//------------------------------//
// Distance 
// Story: Ocean 
// by Toraka 
//------------------------------//

"There you are. Look at this one." Midnight stood towering over a steel gray pegasus colt. At first glance, he looked fine to Daylight. His head had given in to the sun's glow, eyes clenched shut while whispering what she assumed to be sweet nothings. Only when he turned could she see his wing stand off at an unnerving angle. A tiny red trickle permeated it, sticking together feathers on its way. "I have no idea how this happened, but here we are. Maybe I could have prevented it, considering I was literally two feet away." Midnight nudged the injured wing, eliciting a breathless moan. "Either way, it doesn't look like the actual bone is hurt. Be quiet, little wuss, that'd hurt more. You ever tried giving birth?" In response, the colt rolled onto his stomach, curling up while exposing the wound. "Ah yes, business time. Well lucky you, because I'm kind of a doctor and this is sort of my assistant. Daylight, suggestions on what you should do?"

"Erm, stem the bleeding, bandage the wound, send off to better equipped ponies?" Daylight did her best to clean the sand off of her hooves. She had seen Midnight work before, but never actually contributed more than simple assistance. "Do we have a medkit here?"

"Pft, new age stuff. Who needs that. You have been practicing that spell of yours, right?" She gently tapped Daylight on the tip of her horn. "This is medicine, no matter what the cutting psychopaths tell you. Care to try using it?"

"I don't know." Daylight's eyes shifted, trying to elude Midnight's gaze. Unfortunately, she found herself stuck on the hurt wing. With each twitch that brought forth another burst of blood, her stomach sunk further. "What if I screw up?"

"You could kill him. Alternatives include explosion, detonation, sudden and rapid displacement of inner organs to each other's location, liquification, and phyresis. You may also doom him to a flightless life. Magic is not for everyone; Consult your doctor before use." A rare chuckle came out of Midnight's direction. "Can't take that phrase seriously, not since I am that doctor. Don't worry though, none of that is your kind of magic. At worst, it could do nothing, in which case I'd have to take over. But considering who you are, this should be easy. Focus and direct."

Trying to suppress the images flooding her head, Daylight shut her eyes and concentrated. Soon enough, an orb of light pierced the darkness before her. She knew where to bring it. At her approach, a cluster of pasted feathers lit up. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed. The orb melted into the wound at the slightest touch, filling in tissue and energy alike. With but a thought, she forced the wing back into shape. Her work was done. The world blinded her as she reopened her eyes, but the connection between them remained.

As Midnight bent down to ensure Daylight had mended the wound properly, a whistle from behind drew her attention. "Impressive. You're a white mage after all," said Twilight, having crept up on them while she had been distracted. "Who would have thought."

"Is that bad?" Daylight didn't want to have disappointed her parents, not when she had just managed some success.

"You come from a long line of unicorns who used white magic to heal and protect the innocent. It ended with me, but I suppose the seed of truth never breaks. A shame, in a way. I think the arcane ways far superior. Maybe it's connected with how little empathy I feel for the weak, compared to you." Finding their patient to be out of danger, Midnight rose up and came to her side. "Oh well. Anypony up for celebratory ice cream? Celebrating this as the first act in you curing everypony ever?"

"In celebration of that she managed not to kill her first patient?" Knowing the sand's intentions to consume Daylight, Twilight allowed her to ride out of harm's reach. The way to the beach kiosk wasn't very long, but she could never be too safe.

"Ask me again if I care about your teasing twenty years ago, Sparkle." A moment of silence followed. Within it, Midnight's eyes were neither here nor there. Rather, they were focused on a point beyond recognition, one within herself. "To the day twenty years, actually. What a weird, unplannable coincidence. Perhaps we happened to go on this day so that I could spend time with you two rather than family who can't get over her death. Nah, the first option."

"Reminds me, did we actually tell her about her grandparents, or lack thereof? Might be some better ways than this to do it." Twilight looked over her shoulder, where Daylight was still standing with surprising security despite the bouncing of her mount. Her expression was unchanged.

"We can still do it as you please. Two, one..."

"But how could I do that without access to the secret stash of time spells?" Daylight briefly wondered how they had already gotten so far, but then decided her attention was better spent elsewhere. "I feel like there's a bit too many hurt ponies for me to treat all at once. Except maybe with an epic..."

"At least she is predictable. She'll be a great medic, I'm telling you." Once they arrived, Midnight stole Daylight and set her down on the ground between them. "What will it be, lil' Noon?"

"Um." Daylight gazed up at the endless list of offers. She could probably keep herself and a battailon of friends busy for decades calculating the available choices, but she knew she had to act fast. "Lemon, please."

"She is taking after you, Sparkle. I hope you know what you have done. Well then." Midnight drew a few coins seemingly out of thin air and laid them onto the counter. "Two lemon and one chocolate."

Three individual glows carried one piece of ice cream each as they walked back to their set spot. With his injury cured, the colt had left, leaving only a tiny bloodstain on one of the towels. "Already back to sitting around?" moaned Daylight.

"Do fillies come with an implemented antimatter reactor or something? Anyway, I can only do this for you." Daylight lost her sense of weight, regaining it only when she was set down on top of the sunshade. Somehow, it even managed to support her weight. "Is that better?"

"That's irresponsible, Midnight. Do you want her to collapse?" A tiny cloud formed around the tip of Daylight's horn, giving her protection from the glaring sun. She noticed none of it, nor of the icky kiss happening below. Her mind was already on the waves, with them.