Wingless ~ Part One

"Cadence!" Twilight turned around quickly, only for a wave of rain to spray her face. Blinking the water out of her eyes the best she could, she looked around in panic. She couldn't have disappeared like that could she?! Twilight flew upwards and tried to fly through the mass of clouds, but she couldn't make her way past it without feeling suffocated. She flew back down and looked around once more to see if she could spot her sister-in-law. It felt like hours since she lost Cadence; Twilight's wings began to ache from the cold and wet of the rain, her eyes felt sore from the constant wiping, and her head throbbed from the thunder. The adrenaline started to die away, and Twilight could feel herself growing tired. Another strike of lightning shot through the air, pumping the smallest amount of adrenaline left in her body. Twilight spun in an energized panic.

"Cadence! Where are you?!" Twilight screamed, but the sound of thunder drowned out her call. Lightning struck a few yards away from the alicorn, causing her heart to skip a beat. "Cadence!" Her voice strained. Twilight began to cry in defeat, "Cadence, please!" She was just about to give up and lower herself to the ground when she saw the faintest silhouette of a pony in the distance.

Twilight smiled in relief. "Cadence!" She flew as fast as she could to the silhouette, fighting the strong gusts of wind. When she was a few feet away from Cadence, she stopped and called, "Cadence!"

"Twilight! There you are!" Cadence quickly flew to Twilight and embraced her tightly. She looked at Twilight with a strong urgency, "We need to get out of here!"

"Right! We need to make it to the ground, we can find our way home from there!" A strike of lightning lit up the air, and Twilight pulled her ears back as thunder followed.

"We can't! The Everfree Forest is below us!"

"What else can we do?!" Twilight tried to use her magic, but her mind spun in dizziness; realizing she was too tired to perform her teleportation spell. "I can't use my magic!"

"Neither can I!" Cadence looked up, shaking her head a bit to move her soggy bangs to the side. "We could try to get past the clouds!"

"I've already tried that, it won't work! Oh Cadence! What do we do?!"

Cadence frowned, then looked into Twilight's eyes. Twilight could feel Cadence's hooves on her shoulders tense up as she returned the look with uncertainty. "Cadence?"

"We need to take our chances in the forest!" More lightning struck around them, lighting up their surroundings. "Come on!" Cadence began to lower herself towards the forest, but the strong gusts of wind broke her balance and she staggered in the air.

"Cadence!" Twilight grabbed her with her front hooves and tried to steady the pink alicorn. She tried again to use her magic, but her effort to steady her sister drained her strength. Twilight's vision blurred and she felt like she was going to pass out.

"You can't pass out yet Twilight! Not now!" Cadence shook Twilight and grabbed her hoof, beginning to lower to the forest again. The wind suddenly became stronger and sent a wave of rain splashing over them. Twilight and Cadence jolted backwards and shook their heads, trying to keep the water out of their eyes. But the winds kept sending more waves of rain into their faces, and they soon had to stop to wipe their eyes with their hooves.

At that moment, the wind caused the two alicorns to separate. Cadence aggressively flapped her wings in order to keep herself upright, she spotted her sister and stretched her hoof out. "Twilight!" She yelled, trying to reach for the purple alicorn. "Take my hoof!"

"I'm trying!" Twilight struggled to fight the wind, but fatigue began to overtake her. Twilight's vision blurred, her eyes shook, her mind spun so much it became numb, and the thought of falling into a deep sleep seemed to... soothe her... She shook her head to try to stay awake, but she no longer had the energy to continue fighting the urge. Twilight fell limp, and let herself be carried by the wind, slowly fading into unconsciousness.

"Twilight!" Cadence tried to use her magic, but her horn only ignited a small flare of light. She then tried to fly to her sister-in-law, using whatever energy she had left. "Stay awake Twilight!" Glancing upwards, she noticed a part of the clouds glow, she then looked to where her sister was and gasped. Oh no!

"Twilight! Look out!"

Twilight's ears twitched at the shrill scream from Cadence, and opened her eyes. A flash of white light abruptly enveloped her vision, and a strong force struck her body shortly afterwards. Pain coursed from her left side to her whole body, causing her to convulse in agony. Twilight felt the need to scream, her mouth wide open, but she was too much in shock to make a sound. Her vision blurred from white to black, and her mind went completely blank.

"Twilight!" Cadence cried, she dived towards the falling body of the purple alicorn. "No!" She closed her wings, catching up to her sister as they fell. She quickly grabbed the limp body and wrapped her body around it as the two of them plummeted into the Everfree Forest.

Crashing through branches and landing on the ground with a huge thud, Cadence let go of Twilight and laid there in shock and pain. Her wing began to twitch, and tears welled up in her eyes. After a while, the pink alicorn shakily turned her head to look at her sister. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight. Oh my Celestia... No! No, no, no!

Cadence turned to lay on her shoulder, and placed a hoof gingerly on Twilight's back. "T-Twilight? Twilight... you have to get up!" She jerked her hoof off as she heard the faint sound of a groan. "Twilight?" The pink alicorn suddenly felt something warm on her wing that Twilight laid on. She gently rolled Twilight away from her wing and gasped at the sight of fresh blood, staining her wing and the ground they were on. "Good Luna..." She breathed as she spotted the wound Twilight wore. "No... Celestia no! Please no! Not now!" Cadence lifted herself up to her hooves, but collapsed as pain shot through her right shoulder. She tried again, this time balancing her weight on three legs. She quickly looked around frantically for anything to use to block the blood flooding out of Twilight's wound, yet found nothing but wood and thorny vines.

Cadence then collapsed onto her knees and hung her head over her sister-in-law's body. She squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated as hard as she could. Finally managing to spark a small amount of magic, she used it to apply pressure to the wound. The pink alicorn looked around, What do I do now?! I'm not able to help her! My shoulder feels like it's going to fall off, Twilight's bleeding out, we're in the middle of the Everfree Forest and a storm... Ugh! How could this possibly get any worse?!

Suddenly, her magic gave out and more blood gushed from the wound. "No!" Cadence screamed, "No! No! Stupid damned horn! Don't give out on me!" Desperately, she clenched her teeth, trying to ignite her magic again. "P-Please! Work! Work!" When she couldn't get another spark, she pressed her hooves against the wound and looked around frantically, hoping somepony was there. This is all my fault! Oh Celestia, what have I done? What have I done?!

"Somepony! Anypony! Please! Help us! Please! Twilight's gonna die! Somepony! Anypony! For Celestia's sake! Please! Somepony help us!" Cadence cried to the sky; another wave of pain shot through her shoulder and caused her to fall again. In spite of her pain, she lifted her hoof to Twilight's wound. Her weary eyes shook, the drops of rain from the sky barely felt as they landed on Cadence's body. Her eyes slowly closed as her hoof became covered in blood. She'll never make it... "I'm... sorry..."