Cold and Alone

Iris walked slowly down a path. Snow fell harshly from the sky, and Iris shivered, hurrying along the snow covered road. White clouds formed when she breathed out. Iris pulled her scarf out of her bag and wrapped it around her neck. She slipped on the ice several times. She peered through the falling snow for any sign of civilization.

Cloudwing trotted briskly through the blizzard, the wind catching in her out-stretched wings and quickening her pace. The snow had set over her mane and tail, making her practically invisible, save her cutiemark. She had white saddle bags strapped just below her wings, packed to the point of bursting with unidentified things.

Squinting ahead of her, she managed to make out a lone figure struggling towards her. Unable to contain her excitement, she cried out to the un-known pony, "Hello? Hay, I'm coming over!" And with that, she dashed to join them.

"Hello? Hay I'm coming over!"
Shouted a voice. Iris stiffened and turned around, stretching her wings out in case flight was needed. She relaxed as another Pegasus came into view. "Oh, hey there. You lost too?" she asked.

"Sure am!" She said with a smile, "How'd you end up all alone?" She flapped one ear, hitting her eye with it for an unexplained reason before diving into her right saddlebag, coming back with a sock. She then struggled with it until it was encasing her ear, the one she kept flapping, and turned her attention back to the other lost Pegasus.

Iris laughed a short laugh. "I was on my way to a friends house when this storm started! I couldn't see anything, so I sort of ended up wandering around." she shrugged her shoulders and squinted through the storm. "How'd you get lost?"

Cloudwing giggled, "I was at my stall in the market place when the storm started, so I decided to pack up and head home. The storm getting so strong that I couldn't pull the cart through it anymore, so I flew up to try and get above it. Then a gust of wing caught me off guard...I think I dislocated my wing. So I ended up trying to find my way home, lost in the storm." She took a deep breath then flipped her left wing, the feathers sticking up in all directions.

Cold, white snowflakes whipped Arilunette's black face. She had been traveling home when it was just a small flurry, but she had no idea as to where she was now. She thought she was in the Town Square....it didn't really matter at that moment. She just wanted to get home; her hooves were going numb.

It was all a blur. Snow everywhere, one could only see a few feet ahead. She had to get home, the fruits she was carrying in her saddlebags close to her sides, under her brown cloak, were bouncing with her movements. How long has she been walking? No more than half an hour...right? She didn't know and then, didn't care.

A distant howling ringed in Lunette's ears. A shiver ran through her body, and her heart beat started sprinting for a short moment. The sounds of Timberwolves, probably, except the Everfree Forest is a few miles away... She halted in her tracks. What if she was right next to the Everfree forest? What if that wolf was signaling its pack to signal a lone pony, easy prey. She started sprinting blind through the storm, looking for somepony, anypony!

Not looking at the ground, a small rock sat in her path. She didn't even realize she was being thrown forward into the snow until she hit the ground face first. Breathing hysterically, she starting wiping the snow off her face when she heard it. Voices. The voices of ponies, and they sounded calm. She scrambled up, and ran to the noises and called out to them.

"Hello! Anypony?! Can you hear me?!" She shouted into the unknown.

Iris looked in concern at Cloudwing's limp wing. "You may want to get that looked at." she said.
"Hello! Anypony?! Can you hear me?!" shouted an unseen voice. Iris glanced at Cloudwing and yelled back "Uh, hi there. Follow my voice!" The snow came down harder an obscured Iris's vision, she could barely see her hoof.

Cloudwing's head snapped around as she heard the cry, "Over here!" She called, adding to Iris' voice. Her right ear continued to hit her eye repeatedly, keeping it open.

"Uh, Hi there. Follow my voice!" Somepony yelled.

Lunette's heart rose again upon hearing the voice of another pony. She did as told and followed the voice until, finally she saw a purple form through the snow. There was another too, but it was hard to tell because she was so lightly colored.

"Over Here!" another one shouted.

Lunette finally got to where they were, she was running so fast she just barley stopped her self a foot away from the purple mare. Out of breath, she breathed heavily. She shuffled in place, to make sure the fruits were still in place.

"Oh, thank you so much. I thought I would never get home..." She said. She paused, and collected herself.

"Do you possibly have any idea where I...we are? I'm Arilunette, by the way," She held her hoof out, waiting for one of the mares to respond.

Iris saw figure appearing in the distance. The pony came closer and Iris saw it was a black unicorn with a rainbow mane. Colorful. The pony came up and introduced herself.
"Iridescent." said Iris, shaking Arilunette's hoof. "An I have no clue where we are. Somewhere near Ponyville though." Iris added confidently.

"Iridescent" said she, shaking Lunette's hoof. Iridescent, what a pretty name. Snowflakes froze to her face, it was getting colder, probably due to the fact that the wind was becoming more intense. She pulled her hood up over her head, and looked back to Iris, hoping for the best.

"An I have no clue where we are. Somewhere near Ponyville though."

Well, this is worse than she thought it would be. She tried looking around for...well, she didn't quite know. Something of any use, but it was hard to even see anything at all. She had to squint to avoid snow and harsh wind hurting her eyes. Nothing, all around was only snow, and where there wasn't snow there was a thick darkness surrounding them.

"Maybe we should try to find shelter of some sort. No pony can travel like this, and I don't think the storm will stop anytime soon," she suggested.

Cloudwing watched as the two mares spoke. As Arilunette mentioned shelter she stepped in, "I'm sure there's someplace around here where we can stay, we can't be far from ponyville! In fact, we could be in ponyville right now!" Her optimistic voice was almost swept away by the harsh wind and she had completely forgotten that the colourful pony had no idea who she was.

Iris nodded unenthusiasticly. She shrugged her shoulders and said "Arilunette, this is Cloudwing."

(Fluffur, remember, there is a posting order. I go, Cloudwing goes, then you go.)

"Sooo..." Cloud said, raising her voice over the wind. "Where do we go? Left? Right? Oooh, I can't tell where in Equestria we are through this snow! C'mon, I can't guide us all on my own here!" She started trotting in one direction, then came back and started in another, only to return again. "A little help here?"

[I am SO sorry about my absence. I really am.]

Arilunette watched as Clouding trotted back from a direction somewhere or another.

"A little help here?" Cloudwing said.

Lunette stepped forward, an idea forming.

"Perhaps each of us could go in different direction for some time, and if we don't find anything, we goo straight back to this spot."