Cold

Twilight's eyes slowly fluttered open as the rays of early morning sunshine filtered down on her. She slowly turned her head to look out the window to see the soft blue skies and chirping birds as they flew about through the warm summer air. A soft smile graced her face as she contemplated getting out of bed or just staying in for a few more minutes, however a small rumbling in her stomach made her decision for her, and she climbed out of bed.

Her hooves clopped down on the hard wood floors of the library. She walked down the steps toward the kitchen to find Spike already up and making breakfast.

"Oh, hey Spike!" She chirped, a smile already on her face.

"Hey, Twilight! I'm almost done making breakfast. Come on down!" He responded.

Twilight eagerly took her seat at the table just in time for Spike to walk over with a plate held in his claws. He quickly deposited the food on the table, prompting a confused look from the lavender alicorn as she looked down at the food.

"Um, Spike? Spaghetti for breakfast?" She asked.

"Yeah! Speghettios!" He proudly exclaimed, pulling a can out of the trash and holding it up for her to see.

"Spa...ghettios..." She parroted, her eyes falling down to the plate before her.

Suddenly, the plate was gone, along with the table. She quickly glanced back up to see that Spike was also nowhere to be seen. She jumped out of her chair and found herself no longer in the library kitchen, but instead in the middle of a frozen wasteland. Her heart rate climbed as her anxiety spiked, and she struggled to breathe as the sounds of gunfire echoed through the air. Her coat felt frozen yet it burned so bad in certain spots that she jumped.

Twilight frantically looked back and forth through the blinding snow but saw nothing. Her ears flicked back and forth as she searched for any sign of life aside from the constant thunderous noise exploding all around her. She quickly sank to her haunches and fought to keep the tears out of her eyes.

"No... No please... This can't be happening..." She cried.

"Twilight!" A voice shouted through the void around her.

She hastily blinked back the tears and searched for the source of the voice, but the howling wind blinded her to anyone that might be out there.

"H-Hello!?" She called back.

"Twilight!" The voice grew louder.

"I-I'm over here!" She cried, finding the voice to be coming from dead ahead.

Then, silence. She looked back and forth but found nothing but darkness surrounding her. She couldn't make out the floor from anything else in the darkness, but her hooves and the rest of her body were plainly visible. Another quick glance around confirmed that there was simply nothing else in existence aside from the purple pony.

"Hello?" She asked her quiet voice echoing through the void over and over again.

help

"What?" She pushed herself to her hooves and searched the emptiness for the source of the voice.

Twilight...

"Cooper? Where are you!?" She cried, her anxiety climbing once more.

"Twilight." He said, his voice coming from behind her.

Twilight yelped as she was startled almost into the air. She turned around so fast that her eyes had trouble keeping up, and searched for the source of the voice. She felt her blood freeze at the sight before her. Cooper was laying on the floor, blood oozing from several spots all along his chest and stomach.

"Help me... Twilight." He groaned.

She galloped over to him as fast as she could, her hooves echoing noisily in the empty air. Within seconds, she reached his side and frantically looked over his badly damaged body.

"Cooper! Oh no... no, no, no. Please, Celestia no!" She wept, fresh tears spilling from her eyes and dampening the fur on her cheeks.

Her horn glowed to life as several healing spells flashed through her mind. However, before she could do anything, her magic fizzled out, and a sharp stinging pain shot through her forehead from her horn.

"Gah!" She cried, "My magic!"

As she clutched her horn in pain, Cooper fell from consciousness and his arms limply fell to the floor. She struggled to reignite her horn, but a small pop and fizzle was all she could muster.

"No, no, no... I can't be out of magic... Not now!" She pleaded, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to force a spell.

It only took a few seconds for the endeavor to prove fruitless, and for Twilight's breathing to accelerate to hyperventilating. She looked down at Cooper's dying body and pushed herself to him. She planted her hooves over his wounds and applied as much pressure as she could.

"Please stay with me... please don't die... Cooper, please don't... Please." She whispered, before the world turned white.

"Twilight? Hey!" She heard a voice, startling her eyes open.

"Cooper!" She cried, throwing her forelegs out as if she was trying to grab him.

"Hey, hey! Calm down. I'm right here." He said, his voice coming from just above her ear.

Twilight craned her neck back to look up at Cooper. He was still holding onto her from the previous night, and his face bore a look of deep concern.

"Cooper?" She asked, rolling over to her belly and pushing herself to her forelegs.

He let go of his grip on her chest fluff and allowed her to stand up.

"Yeah. I'm right here. You were calling my name and freaking out there for a second. You okay?" He asked, giving a concerned frown.

Twilight threw her forelegs around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

"Oh my gosh. I thought you were dead." She whimpered into his neck.

"T-Twilight, I'm fine. You just had a nightmare is all. It's fine." He comforted, placing one hand on the back of her head and stroking down her back with the other.

"I just... I was just so afraid of losing you."

"Hey, it's alright. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. Not without you." He answered softly.

Twilight shook in his embrace for a few minutes before she was able to finally calm down. She slowly pulled her head away from his chest and looked up into his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry. I guess I had a really bad dream." She replied, her eyes flicking down and away.

"It's okay. I'm here for ya'. What was it about?" Cooper inquired.

Twilight took a few moments to collect her thoughts before replying.

"Well... it's hard to explain. I was back home, then I wasn't. I was in some kind of empty blank space and just when I thought I was losing it, I heard your voice... You were calling for help. I-I turned around and you were lying there on the floor, dying. I rushed over to you and... and..." She trailed off.

Cooper looked at her critically for a few moments as her words sunk in.

"Damn, that is a shitty dream. You don't have to worry about that though. I'm still here and so are you. That's all that matters." He comforted, brushing a hand through her mane in a playful manner.

"I just wish you hadn't gotten hurt because of me." She whispered.

"Oh don't start that again. I'm fine. I've had worse, trust me." He chuckled.

"I-I know... I just still feel bad about it." She admitted.

"Don't. We learned from it, and we're still alive. There's nothing else to say." He gave a small smile.

Twilight gave a small nod before returning the smile and sitting upright. She looked out the frosted window to find that there were several people out and about, eating breakfast and doing their morning tasks.

"How long did we sleep for?" She asked, frowning slightly.

"Well I'm not too sure, but it looks like everyone's up. I should probably head down there and get some food in a minute. I'll see what I can bring back for you." He answered, rolling out of bed and getting to his feet.

"Wait, what am I supposed to do while you're gone?" She pressed, turning around on the bed.

"Just stay in here. Try to rest up and recoup your magic. I'm only gonna be gone for a few minutes and I'm pretty sure sneaking you outta here in the morning is gonna be impossible. There's way too many people around to not notice you." Cooper explained.

Twilight bit her lip but nodded nonetheless.

"Alright. Just... try to hurry." She meekly replied.

"Heh, don't worry. I'll back in a few minutes. If anyone knocks or tries to come in before me, we'll leave this window unlocked. Just jump out and fly away from here. We'll meet up at the pipe like we did yesterday and we can move out from there." He instructed as he adorned his body armor and cloak.

Twilight gave a small nod as Cooper headed for the door. Once he was outside, she crawled over the bed to the window and pressed her hoof against it. The frame budged after just a little force, and a chilly breeze instantly flooded through the crack. She shivered before closing the window once more and looking out the glass to see the growing crowd of people just as Cooper stepped outside.

He hurried along to the food line but was intercepted by a group of people that were already waiting in line. Twilight's heart pounded faster in her chest as she saw Cooper visibly tense at the group's approach, and for a few moments, he appeared to be in some sort of stare-off with them. However, after a few moments, he relaxed and responded to them, a noticeable relief washing over his body in the process. Twilight felt the weight leave her chest as well, and she continued to watch as Cooper chatted with the group as if they were long time friends.

Twilight continued to watch as they all got their food, ate, discussed some more, and went their separate ways. She saw Cooper head back into the building and turned around to eagerly face the door as he came up the stairs. She didn't have to wait long before he knocked on the door three times and entered.

"Well that was interesting." He said, shaking off the last of the chills from the outside air.

"Who were those people?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"They were some of the people that pointed me in the right direction to melt the ice yesterday. Said that I did a good job and they wanted to know a bit more about me since I'm the new guy and all. Weird." He shook his head.

"What's weird about that? That sounds really kind of them." Twilight replied.

"I guess I'm just not used to people being nice to me anymore. Feels almost... wrong? I don't know. Anyways, I brought you something." He responded, pulling a plastic container out of his pocket.

Twilight eyed the container curiously for a moment as Cooper held it out in front of her.

"What... is this?" She asked.

"Jello. Trust me, this stuff is pretty much a delicacy at this point." He wiggled it in his hand slightly, prompting the gelatinous material inside to jiggle even more.

"Jello? Is that just jelly?" Twilight inquired, looking back up to Cooper with a skeptical brow raised.

"Basically. Come on, try it. You'll love this stuff, I promise."

Twilight shrugged and grabbed the jello from Cooper's hands. He pried the lid off in the process, exposing the red jelly to the air and Twilight's muzzle. She gave an experimental sniff before an experimental lick, and then dove into the jelly. She ate greedily, and squeezed the container to force as much jello out as she could. Quick enough, there was nothing left, and she struggled to pry the container off her muzzle as Cooper chuckled to himself.

"Well... I told you you'd like it." He mused. He gently grabbed the jello cup and pulled it off her muzzle.

Twilight sheepishly smiled back at him and chuckled nervously, "You weren't kidding."

Cooper playfully tussled her mane with his free hand before heading over toward the door.

"Welp I've got another long day of shoveling snow ahead of me. Unless you're strong enough to teleport onto the roof, I don't think you're gonna be able to make it over there with me. Think you can hide out, in here, for the rest of the day?" He asked.

"I think I can manage for today. You just be careful out there. I can't help you this time, if you get into trouble."

Cooper waved a hand at her comment, "Eh, don't worry about me. You just stay hidden... Everything's gonna be fine."