How strange is it for one to love the mare with stars in her mane?
Evergreen was the royal herbalist to the two royal sisters, though he never met them before. His job typically consisted of helping guards and maids, that is until one night when the princess of the night requests something to rid of her headache.
Evergreen was a bit of a rebel. Well, he was a rebel of what his family would consider a rebel, while any other pony would think of him as nothing more than a herbalist.
It was his father, Green Armor, who did slightly disprove of his line of work. He was supposed to become a royal guard like his father and his father before him. One wouldn’t think a pony like that would be so strict in his ways, especially considering that fact that he was unicorn who married an earth pony.
Nettle Green was Evergreen’s mother. A lovely little mare who got her talent in herbs. They were two of the first ponies ever to cross tribe bloodlines and because of this, they couldn’t have their offspring be thought of as a failure. Perhaps a mixed unicorn couldn’t be as strong as an earth pony? Or maybe he would never be as good at levitation magic as his father? Surely he could become a royal guard despite his talent? They worried to much for Evergreen’s tastes. But alas, his annoying saving grace, his younger brother, Iron Root, was more than happy to take the spotlight.
He only recently got his cutie mark, a sword cutting through some type of root. Ever since that day, he became nothing but a nuisance.
Don’t get it twisted, Evergreen was more than happy to allow another pony to take his place in his father’s eyes, he wasn’t built for fighting and Iron was, there was no helping that. No but what bothered Evergreen wasn’t his brother’s mark, but was the fact that he decided his destiny was to join the royal guard… and Evergreen was the royal herbalist.
Evergreen took up the job to appease his parents, couldn't be a guard? Well, at least he could work in the castle. Which is fine, he had a workshop and garden, he had the space to dry and organize his herbs, he had the time to put each plant into alphabetical order or pile them up according to the symptoms they relieve or tastes they give. Oh Celestia, his life was boring, wasn’t it? Well he would have preferred to keep it that way but now he’d get regular visits from Iron. The little colt would claim he just missed his brother back at home, though it was obvious that he just wanted to talk to the guards stationed even remotely near Evergreen’s workplace, or nosily question them when they came in for herbs.
This wasn’t the problem, well it was a problem, but not the problem. The problem was that when the guards were to busy to entertain the foal, he’d start rough housing right next to the herbs. Evergreen glanced at the moon from outside the window, most ponies should be asleep by this hour, but not Evergreen. No, this lucky unicorn had to clean up a mess. He sighed as he got to work organizing the herbs that had fallen on the floor. Iron Root went home a long while ago, he had probably been tucked into bed after being read a story of knights and heroes and he never once considered to clean up the mess he’d caused for his brother.
He scoffed as he picked up a bit of nettle that had been smashed to pieces by four reckless hooves trying to fight off an imaginary monster. Evergreen wasted no time on fixing it, winter was coming soon enough and there was no need to throw away a perfectly good herb when he’d need all he could have for the colder months. He open a book with his magic. He had many works of literature that pertained to his job, but this particular book was given to him by the Sorcerers of the Castle, those who trained in magic and knew every spell ever created. This book was on herbs and plants and how magic affects them. The average unicorn wouldn’t be able to do most of the spells in this book, but Evergreen was not the average unicorn. His talent may not be in fighting, it may not even be in herbs, but it was in magic.
His cutie mark was a piece of spruce, covered in white glimpses of light like it was being levitated by a colorless aura. It allowed him to cast any spell, sure there was always a learning curve but it was easier when you have a mark on your flank saying you’re supposed to be good at it. And being good at it was an understatement.
Evergreen casted the spell he was starting to memorize by this point, it seems as though everyday Iron would come a destroy something. It was a mixed between a healing spell and a repairing spell, though it was dried it still had enough life in it to do anything from sooth sore muscles or cure anemia.
He placed the nettle into a jar now that it was in one piece, sure it would have worked while broken apart but it would have also been combined with any dirt on the floor which definitely would’ve drained it effectiveness. He went onto clean up the rest of the herbs before he finally sat down. Though his rest wouldn’t be long due to that fact that as soon as his flank touched the ground he heard a knock on the door.
It was opened with an easy levitation spell, the door swung to reveal a night guard. Evergreen had never seen this particular pony before, he was gray with a unicorn’s horn and had the serious look that most of the guards applied to their faces when on duty.
“Greetings, how might I help thou?” Evergreen instinctively asked one of the many variants of the same phrase he tended to ask when someone knocked upon his door. Though, he was off hours, he was supposed to be asleep, but he’d gotten into the habit of greeting guests that way.
“Princess Luna complains of a headache, dost thou have anything to help?” he said with a tough voice, something in his tone told Evergreen that he probably didn’t want to be sent on a herb gathering mission like this.
Evergreen turned to the shelf that held most of his herbs, “Did she describe it at all?” he asked, levitating all his headache related herbs and bring them to a desk, “Was she dizzy or did she complain of some type of pressure?”
He didn’t have to look at the guard to know the stallion was shaking his head, “No. She simply asked me to get a cure for her headache.”
Evergreen nodded slowly, to preoccupied with organizing his plants to look up at the guard, “Did she seem light headed or tired?”
“No.” The stallion confirmed.
“Did she have any visible symptoms? Perhaps she was rubbing her head with her hoof or squinting an eye?” Evergreen said, looking at his wide array of herbs he hoped to narrow down.
“No.” The guard spoke.
Finally the herbalist looked to the guard, “How am I supposed to know what to give her if I don’t know what’s wrong?”
He shrugged, “I dost not know, that is thine job.”
Evergreen’s hoof slapped his forehead with enough force to knock out a small foal. He looked to his plethora of herbs and sighed. “She could try ginger, that usually works.” He spoke mostly to himself, “But it’s usually temporary, not to mention uncomfortable. What if she thinks I’m poisoning her?” His eyes drifted to the feverfew, his hoof reached for the jar, “This could work but-” he was cut of by his own scoff, “It’d be mostly useless if she isn’t dizzy or ill.”
He was broken away from his thoughts when the guard cleared his throat. Evergreen looked to him and then back to his herbs, then back to the guard again. It was to late in the night for this. He started levitating the jars and placing them in a saddle bag, “I have to speak with her before I can give her a herb.” He concluded to the guard.
The gray stallion paused before speaking, “Very well.” He said.
The guard was named Silver Spear as Evergreen learned via small talk, though neither pony seemed to enjoy the conversation, it was barely more than exchange of names. Silver Spear lead him down the halls of the castle to a particular corridor with double the amount of guards compared to any other place they’d passed on their way. It didn’t take a genius to know that there was a princess present.
They eventually turned towards a large door. Silver Spear nodded at the single guard next to it as he himself took his place on the other side. Together, the two unicorns levitated the door open to reveal an absolutely giant room, complete with several cushioned seats and one night princess laying on the couch.
Princess Luna lifted her head and turned to the door, her hair waving behind her to look as if she had the night sky trailing behind her. “Come in.” She spoke with regality and when she locked eyes with Evergreen, his heart skipped a beat. But that was normal wasn’t it? She was an alicorn princess after all.
He trotted toward her and forced himself to breathe, “Please excuse my intrusion but I’ve brought some herbs.” He stopped a distance away from her, quite obviously intimidated by her grace.
She laughed just a bit, “Please cometh closer,” she spoke, “I do not bite.” Her smiled seemed forced, fake even.
Was his fear of her that obvious? Well he wasn’t afraid of her per say, but it was only natural to be nervous while speaking to a princess. He trotted closer and cleared his throat awkwardly, “I uhm, I needed to know more of your head ache before I could offer you a particular herb,” He said, “Could you perhaps describe your pain?”
She nodded, “'Tis piercing, it feels like a, I do not know, a pressure? I suppose. It feels as though something hath been wrapped around my head.”
Evergreen nodded, he started levitating the jars out of his saddle bag, “Did thou get enough sleep last ni-” he stopped himself, she was the night princess after all, “Today?” He glanced to her.
“I woke a few hours prior to sunset as per usual.” She explained.
He narrowed it down to a few herbs by then. Five jars sat on the small table in front of Luna’s couch; lavender, lemon balm, chamomile, ginger root, and valerian. Evergreen took out a piece of cloth and started mixing. “At first I assumed there was some sort of sleep issue but thou seems to have a stress headache.”
He glanced up to see the princess tilt her head, “I did not realize there were different types of headaches.” she spoke.
He smiled to himself, he always found it so strange when somepony didn’t know something he considered common sense, “Of course, whenever you feel the pain in a different way or a different place on the head, it’s typically a different type of headache.” He said, turning back to his herbs, “I shall give you lavender and lemon balm to relax you,” he explained as he put away the chamomile, that’d probably be overkill, “And the ginger..” he spoke as he took out to slices, he placed one in the cloth with the other two herbs. Without missing a beat he levitated the other slice toward the princess, “Eat this. I will tell a guard to fetch some boiling water for some tea.”
Without another word he trotted to the door and opened it, he looked to Silver Spear, “I need some boiling water for tea, oh and honey.” Lavender tea was awfully bitter with out it.
He looked to his neighboring guard, who showed no reaction, Silver Spear failed to stifle a sigh, “I will go get some.”
Evergreen turned, “Thanks.” He said before trotting off to the princess. She had a rather amusing face, the ginger slice levitated a few inches away with a bite out of it and a hoof had been placed over her mouth.
“It burns.” She said simply.
“Yes,” he said, “It tends to do that.”
She looked to him sternly and he suddenly remembered he was speaking to royalty here, “I fail to realize why causing my mouth pain will help my head.”
“Oh well,” he faltered, “I-I found that it distracts your mind from thinking about the pain and it-”
“Tis fine.” She said before putting the rest of the slice in her mouth, she squinted, “Thou art not in trouble,” she explained distracted by the spice, “I was only curious.”
He released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, luckily he didn’t need to further explain himself because of a knock at the door. He rushed over to it and levitated the tray out of Silver Spear’s magic.
He brought it over to the princess and set it on the table, he placed the cloth into the teapot and then poured the boiling water over it to infuse the liquid without getting any chunks of plant inside. “This should help you relax and keep away the headache,” he explained, “If thou can’t sleep once thou um, set the moon, thou can send a guard and I’ll give thou some valerian and more lavender.” He said as he raised the jar of valerian he’d brought out before and placed it in is bag. “How’s thy head now? Did the ginger help?”
She nodded slowly, “I think it’s gone..”
“Ginger works quickly but is only temporary,” he said, “The tea should keep the pain at bay for the rest of the night.” He poured the tea into a cup and offered it to the mare.
She took it with her magic and let out a tiny smile, “Thank thee..” she sipped the drink, “I did not catch thine name.” She looked to him expectantly.
“Oh, I am Evergreen,” He grinned awkwardly.
She took another sip of the tea, “Tis nice to meet thou, Evergreen.”
“Th-thou as well.” He stated, “Your highness.” he swiftly added to the end.
“My apologies for requesting the herbs from thou at this hour.” She said, “I normally try to not bother anypony when they art asleep.”
“Oh no,” He shifted the weight on his hooves, “I was just tidying up my workspace, thou did not bother me at all.”
She smiled a bit, “Still, tis late, I think thou should head to bed,” she said, “Have good dreams.” She said as a farewell.
“Thank thou Princess.” He spoke and bowed his head before turning and trotting towards the door, only to stop himself within a moment, “If there is ever a problem, please don’t hesitate to fetch me.” He spoke, “I usually stay up quite late and can bring any herb you need.”
“...Thank thee, Evergreen,” she spoke, “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Princess.” He trotted out the door and nodded a farewell to Silver Spear. He stepped through the hallways and corridors, no doubt looking slightly lost as he didn’t need to travel to this part of the castle grounds much in his daily work. Though soon enough he reached an area he recognized and was able to get back to his workplace.
The door to his workspace was like any other in the corridor; wooden and plain, except for the word “Herbs” carved into the wood. Evergreen felt a breeze as he opened the door, if he had kept on going straight he would have exited the building without even needing to push open a door, his herb garden was just out there, a place where he spent a good amount of his time.
The rest of his time was spent in his workspace or in his room, asleep. He passed through it and set the jars on the shelf, reorganizing them quickly as he yawned. He walked towards the back of the room and opened a second door.
In this second, separate room was his bed and personal belongings. It wasn’t a fancy bed chamber like the princess’ but it was nice and comfy and just enough to allow the herbalist to sleep. And that he did.
He laid down and shut his eyes and allowed the darkness to wash over him. Yet, even though his eyes were closed, he could see the perfect picture of the starry night, or maybe it was a mare with stars in her mane.
Evergreen worked quietly and quickly. Nightfall had come and yet he was still working. He didn’t even have much to do, Iron Root hadn’t stopped by today so there was no mess to clean and the only pony who visited was a guard who got chafed by his armor.
Though he had absolutely nothing to do, he still found himself not wanting to sleep, he’d slept in late that day and had no doubt screwed up his sleep schedule. He knew he should put in the effort to fix it, but instead he spent his time reorganizing his herbs. He was just about to put them back into alphabetical order when his ear twitched at the sound of the knock on the door.
“Hello,” he spoke as he opened the door, “Oh Silver Spear, how can I help thou?” He greeted the pony.
“Princess Luna requested the tea you gave her yesternight.” He said simply, he wasn’t the talkative type, was he? Not that Evergreen cared, he wasn’t one for small talk either.
“Of course, give me a moment.” He turned to his herbs and levitated the lavender, lemon balm and ginger toward his desk. As he worked, he couldn’t shake the notion that something was off. Normally you don’t need the same cure for a headache two nights in a row unless it was caused by caffeine and this was not. Has she been suffering from these headaches for longer without telling anypony? Perhaps she was given to much work to do or maybe she wasn’t getting enough sleep? It didn't seem like a sleep deprivation headache but perhaps the lack of said sleep was causing stress. Any way, Evergreen had no say in it and all he could do was give the herbs, which is fine, it’s his job after all. It's fine.
Within a moment he turned to Silver Spear, “Here is the tea,” he levitated the herbs wrapped in cloth, “And tell her to eat this if she needs immediate relief.” He explained as he offered the second slice of ginger that wasn’t in the tea’s cloth.
Silver Spear nodded and left without a word, the tea hovering beside him as he trotted back to the princess.
Evergreen sat down, a strange empty feeling filling him. He sighed at it, he was probably just tired. He stood to go to his room but was stopped in his tracks at the sight of the moon in the sky. It was silver and beautiful and seemed to take all of Evergreen’s breath away, if only for a moment.
But the moment passed and it occurred to him that the moon was so high in the sky because it was so late, which of course reminded him to return to the task at hoof and so, he headed to bed.
…
The morning came quickly, too quickly. Evergreen turned to the window, the sun was bright in the sky and- it wasn’t morning was it? No, it was midday by the looks of it. Evergreen couldn’t help but scoff at his tardiness, hopefully nopony came looking for herbs while he was asleep.
Evergreen sat down on the floor and let out a yawn. He was only able to relax this way for a moment before he heard a loud knock on the door. “Ugh.” He moaned as he stood and trotted to the door.
He swung it open and looked around, no pony was in sight, then he glanced down… Of course. “Good Afternoon Evergreen!” said the colt cockily, he trotted in passed the unicorn, not waiting for an invitation, “I just came back from visiting Father, I wonder what he thought of his first born sleeping in until noon?”
Agitation filled Evergreen, “Thou little bra-”
“Relax,” Iron Root laughed, “I did not tell on thou.”
Evergreen shut the door and turned to his younger brother, “What doest thou want?”
“Not much, hey, dost thou want to see a move Father just taught me!?” Iron Root turned to the corner that he’d been leaving one of his many wooden swords in.
Evergreen rubbed his temple with his hoof, he wasn’t awake enough for this level of energy, “When have I ever been even remotely interested-”
“Look! Look!” The colt mumbled with the toy sword in his mouth. He then proceeded to do what Evergreen could only assume was a very complicated series of precise attacks onto an invisible enemy. Either that or it was just a foal aimlessly swinging around a glorified twig. He then finished by throwing down his sword and breathing heavily, “How was that?”
Evergreen clapped his hooves together but put absolutely no effort into looking anything but annoyed, “Very nice, thou sure did beat up that air.”
“Father said that I was learning quickly!” He spoke, clearly not caring whether his brother was impressed or not, “Pretty soon I will be as good as any of the guards in this castle!” he boasted.
“I look forward to the day thou hast to work instead of coming here.” Evergreen replied.
“Oh yeah!” said the colt suddenly remembering something, “Thou hast to let me stay here tonight.”
Evergreen tilted his head, “Why?” Iron Root staying was a regular occurrence, but he usually asked, not demanded.
“Cause I wish to train with the guards all day and Father said I could if I got thine permission to stay here for the night,” Iron explained calmly as he pushed his toy back into the corner, “To bad thou were too asleep to give me thine permission, so I lied!” he grinned.
Evergreen opened his mouth to object but then shut it, “Thou know what? I do not care.” with his new sleep schedule, as bad as it was, he wouldn’t be too tired to clean up after Iron tonight.
“Really?” Iron asked, causing his brother to sigh.
“Do whatever thou wants.” he said bitterly before going back to his room and shutting the door. He could already hear the clamoring of hooves as his brother shuffled to pick up his toy sword again.
Evergreen took his time brushing his mane and tail. He yawned several times before finally opening the door, passing his distracted brother, grasping a load of green tea from his herbs and trotting out of his workspace.
He headed to the kitchens, quietly replenishing the stock of green tea and taking some hot water to make the caffeinated tea for himself, adding a bit of mint for his personal cup.
He sipped it slowly as he took his morning- now afternoon trot around the castle. There were plenty of ponies he passed who paused to wave or say ‘hello,’ who he’d have to pause to at least nod back to with a semi friendly smile. It was quite bothersome really but he needed to get some exercise. His body wouldn’t forgive him if he stayed cooped up in his workroom all day, no matter how much he wanted to.
He then watered his plants and looked at each leaf and flower to see what was ready for harvesting and what needed to be cut off. He ended up going back to his workroom with a load of chamomile and peppermint.
The day was less uneventful than yesterday. Evergreen figured out fairly quickly how to avoid Iron's antics via stepping over and around where he predicted the foal's movements would be, though that didn't save some unlucky feverfew that needed to be repaired. Two maids came in at some point, asking about a herb that would reverse aging affects, he had to fight not to role his eyes in front of them. A few guards with pulled muscles or chafed armor came, Iron seemed to enjoy the company of them, judging by how chattery he was. He, of course, left his work a few times to get meals for him and Iron from the kitchen, he supposed the walk over there would do him good. Eventually, after nightfall, Luna's guard came again.
"Silver Spear..?" Evergreen said, slightly surprised to see him a third night in a row.
"I guess this is becoming a nightly thing." The guard shrugged.
"That tis my fear.." Evergreen mumble to himself before remembering in his job, "Right! Tea, yes?"
Silver Spear nodded, "Same as yesternight."
Evergreen buried his worry deep in his mind and began making the tea. He set a jar down slightly louder than intended and immediately regretted it.
"Evergreen?..." a small voice mumbled.
"Oh no."
"Sweet Celestia, are you a night guard?!" The foal didn't even hear his older brother's worried words as he quickly stumbled toward the door where Silver Spear stood.
"..hello?" Silver Spear barely had a chance to respond by the time Iron began battering him with questions.
"Wow, dost thou work for the night princess? Is it fun? Dost thou have a bed time? Dost thou know my father? Dost thou work with the day guards at all? Do-" Iron was cut off by a sudden piece of ginger in his mouth, "Hawt!!" He spat out the slice of ginger as Evergreen snickered.
"Yes, ginger tends to be hot," he spoke, "Now, the night guard needs to take this tea and ginger to his princess," he spoke as he levitated the mixture toward Silver Spear along with an extra slice of ginger, "And this future day guard should be sleeping so he can be awake during the day."
Iron looked to his brother and then to Silver Spear and then back to his brother, "Tis not fair!"
"It wouldn't be very fair to our father if you're asleep during training." He stated, "Not to mention the earful I would get for not enforcing thine bed time. Now go, sleep, Silver Spear needs to work now."
Iron ears flopped back, "Fine." He spoke, stifling a yawn, "but I am not tired.."
"Yes, thou art tired." Evergreen responded with an eyeroll as the colt trotted back to Evergreen's room. "My apologies about that Silver Spear." He said turning back to the guard.
"Oh that is alright," he said in his usual unamused voice, "This job is normally quite boring, I'm glad to see somepony's excited by it."
The two then said short fairwells. Evergreen trotted to his room, finding a sleeping colt taking up as much space on his bed as physically possible. He sighed and lied down, praying to not be kicked in his sleep. As he turned to his side he couldn't help but worry. Worry about the mare with stars in her mane.
How long had she been having these headaches? How much worse had they have gotten? How bad did it have to hurt before she finally asked for help? Surly she knew that the lavender will eventually stop working as her body adjusts to it, of course everyone knew that. But still, lavender every night wasn't bad normally… but this wasn't for sleep or relaxation. This was for a stress causing pain.
Evergreen squinted his eyes shut tighter for a moment, trying to force the thoughts away. It didn't matter, as long as he did his job. She requests the tea, he gives it to her, end of interaction. The night princess could handle herself, he had no reason to worry for her like a mother worries for a foal. If it got to bad he could technically give advice, as that was a part of his job as well, but those qualifications got rather iffy once it was applied to a princess.
With a heavy sigh he sank into his pillow and let himself be taken by sleep.
The day after Iron Root slept over went exactly the same as the day before.
Though this time, Iron left early in the morning and stayed out all day, likely training, before leaving for home.
The lavender was bountiful, so Evergreen harvested some.
Two maids, different than the lasts came in, one complaining of a headache, the other requesting black tea as the green tea was just, "Always so bitter!" Evergreen didn't have the energy to explain to her that she was probably burning it.
Three day guards came during the day, same chafed armor business as before.
Silver Spear came that night, asking for the tea.
Evergreen fell asleep, trying not to worry.
The next day was similar.
Though Iron did not show up, neither did the maids.
A large group of guards came, swearing to have been in an official duel. Though it was quite obvious that it was some unofficial roughhousing.
Silver Spear came that night, asking for Luna's tea.
Evergreen struggled to fall asleep, attempting to not worry.
The next day was yet another day.
Iron visited at noon, not long after Evergreen woke up, but only stayed long enough to knock over the mint.
The two maids from before came, thanking Evergreen because of the essential oils, they looked younger already due to the oils working wonderfully. Which Evergreen had quietly responded with, "Yes, the placebo works as well..."
Soon the other two maids came, one again requesting black tea, but they did happen to bump into the previous two maids, who promptly decided to start a three hour long conversation which ended with Evergreen giving out three more bottles of essential oils, which, mind you, are not the easiest to make, and explaining how to make tea without burning it.
Evergreen could barely sleep that night, that many stress headaches was not normal.
The next day was boring, absolutely no one came.
No one except Silver Spear, again asking for Luna's tea.
The unshakable feeling of something being wrong had progressed throughout the days. Surly it was a very bad thing for one of the two rulers of Equestria to be in that much pain. Evergreen finally admitted to himself that he was worried, but what could he do? Tell the princess to chill out? Definitely not.
The day after was again, similar to the others.
Evergreen harvested a bit of mint and one guard came in the afternoon, chafed armour, again.
And then Silver Spear came and requested tea.
And then Evergreen snapped.
"How long does she intend to drink this? Until she's addicted? Well she cannot be addicted from one cup of lavender tea a night, but a stress headache every night? Tis absurd. How long has she been getting these?!" He asked.
Silver looked ever so slightly bewildered by the quiet unicorn's sudden outburst, "I do not know." He explained.
Evergreen paused, surprised that he got a response, even more surprised that he said that out loud. He shook his head, levitated practically all of his herbs towards him and pushed past the guard.
He started trotting, not particularly sure where he was going, but was too frustrated to care. Silver Spear picked up on what was going on quickly, "What art thou doing." He said more like a statement than a question.
"Giving the princess a proper diagnosis and treatment plan." He spoke as Silver Spear slowly starting taking the lead, "I assumed the headache was a one time thing but if this keeps up she might request more tea, it's safe as of now but medicinal herbs are easy to overdose on."
Silver Spear nodded as they turned and turned again and then finally turned to reach the moon princess' corridor.
And that's when Evergreen realised what he was doing. Should he turn around now? He'd look like a fool to the guards who were already staring at him if he did that. He really didn't want to seem like he was bossing around an alicorn princess though.
He swallowed as Silver Spear and another guard levitated the door open. Too late to turn back now. Evergreen stepped inside the large room, way to many jars of herbs following after him in his magical grasp.
"E-excuse me..?" He spoke.
Luna blinked curiously, she was as gorgeous as ever, with wide questioning eyes and glowing stars in her mane. "Thou may enter."
Evergreen did just that, trotting towards the princess, "Um, pardon my sudden visit, please, but well.." he looked at her, she didn't seem upset luckily, just curious, a bit irritated but that seemed to be towards her headache, "Having a stress headache every night.. isn't normal…" he tried to say gracefully, "It'd be better if I gave thou a uh, treatment plan, rather than tea every night. That way it may not show up at all eventually."
Luna tilted her head, "Thou can make it not show up at all?"
"Ah, yes." Evergreen mumbled, looking through his cacophony of herbs. He stepped back towards the door to request hot water for tea and soon returned to the princess, setting the jars done next to the couch she sat on. "Now, do thou know what's causing thou stress?" He spoke, still standing, distracted by a few jars still in his magic.
The mare stared at him, ".. Sit, please."
Evergreen blinked and immediately went to sit on the seat across from her. He then waited several agonizing silent moments that felt like much longer than they actually were.
Turns out Luna was just thinking, "I.. have a lot of work.. Such as paperwork.. but also, I protect ponies' dreams and well, let us just say bad things happen if I screw up. Not to mention the moon.. and my sister..." She trailed off.
Evergreen's ears flopped back. He couldn't do much for alicorn problems. Maybe the best thing he could do was throw herbs at the situation until it went away or got worse. He thought for a moment.. "Can.. I help?"
The night princess looked shocked, "I beg thy pardon?"
"Oh I do not mean to pry!" He said defensively, "I completely understand if there is paperwork that are only meant for alicorn eyes or things such as that. But it tis clear that thou hast an overworking problem… I wish to help in anyway I can."
There was a knock on the door, which gave Evergreen enough of an excuse to get up and gather the water with a quick, "Excuse me a moment."
He silently made the tea for the princess, "Thou would have to stay up for much to late." She spoke.
Evergreen was honestly surprised that the princess was considering his offer, "I already stay up quite late as is," worrying about thou, "And.." he suddenly levitated several jars till he found mint, he opened it and grasped a couple of leaves in his magic, "I have caffeine." He ate the leaves as he set down the jar. "Now what paperwork can I do?" He said as soon as he swallowed.
After a moment's pause, Luna raised a hoof to scratch her chin, "I cannot believe I am doing this." She mumbled as she got up, took a sip of her tea, and headed to her desk on the far side of her room.
A minute passed before she returned with quite a large pile of papers.
"Basically any work that Celestia needs done quickly but cannot do because of her need for sleep." She explained. She levitated each paper, skimming the words and setting them into two organized piles. Within a moment, there was one very large pile and one very small pile.
Luna moved the smaller pile to be in front of Evergreen and then move herself to be sat next to him. He blushed as she moved onto the sofa but that was a normal reaction, anypony would be nervous next to an alicorn.
Evergreen shook his head, forcing away the blush. "So what do I need to do?" He asked.
Luna quickly organized the pile and found one to levitate to the top. "Start with this one. I need thou to read the fine print and.. explain it to me so I can decide whether to sign it or not."
Evergreen nodded and turned to the paper. He levitated it closer to get a better look.
'Farm Permit Request.' It said on the top, 'From Ebony Wing of Cloudsdale.' It said directly underneath.
"This.. does not seem like something you'd go to a Princess for.." Evergreen stated
Luna nodded, getting up and gathering her own pile as she finished off her tea, "Celestia does most of the important work. I hast given thou the least consequential work of mine."
Evergreen nodded, that made sense. He looked over the form quickly. Ebony Wing was a pegasus who has never been on the ground before. She wants to start a strawberry farm after her brother traded for some from an earth pony and decided that they taste wonderful.
According to the fine print that somepony with a quill must've had to painstakingly write out, one must request a permit to farm due to the change in the old earth pony law that'd allow anypony free property so long as they had useful plants growing on it that they planted.
"I don't believe there is any problem with this," he spoke and explained what type of request it was.
Luna held it with her magic, skimming over it, "Yes.. This is fine." She said before getting up and opening one of many drawers near her desk. She looked through several papers before nodding to herself and putting them back. "It does not seem to be for malicious intent," She explained. She signed it with a quill and then set it onto what Evergreen assumed was the finished pile.
".. May I ask what you were checking?" Evergreen asked quietly, "..That seemed to take longer to read than the actual request."
Luna looked at him, she paused, "I was looking at her lineage, to see if her family had any problems with farmers in the past. A pegasus wishing to farm could be a pegasus wishing to cause harm to earth ponies."
Evergreen nodded slowly, "I see." He said, he supposed that did make sense.
He went back and read another request, again with farming, an earth pony wanting to request another acre for 'Coarse Apple Acres.'
Another requested a permit for sailing. Another requested a property for a clothing shop. Another was a royal maid application.
Luna checked each one's lineage, and then signed each one.
It didn't take long for Evergreen to be finishing with the dozen or so left in his pile.
Once Luna signed the last one, she barely glanced at Evergreen. "Ehm," he mumbled, causing her to look at him, "Is there anything else I can do?"
Luna blinked, "Oh." She said, she glanced at the moon out of her window, "No, thou should rest." She said.
"Oh, okay." Evergreen spoke.
After a silent few moments, Evergreen turned to leave. He was only a few paces from the door when he heard her voice, "Evergreen."
"Yes?" He turned.
She stayed silent for a bit, "Thou trimmed off at least a quarter of an hour of my work." She explained, "Thank you."
"Thou art welcome, Princess" he said, "I'd be happy to help more." He offered.
"Oh no, thou need not be bothered." She said quickly, "..But, if you'd like.. you may come tomorrow night at Moonrise." She didn't look at him as she said it.
Evergreen smiled, "Of course. I'll see thou then. Good night, Princess."
"Yes, good night." She returned the farewell distractedly.
With that, Evergreen turned to leave with his cacophony of jars. He nodded at Silver Spear as he passed and was luckily able to navigate himself home.
Evergreen woke up with a start. It was just past midday and Iron Root decided that now was a great time to jump on his brother.
"Oh, get off." He moaned as he weakly pushed Iron away from him.
"Good morning Brother!" The colt said with a grin, "The crops art growing! The birds art singing! The sun is in the middle of the sky! Tis a wonderful day to wake-" He was cut off by a pillow thrown at his face with a bit of classic levitation.
Evergreen got up, despite his tired body begging him to stay in bed, and trotted around his brother, "Did any ponies come looking for me?" he asked.
"No," Iron said as he shuffled behind, "Just me!"
"Good, I did not miss anypony important." Evergreen spoke.
"Hey! How could thou be so cruel to thy darling younger brother!" Iron 'hmmph'ed in mock defense before trotting to the door, "I am going to talk to the guards." He announced.
"Have fun with that." Evergreen replied as Iron ran out the door.
The day, to the surprise of no one, was boring, just as any other day would be. Though, Evergreen found himself waiting for night to come.
He checked out the window frequently, looking to see any change in the sky. Of course, he knew that there was no point in checking if the sun had lowered any every quarter hour but he couldn't stop himself. The only time he didn't check were when he was distracted by something else, although he had to mix up a poultice for chafed armor so much that he could hardly consider it a distraction, making it was just second nature.
It was the first herbal treatment he'd ever learned about after all, so it was only natural that he could mix it up while barely paying attention. His mother had taught it to him when he was just a colt, back when his parents still thought he was going to be a part of the guard. They had thought that he would find it useful and it did end up being useful, he was sure the insolent guards were very grateful for his memorization of the poultice. Still, the mixing and matching of herbs and the work of smashing it together was enough of a distraction that he didn't check the sun for a few minutes longer.
Just before moonrise, Iron came begging to stay over for the night. "Oh, dear darling brother! I shall miss you so much if I have to go home." He complained, though of course, Iron was only staying so that he could see their father in the morning. Oh how Evergreen wished sometimes that his father would just let the colt stay in the guard's quarters.
Evergreen didn't really care that much this time, do to the fact that he wouldn't be there for most of the night. He just made Iron promise not to ruin any herbs.
He packed up a jar full of Luna's Lavender tea, took an extra ginger slice, and made himself some mint and green tea for caffeine.
"And where art thou going?" Iron asked in an accusatory tone.
"I am going to help…" he started with certainty but quickly trailed off, he didn't want to say the Princess's name at the moment for that would open a jar of worms he didn't want to deal with right before he left, but of course he couldn’t consider her a friend either, an acquaintance perhaps? No, not that either. "To help a patient, hence the tea." He said has shook the jar that was in his magic grasp.
There was a long moment of silence, "..Okay." Iron eventually shrugged and nonchalantly turned around, "Goodnight Brother."
"Goodnight." Evergreen said back.
Evergreen didn't let himself breathe until he was outside and traveling to the princess' room. He wasn't quite sure why it took so long to think of the royalty as a patient, but that was entirely what she is: a royal patient. As always, he never really knew where he was going in the castle. He had his route he took in the morning, or whenever he happened to wake up considering his recent schedule change. He could make his way to the kitchen and around a few paths that would loop back around to his herbs quick enough, but he didn't know where anything else was or how to get to it.
First, Evergreen decided to stop by the kitchens to get hot water and honey before heading to the Princess' room, though he still wasn’t sure that he knew where that was.
Evergreen was only certain he'd gone in the right direction when he saw a sudden influx of guards. When he trotted closer he spotted Silver Spear, whom he greeted with a small smile.
The guard's response was only a side eye and then a questioning look.
"Th-The princess asked me to come at moonrise.." Evergreen said once he'd realized that the princess mustn’t have informed him.
Silver Spear continued to stare at him, his look getting even more questioning as the moments passed. By the time Silver Spear moved, Evergreen had begun to feel sweat beads on the back of his neck.
The guard levitated half of the door open and stepped inside, "Your majesty," he started, "The herbalist is here." Evergreen figured that no guards normally announced guests, being that it hadn't happened to him before. This fact made Evergreen feel more out of place.
"Send him in." Evergreen heard before Silver Spear stepped aside to let the herbalist through. Evergreen assumed the stallion was surprised but, naturally, he couldn't tell as he looked as emotionless as ever.
"Um, good evening, Princess." He said as he entered, his voice only getting caught in his throat a bit.
"Good evening." She said as she sat down on the couch, "I hast sorted the paperwork for thou." She explained.
"I see," he said, "Doest thou have a headache?"
"Indeed, and it is dreadful." she moaned, not taking her eyes off the paper.
He levitated a ginger slice toward her and soon began pouring the water and lavender tea into the teapot. He made the mint and green tea out of the kettle which initially held the plain hot water.
Once the tea started seeping, Evergreen looked up to see Princess Luna make a very amusing scrunched face likely due to the ginger's heat. Evergreen almost laughed but caught himself, clearing his throat instead to hide an embarrassed blush. The only two thoughts going through his mind is that she can't find out that he almost laughed at her and that she definitely can't find out that he almost laughed because he thought it was cute.
He sat and started pouring his tea, and then the princess'. He levitated the tea over to her just as she levitated a stack of papers over to him, slightly but noticeably bigger than last night's pile.
"Here is thy tea." Evergreen said as the princess took her cup into her magical grasp.
"Thank thou." She said before trotting to her desk.
Evergreen looked at his pile and read the top paper. Requesting permission to build a house on a cloud from a pegasus named Star Puff. He read through it, nothing concerning seemed to be there so he set it down separate from the unread ones.
Within a few moments of reading, Evergreen took a sip of his tea before standing and trotting to the princess' desk.
"All of these seem innocent." He announced, holding a stack of half a dozen forms. Levitating one away from the others, he quickly gave the synopsis of the report before levitating it to the Princess. She then grasped said report in her own magic and searched through the pony’s lineage.
Once that small stack was done, Evergreen returned to his unread paperwork pile and continued reading, repeating the process from before twice more. When he was finally done, he found that an hour had passed, but passed quickly and peacefully.
Despite just reading through paperwork, Evergreen quite liked helping. Reading about different ponies' wishes was interesting and of course, helping a princess was an honor. He stood an informed the princess of the last few reports in his pile. After checking the lineage she glanced at the clock, “Oh.” she said quietly. She turned her attention to Evergreen, “I had not realized how late it had gotten.” she said with a small frown.
“I do not mind.” Evergreen smiled.
Luna seemed to relax as she smiled back, “Still, thou should get some sleep.” Just as Evergreen was going to argue that he wasn’t tired, she spoke again, “And I must begin dream walking soon.”
“Ah, I see.” Evergreen nodded, she mustn’t want him her for that, which was understandable. He knew about many spells, much more than the average unicorn did, but of course there were spells that were far above him. He assumed that dream walking was one of the spells reserved only for the highest of nobility, the alicorns. “In that case, I shall take my leave.” He almost offered to come back again, but he didn’t want to intrude, “Good night Princess.” he said instead.
“Good night.” she said as he turned towards the door, levitating his tea jar in the process, “... Um..” she mumbled, causing the unicorn to stop and turn to her, she cleared her throat, “If you wish too, you may come back tomorrow at moonrise.” she said, “Thy help is welcome.”
Evergreen could feel his heart beating in his chest but he ignored it to smile, “Then I will see thou tomorrow. Good night.”
“Good night.” she said, seeming quite happy to have the promise of Evergreen coming back, perhaps his help was indeed relieving a bit of her stress?
Evergreen trotted out the door and nodded to Silver Spear, “I’ll be back tomorrow.” He informed him, just in case the princess wasn't going too.
The guard gave him a confused look but it quickly disappeared with a small shrug and a nod back.
Evergreen couldn’t help but grin as he headed back to his workspace. It was such an honor to help the princess, and perhaps her headaches will soon be gone if he is able to lift enough of the workload off her shoulders.
He stepped inside, ever so quietly, he didn't need a bubbly Iron Root awake at the moment. He traveled to the bedroom door but stopped himself just before entering. He glanced at his workspace, neatly organized as always. Iron kept true to his word of not making a mess. Evergreen stepped towards his desk and levitated the green tea out, along with aloe vera, calendula and oatmeal, the last of which is not something he grew but always had on hoof as it was an ingredient in many poultices. Truly, he could use more aloe instead of oatmeal but oatmeal was cheap and less work to get than aloe.
He pushed all the new ingredients back so they wouldn't fall off easily if Iron trampled into his desk, and then he quietly went to bed. He hoped that at least getting the ingredients out tonight would help him in the morning should someone come while he's still waking up.
He stared blankly at the snoring foal in his bed before sighing and trotting to the far side of him. Shoving a pillow between them to avoid getting kicked as he laid down and quickly fell asleep.
