luna replied, 'Well, Celestia does not often leave Canterlot Castle except for special occasions. She has many royal duties to attend to, of course.'
She turned to Tempest. 'But I have not seen the city of Canterlot in such a long time. I figured that it was time I met some of our subjects. It is a pleasure to meet you both, Scale and Tempest.' Luna nodded toward the Unicorn.
She'd have to remember their names. It would be impolite if she forgot. Oh, but there were so many ponies in Equestria. Surely even Celestia herself couldn't remember them all? And how many different ponies would she meet today? What if she didn't remember them all, and she met them again? That would be just awful. Oh, she should have thought this out better.
Now, should she say something else, or let other ponies ask her questions? Would it be rude not to ask something back? What would Celestia do? Containing the urge to bite her lip nervously, Luna vied for the latter.

[Parodius]

Nodding, he relaxes a bit.  At least he wouldn't have to worry about suddenly bumping into royalty around every corner, Scale figured.  "The pleasure's mine, Princess.  Heh... suppose we're pullin' the same plow so to speak, when it comes to not knowing what Canterlot's like."  He pauses.  Should he offer to go with?  ... Would that be awkward?  Are things already awkward?  Forget it.  Treating everypony the same seemed awfully sensible to him at the moment.  "Want company for exploring?  If ya asked, I'm sure somepony might lend a hoof with that," he quips with a smile.  He floats that book and map to tuck it in a saddlebag... only for the two items to fall to the ground again.  An annoyed frown escapes him.  "...oh yeah.  Left the saddlebags at home.  Whoops."  He floats the book up and settles it on his back, picking the map up with his mouth.

[Tempest Rime]

"You haven't seen Canterlot in a while?  Oh, because of... oh.  I, uh, see.  Umm..."  Tempest lapsed into an awkward silence, not wanting to bring up the whole 'trapped in the moon' thing.  That couldn't possibly be a pleasant subject for the Princess.

At Scale's suggestion, she pounced on the opportunity to avoid the subject.  "Oh, yes, exploring.  It would be an honor if you would allow us to accompany you, Princess.  I am new to the city myself, but I would love to join you.  I was just marveling at the architecture, some of it is hundreds of years old, but has been preserved so well that it looks like it was built yesterday."

She paused again.  The Princess didn't look it, but Tempest suddenly recalled that she was actually over a thousand years old.  Maybe the architecture wasn't a good topic either.  What subjects did one talk to millennium-old ponies of unimaginable power about?

[riverhippo]

Granola began galloping towards Luna and the ponies who were talking to her.  As she got closer, she could overhear the slightly awkward gestures the ponies were throwing at Luna, while Luna played the nervous game herself and relayed the social anxiety back to them.  Granola was pretty good at detecting anxiety, but only because she struggled with it so much herself.  Granola had trapped herself so many times before with words that she spoke but shouldn't have.

Granola began to smell the fragrances of Canterlot-grown roses and tulips.  Her love for plants had adapted her the ability to sense these things from greater distance that most other ponies.  Granola began daydreaming about the garden again and wondered what it would be like inside those royal gates.  She imagined the future where a befriended Luna would walk her into the garden walkway and give her the tour of the courtyard.  And in between the moments of being taken by the pure pleasantry of the plant life, she and Luna would look at each other with the look that says, 'were going to be best friends forever.'

Granola blinked herself back into the real world and suddenly noticed her proximity to Luna.  Her gallop had been turned into a full sized run because of the loss of concentration.  Luna was only hooves away when Granola realized how close she really was.  She could see Luna's eyes lock to her's as she noticed this brown-colored earth pony hauling haunch right at her.  Granola leaned back on her hooves and tried to stop herself as soon as she could.  Her momentum caused her hooves to pick up dirt and dust from the constantly-trampled pathway.  Some of the dirt was kicked up on Luna's bright blue hooves.

The moment Granola finally came to a stop, a guilty look of regret filled her body language.  She knew she had to apologize, for it wasn't even an option at this point.  But the overwhelming amount of nervousness kept her mouth from ever opening.  About five long seconds past and she still said nothing as the silence grew.

I should have just gone home she thought to herself.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Princess Luna watched as Scale Model comically tried to place his items into a bag that wasn't there. But she stifled the urge to giggle, swallowing it back—that wouldn't be proper at all. She listened as Tempest awkwardly spoke, and she could tell what she was thinking as she stopped herself. Of course, it should be expected that somepony would bring up her...imprisonment. Luna should've expected it, really.
Now both ponies were offering—or rather, asking—to join her on her trek through Canterlot. It would be rude of her to say no, wouldn't it? Having a crowd would draw so much attention—

Luna was thrown out of her thoughts as she caught sight of the brown Earth pony barreling towards her. She'd been preoccupied with the ponies at hand, and noticed the new arrival too late. She stared at her in bewilderment, managing to back up a few paces before her royal hooves were showered with dust. She looked down at the almost terrified looking brown pony at her feet. What should she say?
Clearing her throat, Luna spoke. "Hello there." she said, looking down at the new arrival.

[Corsair]

Bonfire stood back and watched as the guard changed at the front gates of the castle.  The Changing of the Guard was a tradition, going back for nearly as long as Canterlot had existed.  The gate guards had once served a more vital role in controlling access to the castle, but it was mostly ceremonial now.  The armored ponies went through the ritual exchange flawlessly.  Bonfire's rank meant that he didn't have to stand this watch any more, but he'd done it often enough when he was younger that he still remembered all the steps and movements by heart.  

Finally, the two ponies coming off the watch approached Bonfire.  "Guardsponies, do you have anything to report?" he asked them, formally.  This, too, was part of the tradition.   The off-going guard would report anything unusual they had observed that day.  Most of the time, the response was a simple "All is well in the city, Sergeant."

"Sergeant we saw something... unusual today," replied one of the guards.

This caught Bonfire's attention.  "Unusual?" he questioned.

"Well," the guard continued.  "We saw the Princess Luna venturing out into the city."

That was a bit strange.  To Bonfire's knowledge, Princess Luna had not actually gone into Canterlot since her return.  In fact, other than the incident with the peryton, he didn't think she'd left the castle much at all.  However, "If the Princess Luna wishes to tour the city, that's her prerogative, Guardspony," he growled at the pony before him.  "Why are you bringing this to my attention?"

"Well, Sergeant," the second guard spoke up, "The Princess was... alone."

Bonfire took a moment to process that information.  "Now, let me get this straight," he said, his face deceptively blank.  "Princess Luna, Princess Celestia's SISTER Luna, a member of the royal family, is out in the city, without her security escort, and you two haybrains wait until NOW to report it??"

"But Sergeant, we couldn't say anything until we stood down the watch..."

"Never mind," Bonfire snapped, waving a hoof to dismiss the argument.  "You two, go to Princess Luna's quarters right now and find her security detail.  Tell them to meet me in the city, I'm going to find the Princess.  If I don't see their worthless tails following me in five minutes, you're ALL going on report!"  

Bonfire immediately turned and began galloping out into the city.  He was determined to find Luna, but he was also conflicted.  On one hoof, he was concerned about her safety; Canterlot was safe enough, but who knows what could happen to the Princess when she was unguarded.  On the other hoof, why would she want to ditch her escort in the first place?  Bonfire knew all about what Luna had done when she was "Nightmare Moon."  Even if Princess Celestia had forgiven her sister, Bonfire could not make himself trust her.  If anything, Luna represented a major threat to Celestia considering her past actions.  Either way, he had to find her, and fast.

[ziddia]

Sunset sighed and stretched out the tense muscles in his wings. He had known it might be a bad idea to sleep on a hay bale, but he just wasn't earning enough bits from racing these days. He had known that it wasn't his best idea to come to Canterlot, where everypony hung onto their bits like magnets on magnets, but he had still come anyway. 'Why are you such an arrogant pony?' he asked hitself. He sighed, because he didn't know the answer. He rolled out of the bed to hear someone shouting. "And she was ALONE?" Sunset stood up, and flew out, determined to find out what all the fuss was about.

[Parodius]

((Nothing to reply with.  Skip.))

[Tempest Rime]

Tempest gave Luna a nervous glance when Granola kicked up the dust, but was somewhat reassured by Luna's impassive greeting.  "Oh!  Miss Gracie!  Your Majes-er, I mean, Princess Luna, this is Miss Granola Gracie, she's also from Ponyville."  She hoped she'd gotten the name right, the last time they'd met, Tempest had been more concerned with protecting Aqua Drop than actually being sociable.

"So... uh, what brings you to Canterlot, Miss Gracie?"  She gave a somewhat overwhelmed smile to the green and brown pony, grateful to see a somewhat familiar face.  Perhaps the newcomer could help to diffuse the awkward air that was threatening to stifle the conversation.

[riverhippo]

Granola stared.  And stared some more.

To the other ponies, all they could see was a brown earth pony making a fool of herself.  Her ears were folded cowardly back and her eyes were severely dilated.  She saw Luna look at her and say something.  And behind her, she saw Tempest speak many words as well, with a gleeful look on the pegasus' face.

Granola could hear nothing though.  Her ear drums were shocked by fear flowing through her brain and her thoughts.  She froze her entire body.  All she could see or imagine is what they would do to her after Luna ordered the guards to arrest her for misconduct.  She could picture herself in a dungeon where Luna banished her to: a dark and lonely place where only the bones of ancient prison ponies reside.  Suddenly, Granola's desire to see the garden had quickly evolved into a plea for forgiveness.

But instead, the silly pony would fumble her words once again.  And after seeing the surrounding ponies stare at her and watching their lips stop moving for a response, she decided to gain just enough composure to attempt to speak casually.  She picked herself up from the dusted ground and began to stutter, "S- sorry, Princess L-Luna.  It's nice to meet you?"  She didn't really intend to say it as a question.  She just wasn't sure if Luna felt the same way.  Granola decided to try to relate with Luna with her small talk, so she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.  "What's the moon like?"

Sixteen one-thousandths of a second later, Granola Gracie cupped her front hooves over her mouth and began to cry.  Why must her mouth always be the one thing that keeps her from making friends.