Cold

The pistol fell to the floor and clattered out of Twilight's magic, leaving only her and Cooper's heaving breaths as the sole source of noise in the room. For a short time, they simply stared at each other, neither one knowing what to do or say, however soon enough the tears came.

Twilight tried and failed to choke back a sob as Cooper pushed himself up to a sitting position to survey the damage done. Tears streaked down her cheeks and fell to the floor below, leaving two distinct damp streaks on her face that only seems to grow darker as the seconds passed. Her strength quickly left her, and she collapsed onto the floor into the fetal position as she cried ever harder.

All the while, Cooper looked over her with a sad frown. However, the pain in his shoulder quickly reminded him that he was still bleeding quite profusely, as was Twilight.

"Hey, come on. We're both bleeding. Let's fix that first, then we can worry about what happened." He said, pushing himself to his feet with an angry groan.

"I-I... I... I k-killed him..." Twilight whimpered.

"Yeah... yeah, you did... No worse than what he was going to do to you or me though. Come on, get up." He replied, as he picked up his rifle and walked over to her.

Twilight sniffled.

"He's dead..." She croaked.

Cooper grabbed his pistol from the floor and eyed it curiously. The slide was locked to the rear, and a quick glance into the action confirmed that the magazine was completely empty. With a tired sigh, Cooper released the slide and slid the pistol into his holster. He then removed the magazine from his rifle and replaced it with a fresh one, before slinging it over his good shoulder and kneeling down beside the distraught alicorn. He brought his hand just to the back of her head, however just before his fingers could make contact with her mane, he paused. He contemplated for a few seconds before eventually committing and gently placing his hand on the back of her head.

"Hey... You did what you had to do... Saved me in the process... No sense crying about it now." He offered.

Twilight choked back another sob.

"I... I'm such an i-idiot! This is all my f-f-fault... You got hurt because of me..."

She trembled beneath his touch, and even though his jacket and cloak were slowly turning crimson with his blood, he sat down beside her and simply pet her mane.

"It's alright... I've been hurt worse before... Just next time, when I say what to do, listen to me. We're alright... We're alright." He replied, his gentle petting seeming to calm her just a little.

"H-how do you do this? How do you kill your own so easily... I... I can't..." Another sniffle, "I can't live with myself after this..."

"Twilight... you either live with it... or you die... Speaking of which, we're both gonna be dead soon if we don't stop the bleeding on both of us. Come on. Get up." Cooper ordered, ceasing his ministrations and pushing himself to his feet.

For a few seconds, Twilight's quiet sniffling was the only reply he received. However, after nearly a minute, the lavender alicorn slowly rolled onto her belly and pushed herself to her hooves. She struggled with her foreleg, but after a helping hand from Cooper, she was able to stand upright, albeit with tears still staining her cheeks.

"Alright... Come on. Let's get fixed up." He said as he headed toward the stairs.

Twilight lethargically followed behind as they made their way up the stairs and into their sleeping room. Once there, Cooper pulled out the medical bag and sorted through its contents. As he treated his wound, Twilight sat on the floor across from him, her eyes glued to the tiles as if they held all the worlds secrets. Eventually, she looked down at her wounded foreleg, finding her lavender fur turned a sickly crimson at the wound. The wooden shaft of the arrow sticking out both sides made her stomach turn, and the broad-head steel made her cringe. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and the room around her spun. She tried to keep her composure, but after less than a minute she lost herself and hastily got to her hooves. She trotted to the door as fast as she could on three legs, much to Cooper's confusion, before reaching the doorway and vomiting.

Cooper watched as she retched again and again, giving the smallest of frowns. Eventually, she was able to regain control of her stomach and make her way back into the room. There was silence in the room for a few moments as Cooper continued to work on his own injury, before Twilight brought her muzzle down to her foreleg and bit on the shaft. She attempted to pull the arrow out, only to wince and release her hold on the arrow after less than a second. A pained grunt left her grit teeth as she bit down once more and pulled. This time, the shaft slid back almost an inch, sending a spike of pain so sharp through her system that she cried out. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes once more, but all she could focus on was getting that terrible piece of wood out of her leg, no matter what.

Cooper glanced up just as he set his plate carrier down on the floor to see Twilight bite down on the shaft once more and angrily yank her head to the side, pulling the broad-head all the way back to her flesh and sticking it into her foreleg.

"Gah!" She cried.

"Twilight, stop!" Cooper commanded, dropping his tools back into the medical bag.

She ignored him. It was as if the only thing she could focus on anymore was getting the arrow out of her leg, no matter what. Fresh tears streaked from her eyes as she pulled even harder against the shaft, a grunt of pain escaping her grit teeth in the process. She brought her muzzle right up to her wound to bite down on the shaft at its base, smearing her own blood all over her face in the process, and forcing an angry frown to form on Coopers face as well.

He pushed himself to his feet with a grimace and walked over to her as fast as he could with the medical bag in his grasp. Upon arriving, he grabbed her by her mane and pulled. She immediately released the arrow and fearfully looked up at him as the blood and tears slowly dripped from her cheeks, staining them a dark crimson.

"Stop. Just... stop. I know what you're going through right now, and this isn't helping. You want this thing out? Let me do it. You're only going to hurt yourself more." He firmly scolded, holding her mane tightly in his hand the whole time.

Twilight managed a meek nod before he sat down in front of her and took the wounded limb in his hands. He quickly assessed the damage with an increasing frown, before reaching into his pocket and pulling a knife out.

"You're lucky you didn't cause too much more damage trying to pull it out like that. You have to break these things off, then pull them out." He explained as he cut into the shaft, just below the broad head.

Twilight stayed silent as he worked. Soon enough the tip of the arrow was cut free and fell to the floor. Once that was done, he slowly pulled the remainder of the shaft out from the other side, and removed the arrow from Twilight's foreleg. He quickly reached into the medical bag and pulled out some gauze. With just a small amount of fenangling, Cooper managed to get the wound packed and wrapped. Once he was satisfied with his work, he leaned forward and gently cupped Twilight's cheek with his left hand as he examined her face.

"Here, let's get that off of you." He mumbled, more to himself than to her.

With his bad arm, Cooper slowly, and with occasional twitches of pain, reached into the medical bag to pull out a few small rags. With even more fenangling, he managed to pour some water from his canteen onto the rags and bring one up to her face. Slowly, he wiped the blood and tear stains from her coat until her lavender fur was relatively clean once more, albeit with some dirty spots here and there.

Once he was done, Cooper set the rags down on the floor and sat down beside Twilight as she sluggishly brought a hoof to her face to stroke through her now cleaned fur. She slowly looked over to him while he cleaned and packed his own wounds. her eyes were drawn to the vertical slit now present just between Cooper's collarbone and his shoulder, then back up to his face, and the drying blood present in his beard. A twinge of guilt shot through her heart once more, forcing the lavender mare to look away in shame.

She glanced down at the spots of blood on the floor, and then back up to her bandaged foreleg once more. After a few seconds of deliberation, she turned back toward Cooper and spoke.

"H-hey Cooper..." Her voice came out like a small whisper.

"Mmhhm?" He mumbled, his mouth full of gauze he packed the stab wound.

"T-thank you... for coming back for me... I- I'm so sorry I got you hurt..." She managed, her voice cracking as she bit back the tears yet again.

Cooper finished packing his wound and looked over to her before he started wrapping. For a few moments, he said nothing, however as he looked onto her longer and longer, a small sigh escaped his lips.

"I'm not gonna leave you behind. Never." He stated, before tying off the last of the gauze on his shoulder.

Twilight looked back up to him in an instant. She practically threw herself at him and wrapped her hooves around his waist in the tightest hug she could muster. Cooper was startled by the action, but only enough to throw the roll of gauze as he jerked his hands back from Twilight. However, unlike previous physical encounters between them, she did not back off this time. Instead, she almost desperately burrowed her muzzle into his chest, seemingly uncaring for the blood she was smearing back into her coat once more.

"T-Twilight... you're getting my blood all over you..." Cooper mumbled, his hands hovering awkwardly over the soft pony in his lap.

Twilight gave what could only be described as a soft murmur against Cooper's chest and squeezed tighter. With his hands just hovering above her soft fur, and an increasing feeling of awkwardness at his hesitation to return the gesture, Cooper gingerly brought his hands down to Twilight's barrel and hugged her back. Immediately, the plush feeling of her fur registered on his fingers, and he couldn't help but let out a silent sigh as he was able to pull her closer.

Twilight nuzzled her cheek into his chest until she reached his right collarbone, and she gently rested her muzzle there, just under his neck. His chin came down and rested comfortably on her head, just behind her horn, and his hands soon came to a rest on her wither and barrel. Her fur bristled under his fingers as they dug in to gently touch her skin beneath.

Despite the alien feeling of her soft fur and warm body pressed against his so closely, Cooper felt something in his chest that was hard to place. It was a strangely warm feeling. One that left him feeling surprisingly cozy against the cold wall and with no warm clothing on. Instead, he only had the warmth of the lavender alicorn on his lap, and for some reason, that just seemed to be enough.