Revised "Still Alive, Chapters 4 & 5"

I don't know why it asked for a password in viewing the chapters, I didn't set one. Fixing...

As I said, after work, sanity loss and raging (at story and work) I can type regularly again, though updates will still be sporadic. Writer's block on a daily basis sucks. Know what to type, but not how to type it.

I'll give you what I have of chapter 4 for now. It's ~80% done, but I've gone too long without posting anything for you. Sorry about that. Just need to finish Twilight's arrival, the Pinkie/Twilight conversation part, and the Yeti fight.

CHAPTER 4
A groggy groan escaped from Twilight’s throat. The unicorn lazily opened her eyes and stared at a hazy, powdery blanket of some kind in front of her. Her head throbbed painfully, like somepony was trying to smash their way through her skull with a hammer. She pressed her hooves against her temples, but the beating only felt worse. All she could do was lie there, motionless, crippled in pain on the ground, but her coat suddenly prickled at an alarming sensation.

Cold!

Her eyes flashed open, hooves flailing about wildly as a strong wind hit her. It pierced through her coat, nearly freezing her solid as it chilled her to the bone. The sky was completely dark, engulfing her body and threatening to squeeze the life out of her. In her panic to stand she tripped over her own hoof, crashing into a nearby boulder. Collapsing, she pulled her hooves to her chest, shivered in the biting cold. After a few minutes of misery her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and she looked out into the distance.

Everything was frozen solid. There was no grass, no trees, no flowers, no animals, no life; only an oppressive wasteland held hostage in winter’s grasp. Only jagged rocks dotted the expanse, kneeling beneath a clouded, sunless sky. The only light came from an ominous dark blue glow from the clouds above.

“This is Alastria?” the Twilight whispered through clattering teeth, “It’s s-so cold! How could anyplace b-be this cold?” Her body began to ache from the shaking. She couldn’t stay out here. If she did she’d freeze in this sun-forsaken place.

“Applejack?” Twilight called out, hoping to find the country girl next to her. She began digging through her saddlebag while she waited for a response, but after a silent moment she tried again.

“Applejack?” She called out again. No reply. Fear grappled the purple mare at the thought of being separated from her friends.

“Rarity? Fluttershy?! Anypony?!”

Nothing.
*****
“Wheee!” an excited pink pony cried out as she slid down the ice. At the bottom she flew off the ice and crash-landed into a snow bank, whipping her head out and throwing chunks of snow into the air. With her tongue held out she gobbled up the bits of snow as the fell. She was having the time of her life, a time her friend was hardly enthused with.

“Pinkie! Stop that at once!” Rarity barked, “You’re getting that…white dirt…everywhere!”

“It’s already everywhere silly,” Pinkie Pie called back cheerfully as she galloped off, “And it’s awesome! How could you not love it? You had as much fun as the rest of us during Winter Wrap Up!”

“That was before Twilight’s little science project showed me what melted snow looked like!” Rarity yelled from her little rock island, scrunching up all fours to keep off the snow. “It’s gross! And you’re eating it?!” When Pinkie Pie didn’t respond Rarity pouted in frustration. “Fine! Don’t blame me when you get sick!”

No sooner did she finish, Pinkie somersaulted off a giant nearby rock and belly flopped into the snow, sending a huge pile right into Rarity’s face. The unicorn blinked once, briefly stunned before screaming deliriously.

“My hair! My beautiful hair!” Rarity cried out. She quickly wiped the snow away, but her now disheveled mane caused her anger to boil.

“Pinkie Pie!”

“Yes Rarity?” Pinkie replied as she stood next to Rarity; an innocent smile plastered on her face.

The white unicorn nearly yelled at the bubbly mare before a bone-chilling wind drained the life right out of her. Whatever anger she felt vanished as the need for warmth took over, her clattering teeth and shaking hooves only increasing the urgency.

“I-It’s quite a-alright darling, the snow’s fine b-but we really should get o-out of this cold!” Rarity stuttered through. The pale mare stared into the empty expanse they were in, pleading to find shelter. At first all she found was a barren, snowy plane, but she stopped on a dark shadow in the distance. It was too dark to tell exactly what it was, but there was enough light in the sky to vaguely make out the shape of rooftops. She didn’t know if they were houses or just rocks that looked like a town, but at this point she didn’t care. With a flick of her horn her saddlebag opened and four fur lined boots, an insulated full body saddle, and a pair of ear muffs emerged from the depths. Preparing herself for the hike, Rarity was grateful that Pinkie had gotten the message and saddled up as well.

“Let’s just get to that village looking thing and go from there.” Rarity affirmed, and the two of them began their slow walk forward.
*****
After what felt like hours of walking, Twilight finally arrived at the shadow on the horizon. She was tired, out of breath and freezing, but the shadows turned out to be exactly what she’d hoped for: houses. Real, wooden houses; the smile on her face was indescribable. Thoughts of lying in front of a roaring fire filled her mind, letting its warmth hold her and thaw out her cold hooves. She didn’t care if the roof was dangling with icicles, the house had to be warmer than this! The unicorn broke into a frenzied gallop, stopping at the front door and giving it a hard, frantic thumping of her hoof.

Twilight leaped back, startled, as the metal hinges snapped under the forceful knocking and the wooden door fell to the ground in pieces. The inside was dark and Twilight poked her head through the frame. Instead of a fire she found a rotting shell: snow piles covered the floor from holes in the ceiling, trying to bury the broken tables and frozen dishes below them. There were remains of a staircase that led to the second floor, but the railings and steps were worn away from exposure and neglect.

“Abandoned…” Twilight said aloud. The purple unicorn stepped inside, more out of curiosity than need for shelter. The floorboards creaked under her as she explored the rather large foyer. A few chairs with expensive, floral designs lined one of the walls, or at least they were expensive.

“This house must have been empty for centuries, left to be eaten away by all the snow and ice,” Twilight spoke to herself, trying to keep her mind focused on something other than being alone. She turned back around, making her way to the staircase she’d found earlier. Standing before it, she tentatively pressed a hoof down on the first step. She screamed as it crumbled beneath her, unable to take the pressure in its old age. Carefully she stretched up to the second stair, nervous that the whole staircase could collapse over her, but it held. One by one she climbed the stairs until she reached the next floor. The first thing she noticed as she looked around was a large hole in the wall looking outside. She approached it, hoping to get a better view of the village.

Her heart sank at the sight.

Everywhere she looked she saw houses falling apart, trees gnarled and dead, and layers of snow piled over whatever roads once existed. The only oddity was a large black pillar standing tall just down the road from her perch, standing nearly twelve meters high, with two shapes standing at its base. One was a pink pony, eagerly hugged up against the column; the other was white with a purple mane. A wave of joy washed over Twilight as she called the two pony’s names.

“Rarity?! Pinkie?!” Twilight shouted. The two mares reflected the same delight as they turned to her.

“Twilight!” they both shouted. Twilight jumped down to the snow and ran to her friends. They wrapped their forelegs around her in the biggest hug they could give, a gesture she gladly returned, grateful for finding their friend.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you!” Twilight gleefully told the two of them.

“We’re happier to see you,” the ecstatic pink mare jumped for joy, “We were starting to think we were the only ones who made it. Where’s A.J., or Fluttershy? Did you find them to?”

“No,” Twilight lowered her gaze sadly, “You’re the only two I’ve seen so far.”

“Oh stars, I can only imagine how horrible they must feel to be stranded alone in this dreadful place.” Rarity pondered, shivering at the mere thought of it.

Twilight imagined Applejack and Rainbow walking through the brutal winter, cold, hungry, and alone. But the worst pony to be left alone in this place was Fluttershy. The yellow mare was probably huddled next to a rock somewhere, panicking and screaming for her friends to find her.

Though she was still concerned for her friends, the great obelisk they stood in front of began to capture Twilight’s attention. Taking a few steps closer, she could see a series of carvings embedded in the stone’s surface. After brushing a hoof over the snow covering it, the carvings looked more organized than simple scratches.

“Um, girls?” Rarity called out, teeth chattering as a powerful gust swept through, “Could we please get out of the cold? Perhaps find a place to stay that isn’t a crumbling death trap? If I stay out here much longer my legs are going to snap off!”

“Wait a moment Rarity,” Twilight replied, focusing on the writing on the obelisk.

“Don’t bother Twilight,” Rarity protested, “Pinkie’s been staring at those pointless squiggles for ten minutes and not once have I heard anything intelligent come out of her head!”

“What’s that mean?!” Pinkie yelled, “I’m just as smart as Twilight…sort of. But you don’t have to be insulting about it!”

“It’s not you Pinkie,” Rarity admitted with a hiss, “It’s the fact you kept me freezing out here while you tried to play scholar with your ‘worm-signs’!”

“QUIET!” Twilight yelled, “It’s not ‘worm-signs’ Rarity, it’s writing!”

Rarity looked back at Twilight, calming down her tone yet still sounding just as annoyed, “Well can you read it?”

“I think so. It’s in a very old language, used by pegasus ponies a long time ago.”

“Old language? I thought all ponies spoke the same way,” a now curious Rarity asked.

“Not always. From what I’ve read of Equestria’s history, each tribe once spoke their own tongue. The pegasi spoke ‘Dark’, a rough, blunt language befitting their warrior heritage. Earth ponies spoke ‘Light’, a smooth language that flowed off the tongue, reflecting their innocent, yet earthy and industrious nature. The unicorns spoke ‘Grey’, embodying their scholarly and aristocratic past. It was the language of a tribe saddled with the burden of knowledge and of life.”

“As time passed,” Twilight continued, “‘Grey’ was more commonly used in entertainment and culture and it became the language we all speak today.” Twilight squinted in the low light to translate the words.

“‘…Beyond these words lies experience, beyond experience lies truth. Learn from our truth, so you may never repeat it.’”
Twilight stepped back from the stone as she finished.

“Well that’s certainly…vague,” Rarity offered confusedly, “It sounds like a warning.”

“Or advice,” Twilight added, “I can’t tell for certain, the rest is too badly eroded.”

“Uh Twilight?” Pinkie beckoned to the purple mare from atop a snow mound. Twilight moved towards the pink mare, digging her hooves into the snow as she struggled to climb the hill. At the top she followed Pinkie’s stare to the horizon.

“I’m no weathermare, but those clouds don’t look like the fluffy-puffy, fun loving sort!” Pinkie warned, an obvious panic creeping into her voice. A massive storm front sat in the distance, stretching across the horizon. The clouds blanketed the earth, plowing over anything in their way as snow seemed to explode into the air at its touch. Twilight’s mouth dropped as she watched the clouds envelope a mountain, an entire mountain, in the blink of an eye. It was coming their way and it was coming fast.

“Blizzard!” Twilight screamed, “Get inside, quickly!” The three mares screamed as a powerful gust nearly toppled them off their hooves. This time the wind didn’t stop and snow was blown into the air. They took off running, finding shelter in a decrepit manor with a clock tower structure at its front. Sprinting up the stairs to the next floor, the entire house shook as the storm quickly descended upon the village. The three mares huddled together in the middle of the floor, wrapping their hooves around one another to stop their trembling, either from fear or the chilling wind blowing into the house.
******
Nopony was sure how long they had been staying inside the house, several hours at least. All three of them were now terrified for their friends; Twilight had mentioned that sometimes blizzards could last for days at a time. They wanted nothing more than the storm to end so they could go and search, but with no signs of letting up, they soon realized they might be stuck here for a while. Twilight and Pinkie had managed to get a fire going from the wooden planks on the floor. Twilight was surprised the wood worked, considering the exposure to blizzards and ice storms should have crumbled these houses long ago, but they survived and the wood was still burnable despite the damage.

Rarity had managed to pull the fabric off one of the cushions from a chair downstairs and use it as a rug to sleep on. Even with the threat of freezing in a dilapidated manor her first priority was not laying on the “dirty floor”. Some things never change. Eventually, as the hours passed by, the mares drifted off to sleep, huddled together for warmth on Rarity’s mat.

A low howling from the wind stirred Twilight from her sleep. She peeked out of her eyelids, twitching her ear to listen for any other odd noises, but she heard nothing. Satisfied, she buried her snout into Rarity’s neck and wrapped a foreleg around her chest. However, another mild breeze traveled over her fur, causing her to shiver with goosebumps. Casually, she pulled the hoof from Rarity’s back and felt for Pinkie, yet felt only emptiness above here where she was supposed to be sleeping.

Now her eyes opened fully, unsettled without Pinkie’s body over them, and looked up at the fire. There she saw the mare carry a plank of wood in her mouth and drop it in. She stoked it briefly, and then sat down quietly, watching it burn.

“Pinkie, are you okay?” Twilight whispered to her. The mare’s ears perked as she turned to Twilight.

“Oh! Twilight, I’m sorry. I was trying not to wake you,” she whispered back, then looked back into the fire, “I was just thinking. Couldn’t really sleep. I noticed the fire was going out, so I added some more wood.”

Twilight wormed herself from under Rarity’s embrace, carefully setting her hooves down so she didn’t wake her. Once she was out, Twilight quietly tip-hoofed to Pinkie’s side and sat down next to her. Her chipper smile was gone and she had an uncharacteristically sad look in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked with a tender voice. Pinkie was quiet at first, digging at the floor for a while before answering.

******
The blizzard continued its ruthless campaign outside, the driving winds beating against the house as the three mares slept quietly. Despite the storm everything was quite peaceful until the house shook mildly. It shook again, this time causing a puff of snow to fall from the rafters and onto Twilight’s snout. The unicorn shook with fright and opened her eyes to see what woke her. A spark of annoyance shot through her and she brushed the snow off of her face with a wave of her hoof, but before she could sleep again a terrifying, guttural roar rocked the whole house.

The other two girls awoke with a fright, giving a short yelp as the tremors began shaking the ground in constant thumps. Another guttural roar echoed through the air and the mares could the sound of footfalls rapidly approaching.

“What’s going on?!” Rarity cried out. The white mare dashed to the wall and poked her eye through one of the holes to see outside. It was still dark out, and at first she saw nothing but clouds of driving snow, but a large shadow quickly came into view. Her pupils shrank, eyes widening in panic as she tried to scream, only to have it escape in awkward, stuttering spurts.

“What? What do you see?” Twilight demanded. She pushed Rarity to the side to see for herself, but before she could make sense of anything Pinkie squeezed in under her legs and toppled her over. A giant, white, hairy looking ape thing stomped into view and it roared at them, showing off huge white teeth that were as big as she was.

“It’s the Abominable Snow Monster! Everypony run!” Pinkie let out a shrill shriek, then busted through the opposite wall, running down the snow covered road. The unicorns jumped into the frigid wind after her, just in time before an entire wall of the second floor exploded from a swipe of the creature’s arm. Chunks of wood and stone were sent flying everywhere and the three mares all screamed as they ran, dodging the flying debris as it landed. Twilight looked back, getting a clear view of this monster. It was nearly the size of a house! Standing on its hind legs, the creature searched the skies for a moment before it turned its head towards them. It let out an angry snarl, then roared and stampeded after them.

Pinkie continued screaming as she ran until she was toppled over by something crashing into her. She slammed up against a wall, holding a big blue shape with a rainbow mane in her legs.

“Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie squealed, overjoyed to see the pegasus. The blue mare shoved Pinkie back, kicking frantically as she struggled to stand upright.

“Pinkie!” Rainbow cried out in a mix of surprise and panic, “What are you doing? RUN!”

“Hey, wait!” Pinkie shouted as Rainbow shoved her away.

“Later Pinkie! Now go!” Rainbow urged her to run, thrusting her whole weight against her. This time Pinkie didn’t protest and took off, running as fast as she could. Rainbow, on the other hand, with a fierce growl, leapt into the air and headed straight for the monster. She flapped her wings as hard as she could, closing the distance between them. That distance was made impossibly longer by the wind thrusting itself against her, threatening to stop her mid-flight and toss her about like a rag doll.

Within seconds she closed the gap and dove low to the ground. Only a couple meters away, she stomped her forehooves into the ground, her front screeching to a halt. Her back end whipped wildly to the side and she tucked her hind legs in as her body spun around. With perfect timing she pulled her forelegs up, letting the momentum carry her through, and with one, quick thrust, bucked her hind legs straight into the creature’s knee. Its leg gave out from under it, but before it fell, Rainbow dashed under its head and threw her whole bodyweight into the fiercest uppercut she could deliver.

Its head flung backwards as the blow connected with its jaw and Rainbow Dash saw what looked like a tooth pop out of its mouth. She smiled triumphantly at the result, but that smile quickly faded. The creature stood back up, its eyes glaring at her with a primitive, animalistic fury. It roared, pounding its chest with clenched fists, but before Rainbow could land another hit a gust of wind blasted her in the chest and tossed her through the snow. A pair of hooves gripped her waist and pulled her behind a building.

“What is that thing?” Rarity asked, yelling over the savage roars and the torrential storm.

“It’s a Yeti!” Twilight yelled back, “They’re giant, carnivorous creatures that live in icy climates!”

“What does ‘carnivorous’ mean?”

“It means they eat other creatures!”

“What?!” Rarity’s eyes nearly popped out of her head, “You mean it’s going to eat us?!”

“Forget what it means,” Rainbow cut in, “How do we stop it?”
Twlight’s mind raced and yet couldn't come up with an answer. Without giving herself away, she poked her head out and looked to the town for ideas. Nothing she found was very helpful, rooftops, wood, piles of snow, until she spotted the towering obelisk, barely visible a few blocks away. An idea popped in her head.

“I've got it!”
END SO FAR

Now Dollar-Value LIFO...(-_-)