Working Relationships

Hot Zone, Cold Territory

Fluttershy could see it happening before her eyes, her shut eyes, slowly frozen over.

She was galloping, through a misty field, she felt as if she were having deja vu, her hoofs pranced lightly as her wings levitated her up and down.  In the middle of the open field, there was a lone tree, her hair was slightly covering her filly face, and she could see a small figure on the other side of the brown bark.

She pranced to the other side to only see a slouched filly, Twilight Sparkle leaning up against the wood.  She tried to call out, but only faintly, “Twilight?”

No answer, only Twilight’s lowered head to great her.  She tried again, no avail, and the filly began to get worried, her heart started pounding.  She waltzed over to her, shaking the motionless body of her friend.

“Please, wake up Twilight, wake up,” she teared, repeatedly moving Twilight.

“No, no, no, no,”

“Wake up,”

“Please,”

Suddenly, Twilight showed signs of life, twitching, and Fluttershy hugged her in joy, their small bodies pressed against each other.  Fluttershy nuzzled her nose into Twilight’s long, purple and dark pink stripped mane.  She retracted her head to get a better look at Twilight, but was shocked to see only a burnt face of her friend, slowly leaning over, crumbling on her shoulder.

Like Philomena, the remains of the small filly blew out of her hooves, and she was gone.

A cold splash hit her face, and Fluttershy woke up in the cave.  She couldn’t bare to bring herself to tell Twilight how she felt, not just yet, and lied about why she came on the train.  She didn’t know how long had passed, or if she even wanted to know.  She was alone, crippled by the cold, and chilled to the bone.  After regretting leaving the blanket on the train, she tried to stand, just barley, and leaned herself up against the wall, the cold cave wall.  Wishing she had been waking up in her warm bed by the fire, with a nice sweater on, and socks going up to her haunches.  The outside was dark, night, and the snow was plowing down, and Twilight came from that darkness, bearing wood on her back.

“I see that you are awake,” she said, limping down, still sore.

“You have been out for a good day... or bad day in these circumstances,” she placed the wood down on the almost extinguished fire, kindling it.

Fluttershy didn’t answer, but could only look.  She did this, she dragged Twilight out into the middle of nowhere, and is know thinking maybe she should have gone the other way, with the pony wearing the hat.  That one reminded her of Applejack, and she reminded her of the rest of them.  But they weren’t coming...

Nopony was.

“What do you think the rest of them are doing?” Finally asked, but Twilight wasn’t extremely hesitant to answer right away.  She had a mix of feelings for Fluttershy, some where bad, but some where good.  Others were fear, anger, doubt, and pain.  What in Equestria were they going to do?

“I don’t know, Fluttershy.”

“But what if we don’t get over the next mountain?”

“I don’t know, Fluttershy,” she leaned over the fire to get warmer, even as her temper started to boil.

“Do you think this is the end, Twilight?”

A tear shed out of Twilight’s eye, afraid of the answer she already knew, but hated to admit, “I don’t know, Fluttershy...”

Fluttershy had just realized her face was wet, covered in cold sweat.  She slowly went to Twilight, and wrapped a hoof around her, “It’s okay, Twilight,”

“No, Fluttershy, it’s not...”

“You tried teleporting?”

“Of course, too much magical interference, and besides...”

“Besides?” Fluttershy asked.

“Besides, if I did, I couldn’t take you with me.”

Knowing that teleportation only works on the caster, and it would take a much more larger spell to take them both, if they only had the book it was inscribed in.  It seemed like that was the one boundary keeping them from harm, returning home, enjoying life, together.  The warm, crisp air of summer breezing through each other’s mane, and Fluttershy’s vision of a small cottage, where she and Twilight could live.

As Twilight’s senses became more dull, and Fluttershy’s moral was depleting at an rising rate, they both couldn’t stay there much longer.  They had to leave, fast, but the question still remained; when?  Also, how would they survive?  Saying ‘I’m sorry’ is not going to make things better, and even Celestia wouldn’t be able to save them.  There was nowhere to go, but up, so they went: Up.

“Twilight, we need to go, now,” Fluttershy said;

“That is one thing, I do know,” Twilight returned, “but, I’m not sure I want to go out like this.”

“We go together, you and I.”

With that, they had nothing but the skin and hair on their backs to take with them, and they gripped out into the cold night.  The wind was harsh, the snow harsher, and about two feet deep.  They were dancing with death, and it called their names in the wind, stroking their manes low, and tugged on them, tripping them, but they still pushed on.

“Twilight, we need to move towards the mountain!” Fluttershy commanded, that was one of the loudest times she had ever yelled, and Twilight agreed.

Discovering a dark path, they traveled down it, using their sense of direction to find where the mountain was.  Yellow eyes were gazing a death stare down at them, and they knew the rest of the wolves will come for them.  Realizing that they might, and just might, make it out gave them hope.

“Fluttershy, you must stick close to me,” she said, pulling Fluttershy closer, “any kind of animal could pull you away in a second, and you would be lost, for good.”

“Oh, please, don’t tell me about it,” Fluttershy moaned, rubbing her side against Twilight, making a connection between them.

They started turning into a slow trot, having their ears pricked, hearing the owls calling from hundreds of feet away over the winds, only to be startled by a quick snap of a twig under their hooves, and sent them head over hoof.

They pranced over the snow, jumping and galloping at the same time, wings having no effect in the blowing climate.  Their stomachs growled louder than the wolves themselves, gaining closer and closer with ever step they took.

Hot zone, cold territory.  Funny, the colder it got, the closer they got to the mountain, and the farther they got away from home.  Timberwoods was not even an option anymore, they only wished to be back home.  Fluttershy got stuck in the frying pan, and hopped out into the fire, carrying Twilight with her.  If only she had left Twilight with that pony with the hat, maybe she could have woken up, out luck (something they were out of), and gone home.  Quick nerve shocks sprung up their backs as they continued, and the trees began to get thicker.

“How much further, Twilight,” Fluttershy asked, unaware of the correct distance.

“I can’t rightly tell, maybe another one, one and a half miles?”

“Mile? Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, Twilight, I don't think we will last another hundred yards!” Fluttershy announced.

“Then we better pick up the pace, start galloping!” Twilight said, as she rand as fast as she could.

They tripped a few times, but regained their steps.  Weaker they grew, and their hair began to freeze, and frost over.  Their eyes were getting hazy, and were lowering slowly.  They continued, and finally were able to see the peak of the mountain.  Only a few hundred yards, like she said, remained.  A cold grin grew on Fluttershy face and so did the wolves, the unseen enemy chasing them.

“Twilight, the wolves, they’re coming back,” Fluttershy yelped, heavily breathing in the cold air, shutting down her lungs slowly.  Twilight cocked her head backwards, taking a look at her friends.

“Keep going!” Twilight returned as she hopped over a few fallen trees.

Twilight kept looking forward, accompanied by the sound of Fluttershy’s light hoofsteps in the snow, then silence.  Twilight stopped, barely able to see the mountain top, and turned, only to see an empty hall of trees and leaves.  Only prints leading of to the left, then nothing.  Twilight called out for Fluttershy, and listened after the echo, no answer.

Twilight began to make her way following the trail of tracks into the deep woods.  The tracks soon turned into a large array of dragged marks.  Then a few more prints came, paw prints, and horse feathers.  Darkness consumed her, as she stumbled blindly into the snow.  Heavy breathing came, and sounds of hacking brought her closer.  Out of the tree line, into a small circle of only snow fell.  The sky was visible, and it was day, only the tree’s blocked out the sun, and the clouds were looming out, covering the rays of the warmth.  Fluttershy laid in the center, paw prints all around, but she was seemingly unharmed.

“F-f-fluttershy?” Twilight whispered, not daring to step in the circle, knowing what might happen, “Are you alright?”

“Twilight... help, quick,” she moaned, trying to stand up, “they might come back,”

Twilight ran over, and helped her up.  Twilight told her they had to hurry, even if they don’t make it to the mountain, they at least need to be out of the woods.

“Ready?” Applejack asked,

“Ready,” Rainbow Dash answered, proceeding to Rarity’s home.

The sun was out, they had packed their essentials, and were ready.  The only part that was most frightening is not knowing where they might pop up.  Twilight could be anywhere and Fluttershy could be anywhere.