Chapter 7 - Cold and Lonely
"Sweetie…Wake up…"
"Mmn…?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Uhnnn…"
Sweetie Belle sluggishly blinked her eyes. She was absolutely freezing cold, and waking up was becoming a difficult task. She shivered and nestled herself closer to the warm thing to her left, which she realized was Luna's body.
"Cold, huh?" Luna spoke.
The wing which was draped over her moved closer and surrounded her in warmth. She was thankful for it, but was still feeling cold all over.
"But, are you okay Sweetie?"
"Yeah…" she murmured, "Just cold…" Sweetie Belle yawned and raised her head up. She found Luna smiling down at her and she smiled back. The two of them were still in the icy cave. Just beyond, she could still see the heavy pile of snow blocking the entrance. It was a little unnerving, but she had to believe that Luna would be able to get them out when they were ready to leave.
"Sit up, Sweetie," Luna told her, "You'll feel better if you're not laying on the cold ground."
Sweetie slowly sat up, feeling her sluggish joints protest. She felt Luna's wing hug her closer, staving off a little bit of the cold. She felt entirely refreshed since last night, though, aside from the cold. It wasn't a difficult contest; anything felt better than dying.
It was such a wonderful feeling, though. She gazed down at herself, feeling the need to check and see just to be sure. She gave a startled gasp when she saw the faded red stains on her white fur.
"Oh my gosh…" she murmured.
"Hm?" Luna said, looking to see what she had seen. "Oh," she then said, "I'm sorry, I don't think I'm going to be able to clean you up. We don't want to waste any water…"
Sweetie gingerly held up her hooves and examined them. "Tha's…a lotta blood…" she mumbled.
"Just try to ignore it, Sweetie," Luna said, "You're fine now."
Sweetie nodded and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She let it out in a long, slow sigh and slumped against Luna's side. "I just woke up…but I feel exhausted…"
"I know…"
"This is so much harder than anything I've ever done…"
There was a moment of silence. Sweetie gazed up to Luna and saw her staring off at nothing with a distant expression. She blinked and watched the bigger pony, thousands of times her elder. She thought back to all of the brave things Luna had done for her. Luna had saved her life countless times now. She felt such a warm admiration in her heart as she gazed into those teal eyes that were older than time itself.
Luna turned and looked down at her, and Sweetie smiled. This, in turn, seemed to make Luna smile as well.
"I wish nothing more than for us to find our way home soon…" Luna spoke, "It is clear we've both had enough of this world."
Sweetie gave a small, subtle nod. "Yeah…" she murmured. She expected herself to start feeling homesick again, but something different happened. Another smile grew on her. It was small, but it was there. "Rarity will be so happy to see me."
Luna also smiled. "I can imagine," she replied, "I'm sure she must be very worried."
"I hope she knows that you're here with me, Luna. It's not much, but it'll make her feel a little better."
"I'm sure she's pulling through, Sweetie. She'll be holding on for you, awaiting your safe return."
The corners of Sweetie's lips curled up a little more.
After a pause, Luna spoke again. "I hope my sister hasn't done anything foolish."
Sweetie snickered. "What?"
Luna rolled her eyes. "Well…You know big sisters. They tend to lose their minds a little bit if something is threatening their little sibling. With Rarity, it is of little issue, but Celestia can move mountains…"
The filly's eyes widened. "Oh dear…"
"Just stay strong, Tia…I'm coming…"
"Me too, Rarity…"
They both shared a moment of silence in the chilly air of the cave. Sweetie snuggled herself into Luna's wing, trying to combat the bitter cold. "This place is so awful…" she mumbled.
Luna nodded in agreement. "There are so many questions we still have left unanswered."
"I just wish I knew how we got here…It's really, really weird how I can't remember. I don't like it…It makes me feel weird…"
"It seemed like such a normal day…" Luna mused, "The moon was lowered, the sun was raised."
"I still remember what I had for breakfast that day," Sweetie spoke, "We had toast and some slices of orange. I remember the orange being really good. Then I went to school." She paused and furrowed her brow. "For some reason, the crusaders and I were all excited. I remember not being able to sit still."
Luna gazed down at her but didn't say a word.
"Cheerilee was teaching us…um…" She scrunched her nose. "I can't remember…We were too excited. I always listen to Cheerilee, so what was I so excited about?"
"You know…" Luna spoke up, "Most of that day was mundane for me. After lunch, however, I remember asking the guards where Tia was…I couldn't find her, and it was annoying me because I was feeling…eager."
"Things get fuzzy after lunch break…" Sweetie said, "We did an arts project, I think…Scootaloo and I were talking…Um…" She winced slightly. "Ahh, it gives me a headache…" She gingerly held a hoof up to her head. "Uhh…Then school was out, and…Um…I think Applejack might've been there…We were excited, but she was worried about us…getting sick or something. Something about catching cold?"
"Because it was raining."
"Yeah, that's right! It w-" The eyes of both ponies suddenly shot open wide. Both turned to look at each other, staring in confusion. "Wait…" Sweetie spoke, "How did you know it was raining?"
"I…I'm not sure. It certainly was not raining in Canterlot." Luna paused, her eyes drifting away as she seemed to be deep in thought. "Did I…travel to Ponyville that day?"
"Did you…?"
"I must have. I remember the rain…"
"But why would you come to Ponyville? It wasn't a holiday or anything…"
Luna furrowed her brow. "I think…that may have been why I was so excited to talk to Tia…" she replied, "I think, perhaps, we were both to travel to Ponyville and I was getting impatient."
"If you were both coming, then something really cool must've been happening…" Sweetie murmured, staring off at nothing as she tried to picture that last, fateful day, "And then we were…here…"
Sweetie gazed up at Luna again, who gazed down at her in return. They were silent for a number of minutes.
"What happened…?"
Luna sighed and shook her head. "I can remember no more…"
"Me either…Every time I try to dig deeper, it hurts my brain…"
"This world does not offer any answers either. It's stranger than anything I've seen before. It doesn't seem real."
Sweetie shivered. "I try not to think about it…" she muttered quietly, "I try not to think about…how there's…no sun or moon up there…"
Luna's face darkened. "Tis a troubling thought, indeed…"
"How can this place survive with nothing in the sky?" Sweetie snuggled herself against the alicorn's side as she spoke, "There's no heat and no light. There's nothing growing, and there's nothing here…There's just nothing…"
"I just don't understand it…"
"It's like a world of nothing…"
"I do not know what to make of those…creatures either," Luna continued, "They do seem to be alive, but…only in the most basic sense of the word."
"They're like demons…" Sweetie spoke with a shiver.
"They are quite frightening," Luna admitted, "They are nothing like any creature of our world…"
"Nothing at all…"
Another moment of silence fell between the two. It lasted for a few minutes as they huddled together and tried to keep warm inside of the frigid, icy cave. Sweetie was fighting an uphill battle against hopelessness. The feeling had always been there, but it was beginning to get the best of her now.
With every passing moment, she was reminded of where she was, where she wasn't, and who she wasn't with. There was an overwhelming sensation that everything going on was entirely wrong, and it almost felt as if it were making her physically sick. She shouldn't be on a deadly adventure like this, if one could even call it an 'adventure'.
She should be at home not reading her literary homework.
"Luna…?" Sweetie spoke, breaking the silence.
"Hm…?"
She paused. "How many times have you been to Ponyville?"
Luna also paused. "To Ponyville?" she repeated, "I'm not sure. Why do you ask?"
"I still remember the day you came back."
"Came back?" She tilted her head, and then opened her eyes in realization, "Oh…"
"We held that big celebration for you, and then we didn't see you for more than a year."
"Ah, yes well…" Luna glanced away, "You must understand, it was a big adjustment. Only hours before, I had been a demon, and before that I had been a prisoner on the moon."
"Yeah, I know…" Sweetie mumbled, "But I think there's ponies in Ponyville who would like to see you s'more…"
Luna turned back to the filly, her eyes glimmering a little. "…Really?"
"Well, yeah!" she replied, "Scootaloo keeps talking about the time she saw you in her dream, though she never tells us what it was about…Pipsqueak can't stop talking about you…Yeah, Luna, your name comes up a lot!"
"I see…" Luna spoke. She gazed down for a moment, and then gazed back up. "I suppose it's just a little hard to believe still. Everything is so much different than it used to be; even all of the ponies. Everypony is so much friendlier…"
Sweetie offered a smile. "It's nice to hear that you're enjoying life in Equestria more. I think you could like it even more, though, if you came to hang out!"
Luna chuckled wryly. "Well, I haven't much time for 'hanging out'. It takes a lot of dedication and effort to run a nation…But perhaps I should consider your offer."
The filly gave her a big, toothy grin. "You'll always be welcome!"
Luna was smiling warmly, and even blushing a little. She gave Sweetie a quick hug with her wing. "I'm always grateful for the love I get from ponies. It seems like not so long ago that I thought nopony could ever love me. Things were so different back then…It was so lonely at night…"
"Aww…"
Luna gazed down at her. "You said Scootaloo mentioned my dream-walking? That is something I am eternally grateful for."
"Huh?" Sweetie asked in confusion, "What d'you mean?"
"I could not enter the dreamscape until just recently. Celestia worked with me to help develop the skill after Twilight and her friends rescued me."
"Oh, wow…I thought you could always do that."
Luna shook her head. "Centuries ago, it was only myself sitting on a lonely throne. Everypony was locked away in their homes, slumbering the night away." She closed her eyes for a moment as she relived the painful memory, but then began to smile. "But now…Now, I am able to spend time with my subjects during the night. Many are awake after dusk, and I can meet with them in their dreams."
Sweetie smiled. "You can come to my dreams if you want!"
Luna chuckled. "I apologize if I have not already, but there are many ponies in this Kingdom."
The filly giggled. "It's okay! Don't worry!"
The princess sighed in reflection. "I was under some false beliefs back then. I made rash assumptions that I regret to this day. Now it is clear to me that I am not shunned. Though it may not be entirely evident, I do feel the love from ponies around me. I may not be as popular as ol' Sunny-Butt, but I can recognize the admiration and respect, and accept the love from my subjects." She paused for a moment. "Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I should…make a few more friends."
Sweetie couldn't respond. She was trying too hard to hold back a giggling fit.
Luna glanced down at her with a smirk, knowing exactly what was making her laugh.
"S…Sunny-Butt?"
"Well, she's got a sun back there, doesn't she?"
The dam broke and Sweetie burst out laughing. The cave was filled with the golden melody of her joyous laughter. "Hah…Oh my goodness…"
"Tia gets really ticked off when I call her that."
"I…I've never heard that before. That's so funny…" Sweetie could barely breathe. "It's so silly! Sunny-Butt!! Ahahahaha!"
Sweetie continued laughing for a little bit before she calmed down. Luna gazed down at her and smiled, happy to see her so upbeat. Seeing Luna smile made her smile even more. Somehow, the cave felt a little warmer.
"Heehee…" she said, still fighting off stray giggles, "Wouldn't that make you Moon-Butt?"
Luna scoffed and tossed her head skyward. "Of course not," she said in a haughty voice, "That would just be ridiculous. Don't be daft."
Sweetie giggled some more, and Luna looked down and chuckled as well. The two shared a few more laughs in the cave, a warm happy feeling finally flowing through the both of them. Though they were thinking about somepony they dearly missed, the smiles on their faces were clear as day. Their spirits had risen.
After a few moments, they both quieted down. Sweetie glanced at the snow-filled entrance that locked them in, but also kept them safe. "When should we leave…?" she asked, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.
Luna followed her glance. "Soon," she replied, "I want to make sure you are well first. It's been a rough couple of days. We've needed this rest."
Sweetie got to her hooves, still remaining beneath the princess' warm wing. Her legs felt strong enough, and her body felt okay. Nothing much seemed to be wrong with her. "I feel okay," she spoke.
"Let's rest just a bit more," Luna said. Sweetie nodded and sat back down. There were conflicting desires in her mind. She wanted to leave because she knew that out there was the way home. However, she didn't want to leave because she knew that there was danger out there. Her life had already been threatened three times, and she had just barely pulled through each time. A sobering thought lingered in her mind, asking her if she could pull through again.
"Luna?"
"Hm…?"
"We'll get home, right?"
Luna hugged her close with her wing. "Of course we will," she replied in a soothing tone, "I'm guessing we'll be home within a couple of days. We may even be home before we next sleep!"
"I sure hope so," Sweetie spoke, "I'm sick of grass…"
Luna let out a dry chuckle. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been spoiled by the Royal Kitchen."
"Oooh!" Sweetie piped up, "What do they serve you there?"
"Whatever we want…I keep telling them to surprise me, but they act like I've just asked them to buck me in the face. No, no…The Princesses' word is gospel." She then gave Sweetie a conspiring gaze. "I'll tell you a secret though. Never tell anypony this, okay?"
"Um…Okay."
"Our dishes are served to us in golden and blue platters with lids. You can guess whose is whose. However, the chefs put the food onto the platters and then give them to the waiters, so the waiters never know what's under there. That way, I can use a sneaky magic spell to switch the colors of the two platters and they don't even realize anything is wrong."
Luna grinned. "And so, I've started occasionally ordering some very strange dishes. For example, last week I ordered alfalfa ice cream."
"Euck!" Sweetie exclaimed.
Luna snickered. "Then I switched the plates. I got a delicious salad and a bowl of fresh pasta, and I also got to see Celestia's incredulous face when she was served a huge bowl of green ice cream."
Sweetie began to laugh. "Hahaha! You didn't!"
"'I never ordered this! What is this?!' she would exclaim. And all they could do was point out the golden tray. She must have ordered it. And you know, my sister is not the kind of pony who would let perfectly good food go to waste. She would get her real dinner soon enough, but she would also enjoy her alfalfa ice cream. Her innocent little sister smiles and will never forget the gross faces she made."
Sweetie was caught in another giggling fit. Luna smiled and gave her a quick little wing hug. "That's awful, Luna! Hahah! That's terrible!"
Luna gazed away with a guilty grin.
"I never knew you were a prankster…"
"Oh!" Luna burst out, "You have no idea! You wouldn't even think to call me a prankster if you saw the mischief Sunny-Butt gets up to! I'm practically a saint next to her!"
"Really?"
"Oh skies above…Last week I entered my bedchambers to find everything inside on the roof. I could not get it down. One time, she cast a harmless, but infuriating spell on all of the castle personnel to make them think my name was "Sniggeldorf". I would inform them that my name was Luna, and they would look at me as if I were insane. You know…I do not know if this is true or not, but I've heard tale that she once removed the castle's gravity just for a laugh. The cleaning crew tell horror stories of the mess they'd had to clean up."
Sweetie was gazing up in disbelief at the alicorn. Here Luna was, painting her sister as an immature little kid, and the image was absolutely hysterical. Sweetie was having a hard time believing it, but the way Luna spoke made it all sound genuine. Celestia was like a God to most ponies, including her. Hearing about such childish antics was screwing with her head.
Luna gave a nostalgic sigh. "Too many ponies see us two as emotionless, stoic rulers. True, we do have a lot of responsibility, and our days are filled with seemingly endless amounts of work…but we do still have fun."
Sweetie nodded. "Yeah…I guess I never really thought about it, but it makes sense." She grinned and chuckled. "I wish I could see some of the pranks you two pull…"
Luna winked. "Maybe you could help me one day."
The little filly's eyes lit up and she gasped. "Really…?! Could I really?"
She leaned down and gave her a little nuzzle. "Once we get out of here…I promise."
"That would be so much fun! Can I really really??"
Luna tittered. "Yes, you can! Really really!"
Sweetie glanced away, still smiling but growing a little crimson. "I'm not much of a prankster…but I've always kinda wanted to. I-I mean…as long as nopony gets hurt, of course. I mean…Um…"
"Hey," Luna said with a wink, "Tia is practically asking for it. One day, I woke up with my wings on my butt."
"Well, I mean- Wait, what?!"
"Do not tell anypony that I told you that."
"Wait, wait, wait…Your wings…were…"
Luna merely nodded. "Tia thought it was simply hilarious…"
"…"
Luna tilted her head. "Hm?"
"I…I need to draw that…"
…
The hours passed by and the two continued to converse and pass the time. A great number of subjects were covered and many laughs were shared. Sweetie learned a lot about life in Canterlot beyond what most ponies saw. She had never really imagined just how much of a normal life the two alicorn sisters led when they were not busy running the country. It fascinated her, and she continued to want to learn more.
Strength returned to both ponies over time. They ate and drank from Luna's reserves, and Luna was eventually able to heal herself completely as well. As time wore on, they grew more ready to face the world beyond the cave once more.
Though this frightening thought was always nagging in the corner of her mind, she had mostly been preoccupied with much happier thoughts as Luna spun wild tales about her and her sister. Eventually, however, the time to depart grew close.
"Luna…? Are…Are you scared of going out there?"
The princess gazed down at her. "Of course I am, Sweetie. Fear is a pony emotion. Without it, we would be incomplete. The world out there is dangerous, and so I am frightened."
Sweetie shivered. "Well…I doubt you're as frightened as I am…"
"But…I am also brave. It is okay to be both frightened and brave. In some cases, it allows you to make the best decisions. Bravery drives us forward and fear holds us back, but holding us back is not necessarily always a negative thing. We need that little tug in reverse to keep us safe."
The filly was silent as she drank in her words.
"Can you be brave too, Sweetie Belle?"
"Um…"
"We can be frightened together…but I hope we can also be brave together. With the bravery of the both of us, I have faith that this horrible wasteland will not defeat us."
Sweetie gulped. "I…I guess we have to be really brave…We gotta get out of here…"
Luna nodded.
"Okay, Luna. I'll…try my best. I'll do it for you. I'll do it for Rarity. I'll do it for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and everypony back home!"
"That's the spirit, Sweetie!"
"I'm really really scared…but I'll still try my best."
Luna gave her one more warm nuzzle. "Then let's go."
A few moments later, Sweetie was riding on Luna's back, and Luna stood facing the snow-plugged entrance of the cave. They had been in here for a while now. Luna wasn't sure she remembered exactly what the outside looked like. They were up on a mountain, and she knew that they would have no idea of which direction to go once they were outside.
Luna hated to leave things to chance, but there was no other option.
A reddish glow resonated from the alicorn's horn, and a section of the snow began to melt. Luna cast her spell carefully in order to make sure the snow would not come rushing in and suffocate them.
Sweetie waited patiently, huddling herself against the princess' fur. Luna worked for a while. Ten or fifteen minutes passed. Eventually, however, a cylindrical tunnel had been melted through the snow. Luna's horn stopped glowing and the two stared at the newly-formed exit.
"I hope there's no birds out there…"
Luna approached the tunnel. "I shall be ready for them."
Crawling through the snowy tunnel was awkward and difficult. The freezing snow was all around them, and it kept getting in Sweetie's fur. Luna had to shuffle through the relatively small snow tunnel. In essence, she was crawling.
Sweetie kept the alicorn's tail gripped tightly in her mouth as she followed behind. The snow was cold on her hooves, and there was the looming fear of a cave-in following her. She tried to keep her breathing under control as best she could while they exited their icy prison. She had to be brave.
Finally, she heard Luna gasp with relief. The princess in front of her scrambled for a moment, and then pulled herself out of the tunnel. Sweetie followed behind, setting foot in the snow and breathing in the fresh, if unpleasant, air.
All around her was a completely untouched vista of snow. It sparkled in the light of Luna's light spell, and faded into the blackness of the omnipresent darkness. Sweetie was silent as she gazed out at the smooth, white surface that seemed to stretch into infinity. It was oddly calming.
"It doesn't look like anything's here…" Luna spoke quietly, "Good…Now, you must be quiet, okay? We may end up causing another avalanche."
"Okay…" Sweetie said with a nod. She felt herself being lifted up with magic and soon found herself once again on Luna's back. Once she had settled herself in, she took another look around from this higher vantage point. Unsurprisingly, there was not much more to be seen. However, as she slowly turned her head, she stopped and began to stare ahead.
"Are you ready?" Luna asked.
Sweetie didn't reply.
"Sweetie?"
"Don't you see that?"
Luna turned and followed her gaze. "What? See what?"
Sweetie squinted her eyes and tried to focus on what she was seeing. It was there; she was sure of it. It was difficult to see, however. It was fading and flickering, and it seemed to disappear if she tried to stare right at it.
"It's a…glow…"
There was silence for a moment as Luna continued to stare in the same direction. "I don't see anything, Sweetie Belle…"
"I'm sure there's something glowing…"
Sweetie stared for a few more moments, but her eyes began to ache. She had to shut them and rub them with her hooves.
"I'm afraid I don't see it, Sweetie. It's probably nothing."
"I guess…" Sweetie said, disheartened.
"I'm not saying you're wrong, Sweetie, I'm just saying that I cannot see it," Luna spoke reassuringly, "Let us get off of this mountain first, and then we can look into it some more."
Sweetie nodded. "Okay. Sure."
Without another word, the two set off. They were walking downwards, intending to descend the mountain. It seemed like they were close to the top anyway, so there was not much more to see up above. Luna placed her hooves carefully in the snow as she made her way down. Sweetie held on tightly, gazing out at the dead landscape. It still wasn't snowing, and so all she saw was the smooth, unbroken, undisturbed blanket of snow in all directions. The only thing she could see aside from endless whiteness and endless blackness were Luna's hoofprints.
…
Many minutes passed without event. The slope began to get shallower, but the snow beneath began to feel more uneven. Luna had to slow down as she moved, placing her hooves carefully to make sure she didn't slip. She felt Sweetie hold on tightly to make sure she didn't fall off.
Thankfully, the two seemed to be alone. There was no sign of the birds or any other of those horrible creatures around. Luna was hoping that the birds thought they had perished in the avalanche and moved on.
Luna was cautious as she moved, however. This was no place for letting one's guard down. She kept her eyes roaming. Though she couldn't see much through the darkness, she kept a close watch. Her muscles were tensed, ready to flee at the slightest sign of danger.
This place was truly frightening to Luna. She was not afraid of the dark, nor the creatures, nor any of the danger that plagued them. Rather, she was frightened because she had little to no control. Her opponents were nearly immune to anything she could do, and the darkness was handicapping her fighting and fleeing. Even at her best, she was at a tremendous disadvantage, and there was little she could do about it.
Luna had been in much more dangerous situations in the past, but few times in her life had she been as frightened as this.
Some snow shifted beneath her and she struggled to keep her stability. She cursed silently. This snow felt the same as higher up on the mountain. She knew what it signified, and she was worried about it. The two of them needed to get off this mountain.
She took only a single step forward, and then a large chunk of snow slipped free beneath her. Sweetie gasped in panic, but Luna gave a quick flap of her wings and propelled herself to somewhere more stable.
"That was close…" Sweetie murmured as the two watched a few more particles of snow shift loose.
"We are in another avalanche zone…" Luna spoke quietly.
Sweetie stifled another gasp. "We are…?"
Luna nodded. "I was able to use the last one to save our skins, but we must be extra careful now. The last thing we need is to go careening down the side of this mountain."
Sweetie gulped. "I…guess we shouldn't've come here…"
Luna didn't reply, and Sweetie said nothing more.
The alicorn continued to carefully make her way down the mountain. Stepping into the snow was like stepping in thin sand or a pile of gravel. She could feel it give every time she planted her hooves. This terrain was far from safe. They needed to get off the mountain and onto solid ground now.
Sweetie was gripping onto her neck so tightly that it was actually uncomfortable. Luna ignored this and trudged on. The little filly was hardly strong enough to affect her breathing anyway.
"Are we almost down…?"
"I don't know…" Luna replied, "But I think so. It's almost flat now."
Luna's ear twitched. She shot her head to the side and instantly regretted the action, as the shift in her equilibrium made her slip and lose her balance. The world quickly became a black and white blur as she tumbled to the ground. She shouted and tried to reach out with her hooves and magic, but the only response she got was Sweetie's surprised scream. She still felt little hooves grasping her neck, but they vanished when the attack came. Sharp, painful things dug into her back and forced her roughly to the side and a loud noise filled the air.
Talons.
She yelped in surprise and fell tumbling to the side. The avalanche had already started. She could feel herself being carried along. Luna fought valiantly to right herself, keeping her eyes open as wide as she could amongst the rushing snow and trying to see what was happening.
She could hear Sweetie Belle's frantic screaming and shot her head in that direction. She saw the panicking filly being swept away with the snow, moving further and further away from her. She called out to her over the rush of the snow and tried desperately to gain purchase on the shifting ground. Sweetie Belle caught sight of her and held out her hooves desperately. Her horn glowed brightly for a few seconds, but soon fizzled out.
Luna's mind was a frantic mess. Too much was happening around her. Sweetie was being swept away from her by a faster-moving bank of snow. She shifted herself around in a further, fruitless attempt to stand up or gain control of herself. She was going to lose Sweetie! If only she could fly!
As she twisted and turned, unable to escape the torrential rush of snow, she was barely able to see a large rock approaching. She caught it out the corner of her eye, standing defiant as the snow rushed around it like a tall rock in the middle of a rushing stream. Her pupils shrank to dots as she realized she was heading straight for it.
She didn't even have time to scream before her vision filled with stars and she instantly blacked out.
…
Luna's eyes shot open, and then she immediately regretted it as her head began to throb. She clenched them shut again and tried to stop the sharp, near-unbearable pain in her head. Everything was a blur, and everything was cold. She needed to get up.
She wrenched open her eyes once more and beheld the blindingly bright world around her. She tried to raise a hoof, but found that she couldn't. In fact, she couldn't move anything aside from her head! A quick glance downward revealed the issue.
She was buried up to her neck in the snow.
Luna fought through the pain in her head and the rest of her body as she quickly dug herself out of her frigid prison. The snow was soft, so it was easy to escape. A few moments later, she was standing on the snow, her head still pounding.
Luna glanced around quickly, noticing a familiar large rock behind her. It protruded up from below, covered on the sides by a thick blanket of snow, and painted with splatters of red.
Her blood. The avalanche must have taken her down the mountain, and she had smacked right into this thing. She winced at the sight of the splatter. Hitting that thing had been one of the most painful things, and she did not hope to repeat it ever again.
However, this was not her biggest concern. She cast her eyes about frantically, searching the empty expanse of freshly-shifted snow. There was nothing within eyesight except for the rock. There was just snow and darkness as far as she could see.
"Sweetie Belle?!" she called out as she began to carefully, but quickly, make her way through the snow. She was looking everywhere, straining her eyes as much as she could to possibly spot the snow-white unicorn in this endless white expanse. Her heart raced as she galloped along. The last she had seen of her companion, she was being swept away by the avalanche. Luna's eyes were wide and panicked. How long had she been knocked out?
She made a quick circle around the area of the rock, but ultimately came up empty. There was nopony here except herself. Sweetie Belle was gone.
"Sweetie Belle?!!"