I have very mixed feelings about snow. It's slippery, wet, and looks terrible when dirtied. One thing I do like about it is that it brings a sense of nostalgia for me. It reminds me of the times I used to roll in it as a kid, and of home. God, how I missed Earth. There were so many conveniences for people. For example, not having to walk through a snowstorm at seven o'clock at night, like I was doing now. I could just drive!

However, I didn't have the luxury anymore. Well, I could have grabbed a Hansom cab, but the castle was close and it didn't cross my mind at the time. Although Equestria has many great things, it didn't profess in convenience like Earth. Alas, I was here now, and there was nothing I could do about it. Nor did I want to do anything. After all, with a few successful dates under our belts, Tia and I were having the times of our lives! Of course, there were a few close calls of our relationship being revealed. It's because of these times that I have learnt that nobles really aren't patient.

Speaking of Celestia, a few days ago, she invited me to dinner for Hearth's Warming Eve with her and her relatives! Although I was weary of meeting Luna again, how could I refuse?! So, here I was, walking through one of the biggest snowstorms in the past century, according to Cross. Even though I had just had my hands deep in a mare's body to give her the gift of a new kidney, I was ecstatic. I would have my first holiday with my girlfriend, and I knew it would be awesome!

Bundled in a large coat and red scarf, I made my way to the castle gates and through them. Reaching the large double doors that served as the main entrance to the castle, I entered quickly and took off my scarf. I stuffed my scarf into my coat pocket and took off my coat, folding it over my arm as I started to walk deeper into the castle. Nodding to the guards as I passed them, I made my way towards Celestia's room. After all, I wasn't going be extremely awkward around her family without her present!

There was a certain quietness to the castle halls at this time. It was just after day court, but just before night court, giving the two sisters enough time to have supper and switch places on the throne. Stopping in the middle of the hallway and looking around, I wondered if it had been like this all day. Twilight had told me back in Ponyville that the princesses didn't have court on certain holidays, tonight being one of them.

Lost in though and the atmosphere, I didn't notice the light pink alicorn walk besides me and start to examine me. "Hmm..." she pondered, "I guess I can see it."

Jumping at the sudden voice, I spun on my heels and rapidly took several steps backwards, my hands held up in front of my chest. "Holy—!" I said in shock. Sighing in relief as the mare giggled at my reaction, I walked back over to her and crossed my arms. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Because it almost worked!"

"Sorry," she apologized with a smile, "but this is the first I've ever seen a human before! I just wanted to see if aunt Celestia's description of you was accurate." After rolling my eyes at her excuse, I managed to get a good look at her. The light pink mare had light purple eyes, and a mane that was streaked violet, rose, and pale gold, and hung down to at least mid-back and was curled at the ends. She was wearing a black, knitted jumper and a tan skirt, as well as the same colour, knee-high boots. She was thinner than Celestia and Luna, but much shorter.

"W-wait," I said, catching the obvious contradiction in her statement, "aunt Celestia? So... Luna had a kid!?" Before the mare could explain herself, I put my hand up to my chin and started to analyze the new piece of info given to me, completely ignoring the mare in front of me. "But then, who's the father? It's illegal for Luna to have a relationship with a citizen, but that only leaves... maybe other royalty? No that's impossible. The media would be all over it. So then, maybe it was before the law..."

"Excuse me?" The mare tried to get my attention, waving her hand in front of me.

"She is an alicorn, so maybe that would work..." I continued. "No, there's also the fact that alicorns can be made. It could be that she was adopted by Luna in secret and was made into an alicorn. But then, why didn't Tia tell me? Does she not trust me enough?"

"Mr. Bowman? Hello! Equestria to Carter!" she said, waving her hands more urgently.

I was starting to get worried. "Why doesn't she trust me? I thought we were together now... What was the time we spent together then? Was that just her using me for her own gai—?"

"Patient is V.S.A! We need help, NOW!" I jumped again, this time out of my trance and towards the source of the sudden order: the light pink alicorn. Despite her small size, she could really yell.

I stood there, staring at her in complete shock. I didn't expect her to start yelling, especially something that would really get my attention. Slowly, though, I hung my head in shame. "S...sorry," I said pathetically.

"Don't be," the mare said with a smile, "it shows that you care about her. I can see why she's interested in you now."

Sighing at my over analysis of the word aunt, my original problem resurfaced. "Are you Luna's daughter? Because I didn't know—"

"Oh, no," she started, "we're not related, technically. I call both princess Luna and Celestia my aunts because I lived with them for the duration that the Crystal Empire had disappeared. They treated me like family, so I started to call them my aunts!"

"Oh!" I said in relief. "I... wow. I really over thought that, huh?" The mare nodded while still smiling brightly. "If that's the case, then you must be Cadence, Twilight's sister-in-law. It's nice to meet you." I stuck out my hand and she took it. "I guess you already know who I am?"

"From aunt Celestia's constant bantering about you and Twilight's constant barrage of research, how could I not?" I chuckled. That sounded very plausible. "Say, where are you headed? Everyone's talking in the lounge."

Scratching the back of my head nervously, I smiled. "I was just going to go and say hello to Celestia before I meet everyone," I explained.

"Ah, I see. Nervous, are we?" Cadence teased.

I chuckled again. "Truthfully, I am a little. I don't know if I should be formal or casual."

"Just be you and you'll be fine," she advised. Cadence then looked as if she suddenly remembered something. "Might I join you? I just remembered that I need to speak to aunt Celestia about something."

Smiling, I nodded. "Sure you can. I don't mind walking alongside a pretty mare," I said, turning towards the direction of Tia's tower.

Cadence giggled at my statement as she started to follow me down the hall. "Sorry," she apologized, lifting her left hand and started display her simple gold wedding ring, "I'm already married." After a few more steps, the princess looked around and suddenly leant in towards me. "And, we might be close to starting a family, too!" she whispered excitedly.

"That's great!" I said quietly. "I don't mean to pry into your private life, but... are you already...?" Cadence beamed and nodded her head with happiness. "That's great! Congratulations!"

After a few more minutes of discussing what to name her child and how to tell everyone about the baby, we soon reached the tower. We found ourselves in front of double doors much like the ones leading to Luna's tower, but these were golden doors with thin, wrought silver poles that were made into the shape of the sun and sunflowers surrounding it. We passed through them into a stone, spiral staircase and quickly escalated them to reach another pair of double doors. However, these were just plain, wooden double doors. I approached the right door and put my hand on one of the doorknobs to open it, but something caught my ear to sway me from doing so.

"Art thou afraid that we will steal the human from you, Tia?!" came the voice of Luna, sounding very aggressive. My ear instinctively pressed against the door to get hear a little better. I don't usually eavesdrop, but this conversation had me curious as to what was going on. Instead of pulling me away from the door, Cadence joined me as well.

"Steal Carter from me?" Tia responded annoyed. "Please. Carter and I are one step away from bedding together. I don't think I have anything to be afraid of." That was true. On many occasions did we come very close to having sex, but we were always interrupted before we could.

"Oh really?" said Luna disbelievingly. "So, anypony would not be able to sweep him away from you?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying," Celestia said, sounding increasingly more annoyed.

"Care to make a bet, dear sister?" Luna asked slyly. "Starting when he arrives tonight, we will both try to seduce the human. The first one to do so will win."

"Ha! I'm already 99% done, Lulu!" Celestia laughed. "And what does the winner get? A trophy? A ribbon?"

"The winner gets to keep him. Of course, there will be no hard feelings if one side loses." Luna added.

There was a long moment of silence after that. My heart was pounding in my chest. Tia wouldn't even consider this bet, right!? I looked over to Cadence, who had a look of disbelief on her face.

"If this will get you off of my back about that law, then I'll accept." Tia stated.

My heart sank. I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. I felt the door start to open and I leant back as to not fall through into the room. In front of me stood Luna, facing away into the room at Tia, who was sitting at a mirror with a comb levitating through her hair. "Well then, sister," Luna started, "may the best mare—" Luna turned to leave, but instead she found me blocking her path. Here eyes locked with mine, and after a moment of realization, she beamed.

I didn't respond with anger, nor sorrow. Instead, I did the most impactful thing I could have done: I shook my head. By now, Cadence had joined my side and Tia had turned around to see what had caused her sister to stop. "What am I to you?" I asked to both of them. "Am I just a thing for you to play with? Something that has no emotions?" Luna began to respond, but I held up my hand. "If I had arrived five minutes later, I wouldn't have heard this. Imagine what I would have felt when two mares— who I like and respect very much —tried to pull me apart from one another." With that, I turned and descended the stairs.

Nobody had followed me out into the cold, dark streets of Canterlot. By now, I felt terrible. Not because I felt betrayed, but because I was scared of what would happen next. Would Celestia leave me? I didn't know for sure, but I did know that thinking about it would make it hurt a whole lot more. The snow whipped at my face in the harsh winds of the storm, reminding me of why I was still outside. I didn't dare go home. Celestia could find me easily there, and I didn't feel like talking to her at that moment. So, I was headed for my second home: Canterlot Central.

I could see the hospital up ahead, about a building away from me. Cross had told me that she and Sylvia planned on staying after hours to "liven the place up a bit." I was half worried to show up to a drunken party of hospital staff, but I knew somewhere deep in my heart that Sylvia wouldn't put up with that and stop them.

As I walked passed the last building, someone with a cloak, their face covered with a hood, suddenly ran from the space between the building and the hospital. They dashed towards me and as they got closer, I became worried. Did They need help? Were they in troub—?

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHGGGGGGGGG!!!!!" I screamed as my abdomen exploded with pain. The figure pulled back, revealing something small and red glinting in the light of the buildings.

Just as I hunched over in pain, gasping for air and putting pressure on the wound, my assailant rushed at me again. I cried out as my right side erupted as well. I suddenly found it hard to breathe. The taste of blood in my mouth and the familiar scent lingering in the air told me what was happening.

Falling to my knees, now grasping each wound with a hand, the figure ran at me for a third time. This time however, my assailant plunged their weapon deep into the left side of my collarbone. With that, they ran off into the alleys.

My right hand quickly slapped on to my neck, trying desperately to stop the profuse bleeding. I fell to the ground on my back, writhing in pain as I tried to cover the wound on my abdomen and side with my left arm.

"H-hello?! Is anybody hurt out here?!" a familiar voice called out. It sounded a lot like a nurse from the hospital. I tried to call out, but my body was screaming in protest. "Hello!?"

I was going to die if I just sat there doing nothing. The cold now piercing my body reminded me of that.

Raising my hand and waving slowly, I prayed that she would see. I looked at me and in the limited light. It was completely red.

There were foot steps crunching through the snow, getting louder and louder. Suddenly, they stopped and a gasp rang out. "D— Doctor Bowman!" There was a pause and I used it to place my arm back on the wounds. I was grabbed my the collar of my coat and dragged through the snow. We entered the hospital and there was suddenly a commotion. I felt myself being lifted into the air, then on to a bed.

The corners of my vision were starting to disappear. My head lazily fell to the side. What I saw was shocking to say the least. It wasn't the sprinting of ponies, or how worried the staff looked.

It was a human woman, with cream coloured skin and brown hair, as well as beautiful, hazel eyes. She stared at me with a kind smile and mouthed a single word before I passed out.

"Purpose."

Author's Note

Sorry for the month-long wait, everybody! I've been really busy with other projects... and my life's been ruined by yee.

I know it's short, but I'll make the next one longer and have some "interesting" scenes. Wink wink nudge nudge.

As usual, thank you to Storm Nova for editing, and if anyone sees any mistakes, let me know.