As you walk down the hallway to your bedroom, a loud sneeze startles you. Leaping around, you crouch instinctively in a defensive position, facing your attacker.
Princess Luna stands in the doorway to your bathroom, her makeup and other toiletries visible on the counter. She’s shaking lightly and leaning against the frame, looking at you with tired, almost lifeless eyes. She sniffles once. “I’m sick,” she chokes out.
“Oh, my poor little pony,” you lament, your fright quickly forgotten. The adrenaline coursing through your veins allows you to quickly close the gap between you and her, and you place the back of your hand on her forehead. “You’ve got a terrible fever!” you declare, noting that her normally impeccably kept mane was knotted, split, and had stopped its magical flowing entirely. “Let me take your temperature.”
Princess Luna brings a tissue over to her face using her magic and blows her nose weakly and ineffectively, practically choking as she balls the used kleenex up and throws it in the general direction of the trash can. It lands harmlessly on the tile floor. “Don’t leave me…” she croaks pitifully.
You sigh. “Why don’t you go lie down on the bed? I promise I’ll be there in a second.”
“Noooooo,” she whines. “I’ve been lying there all day and I feel all gross going back.”
“Alright, alright,” you relent, wrapping an arm around her neck to steady her. “Let’s go to the living room and get you situated, then.”
Luna staggers down the hall with you, leaning roughly against your torso and clearing her throat several times. “Everything hurts.”
“I know, I know,” you soothe. “I promise we’ll get you fixed up.” Walking her over to the couch, you sit her down.
“Errrghh,” Luna groans, beginning to shiver profusely. “The leather is cold…”
Nabbing a blanket from a nearby chair, you spread it out and tuck Luna in it, running your hands behind her back and flanks to make sure she is securely snuggled down.
She still shivers, although much less than before. “You touched my butt,” she says, the hint of a smile on her face as she looks up at you.
“Your flank, and it’s only because I’m your nurse,” you reply. “If you want, I can take the blanket away,” you tease, reaching down toward her.
Luna crumples inward. “No! Leave it!”
“I’m glad you’re well enough to joke,” you muse, going to the kitchen to pick up some drugs and a thermometer.
Returning a few moments later, you slip the thermometer under Luna’s tongue. “105 degrees!? You’re running a six-and-a-half degree fever!”
“Four degrees,” she weakly corrects, closing her eyes and smacking her lips to clear the feeling of the thermometer from her mouth. “Ponies have body temperatures of 101 degrees.”
You roll your eyes. “That’s still not ideal.” You pour out some green liquid into a cup. “Take some of this flu medicine; it should help your congestion and fever.
Luna doubles over and lets out several deep, hacking coughs onto your carpet.
“...and the cough,” you add.
Luna snatches the medicine from you and downs it in one gulp. Immediately, she profusely gags and coughs several times.
“Please do not throw up on my couch.”
“That tastes terrible,” she groans, her head flopping backward onto the top of your couch.
“Yeah, I know,” you apologize, stuffing a pillow under her neck. “But it’ll help you feel better, I promise. Drink some of that water I got you; it’ll wash the taste away and besides, it’s important to stay hydrated.”
As Luna drinks, you take a seat next to her and scoot close so your side is touching hers. She looks over at you wearily, but her crinkled eyes betray a touch of curiosity. “Thank you for helping me,” she says. “But...aren’t you worried I’m going to get you sick?”
You let out a scoff, heartily dismissing the idea. “Of course not. You’re a pony, so whatever virus you got can’t infect me. Besides, I’d be helping you even if I could get sick. That’s what friends and loved ones do.”
“So am I a friend, or a loved one?” she asks, the tired smile coming back to her face.
“Can’t a man love his friends? Especially his cuddle buddies?”
Luna’s head collapses over to rest on your shoulder, and she closes her eyes. “Yes...but I can’t help but notice you said ‘cuddle buddies’, with an ‘s’. That better have been a slip of the tongue.”
“Just you, my dear,” you assure her, running your fingers through her disheveled mane. You reach down to the table with your other hand to pick up a small blob of vapor rub, and begin rubbing it on her fluffy chest in gentle circles. “Although, remember that time that Celestia came over to visit?”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Luna groans. You can feel her face contort uncomfortably as the memory comes back to her.
“There we are, tangled up in cuddling knots, and from the hallway I just hear, ‘Luna! Luuuuuunnaaaaaa!’”
“She is so embarrassing,” Luna cringed. “I had mentioned you a few times and she knew I was spending most nights away from the castle, but I hardly thought that she would come and surprise us like that.”
“She was very sweet,” you say with a mischievous grin.
Princess Luna smacks your chest with a hoof, although with far less vitality and force than you are used to when you misbehave around her. “I’m still very mad at you both about that.”
“Well, you were so adamant that there was nothing romantic going on, it seemed perfectly fair that she’d want to have her own turn cuddling me.”
“She knows just how to get under my skin and press my buttons,” Luna growls. “Even though we’re not together, she knew I’d be jealous.”
“And why is that?” you ask, nuzzling her horn. “Hm?”
“I don’t have to answer your questions,” she huffs. “I’m a princess!”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, one cuddling session with your sister was enough,” you explain honestly. “She’s a little too alpha for my taste. Bruised a couple of ribs, although I will say she was very huggable and smelled nice.”
“That was probably all the cake she eats. Gives her a little extra for somepony to hug…” Luna mopes, looking down at her much leaner form hidden underneath the blanket.
“It was nice of her to make me a duke! But, don’t worry,” you tell her, wrapping your arm around her and holding her far hoof. “You smell even better.”
“Really?”
You plunge your nose into Luna’s mane and inhale, taking a moment to think. “Yes, really. Even when you’re sick, it’s no contest. Plus, we can just hold each other like this- I don’t get little spooned halfway to oblivion.”
Luna giggles gently and places her other hoof over your hand, patting it gently. “I’m glad.”
“Were you here all day?”
“Just about. Celestia knows I’m ill and is taking care of things in Equestria. I thought I might catch you early, but I just got worse and worse as the day progressed.”
“Sorry Lulu, I was at work.”
“Well,” Luna says, nudging you over onto your back with her muzzle, “you can make it up to me by cuddling. Cuddling fights the flu, you know.”
“Really?”
“Probably,” she shrugs, resting her head on your chest and letting the rest of her body lie limp like a comforter over yours. Gently, you reach up with your hands and begin to gently rub Luna’s swollen neck, eliciting some deep purrs from her. Her hooves wrap around your neck and pull her close against you as you work.
Minutes later, beginning to doze off, you are awoken with a start as Luna sneezes loudly and wetly into your neck.
“...Sorry,” she moans, sniffling.
“I’m going to pretend that never happened.”
Two days later, you lie incapacitated under the covers of your bed, looking at the ceiling with bleary eyes and a slack jaw.
“I have your soup,” Luna sing-songs as she walks into the room, placing a small tray on the nightstand. “How do you feel, my brave knight?”
“Please kill me,” you plead meekly at the ceiling.
“I can’t very well do that. Then you’ll be cold, and that doesn’t make for good cuddling.”
You continue to stare at the ceiling, motionless.
“C’mon,” Luna encourages, her pretty face entering your vision as she leans over you and looks into your eyes with her own deep, rich blue ones. “A bit of gallows humor is good for one’s spirits.”
You wait a few moments before your eyes slowly scrunch in displeasure. “Not if one is actually headed for the gallows...I spoke with your friend Twilight Sparkle, and also Alexander the Great today...Do you know he’s actually Chinese?”
“A little febrile delirium is good for morale, too,” Luna assures herself. Looking down at you with empathy, she soon slides under the covers and sidles up next to you, wrapping a hoof around your midsection and nuzzling your cheek. “My hero...You got sick because you were taking care of me…”
“Hey...yeah,” you groan, your sore throat turning every word into agony. “...This is all your fault.”
“You were the one who said you wouldn’t get sick. Besides…” Luna presses her lips to your cheek in an affectionate, wet kiss and humming into your skin for several seconds before breaking away. “...I think it was very brave, regardless.”
A cocky smile slowly spreads across your face before a jolt of lightning courses through your body, causing you to tense up and wince. “Erghh...Do we have anything for aches? Every muscle in my body hurts.”
“No pills for aches besides the ones you took earlier, and the bottle says to not take more than six a day.”
“How many have I had today?”
“Ten.”
You inhale a shaky breath slowly and let it out with great effort. “Grrrrrreaaaaat.”
“I have something for you though,” Luna says. Sitting up and straddling you, she begins running her hooves over your chest in tight, pressurized circles. “A little massage might help.”
You wince under the pain, but it soon subsides to a dull, somewhat pleasurable ache. You slowly close your eyes and hum as her hooves dance upward from your pectorals to your neck and shoulders. You shiver as they then run down your arms, leaving a trail of comfort in their wake. When she finishes, you sigh and open your eyes to look up gratefully at her.
Except that her face is close to yours, surprising you. She nuzzles your nose as she rubs the top of your head gently for a few moments.
“Okay,” she purrs in a very nurse-like manner, “time to flip you around.”
“Wait, I-”
Luna uses her magic to quickly flip you face down, causing you to let out a grunt of pain.
“Are you okay?” she asks quickly.
“My sinuses,” you moan.
“Oh, you’re fine,” Luna dismisses, stepping off of the bed to thoroughly rub your calves and hamstrings as you recover from the shock of being flipped over suddenly.
After a few minutes of that, she straddles your hips again and sits on your rear end, masterfully using her hooves to work out the knots under your shoulder blades.
You let out a pleasurable, monotone moan every several seconds as Luna works the aches out of your muscles, also savoring the comfortable feeling of her weight resting against you.
When Luna is confident she has finished, she collapses on top of your back in a cuddle, placing her muzzle next to your ear. “Did that help?” she whispers.
“Definitely,” you sigh into your pillow. “B-but can you cuddle me a different way?”
“Really? But this is one of your favorite positions!” she pleads, wiggling side to side gently in the manner you enjoyed so much.
“Usually, but my airway is so blocked up I’m worried I’m gonna choke.”
Luna flips over on her back and floats you to rest on her chest. “There, better?”
“Mmmhmmm,” you sigh into her barrel, already half asleep as you wrap your legs around hers and your arms around her torso.
Luna soothingly runs her hooves up and down your back. One of your ears hears Luna humming a soft melody, while the other hears the rhythmic, calming beating of her heart. Soon, both sounds lull you to sleep.