Royal Lunar Republic: Birth of a Superpower

The next day after Hunter passed out, he was sitting across from Luna with a list in his hands. Lyra and Bon Bon had already left for work and the other two had nothing to do for the day.

Hunter wanted to discuss the plans he wrote down after an hour of thinking. He wasn't dumb, he knew the castle was decrepit and falling apart. He wanted to address the issues he thought took priority.

"First, I think we should make the castle and bridge sturdier. We could stand to make the bridge wider if possible, but making it safe is our priority." Hunter said as he went over the list. "We won't need to much security because of the casum surrounding the area so we'll only need minimal security."

"Makes sense, after that, I suggest we immediately began working on our food situation. Becoming self-sufficient quickly will make the debt we'll owe Celestia more manageable." Luna said. Hunter nodded in agreement before he checked his watch.

"Shit, we should eat something. We'll continue this conversation over lunch." Luna sighed, after hearing about the date idea he had, she wanted to get over the logistics as soon as possible. "Get dressed and we'll head out."

Luna looked down at herself and realized that she still didn't put her dress on. She didn't mind not having it on since her husband-to-be was seeing her like that and the other two seemed okay with it. Unfortunately for her, her fiance wasn't so keen on the idea since he immediately left to go start his list after he woke up.

Throughout the night, Luna had held his smaller body in her arms. She knew that she'd have to be blunt when expressing her desired to him since he'd completely miss any signs(per Lyra's words), but he seemed a lot more reserved than the rumors said. Not only that, but he kept to a strict schedule everyday.

Luna put on her dress quickly. Unlike her sister's, her's was designed to be able to put on and take off quickly and without much effort. Since she was more battle focused than Celestia, it made it easy to prepare to put on armor and make herself battle ready.

When she turned around to face him, she saw he was in a sketch book while holding a strange rectangular device. It was something he thought of and wanted to showcase before their expedition into the Everfree.

Then there was his phone. Luna didn't know what the device did, but it was a common thing in the modern era. She was surprised that he had one, but she did remember her sister saying that they're world was at similar points in technology in certain categories. Quality of life tech was one of them.

"I'm ready." Luna said. Hunter looked up at her and nodded. He closed the sketch book and stretched; his body was stiff from the awkward sleeping position he was in the night before.

"I got a few bits left over from yesterday." He said as he walked to a shelf nearly empty of any items. He noticed that it was unused when he got there and waited for either one of his roommates to use it. After a week, he started to use it.

They left with folders in hand. They were going to continue the discussion over lunch. They already decided to keep everything within the castle until they had the forces and income to expand.

"Hiya!" Pinkie yelled as she appeared beside the two. Hunter anticipated that and knew she'd appear immediately when he left the house. He nodded, acknowledging her existence. "So, I have a few questions to ask." Again, he nodded; preparing a notebook and pen. "Favorite cake flavor?"

'Chocolate.' He wrote. Luna cocked her head to one side, confused by his method of talking to the mare.

"Next! Favorite type of entertainment?"

'Video Games.' He knew what she was doing, but he couldn't avoid it this time. He knew Luna would appreciate the party.

"Third! Do you like to drink?" That caught Hunter off guard.

'No, I'm still too young. Drinking age is 21 at my home.' Pinkie stopped after reading that.

"You're not twenty-one? How long do humans live?"

'Oh, Twilight told them.' Hunter thought.

'About 80 years, 100 if we're lucky.'

"How old are you?" Pinkie asked.

'I think I turned 20 two weeks ago.'

"I hope you know what this means?" Hunter hung his head in defeat. Now there'll be more people and obnoxiousness than originally planned; he really couldn't stress how much he disliked parties. With that, she vanished after leaving my peripherals. Literally just ceased to exist.

"What was the parchment and odd queil all about?" Luna asked. He sighed knowing that he'd have to explain.

"I don't know if I'll suddenly go home so I've been keeping people at arms length." He explained as they began to walk to a restaurant. "Anyway, where do you want to eat?"

"How about a place where I can eat something call a Burrito?" Hunter nodded after hearing that. He liked Mexican food and hasn't had it in a while.

"Sounds amazing right now. I haven't had nachos in a while." He opened my note book and walked to someone, determined to get directions.

He asked for directions, but everyone avoided him. More and more avoided him until he was alone with Luna on the streets.

"Alright, looks like we're on our own." He picked a random direction and started to walk.

"Wait." Luna said while placing a hand on his shoulder. "Why did everyone avoid you?"

"Everyone was cautious of me, but after I punched Nightmare Moon in the face, everyone's been avoiding me or spreading rumors. I'm not one for confrontation so I let it be." He sighed before looking back as his bride-to-be. "I'm used to it."

"I guess we have more in common than I thought." Luna looked away after realizing that he could understand her more than most ponies in Equestria.

"Let's just get to walking or else we'll never find the restaurant." Hunter grabbed her hand and started to pull her in a random direction.

She was surprised that he was being so bold. It was usually the mare's job to do that since they were the more dominant gender. She wandered if social norms were reversed in his world or if the times had changed society that much in her absence.

"He's your food Princess Luna and sir." The waitress said before dropping off a couple plates.

"Thank you." Luna responded with a small smile. The mare returned it, but didn't even acknowledge Hunter's presence. After the mare left, Luna glared at the her. "Whorse."

"Strong words for a princess." Hunter said as he started talking a few bites of his food. She simply rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it. It's something I'm used to and it stops any awkward conversation." Luna sighed.

"That doesn't excuse the behavior, Hunter." Luna cut off a piece of the burrito before eating it. Her eyes shot open as her wings ruffled. "Oh my goodness, that's good."

"We can't change how people act or think. All we can control are our reactions." Luna was impressed by his maturity. In the past and from those she met recently, most stallions his age were more concerned about living their life to the fullest, but they didn't have the maturity Hunter had.

"So falling face first into spaghetti after seeing a mare makes is a controlled reaction." Luna smirked as Hunter froze.

"What did you expect, I've never been in that situation before." Luna chuckled after seeing the two sides of him.

"You're really insightful when you need to be, but you're also able to relax and let things play out." She took another bite of her food with a smile. "When I first heard of you, I thought you'd just be a male version of my sister."

"Don't know how to respond to that, but okay." He just kept eating, knowing that she would continue on regardless.

"It's because of that initial thought that I believed you would be the best possible candidate for a husband. I never really felt at ease unless I was with Celestia." She looked at him, the smile still on her face. "But you seem to be fundamentally different despite acting the same. She cares for the country as a whole whole you care more about individuals."

"That could change. With the next few months shaping up to be some of the most difficult time for our country." Luna's smile fell. She hated to admit that he was right. His values may become more vast like her sister's. "But, I plan on having the blueprints for our standard issue military weapon complete before Pinkie's party. We send it to Celestia and from there we would have the most advanced military gear the world has ever seen."

"This weapon, what is it?" Hunter pulled out his phone and tapped on it. He went to a specific app he had downloaded a while back and often forgot to delete. He never thought it would be useful.

"If we're being vague, it's called a rifle. However, this version is known as the Mosin Nagant. As time goes on, we'll make more complicated rifles." He put his phone away and continued eating.

They continued eating until their plates were empty. They sat in silence for a majority of the time. Neither knew what to say or what to talk about. They hadn't known each other long... For one of them at least. Hunter had known of Luna, but that was only though a screen.

The only reason why he was mostly okay with the arranged marriage was because he knew Luna before hand. He knew all about the show up until season eight when Netflix took every season other than the first four off the service.

"Pinkie is probably going to surprise us later today. Either she's going to invite us, blindfold us, or straight up teleport us... Somehow." Hunter explained as he finished his plate. "We'll probably know it's ready when we see a lack of people outside."

"Don't you mean..." Luna began.

"Yes, but that phrase became moot after I became a resident." Luna wanted to make a retort, but also realized he was right.

"That's fair. How long do you think it'll take for Pinkie to set up her party?" Hunter paid for the meal before leaving.

"Could be now or it could be in a few hours." They had continued to walk around town. Luna didn't know the town as well as Hunter, so she followed him.

It took a while for her to notice that they were entering an area that was far more rural than the town. Luna didn't know what he had in mind as they walked into a forest. The nice burch trees painted a beautiful color that contrasted with the dark colors of the ground.

That's when she saw it. Hunter looked more relaxed than he ever did. Luna had many questions about him, but didn't want to disturb the only time he looked relaxed.

"Preparing for the party?" Luna asked. Hunter could only offer an uneasy smile.

"I really don't like parties." He responded.

"Good thing I made sure you'd enjoy it!" A cheerful voice yelled, breaking the silence of the forest.

Suddenly, their surroundings changed to that of the local confectionary store. Luna was trying to process what she just expected while Hunter just firmly planted his face into his palm.

"God damnit, Pinkie."