It's funny how Celestia wanted her sister to become more popular to the citizens and not feared, but her plan didn't go as planned. Making arrangements for Luna to visit different cities to give speeches certainly gained fame from the crowd, but now the citizens want Luna as the ruler instead of Celestia.

"Are we ready to go? " Luna asked Celestia, whom was concentrated on the paperwork in front of her.

"Go where?"

"I'm supposed to give another speech in Baltimare by tomorrow, and our train leaves in fifteen minutes!" Luna declared, unable to believe that her sister could forget this sort of event, not to mention being late.

"Oh, that. Unfortunately it has been canceled," Celestia replied.

Luna groaned. She had been looking forward to visiting Baltimare for the event, but in the recent month, every one of her speeches were canceled. Now she wished she hadn't spent the last hour in Celestia's office, waiting for her to finish her work, though her guest chairs were the softest and most comfortable.

"Why are all my speeches canceled?" Luna asked. She had asked this question many times before and didn't expect to get an answer.

Celestia sighed, "If I tell you the answer, will you promise to be silent?

Luna nodded.

"All your events have been canceled because your followers want you to take over everything."

"And that's a bad thing because..." Luna let her sister finish her sentence.

"Because you don't know how to run a country!" Celestia declared.

"Seems easy enough."

Celestia pushed a stack of paperwork towards Luna, "Does this seem easy!?"

After casting a glance at the words on the papers that made no sense whatsoever, Luna decided that it would be a good time to excuse herself from her sister's office.

Retreating back to her room, Luna stepped out onto the balcony into the bright sun. It was almost noon and she could see the train about to leave.

No, she thought, I am going to make that speech with or without Celestia's permission. After all, I can make my own decisions, I'm a princess too!

Leaping off the balcony and smoothly gliding to land near the station, she got aboard. Right then, she decided she liked being part of royalty. What's better than premium access to everything? She giggled a little, both because of her thoughts and a handsome stallion walked up to her and introducing himself.

"Hello, I am Shadow Raven and I'm part of the CIA," he proudly announced. He was a pegasus with a cutie mark of a raven with a scroll in its claws. His cyan mane with small red streaks was messed up like he never combed it, but it went perfectly with his black pelt looking like a blue fire.

"The C-I-A?" Luna repeated.

"The Canterlot Intelligence Agency."

"Ah," Luna acknowledged, "Im L-"

"Princess Luna, formerly Nightmare Moon, banished to the moon for a thousand years, creator of the stars, and much more," the stallion rattled off.

"Okay..." Luna nervously replied, feeling odd that this pegasus knew just about everything.

"What are you doing here?" The stallion inquired.

So he doesn't know everything, Luna thought. Then spoke, "I have a speech at Baltimare tomorrow."

"But wasn't it canceled?" the pegasus asked, "I mean, I like your speeches and all, but princess Celestia told me it was canceled."

Luna was taken aback, she told him and not me?

"Did she say why it was canceled?" Luna asked.

"She said that the ponies in other cities you spoke to before now wants Celestia to be dethroned and they would do it by force if needed. She stopped your other events because she didn't want any more trouble."

Luna thought for a moment, could she be causing the paperwork on her sister's desk? Maybe the citizens really loved her so much that they think she could lead a better nation.

"So what are you on this train for?" Luna questioned.

"I am supposed to send the message to Baltimare about you not being able to visit, but since you're here now, I guess I don't have to."

As the stallion started to unboard the train, Luna stopped him, "Could you, umm... come to Baltimare with me?"

Shadow Raven blinked, "Why would you need me to come with you?"

"Umm... you can... be my guard," Luna lied, not planning on saying that she felt safe around him or that he was someone she could talk to, "I can make that an order."

Reluctantly, Shadow Raven turned around with a slow, "Okaaaayyyyyyyyy," and sat down.

A awkward moment of silence stood in their carriage as the two ponies sat on the soft cushioned chairs. Luna got a carriage that was meant for a popular pony, but when the conductor announced that Princess Luna was aboard, they immediately offered their carriage.

"Sooooooo…." Shadow started, trying to break the silence, "How are things in the Canterlot castle?"

"Oh, Tia has a lot of paperwork to finish so I snuck out to reach Baltimare."

"Who's Tia?"

"Tia, Celestia, Celest, what other names can you use?"

"So, you left without telling your sister? You do know that she can request the CIA or some other agency to find you, right? And she would be frantically searching for you."

"Umm...Yes?"

Shadow facehoofed, "Why did you sneak out without telling your sister?"

"Hey, she's my sister, I am also a princess too. One, she won't go hard on me, and two I am royalty too. Just because she makes most of the calls doesn't mean that I can not do what I want."

For the rest of the ride, Luna and Shadow were mostly silent, asking short questions and trying to get the conversation going again. Finally, she thought when the train slowed to a stop and let out a loud Hissssssssssss. When Luna and Shadow stepped off the train, they were immediately surrounded by a crowd of ponies all wanting Luna's autograph or something else.

"Shadow! Do your job!" Luna yelled over the deafening clamor.

"Alright everypony stand back. Stand back! Hey, who pushed me?!" Shadow continuously demanded, "FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE, STAND BACK!"

Finally the ponies complied, and began to quiet down. Stepping on a nearby crate, Shadow announced to the crowd, "Alright everypony, go home. If you want to see Princess Luna come to the town hall tomorrow at noon," and stepped down. Pushing his way through the crowd, he made a path for Luna to walk through. Now she was really glad to have Shadow with her since he seemed to have experience on taming a crowd.

Following Shadow, Luna and her guard made a beeline for the mayor's house. That's where Luna was supposed to stay for the time she was there. The mayor's house was very fancy, the fence was painted jet black to contradict with the cream colored stone that was at the four corners of the house and besides the main gate. The grass was perfectly trimmed along with the hedges that outlined the building, and there wasn't a single weed or crack in the driveway to the mayor's garage. The guards immediately let the two visitors in.

Just before she reached the door of the very white house, she could hear a mare yelling, "Put the vase next to the stand! No! Not like that! Ugh, I have to do everything myself!"

Shadow Raven pushed the doorbell with his hoof. Buzzzzzz. The yelling stopped and Luna heard quick shuffling. Just as Shadow was about to ring the doorbell again, the door was opened and a white pegasus mare with a celeste(light blue) mane stepped out. She had a lemon chiffon coat,,, blue eyes, and atom as a cutie mark.

"Oh, hi! I am Nova. Princess Luna, welcome!" The mare bowed, "Come on in!"

The interior of the room was very beautiful, completely made of marble with polished finish. There was a skylight in the living room, and everything was clean and spotless.

"Luna, your bedroom is this way," Nova invited, "I was not expecting you to bring company, but I have some spare rooms for him too."

"Name's Shadow Raven."

Nova dropped Luna at her room and had her maids prepare another room next to Luna's for Shadow. After Luna settled in, she practiced her speech. There's going to be a big day tomorrow.

*I used Anita Petrovic's OC for Nova. If you want to suggest a pony, go to google+ and join the Does Your OC Suck? community. I will choose randomly, but it needs to include bio for future exploration. Shadow Raven is my own OC.