Unfortunately, the one soul who remained in Flatstone was unwilling to give the sisters his aid. Frightened by their wings and horns, he decried them as an ill omen and refused to offer them shelter or food. And so it was that the sisters were once again forced to fend for themselves, starving, wounded, and short on hope…

Celestia groaned quietly, stirred from her slumber when a pair of hooves gently shook her by the shoulder. She swatted at them with a hoof, burying her face into her pillow and pulling her blankets over her head. “Go ’way,” she mumbled. “I don’t wanna get up.”

The other pony chuckled. “Nah, maybe not. But we’re waiting on ya, sweetheart. Come on, now. Get up.”

Celestia whined as her blanket was pulled away, leaving her exposed to the cooler air of her bedroom. Relenting, she cracked open an eye.

Sprout smiled down at her, framed by the light of the morning sun shining through the window in Celestia and Luna’s bedroom. “Come on. Up and at ’em.”

Celestia blinked, her heart stopping in her chest. She stared wide-eyed at her father. This wasn’t possible. Sprout was… he was…

Sprout tilted his head. “Something wrong?” he said. “Something on my face?”

Celestia swallowed heavily, her mind reeling. This didn’t make any sense. How could Sprout be here? She had watched him fall into the ice! She had been the one to discover that he had frozen to death. But even in spite of that, her heart dared to hope.

She lifted a hoof toward him. “Dad…?” she choked out. “Is it really you?”

Sprout tilted his head in confusion. “Er… yeah, I think so?” he said, lightly prodding at his face for something. “Are you feeling okay?”

Celestia tentatively reached out to touch her father’s chest. She shuddered at the familiar feeling of his fur, and the muscled flesh beneath that she had felt so many times before. She couldn’t see anymore through the tears, nor could she stifle a sob.

“D-dad,” she stammered before throwing herself against him, burying her face into his shoulder and openly sobbing. He stumbled back with a grunt of surprise, wrapping his hooves around her. The familiar warmth of Sprout’s embrace seeped into her aching muscles.

But Celestia couldn’t find an answer. She just sobbed into his shoulder, hugging him as tight as she could. She was so afraid that if she let him go, he would vanish. The thought brought a fresh surge of sobs.

“It’s okay,” Sprout whispered. “It’s all going to be okay. I got you. I got you. I’m here.”

“I know. I know. Be strong for me, okay?” Sprout said before pulling back to look down into Celestia’s eyes. She had to blink several times to see him through her tears, but his kind smile helped calm her. He ran a hoof down her mane. “Be strong for dad. We still need you.”

A freezing wind slammed into Celestia’s face, shocking her out of her stupor. She let out a gasp of shock and staggered back. Snow and ice slashed at her as the house practically fell apart around her. She tried to shield her face with her hooves, but it was no use.

The wind howled so loudly she couldn’t hear herself think. She could barely see a thing through the storm of whiteness. Slowly, however, the world started to come into focus. A numbness spread throughout her body at the sight of two familiar bodies, partially buried in the snow.

And there, between the corpses of her parents, was a third bundle half-buried in the snow. Celestia cried out in horror at the sight of its familiar blue mane.

“NO!” she screamed into the wind, her tears turning to ice against her cheeks. She reached out toward the bodies, her sobs returning in force. “COME BACK! PLEASE! I CAN’T DO THIS ALONE!”

It was getting harder to breathe. The wind was deafening. The ice on her cheeks was spreading down her face, and before she knew it, her mouth had been covered. With a muted shriek, Celestia frantically clawed at the ice, trying to pry it away with hooves or magic, but it only spread faster.

She was helpless as the ice grew down her neck and over her shoulders. The sound of the river cracking echoed in her ears, louder and louder, echoing into her very soul.

Screaming into the ice, her own voice reverberating in her skull, her efforts to break free proved to be for nothing. The ice spread over her forelegs, her barrel, her hind legs, her eyes… until she was completely encased.

Celestia screamed; her eyes snapped open and she shot upright in her bed, her heart hammering in her chest. She looked around in a panic, but all was dark; all she could hear through her own desperate sobs was the howling of the freezing wind.

Luna’s frail, sleepy voice nonetheless cut through Celestia’s panic. With a sniffle, she finally had the clarity to light her horn, revealing her surroundings. She was still in the abandoned hut in Flatstone. She was on the bed in the back of the building. Looking down, she saw Luna looking back up at her. Her eyes were tired but no less concerned.

Celestia took a few deep breaths to calm herself. All the while, Luna’s eyes kept boring into her. Celestia opened her mouth, but the words didn’t come to her. In the end, she elected to shake her head. It wouldn’t help to dwell on her nightmare. “It’s nothing. Just a bad dream… go back to sleep.”

Luna kept her eyes on Celestia for a moment, her brow furrowing. “What were you dreaming about?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Celestia shook her head and lay back down. “Hush, now. Rest.”

Eventually, Luna relented, lying back into the bed and leaning into Celestia’s embrace. The two lay there in silence for a long while, accompanied only by the wind outside.

Celestia closed her eyes. She tried to ignore the howling. But with nothing else to distract her, the constant noise wormed into her thoughts, and memories of her dream were drawn to the forefront.

Her home, gone. Her parents, dead… and the new body that had joined them. The body Celestia was now sleeping next to. She shuddered, tears pricking at her eyes again. Her hooves tightened around Luna, pulling the smaller filly close.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Celestia whispered. “I won’t. I promise.”

Morning came, but the sun was late. The darkness outside the hut dragged on and on long after it was supposed to have lifted. So too did the cold. Even after the sisters woke, they were forced to huddle together, wrapped up in their precious few blankets as tightly as they could manage.

Celestia could barely sleep. The memory of her nightmare made her afraid to close her eyes. Her mind played tricks on her, making her think she could hear those horrible ghosts again, lurking out in the streets of Flatstone. But it was only ever the wind.

Eventually, light began to creep back into the world. Slowly but surely, the darkness beyond the hut gave way to depressing gray sprinkled with darting shards of white. The temperature rose, but only slightly.

Celestia watched the light return. There was no joy or relief to be had in the return of the light, though. Just a sort of distant numbness. She couldn’t find it in her to care. What did the rising of the sun matter anymore? The world was frozen, they had no food, their shelter was paltry at best, and there was nopony around who could help.

Or rather, nopony who would. Celestia resisted the urge to growl as her thoughts returned to Mudflat. He had food, he had shelter, and he had supplies. It was well within his power to help them, at least until Luna was back on her hooves, and yet he refused!

The more she thought of him, the more incensed she felt. She grit her teeth behind her lips and screwed her eyes shut. But before her spiraling emotions could get the better of her, the wounded filly against her gave off a weak murmur.

Celestia opened her eyes, her disdain for Mudflat forgotten. She sat up slightly, looking down at Luna. The foal’s eyes were screwed shut, her face twitching in pain. She let out another few murmurs, shifting slightly.

Luna’s quiet murmur suddenly swelled into a panicked shriek. Her body convulsed, her hooves flailing wildly about. Celestia gasped in alarm, trying to protect herself from Luna’s thrashing.

“Luna!” Celestia shouted, grabbing Luna’s shoulders and trying to hold her still. “Luna, wake up! It’s just a bad dream! LUNA!”

But as before, Luna did not wake. She kept screaming, her voice already going hoarse. Celestia shook her again, but to no avail.

Luna, please! It’s okay!” Celestia started to panic. She thought back on the last time Luna had dreamed like this. Bile rose in her throat as she recalled the measure she had resorted to in order to wake Luna up. Her hoof tingled at the memory as if to shame her for even thinking of it.

Besides, Luna was already in pain. So Celestia grit her teeth and held onto Luna, holding her tight as she screamed into the morning. It seemed to drag on forever. The sound burned itself into Celestia’s ears, making her grimace and shudder. She was beginning to fear Luna would never wake up when, finally, the foal’s screams began to die down.

And then she spoke, whispering in a broken, strangled whisper. “Dad… come back…”

And then Luna fell still. Celestia leaned back to get a better look at her sister. Luna’s eyes slowly cracked open, bloodshot and wet with tears. She looked even more tired than Celestia felt, even though she had slept longer and by far more soundly. At least, it had looked sound.

Luna looked up at her, blinking as if to see from a great distance. “Tia…?” she murmured before closing her eyes again. “...I’m okay. Just another bad dream.”

Celestia sighed, drawing her little sister into a tight hug. “I know, Lu. I know… About dad, right?”

Celestia chose not to press the matter and contented herself with keeping her sister close. The two sat in silence for a long while, letting the light outside grow brighter. Neither spoke, letting their thoughts wander in the silence.

The silence was eventually broken by the gurgling of a little filly’s stomach.

Celestia sighed. She was hungry, too. But Luna had to be her priority. “Alright… I’ll go look for some,” she said, rising from the bed. Her stiff muscles ached as she forced herself to her hooves before turning back to Luna. “You stay here and get some more rest.”

Celestia put on a brave smile and leaned in to give Luna a nuzzle and a small kiss on the cheek. “I will. Don’t worry. Just stay here and keep quiet.”

Luna hummed softly. Her horn lit up with frail blue light, enveloping the carved wooden toys that sat beside the bed on the floor. Luna’s face scrunched up and a small grunt of effort escaped her as she hefted the toys up. The light on her horn began to flicker.

Celestia’s eyes widened when it winked out entirely, and the toys clattered back to the floor. “Luna?” she whispered, a sudden feeling of dread washing over her.

Celestia frowned. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She reached out and pressed a hoof to Luna’s forehead, feeling for a fever. Instead, Luna was cold, just as cold as Celestia was… if not a little moreso.

Celestia wilted on the spot. Luna’s condition must have been worse than they thought. She swallowed heavily before gingerly lifting the toys in her magic and depositing them into Luna’s hooves. “Just rest, Lu,” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. “Just stay put and rest. I’ll be back soon. You’re going to be fine. You have to be fine.”

Luna said nothing. She merely clutched the toys to her chest, nodded, and stayed still.

Celestia watched her for a minute longer, internally wrestling with herself. She didn’t want to leave Luna alone. Every protective instinct she had was screaming at her like a banshee to stay, to hold Luna close and tell her everything was going to be alright.

But her rational mind knew that if she did that, then nothing would be all right. So, with a heavy feeling in her gut and a renewed sense of urgency, she made for the door. As she stepped outside and into the freezing air, she could just barely make out Luna’s frail voice humming a happy melody from their earliest years before she closed the door.

There were a lot of places where Celestia hadn’t looked yet in Flatstone, and with Luna’s survival on the line, she set about scouring them with renewed fervor. She began near the center of town, slowly spiraling her way outwards, checking every single home for anything that could be of use.

Unfortunately, the evacuation of the town had been staggeringly thorough, and the various buildings were by and large too small to have anything worthwhile hiding in them. One empty single-room hut after another, just like the one she and Luna had taken.

It was beyond frustrating. Why couldn’t they have left anything behind? Even some seeds would have worked! But there was nothing to be found, even as her search dragged on from one hour to the next. The sun’s journey across the sky was painfully slow, as it had been since this wretched blizzard began, and that only put Celestia even more on edge.

The latest home she stepped into was just like all the others. A single room, a firepit in the center, and some scattered woodwork furniture as the only indication of prior habitation. She was about to write it off as another lost cause when something struck her as… off.

The furniture was older, and the dust was thicker than in other houses. Mold had begun to encroach on the corners of the room, and cobwebs were thick and numerous. Two beds were pressed side by side against the far wall, still adorned with old, tattered blankets.

It was unusual. Most of the huts had been stripped of anything useful like blankets, and none had been abandoned for so long as to show such signs of age. What happened here? And why did it feel so familiar?

Celestia took a few reluctant steps into the abode. Her eyes focused on the beds, and she noticed something resting on the end table next to them. Curious, she drew closer.

Celestia froze, her heart clenching in her chest. That horrible weight in her gut returned tenfold. Part of her wanted to run away from the reminder, but the figurines held her transfixed.

Of course, this would happen. Why wouldn’t it? This town was where her parents had come from. Where they had been born, where they had grown up, where they had fallen in love. She was bound to stumble on their old house if she kept looking.

Her vision blurred with tears, and the figurines faded from view. Barely repressing a sob, she wiped her tears and took the toys in her magic. They weren’t quite the same as the ones Luna had back at their hut. These were sloppier, disproportionate. Less refinement from a less-skilled craftspony.

Celestia screwed her eyes shut. She took the figures in her hoof and pressed them up against her chest, over her pounding heart.

She had tried to bury her emotions deep so she could focus on taking care of Luna, but at every turn, she was failing. Something new always came up to remind her just how much she missed them, how terrified she was that she’d join them… or worse, that Luna would join them, and she’d be left all alone.

“I can’t lose her,” Celestia told herself, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. “I can’t. I can’t. I promised I would take care of her…”

“...Is that where this is all going?” she whispered, looking down at the figures.

With a shaky sigh, she deposited the figurines in her saddlebags, then turned to depart. She drew up short, however, when she spotted the pony standing a respectful distance outside the front door.

Celestia stared at him. She shook herself, her brow furrowing. As she stepped out of the house, Mudflat took a few steps back, keeping his eyes on her. Celestia met his gaze for a moment, then turned back to look at the old house. “I… didn’t really think about it,” she said softly.

“Lootin’ around like you’ve been, it was only a matter of time,” Mudflat said. “Probably the most valuable thing you’re gonna find in this crummy little ghost town.”

Celestia turned to him, her eyes narrowing. “What about you? Why are you out here?”

Celestia flinched but didn’t press the matter. She looked away, her ears drooping. The two were quiet for a little while.

Then Mudflat gave off a weak laugh. Celestia turned to him, confused, and saw an actual smile on the old stallion’s face. “Heh. They were like the town idiots, ya know. Just about everypony hated their guts, they did, but they couldn’t help but find ’em… charming, in their own cloud-headed, idealistic little way.”

Celestia blinked, confused that the stallion was choosing now to tell her this, but didn’t say anything.

He went on a moment later. “You shoulda heard the uproar that went around when they told us we were bein’ stupid. Us and them pegasi up in the clouds. The way ponies went on about ’em, you’d think they’d be run out of town. But nah… that ain’t how earth ponies work. We spit and we fight and we grumble…”

He turned back to Celestia, his eyes meeting hers. “But Mother Earth as my witness, we don’t shun our own. Not even the stupid ones. Not like that. We count on one another. Depend on one another to help us carry our burdens when they’re a bit too much to handle on our own...”

Mudflat shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe I’m just an old bastard and I wanna reminisce a little. Maybe you’re still a young, stupid kid, and there are some things you need to hear before you run out of adults to tell ya. Maybe I just bloody darn well felt like it. I really need a reason?”

The two were quiet for a moment. Mudflat cleared his throat, a gross, mucusy sound, then turned to leave. “Bah. It’s cold. I’m goin’ home.” he looked over his shoulder at Celestia as he went, his eyes narrowed. “And so should you. You ain’t gonna find anything left. Nothing worth taking. Just a whole lotta memories that don’t belong to you.”

Celestia watched him as he left. She didn’t say anything; she just watched him until he stumbled to one side, bracing against an old building. She heard him cough a few times before pushing away and carrying on, soon vanishing from view around a bend.

If nothing else, she eventually decided he was right about one thing. There was nothing else worth taking. Her search so far had proven that.

Celestia hesitated outside the old hut for a few more moments. A gust of cold wind was quick to send her into motion. With a heavy sigh, she stepped back into the old hut, her eyes scanning the various pieces of wooden furniture. With a wince of guilt, she ensnared the nearest chair in her magic.

She pulled at the legs and backrest, her brow furrowing with effort. They bent under the force of her magic, filling the air with high groans and the snapping of splintering wood. Then, with a loud clatter, the chair came apart amid a flurry of splinters and a puff of dust.

Celestia took a deep breath, bringing the wood together into a neat bundle. She cast her eyes around the home one more time, her ears drooping. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Without another word, she slipped out of the old house and began the return journey to her and Luna’s hideout. She elected to keep to the ground for the time being, so as to not lose her cargo to the unpredictable winds. It may not have been food, but she could nonetheless get use out of the scrapwood floating beside her.

The journey was quiet, leaving Celestia with ample time to think. The town was painfully devoid of food. Mudflat had it all, she knew, but she wasn’t willing to try and steal from him again. His tone a minute ago implied he had warmed up to her—or at least his animosity had diminished a little since the last time they spoke.

If she could avoid making an enemy out of him, she would. But at the same time, what other options were available to her?

The only other one that came to mind was trying to catch up with the original population. But with the head start they had, and with Luna still being injured, that just wasn’t feasible… was it?

When Celestia finally arrived, she paused briefly outside the entrance to the hut. What would she tell Luna? She bit her lip, trying to come up with something, some kind of excuse. But there were none forthcoming. She pulled out the figurines and looked them over for a minute, her ears drooping.

A small spark of inspiration came to her. Shaking slightly, Celestia stepped inside. The creaking of the door proved loud enough to stir Luna from her slumber. Celestia saw her eyes opening from the darkness in the back, and she could practically feel the relief in them.

Celestia nodded. “Yeah, I am,” she said, closing the door behind her. She set the remnants of the chair by the firepit before coming up to the side of Luna’s bed. “How are you feeling?”

Luna was quiet for a moment. Then, with a grimace, she went to sit up. She let out a quiet gasp from the movement, but Celestia was quick to reach out and help her until she was up in a sitting position. Luna’s blankets fell off her form, exposing the ugly bruise marring her barrel.

Celestia grimaced with sympathy. It didn’t look much better than it had before.

Even so, Luna found it in her to smile. “I think I’m okay,” she said, though the optimism did not reach her eyes.

The smiles were not to last. The happiness faded from Luna’s eyes as they fell upon the pile of wood. “...You didn’t find any food, did you?”

Celestia went rigid, not able to look her sister in the eyes. She worked her mouth up and down for a moment, then shook her head. “N-no… I didn’t. I’m sorry, Luna. I think it’s all gone, already.”

Unable to bear seeing the disappointment in Luna’s face, Celestia quickly reached into her saddlebags with her magic. “B-but, I did find something!”

Luna watched her, curious until Celestia withdrew the two figurines Sprout had carved so long ago. Her eyes widened, her ears standing at attention. “Toys? They look like…”

Celestia nodded, gently passing them forward into Luna’s hooves. “I found mom and dad’s house,” she whispered. “I found where they came from. They left us these presents. They’re still with us… We’ll make it. We just have to hold on a little longer…”

She didn’t know what she was saying, really. She was just letting the words flow. Listening to what she was saying, she couldn’t help but scoff. It was all a load of lies, wasn’t it? She was just trying to reassure herself that they’d make it through this…

Luna, however, didn’t seem to share her cynicism. She gingerly held the new-old toys up to her chest, closing her eyes. She took a long, deep breath, her lips tugging up into a small smile. “You’re right. Just a little longer…”

Celestia couldn’t keep her smile from returning at that little remark. Despite all they had been through, Luna especially, the fact that Luna could smile at all was a deeply appreciated gift.

But optimistic sentiments wouldn’t be enough to keep out the cold, a sentiment that was proven true when a draft blew into the hut from outside, causing the two foals to shudder. Without a word, Celestia hopped up onto the bed, laying down with Luna, the two cuddling up.

If nothing else, Celestia could lend Luna the warmth of her body. And she would.

Rise and Shine

by Skijarama

XV - Throb and Fester