The Best Night Ever (Private with The_Pariah)

Paladin starts to sprint, arriving at the doors, before bursting in, taking in the scene.

The guards at the main door raise their spears at him. "Halt! You are under arrest for-"

"Detention postponed!" Ician snaps. "Follow us for now, and lead us to the medical wing."

"Yes, sir." The guards follow him quietly. A little smile tugs at the edges of Ician's mouth as they progress further into the castle.

Paladin kicks open the medical wing doors. "Where is Princess Celestia?"

All eight guards in the room raise their spears at him. "Halt! You are under-"

"Detention postponed, for goodness' sakes!" Ician growls. "Where is the Princess?"

"Here, sir." They show him to a nearby bed, where Celestia lies motionless, her eyes closed. Luna kneels next to her, rubbing her stomach gently and whispering into her ear.

"Ah shi- ... Stage three. Balls. Like, on a scale of 1 to 10, this is at least 69." He looked around. "Does anyone have a scalpel?"

A brief click echoes into his mind. No helping her. Then, with another click, it falls silent.

One of the nearby medics hands him a scalpel wordlessly. The other soldiers, however, keep their spears in the air.

"Well, you see, I'm not allowed to help dear old Celestia. However, if I were to say, gather all the ingredients, and spill them on the the ground so they formed the antidote..." He shrugged, before cutting himself and letting his blood spill. He smiled grimly as he spilt a dozen different chemicals onto the ground.

"I'm... pretty sure that's unhygienic." Ician said.

"Who's to say you won't poison her again, traitor?" Luna glared at him.

"Would you rather she die? AND WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I'M A TRAITOR?" He points to the mix, which had now turned a cheerful shade of yellow. "There's your antidote."

"Because you were under mind control." Ician answers as his horn flashes, collecting the solution and pouring it into a nearby conical flask. "He's allegedly under a truth serum, Princess, which ought to negate the mind control. So it's your call."

"Oh? Did you tell you that while he was under mind control?"

"... Yes." Ician admitted. "As I said, it's your call, your highness."

"I..." Luna hesitates.

Paladin sat down, watching his blood drip on the floor. "Please Princess..."

"I... I..."

The door flies open. "Do it." A familiar voice orders.

Ician turns. "Lady Plant?"

"Do it." A dishevelled Plant stands in the doorway. "Princess, I... believe he's telling the truth. I really do. But you must hurry."

Luna looks at her, then Ician, then Paladin. She quietly turns to her sister and upends the flask into her mouth.

Paladin breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank god..."

Everypony watches Celestia intently, waiting for something to happen. But nothing does.

After an agonising minute, the medic approaches and lays a hoof on Celestia's heart. He turns to the others and announces, "Stabilised."

A collective sigh of relief echoes about. Lady Plant nods, a quiet smile on her lips, and motions to the others. "Alright, it looks like we're done here."

"Let's go." Ician adds. The guards dutifully filed out of the ward. "But Paladin... you'll probably still be under house arrest until we can figure out how to remove your spell. Alright?"

"No." Paladin shakes his head.

Ician frowns. "There's no telling what the mind control is going to make you do. Unless you can assure me that you'll be able to resist it..."

"Haha..." Paladin wavered. "It's not that... I'm bleeding... heavily."

"Huh? Ah, damn it." Ician looks down at him, a concerned look on his face. "I knew I'd forgotten something." He ushers Paladin quickly back into the ward and lays him down on a bed. "Medic!"

A doctor comes. "Yes?"

"Bleeding profusely." Ician gestures to Paladin. "Help him."

"Yes, sir." The doctor departs.

Paladin collapsed, sliding into unconsciousness.

[Back later. Also, time skip?]

((Sure. Unfortunately, I have to go now as well, I think for a few hours. Sorry about that.))

[Dang it. Ah well. Can you post first, so when I get back, I have something to respond to?]

((Sure. Though I haven't actually planned that much further ahead, nor do I actually have a complete storyline in mind... in fact, this is probably going to be more of a documentation of everyone's lives on a daily basis once the action dies down. An exciting documentation, granted, but still... Also, I'm a bit tired of playing GM, so my ideas might be a bit... stale, I suppose.))

Slowly but surely, the rooms swirls back into focus as Paladin wakes up. The harsh artificial light of the medical bay shines down on his face. A veritable mound of bandages presses down on his wounds.

[Well, you don't have to GM, given that it will be a rp between friends]

He groans, blinking repeatedly as the lights beat down on him.

((Well... then who controls the world? And other NPCs?))

The doctor approaches from beside him. "Are you feeling better?"

[We do, together.]

Paldin shrugged. "Well, have you removed the mind control?"