The ties that bind us

The ties that binds us
Chapter 3
One day at a time

“Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.”
“Well, pray if you like, only you'd do better to use your judgment.”
“We are asleep until we fall in love.”

The beeping of a heart monitor, the taste of blood on his tongue, and the jumbled mashed up words of the ones looking after him were the first things Neon could process as he began to come around.

“Look he’s coming around.” Said one of the castle orderlies racing over to Neon’s side to begin taking his vitals.

“Neon, are you okay?” Asked Cadence as she made her way over to him.

“What happened?” He asked sitting up slowly before Cadence placed a hoof on his chest- making him lay back down.

“The dragon express came with news from the battlefield, and when you learned that Aunt Luna had been hurt you fainted.” Explained Cadence pulling out another scroll. “But there’s been another message since then.” she held it out in front of her as she read it. “Cadence, Luna is on the mend and will be fine, keep Neon away from here at all cost; we don’t need him here if the Griffons decide to attack again.”

“Why don’t they trust me, as long as I have drunk within the last day I won’t frenzy during battle, why won’t they let me help?” Roared Neon as the heart monitor beeping increased with his agitation as Cadence used her magic to hold him down.

“It’s not that they don’t trust you Neon, you’re needed here and now that Aunt Luna’s been hurt she doesn’t need to have her attention split between having to fight and protect you, and don’t say she doesn’t need to.” Snapped Cadence as she seen Neon about to interrupt. “She loves you whether or not you are strong enough to fight on your own she’d still want to be there to keep you from getting hurt, and if that were to happen it would likely get both you and her killed.”

“So you say!” Spat Neon still fighting against Cadence’s aura. “Let me go I have to get to my Mother, I have to take her place, she can switch with me; come back here and take care of her night until she gets better, so she doesn’t get hurt worse.” Neon continued thrashing about until Cadence came up and slapped him.

“You’re an idiot if you really think that would work, why can’t you understand that they only want what’s best for you. Say Aunt Luna did come back and you took her place fighting the Griffons beside Aunt Celestia; do you really think that would help any, she’d be so worried about you that she wouldn’t be able to focus on running the kingdom, that and she has thousands of years more combat experience than you, do you really think a twenty-three year old Pegasus, even if he is a vampony could fight better than a three thousand year old Alicorns, with all the powers of the moon to assist her.

“But she’s hurt.” Said Neon starting to cry and Cadence let him out of her aura and hugged him noticing he had given up.

“Yes, but Neon she’s a strong pony she’ll get through it, I mean she’s been hurt before, and I don’t think Griffons can cause as much damage as Discord, or Windigoes or any of the things Aunt Luna and Celestia’s faced before, now come on we need to get you changed you’re starting to smell.” Smiled Cadence as she helped Neon to his feet and took him to the nursery.

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“The wounds have closed well; you should be able to fight at a hundred percent in the next battle, your highness.” Said the Doctor as he cut the last stitch and pull the wiring out of Luna’s flank.

“Thank you Doctor for all your help.” Smiled Luna as she stood gingery testing out how much weight she could put on her back legs without pain.

“The pleasure is all mine Princess, please be careful out there; we couldn’t afford to lose you.” Said the Doctor bowing and leaving the private medical tent that had been sent up for Luna to go and see to the other soldiers.

“Tia, do you think Cadence will be able to keep Neon in check?” Asked Luna as she stared out of the open flap at the morning sky.

“ She’s not going to let anything happen to him Luna, he’ll be fine, she’ll keep him safe and away from her, even if she has to lock him in his crib; I sent her a letter telling them you would be fine and to keep him away at all cost.” Explained Celestia looking pensively at her sister.

“I just worry you know, I miss him.” Sighed Luna trying to keep from crying.

“I know Luna, I know and I’m certain he misses you just as much.” Celestia hugged her sister and the two of them left the tent and walked among the soldiers, enjoying the sun as it was sunny even if it was cold.

“How goes it your highnesses?” Asked one of the soldiers as they walked past.

“It goes well, thank you.” Replied Luna smiling as he saluted them and went back to sharpening his blade.

“It’s so quiet.” Sighed Celestia as they had reached the clearing where last night battle had taken place.

“Yeah.” Luna nodded looking out over the bodies that they had not yet been able to bury, and the plots of those who had. “We need to do something for them Tia, so anypony who passes can know what happened here and pay their respects.”

Celestia nodded and using their magic both gathered metal ore from the surrounding mountains and formed a gate around a fair amount of the clearing, creating a makeshift cemetery covering the graves of the dead and leaving enough room for the many more graves to be made, they then made headstones for each.

“I’ll gather the date of birth for each of the dead.” Said a commander coming up behind the princesses and bowing. “Thanks for everything; I’m sorry it had to come to this.” He sighed as he bowed and looked at the ground remorsely.

“Don’t be sorry, we are the ones who should have seen this coming and prevented it.” Sighed Celestia as she waved her hoof at the officer telling him he should rise.

“We don’t blame you, you did what you could; It’s the Griffons fault, such bloodthirsty creatures.” He spat as he stood and looked into the eyes of the Princesses

“No, instead of showing them that they could not push me around and praying they wouldn’t attack; I should have prepared and showed them that they would do better to keep peace.” Sighed Celestia as she remembered the decades of peace talks and striving to show she'd prefer peace and kindness over action and intimidation.

“They’d have still attacked us; that what I think, but I should get those names so we can get some pony started on them.” The Commander bowed and walked away

“Tia, how are they going to know who’s who when they’ve been buried?” Asked Luna as they walked back to their tent.

“They wear tags that have their name and rank on them and if they die the collection teams take their tags off when they bury the body and place them on the plot until they can make a stone for them.” Said Celestia remembering the wars that had happened after Luna had been banished and they started using the tags to identify the bodies of the dead.

“Oh.” Smiled Luna as they entered the tent and they laid down to rest.
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“Neon fell asleep after I fed him.” Answered Cadence as she entered the dining hall and the servant asked what had happened to him.

“Oh I though only Princess.”

“That only his mother breastfed him, nah, it’s nothing I haven’t done before being as foalsitter.” She smiled as she knew the two of them were growing closer.

“You care about him don’t you.” Said the servant; it wasn’t a question as she had lived long enough to know when a young mare had fallen in love.

“Yeah, but as we’re in a war it’s not really time to be telling him about how I feel, after all, all we can do it’s take one day at a time.