“Starlight, wake up!” Called Twilight for the third time, yet Starlight would not move. ‘Maybe I should shake her awake.’ With her magic, Twilight grabbed Starlight and shook her bit. The lilac mage’s eyes instantly opened as she franticly sprung to her hooves to look around at whatever had awakened her from her slumber. Then it hit her, she was not in her house, was she? Getting usurped had not just been a dream? Her gaze landed on the princess who looked at her with curious eyes, it was uncomfortable to say the least.

‘Why does my mouth taste like copper?’

“What!”She snapped at the mare on the other side of where the fire had previously been. Twilight just stood there silently watching, then she got closer, a little too close. “Seems your horn hasn’t made much progress but it’s definitely healing…” She said as she put a hoof on her shin, while an orb of light floated just above her head, giving her a better view of the other.

”Why do you care…”

Twilight’s attention then moved to the other’s broken leg; she was about to inspect it before Starlight moved back. “What are you doing?” she asked, confused at the other’s actions.

“Just checking on you, we do need to start moving. You clearly can’t walk properly yet, though I did manage to remember a spell that might speed up the process of healing. For now, I’m going to help you walk.” Said Twilight as she moved to the others side. Starlight was not too thrilled by this, how on earth is she going to manage that? Plus, she wasn’t looking forward to being so close to the mare that had chased her in here.

“Um, no, no thanks, I can manage just fine on my own.” Starlight said as she quickly got up to show the other how well her leg was. As soon as she put pressure on the hindleg, she felt a rising heat crawl from her hoof up to her back which instantly made her fall face first. Now, any other normal pony would have given up, but she wasn’t ordinary, far from it in fact. So, she tried again and again, then once more before staying still on the floor, face squished on the floor.

“Are you done?” Twilight asked calmly yet there was a bit of an edge behind her words.

Starlight got her face out of the floor and looked up at the other with pure fury, which only lasted for a few seconds before she looked down in what Twilight could describe as horrific embarrassment.

“Ugh, how are you even going to help me? I doubt that your mana is even close to being fully regenerated.” Starlight replied. It was meant to be an insult at first, but her wit had failed her. It was hard to come out with insults when you were lying on the floor after making a fool of yourself in front of your mortal enemy from a day ago.

“Curse you, Twilight Sparkle.” She thought.

Twilight smiled at her lame attempt at an insult, in fact it seemed that she didn’t even register it as one. “You know…” she started as she got closer to the lilac mare. “It’s interesting now that I think about it.” For a moment Starlight waited for a follow-up but after a few seconds she decided to ask.

“What’s interesting?” She asked through gritted teeth.

“How you seemed to have taken most of the hits while we fell. I only broke a wing; you were barely alive.” Starlight raised an eyebrow, not really sure where she was going with that.

“Sooo?” she asked, though she felt almost nervous at whatever conclusion the other might have landed on.

Starlight wasn’t a killer, obviously, and if Twilight was trying to highlight her maybe- potentially-saving her while falling, then she wasn’t havi-

“Nothing, I just thought it was interesting how lucky I got.” Twilight had a neutral expression, yet Starlight could see the ghost of a smile.

“… Just… whatever, are you going to help me or not?”

“Of course, now, hold still.” Twilight made her way towards Starlight and with surprising strength she lifted her with her left wing, surrounding body.

“P-Princess?!” Starlight squeaked, she could feel the warmness of the other’s coat to her right side and how cozy it felt being wrapped up, how the feathers where so smooth as they danced above her coat, how firm their hold was over her, how her wings reached all the way towards her barrel, where she definitely hated being touched.

“Ble-Course you, Twilight Sparkle!”

Starlight was hot, which was strange since they were in a cave, made of ice… maybe, yet she thought that if she were to make direct contact with any ice, it would melt instantly.

“What, O-Oh.” To make it worse, Twilight seemingly had made the decision to carry her in earnest and her realization only made Straight feel more ashamed or whatever the feeling was.

Both stood, or rather both looked at each other for a brief period of time before turning away.

“I-I think we should start moving...”

“Y-yeah”

***

Twilight Sparkle was thinking, thinking about many things, in fact there were so many that she felt overwhelmed. Of course, her thoughts were not of the embarrassed cult lieder that she had awkwardly picked up with her wing. She definitely wasn’t embarrassed herself, not in the slightest. Why would she be? Is not like they were super close or anything, not that she would complain necessary if they were, because it would not be a big deal of course!

”Oh for Celestia's sake...

Ok, so maybe she is thinking about it and it might be even distracting her, a lot. I mean, could anyone blame her? Starlight was beautiful, and that was an understatement in Twilight’s opinion. She had noticed from the very beginning how stunning the other was, but what really made her stand out to her was her personality.

Twilight really liked how smug she was, even if she would never admit it.

Ok, calm down...

Twilight looked over her shoulder to peak at the other and found Starlight looking straight at her. As soon as their eyes locked, they once again turned the other way.

“So... won’t you get tired eventually?”

“No, my alicorn magic enhances my overall strength and stamina...”

“Oh.”

”WHY ARE WE BEING WEIRD NOW!?” Calmly thought Starlight Glimmer.

Starlight was about to try to speak again, however, the ground started shaking violently, almost causing Twilight to lose her balance.

“What’s happening!?” She asked Twilight, but before she could respond the shaking stopped fully.

Both stayed put without moving a muscle for what felt like an eternity as they waited for something else to happen. Both looked at each other for a moment before Starlight spoke up again.

“What do you think that was?”

“I have no idea, hopefully nothing dangerous. ”

Twilight looked forward to continuing their path, though Starlight’s gaze lingered a bit longer.

***

Starlight wondered what her inevitable fate would be.

Would she die here? In this cave system that probably went on for miles and miles, would she? Would it be out of dehydration? Out of hunger? Because of her injuries?

She thought about her injuries. She had taken a beating, though that might have been an understatement. She was making calculations in her mind and there was no way she should be alive, or at least she should have died by now. She should be bleeding internally, yet she isn’t. Her mouth tasted like copper the second time she woke up after the fall, yet she knew that she wasn’t bleeding.

The blood wasn’t hers.

But it was, it had to be. She is just over thinking things. She was just tired, and she should probably try an rest for a bit.

Starlight’s mind then wondered to the alicorn beside her. Princess Twilight had shown her compassion that she didn’t deserve, not because she was wrong in her pursuit of getting rid of cutie marks but because they are supposed to be enemies.

And Starlight didn’t understand.

She couldn’t understand why the other was like this, she didn’t know whether the other was an idiot or where they were truly this delusional, thinking that just because she had saved her, that she owed her something. That must have been it, Twilight must want something in return, if not now, then surely in the future. No one does things for no reason.

For a few moments she thought of nothing and decided to sneak a glance at the other and to her surprise Twilight was staring back. Her beautiful deep purple eyes showed concern. Concern for someone that no one should be concerned about, not because she didn’t deserve it of course, but because she was fine. She didn’t need anyone's pity.

Yet she could not stare away from those purple orbs that shined even in the darkness.

“I think we should rest for a while, it been a few hours already.”

”Hours?”

Had Starlight been that deep in thought that she didn’t notice the passage of time? Something like that had never happened to her, everything was very odd, but she attributed it to Twilight being right, she was tired.

Starlight simply nodded and looked away before she could get enraptured by her eyes.

Gently, Twilight put her down on the ground next to the never-ending wall, then she herself laid down beside the other. Starlight immediately felt cold, she didn’t know if it was because of the low temperature or if it was because after so many years of being touch starved...

“No, just, don’t think about it. This won’t matter when she puts you in Tartarus.”

After a few minutes she went to sleep as Twilight looked over her, waiting for the right moment.

Author's Note

I had already written half of this months ago apparently . So here it is! This was kinda filler but the next chapter is going to be longer and a new threat for our duo. See ya relatively soon!

Also Starlight may not look like she is, but she is terrified of Twilight but also drawn to her, especially after carrying her for hours and “curing” her, that will be explored further as we go along