//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Twin Twilight Tales // by MagnetBolt //------------------------------// Sunset took cover under a pine tree (or a fir, or some other evergreen - she'd never been able to tell the difference between them) and shook the snow from her mane. Her winter cloak's outer layers were heavy and sodden from melting frost, but the inner lining of pegasus down was still keeping her warm. She hated the cold. It made her hooves hurt and she always worried she'd end up with frostbite. It also brought back too many bad memories. Freezing, with only a moth-eaten blanket to protect her, sitting in a closet just to get away from the other foals. A tiny flame, barely a candle's worth, hovering in front of her face. Sunset shook her head, ears folding back as she tried to drive off the images. This was not a good time to dwell on things. The thick clouds made the whole valley feel almost timeless in a sort of cold, gray way. Dark was falling and snow was falling faster, and she wasn't going to spend a night in the woods. Not with what she'd been sent out here to hunt. After getting her bearings with a map, compass, and a frustrating dead-end gulley, she'd finally spotted the town she had been trying to reach for the last two hours. The road between the train station and the isolated hamlet was probably easy to follow most of the year, but as soon as a few fresh inches of snow had dropped, the winding path through the forest had become as anonymous as the rest of the woods. Sunset had veered off of it badly. She wasn't sure if she'd ended up following an old creek bed or a game trail, but she'd lost a lot of time following it, and the snow storm had made it impossible to trace her path back, her hoofprints being covered up only a few minutes after she made them. Next time, she was going to try and find a monster somewhere warmer. Maybe a tropical island. They had monsters there, right? Maybe she'd even take Midnight along to show her the ropes and give her a little vacation. Fight some giant crabs, go sunbathing, get some drinks with little umbrellas in them, that kind of fun trip. Anything without snow and ice. The thought kept her warm as she stomped into town. The flurries were starting to turn into sleet, which was making the trek even less pleasant. She pushed open the door to the local inn and shook herself like a dog before casting a few drying spells. Between that and the fire roaring in a pit in the middle of the inn, complete with a cauldron over it, Sunset was starting to feel better already. "I don't suppose I can get some coffee and hot food," Sunset asked, sitting at the bar. The mare behind the bar frowned until she put a few bits on the counter. Gold always turned a grimace into a grin. "Is barley soup okay?" The mare asked, walking over to the cauldron. She hung a kettle next to it and opened the cast-iron lid of the pot. What was inside looked mostly like off-white mush, but Sunset could see hints of something more colorful along with it. More importantly, it smelled heavenly. "Sure," Sunset agreed. When the soup was in front of her she felt even better about the decision. Carrots, onion, and what looked like green tomatoes were mixed in with it, and she dug in while she waited for her coffee. The bowl was already half-empty when the mug was poured and set before her. "Thanks," Sunset said. "So, I hear you've got a little bit of a monster problem around her." She sipped at the black coffee. It tasted like it had been cut with something. Maybe chicory. "Maybe. But I don't know how you heard that on account of how we don't get many visitors." She gestured around the empty inn. "You say that, but you've still got a pot of soup on," Sunset pointed out. "I have to eat too," the mare shrugged. "And the woodcutters come in here for lunch. Or they used to before..." She frowned, looking away. "Before what?" Sunset pressed, draining the rest of her coffee and staring at the mare intently. "Before ponies started disappearing," she finished, whispering. "It's bad luck to talk about it." As if on cue, a howl pierced the air. "Oh Celestia save us," the mare said, cowering. "Celestia couldn't make it," Sunset said, pushing the now-empty soup bowl away from herself. She smirked. Now it was time to make a dramatic speech. "But she did send-" "Princess Cadance!" The mare gasped. "Who what now?" Sunset asked, blinking and turning around as she felt a wash of cold air over her back. The pink princess was standing in the doorway, fluttering her wings and shivering. Sunset glared at her. This was not how this was supposed to go. "What are you doing here?" Sunset demanded, standing and facing Cadance. The Princess waved, still shivering, and walked over to the fire, almost collapsing. "It is very, very cold outside," Cadance said, through chattering teeth. "I thought alicorns were supposed to be tough?" Sunset snorted. "You didn't even bring a coat." "I assumed, wrongly, that my pegasus magic would be strong enough to protect me without more layers," Cadance said. "You mean you saw that Celestia never wears a coat and thought you could get away with it too," Sunset corrected. "That too," Cadance admitted, more quietly. "You can have my coat, your highness!" The mare behind the bar pulled a flannel and wool jacket from a hook on the wall. Sunset suppressed a growl. She'd had to pay in advance just to get coffee, and here this mare was, offering Cadance the clothing off her back (almost literally) just because she was a princess. It was the kind of thing that made Sunset want to solve the monster problem by just setting the whole valley on fire. "So, again, why the buck are you here?" Sunset demanded. "I was worried about you," Cadance said. "Worried about-" Sunset sputtered. "Why?" "I just had a really bad feeling. I know you don't like me, but I couldn't let something happen to you." "I can handle myself," Sunset said. "Tartarus, I can handle myself better than you can. Go back to Canterlot and hang out with that stallion you were seeing." "This is more important," Cadance said, firmly. "More important than your coltfriend?" Sunset raised her eyebrow. "He's not-" Cadance sighed. "He's not really my coltfriend. We sort of started growing apart. I used to spend a lot of time foalsitting his sister, but you've needed more help with Midnight and-" "Is this a guilt trip? Really?" Sunset frowned. "I get enough of those from Celestia. If that's what you're here for, you can find somepony else to bother. I'm here to have a nice, relaxing time and turn problems into craters." "No, Sunset, you don't understand-" "Help!" The scream carried over the wind, and put an end to the growing argument. Sunset ran outside, horn blazing with light. A stallion was pushing through the snow, his coat covered in soot and splinters. "What happened?" Sunset asked, blinking in front of him in a flash of teal light. The stallion fell back, startled, and cowered from her. "A monster!" He gasped, though it was unclear if he meant Sunset or what he was fleeing from. "Great!" Sunset grinned. "Where is it?" The stallion pointed back the way he came, shaking. "Wonderful. Thank you for your assistance." She picked him up and, spotting Cadance, dropped him on her back. "Here. Make yourself useful and make sure he's not hurt." "Wait!" The stallion yelled. "It's got my daughter!" Sunset looked away. "I'll get her back." She started running, hoping she could keep her word. The stallion's house wasn't hard to find. Or more accurately, it wasn't hard to find what was left of it. One of the walls had been torn out, and the roof had fallen into the fireplace, setting the whole thing ablaze. Sunset threw an extinguishing spell over it, the flames almost instantly smothering to nothing. With her horn providing most of the light, she circled the house twice before finding what she wanted. One of the logs that had been ripped free was still intact, and she could see the tooth marks on it. That meant it wasn't an incorporeal spirit like a windigo, or anything that would use claws or hands like a yeti. Not that yeti were ever seen this far away from Yakyakistan. She stopped as she found a pawprint in the snow, shielded from the driving winds and falling sleet by part of the collapsed roof. It was a miracle it hadn't melted yet, but it had enough detail for her to tell what she was looking at, and it wasn't good news for anypony involved. It was a wolf. Unfortunately, not something easy to deal with like a Timber Wolf. She'd half expected it to be one of the wooden elementals trying to get revenge on the woodcutters. No, this was the pawprint of a living creature, not a construct of fallen branches. And it was almost as wide as her shoulders. "With the size and the cold... it has to be a winter wolf," she muttered. Not the most dangerous prey, except if you were on a time limit, in a blizzard, at night. A lack of preparation was the easiest way to turn a simple monster hunt into a lingering death. It did give her some hope, though. Winter wolves didn't eat living prey. They dragged ponies into the woods and chased them until they froze to death, then... consumed them after they'd frozen solid. Sunset shivered. But only because with the fire from the burning house extinguished, the wind was starting to get to her again. That was definitely the only reason. She held her breath and closed her eyes, listening. It couldn't have happened that long ago, and sound was going to be easier to follow than trying to look blindly for the foal, especially in the growing darkness. If the wind was blowing the right way, sound would carry a long way in this kind of winter air. "Sunset!" Cadance yelled, completely breaking her concentration. Sunset turned on her angrily as the princess touched down, flapping her wings to shake off the ice before settling them underneath her borrowed coat. "I don't want or need your help," Sunset said, trying to keep her voice civil. "But that missing filly might," Cadance retorted, with more edge in her voice than Sunset was used to hearing. Sunset bit back a retort. "I don't have time to argue with you. Do whatever you want." She turned away and guessed at a direction. Gut instinct told her that the wolf had probably picked the side of the house closest to where it had come from, and would have gone back in that direction. She stomped through the snow, her horn casting a beam of blue-green light that she swept over the woods. "Do you think the filly is still..." Cadance trailed off. Sunset glanced back at her, growing even more annoyed when she saw that the princess was somehow standing on top of the snow, her hooves barely even marking the top layer. "Yes," Sunset said. "But only for a few hours at most." "Why would a monster attack ponies? There has to be easier prey." Sunset stopped, trying to decide which way to go. "Ponies, especially foals, aren't equipped to survive the cold on our own. Winter wolves can only eat frozen meat. Most animals in environments like this can survive just fine on the coldest winter night, so they have to find prey that will die of... natural causes." "And it just decided to start attacking the town now?" Cadance asked. "They hibernate in permafrost during the summer. Wood cutters might have opened up a path that led it to town. Before that, it was probably either wandering or eating hibernating animals. They collapse caves and burrows where other animals are sleeping and wait for them to suffocate and freeze." "That's awful," Cadance muttered. "How do you know all this?" "It's my job," Sunset hissed. "Just like your job is to be Celestia's favorite and sit at her side and smile and wave." "You're not being fair," Cadance said. "And you're out of your element," Sunset argued. "Shut up and let me concentrate." She picked a direction at random and closed her eyes, listening. Just on the edge of her hearing, there was something. A scream, maybe. It was so faint it could have been nothing but the wind. "That way," she muttered, following the ghost of a sound, trying to run through the thick snow. "Are you sure?" Cadance asked. "I think there's a lake that way. I saw it when I was flying through the storm." "A lake... of course." Sunset groaned. "It's probably going to chase them into the water. They'll freeze to death in minutes instead of hours!" She ran ahead, teleporting past undergrowth as she galloped, appearing and disappearing in bursts of cyan light. The screams grew louder, and the treeline thinned as they reached the lake Cadance had mentioned. A filly stumbled out of the woods a few dozen paces away, falling on her face as she tripped over knee-high rocks and ice. "There she is!" Cadance gasped, flying over Sunset towards the foal and picking her up. The brush behind her erupted into movement, and a wolf as big as Celestia with fur the icy blue of a snow-covered glacier appeared from near-invisibility in the wintery woods. Cadance covered the foal with her wings and braced herself, knowing this was going to hurt. There was an impact as something slammed into her, throwing her and the foal to the side. Something scorched her feathers a moment later, and there was a whimper and another series of crashes through the woods, fading into the distance. "You idiot," Sunset hissed. Cadance opened her eyes. She'd been tackled out of the way, and given that there was a clear cone where the woods had been set on fire, she had a good guess as to what Sunset had done to drive the monster off. The fiery mare was still on top of her, looking into the woods. "What happened?" Cadance asked, as Sunset got up, stumbling away from her. "You got in the way!" Sunset yelled. "If you'd waited another second or two we would have had it out in the open and I could have blasted it before it knew we were there! It only attacked because you tried to make off with its dinner!" "But the filly-" "Would have been fine! They only eat frozen meat! She's just cold and scared," Sunset said. "Get her back to town." "What are you going to do?" "What do you think I'm going to do?" Sunset snorted. "I'm going to finish what I started." Cadance carried the filly back to town, clutching the shivering foal to her chest. The flight back was considerably faster than tracking the monster through the woods, even with the sleet still coming down. "Aurora!" Gasped the stallion, as Cadance walked through the doors. The filly hopped down and ran for her father, nuzzling him. "I knew you could save her, Princess." Cadance sighed feeling relieved. At least she was safe. "Princess, are you hurt?" Asked the innkeep, concerned. Cadance blinked, surprised by the question. "No, no, I'm fine," Cadance said. "But-" The innkeep touched Cadance's side, her hoof coming away stained with dark red. Cadance took off the coat just to make sure she hadn't been injured without noticing, but the blood hadn't even soaked through. "It's not mine," Cadance said. Then her brain caught up to what she was seeing. It wasn't hers, but that was where Sunset had pushed her. No, where she'd shielded Cadance with her own body. It was Sunset's blood, and she was still out in the woods with that monster. "No no nononono..." Cadance whispered. "I have to go!" She ran outside, without the coat. She didn't care about the cold right now. Sunset leaned against a boulder, trying to catch her breath. She was light-headed, dizzy, and probably going to pass out in a few minutes, but at least the winter wolf wasn't going to be a problem anymore. Where it had stood was a crater big enough to drop a house into, still smoking with residual heat. The wind whipped between the trees, chilling Sunset to the bone. She would have crawled towards the nice, warm hole in the ground, but her hooves didn't want to cooperate. She wasn't even sure she could stand up any more. To be honest, she'd been supporting herself with magic for a few minutes already, but with her concentration failing, even that was getting too difficult. "I really hate the cold..." Sunset trailed off without completing the thought, collapsing to the ground in a heap and groaning. "Sunset!" Cadance yelled, from somewhere above. Sunset groaned louder, not because she wanted to be found but because Cadance had the worst timing. She was just starting to get comfortable and fade into unconsciousness, but now she'd have to deal with a panicking pink princess. "Oh thank Harmony!" Cadance gasped, landing near her. "I didn't think I'd find you, but then I saw this big flash and-" "Go away," Sunset croaked. "You're hurt," Cadance said. She lifted Sunset's cloak and immediately put it back down. "Really hurt! We need to get you to the hospital!" "Oh wonderful," Sunset said, hissing through her teeth. "Then all the ponies there can talk about how great Princess Cadance is, and how she, alone, defeated a horrible monster and saved Celestia's worthless student." "I-it's not like that," Cadance whispered. "I just want to help." Sunset felt a surge of energy, and managed to open her eyes and glare at Cadance. "You think I don't bucking know that?! It has nothing to do with you! Everypony just loves you. You're beautiful and nice and polite..." Sunset coughed and set her head back down on the ground. "And you don't even have to do anything, and they like you. It's not fair." "Sunset..." Cadance whimpered. "You just had to beat one monster, and Harmony itself said 'good enough, alicorn time.'" Sunset pointed at her with a shaky hoof. "Do you know how many monsters I put down? Almost fifty so far! I've saved hundreds of ponies. And I don't get anything for it. You know what's going to happen here? In a week nopony will even remember I was here. They'll just talk about you." Cadance sat next to her, not sure what to do. Sunset laughed. "I'm just so tired, Cadance." "I didn't know," Cadance whispered. "I mean, I knew you were- that you were jealous. Or envious. Or both, I guess. Then there's the way the Celestia talks about you..." "I'm sure she has plenty of complaints," Sunset snorted. "All she ever talks about is how much potential you have. She's willing to send you out to fight monsters and recover artifacts... and she doesn't even trust me to talk to diplomats without her holding my hoof." "Let's be honest, Cadance. She wouldn't want me to talk to diplomats either." Sunset laughed. Cadance smiled a little. "Only because you'd scare them too much. If we put you in a room alone with the Griffonstone ambassador, the whole place would be annexed in a day." "Or on fire," Sunset offered. "I'm really good at setting things on fire." "Or on fire," Cadance agreed. "Now let's get you to a hospital. Please?" "F-fine," Sunset sighed. "But only because I don't want Midnight growing up knowing I got killed by anything less than a dragon." Cadance tried to pick Sunset up with her magic, and found it surprisingly difficult. It took almost all of her strength just to get her off the ground. She braced herself for the weight as she set Sunset down between her wings and- And nothing. She didn't feel like she was made of lead. Maybe a little heavier than the average unicorn, but nothing Cadance's earth pony strength couldn't manage. She'd have to solve that mystery another day. She spread her wings and started towards the nearest hospital. Cadance paced back and forth. Her wings still ached from the flight. It would have been hours away by train to the nearest town big enough to have a real hospital. She'd had to fly against the storm just to get to the small clinic the locals had pointed her towards. Even so, Sunset had passed out partway there. And the doctor had tried to ignore the wounded unicorn so he could treat Cadance's bruises. “What’s taking so long?” Cadance whispered, worried. She’d left the room so the doctor could focus more on what he was doing instead of constantly trying to please her. “Princess?” Asked a nurse, timidly. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing we can do.” “What?!” Cadance paled, running through the door. “She wasn’t hurt that badly!” The doctor, an older unicorn, was standing next to Sunset’s bed. He looked up as Cadance entered and bowed. “Princess Cadance,” he said. Cadance looked at Sunset. Her barrel was wrapped in bandages, and she was breathing shallowly. “Why haven’t you-” Cadance swallowed. She wasn’t going to get anywhere if the doctors were cowering and apologizing. “What’s wrong? Her injuries didn’t seem that… severe, and she’s still alive.” “We don't keep donated blood here, and we don't have a surgical team. Normally, for an injury like this, we’d use a few different spells to close the wound, replace the blood loss, and promote healing until they could be transferred to a larger facility,” the doctor said, as he stood. “But it’s just impossible in this case. The spells are failing because of her high thaumic pressure. I was being quite literal when I said there's nothing we can do.” “...Please explain like I don’t know anything about magic.” “Well…” the doctor frowned. “You just flew here through that storm. You know how much harder it is to fly against the wind?” Cadance nodded. “Imagine trying to fly into a hurricane. That’s what it’s like trying to cast magic on this filly.” The doctor sighed. “Every spell we try is trying to fight against her own aura and we’re losing.” “I’ve never heard of anything like that…” Cadance frowned. “Every living creature has a magical aura. It’s why spells that affect objects and ones that affect living creatures have different… rune patterns…” he trailed off when he saw Cadance wasn’t following him. “I apologize, Princess. I’m explaining it poorly. The important thing is, this is an unusual case. There must be something wrong with her that we can’t explain, because the only other way she could have intrinsic thaumatic pressure like this is if she had literally hundreds of times more power than the average unicorn.” “Something like that, yes,” Cadance muttered. “So you just need more power?” “Yes, unfortunately, there’s no way we can get a specialist out here before morning. The only one here who might be able to help is… you.” He looked up at her hopefully. “I don’t know any healing spells,” Cadance said, softly. “But I’m willing to learn.” Sunset groaned and opened her eyes, blinking at the bright rays of sunlight that had disturbed her rest. She felt like somepony had thrown her under a train. “What happened?” Sunset asked, putting a hoof over her eyes to shield them from the light. “Ugh…” Cadance moaned. “Do you know how hard it is to keep a spell going for eight hours? I feel like my head is going to explode.” “Eight hours?” Sunset blinked slowly, her eyes adjusting to the light. Cadance had bags under her eyes, the magic around her horn pulsing with the characteristic wavering aura of an exhausted caster. “That’s a stabilization spell.” Sunset whispered. “It was close. It took me a few tries to get it right.” Cadance smiled. “I was… I was really afraid that I’d mess this up, too.” “I’m amazed that worked,” Sunset said, after a moment to gather herself. She tried to get up, giving up after the bandaged wounds in her side protested a little too much. “That spell is rudimentary. And your technique is crap.” “It was all the doctor could teach me in time,” Cadance sighed. “I don’t really know a lot of spells.” “You should fix that.” Sunset said. “I should,” Cadance agreed. She nervously prodded the bed with her hoof, trying to think of the best way to say what she wanted to say. “I was hoping you could teach me.” “Me?” Sunset scoffed, laughing. “Why?” “Because we should be friends,” Cadance said. “I know Princess Celestia would approve.” “Of course she would,” Sunset snorted. “She’d love it. So you’re just doing this for her approval?” “Sunset, did you mean what you said in the forest? About me?” Cadance stopped pawing at the bed to look her in the eye. “You said that I was beautiful and nice and… well, a few other things while we were flying here.” “I don’t remember saying anything else,” Sunset frowned. “You were really out of it,” Cadance giggled. “But you remember the first part?” Sunset shrugged. “Go ask the doctor if you want a second opinion.” “You’re the first pony to say it to me where I felt like you really meant it,” Cadance said. “Without trying to please me, or buttering me up before making some request. I don’t think anypony has ever tried to make compliments sound quite so much like insults.” “Are you hitting on me? Is that what this is?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “I’m saying that we can work together. I want to learn magic. I know you haven’t given up on becoming a princess. If you help me learn magic, I’ll do everything in my power to teach you how to become a princess.” “So what, sitting somewhere and waving?” Sunset asked, weakly. “I can also give you some makeup tips, and preening advice.” “I don’t think preening will help me much.” “You might be surprised. If you ever have a special pegasus in your life, it can really make things… pleasant.” Cadance grinned widely. Sunset’s cheeks burned. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.” She huffed and closed her eyes, trying to regain her focus. “Fine. But I warn you - I can be a difficult taskmaster. I expect excellence from all of my students.” “How intimidating. I think I can handle it.” “Then welcome to my world, Princess Cadance.” Sunset’s horn started glowing. “Go get some rest. I can maintain the healing spells on myself.” “But-” “Lesson one,” Sunset said. “Always listen to the pony with more experience. That’s me. Get some rest.” “Yes, ma’am,” Cadance smiled. “Scoot over. I’ll just rest here so you can wake me if you need something.” “Already trying to get in bed with me?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. She moved over to give Cadance some room. “I’m just using you for your mattress,” Cadance yawned, settling down next to her on the thin padding. She quickly passed out, the exhaustion catching up with her as soon as she started to relax. Sunset blushed as the Princess nuzzled closer to her as she slept. It was a little closer than she wanted to be to the alicorn. But at least she was warm and more comfortable than the bed. Sunset sighed and leaned into her. She’d complain later. For now, at least she was alive.