Royal Conflicts

by pabrony

Love Hurts

"So how do you deal with leaving behind your family and foalhood friends?" Twilight asked Cadence.

"To be honest, it's tough. I miss those who have passed already dearly," Cadence sighed as she gazed into her sister-in-law's eyes. "The worst part is that I know I'll be there when Shining passes on."

Twilight felt tears trickle down her cheeks at the thought not only of her brother dying and but also a gut feeling that Celestia probably won't lift a hoof for him either when his time eventually arrives. But there was someone in bad shape now that she was going to try to help, come Tartarus or high water.

"Cadence, do you know if there's any way to cure human diseases in ponies?" Twilight asked as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'm not sure I follow, Twilight," Cadence said with a puzzled look.

"Well, Sunset Shimmer, my friend that lives in the mirror universe, is dying from a disease that we ponies don't get," Twilight explained softly.

Cadence raised her eyebrows in confusion as Twilight continued to explain.

"When she came to Equestria for a visit last moon, her mane and tail were gone due to the chemotherapy treatments that she has been taking."

"That's just awful. How did she get this disease in the first place? Sunset's originally a pony to begin with, right?" Cadence asked as her confusion continued to grow. "Shouldn't that have protected her from human ailments?"

"I don't know," Twilight answered barely above a whisper. "Sunset claimed to have talked with Celestia already about curing her, but Celestia denied her. She said Celestia told her that because her cancer was a human disease, nothing could be done about it."

"That's terrible," Cadence told Twilight as she wrapped her right wing around the smaller alicorn in an attempt to comfort her. "Have you talked to Celestia or Luna to verify this?"

"I did and they both echoed what Sunset told me," Twilight replied as tears began forming in her eyes once more.

Cadence pulled Twilight in closer and wiped the few rogue tears that had escaped from her eyes. "How about the Elements of Harmony? Would they be able to help her?"

"I... I don't know," Twilight whispered sadly. "It would be worth a try but sadly they can't be used anymore."

Cadence briefly paused as she realized what she had said. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I didn't think-"

Before Cadence could finish, Twilight buried her face in the side of her neck and softly wept as the pain from losing one of her dearest friends the day before began taking its toll on her heart. Adding to the fact that one of her more intimate friends was dying from a disease in another dimension and that she was helpless to do anything about it made her sorrow that much worse.

"Why did Celestia... *sniff* ...have to make me... *sniff* ...the Princess of... of Friendship?" Twilight managed to say as her sobbing continued. "I... *sniff* ...I never felt this... *sniff* ...much pain when somepony close to me... *sniff* ...died before Celestia cursed me."

"I don't know, Twilight," Cadence said as she wrapped her other wing around her. "She must've had some reason for it, otherwise you would still be a unicorn."

The two alicorns sat silently in the royal chambers until Twilight had managed to compose herself. After which Cadence spoke up again, saying, "I'm sure you'll find some way to help your friend. You're one of the most talented and resourceful ponies in Equestria. I believe in your abilities."

“Thanks, Cadence. You're the best.”

“You're welcome, Twilight,” Cadence said as she released her sister-in-law from her wings. “How about you get some rest in one of the guest rooms?”

“But I need to be in Ponyville in the morning to finalize everything for Rainbow Dash's funeral,” Twilight pointed out.

“I know but you need rest and a train ride is not necessarily the best way to get some sleep,” Cadence replied. “I'll loan you a chariot to get home with tomorrow after you wake up. Deal?”

“Deal. Thank you, Cadence,” Twilight said before turning to walk to the guest wing of the palace.

---

Twilight woke up a few hours later, still in the dead of night. She remembered that she wasn't home in her own bed but for some reason, it still felt different. The bed was longer than normal but there was still roughly the same amount of room from the foot of the bed to her toes.

‘Wait… toes?!’ Twilight thought in confusion as she sat up to assess the situation.

She noticed her horn was still there, as was her wings but she had arms and legs like a human.

“How did I become anthropomorphic?” she whispered as she swung her legs off the side of the bed.

“It's from all that traveling between worlds,” came a familiar voice from behind her.

Twilight looked over her shoulder and was barely able to make out a light orange pony with a two-toned mane.

“Sunset?” Twilight asked as she fumbled around looking for the lamp switch.

“Yes, Twilight. It's me,” Sunset confirmed.

Twilight's confusion continued to grow once she finally found the switch. Once the light was on, the orange pony lying in bed with her was replaced by a frail, bald human.

“Something bothering you?”

“Uh, nope,” Twilight lied. “It's just nice to see you. That's all.”

Sunset smiled weakly and took a few deep breaths before replying, “It's nice to see you too. I have a question for you.”

“Okay. What did you want to know?”

“Have you been able to find a cure for me yet?”

Twilight stood up and slowly backed away from her friend.

“I, uh… not yet,” Twilight replying as she nervously began tapping her fingers together. “I've been kinda busy.”

Sunset's expression went from happy to hurt to angry in a matter of moments. “Too busy to try helping your friends?” she said. “Is that what you told Rainbow Dash before she died? You were too busy to find a healing spell?”

“What? No!” Twilight said as tears began forming in her eyes.

“May as well have,” a brash voice said from above them.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said.

“Yep,” Dash answered before turning to Sunset. “You know what she did after leaving the hospital? Twilight started researching ‘afterlife spells’. Can you believe it?”

“So you were hoping for us to die?” Sunset accused Twilight. “What friend does that?”

“No! I love you girls and I certainly don't want any of you to die,” Twilight said as her vision blurred from the tears filling her eyes. “I was trying to find a way to bring you back to life, Rainbow-”

“What about me?” Sunset interrupted.

“I haven't gotten a chance to find anything for your-”

“You've had over a month, Twilight. That's more than enough time to look for something,” Sunset chastised. “Or have you become like the rest of the princesses? Only interested in things that benefit yourself?”

Twilight sat down against the wall with her knees drawn toward her chest, her arms resting on top of them and her face buried in her arms. The only thing able to come from her mouth was sound of her wailing loudly as she continued to be yelled at by her friends.

‘I just want to wake up’ Twilight thought repeatedly. ‘Please, just let me wake up from this nightmare.’

Images of the rest of her friends, pony, and human, soon began to materialize around her, joining the insults and blame started by Sunset Shimmer and pony Rainbow Dash.

Twilight managed to pause her crying, took a deep breath and shouted above all of the others, “LUNA! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Author's Note:

Because it's been such a long time between chapters, readers may want to re-read the second chapter to know what's going on.

Comments

[Frankie2]

Well... damn. We know the relationship between Twilight and Celestia became strained but what about her relationship with the other two princesses?

[pabrony]

8476621 That's what the nightmare was setting up.

[Penguin Lagann]

Well, any Flash Sentry x Twilight relationships lose 5 points for me, so...

89/100 so far. :)

[pabrony]

8477808 I'm not a big Flash x Twilight shipper myself but I already had three OC's in Friendship is Forever before the end of the first chapter and I still had a lot more to go. That and Sunset was living in the human realm, so...

[Penguin Lagann]

8477920
Understandable. Just saying, I hate that ship with a burning passion. ****. THAT. SHIP.

[pabrony]

8478934

****. THAT. SHIP.

Lol.