Hey everypony, welcome to chapter 9 of this oh so popular story. This chapter will no doubt test Luna's skills as a mother. Will she succeed? Let's find out.

It was another day at Canterlot castle. Pip was asleep in bed. His mother came in and noticed this. She walked up to her sleeping child.

"Pipsqueak. It's time to wake up, sweetheart" she said, nudging him with her nose. Pip slowly opened his eyes and let out a yawn.

"Morning, mom" he greeted her. He then got out of bed and followed his mother. Unexpectedly, he sneezed.

"Bless you" she said and he thanked her. They then headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

-The kitchen-

Pip and his mother were now eating breakfast, with Pip eating cereal. However, there were moments when he would let out a sneeze; more often than a pony normally should sneeze. He then let out yet another sneeze.

"Are you alright?" Luna asked her dear son with concern.

"I'm fine, I just *cough* woke up funny. *cough* *cough* *cough*" he covered his mouth with his hoof. Luna continued to have a look of worry for her young foal. She wasn't sure why, but she had a feeling that her little colt wasn't doing so good. Call it mother's intuition. Pip let out a huge sneeze and sniffed. Luna decide to see what was wrong and placed her hoof against his forehead.

"Baby, you're burning up" she said with concern, noticing his forehead was extremely hot, as if he had a fever. In fact, he did have a fever. He coughed a few time before collapsing in his mother's arms. "Pipsqueak..." she said, holding her sick child in her arms.

-Moments later-

After having had her son collapse, Luna brought him back to his room where she placed him in his bed and tucked him in. Pip's eyes began to slowly open, and then began to look at his mother.

"M-Mom?" he asked weakly.

"Shh! It's Ok. Let me take your temperature" she said. She then used her magic to levitate a thermometer into her son's mouth. Seconds passed and she read the thermometer. "Oh no. You're definitely sick, sweetness" Luna said while petting his mane. "Is there anything you need?" she asked him.

"Can you tell me a story?" he requested.

"Ok, I'll tell you a story" she said with a loving smile. "Once upon a time, there was a brave pony by the name of Captain Pipsqueak, fiercest and toughest pirate of all the Equestrian seas..." she began. Luna figured that since Pip loved pirates, she thought it'd be best to tell him that kind of story. With him as the main character no less. "Unlike most pirates from his time, Captain Pip fought evil pirates and gave back the treasure that they stole from innocent ponies" she said. "In the end he became a world famous pirate, and very wealthy at that. Even in his elderly years he always did right. He would then die peacefully in his sleep" she concluded.

"Wow, that was a pretty good story" Pip said through a stuffy nose. Luna smiled lightly.

"I thought you'd might like it" she said. "Stay here while I go get you some soup" she told him, rubbing his head lovingly. She then left his. When she walked down the hall, she was met with her older sister.

"What's wrong with Pip? I heard you two talking in there" Celestia asked.

"My poor baby's sick" Luna replied.

"Aw, how sad" Celestia said, feeling bad for her little nephew.

"Yeah, I'm going to bring some soup" she said.

[20 minutes later]

"Ok, I'm back" Luna said, entering her son's room with a bowl of soup. "Carefully, it's hot" she said placing the bowl in front of him.

"Smells good" he said.

"Would you like me to feed it to you?" she asked. He nodded in response. Luna used her magic to levitate a spoonful of soup into Pip's mouth. The soup was full of noodles and vegetables, such as carrots and celery. A few minutes later Pip had finished eating the contents that were in the soup. His mother had told to drink the broth because it was good for him. He drank the broth. He then sneezed, leaving some snot run down his nose. Luckily for Luna she was able to put up a magic health force field so she would catch Pip's cold. She used a tissue to wipe the snot from his nose. He also let out a cough. "Alright, get some rest little one. Sleep will help you feel better" Luna said, stroking her child's mane. Pip sniffed and went to sleep. Being sick made his body feel weak, so he would sleep easy. Luna then kissed her right hoof and touched Pip's forehead. "Sweet dreams my son" she said, and then exited her room. When she left, it was at this very moment that her dear son was having a very important dream...

-Pipsqueak's Dream-

During his slumber, Pip was having a dream. Pip was now in a hospital somewhere. He looked around and saw a pony in a hospital bed. The pony was a mare and she had a lavender coat with a white mane and tail. She had blue eyes as well. Her cutie mark was a ribbon tied into a bow

"What the?" Pip was now confused. Why was he in a hospital? More specifically, why was he watching a mare sitting in a hospital bed?

"Here's your baby, Mrs. Kindra" a doctor said, handing her a newborn baby foal. Pip then walked up to the bed and stood on his hind legs to get a better look. Now that he thought about it, the mare that he saw was somewhat familiar.

"It's a colt" she said, although with no enthusiasm what so ever. Pip got a closer look at the foal and his eyes widened in shock. The colt that he saw before him... was him. And if this was him as a newborn... then that meant...

"What are you going to name it?" a stallion asked while walking up to Kindra.

"Pipsqueak..." she told him. Pip backed away in shock. There was no doubt now. The made before him was in fact his mother... his blood mother. He couldn't take all of this in. Now would as good of a time as any for him to wake up. He shut his eyes tight to exit this memory.

-Pip's Room-

Pip woke up and he immediately started coughing.

"You ok little guy?" a voice asked him. Pip turned his head to see a mare standing beside her. She was a pink pony with the mane color of purple, yellow, and hot pink. And the surprising part was, she was an alicorn! The same species as his aunt and mother. Did that mean this pony was a princess too?

"I'm fine *cough* who are you?" he asked her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Princess Cadence" she introduced herself.

"Princess Cadence? Ruler of the crystal empire?" he asked.

"The same. You must be Pipsqueak" she assumed. He replied with a nod. "Yeah, you're Luna's son. Guess that makes us cousins" she said, smiling. He weakly smiled back. "I usually go by Princess Cadence, but today you can call me Nurse Cadence" she said, using her magic to turn her crown into a nurse hat and tie her hair into a ponytail. Pip was about to let out another sneeze, but Cadence put a tissue to nose before he could. She sighed in relief. "Alright Pipsqueak, your mom told me to make sure you took your medicine. So drink up" She said while magically pouring liquid medicine into a spoon. She attempted to give him the medicine, but he refused. "Pip, you have to take your medicine" she tried to put it in his mouth, but he shook his head. Cadence sighed. It was then that she got an idea. "Pipsqueak, what's your favorite flavor?" she asked him.

"...Grape" he told her. Cadence smiled and turned the medicine the flavor to grape. She then attempted to feed him the medicine for the third time in a row. This time she was actually able to get the liquid down his throat. "Good, now your mother should be here soon" she told him.

"Where is she?" Pip asked. Cadence smiled.

-Ponyville-

"So why are you here in Ponyville again, Princess?" Twilight asked Luna. The two of them along with the other mane six were in Twilight's library.

"Pip is sick in bed and I'm here to get him some tea" she explained.

"Uh, don't they got a whole lot of tea in Canterlot?" Applejack asked, knowing that Canterlot ponies drank a lot of tea.

"Yes, but I figured I could give him tea from the place where he grew up" Luna said. "That, and Ponyville has some ingredients for tea that Canterlot doesn't" she added. The girls agreed.

"Wait, does Pip even like tea?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Not really, but if I put some honey into it and make it grape flavored, he'll probably be Ok with it... probably" Luna told her.

"Here's some honey" Pinkie Pie said, pulling a bottle of honey out of Fluttershy's mane. Fluttershy gave her a surprised look, as did the others along with Luna.

"Uhh... thanks?" Luna said with an awkward look as she put the bottle into her saddlebag with her magic.

"And as for the grape flavor..." Fluttershy began, and then whistled with a hoof to her mouth. This caused a few rabbits, deer, and raccoons to appear with grapes.

"Thank you, woodland critters" Luna smiled as she placed the fruit into her saddlebag as well.

"Hey, maybe we can come to Canterlot and throw Pip a 'get well soon' party!" Pinkie exclaimed. The others - especially Luna- gave her a glare. This caused her to shrink back a bit.

"In any case, I hope the little sweetie feels better" Rarity said.

"Thank you, Rarity" Luna said with a light smile. "Well, it's time for me to go. My son needs me" she said as she stood up.

"Wish him our best, Princess" Twilight said. Luna nodded and then headed back to Canterlot.

-Canterlot Castle-

Luna was walking through the halls of the castle and had reached her son's room.

"Your mom should be here soon" she heard her niece's voice.

"I'm back" Luna said, walking into Pip's room. "Thank you, Cadence. I think I can take it from here" Luna told her niece as she entered Pip's room. Cadence left so Luna could take care of her son. "How are you feeling, sweetie?" she asked him.

"*sneeze*... not so good" he said.

"Got a sore throat?" she asked. He nodded. "Here, this tea should help" she said, levitating the cup of tea to him. "Careful, it's hot" she told him. She then blew on the tea to cool it down for him. Once it was cool enough, Pip took a sip of the tea.

"Mmm, grape and honey" he said, licking his lips.

"Be sure to drink it all up" Luna told him. Pip did as his mother told him and drank the amazingly good tea. Luna then placed a hoof on Pip forehead.

"Hm. You still have a fever, sweetie" she said, taking her hoof off his head. She made her horn glow and an ice pack appeared in front of her. She then placed it gently on her child's forehead. Pip sighed in relief.

"Thank you" he said to his mother. Luna stroked his mane lovingly with her hoof.

"Get well soon, sweetie pie" she said, walking away. She turned around, kissed her hoof, and blew it at her son. Luna closed the door and held her hoof to her chest with concern.

"Is something troubling you, little sister?" Luna heard her sister as she walked up to her.

"Nothing. I'm just a worried mother is all" Luna told her with worry.

"Worry not, little sister. I'm sure he'll be better by tomorrow" Celestia told her with a caring hoof on her shoulder. Luna gave a slight smile and she and her sister walked off into the castle to let Pip get better. Hopefully, the young prince would feel better by tomorrow.

-Dusk-

Luna was on one of the balconies of the castle, doing the her job of lowering the moon. It was at this moment that she heard small hoofsteps coming. She turned around to see Pipsqueak.

"Good morning, sweetie. Feeling better?" she asked her son with a smile. He nodded, but he was looking down. "What's the matter my little foal?" she asked him with a worried look.

"I... had a dream the other day" he told her.

"What about?" she asked. Pip looked off to the side, not knowing how to tell his mother. "Pip. I'm your mother. You can tell me" she said, holding his chin up with her hoof.

"Well... you see... I had a dream about... my birth mom" he slowly told her. Luna closed her eyes, lit up her horn, and touched Pip's forehead with the tip. She had used specific spell to search through Pip's dreams until she found what he was talking about.

"I see..." she said.

"Yeah..." he said. There was a moment of silence between them. Luna decided to break the silence by smiling and holding her son in an embrace.

"Oh, Pip... I love you so much" she said, and then kissed his head. The two stayed in each other's embrace for a good time.

And there you have it, Chapter 9. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Remember to read, review, and favorite/follow