//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: The Courier's Journal // by RF and AG //------------------------------// An alarm sounded to the right of Luna, startling her from her reading. She glanced over it and found that she had read through the entire night! This caused her to blink a few times before looking down at the journal. She had read a fair amount, considering she was nearing the end of the book, but at the same time she had only read, what was it? Eight entries? Eight entries! She blushed hard, despite there being no true reason for it outside of the shame she felt. How could she have been a such a slow reader? She wasn’t this slow normally; no, she zoomed through bills and legislatures like they were nothing but a single paragraph. As she rose from her bed, she couldn’t help but wonder just what had happened that she only got eight entries in. Had she fallen asleep? No, she was not that airheaded to have missed such a thing. Dreamscaping? It would have been a decent answer, but it was wrong. There hadn’t been a single nightmare in days, to which she did smirk slightly. A stray thought appeared in her head, a consequence of teasing from Celestia when he was still in Canterlot. Did she really love him? Did she love him enough that she had gotten so engrossed in his journal? Enough to actually take an entire night to read but a mere section. She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts from her mind. She had not denied that she felt something for him, despite them having no similar physical qualities. No, she didn’t find him as appealing as a stallion, but who would blame her? No, the reason she fell for him, was the way he acted towards her and those around her. Despite what the journal said, he was a caring pony ... err, person that actually showed Luna a measure of informal respect and she wanted more than her current amount. Too many ponies bowed before her in such ways that made her feel more like a simple figurehead, and not one with her ponies. Celestia didn’t mind the formality that she had gotten over the years, but she had always easily received the admiration while Luna had to forage for it. That was neither here nor there for Luna, though. She had worked hard to gain her public image and sway the minds of those who initially feared her, which turned out to be fortuitous. She started to be seen in better light, but it was nothing compared to her sister. Then along came a certain being, teleported right into the middle of the throne room just as the elements had come to visit her sister and herself. Such the surprise to both sides, the sudden teleportation, that her sister and her were stunned to silence. On the contrary, the Courier had a multitude of vulgar words that almost caused dear Fluttershy to cry. The expletives were nearly shouted and he slowly backed out of the room, holding up his middle fingers. That of course was until he was tackled and subdued from behind by more than a hooful of guards. It was closer to ten guards. After a few days of figuring out what had happened, including multiple magical scans of the area, they had determined that said being was not exactly harmless but was not willing to harm a single pony. In fact, the words he used was “too fucking adorable for a bullet.” Over time, Luna eventually learned the context and it still brought a little giggle and blush to mind. Well, mainly because he had said it while pointing a gun at her. Yeah, they had been inseparable when she had a free time. It felt like two lost souls had come together at last, though Luna doubted she could compare herself to the human. Now though … now she looked back on the whole three months with longing, wishing she had confessed how she felt towards him. Her chance left when he did, and she had see him out of the door with a smile and a hopeful proposal of him returning, to which he simply smiled. “How could I have been so foolish …” Luna muttered as she moved away from the balcony. She had raised the moon during her deep thinking, as it had become second nature for her millennia ago. She trotted out of the door, making her way to the dining room which mostly housed a tired Celestia. Not physically, but mentally tired. The type of tired that one experiences after performing a full twenty four hours of work. If Luna wasn’t in such a contemplative mood, she would mess a little with Celestia. She always was the easiest to mess with when she was tired, even when she was a filly. “Ah, Luna! Glad to see you actually got out of bed,” Celestia said before a yawn escaped her lips. She still had another day to go before her turn to sleep. Luna felt a little bad at wasting her sleep so she could read. It kind of felt like she had betrayed her sister … kind of. “After yesterday’s paperwork, I just wanted to sleep all day,” Luna said as she sat herself down only moments before a large plate of pancakes were placed in front of her. Out of all the modern marvels that had come while she was banished, Luna had a soft spot for two things. One was the sheer amount of advancement in the medical field, and the other was pancakes. Sure, one of those was a little all encompassing, but that was balanced out by pancakes. Celestia smiled at Luna as she stopped talking, and instead became a little too focused on the pancakes that were placed in front of her. It was okay, Celestia knew how much Luna loved her pancakes. Not because of sentimental reasoning or sisterly like thing, no. Celestia knew, because when Luna had first been introduced to pancakes, there wasn’t any left for the other six guests that ate with them that day. In fact, she had to almost physically roll Luna out of the dining room due to how stuffed she was with pancakes. Speaking of Luna and pancakes, once Celestia actually refocused on the present and not a humorous moment, she found that there was two plates lacking pancakes. One plate was Luna’s and the other was her own. “Really?” Celestia said, eyebrow raised in questions. “Waht?” Luna said as she chewed down the last of the pancakes. Celestia couldn’t take it any longer, and just broke out laughing. She laughed. And laughed. Finally, she stopped laughing, which was at the exact same time that Luna finished chugging a bottle of syrup that was left over. Celestia had, thankfully, not seen her chug it, as Luna would have had a hard time explaining that one. Her reason was because the sheer amount of sugar in the syrup might just give her enough kick to stay awake, and let her get through the day of having to fill in for Celestia at Day Court. Apparently some ambassador had wished to talk with her. That was actually something Luna was thankful for. She honestly hated ambassadors and their self-righteous attitudes. Either way, Luna would be able to sneak some reading in between petitioners this morning. It was a Saturday after all, and most ponies only came by during the week. Probably a means to get off of work … Luna wished she could do such a thing as well. Celestia was still wiping tears away from her eyes as she rose to leave. Some small giggles came out of her mouth as she left. Sometimes no words were needed to be said between them. Today was one of those days. With that, Luna wiped her mouth with a napkin before walking off to court. She was going to be nearly an hour early, so she would be able to materialize the book in front of her and sneak some reading on the throne. In hindsight, perhaps the syrup wasn’t needed for today. Upon reaching the Throne room that would be the host to petitioners, Luna flopped down on the throne as best as she could. Since it was a chair in essence, it was tough to do so, but Luna had mastered the art of being comfortable on any surface. Which was something that annoyed her sister to no end. The moment she had gotten comfortable, she flipped open the journal to the page she had bookmarked. This one marked the beginning of the best part! His first entry written while in Equestria!