The Courier's Journal

by RF and AG

Chapter 5

]Two years after the Anniversary)

Luna strode through Canterlot Castle, not really aiming to go anywhere, instead just enjoying the act of being able to move her legs. No, she hadn’t been hung up for a week because of an injury or anything that drastic. She had just been sitting on a chair for nearly twelve straight hours, because a number of delegations needed to bring something important to their attention. How her sister could ever stand to hold such things, was beyond Luna.

Luckily, the delegations of the Gryphon, Minotaur, and Zebra empires had been happy with how everything turned out and would most likely not be back the next day. Of course, that was just Luna’s own twist on optimism. No doubt Celestia would have been more than happy to have them back to discuss more, even if it was just to annoy her sister.

“I swear if I hear one more ‘but your majesty!’ I will slap the next face I see,” Luna grumbled as she continued to stretch her legs. To her, that had literally been the entire thing, just delegates complaining and using that same way to address them.

“What about, ‘your mooniness’?” a voice offered from behind her. Her first thought was to turn and snap off at whoever had mentioned that, but she knew better when she confirmed that voice.

“Only if they address you as ‘your skin cancerness,’” Luna shot back, not even needing to look behind her, though she did slow down so her sister could catch up to even with her.

“Please, that was solved years ago with some a little help from non-equestrian sources,” Celestia scoffed. “Besides, it wasn’t hardly a widespread issue.”

“Yeah, only a small issue that had a couple of thousand lives hanging in the balance. Besides, if I remember, we only solved that because you stole one of his ‘Stimpacks’”

“I’m never proud of stealing, you know that Luna … we just needed it more,” Celestia said as she blew Luna a raspberry.

“And ponies wonder why I used to wield the Element of Honesty …” Luna said before taking a left through a set of doors, though the comment caught Celestia off guard enough to essentially ground her to a halt outside said doors.

“Wait … what does that mean?!” Celestia called after Luna, who had picked up her trot a little, all the while guffawing like an elderly Diamond Dog. “Luna!”

She knew that this situation could easily lead to another infamous sisterly fight. Not the same type of fight that had happened when Luna became Nightmare Moon, but instead, more like the one three months ago where scorch marks riddled the castle along with more than a few clumps of fur and mane.

It also lead to a national shortage of whiskey.

So instead of continuing on hoof, with the possibility of Celestia catching up to her, she Blink Teleported to the first place that came to her mind. One thing that was great about Blink Teleportation, was that it was impossible to trace, since it took an insta-cast. Essentially it was just a quick version of a teleport, and only a few high level unicorns had mastered it … outside of alicorns, obviously.

Ironically, the first thing that came to her mind was a rather old tree that was part of the eastern yard of the Castle. It had no real significance of any kind, yet it was always a place where ponies and other species went to just chat and relax. There was something about the massive tree that made anyone feel at home. Luna hadn’t been around when it was planted, and apparently Celestia didn’t even know how it got there, but it was a part of the Castle yard as much as the grass was.

At first she thought about moving from the tree, but the shade that it gave was more than pleasant. It was extremely relaxing, especially since the breeze that had been flowing throughout Canterlot all day was finally hitting her, calming her mind. She needed to do this more often, as the extremely relaxing state was almost putting her to sleep.

She let her eyelids droop a little, resting at half closed, inspecting the yard that was in front of her. The tree wasn’t in the middle of the yard, but closer to the southern corner, hidden by some bushes as to make ponies sitting under it less conspicuous. She could nearly see the entire Eastern yard, considering the Western one was occupied mainly by a maze that was more of a pain than anything. Not to mention the statue garden … which was missing a certain centre piece she would rather have back.

In the distance, closer to the northern wall and the rest of Canterlot, she could make out the small figures of Royal Guard recruits and soldiers going through drills. Closer to where she was, she could see a few members of the castle staff sitting around on break, and even some visitors doing much the same. Most likely enjoying the many areas of flowers that the gardeners had been working on.

Without a doubt, Luna was more than happy sitting under the tree and partaking in the beautiful day that the Canterlot Weather Team had created. She would love to commend them on such an amazing job, but she knew that it would only go to their heads … not to mention there would be a little too many of these days in the future. It almost made Luna wish she had any other job but the one she currently held.

If only life could be so much simpler and not filled with politics.

It was here that Luna decided to take a moment and look back a little. She had come so far in a measly six years after her ‘revival.’ A term she commonly used to refer to the time when she was cleansed of the parasite that was Nightmare Moon.

For the first year, she was more than wary of everything, what with her being gone for nearly a third of her life. Her sister had been extremely understanding in everything, even going out of her way to help Luna acclimate to the modern world. She would bring her about nearly wherever she went, not to mention devoting most of her time to Luna. Sure, there were times when Celestia had to do things, other than help her sister, but during those moments, Celestia had ensured that Luna was always being helped out.

That was also how she got her Night Guards. The bat ponies had died out many years before Luna’s return, much to Luna’s dismay. So, in honour of them and to help Luna, a company of Royal Guard was given a guise in which they took on the form of a Bat Pony. Luna had been more than touched at this gesture, and welcomed them with open legs … forelegs.

The year was capped off with Luna getting the rest of her powers back, after all the time of being re-attached to her moon. That was an issue at first, and Celestia had to keep raising the moon, but once Luna’s magical link returned, it seemed like all was falling into place. She had even made friends with the ponies of Ponyville, though it took a little bit. Either way, the first year was a good start for her.

The second year of Luna’s return was a little better, and it started off with a bang more or less. The Wedding, as everypony knew what wedding it meant, was something that had been a little more stressful than she wanted. Not to mention she had missed the main event, mainly because she was rallying the Night Guard throughout Canterlot in order to save ponies. With all of the fun, she nearly missed the entire wedding, but ended up catching the after party.

Then there was the Crystal Empire … Luna was still fuming about not being allowed to handle it. In the end, she could see the reason why as it set the precedent for Twilight becoming a Princess, but at the same time, she would have eradicated every single trace of Sombra without a moments hesitation. She wouldn’t have needed the Crystal Heart either, at least that was how she saw it.

The third year was even more eventful, what with Tirek trying to destroy Equestria, and most importantly, The Courier showed up. It annoyed Celestia to no end, that Luna constantly dismissed the Tirek situation as less important than Marcus’ arrival.

Luna flinched at that thought, she loved and hated using that name. It hurt her to no end, because it would always remind her of her friend in a much more meaningful way than if she just said ‘The Courier.’ She had cried enough when he left, she didn’t need to cry anymore.

Honestly, these past three years had gone by faster than Luna could blink. It seemed like nothing of importance happened for her, or Canterlot, with Ponyville being the main centre of attraction. Minus the really odd rebellion that Twilight had crushed, everything in Equestria was normal. Completely normal, and it annoyed Luna a bit.

She wanted to do something other than sit on her rump each day and do her job. She wanted to re-explore the world, enjoy time with her friends … search for her lost friend. Perhaps in a few years time she could take a sabbatical and do just that.

“It is a nice place here, isn’t it, your highness?” A male voice spoke from her right.

Being too relaxed to be surprised, Luna just kept looking forward as she answered, “it is, almost too relaxing, Planner.”

“Is there such a thing?” He countered, to which Luna just shook her head and smiled. She was happy that over the past two years, she had gotten him to loosen up and be less formal with her. Though it was a little bit of a rough ride in doing so.

“No, Planner … no there isn’t,” Luna responded before rising sluggishly to her hooves. “So what brings you over here?”

“I’ve come to inform you that a visitor has come to see you and your sister,” Planner spoke evenly as they made their way from the shady spot.

“Another visitor? Gah, this day couldn’t drag on any more could it? Who is it now? A delegation from the Eastern Dragon Clans? Perhaps the Gryphons have sent another ambassador? Or have the Diamond Dogs return to surrender again to ‘the whiny pony’ whoever that is?!”

“No, none of those, your majesty,” Planner said, just as they were getting to a set of doors leading back into the castle. “They merely stated, they wished to fulfil a promise.”

Luna’s eyes shot open before twitching violently. She didn’t know whether Planner was playing a joke on her, or that he was telling the truth. She whipped her head to the side and down, before coming nose to nose with Planner, who just gave her a flat look that telegraphed the saying ‘do you think I’m kidding?’

What happened in the next moment, shattered all ten of the glass windows within fifty meters, nearly blew out Planner’s eardrums, and caused multiple Royal Guardsponies to assume their stations as if there was an attack on the palace.

The moment following that had Luna bolting down the halls all the while, a substantially lower squee emanating from the Night Princess. She was probably headed off in the direction of her sister, or at least where she thought her sister was.

Planner just stood there for a few moments before a grin crept across his muzzle. He loved being the herald of good news, and this would more than likely get him a raise. After a few moments of grinning, he slowly trotted down the halls, all the while whistling a jovial tune.

Well, at least in his head it was one. Being half deaf came with a price.

Author's Note:

I wish I could have made the ending a little more ambiguous but it was tough to hint at it just enough without actually covering it up entirely.

Either way, this is the end! Thank you for reading this story, and such.

I might dabble in Fallout crossovers again, though it would be a much heftier story. Either way, I hope you enjoyed The Courier Journal!

Comments

[Dustchu]

Hahaahaahahahahahahahahaha XD
Perfection! That is what this was! hehehe

Nice work on this story, it was one hell of a good read! :D

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

[RF and AG]

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Thank you for all the comments!

[M-Tails-P]

5786902
Damn it, the notification didn't show up for some reason.
So... Did you forget this part of the ending?

Having helped eradicate the White Legs from Zion, the Dead Horses returned to Dead Horse Point in triumph. They remained neutral toward the Sorrows, but as years went on, there were periods of competitive friction, even violence, between the tribes. The New Canaanites - Daniel especially - intervened regularly as mediators, but found it difficult to reconcile the tribes' conflicts.

[RF and AG]

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The sorrows part in that ending leaves them as a strong people who know mercy. That means they are no long thee the hunted. The little conflicts like that are pittance and worth keeping their home. That was my reasoning.

[Dustchu]

5824430
You're very welcome dude! :D
I love a good Fallout/MLP read 8D and this was one of them!

[The Cook]

This was a pretty damn good story. I noticed a few grammatical and spelling errors here and there, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. You, sir, have earned your favorite and thumbs up!

[RF and AG]

6082879
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for commenting!

[Just another hoerse love]

Need sequel now

[Divide11]

Please make a sequel. You left off at a place where it would make a great sequel. And great story by the way this story is in 2nd place in my fallout fiction list

[Nimnul]

I enjoyed reading this. I like the journal format you used, interspersed with neat characterization for Celestia and Luna. It worked well for me.

[Curtis LeMay]

Only criticism I have is that .308 is not a viable round at a mile and a half. At all. Its performance is lackluster beyond a thousand yards, and 1.5 miles just isn't happening.

[Jamin P Rose]

Fucking beautiful, absoultly fucking beautiful. Normally I don't do journal like stories, but this was awesome!

[RF and AG]

9446542
Glad you liked it! This comment actually made me re-read it myself.