A Friend In Need

by AxleMoon

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 1383

A young filly with a rare disorder loses all hope in enjoying the day time until she befriends a certain Princess that changes her life forever.

Cordial Lilly has an enzyme disorder, called Porphyria, which prevents her from being in the sunlight. After multiple hospital visits, being forced to leave school, and losing all of her friends, she feels like all is lost for her. But then, after making late night visits to the library, she befriends the local princess, Princess Twilight. With time, Cordial Lilly realizes just how far Princess Twilight is willing to go to take care of her friends.

NOTE: I wrote this story in hopes to better recognize the rare disorder Porphyria. This is a real problem and, though rare, comes in multiple cases and intensities. With a balanced diet of carbohydrates and carefully monitored steps, these people could possibly get the chance to live normal lives. My best wishes go out to anyone and everyone who is or knows a person with Porphyria. For more information on Porphyria, what it does, and what we can do to help, visit the American Porphyria Foundation webpage ( http://www.porphyriafoundation.com/about-porphyria )

Published 2015-04-26 16:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-04-26 16:40:02 UTC

Cordial Lilly

My name is Cordial Lilly, but my friends call me Lilly. I’m a young unicorn from the town of Ponyville.

Last week, I had my seventh birthday party! Only, I had to spend it in a hospital bed...

A year ago, just a month after my sixth birthday, I got really sick. I had bad pains in my stomach and started vomiting anytime I went out in the sun. “Porphyria,” the doctors call it. I don’t know what that means, but it makes mom and dad really sad.

Apparently, the reason I get so sick is because of direct contact with the sun. Because of this, I’m told not to go outside during the day. Since I can’t go outside during the day, that also means I had to drop out of filly school, which really sucks because I liked to play with my friends after school. Well, the ponies I used to call friends.

After being admitted into the hospital, my friends would visit me everyday. Sometimes, they would bring board games! My favorite game was always Scrabble. I always won because I knew more words than my friends.

Hospital visit after hospital visit, my friends would always come visit me. That is, until my fourth time being admitted to the hospital.

Over time, my friends visited less and less. Eventually, they stopped visiting. My mom says it's because they have a lot of school work. I learned that wasn’t the case when summer vacation came around and they still didn’t visit me.

After I was released the fourth time, mom and dad told me I was no longer allowed outside at night. This made me really sad until mom told me, one day, that the library was open until late at night.

The library was only two houses down from us, so my parents were fine with me going by myself when it was night time. The only problem was that Princess Twilight Sparkle lived there.

I was so nervous to go to the library because I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of the princess. The first time I went in there, I was so nervous that I bolted out the door the second she saw me. The second time, I was able to stay in the room but I couldn’t speak. I remember how embarrassed I was when the first words out of my mouth were, “You’re very pretty!”. I was surely about to cry, I could feel the tears building up behind my tightly shut eyelids. But then I felt a hoof run smoothly through my pink mane.

I’ll never forget the kind smile she gave me. When I looked up, she just smiled at me as she ran her hoof through my mane. “Thank you. I appreciate the compliment.”

After that moment, she gave me a tour of the library. Everything was so neatly organized and clean that not a single book was out of place. That’s when she asked me if there was a particular book I was interested in reading. She seemed really happy when I said I would read anything. She disappeared behind a near wall, returning minutes later with a stack of old books.

“These are my favorite books from when I was a filly. Would you like to read them?” I was so excited that I couldn’t stand still!

I borrowed two books out of the stack and ran home, thanking Princess Twilight as I ran out the door. I didn’t sleep that night. I stayed up all night and mid way through the day reading as I finished the two books.

I rested shortly after that, knowing that I couldn’t return the books while the sun was still out. Before I knew it, I was back at the library, fully rested and ready to read more of Princess Twilight’s books.

I visited the library each day, talking with Princess Twilight about the book I was currently reading. Before I knew it, I had gone to visit Princess Twilight every day for three weeks.

On that final day, while I was talking with Princess Twilight, something amazing happened. I got my cutie mark! It was a mark resembling a book with a magical wisp flowing around it!

I was so happy, I danced around the library as Princess Twilight just smiled and congratulated me.

But that happiness was short lived, as Tirek attacked five days later. There was no warning to it, no preparation. Just mindless panic as Tirek and Discord herded us into a corner before draining us of our essence. That’s when the sickness hit me really hard.

I was in the sun too long. The last thing I remember before passing out was seeing a wave of rainbows soar through the sky. When I woke up, I was back in the hospital. Two weeks before my seventh birthday...

I didn’t get to go to the library anymore, as the sickness had gotten so bad that it hurt to walk. So, when my birthday came around, I just stayed in bed and smiled as my parents told me all about the new castle and all the exciting new things happening around Ponyville.

But then came the day after my birthday. The greatest day ever!

I woke up like usual, expecting to see a nurse with a pan of food, only to find a crowd of people standing outside my door. They all looked really excited and confused. Glancing to the other side of my bed, I saw why they all looked that way.

There, sitting in a chair by my bed, was Princess Twilight!

I was so excited to see Princess Twilight that I used what strength I had to give her a big warm hug. We then spent the next few hours talking about the new castle and the adventures she had experienced with her friends.

But then something odd happened. When the nurse showed up to give me my food, it was very different from what she usually gave me. That’s when the doctor told me that Princess Twilight payed for my daily treatments which included a daily diet of something called carbohydrates. She even agreed to give my parents the bits needed to continue my diet at home so I wouldn’t have to stay at the hospital. The doc says, if I continue on this diet, I would be able to be in the sun again and go back to school!

I didn’t know how to respond to all of this. But, just knowing I would eventually be able to go outside again, I cried. I cried and cried and cried as Princess Twilight and my mom and dad hugged me.

Three weeks after starting my diet, they released me from the hospital and I was able to go back to school. It felt so good to play in the sun again!

And to make things better, even though the old library is gone, Princess Twilight lets me visit her castle whenever I want and read all the books in her even bigger library! I visit her every day now and don’t have to worry about interfering with her sleep!

And that’s how we got to this letter. I wanted to let you know that Princess Twilight is my bestest friend and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy your beautiful sun without her help. Thank you, Princess Celestia.

Your New Ponyville Bookworm,

Cordial Lilly

Author's Note

My best wishes go out to the strong men and women who face the struggles of Porphyria every day. I know that many don't recognize it as something to worry about, but I hope that one day you can all live somewhat normal lives.

I hope you all enjoyed this story. Took me a while to research this subject and find people who could better explain it to me. I would love to hear from you all and hope to hear what you think about the new one-shot. I'm still working on Caring Sparkle, as it is a project in the making, but I can assure you that there will be more one-shots and stories in the near future. Again, everyone have a good day/night and I hope to hear from you later.