Silver awoke in the dark of night with a terrible shooting pain radiating from his belly. A sudden urge to cough painted the bed with blood and spread the pain along his throat. Trembling with shock, he fell limply from the bed.
The door burst open with a wide-eyed Shei coming in from the hallway. "Celestia! Silver!" Even as Silver curled in agony he noticed her breakdown in formality and wondered what could have caused it. "Please, wa-- Master!" She hurried to Silver's side, then looked up at Celestia. "Please, wake up!" But Celestia didn't stir.
Silver wanted to say something, but could do little more than suffer and struggle to breathe. The pain had spread steadily, agony becoming the core of his being. Shei dashed off with the frantic sound of panicked hooves. His consciousness narrowed to the struggle to live, and so the night slipped him by.
He was fairly certain someone arrived at some point, and he was on the bed instead of the floor. Words were said, but he didn't know more than that. They were little more than random noise in the haze of his discomfort. Was his caretaker a cat or a pony? Male or female? He didn't know, and couldn't care, lost in a sea of pain.
By the time the sun rose from the horizon, Silver was starting to fight it off, and he realized he was alone in the bed. Tired, but worried frantic, he slipped to the floor and took wobbling steps into the hallway, where he found Shei slumped against a wall, looking tired and... devastated. "Shei, what's wrong?"
Shei looked up at Silver with a bright smile. "Oh thank everything! You're alive... I thought..." Her head sank and she dissolved into tears, sobbing piteously and abandoning all tact or poise.
Silver approached her, swaying dangerously but managing the trip. "Shei, I'm sorry. I'm alright, please, tell me what's going on."
Shei stomped a hoof on the wooden floor, and looked ready to speak when she stomped twice more, the words refusing to come to her. Silver nuzzled her neck gently. "What is it?"
"Aila... my sister..." Shei sank to the floor bonelessly. "I've lost her. She's gone!"
Silver flipped an ear back. "Where did you last see her?"
Shei frowned at Silver. "She's dead!"
Silver recoiled and tripped, falling onto his rump. "D... How?"
Shei trembled and began sobbing anew, offering no answers for Silver. Silver wanted to comfort her, but where was Celestia? "Shei, do you know where..." He saw that she was unresponsive and sighed, shuffling closed and resting with her for a moment. His thoughts moved to Aila, and his chest coiled in a knot. The idea that she was gone, forever and truly, began to tear at his resolve, and soon he was crying with Shei. They hadn't gotten along perfectly, but she was... She was his friend if nothing else, and didn't deserve to die.
The clip-clop of an approaching pony made them both look up, spotting a guard moving down the hallway. The guard nodded at them. "Princess Celestia has awoken, Prince Silver Stars. She wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience."
Silver let out a breath he didn't know he was holding before he rose up to his uncertain legs. "Shei, do you want to come with me?" She shook her head, and Silver pet over her head and neck lightly. "That's alright. When I get back, we'll do... what is right for Aila." Fresh tears stung as his eyes as he followed the guard away, trying vainly to combat those tears and the muted cries that escaped him despite his efforts. Death was not a topic he handled well, and he was a wreck by the time he arrived at Celestia's bedside.
She had been tucked in a new one, and she looked sick, but not dying. Celestia smiled gently at seeing Silver. "You may go now." All the guards in the room saluted before shuffling out, leaving the two of them alone together. "I'm glad to see you're standing."
Silver made his way to the side of her bed and leaned against it. "Barely..." His voice was choked, unable to stop thinking about Aila being dead and gone, removed from the world forever. "What happened?"
Celestia raised a hoof and rested it on Silver's forehead. "We were punished for thinking we were gods, and for thinking we should be rewarded for causing pain and suffering."
Silver snorted softly. "That's... be more specific. Actions don't carry moral messages like that."
Celestia pointed to a gift basket. It was like many others they received the day before. "We were poisoned. The cats fought back subtly, in a very feline fashion. We deserved it..."
Silver sank beside the bed. "Aila's dead," he weakly muttered.
Celestia's face drew in a pained expression of regret. "Another death we caused with our presence. I'm so sorry, Silver. I know you two were... just starting to get along so well. Is Shei alright?"
Silver shook his head. "Physically, I think, but her sister is dead. How can she be alright?"
Celestia's turned to Silver, dragging her pink mane, missing its usual many hues and flowing nature with her sickness. "She will recover, as will we. I'm sorry for... for many things. I've been a terrible pony, and an awful princess, starting with you, and ending with this."
Silver heard an odd sound and sat up to see Celestia was sniffling and crying. She looked so frail and delicate, he couldn't stand it. He clambered up onto the bed and curled with her. "We'll make it through this."
"We must..."