Photographs
What Princesses Need
Part 20: Photographs
It had been almost six months since Princess Luna’s new Lunar Stallions had joined her. They were with her at meals, watched over her in the Midnight Court, and became close friends very quickly—under Deep Psyche’s watchful eye. They were not children, after all. He monitored Luna’s behavior very closely. Or rather, as closely as he could while being stealthy about it. He listened to castle staff talk about the latest happenings with the night time princess, sometimes interviewed one of the four Lunar Stallions, and even did some checking with Celestia. Things were going rather well, all in all. Nightmare Moon had not been seen in almost a full moon-turn, and that was a serious accomplishment! He thought about praising Luna for it, but bringing it up would only make her self-conscious about it so he didn’t. Despite her tears and occasional cruel remarks at him about colt-napping, Luna had adjusted to being around adult guards rather swimmingly. Her therapist was thrilled, and often said so.
“Enter.” Celestia said, calling across the throne room to the double doors. A brown stallion with a slicked-back mane and a bowtie entered. Coming as close as would be allowed to royalty during the court, he bowed. “Ah, Dr. Psyche. I’ve been expecting you.” said the Solar Alicorn. Lifting a large, dainty hoof she tapped the gilded golden horseshoe several times. The ringing tone in the room perked the ears of everypony present. All eyes turned up to her majesty. “Leave us, please.” She asked with a motherly smile. A few solar guards herded the states ponies and messengers out of the throne room. When at last they were alone, only a the Princess, the therapist, and Captain Grey (of the solar guard) remained. “You too, Captain.” Said Celestia gently.
“Whuh?!” escaped the stallion’s mouth as he whipped around to look up at his Princess. Celestia was NEVER without at least one guard, even during her private meetings. He was trusted in all confidences, being of such high rank in her Majesty’s forces. “I mean erhm…” he blushed a little, for there had never been a conversation so private even he was not privy to it. “Yes, your Highness.” He cantered towards the massive double-doors, tail tucked a little. Poor guy.
“Princess?” Deep Psyche looked up at Celestia, questions in his eyes.
“Forgive me, doctor, I thought it best that we speak in absolute private.” Celestia rose from her throne and descended from on high until she was at the base of the dais. Her otherworldly mane rolled back and forth with a breeze that wasn’t there, and he bowed again when she came close. “Please, tell me how Luna has been doing. It’s been several months now, have you been making progress?” she asked.
“As much as can be expected, your majesty.” said Deep Psyche, a little caught off guard. “Soothing an identity disorder isn’t something that really has an end to it, as I’ve told you. She’ll be like this for the rest of her life.” He watched his Princess wilt visibly. “Not that she’ll be unfit to live her life!” he quickly added. “Just, she’ll need therapy and perhaps medication now and then. Psychology is an infantile science right now, there’s much to learn still that we can try.”
“I see…” said Celestia a little distantly, her eyes sad and old.
“Luna is much, much better than when we started.” Deep Psyche put in. “She’s contained Nightmare Moon for over a month without incident, and she’s really taken a shine to her new guards.” The brown stallion smiled up at his Princess.
“And what have you concluded about Luna?” Celestia said, “If she can’t be completely cured… do you plan on staying here forever, my little pony?” the therapist was caught off guard by her question. He hadn’t really thought about it, to be honest. Luna was a Princess, and thusly a VERY important patient (as well as his FIRST patient, fresh out of the academy).
“W-well… I…” Deep Psyche didn’t know how to answer.
“You’ve been doing so, so much for my sister and I,” Celestia said with a soft smile. “Since you mentioned there really is no end in sight, nor will there ever be, I’ve been wondering about your plans.” The white alicorn sat on her haunches. “You’re still young and bright-eyed, I could not ask you to devote your entire life to just one patient. It would cut down your chances at anything else.”
“You’re kicking me out?!” Deep Psyche blurted angrily, jumping forward in the conversation. “After all I’ve done?! Luna needs me!” His face suddenly colored and he looked to one side, embarrassed at himself, "Sorry..."
“Oh no no!” Celestia gave a tinkling laugh, smiling in a motherly way. “No, I’m just worried that perhaps you might need a break now and again.” She folded her massive, elegant wings into a more casual posture.
“Oh, oh I see.” Deep Psyche smiled in relief, blushing. “Sorry. For a moment there I thought you were pulling a therapist from his patient, that would seriously damage any progress we’d made together. Much less if you found another therapist Luna didn’t trust.” Celestia cocked her head, and didn’t speak for a few moments. “You’re not are you?” he said, looking up at her suddenly. “Tell me you’re not.” He said a little more loudly. “Princess!” he said, standing up and shoving his glasses up his muzzle.
“Well, Doctor, actually…” Celestia smiled, a little embarrassed. “I was wondering, since you’ve somewhat stabilized my sister for the moment, if you would have a look at another pony for me?”
“Stabilized is a relative term…” grumped the stallion, looking at the floor. “I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with this, Princess. If Luna learns that I’m leaving…” he let the sentence hang, wondering what possible wisdom there could be in this.
“You’ve set quite a few good things into motion, Deep.” Celestia smiled patiently. “Perhaps you might… back off, for a bit?” she finally came out and said it. Deep Psyche stared at her, open-mouthed. Had… had she just said…? “I can’t argue that you’ve done a lot of good, but perhaps we could let Luna rest for a bit?”
“Rest?”
“Well, think about it.” The Princess said. “You’ve made her face a lot of issues, taken away her ‘children’, risked your life and limb at the knife’s edge of her temper multiple times… don’t you think you’ve done enough for now?”
“But DID isn’t something--!”
“Isn’t something that can be cured, I know, my little pony. You've said it many times.” Celestia said. “But perhaps you might give my sister… time? Time to adjust to all the new things in her life before you pile on more in her treatments?” She looked down at him with a worried expression. “I’m just worried that your… unique, therapy may become too much for her at some point, and something bad may happen.”
“You ARE sending me away!” said Deep Psyche with a gasp.
“Please, doctor.” Celestia said a little less gently. Deep Psyche closed his mouth, a little intimidated. “Think of it as a vacation.”
“A vacation? To where?” he said worriedly. “And what other pony were you talking about?”
“She’s very old, just like me…” Celestia said, hunching a little and frowning in a tired way. “Very, very old. She just doesn’t look it.”
“Who do you mean?”
“She’s the reason I sent Captain Grey out, I meant to discuss her with you today.” Celestia heaved a tired sigh. “Just like Luna, she needs more help than even I may give. And… well, you’ve done so much for my sister, I was wondering if you would do the same for my daughter.”
Daughter.
The weight of the word struck Deep Psyche so hard that he sat hard on his haunches. “D-dhhh-duhh---!” his stuttering started up again, and his eyes turned into little pinpricks. The Princess of the sun? Daughter?! When?! Who?! What?! He felt dizzy. Celestia’s massive wing came to support one side of him, and he leaned a little. “Daughter…” he mumbled into her chest, for she’d stepped close to him.
“It’s very secret, doctor. I've not told anypony about her in hundreds of years.” Celestia had lowered her voice to a whisper. “Not even she knows… it would be too painful for her, I think.” The sun princess’ secret shame was brought to bare as she leaned to whisper in his ear. “You’ve done miracles with an alicorn, doctor, can you spare me one more miracle?” she whispered in earnest.
The sensuous whisper from the Princess made Deep Psyche shiver, and he looked up at her with big soft eyes. “It’s not-- it’s not Twilight Sparkle, is it?” he said in a hushed whisper. Sweet Faust that would open a whole new can of worms. “Surely the universe is not so cruel? That would mean Luna was being inces--”
“No.” said Celestia flatly, interrupting. “Twilight Sparkle is powerful, but not my child.” She looked to one side, as though disappointed in the stallion. Ruffling her feathers a little, she looked down at him from her great height. “Could you at least have a look at her, doctor?” she asked softly.
“In what way?” Deep Psyche whispered. “I told you, Psychology is a brand new science. There are no garuntees. And with me away from Luna, she might deteriorate while I’m away.”
“You would visit the palace frequently.” Celestia offered. “My daughter lives in the next town over. Ponyville.”
“My mother lives in the hospital there.” Deep Psyche acknowledged that he knew the town. He looked very, very troubled. Luna needed him, still badly needed him. But, there was another pony, Celestia’s daughter no less, that needed him too? He felt overwhelmed for a few long moments. Why him? There were dozens of other psychologists out there, just as smart if not smarter than he, that could handle this. Was Luna’s semi-successful not enough to prove himself to his solar Princess? He looked up at her, defiance in his eyes, as though he were making to say no.
“Please.” Celestia said, her voice barely loud enough to hear. His brow rose a bit. It wasn’t a command? A royal order? Just please? Reach up with one hoof, slowly and carefully, Celestia removed her royal crown. Deep Psyche jittered back a bit. He felt dirty looking at her when she had it off, as though she were more naked than anypony else was. The stallion watched her fiddle with it, and peel out some sort of paper from the inside. Hidden behind the gold, jewel-encrusted filigree was something rolled up. Gently, she used magic to unravel it. “Here, look.” She bade him. “Be very careful, this picture is as old as... well, cameras.” She smiled a little wryly. Deep Psyche flicked his eyes down, gently taking the ancient photograph from her. Their magic auras touched and mingled for a moment, and he shuddered. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he examined the mares in the picture.
It was a black and white picture so old time had tinted it into a classical sepia-brown tone. On one side was Princess Celestia, looking admittedly more youthful than the Princess before him—somehow less serious and serene. The Celestia in the photo looked gay, gallant and full of energy. Bouncy, even. He didn’t recognize the pony pressed up against her affectionately, smiling gaily at the camera as fillies were prone to do. But no, it was a grown mare with an equally youthful face. Though he couldn’t tell any colors, the shades of grey told him that mother and daughter shared the same mane… but wait.
“Your mane used to be one color.” Deep Psyche said, looking up at the four-colored rainbow that was Celestia’s mane right then.
Celestia smiled, her cheeks coloring. “Yes, it used to be… well…”
=-----=-----=-----=-----=
Deep Psyche got off the train in Ponyville, heaving a deep sigh to take in the fresh air—and got a mouth full of train exhaust for his trouble. He coughed and hacked, getting off the platform as fast as he could. Rubbing his sensitive muzzle, he straightened his bowtie and looked about. Well, he was here now. Now all he had to do was find the mare in question, avoid Twilight Sparkle, maybe visit his mother in the hospital, and he’d be back to Canterlot in no time at all. Luna would survive without him for a bit, but he did still have appointments with her at least twice a week to keep.
“Now then…” he took the ancient photograph out of its protective sleeve in his saddlebag. “Let’s see if I can find you around here,” He pushed his glasses up his nose with a winning smile. “Pinkie Pie.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Was this a redone chapter? I could of swore I already read it.
YES! A UPDATE!
2336564
Nope...
it says cancelled though.... what does this mean...
2336558 i agree with you there i could swear this is where it ended before its hiatus
2336576 Maybe he's just taking it off hiatus.
Pinkie Pie the Eternal.
Yes.
2336558 I think the picture and last bit were added.
To Be Continued? I'll believe it when I see it.
This is definitely a redone chapter....but the original was awhile ago...I can't tell what changed :(
2336558 2336572 2336564 2336576 from a previous blog post he said that he took down the story in a rage and then reposted it when he calmed down.
this got him banned for a bit and for some reason this chapter wasn't reposted until now
2336574its says completed now
*smirks at Pinkie Pie* HA! Called it!
2336611 Alrighty,thanks for the heads up!
If you really are starting this up again it would please me to no end.
2336619 this post does provide hope for a sequel
wat...well
2336630 That's exactly what I was thinking! We can only hope
Oh the good doctor doesn't know whats gonna get him
Hah, fresh out of the academy . You are bound to the nuthouse if you try to heal pinkie , discord has better chances in being mind healed
Wonderful ending to a wonderful fic
2336558>>2336576
He might have changed this chapter to end with 'To be continued', and resubmitted it to announce a sequel.
I hope so. Because I love this story.
DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNNN
that's what you get for putting "to be continued"
What a twist!
pinkie pie.....sorry it has been a long time. was this at all foreshadowed? some of the foreshadowing might be important for character identity in the squeal. also did the one pony that escapes from the mental institution important at all or a weird character to get the plot flowing? think her name or something about her had to do with stars and she could see the future, but it is blurry. i can't remember if she ever did anything important, i remember she would do small things to make ponies never meet or do meet and stuff like that. sorry to ask, but i want to get my facts straight
Wait, does this mean, at long last, you're continuing this? Cause I can not tell you how happy that makes me.
I thought Aegis Shield decided not to do a sequel for this story?
HA, I actually guessed correctly when I saw 'I have a daughter'. Only one pony you could supplement as her daughter considering how Pinkie Pie loves saying 'Tell Auntie Pinkie' or 'And that's how Equestria was made'.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-Ok well, I am pleased that you might be doing a sequel of this, but WHY PINKIE! I really do not understand the LOVE for Pinkie Pie, sure she is always happy, cheerful and loves to make people smile, but ugh..why have HER be the daughter, why not one of the two more "impressive" (by impressive I mean doing things that nopony has done) I speak of course about Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. With Twilight literally evolving, and Rainbow performing a legendary feat of a sonic rainboom. Those two would also make sense with having multiple color manes, like Celestia's.
Ok enough rant. Sorry, this is your story/eventual sequel. I should not be trying to get you to change it, but perhaps I could give others an idea for my dream story, Rainbow Dash as Celestia's daughter.
Or even better Rainbow Dash as LUNA'S daughter, even better.
A sequel? With Pinkie?
Two of my favorite things. Combined.
i.imgur.com/soBA4mH.jpg
oh shit! pinkie is royalty!? there goes the royal treasury....
Oh wow. I thought this story was considered finished.
Yay!
AH! I was so happy to see this featured. Good to see it completed and everything, even though it's pretty random, but whatever. Does this mean you are working on the sequel? It has been something I've been looking forward to since the ending of this chapter.
Did you just...
Overjoyed simply can't describe how happy I am that this is going to continue. This story was one of the first long fics that I picked up and read, and seeing it taken off the shelf brightened up what would otherwise have been a very dull day.
So Celestia as the mother of Pinkie eh? Awesomely cool, though now I have to wonder who the heck is the father?
2336740
This was posted a long time ago... maybe he added the pic and re-published for visibility ?
About this story, the start was amazing and the conflict outstanding however the ending and the general feel of reader's closure (or lack of to be more precise) has put quite a dent in the overall quality of this piece. If what you are going to write next will not be a true sequel to this, I will be left with the feeling that the story is, as many other here might agree, incomplete.
It still has a lot of potential that only a direct sequel could bring it to surface so I urge you to re-consider the future of this universe that you have created.
Ex-squeeze me?
WHO is Celestia's WHAT?
All hail She who is Great and Pink!
This intrigues me greatly......
I am fairly certain I read this chapter before, but I can see that things have changed enough to get me excited for a new story!
Oh and Deep, you don't have to look for Pinkie Pie.
She will find you.
My Reactions
1.) HOLY BUCK, what just happened?
2.) Yay, update.
3.) Yay, sequel
4.) Wait, why were you banned again?
5.) Wait a minute... HOLY BUCK! What just happened?
2336558 It was - I definitely remember the main scenes. I think it may have been partially re-written, though I'm not completely sure.
Sequel, eh? Dis gon be gud.
2336715
Yep, I pretty much totally agree with this. I really cannot stand Pinkie Pie, so chances are I will not be moving on to the sequel. As a character, she's just too... broken.
Good for a laugh every once and awhile, but broken. She's the sort of character that I'd end up murdering if I was trapped with, except that with her random powers, that probably wouldn't be physically possible. Which would probably drive me as bat-shit crazy as she is. Maybe that's how Pinkie became the way she is: she was trapped with a crazy pony who she couldn't get to shut up, until she was finally driven insane enough to murder them, but by that point she had already lost all of her sanity, and had become what had driven her insane. Dun dun DUNNNNNN! (Any author, feel free to steal this idea. My attention span is much too short to actually write a story myself.)
Though really, I don't think you can have one of the Mane 6 be Celestia's daughter and also be very old, while still being in continuity with the show, due to "The Cutie Mark Chronicles." Unless you're just going to say that one of the Mane 6 is lying. Which I suppose Pinkie might do. Making it so that they are Celestia's daughter but still the same age that they are in the show is doable, even for those who have established parents in the show (Rarity, Twilight, and Pinkie), just add in an adoption and cover-up. .And of course for one of them to be Luna's child, they'd have to be over 1000 years old, or maybe born at about the start of season two. But wait, season two started with the Discord episodes! So maybe that did happen, and the chaos actually affected the age of Luna's newborn daughter, making her much older and affecting the past timeline, leading to Discord's fall! Dun dun DUNNN!
Wow. If this is the crap I come up with when I'm sober, I feel sorry for anyone who's had to listen to me drunk.
Oh, and as for this fic, I really enjoyed it, even if I had previously read this chapter and posted a very similar comment then. Somehow I hadn't given it a "thumbs up" yet, so there you go, have one now.
edit: Then I checked the author's page, and they have similarly negative thoughts about Pinkie Pie. Knowing that, I suppose I would read a story written by them about Pinkie.
Could you please provide a link to the image you used?
.
It's so cute
Isn't there a rule about publishing the same chapter multiple times in order to hit the front page?
2336798 Discord duhhhhhh.
k
I take it since you've posted this edit you're about to post the next adventure of deep psych
Wait I am confused. I do remember reading this chapter, and I can't pick anything different. I also remember being excited for the sequel and then you posted that you scrapped the idea of the sequel or something like that. So, what's going on?
2336683 You and me both.
Commence read.
Again?