Chapter One: Grass is always Greener; Small government lessons

Border patrols... The most boring job I ever had to run, I mean seriously?

“Rainbow... RAINBOW!” said one of my fellow Shadowbolts, Shadowbolts... Heh... Never thought that in the end I’d end up joining them anyway, “Captain!”

“What is it Shadowflight?” I asked and the pegasus rolled his eyes, before motioning to the ground, there were Solar Empire troops, a small group really, not more than 4 soldiers, trying to get my attention. I narrowed my eyes and then motioned for my squadron to land which we did. My squadron of 9 pegasus landed most of us uncomfortable, I noticed 3 of my pegasus loosening their blades, another 2 partly drawing their new flintlocks, an innovation that came out not 2 weeks after the war.

“Greetings from the Solar Empire” said the obvious leader of the small group, and I nodded.

“May the Shadows watch over you” I replied and then the soldier reached into his mail armor, slow enough not to cause anyone to jump into action, and withdrew a bunch of letters.

“I know you aren't a mail service, and it seems wrong to ask, but many people here in the Solar Empire are having trouble with getting their mail to their families in the New Lunar Republic” said the soldier and I clenched my jaw, not in aggravation towards the Solar Empire soldier, but rather the incompetence of the mail system. Of course, if Luna could hear my thoughts then she would tell me that it was hard to build a new nation, laws had to be written and then services had to be formed and then tied into the government budget, and after all that, taxes had to be divvied up. I sighed

“Of course we'll take them” I replied and the soldier smiled before giving a crisp salute and walking off deeper into Solar Empire territory.

The room was full of people yelling at one another, each one trying to talk over the other to get their points across. That was what I walked into, and it made me frown as I remembered the orderly conduct that was once required of all politicians and so I spoke up my anger showing on my face.

“QUIET!” I yelled in my Royal Canterlot Voice and the room fell quiet, the majority of the room had the decency to look ashamed, but a few looked at me with contempt as I looked a frown on my face.

“Oh look the former princess” said one of the ponies that looked on me with contempt and my gaze centered on him, and I was about to say something when the next thing anyone in the room knew there was a blade against her neck.

“You would do well to remember, Sordid Glimmer, that Consul Luna willingly stepped down out of royalty, and was not forced out in anyway shape or form” said Regal Star, hers being the blade against the pony's neck.

“Calm yourself, Regal” I said and the Pegasus general glanced down at me before nodded.

“Yes, Consul” she replied before replacing her blade in its scabbard and taking her seat once more.

“Now, what is the current subject on the floor?” I asked and soon everything continued, but now in a much more organized fashion...

“Empress?” asked Twilight and Celestia smiled at her protégé whom had taken up her old residence ever since the secession of the New Lunar Republic.

“You heard what I said, Twilight, I want you to return to Ponyville as our diplomat, it will allow you to be back around your friends and also help heal the damage caused by our conflict with them” said the sun empress, formally the Sun Princess.

“But what about the mail system? There still hasn't been any word on if it has been repaired, how could they be so incompetent? ” asked the unicorn and Celestia smiled kindly at Twilight.

“Oh, Twilight... You have no idea how hard it is to start a new government... Everything has to build from the ground up, even the mail service” came the reply and then Celestia sighed, “This is the reason I did not like the idea of a republic in the first place, too many people who think they have the right way to do things and rarely every completely agree, and so most of everything is a compromise”

“But... That's so inefficient! How can anyone want to live like that?” asked Twilight and Celestia frowned, oh she knew why, but she did not wish to shatter the illusion that Twilight had in her head about the Solar Empire's form of government...

“So what happened?” I asked as Luna walked out of the Senate building, and had an unusual smile on her face.

“Simple, we now have an actual set of laws in place as to govern, and we already started debating on how best to supply the services that used to be supplied by the Principality of Equestria” said Luna and I blinked, she was excited over that? Something that should have been taken care of weeks ago?

“I don't really understand, shouldn't that have been taken care of a long time ago?” I asked and Luna sighed the smile slipping from her face.

“In a monarchy, yes it would have, all I would have to do is order it, and it would have been done, but in a republic, I can't do that, everything has to be decided in the senate, with the exception of the military legion under my command, and even then I have to be careful with how I manage it as to not upset too many of the senators” said Luna and I went wide-eyed, she noticed my look of surprise, “Why are you so surprised? This is not a simple system of government. But it does grant more freedom than a monarchy, while monarchy grants more security, the people are more constrained in what changes to the government they can make”

“You seem to know quite a bit about the two systems of government” I said and she smiled and chuckled lightly.

“That is what you get for being in love with a politician” she replied and gave me a small peck on the cheek, however she got a sad look on her face soon after as if a sobering thought had just passed through her head. So I chuckled before pulling her into a small kiss and held her close.

“I am in love with an artist, who's day job is being a politician” I argued lightly and she gave a small giggle, the cheesiness of my comment not being ignored...

Everything had gone well, surprisingly so, things were actually beginning to shape up into a real formal government and not just a bunch of mess. Oh I knew it was going to take sometime for everything to get together, but I didn't think it would take almost a month after the war to actually get things moving. It seemed that even now, I have to be the voice of reason in a room full of squabbling children, at least that is how it felt, I am ashamed to admit, and when I mentioned it to Moonlit he laughed it off and mentioned that most ponies were not as old, not as bluntly though, and as such did not have the patience nor the experience I did.

“So what happened?” Moonlit asked me as he met me at the entrance to the Senate building, though by all rights he could have entered with me, as he was first and foremost, in the eyes of the Senate, my bodyguard.

“Simple, we now have an actual set of laws in place as to govern, and we already started debating on how best to supply the services that used to be supplied by the Principality of Equestria” I said happily and he just looked at me, as if he didn't really understand the big deal.

“I don't really understand, shouldn't that have been taken care of a long time ago?” he asked me and I sighed he had been my personal guard before all this happened and the slowness of the new government system probably frustrated him, however he never seemed to let it get to him while he was with me.

“In a monarchy, yes it would have, all I would have to do is order it, and it would have been done, but in a republic, I can't do that, everything has to be decided in the senate, with the exception of the military legion under my command, and even then I have to be careful with how I manage it as to not upset too many of the senators” I explained, and he gave me a surprised look so I decided to continue, “Why are you so surprised? This is not a simple system of government. But it does grant more freedom than a monarchy, while monarchy grants more security, the people are more constrained in what changes to the government they can make”

“You seem to know quite a bit about the two systems of government” I wanted to laugh, and a small chuckle did escape. I knew quite a bit about multiple systems of government, Celestia and I had done quite a bit of research into the different kinds of government when we were trying to rebuild the Principality, or Princedom of Equestria, after Discord's rule. So it was only natural I knew so much about them.

“That is what you get for being in love with a politician” I replied causing him to chuckle and I gave him a small peck on the cheek, so happy that there was someone like him in my life, though I knew in the back of my mind, that eventually he would die and I would be left alone once again. Because someone like him was once in a million lifetimes. The sadness must have shown on my face because he then chuckled and pulled me into a kiss and continued to hold me after.

“I am in love with an artist, who's day job is being a politician” I giggled at the corniness of the joke as I snuggled into his hug thinking about how to broach the topic that had been racing around my head several times.

“Moonlit,” I said and he hummed in response, “how do we go about this? I mean how do I tell everyone we are now courting?” I asked and Moonlit stiffened slightly before pulling me closer...

“Moonlit,” said Luna and I hummed a response, “how do we go about this? I mean, how do I tell everyone we are now courting?” she asked and I stiffened, I had not thought about it, I honestly had not even thought about it. I pulled her closer and pressed my lips to the top of her head before speaking up.

“We don't hide it, oh we don't flaunt it around like some people would, but we do nothing to hide it, but we should tell my parents...” I said without confidences near the end but I kept a smile on my face...

Moonlit kissed the top of my head while he held me before he started speaking and I was surprised to hear what he had said.

“We don't hide it, oh we don't flaunt it like some people would, but we do nothing to hide it” he said that with confidence but the next part he seemed to lose quite a bit of said confidence, “but we should tell my parents” I giggled at the change in his voice but soon pulled away.

“Come then, Moonlit, my dear, let us go on for a night on the town, I do believe that we deserve it after all we gave to the NLR” I said and he smiled as I took his hand and walked with/dragged him to into the main town of Ponyville, now the capital of the NLR, and I intended on getting him drunk, he needed it, and I would probably drink the place dry trying to get drunk, so I would not even try. Not to say I would not at least enjoy the alcohol while we were out though, I smiled at the thought as the first bar came into sight...

Author's Note

So leave a review if you want, I can't get better if I don't get advice!