//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 - Friendship In Rivalry // Story: My Two Most Faithful Students // by Flaeirye //------------------------------// Back at the Gem Front. Snow lazily drifted down from above, covering the tents and furnitures outside with a thin blanket of snow. Campfires that once crackled with flames were no more, nothing but ashes and the last traces of smoke. The camps were no better; everything was in shambles, as if ransacked by a raging storm. A unicorn soldier overlooked the camp from a hill on its outskirts, when he noticed the troops march back -- but not in triumphant fanfare, but with the gloom of utter defeat. “Captain!” The unicorn galloped toward the battered battalion and met them halfway the camp. “What happened?” Aura Gleam stayed silent. He took a moment to breath, and took in the weary and uneasy looks on his troops. “Any word from the king?” the captain asked. “I'm afraid he wants us to withdraw,” he reported with regret. “Then let's go. We're done here for now,” he replied without missing a bit. “Take care of the wounded and round up our remaining troops. We're going back to Unicornia and everything we've gathered so far.” “Uh, about that...” The soldier froze on his hooves. He gulped, and gathered all of his courage to continue. “During your attack on Southern Earth, the gem hounds that we fended off became a lot more -- aggressive, than before. They took us by surprised and plundered most of our resources. Mostly gems.” They got a new master now, the words of that earth pony played inside Aura Gleam's head. So that rogue unicorn has even executed a pre-emptive strike. That kind of power, she was a lot more dangerous than he expected. He could do nothing but concede. This was the first defeat the proud high knight has experienced. “Let's not waste anymore time.” The unicorn soldier was worried, mostly about the king. What would he think about them going home with empty hooves? He took a few moments to look around at the worn-out soldiers -- but something was amiss. He found an unconscious mage carried on a mat, but saw no other robed magus nearby. “Where’s Snow Cross?" One of the soldier who trotted by replied with deadpan expression, “Gone.” --- “I’m sorry to see you go, Twilight. I tried to talk my dad out of it but he just wouldn't listen,” the butter filly said with sadness in her voice. “It’s alright Butter.” The purple mare glanced at the remains of the Cakes' house. The rest of family scavenged through the burnt pillars and scattered furnitures for for anything they could bring with them as they relocate to a new location. The sight was too much for Twilight. “I feel terribly sorry for everypony.” “Yeah, yeah,” Cookie joined in, smirking. “If it weren't for uncle Carrot, you'd be the one facing execution.” “Huh!?” Twilight exclaimed. Cookie chuckled. “Hey relax, I was only messing with you.” “That wasn’t funny at all!” Selene said, terrified. “I just wanted to lighten up the mood a little-- well, that didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. And I don't think they're really going to harm him, be a fellow earth pony and that. But of course I’m worried about my uncle.” Her expression turned serious. “So what are you going to do now?” Twilight shook her head and heaved a great sigh. “Probably find a place to stay during winter. And maybe this time, away from earth ponies to prevent another catastrophe.” Perhaps a place where no unicorn would know. Good thing she could still recall the map from the town hall. “That would be best. I hope you'll have better luck than us.” Cookie commented. “And why is that?” “Well…” The orange filly didn't want to say. She just couldn't -- but it all came crashing down from a voice calling from the other side of the street. “Hellooooo! Am I interrupting?” Pudding popped in between their conversation, all smiles. “Oh great,” Cookie planted a hoof at her face with embarrassment. “I see. So the Cakes are moving in the Sweets?” This unexpected development made Twilight wryly smile. “That’s right!” Pudding stuck to Cookie with an exaggerated gesture. “Since our house got wrecked, my parents came up with a brilliant plan, about a new shop. What did they do? Oh, I'll tell you what they did. They decided to work with the Cakes, to make a shop more unique, more extravagant than any other!” She leaned her weight at Cookie, much to her annoyance. “And somehooow, Cookie’s parents agreed! And I can’t wait for my shop to reopen!” “‘Our’ shop, not yours,” Cookie corrected. “Eh, that depends.” She blew the ashes off her hoof. “At least you're friends now?” Celeste said. “Of course! All I wanted is to make poor Cookie feel comfortable.” Pudding squished Cookie’s cheek with pity, “Just look at this sad face. It makes me want to cry as well.” “I’m not sad!” Cookie pushed Pudding away. Well, at least there’s one part of timeline that hadn’t change. Twilight smiled as she looked over these two fillies. As Mr. Cake called out for Butter, the two broke up their fight and stood back up. “Right, I almost forgot. Twilight, wait here.” After that, the orange filly ran back to her house. “Hey, where’d you think your going?” Pudding raced along with Cookie. “Twilight?” Ginger approached Twilight. The little colt kept glancing back at her angry mother, but kept on. “You're going to travel somewhere far away, right?” “Honestly, I think it’s our only option to keep everypony safe.” “Ma’h Pa wants to tell you this before you go.” He looked down, doing his best to remember the words. Twilight's curiosity was peaked as she waited for him. “Oh, right! If you going to find a safe place for your fillies, go to Flye. You might be able to find somepony to help you there.” “Why does he insist on helping us?” Celeste asked. “Yeah, shouldn't he be mad at us?” Selene followed. “I don’t know. He just told me to say that to you.” Looking back once more, he felt his mother would snap if he spent more time talking with unicorns. “I gotta go now.” Ginger was about run back to his mother only to be distracted by his cousin. “I’m back!” Cookie dashed back, with short breaths, along with an equally tired Pudding. “You forgot these.” She presented a leaf-made saddlebag to the purple unicorn she grabbed from their house. Twilight opened and found the gems they collected from their trip at Gem front. “I-.. These are-..” Twilight was shocked. “Yeah, it’s a miracle that it didn’t get caught up in flames, considering it's made out of leaves. Don't forget your belongings, otherwise there won’t be some honest pony to return it to you.” Cookie said with pride, leaning on Pudding who was thinking if it was about her or not. Cookie wasn't done and took another rucksack out. “And as a bonus, I packed some bread and vegetables for your journey ahead,” “That’s... very kind of you, Cookie. Thank you,” Twilight said, her heart filled with gratitude. “No problem at all.” Cookie swayed her hoof humbly. “Wait, you had a lot of extra shinies all this time?” Ginger rushed back to the group after noticing the gems inside Twilight's bag Twilight wanted to give some to Ginger, partly out of thanks for the message, but she had to remind herself the dangers of giving gems away. She didn't know what to say. Cookie realized this and wrapped a hoof around her cousin's neck. “Don’t worry, cousin. Once our shop is complete, We'll be making more income than we can even dream of.” “Exactly,” Pudding nodded, and went to the next business at hand. “I think I should call it Sweet Cake, because that’s us, and we are that.” “I don’t think everypony would be interested in that kind of name. We need something better, something that -- that attracts customers, here, in our corner of the street.” Cookie racked her brain for an idea. “I was going to say my own idea, but I only said Sweet Cake because you might agree,” Pudding said with disappointment. A flash came like lightning on Cookie's mind. “Sugarcube Corner. Let's go with that!” “I like it,” commented Ginger. “Eh, how's that any different from Sweet Cake?” Pudding complained, still wanting to push the Sweet Cake name. “You just gotta believe me,” Cookie said with determination. "We're gonna sell, like sugarcubes! Yeah!" Ginger was having fun with everyone when her mother couldn't take it any longer. “Ginger! Get back here right now!” The colt’s ear drooped down and ran back obediently, but not without a final wave of goodbye to Twilight. Cookie and Pudding then turned their attention back at the purple mare. The orange filly looked the at two sisters. “Well everypony, I guess this is goodbye. I’d say you two aren’t that bad at baking. It was an honor to have you as company.” Cookie bowed down with a smile while Pudding couldn't help but roll her eyes. “It was fun! I wish we could meet again someday.” Selene said, forcing a smile against the forming tears on her eyes “Hey, if you do ever come back, visit our shop. This time we won’t be surprised if a unicorn comes by.” “...If only the pony in charge here would allow us. Perhaps.” Celeste said with a sad smile. “Thank you for letting us stay, Cookie. Please tell everypony I'm really sorry. Especially Carrot.” Twilight apologized once more. “Have no worries. I got it all under control.” The filly said with her characteristic confident smile. Twilight giggled softly. “Farewell, Cookie. And Pudding.” “Goodbye Twilight.” The two rivals said in unison and went back to the ruined house. Just in time, the Cakes were about to move onto their new spot. Twilight saw them packing up with their unscathed belongings crammed up on the wagon. The purple mare stared at them for a bit. She couldn’t help but smiled about it. Friendship really can grow from rivalries.