Plea to the Princess

[Sky Blue]

Royal Palace
/#\-/#\-/#\ *** ROYAL PALACE *** /#\-/#\-/#\
The Royal Palace is the crown jewel of Canterlot, spiking like a system of stalagmites from the Ponyville side of Canterlot Mountain. The palace is surrounded by a lush botanical and zoological garden and also adjoins a world famous sculture garden and hedge maze. Its exterior is rich and impressive, made of white stone and ivory, mixed with a dazzling array of other colors and patterns. The various turrets and towers are built in peaks, onion domes, gables, and more, and many of them bear balconies, parapets, awnings, flags, or flower ornamentation.
On the inside, the palace is no less astonishing. Its tremendous foyer is crisscrossed with red carpet and hung with tremendous tapestries. Throughout the palace, unbelievably tall stained glass windows provide an air of solemnity and gaeity at once. In the Hall of the Elements, these windows are especially haunting, telling the stories of battles with Discord and Nightmare Moon. The palace has countless rooms, from the guard halls to the guest rooms to the throne room. Finally, Princess Celestia's private suite, done up in swirly purples, is furnished with a hearth, rug and bolster, ornamental window, and miniature trees.

Luna will just be over by the window, then, where a blue light is cast over everything as shards of stained glass float up off the floor and are given very thoughtful stares. Some of them are already being rearranged into crude statues of cats.

Princess Luna
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The royal presence! Of the divine princesses of Equestria, Luna is the night herself. She towers over other ponies, with long legs and a face as elegantly feminine as a statue. Eyes the aquamarine of settling twilight are framed by long lashes and angled with the same graceful lines as her muzzle. Her coat is much deeper, the indigo blue of a moonlit night. Mane and tail are a mere royal blue, glittering with stars and transparent at the edges. They shift in the slightest breeze, or at her whim.

She's not merely taller than other ponies. A horn longer and sharper than a unicorn's thrusts from her forehead, and tucked against her sides are wings broader than those of a pegasus. Just in case, somehow, all of this doesn't clue you off that she's a princess, a pitch black tiara sits beneath her horn, and around her shoulders she wears a black metal yoke with a crescent moon painted on it.

Oh, and on her royal backside is her cutie mark, the same crescent moon glowing white on a black mass like spilled ink.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

BANG. The door fly open once more, this time by a rather out of breath, tired-looking cyan filly, who hobbles a few steps forward, pauses, and then dramatically collapses onto the ground, panting heavily.

Sky Blue
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Just half a head taller than most fillies her age, Sky Blue is otherwise quite unremarkable for an Earth Pony, being of a fairly standard build and possessing a brilliant sky blue coat, no doubt the source of her name. Her mane, a mostly tied-back affair that doesn't so much resemble a proper ponytail as an incredibly poor attempt at one, consists of sunset gold hair, the same colour as her eyes, tied back in a few places with cheap yarn. Her tail, the same colour as her mane, is pretty much just left to hang as it is, without any sort of attempt to neaten it up. Positioned upon her flank is a simplistic Cutie Mark representing the Sun, without any further embelishments.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Luna reacts to the door slamming open the same way she did last time: She disappears, reappearing in a flicker of shadows behind Sky Blue, reared on on her hind legs, horn raised! Since the collapsed Sky is about as threatening as a groundhog, she drops back onto all fours and nudges Sky's neck with her muzzle. "Pollyapple? Are thee alright, foal?"

After taking a few heavy breaths, Sky Blue shakes her head, and then struggles back up onto all three hooves and cast, before moving over to lean heavily upon the Princess of the Night, at which point a hoof is thrown about her. "Ah'm so glad t'see ya'll, Luna," the cyan filly confesses, hugging into the much older mare tightly. "Ah really need yer help."

Celestia trots into the throne room from her chambers. "Luuuuuuna? Luuuuuunnnnnaaaaa? Luuuuuuuunnnnnaaaaaaa?" a sing-song-like voice sweeps through the palace before she trots jovially into the open. "I do hope that you're in the mood for Monopony! I just had our delightful little finance minister fellow rig up a set of rules! I believe he calls it 'Advanced Monopony'. It even came with a constantly running stock tic-" the Princess's rambling is suddenly stopped by her opening her n.n sort of eyes and looking over to a broken stained glass window (with a few stained glass cat sculptures sitting nearby) and Luna standing behind a collapsed pony. "..."

Princess Celestia
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Luna extends her wing as Sky drapes herself over Luna's shoulder. It lifts Sky right off the floor as if she were a stuffed doll, scooping her farther over Luna's back as Luna walks back into the Hall. The fragments of window are still sheathed in blue light, including the cat sculptures. When you're a princess, you can maintain magic like that even when you've forgotten about it. RESPECT, PONIES! Celestia's voice draws Luna's eyes, but rather than guilty she smiles in relief when she sees the Princess of the Day. "Celly! Thank Harmony. The filly must be desperate to come to the princesses for help. What is wrong, foal? Are thee injured? If Celly cannot cure it, we will find some pony who can."

"Oh! Goodness! Good evenin', Princess Celestia!" Sky Blue announces as the Princess of the Day draws nearer, at which point she clumsily attempts to bow, before giving up and laying out across the darker princess. "Ah have one real urgent thing, and one more private thing, but the urgent thing comes first... cause it's urgent," the cyan filly informs the two alicorns, before adding, "Ah know y'both know about mah record with clumsiness and property damage... well, ya'll'll be glad t'hear it's nuthin' to do about that. A filly friend of mine, a real nice pony called Salsa, who runs a sauce shop over in Ponyville, got in trouble 'cause she lost her temper at some fancy restaurant and kind of threw a vase at someone, before she was taken off t'hospital fer some sort of tests. Problem is, the person she clonked is a real big donater to the hospital, and ah reckon he's had a hoof in things t'make sure they won't let Salsa out. They say she's real unstable. Ah'm sorry t'bend yer ears like this, but she's been a real good friend t'me, and ah didn't know who else t'turn to."

Celestia lets out a breath of relief upon realizing that Luna is, indeed, not responsible for the collapsed pony. Whoo. For a second, she was worried that Luna was scaring the life right out of every pony that walked through the doors. "Lulu! And yes, I recognize this little one..." Celestia says with a tender smile before stepping over towards the duo. "Oh... oh my..." the Princess muses softly as her horn glows a golden aura. "Now, where does it hurt, dear little Sky Blue? We need to get you healed, first, before we can help your friend."

Luna's mouth tightens, and her eyebrows press together solemnly as she looks up at Celestia. "We cannot interfere with such a thing, sister. And yet, we cannot not interfere. It is one thing to give an order, and another to override the legal order of others because of a friend's request." Tilting up her wing, she turns sidelong to Celestia, making herself an examination table with Sky Blue laid out on top.

"Well... mostly mah leg," Sky Blue replies as she jerks her head over towards her right hindleg, which is incased in a somewhat dirty cast. "But, mah leg ain't that important, Yer Highnesses, and ah wasn't wantin' ya'll t'be all un... oh... ungood, ah just really want a doctor that ain't involved with that hospital t'review Salsa. It'd be mighty rude of me if ah were t'expect ya'll to break the law just 'cause ah ask ya'll."

Celestia looks over to Luna with a small, knowing smile. "And I do believe, my beloved sister, that you just summed up the great dilemma of ruling," the Princess of the Sun says with a little, wistful sigh. "Dear little Sky Blue..." the Princess muses quietly as that golden aura slowly begins to surround Sky's leg. The Princess draws silent for a moment before concentrating for a moment. "Your bandages beneath are dirty. You need to have your cast removed, the bandages replaced and the wound cleaned, and a new cast put on. And you need to slow down," the Princess says, her voice growing stern. "If you want your leg to heal, you must get some rest, and stay in one place for a while." The Princess's golden aura then disappears and she takes a step back, smiling gentle to the filly. "As for your friend... well, you said she threw a vase at someone?"

Luna hmmms, mouth pursed. "We might merely inquire. Even asking for a second opinion will seem like a demand. If we merely express an interest in the pony herself and meet with her, the hospital will not know what it is we want, and will resort to the most honest job that they can to feel safe in case they are on the wrong side of a royal decision."

"Only a small vase..." Sky Blue replies, smiling meekly, before adding in a low voice, "Well... a big vase. And ah know, Princess Celestia, ah've been tryin' real hard not t'move about too much. Pumpkin Seed and Pumpkin Patch've been both real kind and takin' me about to places, when ah get too stir crazy in the farmhouse. Ah didn't have time t'go get them, as ah was so worried about Salsa, and... well, ah really appreciate it, Luna; Princess Celestia." With a more heartfelt smile, she snuggles into the dark alicorn's wings and comments, "Ah'm so lucky t'have family like ya'll. Well... Luna. Ah've adopted her as mah aunt. Ya'll ain't quite uncle material, Celes- Princess Celestia, but ah... well, ah just really appreciate both of ya'll's friendships and all ya'll've done fer me."

Celestia looks up to Luna and gives her head a simple shake from side to side, a serious expression settled across her normally jovial face. "I am serious, little Sky. You must not move much, or your leg will never heal," the Princess says softly. "Now, about your friend... Salsa, was it?" she asks quietly. "You just have to think about what you're asking us to believe - that some pony who has donated considerable money to a hospital for the purpose of helping other ponies now wants to hurt your friend out of spite? When your friend is the one who physically attacked him?" she asks quietly, trying to let it soak in for the filly. "When it is clear that perhaps your friend would benefit from a stay at the hospital, given she did assault someone?"

"Well... it was this donater pony's son... his party was bein' real mean to me and Pumpkin Patch when we were out on a date, and she told them off once for it, and they continued makin' mean comments, so she... well, that's when she threw the vase at him. The problem is, ah asked the head doctor there for Salsa to get another opinion, and they told me know. They said she wouldn't ever be allowed to leave and that she was really violent, but ah know Salsa ain't. Her sister's always in the hospital - she seems t'think she's a dog - but she's in a nice wing, and Salsa's in this wing filled with mean ponies and bare rooms and stuff. Ah know she ain't dangerous, no matter what them doctor ponies say, and... ah'm sorry, Princess Celestia," Sky Blue concludes with an embarrassed expression upon her face. "Ah feel real strongly about this, but ah feel real bad fer goin' on at ya'll about it."

"Again, little Sky Blue," Celestia says to the little filly quietly. "You simply must understand my position. If all you say is true, then yes, it is an injustice. But that would indicate an awfully significant level of corruption in as benevolent an organization as the Ponyville hospital, and could result in many ponies losing their jobs. Possibly very good ponies," the Princess continues softly, a little frown across her face. "I do want to help you and your friend," Celestia says with a smile down to the little filly. "But this is a very difficult thing you ask me to do."

After a few moments, Sky Blue lets out a heavy sigh, then leans up to brush her muzzle up against Princess Celestia's tenderly, then leans back down onto the very comfortable wing of Princess Luna. "Ah know, Celes- Celestia," she responds, a small smile appearing on her own face, before she adds, "Ah feel real bad fer Salsa, but... ah do understand what ya'll mean. Ah just hope she gets better soon. She does make the most wonderful sauces... and... well, ah've got another favour t'ask ya'll. A much more personal one, if ah may."

Celestia smiles down to the little filly. "I promise I will do what I can to ensure everything works out for the best," the Princess says with a kind smile before kissing her gently on the cheek. "You are a loyal friend to her, and I have great respect for you in doing so. You will be a fine mare when you grow up. And yes? What might that be, little Sky Blue?"

"Well, y'know how... well, ah'm not exactly the most graceful of ponies, and things tend to... well, break when ah'm about, and ah know it's a lot t'ask, but..." Sky Blue pauses, takes a deep breath, then lets it out, before explaining, "Ah've already cost the Pumpkin Family a real lot, bit-wise. Ah really like 'em, and they're takin' real good care of me, and ah've started bein' real careful - no proper accidents in the past three days! - but ah know they can't get as much work done and get back the bits ah've lost if one of the brothers has t'look after me all day. So, what ah would like t'ask is: can ah stay here, in the castle, with ya'll and Luna? Ah promise ah won't get in anypony's way, and- and ah bet ah'll bet there'll be a real nice pony about the place who could help me read'n write'n do numbers. And ah like comin' up here t'spend nights with Luna, as ah know she don't get as many guests as ya'll..."

"Of course, little Sky Blue. I shall give you some private quarters in the palace, so long as you promise to be very careful. Especially in areas where things are breakable," the Princess says with a smile.

"Oh, thank ya, Celestia, than ya, so much!" the cyan filly exclaims happily as she sits up and throws her forelegs about the Sun Princess in a tight hug, her eyes closed and an overjoyed expression on her face. After a few seconds, she adds, "And ah promise t'be real safe around breakable things. And stairs. Both of them."