//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: Dusk 
// Story: What you Need 
// by Hemlock conium 
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Dr. Bright’s body gave an involuntary shudder as the freezing winds greeted him upon stepping out of his home. Despite his fur and thick wooly scarf, the early morning hours still chilled him to his core. Which resulted in his bones aching and whining in protest with every step. 
“Going to be one of those mornings, huh?” Dr. Bright muttered to himself. With no other choice, he tugged his scarf further up his neck and braved the frigid, dark morning. Thankfully, his home was only a few blocks from the hospital; allowing him to arrive in the hospital courtyard in mere minutes. It gave him plenty of time to warm up before his shift properly began. 
As Dr. Bright approached the front doors however, his eyes glanced up to Phoenix’s room. The glass was covered in far too much ice to make out the inside. The room itself however, seemed to be off. That was to be expected though; it was still the wee hours of the day. The sun had yet to even grace the icey blue land with its warmth. Leaving the town suspended in a perpetual state of eldritch darkness. It made the already relentless and frigid storms that much worse.  
Having said all that, it was unlikely Phoenix would have been awake even Worse yet she had come to a point where she no longer even ate. In turn, this had forced their hoof; resorting in a nasogastric feeding, which itself caused a number of other uncomfortable problems. 
Dr. Bright could feel a sigh swell up in him at the thought. Here was a filly, who no longer would even eat on her own, and they were about to hand her off to an orphanage. Even with their best of intentions, how was it they expected to feed and keep her healthy if they couldn't feed here. Though, it wasn't as if he had a choice anymore, what was done was done. The paperwork was already signed and Phoenix was to be shipped off to Cloudsdale for The Winter Solstice.  Then again,  he reasoned,  it's not as if we've done much better.
They had had the filly for three months now, but all the same the filly’s state had only grown worse.  Maybe what she needs is beyond what the hospital is able to give. He told himself. Which was true, the hospital could only give so much. Especially when her issue was clearly not a physical one. What ever plagued her was left up to Mirage to solve now. Dr. Bright could only hope and pray he did now. 

As Bright Spark's gaze lowered from the blackened window, it met the familiar oak tree that loomed outside Phoenix’s window , and much of the front of the hospital for that matter. The tree itself had seen better years, as this winter’s particular harshness had left it frail and aged. Its once lush umber bark was now a pitiful grey; layered under mountains of ice. Each branch seemed no longer able to even support its own branches, as they too were mired under the intense weight of ice brought on by the storms of winter. It seemed unlikely that the tree would survive. What a pity, the doctor remarked. The tree likely had many more years ahead of it, but this winter seemed intent on cutting those years short. That was not to say the tree was dead however. Dr. Bright had seen dead trees before and this one was still alive, even if it just barely met that definition. This caused a small smile to form across his muzzle as the tree continued to fight on. Things looked bad, horrible even, but he was sure the tree could make it. He then slowly ran his hoof over the dying bark as if to reassure it before muttering. 

“You’ll get some help, don’t worry.” 
With that, the doctor collected his thoughts and marched towards the warmth of the hospital’s main lobby. 



 
Mirage hissed as he swept through the dense cloud layer towards Ponyville. He may have been a pegasus but there were limits to how much extreme weather even they could handle. That combined with the fact Mirage was used to the normally year round, almost tropic conditions of Cloudsdale, made this venture a nightmare. Thankfully he would only be there a week to get Phoenix and take her back to Cloudsdale. Then with any luck he'd never have to go so far down in the troposphere again. 
As Mirage broke to the other side of the cloud coverage he was greeted by an even worse sight than he had expected. The town was blanketed in snow so thick it would have made a windigo blush. Dozens of buildings were buried under at least several layers of the white powder, and those were the lucky ones… It made him wonder just how the ponies planned to get anything done this winter, and why it was scheduled to be so bad. He shuddered just thinking about what else the weather team had in store for the poor landscape if this was just the early hours of winter. 
His thoughts would be cut short as frostbite quickly wormed its way through his protective layer of clothing, gnawing at the core of his being. 
“Celestia above this is unbearable!” he screamed as he rushed towards the hospital, towards warmth. He swiftly dashed through the air before spreading his wings and breaking, just shy of hitting a pitiful looking oak tree just outside the hospital. 
Mirage gave the tree a glare of contempt for nearly hitting him, followed by an assortment of swears for the inconvenience caused by the tree. After a few minutes spent  blasting the tree with his grievances, he fluttered down to the ground and made his way towards the door to meet with Dr. Bright and Phoenix.