Stories of an Old Caretaker

by Cosmic Runner

Old Age

“And that, my little ponies, is the end of the first part of my story.” Luna sighed as the escort arrived at her house.

“But Auntie, what was Celestia talking about with the civil and international war?” Glistening asked.

“You will learn tomorrow, my little overeager nephew.” Luna answered getting up from her chair, “But before you go, I still have some cake that needs eaten.”

“Cake!” hollered Gauntlet as he jumped up and down in excitement.

“Thanks Auntie.” Amoura said hugging her aunt.

---

Luna was sitting on her rocking chair in the living room when the royal mail mare arrived. She heard a knock and went to answer.

“Hello Miss Luna.” Derpy greeted as the door was opened, “I got a letter here for you. It’s from the King himself.”

“Thank you Miss Hooves.” Luna said as she gave Derpy her tip and closed the door.

Luna sat back down and opened the letter. Luna had always had a rivalry between her and her in-law. Things were never heated and the worst were usually cold stares from across the room. This made Luna start to question what this was about.
“My dear Aunt, I would love it if you would join me for lunch this afternoon. If you wish to I will meet you at Doughnut Joe’s fine establishment and three o’ clock. With ‘love’, King Shining Armor.” Luna read as she laughed out loud.

“Why, hehe… Writing this letter must have made him cringe!” Luna laughed to herself as she fell out of her chair backwards.
“I wonder what the civilities are for. Hmm, I will go to this lunch of his and find out what he wants.” Luna said to herself, “But, what do I know, I am just a senile old Alicorn who just talks to herself.”

Luna got up from the ground and went to go dress herself. As she was walking she started to feel dizzy and felt very weak in the legs. She fell down as her vision started to blur. The old caretaker soon passed out after that.

---

“Oh Garret, you old romantic, these are pretty flowers.” A much younger looking Luna said as she turned to the Griffon.

“Well, I might have had some help picking these out. It seems your niece knows a thing or two about love.” Garret replied.

“Oh, so now you say that you love me.” Luna joked as she blushed.

“Well. Uh… Hmm... Is it hot out here?” Garret asked as he started to blush and sweat.

“I think it’s sweet.” Luna replied as she gave him a peck on the cheek.

---

Luna regained conciseness as Garret turned to her.

“Garret! No… Don’t go…” Luna said as she looked around.

Luna noticed one thing automatically. She was not in her home. She looked some more as her vision slowly started to come back to her. The old goddess saw a figure standing over her. She came to the conclusion that she was in a hospital. As she kept looking, she confirmed her suspicions.

“Where am I?” Luna asked already knowing the answer.

“You’re in Canterlot General Hospital.” A familiar voice said.

Luna shook her head to get the blur out of her vision. This went without avail as her head just started to hurt.

“Ow! My head hurts, what happened?” Luna asked as she held her head.

“Do you want the whole rundown, or the abridged version?” The voice said again.

“Let’s go with abridged for now.” Luna replied still weary to the unfamiliar speaker.

“Let’s take this slow. I invited you to lunch. Do you remember that?” The voice said.

“Shining? Why are YOU here? And yes, I do remember that.” Luna replied coldly.

“Well you didn’t show up at the designated time. So I waited a while for you to show up for the fact that you are normally late,” Shining shot back, “So I went to your house and knocked on your door.”

“Well that’s unusual for you. Now can you tell me why I can’t see anything and my head hurts?” Luna asked.

“In time. Now where was I? Oh yes, knocking down your door. Well I knocked down your door after a bit of waiting for you to open the door since you are a bit slow. I found you in the hallway in front of your bedroom door in a small pool of your own blood. It was coming out of your head so I ‘field dressed you’ and called the ambulance. When we got here the doctors ran some quick diagnostics and decided that you were temporarily blind with a concussion.” The King ended with a deep breath.

“Have you sent a letter to Cadence?” Luna asked.

“Yes,” replied the King.

“And why am I in the General Hospital and not with the royal physician?” Luna asked again with a death glare.

“This was closer.” The King answered.

“Good excuse.” Luna mumbled as she heard someone come through the door, “Ah, I am assuming that that is Cadence, come in and see your old Aunt.”

At this time, Shining wisely stepped out of the room to give the two some space.

“Oh, Auntie!” Cadence said between sobs, “Ar – Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes I am fine come here and give me a hug.” Luna assured with open arms.

“Is there anything tha- that we can do to help?” Cadence asked still locked in their hug.

“You can let me take care of your children for a few days while you are busy.” Luna said as she was hit with Déjà vu of the first time she convinced Cadence to let her care take the foals.

“No, I cannot allow that, I will take care of them until you are better.” Cadence insisted.

“Cadence, I need to finish this story. This will help me in more ways than you know. Now, unless you wish me to completely stop watching over these foals, I will tell them this story, and I will see them.” Luna demanded.

“O- Ok. I will ask the Royal physician to tell me when you will be let out. Only if you are up to it... I don’t want you pushing yourself.” Cadence said insisting on these rules.

The two mares had continued talking about Luna’s medical issues. She was not sure why she was doing the comforting. After what she guessed as an hour, Shining ushered Cadence out the door leaving the old princess to her devices. She heard a knock at the door and wondered who it was.

“Aw, Miss Luna, I am Doctor Redheart, the royal physician. I believe we met some years back?” Redheart asked.

During the war, Nurse Redheart enlisted as a field medic. She earned many commendations and was promoted several times. When she returned, she was appointed by Luna and Cadence to be the Royal Physician.

“You old bat, why are you still working?” Luna asked in a sarcastic tone.

“You were old before we met, so I wouldn’t be talking.” Redheart fired back.

“What’s wrong with me?” Luna asked in a surprisingly serious tone.

“You have a concussion, blindness, a nasty fever, and from what I can tell, old age.” Redheart answered in a matching tone.
“You know that’s not what I meant.” Luna said slumping back.

“What’s really wrong with you, is longing. You long for the days that have just passed. You miss Garret.” Readheart replied.
“It seems I am a mare that is infinitely stuck in the past.” Luna responded.

“Well, I can recommend going to see his burial. You need to find a way to cope with this loss.” Redheart said putting a wrinkled hoof on Luna’s shoulder. “You can go home in about three days.”

“Thank you Doctor Redheart. It was pleasant talking to you again.” Luna finished.

As Redheart had said, Luna went home later that week and she sent a letter to Cadence saying that she could watch the foals the next day. She always had to have a guard to be her escort until she regained her sight. Luna had thought and thought about what she would do to cope with losses this time but she was lost.

As Redheart had recommended, Luna went to visit Garret’s grave. She could not see it but she memorized the sight. She even memorized the writing on the grave. The writing just told his name, death date, and the role in the war he fought in.
When Luna returned home, all she could do was cry. Then it hit her. Her way to cope would be in telling her past to the ones of the future. She thought of what she would tell the children next.

Luna had just decided what she was going to tell them, when the escort arrived.

Author's Note:

Sorry it took so long to get this out. I will try to keep this more regularly updated.

Comments

[La Vallett1]

Wait, how could Luna age? Is it her emotions that is changing her? And why are Shining Armour and Luna cold towards each other?

[Cosmic Runner]

It seems i have some explaining to do

[La Vallett1]

1953566 Yes, you do. But don't rush it though, there is a saying in my country which says something like this (translated from Maltese to English): "A cat in a hurry gives birth to blind kittens", which basically means that the more you rush, the less the quality of the product.

[Cosmic Runner]

I dont intend on rushing. I feel like this chapter WAS lacking to the other chapters. That is because well. Present day doesnt have much to do with the concept of this story. Its just a footplace

[Torroza]

update soon?

[Cosmic Runner]

Torroza Im so sorry but I am just having a crazy time in my writing career. I promise that, at the latest, a new chapter will go out at Spring Break. (At the very freaking latest. I mean gosh, I hate when writers do this and dont update their stories often but here I am doing it?) So I am truly sorry but it might be a little bit because I am just generally lost with this story. All the variations of the next chapter wasn't very good and I didnt want to release them. So this is a long comment and ill try to stop it in the next line. Im sorry but it will be a while because I am lost and need help.