Worlds Apart: Unity

by MrBackpack

Chapter 7 - Will the Circle Be Unbroken

The pot on the stove bubbled gently as I stirred fresh ground black pepper into the vegetable broth. I would add salt to the soup closer to it being done.

“Are you sure that you should be doing this, Lord Regent?” asked Silent Night, one of the Lunar Sentinels currently on my protection detail.

“I do know why way around a kitchen Nacht,” I replied without looking back at him and using the Germane translation of his name.

Thestrals, as it turned out, claimed Germane as their ancestral language, something about their particular proto-Equuish dialect being the true root of the modern version of what was spoken today.

The Solar Praetorian stallion seated at the bench next to him snorted.

“I don’t think that Night’s ever seen a noble cook before, sir,” he commented before taking a long pull from the mug of coffee in front of him. “I hadn’t either until my first turn with you.”

Silent Night grumbled something unintelligible before turning back to his own coffee.

“You two do realize that I’ve only been ‘regent’ for five years, right?” I asked as I turned back to them and arranged several washed and peeled carrots, some celery, and an onion on the cutting board. “I used to cook all the time before I came here.”

Both of them nodded.

“Then I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“You could order us to do it.”

“Pfft,” I nickered at him. “As if I would do that.”

“You might not, but our commander would have.”

“I said that I would take care of the princesses right? That means that I’m going to do it.”

The two of them exchanged glances as I picked up the knife and began chopping, I ignored them.

It wasn’t the first meal that I cooked for the princesses, nor would it be the last, and I expected this exact scene to play out everytime I had a new pair of guards accompany me into the actual kitchens.

For the first few days into our isolation, we had been able to get by with what The Palace kitchen staff already had prepared: Breads, stews, salads, and other dishes held under kitchen specialized stasis spells. After those supplies had run out, we resorted to the canned and preserved foods, and those had lasted a week.

Now, well into our second week, I had grown tired of plain raw fruit and had appointed myself our cook.

Both Sentinels and Praetorians had put up some health-hearted attempts to stop me, but none of them actually stepped up to do the cooking.

Truth be told, I think that they were grateful to have fresh and warm cooked food again, stasis spells may keep the dish from spoiling but they left a tingly sensation in your mouth.

Of course, none of that applied to the food and drink that I fed the princesses.

Royal Canterlot Medical and Trauma Center, courtesy of Doctor Bedside Manner, had provided me with a treatment plan for both Princesses along with a large satchel of medications and a few instruments to keep logs of how Sub-Arcanic Disharmony progressed in Alicorns.

Their first week was mainly focused on keeping the Princesses hydrated and their electrolyte intake as high as possible, keeping solid food to a minimum until vomiting and diarrhea had stopped.

My train of thought was derailed when the timer on the oven dinged.

I sat the knife down, trot over to the oven, pulled protective mit-sock things over my hooves and opened the oven’s door. The smell of fresh oat and seed cakes filled the kitchen, I heard my two guards inhale deeply and one of their stomachs rumbled. Chuckling to myself, I pulled the trays out of the oven one by one and set them on the cooling racks until all five trays were out.

Twenty five cakes, one for each guard and another for me, there was clover honey in the pantries and butter in the refrigerators. The cakes along with a vegetarian version of the shepherd’s pie would be a wonderful dinner for all of us.

I turned around and almost ran right into the two guards.

They were both gazing at the cakes hungrily.

“Don’t even think about it,” I grumbled, using my wings to block the cooling bread from their vision. “Those are for all of us.”

“Are you sure that your special talent isn’t in baking, Lord Regent,” asked Silent Night, his eyes still locked on the cakes. “After smelling those I wouldn’t be surprised.”

"I’m sure,” I replied with a roll of my eyes. “It's just something that I like to do, I’m actually not that good at it.”

“I disagree.”

“You only say that because you haven’t had anything fresh in over a week. Once this is all over and you have something made by somepony that actually knows what they’re doing, you’ll forget all about my attempts at cooking.”

/＼ ^._.^ ／\

It was half-past seven in the evening when I pushed one of the double doors leading into Princess Celestia’s chambers, a tray balanced on my back.

The faint scent of burnt wood and singed cotton wafted over me with small wisps of pink-purple smoke. It was impossible to miss the wad of blackened sheets and blankets piled at the foot of the massive bed.

At least they weren’t currently on fire.

Moving as quietly as possible, I sat the tray with the Princess’s dinner on her nightstand and turned to her sleeping form.

Nestled under my wing was a small kit of medical instruments: A temperature probe-wand, a stethoscope, and a small crystal plinth that measured the amount of chaotic magic in the immediate surroundings.

Gently, I sat the kit on Celestia’s bed, and pulled out the wand and ran it over the still sleeping Princess’s forehead, just under her horn, took note of the reading, and then tucked it under her wing for a more accurate core temperature.

While waiting for the wand to chime, I busied myself with gathering the pillows Princess Celestia had kicked off and replaced them back on the bed.

When I rose, the wand had chimed and I found her magenta eyes staring at me blearily.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I murmured with a small smile. “I’ve brought you some broth.”

The Solar Princess moaned weekly and tried to force herself into a sitting position, her limbs shaky and trembling.

When it became obvious that she was about to fall, I jumped onto the bed with her, catching her on my withers and propped her up against her pillows and headboard.

“There,” I commented idly, pushing a few more pillows and cushions around her, giving her some bracing so that she would be able to stay upright. Nodding to myself, I hurried to the other side of her bed and set the finely carved breakfast tray in front of the princess, the broth and a mug of cool water following soon after.

I hopped off the bed and took a few steps back, giving the Princess her space.

A look of concentration with a very visible undercurrent of pain fell over her face. Her horn sparked.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

On the third spark, her large cushion near the fireplace exploded in a cloud of torn fabric and cloud fluff.

I winced.

At least it wasn’t another bookshelf.

With a huff of frustration, Celestia collapsed back against the pillows I had piled up behind her, a flush of embarrassment tinting her cheeks.

“None of that now,” I chided gently, hopping back up onto the bed and settling down on my haunches faceing her and next to the tray. “Doctor said that this might happen and that you need to keep trying.”

She glared at me.

“Hey, at least you didn’t set me on fire again.”

Her ears folded back against her skull and she looked away, the blush on her cheeks deepened and crept down her neck.

I was unable to stop myself from chuckling.

“I already told you, Princess,” I managed through my mirth, spooning some of the broth up to her. “No harm, no foul. I don’t blame you for that, it was an accident.”

Magenta eyes searched my face for a very long moment before she opened her mouth, letting me help her eat.

I don’t know what came over me at that moment, but I felt something stir deep within my heart, a moving of something deep within my very soul.

Placing the spoon back into the broth and holding the glass of water to Celestia’s lips, I started humming. Softly at first, just a few bars of an old hymn, letting the warmth of the lyrics and imaginary guitar accompaniment fill the back of my mind.

I wasn’t a natural born singer, nor was I musically inclined as what I had been before becoming a pony. I enjoyed music as much as the next pony, loved listening to it, jamming right along with an air guitar, and, if nopony was around, lip syncing in the bath, a bottle of shampoo as my mic.

Singing wasn’t something that I consciously avoided, it just wasn’t something that was part of day-to-day life at the Palace.

The Princess watched me as the first few bars of the song’s tune floated around her bedchambers, I spooned out another helping of the broth with my hoof, let it cool, and then brought it to her mouth.

Hesitantly, she accepted the spoon, her eyes still searching my face.

I ignored her staring and continued to help her eat her dinner. Once the bowl was empty, I used the napkin to gently dab at her chin, letting the hummed hymn fade out.

The Princess yawned and sagged against her pillows.

With a small smile, I eased her body onto its side, pulling pillows out from behind her, dismantling the makeshift chair out from behind her.

She groaned and opened her mouth to say something.

“Shhhh,” I whispered, pressing a wingtip to her lips and preventing her from trying to speak. “Try to get some sleep, did you want me to light the hearth for you?”

Celestia, already more than half asleep, shook her head.

As expected, her fever was still high, but I felt like I needed to ask.

I moved the tray over near the door and trotted off over to the large armoire. Inside were numerous piles of blankets and top-sheets. I snorted to myself, remembering that I needed to change her bedsheets in their entirety.

Oh well, it would have to wait.

I pulled out two large and fluffy blankets and one sheet and returned to The Princess’s bedside.

The large white mare was already snoring softly.

As quietly as I could, I threw the sheet and blankets over her and tucked them around her and under the mattress.

With the princess suitably arranged in her bed and ensconced in a dream, I went about gathering the remains of her previous bed coverings and the debris from the exploded cushion, and placing them on the tray nearest the door. They were already magically burnt, but, for the sake of preventing possible cross infection to the guard, I would have them incinerated.

/＼ ^._.^ ／\

“Not good,” I grumbled to myself, pulling my thermometer from out of my mouth and tucking another one under my own wing. According to the oral thermometer, I was sitting at an uncomfortable one hundred and three-point-seven degrees, just shy of four degrees over normal.

Pegasi and thestrals may not be as susceptible to temperature changes as a unicorn or an earth pony, but when ours did vary, it never meant anything good.

We had been sequestered within the Palace for three weeks at that point and I knew that it was an impossible dream to hope that no pony else got sick. I wasn’t the first either, three of the twenty four total guards had fallen ill, two shortly after we had sealed The Palace, and the other finally succumbing in the middle of our second week.

The wand tucked up against my barrel chimed, the readout confirming the reading from the thermometer.

With a sigh, I dropped both instruments onto the table and jotted both readings into my notebook.

There were a total of four notebooks. One for each princess, one for me, and one for the guards.

My notebook contained most of my personal notes and suggestions to propose to the Princesses on how to continue the quarantine until such time as the doctors figured out a cure or until SAD ran its course.

Hopefully, without too much more loss of life.

Flipping a few pages past my last entry on future plans, I made note of the day and time, my temperature readings from my mouth and my barrel as well as noted any other, personal, observations.

Thankfully, my wings didn’t itch nor did I seem to have any of the weakness and/or delirium that some winged ponies experienced.

I did, however, have the cough.

I coughed so hard and so often that I felt my ribs creak and groan. It was like the worst kind of pneumonia, I couldn’t get full lungs when I breathed and everything hurt.

“Lord Regent?”

I looked up, a unicorn mare in the silver of the Lunar Sentinels had poked her bubble shielded head in the office that I had commandeered to be nearer the princess.

“What can I do for you, Bright Eyes?” I asked, desperately trying to ignore the scratch in the back of my throat.

“I’ve got your dinner, sir,” She replied, stepping fully into the office, a bowl of something steaming floating in her seal grey magic. “Silent Night decided that it was his turn to cook this evening.”

“He didn’t use anything that I touched did he?”

“No, sir, he didn’t,” the bowl sat itself in front of me, spoon already in it, the smell hit me like the Canterlot Express. Warm, creamy, thick, and peppery. “We’ve moved most of everything that we dared salvage out of that kitchen and have been using the one on this floor.”

“You mean to tell me that there was a kitchen on this floor and I didn’t have to trek all the way from the staff wing with hot food?”

“We thought you knew, sir. We assumed that you just had a preference for that kitchen.”

“I didn’t know,” I said, shaking my head, feeling more than a little stupid. Of course there was more than one kitchen. In a palace this large, there would have to be more than one. “Was there anything already prepared in there?”

“A few things,” she replied, taking it upon herself to dunk the two thermometers in the alcohol bath I hadn’t had time to drop them in. “I sent some of the others to scrounge the other kitchens and pantries to check those stores. We’ll probably end up consolidating everything into the current one.”

“Good idea, Bright,” I mumbled around the spoonful of stew I had just put in my mouth. It was delicious, tasted even better than it had smelled. “That food should last us a while as long as we don’t let Spot try his hoof at cooking again.

Bright Eyes winced and nodded in agreement.

The less said about Sun Spot’s cooking, the better.

“How is everypony taking things?”

“As well as can be expected, sir. They’re getting a little stir crazy.”

“I’ll bet, I know exactly how they feel.”

She snorted and stamped a hoof.

“They should know better, we all volunteered for this.”

“Volunteering and actually doing are two entirely different things, Bright, you know that.”

She rolled her eyes and gave me a half-glare.

I had a suspicion that Bright Eyes was actually an officer, but had nothing other than my intuition to go off of. None of the other ponies would say anything, but there was a slight deference to her.

And I couldn’t even say that it was due to her being a mare either, there were four other mares in the volunteers and they didn’t seem to get the same level of respect that Bright Eyes received.

Whatever. I was too tired to really worry about that.

Unable to stop myself, I coughed. Hard.

Bright Eyes took another step back, her eyes widening.

“I know, Bright,” I grated, honked, really. “I know.”

“You sound worse, sir.”

“I’m getting worse,” I wheezed, rubbing my nose with a tissue. “Probably going to get even worse before I get better. How are the others doing?”

“Corporal Packed Soil was able to walk to dinner and his fever has come down two and a half degrees. Privates Whispering Breeze and Hidden Grove remain the same as yesterday.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but Bright Eyes continued.

“I’ve already noted the changes in their conditions in the log, sir.”

“... Thank you, Bright Eyes.”

I looked over at the clock and sighed.

“Bubble me, Bright, it’s time to check in on the Princesses.”

“Are you sure that you should be doing that, sir?”

“Probably not,” I agreed with a small nod. “But at the same time, unless there is a qualified medic or another pony with similar experience, I cannot allow that.”

“Don’t you risk re-infecting them?” Bright Eyes asked with a frown. “Shouldn’t you remove yourself from the equation?”

“If this were a perfect situation, yes, I absolutely should. Or, if this was just going in, helping somepony eat, take temperatures, or even just to make sure that they’re alive, I would happily delegate this task to anypony else. But it’s not.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I do all of those things, true.” I continued, standing and gathering my instruments, notebook, and quill. “But there are subtleties in how both Princesses act, subtleties that get even more minor and hard to spot when they’re around ponies that they don’t know as well as I know them. Sure, Princess Celesita may not like me, but she does know me well enough to really show me how she feels. As for Luna...”

I trailed off, not really knowing how to describe Luna’s actions.

Bright Eyes expression softened and she smiled at me, her horn glowed again and a bubble popped into place around my head.

“Thank you, Bright.”

“I’ll go gather a few more, you should have at least four before going into their rooms.”

“I appreciate it, I’ll meet-”

“You’ll be right here, in this office, we’ll come to you.”

“....I’ll be right here.”

/＼ ^._.^ ／\

Luna’s room was dark and quiet when I entered it, another tray on my back and a series of bubbles around my head. Bright Eyes and Risen Dawn, a Solar Praetorian stallion, had accompanied me to the door.

The two of them had relieved my scheduled guards and helped my trek from my office to Luna’s bedrooms.

Thankfully, Risen Dawn was carrying the tray with Luna’s food on it when I tripped over the scarlet carpet lining the halls. Bright Eyes caught me before I face planted.

Unlike usual, Luna’s room was spotless. The chaotic mess of books, blankets, and other detritus cleaned and put away.

Unable to stop myself after setting the tray on the coffee table nearest the hearth, my eyes roamed the room, taking in all of the details and decorations.

On the shelf nearest her desk were two objects that I had an intimate knowledge of.

There, under a glass dome and missing an eye, was the ratty and disgusting anteater that Star Shine and Twilight had gotten her back home. Noodle had been through some rough times since arriving in Equestria, but little Luna refused to let the stuffed animal go, or go anywhere without ‘him.’

The Noodle Incident had happened around three years ago, an irate noble had grabbed the poor thing up in his magic thinking it was rubbish, and, thinking that she was making a point about misused tax bits, tore him in half.

The Princess, having only just taken up her duties to the Court of the Night, had reacted poorly to say the least, ejecting the noble through the Throne Room’s doors. She then snatched up Noddle’s remains and bolted.

Evening Song and I had found her, sobbing and wailing, under her blankets. Between the two of us, the High Marshal and I were able to stitch the anteater back together.

You could still see the clumsy stitching all around his middle.

I chuckled softly to myself upon reading the brass plate affixed to the glass dome.

Sir Noodle I

To the right of the glass dome was yet another stuffed anteater, a gift from her sister. This stuffed toy was much cleaner and of much better quality than the one that we had given her back home.

This anteater wasn’t under glass, but was sitting on a small wooden disk. No nameplate, no decoration.

I was touched at the reverence.

I shouldn’t have been, it had been Star Shine’s idea to get the stuffed animal and Twilight’s for said toy to not be a bear. But she still kept him, even after all the terrible things that happened after being given to her.

I turned away from the shelf and blinked several times to clear my eyes of unshed tears.

After giving myself several moments, I gathered the tray up back on my back with my wings and approached the still sleeping princess.

Just like her sister, Luna was snoring quietly, the flush of fever tinted her cheeks and she had kicked her blankets and sheets to the foot of her bed.

I deposited her meal on the breakfast tray and quickly washed my hooves in her dark bathroom, not bothering to turn on the lights and risking waking her.

Washing done, I returned to her bedside and ran the wand over her forehead, noted the temperature, and then tucked it under her wing, just like I had done for her sister. While waiting for the small chime to sound, I pulled out her notebook and jotted down the date, time, and her temperature in their appropriate columns.

The wand chimed and, unlike her sister, Luna didn’t wake as I retrieved it.

Thankfully, the readings were trending downwards.

I stood there for several more minutes longer, watching her sleep, a smile on my muzzle.

I could just tell that she was having a good dream. Her own smile, the lightness in her limbs, and the small coos and murmurs that came between the snores.

Hopping up onto her bed and sitting beside her, I wasn’t able to stop myself from running a hoof over her mane.

For several minutes we sat together, alone in all of Equus, my hoof never stopping the soothing motion down her neck and withers. I let my eyes wander around the room again, just content to keep sitting with Luna, and, for the moment, forget that I had responsibilities.

Her nightstand caught my eye.

Upon it were two framed pictures.

The first was of her and her sister. The larger mare was holding Luna close to her barrel, the two of them hugging each other tightly, smiling with sparkling eyes.

My breath caught at the second.

There was Luna, tiny and adorable, nestled deeply into my back, right between my wings, fast asleep and clutching Noodle to her barrel. I had my own head turned around to nuzzle at her ear, the softest smile that I had ever seen on my own face.

A moan broke me off from staring at the picture.

“Hey there, Lulu-Bell,” I cooed at the princess as she roused. “I’ve got dinner for you.”

“Don’ wanna,” she moaned, batting at my hoof with one of her own.

“I know you don’t,” I replied, coaxing her up into a sitting position and piling cushions and pillows behind her, just like I had done for her sister. “But you gotta, you need to stay hydrated.”

She gave me a baleful look before settling back and letting me fuss over her. I pulled her blanket up and over her lap and set her breakfast tray in front of her, the still gently steaming stew and water following quickly.

She opened her mouth expectantly.

“Lulu…” I warned with a mock scowl. “You’ve got to start using your magic again.”

The Princess closed her mouth and pouted at me.

“Don’t give me that young lady, you know the doctor’s orders.”

The pout intensified.

I raised one eyebrow and cocked my head to one side.

The stand off lasted another few moments before Luna huffed out a sigh and closed her eyes, a faint ice-blue glow began to emit from her horn and encircled the spoon. Shakily, the spoon dipped into the stew, picking up a good few hunks of carrot and potato, and floated over to her mouth.

I watched, intently, as beads of perspiration formed on her brow.

The spoon finally made it to her mouth and she ate, humming happily as the warm stew slipped down her throat.

“Good stuff, huh?” I asked with a smile, it was only the second time she had managed to hold the spoon that long.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Might have to get Silent Knight in the kitchens on a more permanent basis.”

She giggled.

The Princess was able to get another three spoonfuls of stew with her magic alone before she coughed and the magic holding the, thankfully, empty spoon failed with a pop and dropped to the blanket covering her lap.

I winced and covered my face with a wing, bracing unnecessarily.

“Not that bad,” the Princess croaked accusingly.

“No, you’re not,” I agreed. “But you did turn my fur blue.”

The Princess turned a lovely shade of purple and she jerked her head away from my chuckling.

“Now, now,” I continued, still chuckling and holding her spoon. On a whim, I started weaving it back and forth. “Open wide, here comes the train.”

The Princess snapped her head back to me and looked highly offended.

I held the spoon in front of her mouth and, eventually, reluctantly, she accepted it.

Her glare spoke volumes.

“I’ll stop.”

After a few more spoonfuls of stew, I asked: “Do you want a story?”

Her eyes sparkled as she nodded excitedly.

“Hmm, but which one?”

“Happy.” she croaked before eating another bite.

“A happy story?”

She nodded.

I racked my brains for a story that I could tell her. Admittedly, I stole most of the stories I told her from video games or pop culture back home, most of those ended well enough for most of the characters; maybe not the bad guy though.

I eventually settled on one of my favorite myths from the Prose Edda.

“In a long lost time,” I began, trying to keep the rasp out of my voice and ignoring the grit in the back of my throat. “In a country far far away, two stallions were riding a chariot on their way to meet the king. The owner of the chariot was a huge earth pony, blonde furred and a fiery red mane, tail, and bushy beard. The other was a thin and lank unicorn, much smaller than his friend, with sage fur and a mane of wheat. They had been traveling for days and nights without rest…”

Giants and gods and normal ponies all being tricked and played by one another. Nopony died and there wasn’t any bloodshed, I counted it as happy.

Luna giggled and laughed as the giant Grand Illusion’s servants toyed with Swift Hoof, Powerful Hammer, and Mischief Maker. Gasped as the extent of the giant’s machinations were revealed, and nodded along with Grand Illision’s decision to never allow the three of them back into his home.

With the stew and story finished, I took the bowl and spoon and set them on the tray that I had brought in with me and then placed the still mostly full goblet of water on her nightstand, well within her easy reach.

“There,” I murmured, helping her lay down completely and pulling her covers over her. “Feel better?”

The Princess nodded, her eyes half closing.

“Stay?” she whispered, I could tell that her throat still hurt.

“Of course, Lulu-Bell,” I murmured, brushing her mane off of her forehead with a wing. “You don’t even need to ask.”

She reached out and clutched at my nearest foreleg, wrapping her own around mine and pulled me closer to her.

That same feeling from a week ago, when I had hummed to Luna’s sister, fell over me. Stronger and far more insistent. Like a wellspring bubbling up from deep within the earth, flooding my entire being with warmth. The very same hymn coming to my mind.

Humming softly, I slowly ran my free hoof over Luna’s mane, brushing it ever-so-gently, smiling down as her eyelids drooped.

I blinked and the teenaged princess was gone, before me was the tiny filly that I had brought to the Palace all those years ago. A fresh, feverish flush, spread over her muzzle and an ice pack was perched over her hornless forehead. Standing at the side of her bed was another pegasus filly, slightly older, with alabaster fur and a mane the color of water lilies.

Behind the filly was a large mare, ivory furred and a mane and tail of pure star-fire.

Looking to my own hooves, my burgundy fur was gone, replaced with fur the shade of the evening sky

I blinked again, and the teenager was back, along with my burgundy fur.

Luna was looking up at me, a worried look on her face, I had stopped humming

“Shh,” I whispered before she could try to speak. “It’s okay, just got lost in thought for a second.”

As the Princess settled back down, the feeling welled back up inside me and, for the first time, I let it flow through me. I could hear a guitar in the back of my mind and I hummed along with it.

“There are loved ones,” I crooned, my own voice scratchy and hoarse. “All around you.”

Her eyes widened as the song filled her ears, shocked.

“Whose dear love you’ll never miss,” I continued, my hoof resuming the petting motion that I had stopped. “When you close your eyes tonight, will they join you in your dreams?”

I felt her hoof squeeze my own and I watched as a small smile formed on her lips.

“Will the circle be unbroken, by and by, by and by? Is a better home awaiting, in the sky, in the sky?”

I smiled back down at Luna, letting the warmth of the song fill my heart.

“In the joyous days of foalhood, oft they told of wondrous love, looking to the shining sister; now they dwell with us at night.”

I let the hymn’s chorus slip past my lips, gently rocking from one side to the other. Had I not had the bubble around my head, I would have held Luna close and rocked her off to sleep.

“You can picture happy gath'rings, ‘round the fireside long ago, do you think of tearful partings, when we left them all alone.”

Luna cringed and tried to pull away from me, I held onto her hoof, my eyes searching hers. She looked away and I put my hoof on her chin and pulled her gaze back to mine, gently brushing the tear off of her cheek with my fetlock.

“One by one their seats are filling, and one by one their love returns; now our family is home now fin’lly back, to us this day.”

I could feel the tension slowly ease from her neck as I held onto Luna’s face, the final chorus flowing out of my muzzle like warm honey.

“Now the circle is unbroken, by and by, oh by and by,” I sang, a familiar bronzey timbre finding its way back into my voice. “There’s no better home awaiting, in the sky, in the sky.”

As the last notes of the song faded away, Luna, in a feat of strength that had eluded her in the past couple of weeks, threw her forelegs around my middle and sobbed into my barrel.

I wrapped her up in my forelegs and wings, holding her as close as I dared, taking special care to not allow her horn to horn to pierce the protective bubble around my head. I crooned and cooed to her as she wailed, knowing the pain that she was feeling all too well.

/＼ ^._.^ ／\

The groan that made it past my lips was hoarse and ran sandpaper up and down the back of my throat.

I rolled out of the cot that Bright Eyes had procured for my temporary office and trudged over to the kettle perched in the small wet bar. After keying the small gem set into its handle, I went about mixing and preparing a powdered potion and my ‘morning’ tea.

Between taking care of the two Princesses and their day-night oddities, time of day had lost all meaning. Whenever Celesia was more ‘awake’, Luna was ‘sleeping’ and vice versa. Granted, the two of them still slept large swaths of the day and night away, but I could tell that their strength was beginning to return.

Luna stayed awake for all of my stories and could finish her entire meal without my help. Celestia was getting there and, thankfully, had stopped exploding furniture or setting ponies on fire.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come,” I croaked as I slumped into the chair at my desk.

Bright Eyes pushed the door open, another unicorn behind her. I recognized the second unicorn, a Solar Praetorian stallion, but his name escaped me.

“You look terrible, Lord Regent,” the stallion commented, using his tangerine magic to set a bowl of warm broth on my desk.

I gave him a deadpan look.

“Solid’s right, Feather,” commented Bright, sharing a look with the stallion. “You do look terrible.”

“Feel terrible,” I replied in a rasp.

Whatever either of them were about to say was cut off as the magical kettle began to whistle.

I made to get up but was pressed back into my chair by Bright Eyes’ seal magic. I watched as the stallion grabbed the kettle with his magic and turned to Bright Eyes, gesturing with his head to the mug and teapot I had set out for myself.

“To the midline on the mug, and the rest into the pot, Solid,” the mare ordered.

The stallion nodded and poured the water as instructed and, after setting the kettle down, floated the tea service over to me.

I nodded my thanks and took a tentative sip from the mug.

The hot liquid had totally dissolved the potion without any need to stir. It cascaded over my tongue and down my throat, spreading a soothing warm numbness down my aching esophagus.

It tasted like a worn out gym sock.

With a grimace, I threw the entire concoction back in a quick gulp and shivered as the sweaty, cottony, fungal taste wormed its way down my throat and settled in a warm pool in my stomach.

“By the moon and stars,” I bit out, still tasting the foul medicine. “That’s nasty.”

Neither unicorn said a word as the stallion, Stolid something, floated a mug of tea over to me.

One of them had been taking notes on how I liked my tea, it was sweet as candy and black as night, strong enough to stand a spoon upright; heavenly.

“Thank you, Solid,” I said after a few moments of letting the tea’s sweetness and caffeine work its way through my brain. “Perfect.”

“That will be all Solid Spear,” Bright Eyes commanded, dismissing the stallion, who, in turn, saluted with a hoof over his breast and left, closing the door behind him.

She turned her ice blue eyes on me, they were hard and cold as the Frozen North.

“You need to get back to bed.”

“I should, yes,” I agreed immediately. “But you know I can’t, not yet. Princess Celestia has been unable to-”

“I think that we’ve hit the point where one of the unicorns or I can finish taking care of the Princesses.”

“No, not yet.”

“Beg pardon?”

“You’re right, I’m a massive reinfection risk to the both of them, especially now that they’re starting to get better,” The wand chimed as I explained, picking up my notebook and jotting down the temperature read out. “Their immune systems and arcanic networks are overtaxed and weakened, they’re both prime candidates for reinfection.”

“Then why?”

“Like I told you before, they’ll act differently with you or any other guard than they’ll act with me. To you, they’ll believe that they have to act like the immortal goddesses that they are, immovable and untouchable, even if we all know that they aren’t. They don’t have those masks with me, they know they’re safe to be as sick as they are with me.”

Bright Eyes opened her mouth to argue and I cut her off.

“Yes, I know its stupid. Especially when you and your compatriots are bound to them as protectors and the like. It's your duty and, unless I’m very much mistaken, your honor to do so. It’s an obligation that you’ve taken upon yourselves.”

Bright Eyes nodded and gestured at me to continue my point.

“I’m not like you.”

“What do you mean?” she asked as she tilted her head to one side.

“I have no oaths or promises or anything to bind me to their service, I just do it. The Princesses, really, don't need protection. They move the sun and the moon every day with no help. They’ve lived through the Unification Wars and everything after, weathered every trial and tribulation that fate and Harmony have thrown at them and have come out on the other side alive and well.”

There was a small smile on the mare’s muzzle, a look of pride for her rulers.

“So, when the Lunar Sentinels and Solar Praetorians take their oaths to serve the Princesses and Equestria, they’re letting you take care of things that they could, by right, deal with on their own. They have an obligation to you. They have to be the rock on which the entire world rests.”

I paused, watching Bright Eyes’s expression. She was still processing but I could tell that she was following me.

“Okay,” she said after a moment, rubbing her chin. “I get it, but you still haven’t explained why it has to be you doing all of this.”

“Tell me,” I asked after taking a deep breath. “If you saw them completely and utterly unmade by sickness or an injury, not dead or dying mind, but hurt in a way that you could not immediately better, what would you do? For that matter, what would either regiment do?”

“I don’t know, sir,” Bright Eyes whispered, wilting.

“That’s right. It would unnerve you, shake the very foundations of your worldview. You would never be able to look at the two of them again in the same light. It would start small, overthinking every one of your orders and interactions with them. Eventually, you would start second guessing them and then distructing them.”

“I would never.”

“Maybe not outwardly,” I agreed. “But the seeds of doubt would be placed and there would be nothing that you could do about it.”

I looked her right in the eyes, amber meeting ice blue.

“Think of it like our quarantine. The idea of it wasn’t too bad, but the reality has been so much worse than anypony could have ever imagined, right?

“Yes.”

“So, extend that same feeling to the Princesses being sick. Knowing and imagining it is one thing, seeing it and experiencing it is something else.”

She sighed and sank down to her haunches.

“That’s why I can’t stop, that’s why I have to be the one taking the risk. I don’t like it anymore than you do, the risk is far too high to be comfortable with, but it has to be me.”

“You’re only going to make yourself sicker.”

“I know”

“You could die.”

“I know”

“Why? Princess Celestia hates you!” she shouted, finally giving a name to the real emotion that Morning Glory had been hinting at all those weeks ago.

“That’s why.”

“I don’t follow.”

“If I, the only pony on Equus that Princess Celestia hates,” I mused, staring into the last swallow of tea in my mug. “Is willing to risk my life to make sure that the integrity of her guard and the face of the Crown is maintained, to make sure that they heal comfortably and without interruption from overzealous Palace staff…”

I trailed off.

“Yes?” the mare pressed as she stood back up on all four hooves and took a step forward. “Why?”

“Maybe she’ll leave me alone.”

Bright Eyes recoiled.

“That's all I want, a little bit of room to breathe,” I swallowed the last gulp of tea, it was surprisingly cold. “I feel like I'm constantly under scrutiny, and it's killing me. I won't be around forever - I know that. I just want to enjoy my time with her sister, and just do some good, you know? Do you have any idea how intimidating it is for a literal Goddess to be watching your every move? Documenting everything you do, just waiting for you to slip up?”

The mare shook her head.

“I’m tired Bright, I’m so very very tired.” I confessed as I put the empty mug back on my desk. “I never wanted the responsibility - being Regent, I thought it was a joke, something Luna liked to say just to annoy her sister.”

I looked away from her, turning my attention to the still warm broth.

“Now that I’ve done everything that I could think of for her country and her ponies, maybe, I’ll get the peace that I’ve been looking for.”

Neither of us said another word until I finished my liquid dinner and she returned my bowl and spoon to the kitchen.

/＼ ^._.^ ／\

The sixth week of our sequestered vigil dawned over the Palace, rousing me out of a fitful sleep.

My cot, sheets, blankets, and pillow were soaked through with sweat.

Unlike the Princesses, my temperature had risen, day by day, getting higher and then, finally plateauing at just over one hundred and six degrees. It had held there for the last week.

I rolled out of my makeshift bed, and flopped onto the floor, not even bothering to try to catch myself.

Everything was uncomfortable or in pain. My chest and barrel ached with every breath, my legs tingled with numbness, my head was fuzzy, and my wings itched like nothing else. Small pustules and sores the leathery membranes between my ‘fingers’, open to the air where they weren’t covered by ragged and downy feathers.

I was more than a little certain that I looked ridiculous.

My daily temperature regimen reported no change in temperature and I noted the same in my notebook. I took special care to breathe as little as possible onto the small book, I wanted to make sure that it was usable to somepony after this was all over.

Pulling myself to my unsteady hooves, I stumbled and limped over to the door. I didn’t trust myself to stand on just three legs at the moment, so I settled on thumping the door with my forehead, letting the posted guards know that I was awake.

From there, after hearing one of them acknowledge my ‘knock’, I fumbled my back back over to the desk and slumped into the chair, exhausted after having only gone, maybe, four or five body lengths.

Wheezing in and out, trying desperately to catch my breath, I knew what needed to be done.

I was in no condition to continue my personal care for either Luna or her sister.

It pained me to admit it, and it would pain me to have to ask Bright Eyes to take over for me, especially after telling her why I didn’t want her to do so.

I pulled a sheet of paper and began writing out a note to her, detailing what would need to be done after I passed command off to her: How to take of the sisters, notes on sterilizing my office and to burn everything that wasn’t important enough to save.

The mare in question opened the door to the office, a series of bubbles around her head already, and recoiled as the smell of my sweat and sick hit her nose.

I shrugged apologetically to her.

“By Celestia's flowing mane, Feather,” she muttered, gritting her teeth and shutting the door behind her. “What happened?”

I weakly flexed a wing in her general direction.

“You took the covers off?”

I nodded with another shrug.

“Ponyfeathers, Feather,” she snarled. “You know better than that.”

I did know better, doesn’t mean that they didn’t feel better without the covers on.

“You could lose them if you get an infection in there,” she continued, already pulling a clean pair of covers from her saddlebags. “Give.”

I held my wings out to both sides and she slipped the all-to-hot fabric over them, sticked them in place with a well placed series of runes.

I nodded my thanks to her and pushed the paper I had been writing on towards her.

She took it up in her magic and gave it a quick glance before smiling at me.

“You haven’t looked out the window yet, have you?”

I shook my head and raised an eyebrow at her.

She just pointed towards the large bay window that made up a large portion of the wall behind me. It was covered by a thick curtain.

I rolled my eyes and gave her a pleading look.

Her now familiar seal colored magic grabbed one edge of the thick fabric and yanked it back and away from the glass.

I hissed in pain as the sunlight stabbed through my eyes and directly into my brain.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, obviously embarrassed.

After my eyes adjusted to the blasphemous amount of light assaulting them, I looked to the sky and gasped.

There, shining brightly, was the sun.

And just the sun.

I jerked around to stare dumbfounded at the smiling Bright Eyes.

“We didn’t notice it last night, but the Moon was there by itself as well,” She stated, joy and comfort coloring her words. “The Princesses had control again.”

The wave of pure, unadulterated, relief hit me like a tsunami. I sagged into my chair and put my face into my hooves, not wanting the mare to see the tears welling up in my eyes. My breath caught in my lungs and a sob wormed its way out of my clenched teeth.

Bright Eyes, bless her soul, stood nearby and didn’t say a word for several long minutes as I fought to get my emotions back under control.

“Orders, sir?” she asked once my shoulders had stopped heaving.

Right, I needed to be strong for just a few minutes more.

“Stand down,” I rasped, unable to raise my voice above a harsh whisper. “Await royal orders. Give them books.”

“And you, sir?” she asked while nodding.

I shook my head and stood to my hooves, almost buckling under my own weight.

“Sir?” She asked again, concern now filling her voice.

“Princesses come first.” I reaffirmed, trudging to the door.

By instinct, Bright Eyes cast a bubble over my head and I knew that any unicorn that I met in the hallways would cast their own over me.

“You aren’t going to them in your conduction, Feather,” she ordered, her magic now holding the door closed even though I was nowhere near it yet.

“Not going to,” I coughed, my lungs rattled and ribs hurt.

“Then where are you going then?”

“Getting… out of the way.”

The magic holding the door slowly faded when I approached and it only took a few moments of fumbling with the knob before I was able to shoulder it open enough to stumble out into the hallway.

Immediately, two more bubbles snapped into place around my face and I nodded to the two unicorns standing sentry outside of the office.

Bright Eyes followed close on my heels.

“Don’t need... escort,” I muttered at her with a lackluster glare.

“You’re going to get one, Lord Regent,” she replied primly. “Especially since I don’t know what you’re up to. The sun only knows what kind of trouble I would be in if something happened to you.”

The two of us had just turned a corner, finally out of sight of the two other guards.

My front-left hoof caught the edge of my front-right and I stumbled into the stone wall, Bright Eyes let out a small exclamation of concern, her magic cushioning my body.

“Do you need me to carry you?” she asked, her magic still between me and the wall.

I huffed at her and shook my head, an action I immediately regretted as the world swam in front of my eyes.

“Don’t think that I won’t pick you up and plant you back on your cot.”

I rolled my eyes and stood back on my own four legs.

“I’ll do it.”

With a sigh, I nodded down the hallway.

“I see that's the direction that you want to go in, but you still haven’t told me where.”

I took one step down the hall and she put herself in front of me, her horn already clowning.

“Where are you going?”

“Bed,” I finally admitted.

“And why didn’t you just stay back with your cot?”

“Out of the way. Too close to them.”

“So now you’re listening to me?”

I gave her a sour look. She knew my reasons as well as I did. It may not have been the best reasoning, it was a point of contention between the mare and I.

The unicorn returned my look ten-fold.

The worst part of my reasoning was that Bright was absolutely correct. Especially as I got sicker and sicker. I should have delegated and I hadn’t done so due to being selfish.

We stared at each other for a long moment, before she heaved a huge sigh and moved out of my way.

I nodded to her and continued the long and arduous trek down to my rooms and my bed.

Author's Note:

Nearly eight and a half thousand words and two weeks of writing and rewriting this chapter. I think I ended up with four total complete rewrites.

For anyone that didn't read my blog post, I'm very sorry that I didn't have a chapter last week, there was an attempted break in of my apartment and I was too stressed to work on this monsters.

This is probably going to be the chapter this week, but I will get to work on the next one starting tomorrow/later today.

We're in the home stretch now, maybe three or four more chapters after this one.

Comments

[Kek lel]

I don't think he'll be able to fight it off very well... :(

[Shadic Midnight Blitzer]

Will this continue?

[MrBackpack]

10658196
yes, it will, I've just been dealing with some mental health issues and haven't been able to muster the motivation to continue.

[Shadic Midnight Blitzer]

10661566
Oh shoot. Well go ahead and rest then bud.