Snowcatcher had once more strained herself teleporting past her safe limit. Nausea washed over her as the migraine struck. Pain. Agony.
This was nothing new to the unicorn. Teleportation was her favorite spell. She could go roughly a little past a mile and a half safely, but she often pushed herself. Nothing in the world she could do would ever improve her safe distance, but she didn’t care. Sometimes the convenience of long distance winking was worth the headache. Just as it had been back in her school days, when she would teleport home to Whinnyapolis from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot.
The first time it had happened, she’d spent the first hour afraid she was going to die. By the second hour, she was afraid she wasn’t. She’d come to terms with it in the years since. It was a tradeoff. A few hours of pain versus the ability to be anywhere in the world she wanted to go. All she needed was a photo for a point of reference and a friend along for the journey to help her get somewhere to recover upon arrival.
That friend was usually Dewdrop Dazzle. Her bestie since fillyhood, they’d been inseparable since the day Snowy had almost run Dewey over with a sled on Whinnyapolis’ tallest hill.
Dewdrop was a water mage, and her magic didn’t work the way as other unicorns. She guided Snowy through the sand to a grassy spot off the beach in the shade of some palm trees. Baytona Beach had been her choice as a vacation destination, and it was the least she could do to make Snowy as comfortable as possible.
She had a few hours to kill while she waited for Snowy to bounce back, so she opened her journal.
Entry 735:
Just arrived in Baytona Beach for the big Wonderbolts race. Snowy is resting while I sit on the beach writing this. Baytona is beautiful. We’ve only been here for a few minutes, but I can already feel the pull of the ocean calling to me. So much water, so much power. I feel like I could do anything here.
Even just sitting here on the beach, feeling the sun warming my flank is relaxing. I almost want to join Snowy in her nap, but one of us needs to maintain awareness. Later on, we can surf, swim, and just play in the surf, but for now, I’ll keep her company.
There’s a colt selling newspapers, so I’ll probably peruse the local news while I wait. If nothing else, at least I’ll get the latest on the big race.
Go Surprise!
Dewey
Dewdrop put her diary away, the everlasting legacy of their exploits, and pulled a hat out of her saddlebags. She put the Surprise cap on Snowy’s head, knowing it would tweak her friend when she woke up. Snowy pulled for Rainbow Dash, so they liked ribbing each other about their favorite racers.
It still wouldn’t get Snowy back for the time she’d woken up to find her hair dyed all the colors of the rainbow, but it was all in fun. Besides, the rainbow hair had made others notice her for a bit, one of the rare times she stood outside of Snowy’s considerable shadow.
Snowcatcher’s mind was drifting in and out of consciousness. Light was her enemy and sleep was her friend. But that friend was taunting her with brief dreams between moments of clarity. The true sleep she needed remained elusive. She could feel the soft grass tickling her belly. She spent the better part of five minutes focusing on that sensation, desperately wishing to sleep instead. But her mind wouldn’t let her. From that, her thoughts turned to teleportation, the very spell that had left her in the state she was in.
Teleportation, or winking, was an ancient spell. Unicorns had been using it since before the unification of the tribes thousands of Hearth’s Warmings ago.
Between. The space between spaces. That place she spent such a brief moment in pitch blackness before emerging somewhere else entirely. Nopony knew much about it. A pony couldn’t wink there. Between wasn’t a destination, between was only the path. 1.2 seconds was what little time a unicorn could spend there.
Some unicorns described it as a void. Others, total darkness. She’d once heard a unicorn describe it as the absence of reality. They were all partially right. It was a feeling that was hard to describe, but easy to demonstrate. It wasn’t a particularly hard spell in the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t even magic intensive.
Yet unicorns treated it sparingly because of the consequences. The migraines from pushing themselves too far turned many off to the spell. The stronger your magic, the shorter the recovery times. For Snowy, it was roughly two hours, but she was a powerful unicorn, in the top 7% of all unicorns in Equestria. For most unicorns, it was much longer. Snowy could spare a few hours out of commission periodically if it meant she could travel someplace instantaneously. She’d long since come to terms with it. She was also probably a masochist. That part had taken longer to come to terms with, but it was the only way to describe why she continued to routinely push herself past her boundaries.
Even with the thoughts tormenting her, keeping her awake, her body was healing itself. The pain was slowly subsiding. Clarity was returning to her. She stopped pondering the mysteries of the universe, the things unicorns weren’t meant to know. Instead, it was the call of the seagulls, the feel of the grass, and the salty smell of the sea breeze that snapped her back to reality. With her sense of sight temporarily disabled, she relied on her other senses. Experience taught her that opening her eyes prematurely would be painful. Even in the shade there was light.
Snowy knew she was in the shade. She knew Dewey, and she trusted her. Dewey had put a hat on her, she was pretty sure that’s what she was feeling. She had also deduced that it was probably a white and yellow cap, not blue with rainbows, but that was just her friend being silly. The important thing was that even in such a vulnerable state, Dewey was there to keep her safe. It was the unspoken trust of a decades-long friendship. There was nothing that the two of them wouldn’t do for each other.
While Snowcatcher preferred the mountains to the beach, she’d never deny Dewey a vacation to her favorite place in Equestria. Dewey, for her part, had picked the week of the big race so they’d both have activities they’d enjoy. It was what made their friendship so special. They knew each other better than they knew themselves. They pushed each other to be better ponies.
It wouldn’t be much longer before she was back up and galloping. The light was bothering her less with each passing minute. She felt a hoof on her withers.
“How are you holding up?”
“Pretty good.” Snowcatcher opened her eyes, blinking. No pain. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing much. It’s a beautiful day in Baytona. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. And Surprise has the pole position for the Baytona 500.” Dewdrop held up the newspaper confirming her favorite ‘Bolt had set the pace in time trials.
