A Cuckoo in the Nest

“Sister, I am much improved” said the white alicorn sitting up in her bed “I am moved to return to my duties and ease the load that you have been carrying so admirably over the last few days.”
“It has presented no difficulties, Sister” replied Luna, moving in close to show her sisterly affection.

“No, I have been far too self-indulgent and am eager to resume my schedule” she persisted.
“Please, take your time and when you are ready I shall work alongside you until you are fully recovered.”

“I am fully recovered” insisted the white alicorn forcefully, causing Luna to recoil in surprise.
“Then we shall meet at sunrise tomorrow and I will brief you on the night’s events.”

“Very well. I shall discharge myself from this place and return to my private chambers for the night, then meet with you at sunrise as you wish.”
“Yes, yes, of course Sister” confirmed Luna taken aback by her abruptness “Sleep well big Sister. It is nice to have you back.”

The white alicorn said nothing more and Luna saw herself out, still trying to reconcile the harshness of her sister’s tone. She had been warned by the Royal Physician that she wasn’t yet right, and vowed to give her space while she settled back into her role of Diarch of the day. Still she felt a little uneasy, but dismissed the notion as overprotective nonsense - everything was fine.

Come the morning, Luna waited in the dining room for her supper as the smells of breakfast for her sister wafted in from the kitchens. She had ordered the pastry chef to surpass himself in honour of her sister’s return and it certainly looked like he had risen to the challenge. Her favourite tea was also being steeped in readiness for her arrival, the gentle suffusion mingling with the other appetising smells that made their combined mealtimes so magical.

After a slight delay, the majestic white pony swept in and surveyed the scene, taking in the scrumptious spread of all different kinds of cakes and fancies.

“Good morning Sister” greeted Luna “I trust you slept well?”
“Thank you, yes” came the terse reply “I am ready for your briefing.”
“I have ordered cake and the tea is prepared to your taste.”
“I have already eaten in my room” she replied, “Let us continue with the handover.”

At this point, alarm bells were going off in Luna’s head; this did not seem like her sister’s usual temperament at all – far from it. All she could think of was that the stress of Sunchaser’s disappearance must have affected her far worse than she had realised, and blamed herself for not having been there.

All of the serving staff including the Maître d’ felt a distinct sense of unease at the personality change they were seeing play out in front of them, but in accordance with their strict code of deference, nothing was said.

***

Celestia’s Court held its first session in days and as Luna insisted on coming along to assist, the two ponies met each other’s gaze.
“I told you Sister, I am perfectly fine. You fuss too much. Do you not see me as fully recovered?”
“Well actually Sister, you do look fine, but …”
“Then why the mollycoddling? You have worked hard; please take yourself to bed, you have more than earned it. You are just overwrought; some sleep and the whole thing will look completely different, I assure you.”

Unwillingly, reluctantly Luna did have to concede that she was tired, so took the advice. Her sister had always exercised the better judgement, after all.
Luna shot one last glance back at the white alicorn she thought she knew so well and turned to her bedchamber, telling herself she was just a little too tired.

“First petitioner!” announced the Court Administrator “The Apprentice to the Royal Astronomer.”
“Your Majesty, your Majesty!” stammered the excited unicorn “It’s the sun! Something’s wrong with the sun!”
“Clear the Court!” demanded the white alicorn “I will talk with this fellow alone. We cannot have unsubstantiated rumours circulating or there will be panic. Clear the Court!”
The guards did as they were bidden, shepherding out everypony except for the young apprentice before casting a final eye around the room and then closing the doors behind them.

“And what do you think you’ve found?” asked the alicorn with a deep hint of menace completely overlooked by the excited young stallion.
“The sun! The sun has an alicorn’s head on it your Majesty, just like when the moon held the image of Princess Luna!”
“How many others know of this?” she asked.
“Only me! I wanted to alert you at the earliest opportunity!”
"And earn the recognition for having discovered it all by yourself, I suppose?”
“Yes, your Majesty” he confessed, blushing at the abruptness of the observation.

The sunlight streamed in the through the high gothic windows.It was a bright morning.
“Step into the light” said the alicorn conspiratorially.
“You know it’s unsafe to look into the sun, your Majesty?” he said, a tremble of uncertainty entering his voice.
“Oh yes” she purred, “I do know.”

A green aura spread from her horn and the unicorn found his head magically trained towards the sun and his eyelids forced wide open. He tried to scream in horror, but found himself unable to utter a sound. His body shook uncontrollably as he summoned all his physical and magical strength to stop this act of folly, but no matter how hard he tried, it was like his head was held in a giant invisible vice refusing to allow him even a fraction of movement. As he screamed internally, the full glare of the sun drove into his eyes and his sight grew to register nothing but an orange glow and then finally blackness as his eyesight departed from him completely.

High up on Celestia’s throne a white alicorn laughed scornfully, finally releasing her magical grip on the apprentice astronomer and listened to the thump as his body slumped onto the ground. She watched the wisps of smoke rise from his eyes and leered triumphantly.

“I could never allow you to tell anypony else about that, now could I? Surely you can see” she said in mock sympathy.
“Oh, that’s right, you can’t see any more can you!” she laughed manically as the faint trails of curling smoke were the only movement from the young stallion’s body.

***

The court was abuzz with the terrible accident that had befallen the young apprentice astronomer. The white alicorn was distraught, saying how he had looked straight up into the sun even though she had done her best to stop him and that by the time she had reached him, it was all too late.

A terrible accident.

Court had continued, but the white alicorn kept breaking off from what she was doing to dab her eyes and berate herself for the poor young stallion’s fate. Eventually it became clear that very little else was going to be achieved during the day, so Court was adjourned until tomorrow, everypony reassuring her that there was nothing she could have done and she really shouldn’t continue to blame herself.

Such rich emotions to feed off, she thought as she gorged herself.