The Two Students

by RainbowSnow

Chapter 2: Care and A Promise

Chapter 2 : Care and A Promise

Lucis is laid down on his bed, the doctor already on the way. Lucis's room is rather bare, just a bed, a dresser, mirror, and a chest. The windows let in a blue light, turning the white walls a soft blue color.

A knock comes to the door which is quickly answered by Luna. The doctor walks in, a unicorn with a light brown coat. He levitates his doctor's bag off of his back, as well as his coat, and places the coat on the dresser with the bag heavily on top of that.

“What happened?” The Doctor says, walking over to Lucis's side. He begins standard procedure, checking heart rate and etc. Luna moves to the opposite side of the bed a worried look on her face.

“We were practicing and Lucis lost control of the light and he hurt his eyes. And.....it only happened because I told him to” Umbra blurts out from her spot next to Luna. The Doctor looks up to her and then back down to Lucis as he finishes the initial checks. Gasping when he notices the wings on his back, but quickly regains his composure.

“His eyes? Ah ok so let's have a look” The Doctor says, looking to Lucis's face. “ Can you open your eyes for me?” Lucis does as he is told. His eyelids open to reveal his pupil-less foggy white eyes.

“Oh gosh, I've...I've never seen anything like this, the pupils are.....just...gone.” The Doctor gasps. “Can you see anything? Anything at all, even a trace of light?”

“No I can't see anything, there is nothing but darkness” Lucis says on the edge of tears again.
Umbra looks away from her brother as Luna turns her saddened gaze in her direction.

“I will, with your's and the Princess's consent of course, try everything I can to reclaim your lost sight.” The Doctor promised, still pretty puzzled. “I have heard of many ways to cure blindness, most of which are spells, potions, or herbs.”

“Thou hast our consent, Dr. Kitt, Lucis what sayest thou?” The Princess says hurriedly, obviously wishing his treatment to begin immediately. Lucis's eyes move about the room, seemingly past or through every object in the simple space.

“Whenever your ready...” He says sadly, depression settling across his young face.

“Well sadly, that won't be today. I need time to gather the necessary items for all of these procedures” Dr. Kitt says solemnly.

“Then we begin as soon as you can get these things right?” Umbra asks quickly. The Doctor looks taken aback by the sudden sound.

“Why...of course, why would we waste time doing nothing? Fear not, I will do all I can.” Dr. Kitt reassures.

“We will have you aided by some of the servants in thy quest for these items” Luna says.

“That is very appreciated, your Highness. ” Dr. Kitt says gathering his things, “Have them meet me at my home tomorrow morning, and we shall be off. Good night everypony.” He exits the room in a tired manner, with a slight stumble.

“Alright, Thou hast had much happen today, 'tis time for bed.” Luna says to the two young Alicorns. Umbra just looks at her, with her eyes wide and mouth in a pout. “To thy room Umbra. There is nothing more we can do this night.”

“Yes ma'am” She says defeated, looking back to Lucis who already lay asleep. A cloud moved n front of the moon, blanketing the room in darkness. By the time the light returned The Princess and the student had left, leaving the other student sleeping peacefully.

The next morn met Lucis with only warmth, no light. As he moved about his bed he felt something, a lump near the foot of the bed. He begins feeling about, trying to find out what had gotten onto his bed. As he does this he hears a sleepy mumble come from nearby, just as he feels a wing. Not too long after this he hears a giggle as he accidentally tickles the winged form at the end of his bed. The sleepy giggles turn into laughter as Umbra wakes up.

“Stop it, I'm trying to sleep!” Umbra giggles. Lucis continues his assault as he begins wondering why she slept at the end of his bed.

“Why are you here? That can't have been very comfy.” Lucis groggily says, still kind of asleep.

Finally waking up, Umbra looks into her brother's white eyes and says “Because I couldn't sleep. So I made you something! It's nothing too fancy, but I think you'll like it!”

“That doesn't exactly answer my question” Lucis says flatly, ears deceiving his voice by perking up at the sound of a gift.

“Because.....I just......couldn't leave you alone.” Umbra says blushing, slightly glad he couldn't see that fact. “Do you want your present or not?”

“Ok, gift me!” he says excitedly, hooves extended in anticipation.

“Don't worry, I'll put it on for you” She tells him, he lowers his hooves. “Luckily, you can just wear this 'till your eyes are fixed because I'm not exactly the best at sewing....but it still looks pretty good!” she assures him as she ties a blind fold around his head covering his eyes. It is a very simple blue blindfold with a red heart sewn in the middle. The heart rests right in the middle of his face.

“A blindfold! Like the blind samurai-pony in my comic books! Thank you soo much! Oh....my comic books.....I guess I can't read those any more, huh?” He says dejectedly in a full mood swing.

“Don't you worry, I'll read you whatever you want me to 'till you can see again.” Umbra says, pulling a grin from the Alicorn.

“Thanks sis.” he says trying to throw his hooves around her. He instead bumps her face in an attempt to hug her.

“Ow, a little to the left brother” She says, rubbing her snout. An apologetic look crosses Lucis's face.

“Oh my bad.” He apologies as he successfully hugged her. The warmth from her body makes Lucis feel a hundred times better. They separate at the sound of the door being opened. Princess Luna walks in with a warm smile on her face after seeing the hugging pair. Umbra and Lucis blush brightly.

“Art the two of you ready for breakfast?” Luna inquires. Lucis looks down with a frown on his face, realizing that his treatment will not begin immediately. “And the blind fold, 'tis very pretty”

“Pretty? It's supposed to look cool....” Lucis says feeling the blindfold and noticing the shape of the heart for the first time. “Hey! Well, I still love it.” Lucis attempts to get out of bed and walk to the door, only to bump into a wall.

“Here, let me help you.” says Umbra rushing to his side. “Just slightly lean against me and I'll lead you”

“Ok, lead the way” He responds a little down trodden. 'I'm going to have to be led around by her from now on? Oh man.... I hope I get my sight back soon. I like to be able to go and see things on my own' Lucis thinks.

“Don't worry, you'll have your sight back in no time!” Umbra says, masking her sorrow. ' It's my fault, so I have to help until he gets better!' She thinks. She leads him to the door where Luna is standing with a sad look on her face.

“Indeed, fear not Lucis. We shalt do all we can to heal thou.” She says, her cheery voice not matching her face. The three leave the room and head for the dining hall. With more than a few trip-ups and stops due to Lucis not being used to being led about. When they arrive at the dining hall Lucis can tell there is somepony else there. Umbra sees Princess Celestia and her student, who is visiting from Ponyville, eating lunch. The dining hall is a big, grand open space with a long table for banquets. The gargantuan windows let in a lot of light causing the plates and just about any other reflective thing in the vicinity to shine.

'Heh, it's funny, because of Princess Luna's need to have us not stay up all night, we sleep half the night and day away making our eating habit seem weird compared to others. But she wants us to be able to easily re-adjust to daylight hours and this is how she thought to solve it. I wish the Princess would go to sleep when we did and not get half the sleep she needs, we have gone a few days already where we wake up to find her sleeping all day.' Umbra thinks

“Good afternoon Luna” Princess Celestia greets. “and good afternoon Umbra and Lu... Sister, is there a specific reason your student wears a blindfold?”

“Well, technically no. But there hath been an incident...” Luna begins, waves of nervousness wash over her. 'Oh our sister will think we are a failure and take our students away for their own good' Luna frets.

“Oh my, what happened? Wait....Princess Luna has students?” Twilight questions, a look of puzzlement on her face.

“Oh yes, silly me that was one of the reasons I wanted you to visit, but a formal introduction can be made later.” Celestia says. “ And what did happen?”

“Early last night, as we went to raise the moon, Lucis and Umbra decided to try some unsupervised magic.” Luna explains. “And thus Lucis created a special ball of light, one that hath caused a blindness.”

“A ball of light? In what way was it special?” Twilight asks as Luna motions for Umbra to lead Lucis to the table. “I can use my magic to make a ball of light. Was it different than that?” Twilight watches as the two small students slowly make their way to the table with the Princess of the night. She gasps when she notices the wings. “They're Alicorns?!”

“Indeed they are, Twilight Sparkle. The ball of light in question was indeed different than that which thy can conjure. The one that blinded Lucis was made of the pure Essence of light. When a unicorn casts a light spell, they are simply bringing forth an illusionary ball of energy that mimics the nature of light. However, Lucis has the ability to tap the source of all light and channel its power and energy. Since he attempted to draw from this source without aid, he couldn't properly control the flow causing the light to strengthen until he was injured. ” Luna explains.

“I see. So Lucis is blind?” Celestia asks sternly, raising an eyebrow.

“Ummm, yes sister” Luna nervously says, “But, rest assured. We already have Dr. Kitt on it, and with luck, will have Lucis better in no time.” She cracks a nervous smile, attempting to reassure her sister she is capable of these students.

“So how long have you had students Princess?” Twilight asks as the three of them sit down. She makes observations about the students. The blinded one, Lucis, is about a head shorter than her. 'He looks kinda cute with that blindfold on' Twilight thinks. 'His bright hair seems to radiate light, his expression was that of a defeated child. She suspected he had been going from happy to sad a good bit in the past day. Young ponies usually have slight mood swings, after losing his sight that might have kicked into hyper-drive. The other, Umbra, was a pretty little mare. She has a nice white coat, transfixing yellow eyes, and slightly messy mane. No doubt she hasn't brushed today. She must be going through a lot, with her brother losing her sight and all. Little filly’s can blame themselves for an awful lot. She might think this is her fault.'

“We have had students for about a month and a half.” Luna answers.

“Luna, perhaps we should talk away from the students?” Celestia orders more than asks. Luna looks to her sister nervously, then to her students. A uneasy smile crosses her face.

“Of course, sister. What is it we must talk about? ” Luna asks as she stands. Celestia just looks at her as she begins walking away. Luna follows quickly.

“You three get better acquainted.” Celestia says back to the students. The three look at each other, or rather Umbra and Twilight look at each other. Lucis just looks down where he assumes his plate is.

“Soo...how old are you two?” Twilight says, deciding to begin the Q&A .

“We are both around two and a half months old. At least that's what the Princesses think.” Umbra answers as the servants bring in their breakfast. Twilight's eyes noticeably widen at that answer. 'TWO AND A HALF MONTHS? They're bigger than the CMC! How do Alicorns even grow?' Twilight thinks.

“Wow, you two are pretty big for that age.” Twilight observes. “You must have learned a lot in the time you have been Princess Luna's students. So you can control light, right?” referring to Lucis as he picked at his food. 'I'm going to have to ask Princess Celestia about Alicorn growth rate' making a mental note.

“Yah, I guess. Too bad it's all dark now.” Lucis says, gloomily looking in the general direction of he voice.

“Don't worry you'll get better, I know it!” Umbra quickly attempts to cheer up her brother. 'Yup she definitely blames herself' Twilight thinks.

“May I see your eyes Lucis?” Twilight asks as she stands up from her empty plate. Lucis sits for a moment; he then attempts to use magic to levitate his fork to impale his breakfast.

“Yah, I guess you can” He says gloomily, as his fork stabs into the maple colored table. “Crap...”

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Princess Luna was very uneasy and downright nervous would be better. Her sister did not exactly look happy with this turn of events. 'Oh, we've seen our students for the last time, we know it. We should have said goodbye' Luna thinks. They enter an empty room down the hall, a good sized room. It appeared as though it is being used as a storeroom at the moment. Boxes, crates and tarped objects lay about, a good layer of dust on them. ' The servants really should clean this room.' Luna unconsciously thinks.

Princess Celestia turns around once the door closed and gave her sister a stern look. “So, please allow me to get this straight; your student, an Alicorn of light, is blind?!” She exclaims Luna shies away from her sister, despite the fact she does not seem truly mad yet.

“W-Well yes, but as we said, Dr. Kitt is already on the case!” Luna answers nervously. “And it happened as we went to move the moon!”

“*sigh* Well, other than his sight, is he ok?” Celestia continues with a sightly softer tone and volume this time.

“Of course he is!” Luna retorts, quickly calming her nerves.

“And Umbra is unharmed?” Celestia asks, calming her voice a bit more. “She seems troubled. I can imagine this is not an easy experience for either of them.”

“She is unharmed Sister.” Luna assures. “And she believes Lucis's blindness, is her fault.”

“I see. Luna, have you figured out why I wanted you to teach these two?” Celestia asks her voice back to its normal volume.

“Well....'tis because thou already hath a student?” Luna guesses, still unsure of what grand lesson her sister wants her to teach them and herself.

“I thought you wouldn’t figure it out this quickly.” Celestia says. “But, that's alright. I know it will come to you eventually.” Celestia looks reassuringly to her sister as she walks past her, leaving Luna alone in the dusty room. ' We hope it does sister, we hope it does' Luna thinks worriedly.

--------

“Oh dear.” Twilight says as she looks at a pair of sad pupil-less eyes. 'This is not normal' was Twilight's first thought. Her second was, 'No ordinary magic will fix this, if any kind could that is.' She looked into these eyes and she could swear they were faintly glowing.

“So you're Princess Celestia's student?” Lucis starts in a melancholy voice that quickly gains hope. “Do you think I'll be able to see again? Could you fix my eyes?”

“Oh yah! Do you think you could? You must know a lot about magic and stuff!” Umbra says quickly regaining her upbeat attitude as a ray of hope appears.

“Well...yes..and perhaps...” Twilight says as she looks at the two young Alicorns, their hopeful faces quickly change back to their gloomy state. ”I mean, of course I'll help. I'll have to do a good bit of research first, and then...” Twilight corrects as their faces regain some hope. 'Ohh, what am I getting myself into? I have no clue about what to do; I don't even know if I have time for that, Princess Celestia told me at lunch we had some important things to do today.' Twilight thinks. 'But this poor colt may never see again if I don't help....'

“You promise?” Umbra asks, putting Twilight in a difficult spot. .

“I..I promise, I will do all I can to help.” Twilight answers, unsure of what she might have gotten herself into. Yet, she feels she needs to help him if she really can.

“Twilight, have you three gotten to know each other well?” Celestia asks upon her prompt return. Twilight turns to her mentor as Lucis pulls the blindfold down over his eyes.

“As well as three ponies can in five minutes.” Twilight replies.

“Good, you'll have more time to talk later. We have some pressing matters to attend to.” Celestia informs. Twilight stands and they leave the grand room, passing Princess Luna as she enters the room. The look on the Night Princess's face was sullen and serious.

“Good day, Miss Sparkle.” Luna says as she passes, The bright light in the room not matching her mood. Umbra turns to her, letting off a weak smile. “Come you two, Lessons mustn’t be delayed”

--------

“Princess Celestia, can I talk to you?“ Twilight asks nervously, ”About Princess Luna's student, Lucis?” Princess Celestia looks over the ancient book she had been reading.

“Of course, Twilight. What about him?” Celestia says, putting the old book aside. The library wing they were in was not one they visited often as healing magic could be very tricky sometimes, even when technically performed to perfection. Many major injuries have been caused due to a unicorn's attempts to heal a small wound as many unicorns just can't get it to work right.

“Well Princess, it's about his...condition” Twilight says. “It's strange. There isn't a single case like it in any of these book, much less a way to fix it.”

“I am aware of that Twilight.” Celestia says calmly. “I believe Lucis may never see again sadly”

“But there must be something we can do Princess” Twilight insists. “He's so young, I can't imagine a life without sight. Especially since he still has so much to see.”

“As a Princess, I cannot stand to see my subjects so pained, much less this young colt. So, Twilight, you and I shall do all we can to help him. That is why we are in this section of the library, as well as why I called you here. I heard rumors of this incident this morning among the castle staff.” Celestia says, sighing. “So let us not dilly dally, if a cure is to be found, it would be best if it was found fast.”

Twilight looks to her mentor, the pony who knows everything. The kind and loving Princess was not able to hide what she really thought. Twilight knew then and there. 'Princess Celestia isn't going to be able to cure this young colt, and put a swift end to his life of blindness. So I must try all I can to help him.' She thinks determinedly 'I MUST help Lucis.'

Comments

[enamis]

Oi! How did i miss this?! STUPID PHONE Y U NO WORK WHIT ME HERE?

*ahem* anyway... You have improved quite the bit since last time the perspective still gets me but i can press past that
nice to see your using the royal canterlot voice. also its nice to see more details this time around. I may not have mentioned this but your spacing and paragraphing is awesome. i couldnt do it for my life
anyway, you've niceley improved. Only the royal voice can do some work... try 'thine'
but like i said: yer' doing better! Keep it up

[RainbowSnow]

1041642 I will do my best to improve on the voice thing, just gotta get the hang of it . And thank you, the spacing was actually suggested by my editor, and ever since he did I find that I love the spacing as well! I will try to improve even more in the upcoming chapters! Thank you for all your help and suggestions!