Cold Hooves, Warm Hearts

by Ponyzzar

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sad, Slice of Life
Length: 5400

Twilight and co go for a holiday in the Frisky Mountains, only to wind up in a lethal situation.

Twilight and the rest of the mane six are on holiday. Where? The Frisky Mountains, a snowy resort for ponies who want to have winter year round. The holiday begins with a few little hitches, but things take a turn for the worse when an avalanche starts. Stuck in a cave and slowly freezing, the mane six struggle to survive as they await rescue.

Image created by: http://h2ooctane.deviantart.com/

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-02-19 06:35:13 UTC

Cold Hooves, Warm Hearts

-Frisky Mountains-

There was a gentle breeze in the air of Frisky Mountains, a holiday resort located on a mountain side that had winter year round. The slopes of the mountain were packed with ponies, desperate to have some fun during their short stay and none were as desperate as a blue streak the slid down the longest slope with the highest jump.

"Ho yeah!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she used her wings to give herself more speed. Her board slid along the snow's surface smoothly as the wind snapped at her snow gear. She felt exhilarated. Her eyes focused on the jump coming up and she hit it full on, sailing into the air. She started a spin and proceeded to do a few flips. She closed her eyes and let the wind carry her as she brought her board back down and landed on the snow. She slid to a stop in front of the cottage she was staying in.

"That was great!" yelled an all too familiar voice. Dash turned to see Pinkie Pie coming down the slope on skis. She tried to slow down, but lost her balance and tumbled. She rolled down the mountain gathering snow and slammed against the side of one of their cottages.

"Pinkie!" Dash cried as she ran to see her friend. She stood in front of the pile of snow that her friend had brought with her.

"I'm all right Dash," Pinkie said as she popped her head out. "I just had teensy weensy bit of a slip, but I'm fine."

"Maybe you would have better luck with a snowboard," Dash said as she heaved and pulled her friend out of the snow pile. Pinkie came out with a pop and landed on her hooves.

"Maybe, but I'm not here to just slide down slopes, although that is a lot of fun."

"What else could you possibly be here for?" Dash asked before getting a mouthful of snow.

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Pinkie yelled as she whipped another one. Dash dived and avoided the flying ball. She grabbed a hoof full of snow and threw it back at Pinkie. They laughed as they dodged and got hit by the snow. A few stray balls hit the door of the second cottage causing some loud banging. The door soon opened.

"What in Equestria?" Applejack asked a she stepped outside. "Oh, yah two. What are yah's up to now?"

"Snowball fight," Pinkie said as she threw a snowball which hit Rainbow's head causing her to fall into the snow pile she was standing near.

"A snowball fight, huh? Really, yah think those measly throws are any good? I'll show yah how tah throw a snowball," Applejack said as she went over to a small snow pile. Dash and Pinkie stared at her as she stood behind the pile. They stared at each other. Pinkie shrugged as she turned back, just in time to see Applejack kick the pile into the air and raise her rear hooves.

"DUCK!" she cried and dove.

"Where?" Rainbow asked, turning to look. She was rewarded with enough snow to make her look like a snowmare. She blinked her eyes to clear away the snow and stared at Applejack who was laughing. She was about to shake the snow off when a well dressed colt walked by. He was carrying a clipboard. He looked at Rainbow for a few seconds before turning to his board and writing something down. He then lifted his hoof and placed a ribbon on Dash's snow covered shoulder. He nodded to Applejack and walked away.

Pinkie got up and stood beside Applejack and stared at Rainbow. "It does look realistic," she said before breaking into a cheeky grin. Rainbow shook the snow off and took off the ribbon which said plainly: Most Realistic. She handed Applejack the ribbon.

"This belongs to you," Rainbow told her angrily.

"Oh sugar cube, don't be such a spoilsport. Ah admit Ah may have gone overboard with the snow, but yah did make a pretty snowmare."

"I did, did I?" Dash asked in a low tone. She quickly lifted her hoof and like a practiced pitcher, threw a snowball that screamed as it flew through the air. Applejack lowered her head, causing the snow to barely miss her and her hat. It kept flying and hit a purple haired, white pony dressed in an extravagant snow suit.

"Careful, you might ruin my jacket!" Rarity scolded as she walked over to them. "You're lucky it was only snow. This jacket cost an absolute fortune to make."

"Rarity if you're afraid it's going to get ruined, why wear it at all?" Dash asked. Pinkie and Applejack nodded in agreement.

"Simple, it's style and it's a way to get my name around. Ponies don't notice the everyday normal snow wear that you wear, but they'll notice this absolutely fabulous set I am wearing. My greatest hope is that the many skiing stars notice my designs and come to buy one from me. It would be an absolute boom to my business, don't you think?" Rarity strutted as she explained.

"Rarity... you know what, good luck. I doubt we'll meet any real stars, but I'm sure somepony will." Rainbow Dash said before grabbing her board. "Hey Pinkie, how about a race down the mountain?"

"Okay Dash," she said. "I'll grab a board so I can." She hurried to the first cottage and ran inside.

Inside the cottage, Twilight was sitting by the fire reading a book. Spike lay on one of the armchairs fast asleep, drool hanging out of the side of his mouth. The only sounds to be heard were the occasional swish of a page and the crackle of the fire. She heard some yelling outside and immediately recognized Dash's voice. She shook her head and took a sip of warm cocoa. Then she heard the thump as something slammed against the side of the cottage. She got up from her book and trotted over to the window and peered outside. She laughed at the shenanigans that proceeded. She turned her head when the wood creaked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," Fluttershy said as she saw Twilight look at her. "I was just wondering what caused the loud bang."

"Just Pinkie Pie," she said before turning back to the window. She pulled away from it when a snowball slammed hard against the window. "That was Applejack."

"I wish I could join in, but I'm no good at snowball fights. I can never bring myself to actually throw one of the balls."

"I always win. Then again, I'm always the one who makes a pile the size of a tree before beginning one," Twilight smiled cheekily after she told Fluttershy. She turned her head when the door opened. Pinkie ran inside and hurried over to where there were a stack of snowboards.

"Should I take this one, or perhaps this one? No, that one. Oh, oh, oh, this one!" she said as she rifled through the boards.

"Pinkie, what are you up to now?" Twilight asked after having to stop a flying board from disturbing Spike.

"Getting a board so I can race Rainbow Dash." she told Twilight quickly. She stopped and lifted a candy pattern board. "THIS ONE!" she cried in joy.

"A race? Hmmm... Actually a race down the mountain might not be a bad idea. I've been reading a bit about snowboarding and it's mostly aerodynamics and bodily control. Do you think Dash would mind if I joined you?"

"You? Race me?" Dash asked as she entered the room. "Sure you can, but you won't soon win. In fact I challenge all of you to a race. You, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, hoof even Fluttershy."

"I've never really..." Fluttershy started before being interrupted.

"There is a forest full of winter creatures up there," Pinkie said as she cleaned some snow off her goggles. "You can go there after the race and talk to them."

"... I think it might be fun."

"I still don't know how you managed to talk me into this. Why would I risk damaging my suit just to partake in this feeble race of yours?" Rarity asked as she looked down the long mountain slope. The lift ride had taken ages and she had lost a bit of her nerve.

"It's simple. You want ponies to notice your suit you've got to make it noticeable. Ponies don't watch the crowds they watch the slopes. I also took the liberty of telling quite a few ponies about our little race. Apparently we're quite popular with the people that come here. They said that if it wasn't for us, Discord would have let this remain a giant pile of fudge."

"And that's a bad thing?" Pinkie asked, shocked that she had not heard of this. "Chocolate rain and a fudge mountain... Ohhhh..." she fumed. "If only it weren't for the other things."

"I am going to make my suit look fabulous," Rarity said with vim. "I'm going to win this race and show off my suit in style. The winner always has the best suit, don't you agree?"

"You the winner? That's a laugh." Rainbow stated. Their eyes met and sparks flew.

"Girls, please. It's not that big a deal. Let's just have fun." she said to a group of deaf ears. She shook her head and opened the door out of the lift station. "Wow, that's a steep sloop," she said, her eyes staring at the large mass of mountain that lay before her.

"The more the better!" Dash whooped as she set her board down. "Ready everypony?"

"Ready sugar cube," Applejack confirmed.

"Ready and waiting," Pinkie chimed.

"R-r-r-r-ready," Fluttershy squeaked.

"More than ready to show off my suit in front of this soon to be adoring audience," Rarity said as she pulled her goggles over her eyes.

"Then let's get to it!" Dash called out as she jumped, landing on the hill fast. Her friends followed suit and soon a dash down the mountain ensued. The boards slid over the ground, spraying up snow as they skidded over. Rarity caught up to Dash and soon they were neck and neck.

"Is that all the greatest flier in Equestria has? I thought there might be more of a challenge," Rarity taunted as she pushed her board down, speeding up.

"Nope, this is," Dash said as she turned sharply, spraying snow all over Rarity. "Followed by this." She flapped her wings to increase her speed.

"So uncouth!" Rarity yelled as she caught back up. The slid down exchanging taunts. None of them saw the purple and pink mares approaching from either side.

"You two are really serious about this aren't you?" Twilight asked as she went over a bump. She looked up to the sky. "Wow, they're taking it seriously as well. Look, they even got cameras." Dash and Rarity looked up to see a group of pegasi flying alongside with a camera in hand, recording their race down the mountain.

"Awesome," Dash said as she hit a small jump and waved to the camera. "This is going to be so rad. Maybe even the Wonderbolts will see this."

"Dash I hardly think the audience at the other end are interested at all in you. The camera is clearly focused on my fabulous attire," Rarity challenged as she slipped in front.

"Oh yeah?"

"Wheeeeeeeee!" Pinkie squealed as she sailed past on her front hooves. "This is fun, we should do this more often."

"Yah got that right sugar cube," Applejack commented from behind. "Ah may not be in the lead, but ah sure am havin' fun."

"Great, so everyone is doing well. Hey wait, where's Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, looking around. She turned her head when she heard a loud laughing. Fluttershy flew of a small hill on an upper path and did a spin in the air, landing fast and spraying snow. She giggled with glee as she caught up.

"I never thought snowboarding would be this much fun." The rest of the group laughed apart from Rainbow and Rarity.

"Fun? It's a sport, a competition, you're supposed to win, not have fun. Like this," Dash yelled as she lowered her body and sped up. She flapped her wings to gain more speed and accidently caused her board to slightly lose control. She strayed from her set course and accidently knocked into Pinkie, causing Pinkie to fall over and her board to be sent flying. Whoops, Rainbow thought after she turned to make sure her friend was alright, she didn't stop because she didn't want to lose.

Twilight skidded to a stop and got off her board. She ran over to Pinkie. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. Just had a teensy weensy bit of a slip. I'm okay, but my board..." she stopped as she looked over to the two pieces sticking out of the snow and the splinters littering it. "Oh... and I really liked that one."

"It's okay Pinkie, we'll get you another one. I think Dash may have gone a little overboard in the racing department. Wow, you can see how far they've gone from up here," she stated as she held a hoof above her eyes. Pinkie looked at her before suddenly she began to twitch.

A twitch! she screamed inside her head. Her tail twitched. Okay, falling objects... wait, it's not over, suddenly various parts of her body twitched. Falling objects and a stampede? No, a stampede of falling objects... She turned her eyes up the mountain. "Uhhh... Twilight."

"What Pinkie... Oh horse radish." She grabbed Pinkie and slung her on her back. She stuck her hooves in her board and pushed the end of it with magic to make it go faster. She skidded round jumps and drifts to avoid losing speed. She was desperate to catch up to her friends. A chunk of snow landed beside her as she began to hear the roar of the oncoming snow.

She could see her friends, but they were too busy racing to notice. “I’ve got to concentrate on getting us to safety, Pinkie you've got a loud voice, yell." Twilight hissed under her breath.

Pinkie raised her hooves to her mouth and took a deep breath. She screamed with a clear loud voice "AVALANCHE!"

Rarity heard something from behind and quickly shot a look back, she resumed her watching of the mountain side, before her eyes went wide and she turned back around. "Oh my god!" she cried as she saw the wave of snow crashing down from up the mountain. "Rainbow, we've got to stop the race now!"

"What for?" she asked before matching Rarity's gaze. "Oh buck." Each other pony turned back and saw the onrushing wall of snow, while Twilight was barely staying in front of it. "We can't out run it for long. What do we do?" she asked.

"Ah see a cave, we can take cover in there," Applejack said before turning her board and aiming for the cave further down the mountain.

"Twilight and Pinkie can't see us clearly, and she probably can't hear us over that snow," Fluttershy said, worried.

"I'll let her know," Dash said. She jumped off of her board and began flapping her wings, she turned round and shot up the mountain. The ponies that had been filming them were now training their camera on the avalanche, alerting the ponies lower down of the danger.

Dash shot up until she was sure Twilight could hear her. A shard of ice launched past and sliced her goggles’' strap. She flipped mid air and began flying down the mountain. "Twilight!" she yelled. "Twilight!"

"Dash! I can barely hear you, what the hoof are you doing?" Twilight yelled above the roar of the ice storm.

"There's a cave. The others are going there to take cover from the avalanche! You can't outrun it forever. It's speeding up!" Dash yelled. "Follow me!"

Dash wasn't sure if Twilight had heard her or not, but was comforted when she saw Twilight following her trail. She flew low trying to give Twilight a clear path to the cave. She saw the cave and the others were almost there. She pointed with her hoof to Twilight and flew on.

Twilight dodged chunks of falling ice and snow and aimed for where Rainbow had pointed. Sure enough there was a cave, one with a small mouth, but a large inside and it face perpendicular to the course of the avalanche. She flared her horn to give herself more speed and shot forward. She was almost at the cave when a massive wave of the avalanche poured over the ridge she had just passed. She used the remainder of her strength to shoot herself forward. She grabbed Fluttershy, who hadn't made it into to the cave yet, and pounded through the cave mouth just as the massive foaming mass of snow crashed against the side of the cave. Ice and snow shot all over as it hit. Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow ducked as several spear like pieces flew over the place. Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy collapsed into a soggy pile of snow as darkness filled the cave.

Twilight groaned as she opened her eyes. She had been used as a cushion for two ponies and was the one with a face full of snow. She pulled herself out from under them and caused a light to flicker on her horn. "Is everypony alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine, I'm even more thankful my suit didn't get scratched," Rarity responded as she crawled out from behind a stone pillar.

"Ah'm fine sugar cube. No harm here," Applejack said as she brushed herself off.

"Nearly got hurt, but I'm okay," Dash replied.

"Not hurt but my suit's full of snow," Pinkie said and she shook her suit to dislodge the offending white substance.

"I'm ok-k-kay," Fluttershy said weakly. She pulled herself off the snow pile and laid down in the centre. Everypony except Fluttershy gathered in front of the snow filled entrance.

Applejack put her ear up against it and listened. "Ah hear nothing. No wind, no snow fall, nothing. Ah think there must be at least a good solid ten feet of snow right here." she said. "There ain't no way we are digging our way out of here with what we have. We're going tah have tah wait for rescue."

Dash groaned. "That's just great. I haven't eaten in five hours. I don't suppose anypony thought to bring food during a race. No, I didn't think so."

Pinkie walked over. "Actually I did bring a few sweets and some cupcakes."

The rest of the ponies looked over to her, but Twilight interrupted their questioning gazes. "No, we have to save those for now. Pinkie, could I see what you have?" Pinkie nodded and handed Twilight a small bag and a short container. "Not much here. I hope rescue arrives fast." She pulled out a slightly larger bag she had brought her books in and lifted them out with magic. She placed them on a dry piece of rock and put the food inside and placed it beside her books. She turned around and looked all over the cave. It was quite cold inside and the only way out was filled up with snow. "Let's try to pass the time, but first we need some light."

She grabbed her board from the snow pile and brought it to the centre of the cave. She lifted it with her horn and broke it into several pieces. She placed it into a pile and with a wave of her horn the board burst into flames.

An hour passed as they waited for rescue. Pinkie was drawing with a small piece of rock near a boulder, while Rarity was sitting next to Fluttershy chatting with her. Applejack lay staring at the entrance of the cave. Rainbow was madly walking up and down the cave flapping her wings wildly.

"Ughh, this is killing me!" she said as she collapsed. Her stomach growled. "Ohhh... how much longer until I can eat something?"

Twilight looked up from a book she was reading. "Alright Rainbow, you can have a cupcake, but that means you're going to have to wait longer before you can eat anything else."

"Awesome." she said as she stood up she ran over to the bag and took out the small container. "Let's see, blue, red or yellow... Ohhhh I can't decide..." she whined. She stared at the cupcakes before her hunger forced her to make a decision. She picked up the red one and quickly gulped it down. She sat down, slightly satisfied, but still hungry. She turned her head to the pile of burning boards. "Fire's low."

"What, it's burnt through it already?" she said as she lifted herself from her book. Indeed it was, all that remained of the boards was red charcoal. She lifted up another board and broke it in two before throwing it on.

She sat down and continued reading her book. She lifted her head when Rarity let out a cry of anguish that echoed through the cave. "Sweet Celestia Fluttershy, why didn't you tell us about this!" Rarity cried as she stared at Fluttershy's leg, which was slowly bleeding.

"I didn't want you to worry." Fluttershy said weakly. She looked at the rest of them as they came closer. "Really, it's nothing."

Twilight walked over and examined Fluttershy's leg. She winced. The gash was frostbitten and was deep. The blood flow was slow, but from how long she had been bleeding Twilight estimated she had lost a lot. "Fluttershy this is serious, you could die from a wound like this."

"It's not too ba..." Fluttershy tried to say before her head collapsed. Applejack lifted her head.

"She's got a fever," Applejack said after feeling Fluttershy's forehead. "Twilight, yah need tah pacth up that wound now."

"I don't have anything to bind it with. Anypony have anything?" Twilight asked quickly. The group quickly looked through their suits for anything to use as a bandage, but came up empty. Twilight sunk her head before Rarity stepped forward with a large long strip. She took it from her and quickly wrapped it around the wound. "It's not enough, do you have another piece?" Twilight asked.

"Sure, coming right up." There was the sound of ripping. Twilight turned and saw Rarity ripping a long strip from her snow suit. "Rarity looked at her and handed her the strip. "I think this should suffice."

"Rarity, this was part of your..." Twilight started.

"Nope, nope I shall hear no argument. I may have ruined my suit, but what is its value to that of a friend's life?" Rarity asked. Twilight nodded in agreement and bound the remainder of Fluttershy's wound. Twilight and Applejack laid Fluttershy closer to the fire to keep her warm. Everypony went about themselves to occupy their minds from the cold.

Applejack screamed as she hammered her board into the wall of snow and Ice. Slivers of it fell away as she pounded against it. "Let me through yah damn mound of frozen water!"

Twilight, Dash and Rarity watched their friend with misery. They had finished off the food not long ago, and now Pinkie had collapsed due to the cold. He coat had been wet from the snow that had gotten inside and she got too cold. She was now lying near the fire which was happily chewing its way through another board.

Applejack let her board drop. She sagged to her knees. "It's no use. Ah can't get through. Stupid thing's packed tighter than a crab apple."

"Don't... be... so... down... Apple... jack... darling," Rarity said through several breaths. She had become worse for weather, since she hid ripped part of her jacket away and now the cold was biting at her. "You... gave... it... your... best," she said with a smile. She looked at the fire she lay beside and groaned.

"Ah thank you for trying tah cheer me up, but it's no use. Ah'm just too glum," Applejack said as she laid herself beside her. "Here, let me help you keep warm." She lay next to Rarity and looked to the others. "Ah ain't given up yet. They'll find us, they'll find us."

"Come on Twilight! They're the only things left to burn!" Dash yelled. The fire was almost dead and the last board had been burnt up ages ago.

"But burning books? We get hungry and cold and we are reduced to this type of savagery?" Twilight asked in anger. She was angry with herself. They had been here for over a day in the cold. Pinkie's sweets had only taken the edge off of their hunger and the cold was getting to them.

"They're just books. Small packages of flammable material with little words and pictures in them. What will they do for us if we are dead?" Rainbow asked, fury biting her words.

"They're not just words, they're whole worlds written onto paper. They're the dreams and aspirations of many a striving writer and genius. To burn them would be sacrilege. Worse, destruction of what remains of the writer's being."

"So you would rather die and save the words of some dead old writer than live and leave behind a few piles of ash?" Dash asked. The words stung Twilight. She felt bad for letting her friend think so low of her and hated herself for being so greedy.

She turned her eyes to the rest of the cave. The entire cave was quiet. Small drips fell off the snow blocking the entrance and splashed onto the already wet ground. She looked at the slow breathing bodies of her friends. They twitched from time to time, but apart from that remained motionless apart from their steady breathing. She checked Fluttershy's wound again and walked over beside the fire. Twilight knew no matter how much she argued they needed to feed the fire. Everypony, but her and Dash had succumbed to the hunger and cold and had fallen unconscious.

She gave in. "Alright, you can burn them, but there are a few pages I want to save."

"Which ones?" Rainbow asked as she held the books in her hooves.

"Pages 81-84 of Doreen's Misadventures," Twilight responded. "It's got a picture, you should see it easily."

Dash grabbed the book in question and flipped to the pages. She stared at the picture Twilight was talking about. "That's disgusting," she said quietly before ripping the pages out and putting them in her snow suit. She then threw three of the books on. "That should keep us warm for an hour or so."

"We need more than an hour. Who knows when they will find us?"

"Twilight, I know that you’re scared. I'm scared, but there isn't any point worrying about it," she said as she looked towards the entrance. "We just have to hope they find us," she said with a sigh. "They're out there, and we're in here. We're just going to have to wait."

"Okay Dash, we'll wait. It's all we can do."

Twilight struggled to remain awake and to keep the fire alive using magic. The fire spluttered and spat, but refused to grow back to what it had been less than a minute ago. She thought of her friends to try and strengthen her will. Rarity who had sacrificed her jacket to bind Fluttershy's wound. Pinkie who gave what little food she had to help them fight the hunger. Rainbow and Applejack for helping the others stay warm and keep alive. Not it all rested on her and her horn. Rainbow had passed out not an hour ago, two days after becoming stuck in this cave.

Memories of her days before Ponyville and memories of her experiences in Ponyville arrived in her frozen, hunger ravaged, delirious mind. She found it hard to make sense of the memories and the lessons they had brought with them. She coughed and nearly let the fire go out.

"No... Stay alive... I must keep the fire alive..." she said hardly aware of the stress she was putting on her body. The flames slowly sank and her head fell when the last spark died. I failed, she thought as her consciousness slowly slipped away. The last sounds she heard were the scrabbling of claws.

She opened her eyes. Light filled them as though she had never seen it before. Slowly she opened them wide and stared out. Am I dead? she asked herself in the privacy of her own head before noticing something else in the room. It was an eye examination chart. She began to piece other things in the room together. It was a medical room. The same one she had visited on her arrival at the mountain. I'm... alive... she though quietly before another thought barged it's way in. The others! Are they alright? she looked around frantically before nausea overtook her body.

She heard the sound of a handle click and turned to the door to see somepony entering. "Come on, let us in! It's thanks to her we're still alive!" said a voice all too familiar.

Twilight tried to say something, but her mouth was heavy. All she could do was groan. There was a frantic rush as the door was thrown open and her friends stumbled into the room, followed by a furious doctor. She smiled when she saw her friends, healthy and alive.

"Twilight! You're awake!" Pinkie cried and ran over and hugged her. It was painful at first, but the relief soon overpowered the pain.

"Simply superb. I can't believe you’re alive after what you did to your body," Rarity said as she trotted over, also giving her a hug.

"It was nothing," Twilight managed to say.

"Nothing? You kept a fire going for six hours with your horn! Not to mention you were dehydrated and starving!" Dash yelled as she flew over the others. "I have to say, you're one crazy mare."

"But how... who rescued us?" Twilight asked.

"The Frisk Mountains Search and Rescue team. They're like the diamond dogs, but they're quite stand up guys," Rarity explained. "Unlike their savage cousins, they at least have class and style. Their uniforms match and they have exquisite hairdos."

"How did they find us?"

"Oh, oh, I know that, I know that!" Pinkie squealed. "It was your fire. They could sense the heat coming from it and dug through forty feet of snow to get to you. They sped up the digging when the suddenly they felt the fire die. That was when you lost consciousness."

"I'm glad everypony's alright. I guess I didn't fail."

"Nope!" the rest of the group said at the same time and burst into laughter.

"Oh, wait, how's Fluttershy and her leg?"

"It healed a while ago. They have a good doctor here... oh, excuse me," Fluttershy said bashfully as he walked through them.

"It's good to see you woke up finally. Things are going to be a little hard for you for the first couple of days, but judging from the tests, you'll make a full recovery. Now since you've had a chance to talk to your friends, I think it's time they left you to have some rest." He turned to the group. "Out, out." he waved his hooves. They left quickly, but reluctantly. The doctor turned to her. "Now that they are out of the way, I think it's time you had a chat with someone."

"Who?"

The doctor smiled. "The one that hasn't left your side for the past ten days. Your assistant, Spike."

Twilight gasped and looked to the chair beside her. There snoozing on it was the familiar purple dragon, Spike. The doctor left quietly as she nudged him awake. He groaned and rubbed his eyes before stretching. He looked around a noticed the smiling pink mare. "Twilight? You're... you're awake!" he said, jumping to his feet. "You're awake! You're awake!"

"Yes Spike, I'm awake," she said with satisfaction. No further words were said between the two as they made their tearful reunion with a hug that could have made the sun smile.

-Fin-