//------------------------------// // Chapter Vl // Story: Throughout the Sun and Stars // by Izzy_ //------------------------------// Twilight woke up to the sound of chirping, but when she woke up all she saw was darkness. She groaned and looked around, was she… in the forest? She tried to speak but nothing came out, her throat has never felt so dry; She looked around. When her eyes laid upon a worn out and resting Sunset, she smiled. She internally thanked her friend. She could have easily left her to those creatures, but she didn’t. The mare could tell that Sunset saving her sorry flank caused the fiery-haired some visible pain. Twilight rubbed her eyes, pain was spreading across her back where that thing decided to attack her. That made her realise that it was bandaged, haphazardly but still maintained enough to do its work. The purple mare shifted a bit and looked up into the starry night sky. There was a brief pause before there was a very familiar voice say, “Hey, Twi…” “What I would do for some water right now,” Sunset chuckled “and maybe a daffodil sandwich while I’m at it.” Twilight smiled “Ditto, Sunset,” she looked towards the direction of Canterlot for a second before looking back at her friend, “but we have more pressing matters right now.” “Than dying? Yeahhh no.” Twilight rolled her eyes, “You know what I mean.” “Yeah, yeah, sure,” she groans, “I just wish it was light, any chance you can raise the sun? It’d come in real handy.” She smiled playfully. “Been there, done that. And it’s an experience I don’t want to go through again,” she walked up to her friend, “and that was with the other princess’ magic.” Sunset widened her eyes, “Now that's a story I need to hear!” “I haven’t told you?” “I’m afraid not,” She sharply looked away “after several years of being friends.” she put her good hoof up to her heart in mock disgust. Twilight couldn’t help but roll her eyes, a slight smile showing on her face. Twilight was laying on the lush grass, thinking extremely hard. As she was doing that, Sunset was laying on a tree with her back to it. She took a quick glance to Twilight and then looked up into the sky, doing so made her remember a particular conversation from days prior, “So,” She paused with a smirk on her face “what do I win on the bet?” Twilight slowly drew out of her phase of extreme thinking and simply said, “What?” With a confused look on her face. “You know, the bet we held yesterday; You said nothing would go wrong and we betted.” This made Twilight pause in confusion for a couple of seconds but when she realised what her friend was on about she got a bit annoyed, “THAT is what you’re thinking about right now?! Our friends and not to mention Equestria are in DANGER and you’re thinking about some JOKE we made?!” Sunset shrugged, “Stress is not going to help our problems, Twi.” “Well, stress gets things DONE!” “It also takes a toll on ponies,” she got on her three hooves, “besides, I have an idea of what to do.” Twilight's ears perked up in curiosity but also in suspicion, “And what’s that?” Sunset stared at Twilight boldly, “The Royal Archives.” “What?! That’s suicide Sunset!” “Well, it’s better than not getting our friends’ back, worse yet dying out here!” “And what if that doesn’t answer our problem?” “Then we look harder for any clues whatsoever and go along from there.” “That’s way too risky Sunset.” A hint of worry was hiding in her voice. “Fine, I’ll go and you try to find information elsewhere” Twilight scoffed, “There's no way in Tartarus you're going in alone!” “Then you're coming?” “F…" She thought for a couple of seconds "...Fine…” She shifted in discomfort and spoke hesitantly. Before Sunset could respond, Twilight spoke up again "But first, let your leg heal." "What?! That'll take weeks!" "No, I put a spell on it, remember? So every couple of hours I'll put a spell on it and it'll only take a couple of more days before it'll heal enough to go, and then after we look, you're going to let it fully rest." "You have GOT to be kidding me, Twi. I can live only using three hooves for a couple of days." "Yes, but if something happens and we need to run, you will be behind a possibly caught. I cannot take that chance." The amber mare's eyes darted all around her friend with a look of annoyance and slight anger. She wasn't going to carry on this fight, she'll lose in the end anyway. She grumbled, "Fine..." "Thank you!" Twilight smiled, "now, we are in the forest that's on the outskirts of Canterlot, correct?" Her friend responded with a slow nod, "Why?" "Some time ago, I remember some ponies say talk about some kind of rumour about an abandoned camp that used to be ran by a dark magic wielder who taught anyone who paid him a fair amount of money to teach them illegal magic." "You want us to learn illegal magic?" Twilight resisted rolling her eyes, "No, I was just saying if it happens to be true, we'd have somewhere proper to sleep instead of the hard ground. And if we're lucky enough, there might be some food around there." “Hmm…” Sunset looked at her sceptically, “Not sure that’s a good idea, Twi. Not only would we be walking around for Celestia knows how long, but if it turns out to be just a rumour then we’d accomplish nothing and just ware us both out.” With a hard stare twilight replied, “Well, it would be worth looking, because if there is something there then I would presume there would be medical supplies and water.” “Which would probably not be there, even if this ‘camp’ exists.” “Stop thinking so pessimistically, it's not good for health you know.” “Well, Miss Sparkle, its hard not to be a pessimist at this moment in time.” “That’s a bit hypocritical to say when not even ten minutes ago were you talking about a stupid joke we made.” Sunset rolled her eyes, “Let’s just find this supposed ‘camp’ then, lead the way.” Twilight nodded while saying, “Gladly.” Tree, after tree, after tree. A certain red headed mare was getting irritant as all she was seeing was the same tall stupid trees. “Twilight, it’s probably been hours!” her brows furrowed, “we can’t keep this up.” “How exactly do you know how long it has been? It’s dark, and as far as I can tell its only been about an hour or two.” If it wasn’t for their horns being set aglow, then they wouldn’t have been able to get far travelling in just moonlight. It would be unreliable and not to mention dangerous. “Everything feels longer when all you see is the same thing.” “Actually, if you look close enough, you’d be able to see the different coloured grass and bark of the trees.” She looked around, her friend was right, the grass had come from a fresh, bright, lush green to a darkish, mucky, yellowy green. That’s when a huge wave of magical energy hit them that made them unknowingly shiver, “What was that?” “I would assume the dark magical energy that has accumulated over the years,” Twilight responded, “if the rumours are true of course.” Only after about ten minutes later did Sunset come across a fairly small cluster of cottages, calling this a camp would be an overstatement. Twilight spoke aloud, “Not exactly a camp, but it’s far better than the cold ground,” Twilight turned around with her eyes closed and a smile on her face, “wouldn’t you agree Sunse-“ She opened her eyes to reveal sunset was not there. She looked around frantically, but her friend was nowhere to be seen.