//------------------------------// // St. Elmo's Fire/Man in Motion(John Parr; 1985) // Story: Chemistry // by Fuzzyfurvert //------------------------------// Chemistry Chapter 2: St. Elmo's Fire by Fuzzyfurvert “How are you holding up, slow poke?”  Cadance glanced down below where Twilight was starting to huff and pant in the cool, thin air.  “We’re almost there!” Cadance spread her wings in the thinning atmosphere, catching the last hint of the warm updraft that had helped them ascend for the past few minutes.  She grabbed the wind and pushed hard, one final time, to get herself up and over the edge of the wispy cloud that was their destination.  She settled herself and took a big gulp of cold, high-altitude air to get her breathing and heart rate under control. Cadance grinned fiercely and gave her wings a quick flick to align her feathers comfortably before folding them against her sides.  The weather was perfect for a day out flying with her sister-in-law.  The air was mostly still with just the right mix of moisture to form long, sparse clouds that snaked through the sky like waves in slow-motion.  Her empire spread out below her like a glittering carpet, and she could feel the warmth of the mid-day sun on her back.   Twilight collapsed in a disorganized, exhausted heap next to her.  Cadance chuckled with a slight wheeze.  “I am so out of practice," she lamented. "You would think that, having been born a pegasus, I’d be reasonably good at flying.” “Flutter...Fluttershy is...is like that.”  Twilight rolled unceremoniously onto her back as her chest heaved with each breath.  “By Faust, this cloud is high up!” Cadance smirked and nodded. “I like to come up here once a week, if I can.  Mostly for the exercise.  The Crystal Empire is almost 90% earth ponies with most of the remainder being unicorns.  I don’t get the chance to fly with other ponies very often.” “There are gryphon settlements nearby.”  Twilight coughed as she tried to ease her breathing.  “They fly all along the mountain ranges near here and down to coast in the west.  I read a book about it once.  They trade goods near Vanhoover, if I remember correctly.” “As if you would forget something like that.  Of course you’re right too.  We have our own trade agreements with the Gryphon Aeries.”  Cadance rolled her eyes.  “I can barely keep up with other pegasi!  I wouldn’t even try to do the long distance flights the gryphons prefer.” Twilight chuckled, her breathing having returned to somewhere near normal.  She shifted around and climbed to her hooves so she could look out over the edge of the cloud at the whole of Equus spread out far below.  The Crystal Empire sat directly beneath them, the central castle glinting in the mid-day sun like a beacon that was visible for dozens of leagues in every direction.   Twilight whistled to herself and turned back to Cadance.  “You come up here just for exercise?  This view is amazing!” “I know, right?”  Cadance smiled.  “The view is one of the perks of having the sky to myself here.  And it's quiet, too.  Normally, it’s just me and the wind blowing my mane into my face.  Your brother tells me I look serene and majestic when I sit and think on a cloud.” “I could see that.”  Twilight sighed and settled herself comfortably so she could still see most of the view their vantage point offered.  “What do you think about?” “Boring political stuff most of the time.  I wonder constantly how Aunt Celestia managed to rule Equestria by herself for so long.  It’s interesting, but it’s tedious too.”  Cadance let her voice fade as she watched a small patch of the pale blue sky.  “When that isn’t weighing on my mind… well, I think about Shining, or you, or the new friends I’m making here.  I can safely claim that my mind isn’t clouded very much these days.” *** Twilight could remember their days together back in Canterlot when they had been younger and the few times that Cadance had acted...weird.  She’d never really thought much of it at the time.  A younger Twilight had just assumed that was how teenaged mares were.  It certainly had seemed that way when she had first realized that her big brother and her foalsitter were in love. As she thought back on those times, Twilight couldn’t help but wonder.  Sometimes Cadance had seemed almost afraid of her.  She never did or said anything really odd, but from time to time, Twilight would see it in her eyes.  Her pupils would lock on and narrow, her nostrils would flare as she inhaled sharply.  Sometimes she’d bite her lip.  Sometimes that look, that hidden...whatever it was...wasn’t afraid.  Sometimes it looked hungry.  In that way she had seen Cadance look at her brother now and then.  It was always quick. Blink-and-you-miss-it sort of moments. There were times when Cadance would be acting normally and then sort of lose focus and babble for a moment and break out in a sweat.  She would close her eyes and hold her breath like she was trying to hold something in.  Over the years, there were less and less of those odd incidents.  Cadance had remained her friend until school and conflicting schedules had simply pulled them apart. During the intervening years, Twilight could recall Shining having a few hushed conversations with their father.  She didn’t consider herself a nosey foal, but sometimes she couldn’t help but overhear parts.  It had always mystified her if Shining was concerned about Cadance or for Cadance.  Now, they were reconnecting and Cadance was still the wonderful mare she had always known her to be.  But then, a few weeks ago when they had revived the old tradition of a girls-only movie night, there had been another one of those strange incidents.  Cadance had slipped away to the bathroom in the middle of the movie but she had moved so suddenly and stiffly that Twilight couldn’t have not noticed.  It wasn’t something she was proud of but she followed Cadance.  She’d stood silently outside the bathroom and listened until the toilet flushed.  She’d rushed back to the living area in front of the big screen and tossed the blanket over herself.  Cadance returned a moment later, all smiles and perfectly normal once again. Twilight fought to keep her face neutral.  She didn’t want to show Cadance how guilty she felt inside for listening in on her in the bathroom.  She didn’t want Cadance to know that she had heard the muttering, or the sounds of what was possibly a pill case snapping open and closed.  She didn’t want Cadance to know about the researching she had done afterwards.  But all of her research had only led her to more questions.  Questions and frustrating court-sealed documents. It wasn’t her business.  Twilight told herself that it wasn’t, not truly.  She hadn’t turned over some great conspiracy, just circumstantial evidence of a potential secret.  It wasn’t her business.  It was only a secret kept by her oldest friend and one that seemed to have no harm in being kept.  Some things are like that, no matter the itch not knowing gave her.  It tickled and tingled behind her eyes.  It wasn’t her business.  No matter how much she wanted to know. It wasn’t her business.