Meet the Princess

Alternate Title: Yay! I wrote a lot of words!

Her voice was like velvet, “Welcome, Eris.” It was funny how those two simple words meant the world to me.

Time seemed to stop, but I still walked alongside Soft Wing. Well, I wasn’t so much walking of my own accord as much as I was pushed by Softie. He held his left wing slightly extended and used it to nudge me forward.

Thoughts were still racing through my mind as we reached the halfway point to her throne. The first thoughts had been rational, if not maybe a bit extreme. But the nearer I drew the more paranoid I became. Suddenly I was worrying about seeing royalty in my current condition, covered in bandages. What if I offended her somehow? How am I supposed to address royals anyway? I didn’t even know what kind of meeting this was going to be!

I could rule out political, obviously. The only other possibilities my mind could conjure were a welcome, an investigation, and damnation. I prayed to whatever powers ruled this world that it would be the first possibility. Hell, even the second was fine, honestly. I just really didn’t want to end up in jail, or banished, or dead, or anything else negative.

Oh shit, I thought, what if she really IS a god! Does that mean she can hear my thoughts? Would that just be a spell? Maybe it would be passive (that would get annoying). My mind went off on another tangent about major and minor actions and I failed to notice that we were at the base of the throne.

“Soft Wing, Eris, I thank you for arriving so promptly,” my head snapped up. It actually hurt to move my neck so quickly; it was in a neckbrace for a reason afterall.

The first thing I noticed about the sun diarch was that she was absolutely stunning. I mean, she was a pony, but she was a breathtaking pony. Her coat almost glowed it was so pristinely white which complemented her glowing mane perfectly. Her mane did indeed flow ethereally in some inexistent wind as it sparkled in its full pastel glory. And of course, there was her royal regalia. Had she been anyone else, I would think it superfluous to have such delicate gold adorning her figure. It somehow managed multiplied her awe. One look at her and you knew the definition of beauty and refinement. Through the goddess-like looks though, I could feel something even more influential. It was power. Pure, unadulterated, power.

She radiated beauty and oozed power. She carried herself with grace and poise while at the same time seemed ready to call out battle orders at a moment’s notice. It was the perfect combination for a ruler. It was also absolutely terrifying.

I managed to peel my gaze from gawking at her to the guards that flanked the throne. They were also pretty intimidating. In the show, I really thought them to be almost comical, and the ones I’d dealt with up until this point had been so… calm? Was that the right word? … regardless, they were nothing compared to the harsh glares I was getting from these stoic soldiers. They looked ready to rend my flesh from bone with their spears, and they probably wouldn’t hesitate to do so if I gave them a reason.

I felt Soft Wing shift next to me. I looked over to see him lower himself into a low bow, spreading the wing that wasn’t supporting me out as well. It was a pretty majestic sight. I felt awkward standing dumbly in front her, so I figured I should try to show some respect as well.

My mind may have been scattered and paranoid, but it knew I had to do SOMETHING. Bowing was out of the question, so I guessed a wave would have to do. I raised my paw, but that didn’t seem like enough. I had to say something to show I respected (feared) her. So of course, in my mental state, I summoned the most eloquent utterance I could muster.

Unfortunately, whatever I had planned went out the window as soon as I opened my mouth and squeaked out a stuttering, “H-hi…”. Yup, “hi”. That was apparently the best I could do. And my luck would just have it that my voice was shot, coupled with the respect (nope, still fear), so it came out awkwardly choppy and soft.

Fuck me, was all I thought. This whole ordeal had gone on long enough! The suspense was killing me and I just wanted to get whatever done and over with, because the longer this was dragged out the more insane I became. I was absolutely terrified. It seemed like hours had passed since we first entered the chamber, though it had only been a couple minutes realistically.

Soft Wing groaned and rose from his bow as I dropped my hand back to steady myself with his help. Softie definitely had the proper reaction to my lame greeting. Hell, I had the same feeling about it. The guards didn’t react at all. And then there was Celestia. She laughed. That was the last thing I expected. Maybe it was a patronizing laugh before she shot me to the moon. She had to at least been making fun of me.

Her laugh was soft and short-lived, but it was as beautiful as one would expect. The sound of her laugh was like soft bells. Like crisp silver bells ringing in perfect pitch and tone. She didn’t have to regain her composure after laughing because she never lost it. It just fit perfectly into her actions. I literally could not comprehend how she did it.

“Hello to you as well, Eris. As I mentioned, I would first like to thank the two of you for arriving as swiftly as you did. I hope that you were not too rushed,” she said perfectly, of course.

Softie spoke up before I could even gather my thoughts enough for another “hi”. “It was your guard who flew us here so quickly. And we we’re fine, your highness. Eris is well on her way to recovery.” He spoke with reverence, but it very rigidly. I guess I wasn’t the only one impressed by our audience.

“That is wonderful to hear,” she then shot me a smile that could probably bring someone back to life. I just stared blankly at her, hypnotized, but she didn’t seem to notice (or care), “I apologize, but I would rather skip the pleasantries and get right to the point so that you two may get on with your days. I have asked for you to appear before me so that some questions may be answered. You arrived under very mysterious circumstances, Eris, and I would be very appreciative if you could provide some insight into the subject. I have arranged for you, Eris, to stay comfortably here at the castle and also for you, Soft Wing, as her care-giver.”

Wow. I was not expecting that. I’ve lost track of how long I’ve been awake in total, but I know it hasn’t been that long, and I was already in with the princess and staying at the castle? It seemed way too good to be true. Also, she was weirdly ambiguous yet forward with her wording. Did anyone else notice that? Softie’s jaw was hanging slightly open so I know he was thinking the same thing I was.

All in all it was a pretty sobering experience. I was so terrified, and then she just says that wants to know how I got here. That thought was a whole other mind-breaking concept to me. Thankfully, this one made my mind stop completely rather than run a million miles per hour.

Softie stole a quick glance in my direction, “P-princess, all of this for such a simple request? I’m fairly sure she’s well enough to answer your inquiry as soon as possible; there is no need for us to inconvenience you.” It was funny to see Softie so confused.

“I assure you it is no imposition,” she responded, “Though if you are insistent that Eris,” she nodded in my direction, “is well enough, then I don’t see why we cannot get to the bottom of this situation sooner. I have to say, though, I think all of us would feel more at ease in a more casual setting,” there were those bells again, “How would you two feel about joining my sister and I over dinner tonight? There you could relax after your hectic weeks, get a nice meal, and we could converse better.” She was smiling slightly. Her demeanor hadn’t wavered once throughout the entire meeting.

“Of course, your highness, that sounds wonderful.” Softie still sounded breathless, but I could detect some hints contempt. I couldn’t help but think he wanted to just get this thing over with, but he went along with Celestia’s idea. Well, when the ruler of your land asks you to dinner, who are you to say no?

“Excellent!” The smile on her face could not only be seen but heard in her voice. She was suddenly full of energy and joy. “I will have some of the guard show you to your rooms so you can settle. Dinner will be just after sundown so I shall see you then.” And with that, she nodded to the guard on her left who nodded back.

The guard then began walking towards the door through which we entered. Both Softie and I were absolutely dumbstruck. For a moment, we just stood there, mouths agape, before Softie remembered how to function properly and quickly bade the princess farewell and spun on his heels. I didn’t move until I felt him nudging me with his wing. I simply raised my paw yet again in a lame attempt at a goodbye. She gave a light giggle and raised her hoof at me as well.

And with that, we were whisked out of the throne room, through another door, down countless hallways and through some stairwells, and eventually landed at our destination. No words were spoken the entire trip nor were any glances shared between myself and Softie.

The guard who had led us stopped in front of two doors next to eachother and spoke, “These are the guest rooms, which house all sorts of guests of the royal family. You’ll be staying in these two. I’ll come get you when it’s dinner time,” the guard then left, most likely to return to Celestia’s side.

“I do not think I’m entirely sure what just happened,” Softie said after a moment.

“Yeah, same here.”

“Well, let’s get some business done before dinner,” I looked down the hall to see the sky reddening through a window. Softie pushed open the closest door and motioned for me to enter.

I hobbled inside, made my way to the bed and all but collapsed. Oh the bed was so soft! It was plush and down and just perfect. I just wanted to stay there forever. Unfortunately, my respite was short-lived.

Soft Wing sat on the edge of the bed and gave an exasperated sigh, “Give me a few minutes of your time and then you can nap until dinner,” I grunted out a ‘no’, “Eris, this is important, now listen.” He was in no mood to play.

I slowly pushed myself up so my back was against the headboard. I was too tired and sore to say anything, so I just glared at Softie. He sat at the foot of the bed with a small, sippered pouch. Where he’d kept it up until no, I don’t have a clue.

“Okay, these are the medications you’re going to have to take,” he began pulling out orange pill bottles and held each one up, “This is a very heavy sedative, which you actually need to take right about now. It’s for the worst of your injuries and once you heal a bit, you can stop taking it. As I said, it’s very powerful so don’t take it more than twice a day; once in the morning and at dinner should suffice. This one,” he held up another bottle, “is a very low dose pain killer. It won’t interact with the sedative so you can take it if you experience any pain in between the sedatives. There’s an antibiotic medication I want you to take every day until you’re tiniest scratch is healed,” he pulled out the final bottles, “And muscle relaxants which will help you get sleep after you’re off of the sedatives. AFTER… you’re off of the sedatives.” He stressed the last part.

That was the most medication I’ve ever had to take in my life! It also sounded dangerous. I’ve never been fond of medicine, even aspirin, but something as powerful as the sedatives actually kind of frightened me.

“This is important! Would you please pay at attention?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” whoops, “What’d you say?”

He sighed heavily, “Actually, how about I hang on the medicine, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan, Softie.” That works, I thought, I’d probably lose them or forget to take the damn things.

He cringed visibly, “Soft. Wing,” he said slowly, “My name is Soft Wing, okay? Anyway, it’s time for you to take this,” he handed me a small green and red capsule and got up to get me a glass of water from the en suite bathroom.

It was small and easy to swallow even without the water. I wondered how powerful such a small amount of medicine could really be, but I hoped it was pretty damn powerful as I was numbing pain began to creep back into my wounds. Thankfully, it was evident after a few minutes that the size of the pill didn’t matter.

I was in heaven. Soft Wing had left the room for a few minutes to do… something… in his own room, but I was in heaven. I was laying on the bed with half-lidded eyes and my mouth hanging a bit open feeling like I was floating. I could now see why people did drugs, especially prescriptions. I didn’t have a care in the world.

I didn’t notice Softie had returned until tapped me to get my attention. He looked clean and smelled ever so slightly like flowers, so I guess he’d gone to clean up before dinner. “Eris…”

“You clean up niiiice, Softie,” I slurred.

Soft Wing ignored me as propped me up against the headboard again, “I need to refresh your bandages and it’d go a lot better if you worked with me, okay.” I was completely still, laughing, leaving him to try and pull my form back and up into a sitting position.

“Ha, at least I’m not working against you,” I knew that was a rude thing to say, but it was a little funny, and on medication, it was REALLY funny. I’m not sure why I didn’t just sit up. I blame the drugs.

“Just… just stay still while I put new gauze on, okay?” I kept slumping over to one side or the other. Eventually, Softie just stacked pillows on either side of me. He then pulled patches of gauze and some rolls of soft and stretchy cloth out of the bag that had my drugs.

He then went about meticulously checking all of my injuries. His face melted from a grimace of exhaustion from having to deal with me to one of serene calm as his eyes darted over my wounds.

He started at my head. After picking at the end of the wrap around my head, he finally began to slowly unwind it. He tossed the wrapping into a trashcan and slowly peeled away a patch of gauze just above my left temple. He hissed and I felt some resistance when he pulled. Softie quickly met my gaze, but I guess my blank stare tipped him off to the fact that I felt nothing as he continued to slowly pull the gauze free and threw it in with the wrapping.

He then started dabbing the wound with a warm rag. Where did that come from? Once it was free of any crusty blood, he then rubbed a cotton ball of alcohol on it. When did he bring all of this in? He locked eyes with me again, I guess expecting me to wince from the alcohol, but I met his gaze with a dopey grin the entire time. He then cleaned another wound I wasn’t aware was on my head, just above and behind my left ear. After both were cleaned to his satisfaction, he placed clean white gauze on them and swaddled my head in a new wrap.

Next was my eye. I think had I been in my right mind I would have been very worried about my eye. After all, I only freaking SAW out of it. The eyes are just tender spots that freak me out. I think that it’s warranted paranoia as they are very important organs. Also very sensitive… very very painfully sensitive.

My eye had one of those big, sticky patches over it, so Softie peeled that off while holding the underlying gauze one. When he finally took the gauze away, his stoicism was almost broken as his own eye twitched. I probably should have been worried about such a reaction, but I wasn’t. Instead of using alcohol, he used some other solution I didn’t know. I felt nothing so I cared not. He then quickly replaced the old gauze with a fresh and folded one and then finished it off with a new eye patch. I love how I couldn’t feel the apparently painful ripping off of bloody bandages and the smearing of alcohol on open wounds, but I could feel the sticky edges of the patch adhere to my fur.

Next up was the wrap around my chest. The same happened with a wound on my left ribcage that had happened with the others and I was soon wearing a clean wrap.

Since the rest of my injuries consisted of a splint on my right ring finger and tail and a cast on my left leg, they were left as they were.

With everything done, Soft Wing packed the rest of the clean gauze and wraps up, threw his gloves away, and got off the bed. Had he been wearing gloves this whole time? I pondered how I’d missed so many obvious details as I slowly slid back down onto the bed and Softie returned the pack to his room. I actually hadn’t noticed he’d left until he returned, along with his regular scowl.

“Ugh, really?” I giggled from my position on the bed. I was still giggling when the guard from earlier came to get us for dinner. I was still giggling when Softie tried to get me off of the bed. Eventually I stopped giggling, though, as he did succeed in getting me to stand mostly on my own.

Soft Wing stared at me for a minute before undoing the Velcro of my neckbrace and removing it completely. Don't I need that?

And then we were off to see the Princesses!

Author's Note

Hello all! Once again, I waited WAY too long to get you guys another chapter... hehe, sorry about that. If you're at all interested in the excuse I have, I put up a very ranty, very sleep-deprived, and very migrainy exlpaination in my blog thingy. It's probably painful to read, but It was late and I'm lazy, so deal.

So, yeah, this chapter is actually moving! I have to say that I'm almost proud of this chapter. Not only is it over 3,000 words, but I feel like my skill as a writer is improving a bit. Though I could just be crazy and it still sucks. Either way, here it is!

I just finished up the last 1,000 words dealing with 2 midgets I nanny. I've been here since 6am and will be here until 5pm WHEEEE! IT'S ONLY 10! :'D I hate children

You guys know the deal now, comment with what you think is good, what sucks, any mistakes in grammar or continuity, blah blah blah... Though I do feel I must make this disclaimer: PLEASE do NOT post what you think *should* happen or message me about how you don't like something because you would have done it differently. Kind suggestions are nice, but I've had people message me basically being asses about how they don't like my story because I'm not writing the story they want and then tell me how the story should go. My suggestion to you guys if you don't like my story: Don't read it. Trust me, I'll understand.