Princess Celestia vs. the Shingles Virus

Dr. Mohs could not believe what he was seeing in front of him. Princess Celestia, one of the four benevolent rulers of Equestria, had a painful virus in her system that had been planted in her body since her fillyhood. Sighing heavily, he stepped away from the pained Celestia and looked over towards Luna and Twilight, who had concerned looks on their faces.

"Well, what is it, doctor?" cried Twilight, giving the dermatologist a concerned look. "Come on, we need to know."

"Well, your highnesses," he said, adjusting his glasses. "I can say this. Princess Celestia does appear to have a very large red rash on her back. I would strongly recommend to give her some medication to help her rest and reduce the pain."

"But, it wasn't any ordinary rash, doctor," replied Luna. "If it was a normal rash, she wouldn't be screaming like this and you wouldn't be discussing about giving her medication to ease the pain."

"And I am very much aware of that," said Dr. Mohs, taking off his glasses. "However, I'm afraid that this is no ordinary rash. The rash that is on her back is what we shall cautiously term as a case of Herpes Zoster."

Both Twilight and Luna looked at each other with concerned looks.

"Now, if you don't mind my asking," he said, taking off his glasses for a brief moment while looking directly at Celestia. "Did you have the Horsey Hives as a filly, Princess?"

"Well, yes," replied Celestia, nervously. "I did have the Horsey Hives. Both Luna and I did. Why do you ask?"

"When foals have the horsey hives," answered Dr. Mohs. "The virus does not go away entirely. It goes into a dormant period where it doesn't activate unless something happens to the body's immune system. If you don't mind my asking, Princess, have you been involved in anything particularly stressful lately?"

This caused the three alicorns to glance over at Dr. Mohs with a shocked expression on their faces.

"Why do you ask?" remarked Celestia, who was now letting out sharp groans. "Being a princess is never easy, Dr. Mohs. You know that."

"I do know that," he said. "However, in the short time that I have known you, Princess Celestia. I know that there have been times that you have found yourself in situations that were indeed stressful. Was there anything that had happened to you that caused you to become more stressful than you already have?"

Celestia merely turned away from her dermatologist and sighed heavily. In her mind, she knew where this was possibly going towards and she wasn't going to like it. But, for her own health and for the sake of her fellow princesses that were in the room with her, she had to open up.

"Well," sighed Celestia, as she felt another sharp pain in her back. "I still have been nightmares of when Tirek threw me, Luna and Cadence into Tartarus during his rampage. Apparently, those memories have not gone away and every day, I continue stressing about whether something like this will happen again."

Both Luna and Twilight were stunned to hear that Celestia was still feeling troubled by the events with Tirek. Even though those events were long ago, the memories appeared to still be there.

"Why didn't you tell me about this, big sister?" cried Luna, walking over to her sister.

"Because it was my burden to bear, Luna," answered Celestia. "I made horrible decisions during that time and I feel like I am being punished because of it, just like all the other times."

"What other times, Celestia?" asked Twilight, as Celestia lowered her head in exhaustion and said nothing.

"It's no use, Twilight Sparkle," advised Luna, draping a wing over the Princess of Friendship. "It appears that my sister doesn't want to talk about anything that has been stressful to her."

…

At that moment, Dr. Mohs sighed and looked back down at the virus that now rested on Celestia's back. He knew that Celestia had to do something that she didn't want to do, but it was going to be the only way if she was ever going to beat this virus.

"I'm not going to get into your personal matters, your highness," he said, sitting in a doctor's chair. "However, I will ask you this: have you ever thought of stepping away and taking a break from your royal duties?"

This caused Celestia to weakly turn her head over to Dr. Mohs.

"I'm a princess of Equestria," she said, weakly. "I can't take a break from my duties. I need to raise and lower the sun every day for one."

"Which you can still do," replied Dr. Mohs. "But, I am also talking about just doing anything that is stressful for you. From what I see, your immune system has been severely weakened as a result of these stressful events. I know for one that the events with Tirek might have been the nail in the coffin for your high stress level, princess. I'm afraid that I am going to have to recommend possibly stepping aside from your royal duties."

"I can't do that, Dr. Mohs," moaned Celestia, who was too weak to react in a shocked manner. "You know that I can't just step down from my royal duties. Do you even know that…?"

"Listen to him, sister," pleaded Luna. "If your stress level caused you to have Shingles, then you must step down for not only your benefit, but for ours too!"

Celestia fell silent and as much as she didn't want to face the possibility of stepping away from her duties for a brief period of time, she had no other choice.

"Let us do your work for a few days," suggested Twilight, walking over to her fallen mentor. "We care far too deeply about you and you being better from the Shingles virus is what you should be focused on right now."

Celestia simply let out a small cry and rested her head on the table, not wanting to believe that she had to possibly do something like this: stepping down from her schedule of overseeing Equestria and its subjects. She was tired, she was exhausted, she couldn't think straight. But, this was all a sign, a sign that she needed to do just that.

It wouldn't be an easy transition, but it would be something that was going to indeed help her get better in the long run…