A/N - Howdy everypony! I told you all I wasn't going to let this story die! It might have taken longer than I planned on, but I'm back and ready to go again! Unfortunately though, thanks to several changes that have happened in my absence, I will only be able to post every other week for awhile, though after this, I'll be returning to Wednesdays as my update days. Sorry for the inconvenience, but this is the best I can promise for now. I would also like to thank each and every one of my awesome readers who sent me well-wishes, either through review or PM, during this difficult time. As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!
I cracked my bleary eyes open slowly, and the first thing I saw was light; glorious, golden sunlight streaming in through the curtains of the balcony door. I could feel the soft movements of sleeping ponies breathing lightly against me, and I knew that at least some of our little herd were still in bed, peacefully sleeping near me.
"Good morning, my dear." Celestia's warm voice said from above me. I turned my gaze upwards and saw the matronly mare smiling down at me, her beautiful face bringing peace to my mind, which had begun to stir with the previous day's events. "I hope you slept well; you have been asleep for nearly fourteen hours."
Someone stirred against me. "That's right Sugarcube, and we stayed right by ya tha whole time." Her voice was tired, but I could tell that AJ had already been waking up by the time I had started to. I felt her gently nuzzle my neck, sighing softly. "We were worried about ya, Hon… y'all looked like ya were about ta keel over when ya came home, and then when Luna took ya ta bed, y'all practically passed out before we got ya there."
I felt a large wing wrap around me as my country marefriend finished speaking. "She's right… you were delirious by the time you finished the second bowl of soup last night." This voice came from Luna, and floated in softly from the same side as Applejack.
I groaned and turned my head to look at her, seeing both of their faces through my clearing vision. Both of them looked relieved. "I… I don't even remember eating last night… I don't really remember much after I walked through the door." My head was pounding lightly from my previous exhaustion, and I could tell that, while I needed it, my body didn't appreciate how long I had been asleep for.
Luna's relieved face turned downward into a frown. "I was afraid of that… you were so exhausted, so mentally and physically drained from your ordeal, that your mind failed to commit some of yesterday's events to memory. That is not a good state to be in, my love." There was worry in her tone, but not much, as though what she was speaking of was only a minor concern.
I nodded slowly, and rested my head on what I had thought to be a pillow, only then realizing that it was, in fact, Celestia's warm, soft side. "I know Lulu… But I just couldn't leave Mitta out there any longer." I groaned again, and tried to sit up as I remembered about the mare from Sunny Town. My efforts were foiled by Luna's wing pressing gently down against me, preventing me from rising. "Where is she? Is she alright?" Even as tired and drained as I was, I couldn't help but put her well-being over my own.
The Lunar Diarch spoke softly as she lowered me back to the bed. "She is well, my love; she is still soundly sleeping in the bed you placed her in when you brought her here." Her words brought me a modicum of relief at least. "We have also asked Twilight to relay a message to the Ponyville hospital to send somepony over here to check on her, and ascertain her physical health for us."
That was another weight off of my shoulders; while I knew a great deal about first aid and nursing people, and by extension ponies, back to health, I had practically no training or knowledge of caring for an unconscious person or pony for any length of time, and we had no idea when the poor mare would wake up.
True to their word, one of the doctors from Ponyville General stopped by a short time later to check on the sleeping mare, and informed us that she was fine, and would likely wake up again within the next day, having only suffered frm a case of sensory overstimulation.
After the exciting news that the doctor had given us had worn down somewhat, the rest of my day was spent in bed, with my marefriends seeing to my various needs, and either Celestia or Luna staying by my side at all times, to ensure that I didn't try to leave. I could understand their worry; after what I had been through, and how long I had slept afterwards, I was bound to be in bad shape still. Though that didn't mean that I enjoyed it; I had never been one to let anything keep me down, and I didn't intend to let a little fatigue floor me now.
With that in mind, I took the opportunity of Celestia walking out onto the balcony to lower the sun to make my move; quietly, I uncovered myself, and made my way out of the room and into the hallway, keeping my eyes and ears open for anyone who might be passing through.
Seeing that the coast was clear, and feeling very much like an escaped convict in my own home, I tip-toed my way downstairs, and into the kitchen to make myself something to eat. It was only a little victory, making food for myself, but it felt immensely good to be out of that bed for even a short while.
I made my sandwich, and plated it up. As I turned to head back upstairs, I found myself face-to-face with a less than pleased Celestia. "So, this is where you ran off to." She said quietly, eyeing my sandwich. "You do remember that we told you to stay in bed, right?"
I nodded with a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, but I was hungry, and I was tired of asking you all to do things that I can do for myself..." I gave her a playful smirk. "Besides, I'm stubborn." It may have been said in jest, but it was absolutely true at the same time, and Celestia knew it as well as I did.
The Mare of the Sun rolled her eyes, and levitated my newly-made sandwich up to her mouth, taking a bite and chewing. A pleased moan rolled through her throat as she chewed, and she licked her lips when she swallowed. "I must admit love, even something so simple as a sandwich is delicious when you make it."
I looked at the large bite taken out of my meal, and sighed. "Thanks… I think." I really had been looking forward to that sandwich, and while I had no problem eating after her, or any of my other marefriends, something about the missing bite just made the sandwich feel… different, in a way that I really didn't know how to describe.
The tall mare in front of me giggled. "Oh, don't worry; come back up to bed with me, and I'll make you a new sandwich to replace this one."
I groaned, and was tempted to point out how that was exactly what I had just tried to get away from, but I knew it would be pointless, so I decided to drop the issue and follow her back up to the master bedroom with my partially eaten sandwich.
The two of us entered the room, and Celestia sat me down on the bed, eyeing me several times as she turned to leave and make a new sandwich for me. I groaned when she was gone and sat fully on the bed, crossing my legs under me and using the crook in them as a makeshift tray for the plate that my sandwich rested on.
Just as I finished my first sandwich, Celestia walked back into the room, carrying a plate with two more sandwiches on it. I eyed the plate for a moment, and looked back to the mare carrying it. "Feeling a little hungry too, Tia?"
The alabaster mare shook her head with a smile. "Actually, I made both of these just for you. I believe you will need them to get your strength back."
I looked back to the plate again. "I can't eat both of those, Tia; my stomach just wouldn't have room…" I didn't mean to sound ungrateful to her after the effort she went through to make them, but it was the truth.
The Princess of the Sun actually pouted at that. "And here I worked so hard to make these for you too…" Her bottom lip quivered, and her eyes glistened with tears.
I chuckled and shook my head. "Tia, if Rarity can't fool me with that, you can't either."
She giggled, and tossed her head up in the air in an obvious imitation of one of Canterlot's 'elite' ponies." Hhmph! Very well then, I shall simply leave you to starve, and feed these sandwiches to Aurora and Pabu, if you don't think they're good enough for you!"
I laughed harder at her as I caught her cracking an eye open to peek down at me before quickly closing it again. Quick as a flash, and while her eyes were closed, I snagged one of the sandwiches and took a bite of it, finding it to taste slightly off.
I did my best to swallow the strangely flavored morsel in my mouth, and Celestia opened her eyes. "So you do like it! She exclaimed before moving right up to me so that our faces were practically touching. "Well, what do you think?" She asked with a large smile.
I almost didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. "I um… What all did you put in these sandwiches anyway?"
"Well, there is lettuce, tomato, daisies, and mayonnaise."
My eyes widened slightly at the last ingredient. "But… we don't have any mayonnaise at the moment… I need to get some eggs from Fluttershy so I can make more."
The royal mare tilts her head to the side. "But, if not mayonnaise, then what was in the mason jar with the silver lid?"
I cringed at the question, realizing almost immediately what had been in that jar. "That… was crème fraiche… and it went bad about a week ago. I just hadn't gotten around to throwing it away yet."
I could already feel my stomach churning as the rancid, spoiled milk product settled inside of me. "Are you alright, my dear? You look very pale."
I shook my head with a groan as my stomach started to cramp. "N-no… that was… a milk culture…" I grunt out. "Lots of… bacteria…" I doubled over in pain then.
Something was wrong; food poisoning didn't set in this quickly. Celestia was at my side instantly as I curled up in distress. "Blake?! What's wrong? Please tell me!" She was nearly frantic as I clutched at my stomach, eyes squeezed shut in pain. I barely heard her as she bolted to the door and opened it. "Sister, come quickly! Something is wrong with Blake!"
What felt like years later, I heard Luna enter the room. "What is it, what has happened?!" Her voice sounded just as panicked as Celestia's had been, and seemed to grow even moreso as I imagined she caught sight of me. "Celestia! What have you done to him?!"
"I didn't mean to harm him, sister! I tried to make him a sandwich, and one of the ingredients I used was spoiled without my knowledge." Even through my own pain, I could hear the pain in her voice over what she had, in her mind, caused.
I looked up to her the best I could. "Not… your… fault…" I groaned, fighting around the pain in an effort to reassure her. "You… tried to do… something nice…" My breath was coming in short gasps, and I was fighting to stave off my own panic as my mind raced to piece together what was happening to me.
Luna climbed up onto the bed next to me then. "Blake, my love… please, tell us what's wrong, tell us how we can help you." I could tell that she was trying to make her voice soothing, but I could still hear the panic in it.
I turned my attention to her the best the pain in my gut would allow. "Hospital…" I croaked out, a sudden flare of intense pain turning my vision grey as I spoke. "G-get me… to… the hos… pital…" It was getting hard to think with so much pain swimming through my mind.
I could vaguely make out the pain of pulled muscles in my abdomen, but that was dominated by another, searing pain further in, right where my intestines were. I knew that that meant whatever this was likely wasn't being caused by the spoiled crème fraiche, at least, not entirely.
I felt myself being lifted up off of the bed by someone's magic, though I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes to see who it was. A moment later, I heard the door to the balcony open, and whoever was carrying me took flight, giving me a sense of vertigo and sending even more pain flashing through me, threatening to send me into unconsciousness.
I could hear whoever it was speaking to me, but I couldn't make out what they were saying, or even hear them well enough to make out who was speaking. I felt us land again, and the slight jarring motion caused my mind to blank.
The next thing I knew, my bearer was speaking frantically to somepony else, though I had lost my vision entirely, so I had no idea who they were speaking to, or what it was about.
As the pony carrying me spoke, my hearing faded, and I felt myself finally succumb to the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.
Celestia
"What do you mean you aren't equipped to deal with a human?!" My sister was shouting frantically at the poor nurse at the front desk while I held Blake in my magic. "Our Knight needs medical attention, now!"
I placed a hoof on her dark shoulder, and shook my head. "Luna, yelling at this poor mare won't get Blake admitted to this hospital. He does need medical attention, but if they can't provide it, then there's no sense in pushing the issue."
Fortunately, Luna seemed to deflate as she realized the logic in my words. "I… you're right, sister." She turned back to the mare once more, Nurse Redheart I believed her name to be. "I am sorry for speaking to you as I did."
To her credit, Nurse Redheart smiled at my sister. "It's alright, Princess; I can see that you're distraught, and I know of your relationship to Sir Marshall, so I can understand why you're upset." She turned and went behind her desk. "Let me page one of the doctors, and see if he's willing to at least take a look."
For some reason, those words caused me to look over at the human suspended in my magic, and my eyes widened in shock as I saw that his face had gone slack, no longer twisted in pain as it had once been. While a small part of my heart was relieved that he was free of his suffering, I knew what that meant. "Blake? Can you hear me?" I prodded him gently with a slippered hoof; I knew that it was a futile effort if he'd passed out from the pain, but my mind told me that I needed to try to reach him.
My words seemed to get my sister's attention, and she turned to us, her own eyes wide with horror and fear. "Sister! What's wrong, What's happened to him now?!" Her voice was borderline frantic as she rushed up to our human, and began trying to wake him herself. "Blake! Please, you must wake up!"
I shook my head again, and pulled my sister away from him with my magic. "He passed out from the pain, Luna; it's out of our hooves now, there's nothing to be done except hope that the doctor can find out what's wrong and help him."
My poor sister deflated further, and I envied her in that moment; with everything that was happening, she would not be blamed for showing these signs of weakness. I, on the other hoof, was allowed no such luxury, and had to maintain my composure, even though it felt like my heart might break at my love's condition.
Before anypony had a chance to speak again, the doors behind the receptionist desk opened, and a tan stallion in a white coat trotted through. "Good afternoon, Princesses." He said, greeting us cordially. "I see Equestria's resident human seems to be having problems. If you'll follow me, we'll take him to an exam room and I'll see what I can do."
The two of us started to follow, but I turned my attention to my sister before we stepped through the doors into the hospital proper. "Luna, my dear sister… I know this is much to ask of you, but will you return to Blake's home and tell everypony of what's happened? With how suddenly this came on, I'm afraid that they're all still unaware of his plight."
Luna looked like she wanted to protest, and I couldn't blame her; the stallion who held her heart was in dire condition, and I was asking her to leave his side in this uncertain time. After a moment of internal deliberation, in which time her mouth opened and closed several times to protest, she nodded. "Very well, sister. I would much rather stay by my love's side, but I understand that the others need to be alerted to his condition." She turned towards the exit of the hospital. "I will return once I have informed them, with or without them; they know the way here, and do not need me to guide them." She quickly trotted away, and I turned my attention forward once more, following the doctor before he had to wait any longer.
The doctor, who's name I hadn't yet gotten, led me into an examination room and motioned for me to lay Blake's insensate form on the bed. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as the stallion trotted up to him, and began his examination. My heart beat harder still as his face shifted with a gambit of emotions, from confusion to concern, and finally, uncertainty.
I took a step forward as he concluded his preliminary examination. "Doctor, do you have any ideas as to what could be causing this? He mentioned something about a bacterial culture in a spoiled milk product, but surely whatever befell him happened too quickly for it to be something he had eaten only moments before."
The doctor listened patiently as I went into further detail describing what happened to my poor human, though I did my very best to remain stoic throughout the explanation. When I was finished, he stroked his chin with a hoof in thought. "Hmm… yes, this doesn't seem to be caused by any sort of food poisoning. It can set in fast, to be sure, but nowhere near as quickly as you say it has." He turned towards the door, and looked back to me. "I'm going to order more tests for him, Princess. Please, wait here with him and alert one of the nurses if anything should change. I'm going to go and arrange for a few tests to be performed here." He left the room, and I let out the breath that I hadn't realized that I'd been holding.
My gaze fell on my unconscious lover, and I trotted over to him, resting my head on his shoulder. I could feel my heart sink as he didn't so much as twitch from my touch. "Oh, my love… why do these terrible things continue to happen? We promised you a life of peace and happiness here, and it seems that you've found anything but…"
After what felt like hours, the door to the examination room opened once more, and I quickly lifted my head, regaining my composure in an instant as I had learned to do after so many millennia. I watched as the pony stepped through, and sighed in mild relief when I saw that it was not the doctor, but my dear sister. As much as wanted answers as to Blake's condition, I was also relieved that I now would not have to face those answers alone.
I watched silently as Luna closed the door behind her, and approached the bed. "How is he?" She asked quietly. "Have the doctors been able to discover anything yet?"
I glanced down at our human for a moment, and shook my head. "They haven't. But, the doctor is out ordering tests as we speak, and will hopefully return soon." I sighed again, more heavily this time then, and looked to my sister. "I… I'm glad you're here, Luna. I don't know if I would have the strength to hear what the doctor says without you here for support."
My sister nodded briefly. "I know what you mean; I know that even though you've only recently declared your feelings for one another, that you've both harbored strong emotions for the other for some time." She let out a sigh of her own, and placed a bare hoof on our love's shoulder. "A lesser pony would likely claim that you have no right to feel this distressed over the situation, but our dear human has taught me enough about love to know that I would be wrong to say such a thing."
I gave her a weak smile. "Thank you Luna. I'm sure I don't really need to say this… but, you and dear Blake are really all that I have in this world. I love my student dearly, but you know as well as I that her life will be fleeting compared to ours." I felt the pang of pain in my heart that always accompanied that thought, and I could see the same pain in my sister's eyes; she had grown quite fond of young Twilight as well, after all.
The two of us didn't speak again for some time, the only sound in the room being the beeping of Blake's heart monitor, which was nearly as steady as the ticking of the wall clock. Finally, the door opened once more, and the doctor stepped through, accompanied by a nurse. "Hello, Princesses. I trust there's been no change in our patient yet?" The two of us shook our heads. "Well, I suppose we can take that as a good sign; at least he hasn't gotten any worse yet."
Luna glanced back to the prone form of our mutual love for a moment, and then back to the doctor. "Tell me, what tests are you planning? How soon will we know what's wrong with him?"
The doctor shook his head. "It's hard to say; we could know after the first test, or we might not learn anything new from any of them. Only time will tell for sure. But for now, I need to ask you two to leave so we can start the testing process."
Luna opened her mouth to protest, but I placed a hoof on her shoulder. "No, sister, he's right; we would only be in their way if we stayed here, and that would only serve to slow them down. Come, let's go and greet the others when they arrive, and give them a more detailed account of what's happened."
My sister sighed, and turned to follow me. "you're right again, sister. But can you blame me for being so worried about him?"
I shook my head as we exited the exam room. "No sister, I can't; you have never known romance before him, and it is plain for anypony to see that he is the only one who will ever claim to hold your heart."
Her head drooped as we walked, and she nodded. "You are right sister; were the unthinkable to happen… my heart would pass with him, and I would never love again." To most, he words would seem overly dramatic, but I knew that she meant them, from the very depths of her soul; if he were to perish, it would destroy my beloved little sister.
