Cadence hesistently placed a hoof inside the living room, or what was decided to be the living area for her and her guests. A bit of relief rushed through her as she saw a familiar face sitting on the couch, her husband, who hadn’t been in the room when she originally left it, was watching over a very disturbed Twilight. To say that Cadence was worried about Twilight would be an understatement. She felt the knot in her stomach grow tighter as she got closer to the pair.
Twilight stared blankly in the heat of the fire that lit up the room, dark bags had grown under her eyes from what must have been weeks of lack of sleep. Tomorrow would bring battle, and for two princesses bent on love and friendship, it would be a very hard fight.
Cadence sat on a chair, just on the other side of Twilight, and adjusted the blanket that had previously been resting on the arm of the chair so it now covered her wings. She stared at Twilight for a moment, her ears wanting to flop down at the sight of her fellow princess, an instinct that she was forced to ignore. She paused, unaware of what to do about the unbearable silence that filled the room. Shiny had no doubt felt it as well, as his facial expression showed both his worry and remorse.
“Flurry is in bed, she’s adorable but so energetic, it took twenty minutes just for her to go in her crib.” Cadence forced out a weak laugh, hoping to brighten the mood in any way possible.
Twilight puffed out a bit of air and showed a sad smile, her eyes dropped to the ground as she spoke, “She really is our only hope of survival here, isn’t she? The only thing keeping the Empire from freezing over.”
Cadence and Shiny locked eyes before looking back at the purple pony between them, “O-of course not Twily.” Shiny cooed.
“Our requests will have been met by tomorrow,” Cadence smiled, beads of sweat forming on her face despite the chilling temperature, “besides, even if we have to fight, we’ll win. We have three princesses ready for battle, not to mention the elements, by this time tomorrow, Equestria will be at peace once again.”
Twilight didn’t respond, her eyes just returned to the fireplace that warmed the room. “Twily, are you cold?” Shiny asked.
Cadence scanned Twilight’s body up and down as she realized the poor filly was shaking, “We have plenty of blankets, I can go fetch a maid to gra-”
“I’m fine.” She stated, cutting off Cadence’s attempts at kindness.
She exhaled, not knowing what she could possibly do for Twilight. “I understand your sorrow Twilight, I really do. Tomorrow is Hearth Warming,” Cadence stated, “And we’re asking soldiers to march into battle against their own people. It’s sad but...” Cadence looked down at her hooves, “Are we just overreacting?” her question, though spoken to herself, was one that she instantly regretted. For these were the words that finally snapped life into Twilight.
She looked to Cadence, meeting her eyes for the first time that night, “Of course we aren’t!” She spoke as she jumped onto all fours. Shiny instinctively back away as her jump made the whole couch bounce. “She lied to us Cadence, she betrayed ponies she called friends, ones she called family, how is this overreacting?”
Cadence, now fearing the beast she’d unleashed, stuttered with her words, “N-no I didn’t mean any-”
“I used to pride myself on how well I knew Celestia, on how close we were. We shared a bond that no other student and teacher had. I was her faithful student and she..” Twilight was clearly forcing tears from falling down her cheeks, “She has lost all my respect.”
“She’s lost mine as well,” Cadence agreed, “But I do understand her reasons, I wish she was honest with us but how could she be certain that we’d keep the secret? Why would she trust us with that information?”
“She couldn’t trust us?! Okay, well maybe she couldn’t, but it’s hard to believe that she couldn’t trust Luna.” Twilight scoffed.
“It had been years since she’d seen Luna, ponies change.” Cadence stated.
“It’d been years sense we’d seen each other before the wedding and yet I trusted you.”
“Twilight that’s different, we had a common enemy to rekindle our bond. Besides Luna had been imprisoned for a thousand years.” Cadence tried to keep calm but Twilight’s hostility had begun to spread.
“They’re immortal, shouldn’t that time be shorter for them?” Twilight spat, “I don’t expect you to understand, I was always closer to Celestia than you were.”
Cadence leaned towards Twilight, anger filling her eyes, she gritted her teeth, “Twilight how-”
“Twily,” Shiny attempted to calm them both, “Cadence, is right, it isn’t too late to go back to her and get a peaceful resolution, and if that isn’t an option for you, you know that we’ll always have you back.”
Twilight didn’t look at him, “Shiny, go to bed, Cadence and I can settle this ourselves.”
“Oh now you’re bossing around my husband?” Cadence accidentally allowed bitterness to get the best of her.
“You’re husband?!“ She yelled, “He’s my broth....”
Cadence watched as the young princess broke in front of her. Twilight’s spirit seemed to shatter as tears slowly, yet surly, drifted down her cheeks and muzzle. She sobbed and both Shining Armor and Cadence rushed to hug her. To hold their friend, to hold her sister.
“Twilight, what Celestia did was unforgivable but she only separated us because she cared about us.” Cadence cooed.
“She practically raised me Cadence,” Twilight spoke through shaky breaths, “She has been with me my entire life and yet she never told me that she was our mother. She never told the country of the wars she’d faced, she’d never told anypony anything, she lied to us all.”
Looking back, Cadence realised how easily she was fooled. Celestia and Luna had fought battle after battle in their first hundred years of ruling together and yet no enemies came to face her once she was at her lonesome? It’d only make logical sense that enemies would want to take over the country once there was only one alicorn left to fight. The EUP was formed to combat the lack of Luna but they never fought any battle.
Well, they didn’t seem to fight any battle, the guard's memories were erased whenever they returned to their families only to return when sent off to a war again. She claimed it was to keep a calm throughout the kingdom, but that level of lying? It was cruel. And this cruelness hurt Twilight more than anypony else.
Twilight cried and cried until her tears ran dry, and only when the sobbing stopped did Cadence and Shiny let go. Cadence opened her mouth to talk but was quickly cut off by the sound of somepony opening the door.
She looked up to see a crystal pony maid quickly trotting inside, “Excuse me your highnesses but Flurry Heart has woken up and won’t stop crying, we’ve tried everything...”
Cadence gave her a smile, “Alright, I’ll head over now.” Cadence started towards the maid but turned within a few seconds, “Do you want to come with me?”
Twilight had been avoiding seeing Flurry as of late. She seemed to always have an excuse and Cadence was half expecting that she’d turn down the offer and opt to go straight to bed as she did so many times before. However, Twilight’s only response was to stand and walk towards Cadence, Shiny following shortly after. Cadence couldn’t help but smile to herself as the small group made their way to the nursery.
Upon arrival, they were met with the screams and sobs of one alicorn baby. She stepped into the room as she spotted a familiar pony holding her baby in magic as Flurry attempted to fly around the room. “Oh hello Sunburst,” Cadence greeted, “What are you doing up this late?”
“Oh” Sunburst said as he turned, “Your Highness! I didn’t see you there, I uh just couldn’t sleep and was wondering the halls until a maid fetched me.”
Cadence trotted forward and gently took Flurry into her arms, she began examining her little filly, seeing if her diaper needed changing or if something else was causing her discomfort. “Is everything okay?” Twilight trotted towards her, “What if she woke up from a nightmare? Luna was supposed to-”
“She’s just hungry, Twilight.” She smiled at her sister as she took the bottle that had previously been in Sunburst’s magic, “She wants her bottle and her mommy.” she explained, giving Flurry the bottle. She looked up after a moment, “and I bet she wants her Auntie Twilight.”
Twilight paused, almost stunned by the words, she relaxed and let out a weak smile, finally giving in and seeing her niece.
She trotted closer as Flurry finished the bottle and stood above the filly. Flurry looked a bit confused at first but then let out a big smile and reached up to touch Twilight face with her tiny hooves.
Twilight’s eyes watered at the sensation, “I’m sorry I haven’t visited you much Flurry,” she smiled, “Your Auntie Twilight’s sorry. I was just really scared and confused and I didn’t want to make you sad for me.” She said, looking as Flurry’s eyes showed some form of understanding, “I promise that soon we can go and play together, how does that sound?”
Flurry let out a happy little squeal, it was less energetic than normal and it was made clear that she was ready to sleep due to her eyes fluttering closed and her head tilting ever so slightly. Cadence smiled and kissed her on the head before setting her in her crib and exiting the room with her sister and husband.
Relief washed over her as she realized the changed atmosphere. She glanced onto a clock that hung on the wall in the hallway, a quarter past midnight. She huffed out a smiled and turned to her sister, “Happy Hearth’s Warming Twilight.”
She was met by the small grin of Twilight, “Happy Hearth’s Warming Cadence.” She looked down at her hooves for a second before looking back up to the pink alicorn, “I’m sorry, to both of you,” she glanced to Shiny, “I was just upset and I.. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry as well,” Cadence replied, “My tone was rather harsh back there and I apologize.”
An aura of calmness and understanding stood between the three ponies, not one of them still upset by the previous argument, it was Shining Armor who finally broke the silence, “I think it’s about time we head to bed, huh?” She grinned, “Goodnight Twily.” he spoke.
“Goodnight you two.” Twilight said, she turned and started trotting towards her bedroom. Until her hooves stopped in her tracks, “Um guys?” she said to get their attention, “We should talk to Luna in the morning but... I think we should try to talk things over with Celestia first. Maybe find some peace?”
The couple smiled, “That’s a good idea Twilight.” Cadence said.
“Oh and Shiny..” Twilight trotted just a bit closer, “Even if we aren’t siblings, you’re still my big brother best friend forever.” she didn’t make eye contact, instead her eyes were brought down to her fidgeting hoof that traced a circle into the ground.
Shiny huffed out a smiled and trotted up to Twilight, he raised a hoof and ruffled up her mane, “Of course we’re siblings, brother in law, adoptive brother, whatever.” he shrugged, “Your still my little sister.”
Twilight nodded with a smile, tears filling her eyes yet again. “Goodnight.” she said warmly as she turned around and headed to her room.