I was awakened by the mental alarm clock that I spent centuries meticulously setting to wake me up a few minutes before I had to raise the sun. I sat up and noticed two things: Queen Chrysalis was nowhere to be seen, and I was on my bed.
I got off my bed, but as my front touched the floor, I fell over and cringed in pain as I remembered the beating Chrysalis gave me last night. Chrysalis was stronger than ever, and she would continue to grow stronger unless I stopped her. But for now, I had to put that aside. The sun needed to be raised.
I limped my way to my room’s balcony and saw my sister on her room’s balcony waiting for me so we could begin our daily duty. She glanced my way once and her eyes went wide in horror. I was almost afraid to look myself at the mirror at this point. For now, my physical appearance was only second priority. I channeled magic into my horn and gestured towards to the moon.
She nodded understandingly and activated her horn. The process of raising and setting the sun and moon is large and complex. Luna and I have to take into account the gravity of the celestial objects, the radiation levels of the sun, the phase of the moon, and that is barely scratching the surface of how tedious this process is. However, millennia of practicing this art made it second nature for me and my sister.
After the courses of the celestial objects was set, and Equestria saw a new day, Luna turned to gaze back at me and flew at my direction. When she landed in my room, she eyed me up and down.
“Who? How?” was all she could come up with as she inspected my wounds.
“Chrysalis, last night,” I answered as I limped my way to the dresser, opened it and levitated a hoof mirror out. “She has been feeding on my love for TD since the Gala, and apparently, she is stronger than me now.”
“Since the Gala? but that was--”
“Only hours long? I know.” I gave out a single, grim chuckle. “It seems my feelings for TD are stronger than I originally anticipated.” I looked at myself in the mirror. Chrysalis had certainly done a number on me. I had a black eye, there was a streak of dry blood on the side my mouth, a cut on my lower lip, and a number of bruises, and that was just my face.
Luna put a hoof on her chin buried, in deep thought and worry. “This is most troublesome.”
“I know,” I said as I activated my horn and engulfed myself in a healing aura to speed up the healing process. “What’s worse is that she issued an ultimatum to me last night.”
Luna frowned and tilted her head. “An ultimatum?”
“Yes. She would put a love spell on TD so we could spend more time together, giving her more magic to feed off me. If I refused, she would have most certainly killed me on the spot.”
“So what dost thou intend to do?”
“For now? Stay away from TD at all cost. If I spend time with him, Chrysalis would only grow stronger, and I don’t think I would want her influence on TD to end.” I took out some makeup and began concealing my wounds.
“And what about Chrysalis?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Despite my current condition, I grinned challengingly. “Dear Luna, you don’t give me nearly enough credit.” A small cloud of makeup formed over my head as I continued hiding my cuts and bruises.
Luna eyed me questioningly. “What?”
“I learned a lot from my last encounter with Chrysalis.”
“And?”
“And I know two facts about Chrysalis. One, she is not the brightest of tacticians, and two, she never thinks of a plan B.” The cloud disappeared, and I looked myself in the mirror, satisfied at my face that looked good as new. “Chrysalis, thinks she has me in a corner, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve as well.”
Luna was about to ask me a question but was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I called. The door opened, and a guard stepped in. Comet Burst was his name, if memory served me well.
He bowed. “Your highness, the human from the Gala is here to seek an audience with you.”
“Thank you for informing me. You may leave.”
When the guard exited and closed the door, I turned my gaze towards Luna. “Luna, you are going to have to handle TD. Make sure he does not come near me.”
Luna nodded “Understood, sister,” she said before teleporting out of the room, leaving me to my thoughts. I had some planning to do. Chrysalis may have caught me off guard, but I would be more careful from now on.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TD was asked to wait for the princess in the dining hall. He leaned on the long dining table, wondering why exactly he wanted to talk with Celestia. It was oddly like that other day. He woke up from bed and some unknown force compelled him to speak with the sun princess. His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Princess Luna.
“Good morrow, TD Harrison Powell. We trust thou art doing well,” she said, smiling widely, something that TD mused seemed rather out of character for her.
“Uh… hi?” TD answered, raising an eyebrow at Luna’s odd behaviour. “I wanted to talk with Celestia. Why are you here?”
“Oh, er… we just thought the two of us should… catch up! Yes! That’s it. We should most definitely catch up!” She smiled unconvincingly placing her hoof on the back of her head.
TD raised an eyebrow both in suspicion and in confusion. “Why?”
“Because… we are such fast friends?” Luna claimed, leaning slightly towards the human.
“We aren’t really fast friends… or actual friends for that matter.” TD crossed his arms skeptically.
“Oh pish posh! What makes thou think we are not the friendliest of friends?” she asked restlessly.
“The last time we met you threatened to snap my spine,” TD answered, unconvinced.
“That was only one time!” She said stomping her hoof on the floor.
“And before that, you really did snap my spine,” TD said, rubbing a hand on his neck.
“Um, ehe… semantics?” Luna squeaked an unconvincing grin.
“Where is Celestia, Luna?” TD asked. “ I’m not in the mood for small talk.”
“She um… you see…”
“Ok I know what this about.” TD crossed his arms.
Luna’s eyes widened “Thou knowest?”
“Yeah, I mean sure, you’re looking out for your sister right? And it only makes sense that you would want to keep me away from her, given my previous track record with her, right?”
The princess of the night did not expect this, but the human was right. Luna wanted to make sure her only family was well and safe from any harm and of all the ponies who could have brought it up, it had to be the human who punched her sister in the face. She frowned.
“I…” she spoke dropping the royal ‘we’ in her speech suddenly finding the ground more interesting than TD’s face “just don’t want to see my sister getting hurt, and when I found out my sister was being courted by you of all stallions, I did not know what to think.”
TD placed his hands on the dining hall table. “And that’s why you were so much against the idea of her dating me.”
“I just could not see what my sister saw in thee. After what thou didst to her, it… it just felt… wrong.”
“So that explains our last encounter,” TD said, raising his eyebrows in realization. Luna shifted her gaze towards TD and smiled faintly.
“Yes, and when she came home from her first date, she was ecstatic. I hadn’t seen her so happy in ages.” Luna’s smile fell. “And the fact that you of all ponies made her so joyful confused me.”
“I can’t say I blame you. I have a sister back on Earth too, you know.”
Luna’s eyes widened in surprise “You do?”
“Yeah, that night in the Gala, when Celestia told me I couldn’t go home, I couldn’t see my family, my sister…”
Luna’s frowned sympathetically “I didn’t know.”
“Yeah so anyways, if my sister would date a guy who would dare hurt her, I’d be pretty upset. So I know where you're coming from. But if it makes you feel any better, I want you to know I wouldn’t even thinking of hurting Celestia.”
There was a moment of silence. Luna realised she and TD were the same in many ways. Maybe he and Celestia were alright together. The only reason they broke up last time was because of the influence of the love poison. But even after the effects were gone, Luna wanted Celestia to stay away from TD to keep her sister safe. But now she realised TD was a good being at heart. That night, TD was going through her worst nightmare: losing his family. If him and Celestia spent some actual time together, they could actually develop a genuine relationship.
Luna smiled. “You really are the stallion she deserves, aren’t you?” she said to herself.
“Uh… what?” TD asked, slightly disturbed by that last statement.
“Oh, nothing, nothing!” she said, facing away, mentally facing hoofing herself for actually saying that out loud.
“Right, can I talk to Celestia now?” TD asked.
“No,” Luna answered, slightly annoyed they were back to that again.
“C’mon why not?” TD asked, growing impatient.
“She is busy.”
“Fine!” TD said raising his arms to the air and crossing them immediately all the while looking away from Luna. “I’ll just wait until she’s free.”
Luna sighed placing her hoof on her forehead. “Thou are not going to take ‘no’ for an answer art thou?”
“Nope”
“Very well, we shall switch to plan B,” Luna said as her horn began to glow.
“Wha--” was all TD could say before everything went dark. The last thing he felt was a familiar sensation around his neck.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I rolled up the letter I wrote, put the royal stamp on it and sent it away. Hopefully the letter would reach her without any interference, and just to keep it safe from Chrysalis’ grasp, I casted an enchantment over it.
Just then, I heard a knock on the door. “Come in,” I called.
The door opened and Luna walked in with a suspicious smile on her face that I didn’t bother to notice at first. “Luna, I trust everything went smoothly with TD?”
She dragged her hoof along the ground in a small circle. “Ah… define smoothly, sister.”
I turned my gaze in her direction “What did you do, Luna?”
“We may or may not have put him in a sleeping spell,” she said keeping her gaze on the ground.
My eyes widened in shock “What?”
“Do not fret, sister! He did not hit the ground with too much force.”
“Luna, we talked about this!” I groaned, rubbing my temples with my hooves; a habit I adopted from TD.
Her gaze turned towards me “It had to be done. He was persistent on having an audience with thee!”
“Oh dear Faust, where is he now?”
“In the castle’s infirmary. He is unconscious, but safe.”
“I must go see him.” I stood up and walked towards the door only to have Luna’s hoof blocking my path.
“We would advise against that, sister.”
“Why?” I asked, eager to check up on TD.
She looked at me seriously. “You love him, remember?”
I groaned frustrated by my sister’s antics, but she was right. “Send Twilight a letter and tell her TD is going to be staying in Canterlot for a while.”
“But of course, Tia,” Luna said, levitating a pen and parchment her way.
I sighed. I might as well begin my daily activities.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was about an hour before I would end yet another tedious day. All my daily duties were finished. The paper work was stacked in a neat pile, and Luna was busy dealing with the night court.
I didn’t have anything to do besides go back to my room and sleep. I didn’t know when would Chrysalis come and absorb the love energy from me. She could have at least given me that small yet crucial detail. Oh well, I might as well have packed up and went to bed.
I walked out of the room and began walking towards my bed chambers. My wounds were now completely healed and my gait was back to normal. I walked by many rooms as I made my way towards my bed chambers. The dining hall, the servant quarters the infirmary.
…
The infirmary? That was the room where TD was resting if I remembered correctly. Maybe I should go visit him. I dismissed that thought. ‘‘No,’’ I told myself. That would be wrong. I have to distance myself from TD. But then again, he was hurt and I should go check up on him. ‘‘That would be falling into Chrysalis’ trap.’’
I kept telling myself it was a bad idea, but at the end, I lost to my desire to not see TD. “Maybe a quick visit won’t hurt.” I said quietly to nopony in particular. I peeked inside the infirmary. The room was dark and nopony was there except for TD resting on the bed. He was sound asleep. I made my way towards him and as I saw him in the peaceful state of sleep, couldn’t help but remember the time he fell asleep in the fantamare opera. Soon I found myself remembering the good times I had with TD.
Ah yes, the dates. Our first time at Doughnut Joe’s, the conversations the walks, It was splendid. I was ripped away from dreamland as I heard TD waking up.
“Celestia?” he called in a weak, yet annoyed voice.
“Yes TD?” I answered holding his hand in my hoof.
“I hate your sister.”
“I know TD.” I smiled. At least Chrysalis kept her end of the bargain.