Celestia's Care Taker

by SparkStone


Chapter 2

Truth in the Basket

Once more, the sun raises itself. Celestia wakens with worry and rushes to the window, only to remember that it raises itself. She sighs and walks to the bathroom to wash her face. Looking at the mirror, she sees her mane still waving, but in a lightning like pattern. She combs it as she says to herself, I hate it when I get a bed head.

Alex knocks on the door, alerting Celestia of his presence. She peeks out the door and playfully says, "Who is it~?"

"Your care taker." Alex jokes. "Anyways, I'm gonna prepare for the picnic. Do you want anything specific?"

Celestia puts her hoof upon her head and thinks. She then replies, "I'd like some chocolate cake, a dozen cupcakes, cheesecake, pancakes, and a smoothie."

Alex has his eyes widened at the request. He rushes back into his room and brings back a notepad.

"Okay, I heard, cake, cake, cake, cake, and smoothie." He says. "Is that right?"

"Close enough." Celestia replied. "Just be sure to add lots of sweets to the picnic."

"Alright then." Alex complies. "I'm gonna need a lot more flour."

He goes downstairs to proceed with the cooking. Celestia looks at the mirror and thought to herself. It feels like looking at a different pony without the crown on my head.

Rubbing the mane where the crown used to lie, she sighs as she wonders how long will it take to get home. She then realized, this was the perfect time to ask Alex more about the other ponies. There must have been some pattern that allowed them to go back at different paces. A week versus a month. Surely, there must be a reason why.

Trotting downstairs, Alex is still baking many of the cakes. Pancakes are still cooking on the pan, and the recipe book is bookmarked to dessert after dessert. Celestia looks at it and nods. "Perfect."

"This is very unhealthy." Alex states.

"Oh silly you~! Alicorns have the strongest immune system than most species in Equestria."

"Whatever you say." He chuckles to himself. "While I'm cooking the rest of your requests, can you set the blanket outside? Some cups and plates too."

"Certainly." She heads over to the cupboards and uses her levitation to get out everything they required. Alex gazed at the mastered technique of her magic before she left the house. He was a bit stunned.


After setting up, Celestia gazes at her work. Setting plates in place, forks and spoons next to them, pillows on the perfect spot to lie under the sun, and next to the rock made it nice scenery. The backyard was truly a wonder. The flowers were swinging back and forth to the rhythm of the wind. Branches of leaves sprinkled small bits of its greens over. It felt quite peaceful.

Alex then came out with four picnic baskets. None of them were small, they were the size of colts. As he puts them on the floor, he sits on the pillow and sighs.

"You're meal… is done."

"Why, thank you." She says as she levitates all the food out. Placing cakes and cakes on different plates, Alex had a hard time choosing which one to start with. More importantly, which one to end it. There was a lot of unhealthy foods. Way too much. But regardless, he grabs a plate of pancakes and eats with Celestia, currently starting with the cake.

"You sure like cake, don't you?" He remarks.

"I have a sweet tooth." she admits.

"Then I'll never take you to a candy shop." He jokes.

Celestia giggles before looking up to the sky. The sun shines brightly as its rays glow upon their very skin. "It's quite nice to see an independent sun."

"You had a dream where you move the sun or something?" Alex questioned.

"Something like that."

As they ate, Alex sees cake literally floating to Celestia. They line up, ready to be eaten by the hungry ruler. With an evil thought, Alex grabs a plate and holds it up between the food and Celestia's mouth. The cakes had all splattered onto the plate, making a sandwich of baked goodness. Celestia was wide eyed about what she has before her, as well as Alex. It was probably the sweetest kidney killing treat in their picnic. And it was all on Alex's plate.

"That looks good." Celestia pointed out.

"Yeah, it does." He says as he pulls out a fork. "Well! Bottoms up!"

"Wait…" She says quickly. "I wouldn't want you to have a stomach ache."

"But milady." He snickered. "It would be awful of me as your friend to have such sugary poison go down your stomach!"

"I told you before that my immune system is much-"

Alex's fork had already dug into the cake, making Celestia wary of the time she was wasting.

"Alex! Please let me have it! I was going to eat all of that before you held a plate in front of them!"

Alex frowns as Celestia attempts to pout again. The stare off was not long as he simply says, "That's not going to work on me."

With a quick bite, he squeals in delight. Celestia becomes offensive as she levitates a cake and splatters it to Alex's face. He glares at her as she giggles at her actions. To get back at her, he grabs some of the cake and splatters it on Celestia's muzzle. She widens her eyes in surprise as Alex laughs at her.

"There! You have some now!"

A quick stern look from Celestia changes as she licks the frosting off of her face. She smiles in delight of the smashed cake and nods. "Yes, it was quite satisfying."

"Then have some more!" Alex says as he throws it at Celestia's face once more. Celestia glares at him and levitates several meals and aimed it towards Alex. His eyes shrink as he slowly said, "Er… Sorry?"

"Nope." She replies as the food makes a mess over Alex. He wipes the frosting off of his eyes and laughs. Celestia giggles as well as he attempted to clean himself with napkins.

"Okay, okay, let's not waste anymore food now." Alex suggested as he wiped himself from the desserts. "It wouldn't be very nice to let that happen now."

"Let me help you then." Celestia offers. She pounces onto Alex and holds him down as she licks off the food. Alex was practically tickled to submission.

"S-S-Stop! That's not okay- Wah ha!!"


As things take time to relax, Alex and Celestia use the moment of peace to view their surroundings once more. Nature has made this a wonderful scenery, and the weather does well to compliment their activities.

"I'm glad we have such a nice day right now." Alex sighs. "Perfect for this picnic."

"Yes, it's truly nice."

Once more, Celestia looks at the rock. This was said to be the gateway back to Equestria. If there's anything those documents have in common, it was that they left through a portal over the rock in this very area. But there's something more. Rochelle. Who is that? Now may be the time to ask, but it just might go…wrong. Alex has been good to Celestia, so how would it feel to him if his trust was so easily betrayed? Celestia has been suspicious of him from the start, and even snooped around his room. If he found out that Celestia was in his room, would he think less of her?

"You okay Celestia?" Alex asked, snapping Celestia out of her trance. "You look a bit down."

Might as well tell him the truth. If I don't get it off my chest, it'll hurt even more if he found out later. She realized. "Alex, I… When you were gone, I was looking in your desk in your room. I found some files to check up on your claims of what you've said so far… I'm sorry to doubt you…"

"Is that so?" He replied as he finished up his pancakes. "Well, did you find what you were looking for?"

"Huh?" Celestia spoke with surprise in his calm reaction. "U-Um… Yes, I found out that you were taking care of the ponies."

"That's good." He responded. "Don't fret too much about the spying thing. You weren't the first, and you definitely aren't the last."

"You really aren't angry for mistrusting you?"

"You have every right to check on me. I brought you into my house without regards of knowing who you are or you knowing me. We may not know anything about each other from the start and may be suddenly housed together under the circumstances, but I still think we can be friends."

Celestia was still. Even as someone as wise as her, she has never met someone so young to be so open minded. Grinning, she nods and accepts his gesture.

"Yes, that's true."

"Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?" Alex wondered before taking a chocolate cake.

"Yes. I was wondering about this person I read in the files." She stated. "It was another human girl in the picture. Her name was Rochelle I think. Who is she?"

Alex paused with eyes shrunk to pinpricks. He looks down with his hair shadowing his eyes. A deep sigh releases the tension, even Celestia could tell wasn't something good.

"Rochelle? She's… my little sister." He smiles a bit with his dull eyes.

"Little sister!?" Celestia exclaims. Rochelle's appearance didn't look similar to Alex's casual black hair, or his gray eyes. His skin tone was even darker than hers. She didn't say anything though and lets him continue.

"She was with me when we found Lyra, the first pony that came to our house. From then on, we took care of ponies that kept appearing. We did that for thirteen ponies. Just thirteen though…"

"But… I thought a lot of ponies came here." Celestia stated. "Why did she stop taking care of them after the thirteenth?"

Alex looked up slowly and tried to hide the grim emotion with a fake smile. "That's because… she died when the thirteenth came."

Silence was the only thing that took place. Celestia was processing so many thoughts. She could barely hold together the mixed feelings clobbering her mind.

How did she die? Did… did one of my ponies actually…? No, I'm sure there must be another reason. But… Who was the thirteenth pony to do it? Or be there when it happened? What… did happen?

"Alex, I'm… so sorry for your loss." Celestia says with remorse.

Alex looks to the rock and maintains the dull faux smile. His blank stare went to the stone among them. "This rock… the same one where the portal that takes you back to Equestria. This is her gravestone."

"A-Are you saying?" Celestia stutters.

"She loved to say goodbye to ponies and wish them good tidings. She wanted to keep doing that forever. Before she died, she asked me to be buried under the rock. So that way she can say goodbye to them when the time comes."

Celestia was still with everything Alex is sharing with her. Alex sighed as he looked up to the sky and said, "I haven't talked about her for three years… It certainly has been a while."

"I-I see…" She replies.

"Celestia?" He says with a question. "Do you have a little sister?"

"I… Yes… I do…"

"Do what you can to have a great time with her." Alex says immediately. "If I learned anything on that day, it's to enjoy others company as much as you can. You never know when they might go."

Celestia nods slowly in agreement. He grins as he lies down on the blanket. Celestia feels a sensation of burdens being carried by Alex. She finds herself scooting over to him and nuzzling his cheek.

"I think I can still understand how you feel." She inquires.

"I guess you can." He replies. "You must have made so many companions and had to lose so many as well. The pain I carry is nothing compared to you. If I know anything about alicorns, it's that they can live for even thousands of years. A thousand years of close ones lost… I think I feel sorrier for you than me."

He snickers at that last part before Celestia wraps her wing around Alex. She brings him close to her chest as he finds himself lying his torso upon Celestia's chest. His head is placed carefully below her head as he lies along Celestia's neck. She looks down in a caring matter, making Alex blush slowly. He then starts to have a troubling time looking at her normally. Something was different.

Out of all the ponies he had taken care of, he never has a hard time looking at them eye to eye. Celestia however seemed to have managed to peer into his soul. It's almost as if she was attempting to mend the sadness from losing his sister. Something no other pony has ever done. After all, she was the only one who learned of Rochelle.

Snapping out of his trance, he taps Celestia lightly and says, "W-We better finish up with our picnic." He quickly suggests. "It'd be a waste if we let the food go bad just because of some bad moods."

"Alex…"

"Listen… I appreciate… No, I really want to say, thank you for bringing it up actually. Knowing that you care about me means a lot. But this picnic was for you. Taking a day from you would be rude of me."

"But it's my turn to return the favor." Celestia stated. "I cannot let a friend of mine have such memories hurt him. Especially you."

He smiles widely and chuckles. "If you say so." Grabbing a slice of cake, he gives it to the wondrous alicorn in front of him and offers it kindly. "Cake?"

"Don't mind if I do." She says as she teasingly licks Alex's nose. His eyes shrink before realizing that some of the frosting somehow got on his nose. He blushes a bold red as Celestia giggles at his expense.


In Alex's room, the man reviews his book of photos. Mainly, the ones that had Rochelle in them. He smirks at the many photos where they had the time of their life with the ponies that came. Even the photos without ponies were a blessing to look at. As he was about to turn the page to the thirteenth pony, his phone rings. Answering the phone, Charles voice was heard.

"Hey Alex, I was just checking up on you."

"Oh, hi Charles." He greeted back. "I'm fine, why the late call?"

"Anything happen? With uh… You and Celestia?"

"Um… We had a picnic? Why?"

"And… nothing weird happened, right?"

"No… Charles, you okay?"

"S-Sorry, I was just worried for nothing I guess."

"Uh huh…" Alex slurs at the last part. He closes his album and puts it in his shelf. "Anything else you wanted to ask?"

"Hm… Are you and Celestia coming to Pony Plaza tomorrow?"

"I was planning to, I guess."

"Okay, I got it." He says back with a moment of silence. Getting back on the phone with the lightly laughing Alex at his friends cluelessness, Charles says, "Well, just wanted to make sure you two were alright. Just… well, because."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks Charles."

"Right… good night."

"Night…"

After Alex hangs up the phone, Charles jumps and lands on his bed. He looks at his ceiling with one thought in mind.

Celestia's coming tomorrow… I have to get ready…