X - What The Snow Stole
...
It took Celestia far, far longer than she would have liked to get a suitable fire going; that had always been Sprout’s specialty. What knowledge Celestia had on the subject came from him, but it was scarce and limited, and her father was not exactly in a good condition to be educating her on the finer points of wilderness survival.
Matters were made even more difficult by the frustrating lack of practical shelter. With their supplies missing, Celestia had to rely on the natural geography around them to find a suitable place to hunker down where the snow wouldn’t reach them. Much to her rapidly-mounting dismay, there were no such places. Nothing was spared the storm’s wrath.
In the end, she was forced to give up on the notion and returned to the riverbank with her meager pickings of fire-worthy wood and kindling. She saw her family working to dry Sprout and Honey off as well as they could, though the former was still unconscious. Celestia cringed when she saw that the swelling in his leg had grown. To her surprise, both he and Honey were no longer wearing their clothes. The drenched garments, now partially frosted, were tossed haphazardly off to one side up the shore.
Honey looked up as Celestia emerged onto the scene. Her eyes were tired and bloodshot, and she was still shivering. “Tia, there you are,” she said weakly before her eyes found Celestia’s firewood. The fragile hope on her face melted into a look of concern. “Is that…?”
Celestia gave a grim nod. “I looked, but there wasn’t any shelter. The snow’s covering everything,” she said, setting the wood down. “And there wasn’t a lot of wood to pick from anyway…”
A heavy silence fell over them. Luna looked at the wood, her eyes wide with underlying fear and unease. She swallowed, licked her lips, and turned to Honey. “Are we gonna be okay?” she asked in barely more than a whisper.
Honey hesitated, her eyes shifting between Luna and Sprout’s prone form. The fear and anxiety in her eyes made her answer clear without her having to speak a single word.
But speak she did. She finally settled her gaze on Luna’s frightened eyes and put forth what Celestia recognized as a forced smile. She leaned down to give her youngest daughter an affectionate, encouraging nuzzle. “Of course, sweetie. We’re going to be just fine.”
Luna returned the nuzzle, but the look on her face was anything but convinced. Celestia couldn’t blame her. She looked up into the sky, her ears folding back.
She could just see the faintest hint of the sun’s light through the thick grey mass smothering the sky, barely more than a gentle glow. A tingling ran down her horn and through her chest before going still.
A pained groan from Sprout snapped everypony’s attention back to him. He stirred on the ground, his face twitching in pain before, finally, his eyes slowly fluttered open, filled with discomfort and confusion. “Wha… what happened?” he mumbled out.
“Don’t try to move,” Honey quietly commanded, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “You’re hurt.”
“I am?” Sprout asked, his mind clearly still playing catch-up. In spite of his wife’s command, he tried to stand, immediately regretting the decision as his broken hind leg shifted on the cold, hard ground. His eyes snapped shut, and a pained yelp tore past his lips.
“Dad!” Celestia exclaimed, starting forward, only for Honey to outstretch a hoof, gesturing for her to stay back. She came to a stop, eyeing her mother for a moment. There was an intensity in her gaze that immediately cowed any hint of defiance Celestia felt.
Satisfied, Honey turned back to Sprout. “You fell under the ice, remember? You must have hit your leg on something. It’s broken.”
Sprout grimaced, then cracked open an eye to look back. An exhausted curse slipped past his lips as he beheld his injury. “Darnit… that’s a problem…”
“You’ll be okay, though,” Luna insisted, placing her hooves on Sprout’s chest. “Mom’s gonna take care of you. She’s gonna take care of all of us.”
“Whew, t-tall order,” Honey joked, letting off a quiet laugh. She went to stand. “B-but, I- guh- I th-think I can- GAH!”
She was almost upright when her forelegs gave out under her. Luna squeaked in fear as Honey toppled to the ground in a gasping heap, her hooves curled up to her chest. Dread flooded Celestia’s veins, and she quickly charged forward. “Mom?!” she asked, placing her hooves on Honey’s side. “Mom, what’s wrong?!”
“Honey!” Sprout called weakly, trying to crawl closer, only for his injured leg to stop him dead in his tracks with another sharp yelp of pain.
Honey didn’t speak for several seconds. She just kept gasping for breath, her eyes wide as saucers, her pupils dilated into pinpricks. Finally, after several long seconds, she began to calm down, her breaths evening out. She looked up at Celestia, her eyes even more fearful than before. When she spoke, her shivers were worse than ever. “I… I d-dunno. I just… I’m having a… hard to breathe...”
Celestia’s mind was racing almost as fast as her heart. Her hooves hovered uselessly over her mother, her eyes darting this way and that for any clue as to what she could do to help. Finally, her gaze found Sprout’s.
“Dad, what do we do?!”
“F-Fire,” Sprout commanded, jerking his head weakly towards the nearby treeline. “Clear s-some snow and get her raging in there. T-t-trees won’t block m-much, but it’s b-better than n-nothing...”
“What about you? You can’t move!” Celestia protested though she was already lifting the wood in her magic.
“You c-can move u-us,” Sprout said, shaking his head. “M-magic…”
Celestia swallowed hard. She wanted to say something, but even if she knew what, there was no time for any more pleasantries. They had wasted enough time as it was. She turned to Luna, her expression hardening. “Luna, come on! Help me out!” she ordered.
Celestia didn’t wait to see if her little sister did as she was told. She simply turned and sprinted back into the trees, her horn flaring with yet more golden light. She grit her teeth and let out a grunt of effort as she began to violently scoop snow up off of the ground and throw it off into the thickets around them.
In time, a blue aura joined hers in the snow.
The fire was pitiful.
Celestia and Luna had managed to eventually put one together—with some coaching from Sprout from afar. It had taken time and effort, but the end result of their labors was a small thing that would struggle to hold back the imminent darkness of the night. The warmth it gave off was also underwhelming when compared to what they had all managed to enjoy the previous night, but with any luck, it would do its job and keep them from freezing.
Once the campfire had been slapped together, the next several hours were spent in quiet, fitful silence. Honey’s breathing occasionally became shallow and labored, and it was clear that her time in the river had taken its own toll on her body. Nevertheless, she spent her time tending to Sprout’s injury, trying her best to treat it while powering through her own issues. However, with no supplies on hoof, there was basically nothing she could do.
With half of their number in this condition, travel was out of the question. They were stuck in place, Celestia knew. She could carry Sprout and Honey for some distance, sure, but between the snow sapping away her magic and the infuriating fact that living things were always harder to move, she wouldn’t be able to get them very far before she gave out from exhaustion. There was no telling where that could happen, either. Even with Luna helping her, it would be better to find another solution…
But what other solution did they have?
“...It shoulda been dark by now,” Sprout suddenly mumbled after what felt like an eternity, making Celestia jump. She looked over at him to find his exhausted, bloodshot eyes gazing blearily up at the sky, unfocused and distant.
“He looks so tired…”
Celestia followed his eyes up to see that there was still some light overhead. Not nearly as much as earlier, but enough to see a fair distance through the trees.
She frowned. “What do you mean…?”
“He’s r-right,” Honey replied, still shivering, and looked up as well. “We’ve b-been living up here long enough to know how the unicorns schedule t-the s-sun and moon. It should’ve been t-t-totally dark a little while ago.”
“So… the unicorns aren’t setting the sun as fast?” Luna asked curiously, sandwiched between Sprout and Honey. She tilted her head past them in confusion. “Why?”
“Maybe they’re trying to fight the cold?” Celestia volunteered, though it was honestly a hopeless guess. “You know, use the warmth of the sun to keep the cold at bay?”
“Tch. If that’s th-their plan they’re doing a m-mighty fine job,” Sprout mumbled. He lowered his head down to rest on his hooves, his eyes drifting shut. “Guh… c-can’t believe this… we were doing so well… Shouldn’t have fallen into that stupid river…”
“Hey, now, none of that,” Honey chastised him with a gentle nudge. “You were trying to save our supplies. Nopony knew any of that would happen.”
“I shoulda just pushed it along,” Sprout went on, his quivering voice becoming laced with increasing distress that disturbed Celestia to hear. “Less w-weight in one spot. Ice would’ve held. C-coulda made it across… Got dumb. Got you hurt…”
He cracked open his eyes, focusing on Honey. “N-now… I can’t even move… w-we’re-”
“Enough, Sprout,” Honey said, this time with more force. She leaned over to give him a gentle kiss, silencing any protests he might have had. He went utterly silent, his eyes briefly going wide, before he relaxed into it.
Eventually, Honey pulled back, gazing deeply into Sprout’s eyes. Celestia watched the two, and she could see that there was something profound in their gazes that she was either too young or too ignorant to understand. But soon enough, Honey spoke up in a timid whisper, her lips curling into a gentle smile. “I’m okay. We’re okay. And most importantly… our c-children are okay.”
Sprout blinked a few times, his eyes clearing up. Celestia watched him as he worked his jaw from side to side before looking down. “Yeah… I guess they are, huh?” he asked quietly.
Celestia tilted her head. Was that a tear she just saw falling from his face?
“Uh-huh!” Luna chirped, finding some energy at last. “It was really scary, but Tia and I flew in and saved both of you!”
Sprout lifted his head, his eyes drifting slowly between his two daughters. Celestia’s earlier observation was correct, she realized. The stallion’s eyes were shimmering with fresh tears, and the corners of his lips tugged up into the most heartfelt, loving smile she had ever seen from him. The smile of a father. “Yeah… I know. And I am so proud of both of you…” he said softly.
With that, he set his head down and closed his eyes.
A chilly wind washed over them, whistling ominously through the trees. Unprotected as they were, the cold wind bit at their coats, and Celestia shivered in response, her eyes screwing shut.
“That’s… th-that’s enough talking,” Honey insisted quietly. “It might still be light, but it’s late. Let’s get some sleep.”
“But… we don’t have a tent,” Luna said, the pep in her voice already stolen away by the cold.
“We have your blankets,” Honey replied. She nodded over to where their clothes and blankets—what little they had left—had been laid out in the dirt next to the fire to dry. “It’ll be a tight fit, but I… I think we can get everyone squeezed in. Celestia?”
“Yeah, on it,” Celestia said, standing up and reaching out with her magic. “Clothes, too?”
“Are they dry?”
Celestia brought Honey’s coat over and ran her hoof over it. She grimaced when she felt that they were still damp, and the flakes of snow that kept falling on them were not helping. Even with the dirt cleared away and their fire going, there was no way these clothes were going to be dry tonight.
She looked back to Honey and slowly shook her head. “No… They’re not.”
Honey visibly wilted, her ears drooping and her shoulders sagging. She heaved a long, heavy sigh, then turned her eyes to Luna.
“We’ll just have to make do with blankets, then. Luna?” she called over.
Luna nodded, lighting up her horn and withdrawing what blankets she had from their pile. An uneasy frown adorned her face as they floated over.
“Um… can we cover everyone with these?” she asked skeptically. They only had two blankets, and all of them were the right size for foals. Not adults.
“Probably n-not,” Honey replied uneasily, shifting in place before looking down at Sprout. “W-we can huddle up, though.”
“I have another blanket, too,” Celestia said, quickly pulling over her saddlebags and withdrawing the old blanket she and Luna used when sleeping under the stars. It was thin and ragged, but it was better than nothing.
Honey smiled in approval. “Alright. Good…” she then took a deep breath as she looked down at Sprout. She fell silent.
Several seconds passed. Celestia began to feel more and more uneasy, her ears drooping. She leaned forward slightly. “Mom?”
Honey didn’t respond to the question. Her gaze lingered on Sprout’s broken leg for a short time before her hoof wandered up to hover over her heart. She took in a deep, shuddering breath, a war raging behind her eyes. She looked back at Celestia, then at Luna. She nodded.
“Sorry… just thinking,” she said in a tone that Celestia hadn’t heard before. She didn’t get a chance to question it before Honey scooted a little away from Sprout and patted the snow beside her. “Alright, you two. You sleep in the middle.”
Celestia blinked, confused. She took a step forward, raising an eyebrow. “Huh? Why us in the middle? Shouldn’t you and dad be in the middle? You two fell into the river! Dad broke his leg, for pony’s sake!”
Honey winced but did not seem otherwise deterred. “Maybe, but… you two are a lot smaller than Sprout and I. W-we’ll be fine. Besides, I can’t stand the thought of you two shivering in the cold. Let us keep you warm.”
“But dad’s hurt! And you’re still shaking, and you can’t breathe right,” Luna argued on, her ears lowering.
Before either of the fillies could press the issue, though, Honey silenced the argument with a simple request. “Just let me do this much, at least. Please.”
There was some sort of hidden, underlying desperation in those words. Celestia didn’t understand it, but it silenced any arguments that either she or Luna had been willing to make. After a few seconds, the two foals nodded and stepped forward.
In short order, the family was huddled together next to their pitiful campfire, with the children cuddling together between their parents. The blankets were draped over them to cover as much as they could. Already, with all of this cover, Celestia could feel her sleep-deprived mind starting to relax. She hadn’t slept well in two days, and her exhaustion was finally catching up with her.
“Goodnight, Celestia. Goodnight, Luna,” Honey whispered, giving both of them a kiss on the head. “I love you both. So, so much.”
“We love you, too, mom,” Luna replied, already starting to nod off.
“And you, dad,” Celestia said, turning enough to look into her father’s face. To her dismay, he did not offer up any sort of response. His eyes were closed. He must have already fallen asleep. She frowned at him, worried, but did not speak on it. There was nothing more she could do right now anyway.
The tiredness in her body would no longer be denied. Soon, she felt her eyes drifting closed of their own accord, and her mind slipping away into a deep slumber.
The first thing Celestia was aware of when she woke up was the sound of Luna letting out a terrified, ear-splitting shriek. Adrenaline flooded her veins, and her eyes snapped wide open as protective instincts surged to the surface. In a heartbeat, she sprang to her hooves, her horn lighting up with magic to try and fend off whatever had dared to threaten her little sister.
To her confusion, there was nothing. Of course, she couldn’t see a whole lot, to begin with. The fireplace had gone dark, and the world was still swathed in the darkness of the night. What little light there was from the sky was paltry, and even the fierce glow on the tip of her horn did precious little to fight back the darkness that surrounded them.
All she did see was her little sister in the snow beneath her, tossing and turning, her voice breaking as she continued to wail and screech in terror. She was having another nightmare. A bad one.
Celestia wasted no time leaning down to shake her sister. “Lu! Hey, Luna! Wake up! It’s okay, you’re just having a bad dream! LUNA!”
Celestia’s brow furrowed in frustration. Luna wasn’t waking up. If anything, her terrified wails were only getting louder, to the point they were almost painful to listen to. Finally, Celestia put her full weight into it. “LUNA! WAKE UP!”
That did it. Luna’s eyes snapped wide open, her pupils shrunken down to the size of pinpricks. She shot upright with one last frightened scream, her hooves outstretched in front of her. Celestia reached out, catching her and holding her in place. Her panicking eyes darted about frantically before they settled on Celestia.
“T-t-tia…” the smaller filly blubbered out through trembling lips.
“Luna,” Celestia said in a hushed voice, pulling Luna up against her chest. Luna returned the embrace, starting to weep and sob into her big sister’s chest fur. Celestia did her best to comfort her, petting her mane and shushing her as well as she could. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Shh, shh shh shhh. I got you, sister. It’s okay. It’s alright. I’m here.”
“Tia…” Luna choked out again, whimpering fearfully. She couldn’t get any other words out, though.
The two remained like that for what felt like ages. Celestia gave Luna comforting squeezes and whispered reassurances the whole while, just going through the motions. Finally, Luna’s cries began to die down into quiet whimpers, and then simple, shaky breaths.
Celestia sighed quietly, her shoulders slumping as the adrenaline wore off, leaving her feeling even more tired than before. A shame. She had actually been sleeping pretty well, surrounded by warmth as she had been. She pulled back and looked down into Luna’s puffy eyes. “You okay, now?”
Luna hiccupped and wiped at her eyes, but nodded. “Mhmm…”
Celestia smiled, relieved. She gave her sister a quick kiss on the forehead, just below her horn, drawing a giggle out of her, before leaning back. “Okay, good. Let’s go back to sleep, then, okay? We don’t want to wake mom and…”
She trailed off. Celestia had been awoken in an instant by the volume of Luna’s crying, and she could remember plenty of times when Sprout and Honey had heard her shrieking from all the way upstairs back home when they were younger. Every time, they had come running to comfort their daughter without a second thought. But this time they were silent.
A horrible feeling formed in Celestia’s gut, pooling into her hooves and rooting her in place. There was a chill in the air, and not just because of the snow. She had only felt this type of chill once before. Not long ago.
In a clearing filled with the bodies of dead deer.
She swallowed heavily and slowly turned to look over her shoulder at her father. Sprout lay motionless on the ground, his blanket hanging loosely onto his prone form. Patches of snow and frost had accumulated on his fur and mane where the blanket had been pulled away by the wind.
“Dad?”
There was no response. Celestia felt her heart beating harder and faster in her chest, and she lit her horn brighter so she could see.
Sprout was pale and utterly, completely motionless. He wasn’t even breathing.
Celestia stared at him, dumbfounded. She released her now-confused sister to turn and give Sprout a gentle shake. “Dad…? Are you okay?”
Silence was her answer.
“Dad? Dad! Dad, wake up!”
She kept shaking him, harder and harder, and her voice grew in volume with the violence of her shakes. Tears were starting to blur her vision, and her heart felt as if it was tearing itself apart in her chest. This couldn’t be happening, it couldn’t be happening, it wasn’t happening!
Sprout gave her a comforting squeeze. “But don’t you worry, none. I won’t let them get anywhere near you or your sister.”
Celestia put on a smile. About that much, she had always been confident. She looked back up at Sprout with a big grin and a sharp nod. “Right. You’ve always taken care of us, and that isn’t about to change!”
“Darn straight!” Sprout replied with his own grin. He pulled Celestia in for an affectionate noogie, much to her protest. “I ain’t going anywhere!”
“Dad! Dad, wake up! WAKE UP! Y-you promised!” Celestia went on, her voice breaking with volume and emotion as the memory passed through her mind. “You can’t do this! DAD!”
She gave him one more shake, harder than she intended. The limp body rolled with the force of the shove, and Celestia went with it, gasping in alarm. She screwed her eyes shut, her hooves scrambling to stop herself from falling over, and she was just able to catch herself over her father.
She didn’t dare move. She waited, listening for Sprout’s confused, sleepy voice to admonish her for shaking him like this, just like he used to do in those early years when she and Luna would ambush him in bed on his birthday. She waited, ears perked. And waited… And waited.
There was nothing. Celestia hesitated. She couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes. She couldn’t make herself look. She couldn’t face the reality- “No! No, this isn’t happening! He promised me! He promised he’d always take care of us! That he would always be there! He promised! He promised. He promised…”
Barely stifling a sob, she reluctantly opened her eyes. Sprout had been rolled onto his back, his head rolling limply off to one side so his face was partially buried in the snow. His eyes were still closed.
Luna remained where she had been left, watching the scene unfold with wide, unblinking eyes.
“...Sis?” she choked out in barely even a whisper. “What’s going on…? What’s wrong with dad?”
Celestia couldn’t speak. She tried, but the words just would not come. She gingerly stepped back and away from the silent body, as if afraid to disturb a sacred site any more than she already had.
All the while, Luna kept focusing on her. “Celestia, what’s going on?! Tell me!”
“Kids…?”
A spark of relief flashed through Celestia’s heart on hearing Honey’s voice from behind her. The spark was not enough to undo the horrible chill that had settled into place inside of her, though. She turned, her movements rigid until she saw Honey’s eyes staring back. Unfocused, hazy, but alive.
“W-What... happened?” Honey asked in a meager whisper as she lifted her head from the snow. She shivered as another chilly wind washed over them.
Celestia swallowed heavily, her eyes once again starting to water. “I-I… D-dad, he… he… he w-won’t wake up…”
Honey stared back at her for several seconds. Then, with a sigh, she set her head back down. A moment passed, and Celestia realized she could see tears in her mother’s eyes as well.
“I know… I’m s-s-so sorry.”
Celestia’s heart snapped in half. She fought valiantly to maintain her composure, but she just couldn’t. Her eyes screwed shut, tears pouring freely out, and a long, anguished scream tore past her lips. She fell forward, burying her face in Honey’s chest. She could feel her trying to hug her, but there was no strength in the embrace.
Celestia could hear Luna asking more questions, clearly confused still. She heard Honey giving an answer, but the words were lost on her. The whole world had ceased to exist in that moment. That one, horrible instant where everything changed for the worse.
Sprout, her father, was dead.
It wasn’t long before that terrible realization crept into Luna, as well. Celestia could hear her little sister’s voice join her in a chorus of sorrow and grief, both of them hugging their mother for comfort and support. Honey didn’t say anything to them as she held them, leaving their wails as the only sound in that forest in the dead of night, lost and stolen away by the heartless, uncaring storm that continued to rage all around them.
“Let me see him.”
Celestia leaned back, blinking away her tears. There was a solemn resolve in Honey’s face, even through the exhaustion and the weakness that had been claiming her since she fell into the water. Celestia inhaled deeply before nodding and stepping back.
Honey’s eyes shone with gratitude. She tried to nudge Luna back, but the grieving filly would not budge. Honey frowned. “Luna, move… Please… I need to get up…”
Luna didn’t answer. Celestia wasn’t even sure she had heard. She just kept screaming and wailing into Honey’s fur, clinging to her mother for everything she was worth. Honey tried to nudge her back again, but the filly held firm. “Luna…”
“I don’t want him to go!” Luna suddenly blubbered through her sobs, curling even tighter into Honey’s chest. “Don’t let him go! Mommy, bring him back! P-please!”
“Lulu… oh, my little moon,” Honey choked out, screwing her eyes shut. She held the weeping child close, struggling to keep in her own tears. “I wish… I wish I could… I wish I could…”
Finally, Honey managed to nudge Luna back and off of her, giving her the room she needed. Celestia reached out, pulling Luna against her side. The smaller foal clung to her like a lifeline, her wails never quieting once.
Honey didn’t move for a few seconds, her face contorting at the sight. Then, with a weak groan of pain, she rolled onto her belly. She was trembling with the effort of just standing as she rose to her full height. She winced, gasped, and hissed through tightly clenched teeth, and opened her eyes. She focused on Sprout’s corpse. A withering sob slipped past her quivering lips. She took a short step forward, then another, each one a struggle.
She stopped by Sprout’s side, gasping for breath. Her entire body was shivering like mad, now, even with her blanket pulled tightly around her body. She tried to ease herself back to a laying position, only to collapse into a heap by Sprout’s side with a gasp of pain.
Celestia leaned forwards, her heart skipping a beat. “Mom!”
Honey took a deep, shuddering breath, then lifted her head. She forced herself to rise enough to look down at her husband’s face. The sorrow Celestia felt when she saw how her face contorted in grief was impossible to describe. Honey screwed her eyes shut, burying her face in Sprout’s chest. Then she, too, began to sob.
The sound was enough to break Celestia’s heart all over again. She pulled Luna closer, as much to comfort herself as her sister, trying her best to keep her composure. But try as she might, she wasn’t able to stop herself from letting out another few anguished whimpers.
It was several minutes before Honey’s sobs began to grow quiet. She lifted her head, her expression now one of simply exhaustion. Celestia blinked away her tears and wiped at her eyes.
“Why…?” She finally managed to ask. “Why did he…?”
“Hypothermia… shock… I… I d-don’t th-think we could have helped him…” Honey replied, sniffling. She shivered again and looked down. She loosed another sigh. “...Or me.”
The implication hit Celestia all at once. Her heart leaped into her throat, her eyes going wide.
“Mom…?”
Honey’s breath was getting heavier with emotion, her chest heaving with each one. She slowly lifted her head, looking to struggle with it as if it were a great burden. When her eyes landed on her children, she offered them both a gentle smile. “I… I’m not g-going to make it...”
“WHAT?!” Celestia shrieked, her mind all but going blank.
“Can barely… breathe…” Honey went on, her eyes wandering around. “Been like this… since the… river. It’s hard to move…”
Luna finally pried herself away from Celestia enough to affix Honey with a mortified stare. “M-mommy?”
Hearing the small, helpless voice of her sister spurred Celestia into motion. She rose back to her hooves, anger, desperation, sorrow, and fear driving her on. “No. No, no! Get up, mom! You can’t… you can’t leave us, too! Come on, get up!”
She stared imploringly into Honey’s eyes for several long seconds. Honey stared back, her eyes shifting in thought before she offered a weak nod. She got her hooves under her again, and this time Celestia was quick to come to her side and offer what little help she could. Luna followed after her, stifling her sobs for the moment.
Alas, even with the aid of both sisters, it was not to be. Celestia gave a cry of despair as Honey’s legs gave out under her, and she toppled back into the snow without even so much as a grunt of pain. Luna followed her down, placing her hooves on the fallen mare’s side. “Mom!”
The foals remained at their mother’s side, hoping that they could do something to help. Honey’s eyes were screwed tightly shut, her breath coming in heaving, shallow gasps that were growing weaker and shakier by the second. After a short time, she cracked open her eyes to show they had gone distant. She looked up to her children. “I can’t…”
“YES, YOU CAN!” Celestia screamed at her, more tears leaking out of her eyes. She nudged Honey in the side with her nose, trying to force the collapsed mare back to her hooves. Desperation and denial had claimed her heart entirely, all rational thought collapsing. “Get up, mom! Stand up! You’re okay! You’re okay! DARNIT, YOU’RE OKAY!”
“Tia… Lu… listen,” Honey breathed, nudging Celestia back with a hoof. Celestia staggered back and was about to charge in again when she saw the look in Honey’s eyes.
Resignation. Acceptance. But also a need.
Honey lifted her eyes, staring off into the forest. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“Mom…” Luna sniffled, shaking her head.
A heavy silence followed, broken only by the howling wind. Honey lowered her head. “...You need to leave me.”
“WHAT?!” Luna squeaked, covering her mouth with her hooves.
Celestia’s mind blanked. “Wha… what?”
“I can’t move… I’m a goner,” Honey said remorsefully. “I’m not… going to make it… But you… you two still can…”
“Not without you and dad!” Celestia protested, every fiber of her being screaming out in denial.
Honey pressed on, undeterred. “Go. Find… Find Flatstone. Tell them what happened, who you are… They’ll… they’ll dislike you, but… they’ll take care of you, once they hear about us…”
“But you should be the one taking care of us!” Luna shouted, shaking her head vehemently. “You and dad! We need you!”
Honey just smiled and shook her head. “No… no, you don’t… Not anymore…”
Luna was undeterred. “Then… then w-we’ll take care of you!” she said frantically, looking desperately up at Celestia. “We’ll help you get better! W-we’ll feed you hot soup, and bring you blankets, and… and…”
Honey actually laughed. A quiet, broken sound that silenced Luna’s wishful thinking. It was a soothing sound that stabbed Celestia in the chest over and over. The chuckles soon went quiet, replaced by another whimper. Honey cracked open her eyes again. “Oh, Luna… You wonderful filly… I’m going to miss you…”
And just like that, the reality finally set in.
Luna screwed her eyes shut and hurled herself against Honey again as a whole new wave of screaming cries escaped her. This time, Honey didn’t even have the strength to return the embrace.
“I don’t want you to go!” Luna cried out over and over again, pounding her tiny hooves against Honey’s body. “I don’t want you to go, mommy! Please don’t go! Please!”
Honey stared down at her youngest, then looked into Celestia’s eyes. There was almost no strength left in them. She took in one more shuddering breath. “Celestia…?”
Celestia nodded attentively, fighting to hold back her own tears. “Y-yes, mom?”
Honey nodded down at Luna. “Take care of her… for us… okay?”
Celestia was quiet for a second. Her eyes landed on Luna. She felt her heart constrict at the sight, and she reminded herself of all the years she had spent as the small filly’s watchful guardian during their earlier years. She took in a deep, shuddering breath and forced herself to smile for her mother. One more time. “I… I w-will. I p-promise, I will,” she said, projecting as much confidence as she could muster into her voice. “I’ll keep her safe.”
Honey’s eyes lit up. “...That’s my girl,” she whispered, lowering her head back into the snow. “I love you...”
She closed her eyes… and fell utterly still.
“NO!” Luna screamed at the top of her lungs, shaking Honey with all the force she could. “DON’T GO! WAKE UP! WAKE UUUP!”
With Luna’s agonized wails echoing in the storm, Celestia was left to stare blankly at the body, unable to truly process the gravity of what had just transpired for several long seconds. When it finally sunk in, it was too much. The dam broke.
At first, it came out as barely even a choked whimper. She tried to fight it back, to live up to the confidence she had shown to her mother in those final moments. But she couldn’t do it. She screwed her eyes shut and joined her sister in screaming her pain into the now lifeless chest of their adoptive mother.
Hours passed. Or at least it felt like hours. The world remained bathed in complete and total darkness, Celestia’s magic having faded the moment her tears began running again. The wind beat down on them with its weight. Oppressive. Merciless.
And yet it paled in comparison to the storm of anguish that now raged around Celestia’s heart. Fear, terror, confusion, and more blended with her grief in an unspeakable way. What were they supposed to do now? How was she supposed to keep her promise to protect Luna when, for her entire life, she had depended on her mother and father to take care of her, or tell her what to do?! How were they supposed to survive?!
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Celestia’s sobs began to die down. She just couldn’t cry anymore. She felt tired. Exhausted. Hollow. Empty. Numb. She pulled her head back and looked up at the sky. Her mind barely registered the first, subtle hints of morning light that was slowly creeping into the clouds overhead.
She took in a deep breath, feeling the cold air assaulting her lungs. Without a word, her horn lit up, and she gathered the now scattered blankets together in her saddlebags. That done, she turned back to Luna, whose own sobs were beginning to quiet down.
Celestia wanted to say something. Anything. Something to make the pain go away, something that would bring their mother and father back, something that would put everything back to the way it was. Before the heartache. Before the cold.
But there were no words for such things. Not now. And so, she settled for just five words.
“Luna… w-we need to g-go…”
Luna didn’t say anything. She pulled her head back, staring down at the bodies of her parents with a hollow look in her eyes. Without a word, she rose and dragged herself sluggishly to Celestia’s side. Only then did she speak. “...What do we do?”
Celestia cringed at the sound of her sister’s voice. Quiet. Barely audible. A terrified, broken whisper of a child in more pain than she knew how to handle. Celestia took in a deep breath, fighting to keep her tears from starting again. “W-we… m-mom said that we need to get to Flatstone. They’ll help us. S-so we go there.”
“...I’m scared, Tia.”
Celestia sighed, knelt down in front of Luna, and pulled her little sister into a ginger embrace. “I know… so am I.”
The two didn’t say anything else. There were no other words to be said. After a moment, Celestia turned and began to walk, with Luna sticking close to her side. She risked a glance back over her shoulder. There lay Sprout and Honey, her beloved mother and father, laying side by side, together in the snow.
She wished with every fiber of her being that she could give them a proper burial. She didn’t want to just leave them like this. But without any tools, she had no way to do that.
And so she could only leave them. The snow would bury them… and at least they would be together.
She let off one last, choked sob before focusing forward and continuing to walk. She had no idea where Flatstone was, but she would find it. She had no choice. Luna was counting on her, and she was not going to let her down. She would protect her. She would keep her safe.
No matter what.
I just love orphans. 
Please don't kill me.
On a more serious note, this specific sequence of events was originally planned to happen MUCH earlier in the story. Or rather, I was initially planning on there not being so many chapters to reach this point. When I started, I was expecting to get here by chapter 4. But here we are, at chapter 10, and the event that sets off the entirety of the rest of the story has come to pass. And boy ain't it a kick in the emotional teeth, huh?
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Even if I knew it was coming, that doesn't make it any less painful. Well done.
DANG. i was hoping it would be okay. that theyd be okay. and yet...
...the only thing surprising was that they didn't pass last chapter. I knew they were dying as soon as Honey wanted the kids in the middle. Keep them warm. Still...they're in a terrible position. No supplies, barely anything for warmth, and no directions.
Rest in peace, Sprout and Honey.
10855482
a quiet broken eeyup.
On a more serious note I suspect Honey had some internal injuries as that might explain her pain and difficulty with breathing. Hypothermia is the ultimate cause of death.
As to the story as a whole, this story would be like 20% more amazing if done up in the format of an audio drama (thinking along the lines of Obab Scribbler or MagpiePony). Would the author be okay with that prospect?
10856465
Maybe not an audio drama, but certainly a reading, and I have long considered doing one myself, seeing as voice acting is my profession of choice. That being said, were it to happen, I would want the story to be further along first.
10856471
Fair enough, I often use the words audio drama synonymously with readings and dubs, the main difference being how many voices are involved. I am not very good at voices myself but I have dabbled at directing projects like this before, and I would like to try again and yours really caught my attention.
Thank you for hurting me you horrible person.
I loved it.
(Just kidding. You’re not horrible but I still loved it).
10856714
Tell you what: Hit me up in the PMs or Discord if you're seriously considering it.
10856816
L i e s
Oof. Knew it was coming, but still. Here's hoping someday they make it back to find their bodies and give them a proper burial.
I think I’d have to reconsider my fanfic preferences. It seems I’ve read too many stories involving tragic deaths as of late. The trick of first giving readers hope and then snuffing the fire out is cruel and effective as ever.
pain
...
I had just a little hope when they found out honey was alive but she too ended up dying
If you know me, you know I don't swear very often, but...
Fuck.
I held off for a long while reading this story until it got a good distance longer, seeing the new chapter posted, I figured I'd finally take a look at it, and if I may politely say what a joy it's been already. Maybe a quarter of the way through, at least through chapter numbers, and I've been awestruck not only by the story telling, and the characters, but particularly by the way you've created it.
There's a perfect blending of vocabulary, and emotion evoking words dotted through the whole story to create visuals and tie the reality to the characters and their emotions to make reading the story feel more like feeling the story.
Similarly, the way the characters act is a monument to your writing prowess, more often than not, authors write characters from the perspective of "being read about" rather than being people (ponies in this case) existing in a vacuum. The goldilocks zone of not having your characters be invisible to the story, or having them be constantly explaining their actions to the readers creates the focal points throughout the descriptions that, and I sound like a broken record here, make the story feelable; and you've achieved perfection in regards to that.
All around bravo's and high fives, I'm sincerely going to enjoy reading the rest of this.
-Noobblue
11463451
That is some damn high praise! Thank you kindly! I can only hope that the chapters that follow manage to live up to that.