Cold

Cooper blearily opened his eyes and glanced around the church. His neck ached, and his back felt stiff from his position on the floor, but he managed to suppress a groan as he attempted to get up. However, just as he moved, an increasingly familiar weight on his chest made him pause. He glanced down to see Twilight still asleep and leaning on him as a makeshift pillow.

Cooper chuckled quietly to himself as he watched her head rise and fall with each soft breath she took. He looked over to the fire they had from the previous night to see that there weren't even any embers present anymore. Almost immediately, he noticed the chilly air seemed somewhat warmer than before.

"Hmm... must be snowing." He muttered as he gazed up to the boarded up windows.

"Mmm." Twilight stirred, her eyes slowly blinking open.

"Time to get up, Twilight." Cooper whispered, gently nudging her wither with his hand.

"Mmm, five more minutes? You're so warm." Twilight murmured, nuzzling her cheek against Cooper's chest just a bit harder.

Cooper chuckled. "We're gonna need to get up and get going. I figured out what our next move is."

Twilight's ear flicked and she slowly, almost begrudgingly, lifted her head to look at him directly. "Okay, where are we going?" She asked.

"We're going someplace I know very well. There should be some food over there, but it's out of town and there shouldn't be many people out there." Cooper replied.

"O-kay... but, where is it?" Twilight pressed.

"We just need to keep heading North. I'll tell you on the way." He answered, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"I feel like you're keeping the name of this mystery location a secret for some reason... like, what is it? A store? Another apartment complex? I'm confused." Twilight frowned as she was forced to leave Cooper's body heat.

"Heh, let's just say that it's a surprise. Come on, we need to get moving if we're gonna get there before nightfall." He said, suddenly pushing himself to his feet.

Twilight slowly got to her hooves, her joints popping as she stretched out each of her legs, along with her wings and neck. Her foreleg still felt somewhat stiff and sore, however it was hardly noticeable anymore compared to the previous few days of healing. Beside her, Cooper stretched in much the same fashion, popping several vertebrae as well as his fingers. He rolled his shoulder a few times to test for any residual pain, and winced as he felt the stitches pulling his skin slightly.

"Hey. Twilight, can you do me a quick favor before we go?" He asked.

"What's that?" She replied.

Cooper sat back down on the floor and pulled his shirt down enough to expose the bandaging on his shoulder. "Think you can take these stitches out, for good? The lady back at the camp said they should be good to come out in just a few days. I think at this point they're good to come out."

Twilight eyed the bandaging for only a moment before giving a nod, "Yeah, I can do that." She said, her horn slowly glowing in a lavender hue.

A similar aura of magic enveloped the bandaging on Cooper's shoulder, removing it with ease. After that was done, Twilight took the stitches out one by one. Cooper winced from time to time, but the procedure was, for the most part, painless. Within a few minutes, Twilight was done, and her horn stopped glowing, letting Cooper's shirt fall back in place over the scar on his shoulder. He took a moment to roll the shoulder and look at her work before looking up at the short alicorn and giving a smile.

"Thanks, that's a lot better."

"Just, glad I could help." Twilight blushed.

With that, Cooper got to his feet and grabbed his rifle from the floor. He flicked the safety to 'fire', and pulled the charging handle back just an inch. He could clearly see the bullet in the chamber as well as the lack of any other bullets in the magazine. With a short sigh, he pushed the charging handle back forward and flipped the safety back into the 'safe' position.

"Well, let's just hope that we don't run into anyone else today, 'cause I've only got one round." He said, slinging the rifle in the process.

"As long as we don't make too much noise, or go out in the open, we should be fine, right?" Twilight asked.

"The problem with that, is that we're gonna have to go through some main streets to get there. I don't know the route through all the back roads and alleys. Good news is that it's snowing, so if it's snowing as hard as it usually does, we should be able to just walk around out there and not be noticed with how bad visibility gets." Cooper responded.

"How do you know it's snowing?" Twilight tilted her head to the side.

"Call it a hunch." Cooper gave a small grin.

Twilight stared at him for a few moments before shrugging. "Well, alright then... but if something bad happens, then this time it's your fault." She teased.

Cooper laughed. "Fair enough. I guess it's my turn to take the blame if shit goes sideways. Come on, let's get out there."

With a wave of his hand, the duo headed for the door and made their way outside.

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Cooper and Twilight slowly crept down the street as the early morning light seeped through the dense cloud cover above. Soft snow sprinkled down to the world around them, making it difficult to see more than just a few hundred feet ahead. All the same, Cooper led the way alongside the buildings on what he could only assume used to be the sidewalk.

As he progressed in the front, Twilight looked back behind them to ensure that they weren't being followed or watched; however, it was difficult for her to tell what with all the fluttering snow blocking her view.

"How much farther?" Twilight asked, her eyes flicking back to Cooper.

Cooper suppressed a shiver as he turned his head to reply, "Shouldn't be more than a few more miles. We'll be at the edge of the city when you stop seeing so many tall buildings. Let's just try to keep our voices down until we get out of the streets."

Twilight nodded her head at his answer before returning to her task of watching the rear, but not before a small frown formed on her face at Cooper's shivering. As they continued to walk through the heavy snow, she noticed a fair amount of powdery white piled up on her back and withers.

With a small sigh, she paused mid-step and shook like a cat trying to dry off. Cooper immediately turned around and eyed her curiously until she finished shaking, then he raised an eyebrow. "You get it all?" He snarked.

"As a matter of fact, I think I did." Twilight smiled up at him.

"Great. You'll only have to do that again every... five minutes? Eh, maybe more." He chuckled.

Twilight harrumphed as they started walking once more. "I'm so sick of snow. If I ever make it back to Equestria, I'm leaving Winter Wrapup to the rest of the girls for the next decade." She said with an annoyed flick of her tail.

"Winter Wrapup? The hell is that?" Cooper replied absentmindedly, his eyes scanning from building to building.

"It's a time of year when we clean up the winter snow and get the town ready for spring. It takes the entire town, but we usually manage in a day, maybe two at the most." Twilight mused

"Well then, by that logic, wouldn't you want to be a part of it from now on? To get rid of the snow even faster?" Cooper questioned, looking back.

"To get rid of the snow, you have to pull snow plows through it and actually be in the thick of it. Hence, I need to get away from it for a bit, because this world never stops snowing." Twilight sighed.

"Well, what about your magic? You've been pretty much running on empty ever since you got here, so I don't know what you can do at full strength. I'd bet it would make short work of some snow." Cooper shrugged.

"That's the thing though, you can't use magic to wrap up winter."

"Why? Weather doesn't cooperate with your magic?" Cooper inquired.

"No, it's just tradition. Ponies in Ponyville get very upset if you try to cheat using magic... learned that one the hard way." Twilight chuckled dryly.

They passed by what appeared to be an old hair salon. A broken down barber's pole swirled slowly with the breeze as the snow slowly filled and emptied the plastic interior through the massive crack in the side. Cooper and Twilight slowed to look into the store as they passed before resuming their pace while crossing what was once a crosswalk.

"Well... then what do the unicorns do? If the pegasi are on weather duty, and they can't use magic, who does all the shit work on the ground? Or, do you guys just suck it up and pull the plows without magic?" Cooper asked, casting a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Well, yes and no. To be honest, earth ponies do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to plowing the snow. Unicorns, like my friend Rarity, help in more decorative ways, since we're not allowed to use our magic to help." Twilight answered, sticking her tongue out in thought.

"Wait, earth ponies? You never mentioned them before, what are they?" Cooper questioned, stepping over a frozen tire.

"Well, earth ponies are just like pegasi and unicorns, only instead of horns or wings, they have a lot more strength in their legs. They're generally good at growing plants or digging through rocks and other materials in the ground. Most of their magic is in their hooves." Twilight explained, also stepping over the frozen tire.

"So... they're just really good farmers? That sounds like a shitty gig when the other two species can fly and do crazy shit, like teleport." Cooper frowned.

"I don't think you understand just how strong earth ponies physically are. My friend, AppleJack, regularly bucks trees and all of the apples fall out every time with just one kick." Twilight elaborated.

"She... bucks trees?" Cooper arched an eyebrow.

"Uh, yes? She's an apple farmer." Twilight shrugged.

"Huh... well, you learn something new every day." Cooper shook his head.

"Right, anyways... I think I can finally see the end of all these super tall buildings." Twilight said, squinting her eyes to see ahead of them.

Sure enough, the dense skyscrapers and tall buildings surrounding them were thinning out dramatically. Unfortunately, without the protection of those buildings, the amount of snow falling from the sky only seemed to increase.

With a heavy sigh, Cooper pushed against the increasing amount of snow as it clung to his shirt and cloak. Behind him, Twilight frowned at the increased volume of snow and moved just a bit closer to him, almost using his height as a kind of barrier. If Cooper noticed, he didn't show it. He simply pressed forward through the street until arriving at what appeared to be the end of the buildings.

To his right stood a tall building at almost twenty stories high. To his left, another building at least ten stories tall. In front there was nothing but white as far as the eye could see. As Twilight stepped up to Cooper's side, he glanced across the large expanse of white, his eyes squinting as if he was searching for something.

"What do you see?" Twilight asked, after a moment.

"Well... if that building to our left is what I think it is... then there's a pretty fucking huge lake in front of us... and my house on the other side." He explained, his eyes blinking through the snow a few times.