//------------------------------// // Comforts // Story: Tears of a Foal // by Rocinante //------------------------------// - - - day2 pt1- - - A presence woke Celestia. The sun was not yet ready to rise, but it would have woken her up soon anyway. Lifting her head, she looked across the dark room. In the doorway, Luna stood, watching with that eerie serenity of hers. Luna’s voice softly broke the morning silence. “Please be careful with your heart.” Celestia smiled. “I will,” she whispered. She started to shift her weight to stand, but the foal wrapped around her foreleg stopped her: he was out cold. Slowly, carefully, she pulled herself free of his clutch, and floated a blanket over him before sitting up. “I do not wish to see you heart broken.” Luna sat next to the futon, and watched the colt sleep. “Perhaps today we will find out where he came from.” Running a hoof over his mane, Celestia sighed. “I’m not sure I want to know.” “What are your intentions for the foal?” Luna asked. Celestia walked in silence to the balcony doors. Motioning for Luna to follow, she eased the great doors open. Stepping out onto the balcony, Celestia looked over the dusky city. “I miss having a foal around.” Luna snorted. “What? I was never that bad,” Celestia said, defending herself from Luna’s laughter. Looking her sister in the eye, Luna suppressed her chuckles. “You invented the ward to keep ponies, not five years past puberty’s start, out of rooms.” “That spell keeps foals safe from wandering into dangerous places.” “You put it on the front door.” Celestia rolled her eyes. “Princess Platinum’s foals were a bunch of little shits.” Luna laughed again. “They were not that bad. How you convinced them the spell was a curse, and that you could not undo it, I will never know.” The old memory brought a snicker to Celestia. “I blamed it on Discord.” “Do not let him know that, he would think 'twas funny.” Luna watched her night bleed from the city. When the familiar tingle of dawn nagged at her mind, she laid the moon to rest. She took a certain pride in the long nights of winter, but the cold sunrises always made her ache for the summer. “I can watch him for a while today. Perfect Diction owes me a favor. I shall call it in; to have him tutor the foal in the afternoons.” Looking to her sister, Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What did you do to get him in your debt?” “I have been teaching him Old Houyhnhnm.” “Ahh, that would do it.” Clover’s voice yelled out from the great room. It was a muffled, pitiful sort of sound, that made them look back into the room with curiosity, but little urgency. His cheeks streaked with tears, Clover sat mumbling to himself. He jumped at Celestia’s approach, not seeming to recognize her. Curling into a ball, he closed his eyes and whimpered. Celestia's eyes misted over as the approached the foal. “This is how they found him,” she said lying down next to Clover, letting her wing cover him completely. “What could have done this?” she asked, looking up to Luna. The foal beneath her sister’s wing went quiet. He wiggled under the cover, until he was pressed against her as tight as he could. “I do not know; but he seems to find comfort in you.” A clacking of pans in the kitchen drew Luna’s attention. “Merry is up. I will make us coffee.” Humming a light tune, Celestia let the foal calm for a few minutes, before shifting her wing to reveal his head. Clover gave her a sheepish smile. He looked… embarrassed and defeated. “It’s okay,” she cooed, pulling him into a wing hug. He stiffened at the affection, but after mumbling something, relaxed into it. She thought he had gone back to sleep, when his nose twitched. Perking his head up, he sniffed the air.   Following his lead, Celestia took in a breath. ‘Coffee.’ Clover wiggled free of her embrace, and stumbled to the floor. She watched him follow his nose towards the kitchen. His gait was better than the day before, but still looked awkward. When the last drops of coffee fall into the carafe, Luna floated up the pot, and filled three mugs. Taking the mugs to the table, the clack of little hooves drew her attention. Clover half stumbled, half walked towards her. His entranced expression clashed with the tear-soaked fur on his cheeks. Setting by the counter, he looked from her to the coffee machine, and back. Raising his forelegs, he motioned as if he was holding a cup between his hooves. Luna pointed to the carafe. “You want coffee?” Clambering up on the booster stool, Clover rested his elbows on the table, and again mimicked a cup between his hooves. Looking to Celestia as she came into the room, Luna shrugged. “He wants coffee,” she said, pouring a fourth cup. Celestia watched as Luna slid the mug in front of him. All but sticking his muzzle into the cup, he breathed in the steam. An honest smile creased his lips. Normally she’d object to giving coffee to a foal, but she held silent. Luna hovered the cream and sugar by for him, but he held up a hoof, seeming to ask for a moment. Carefully, slowly, he pressed a hoof the either side of the mug; working the tip of his hoof into the handle. With zen-like focus he lifted the mug to his lips, blew, then took a tiny sip. Setting the coffee back down, he held still for a moment. Finally nodding in approval, he waved away the floating cream and sugar. Setting the cream and sugar by Celestia’s seat, Luna chuckled. “I am impressed. He knows not to ruin good coffee.” Celestia smirked. "Little traitor,” she said, doctoring her coffee till it was the creamy sweet treat she loved so much.