//------------------------------// // Chapter Vll // Story: Throughout the Sun and Stars // by Izzy_ //------------------------------// "Sunset?!" She looked around everywhere but to no avail, her friend was missing. She started panting heavy, visibly freaking out. She walked closer to the cottages, they were not as well preserved as she hoped they'd be, the wood was visibly rotting and the beams were cracked slightly. One of the cottages had holes in the roof, there was even one that looked like it fully collapsed on itself. If Sunset being missing didn't assure her that this was not a safe place to stay, all this did. The mare looked around, very vigilant in each and every step she took. She heard rustling from the leaves behind her, with that she turned around as quick as she could to see Sunset, "Sunset!" She was about to hug her friend when she realised something, she was walking on all fours. "Hey, sorry, I lost you for a second there." Sunset chuckled. "Your leg... It's alright now?" If Twilight wasn't staring at her friend with such perception, she would have missed the very quick and almost unnoticeable confusion on her friend's face. "Oh, it's better now, already feels good as new!" Twilight took a step back, "I see." There was something in those emerald eyes of hers that seemed suspicious. "So, let's go look around, yeah?" "Okay..." Twilight's wariness wore off a bit after a while. She found first aid supplies in one of the cottages and decided to reapply new bandages before she gets some kind of infection she didn't know of, also disinfecting it while she was at it. While looking around there were many, many books about books about dark, illegal magic. She shook her head in disgust but was actually slightly intrigued, this subsided very quickly though as she found bottled water in one of the cupboards. Admittedly there were only about four or five bottles there, but they weren't planning on staying for long. Hopefully, they weren't going to be either. She grabbed one and started drinking it, her throat was as dry as a desert so this both quenched Twilight's thirst and satisfied her. As she finished the bottle, she turned to see Sunset but the look on her friends made her freeze; there Sunset was staring at her with such uncouth and malice, it made the lavender pony step back. “Sunset?” She stared back at the pony, searching her eyes for an explanation. The next thing she saw was a stream of putrid blue hit her, “Agh!” she shouted in slight pain. Another stream of blue came towards her, but Twilight was able to dodge it this time, “What has gotten into you?!” “Well damn, and here I thought it would be a one-shot kill.” ’Sunset’ was now in a spiral of black as they transformed into their original form. Twilight was fully expecting one of the creatures from Canterlot to appear before her, but it shocked her to see a tall dark grey stallion unicorn before her instead. “A body manipulation transformation spell? But that's banned magic!” The mare cried in shock, stating the obvious. This made the stallion roll his eyes, “One point to the Princess of Obvious! This is, or for lack of a better word - was, a place where such magic was present after all! You should really try it some time.” “I'll pass, “she stomped her hoof on the ground, “now where’s sunset?!” “You mean the foolish unicorn mare? She’s well…” he chuckled, “going to be taken care of.” He grins. Twilight growled but before she could speak the stallion spoke up again. “You know it's illegal to trespass in this place? Oh, the irony of that!” His grin turned into a smirk. Twilight was far from amused, she was mad. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry! I forgot to introduce myself, I,” he put his hoof on his chest, “am Midnight Haze, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance,” he cooed in a mocking tone. “Spare me the introduction.” Twilight spat, she stomped her hoof on the floor again, “Where is she?!” He crinkled his nose in false disgust, “Such an uncouth manner for a princess, I expected better your highness.” This earned a glare off the princess, she stood in a position to prepare herself for what might happen next. Haze laughed, “Oh princess, as much as I’d love to fight you, it’s not my fight to take.” “What?” Twilight was genuinely confused at this point. He shook his head, “You’re not that ignorant, are you? I’m disappointed. Anyhow, I must go, I have certain business to attend to now.” With that, he disappeared into a cloud of smoke like Trixie sometimes does. Twilight did not know how long she was there, staring at the same spot; It felt like hours or days. A very loud crash got her out of her state, she ran over to the sound of the crash. She looked and it seemed that another cottage collapsed in on itself. As she looked she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, some of the rubble was moving ever so slightly. The mare ran over and took the rubble off the thing that was causing it to move… It was Sunset laying there on the brink of consciousness, shaking and breathing heavily. The dread and fear overwhelmed the princess to the point that she couldn’t even speak, the only thing she could muster was, “No…” Twilight waited and waited for what felt like years, but it’s in fact been two days Sunset has been unconscious for and every second of it was making sure her friend was alright, she gave her water every once in a while but she couldn’t feed her anything until she woke up; this made Twilight freak out even more than she already was. She saw her friend move ever so slightly and Twilight instantly jumped up by the bed. Her friend groaned, “…Celestia?” Twilight chuckled wearily, “Not quite.” The amber mare sat up slowly and rubbed her head, “Ugh, it feels like I’ve just been to Tartarus and back.” “I’m not surprised honestly, ponies don’t usually survive a house falling on them.” “What?!” Sunset almost screamed, then all the memories flooded back. “I knew it was a bad idea coming here Twilight, I’m in a worse condition than I was before and now we might never get to...” She studied Twilight and saw more bandages than there were before, this made Sunset scowl, “Did that unicorn get to you too?” “Not quite, he hit me once and then disappeared, I have no idea where he went. But that doesn’t matter at the moment,” Twilight picked up what Sunset assumed to be wild berries, “first you need to eat.” Sunset was happy to oblige, it's felt like forever since last time she's eaten. “While you were sleeping, I had a better look around. I found water in some of the cottages but in limited supply, so if we’re going to be here for a while we must keep it rationed. Food is not a problem though, there is plenty of that.” The princess smiled warmly. Sunset’s heart fluttered, Twilight’s smile was so warm she swore that she felt the heat of the rays attack her cheeks. What in Equestria is wrong with me… The mare smiled back, “Thank you…” she put some more berries in her mouth and started eating them.