Romantic Getaway (Sort of)

"Phew, we finally made it." Twilight said.

"Yup, now, we talk strategy."

"Strategy? What kind of strategy?"

"Well... This location is perfectly suitable for shelter and I hope some food, however... The way I see it we have two choices. We make a quick shelter here, and stay for one night, then afterwards we move in the same direction and keep repeating the process, and hope to find civilization."

"Or?" Twilight asked.

"Or, we play it safe and take more time to make a good shelter, and wait for someone to come find us through multiple nights. I can't decide."

"Well... each option has it's ups and downs. Oh I wish I had a checklist right now."

Flash was surprised. He realized he had some parchment in his bag. Flash handed her one of his feathers and tore some parchment from the roll, and gave it to her along with some ink. He winked at her. "Well this just became a whole lot easier." They shared a laugh, again. This time both of them blushed after silence followed.

"Eh em, let's get to writing heheh..."

"Er, right!"

Flash carved a smooth surface in the side of a tree with his knife so Twilight could write on it. Flash thought to himself... Let's hope I don't have to use this for anything... 'else'. Remembering the previous conversation him and Twilight had. NO! Don't think about that now! I need to get on this list.

"Okay, what do you say we point out the positives and negatives of each option, and choose the one with the most positives?" Twilight suggested.

"Great idea."

After a few minutes of thinking and writing on the parchment, they went through each option carefully.

"Okay, I will start with the 'Wait it out' Strategy." Twilight said. "So, our positives are that we will have a stronger shelter, plus more time to add to it if we need to, we won't have to travel far distances, we can take as much food as we need from vegetation as we need, and we can build a distress signal if any helicopters or pagasai fly by here. However, the negatives are that we can't find civilization ourselves and any hostile predators will track us down easily if we are stationary..." Twilight cringed at the last one, but Flash gave her a reassuring tap on the shoulder.

"Alright, my turn. If we choose the 'Pick up and go' strategy, the positives are we can find Civilization quicker, and we may have more options for food, but that's it. The negatives are that if somepony does pass by, there is a chance they won't see us if they are too high up, even if we scream for help. Also, it may burn through our supplies quicker. I only have a limited supply of parchment for a fire, and a lot of the wood in this  environment is wet."

They both sighed.

"Even with this list it's hard to decide." Twilight said.

"I kno- wait..." Flash shot up.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, I don't know if it's the wind but I hear something..."

She listened.

"Wait, you're right..." Twilight started to hear it too.

"Twilight... stay close." He warned her.

"It's more clear now, it sounds like... Slithering..." Twilight said.

"Wait a minute, look!" Flash pointed his hoof to a strange occurrence in the snow. It's like there is something under it, and it was heading straight towards them.

"Twilight... Run!" Flash shouted.

They started running from the occurrence and into the forest. It was moving faster.

"Flash, what... are those things!?" She said between breaths.

"Twilight, those 'things' are Frost Vaculists!!!" He shouted.

"What are they!?" She asked, all while running for their lives.

"Special vipers that live in cold environments! Don't let them touch you, their venom will kill you in a matter of minutes!" Flash finished warning her.

"Flash, how are we going to evade them? We can't run forever!" They tried and tried, dashing through trees, sliding down hills, it wasn't working. One of them caught up, and dived at Twilight. She jumped out of the way and Flash slashed at it. His blade didn't connect, but it retreated. They both continued running, Twilight still trying to use her horn but her head kept hurting. "Twilight, duck!" Flash yelled. A Vaculist flew over her, and cornered them. "This way!" Twilight yelled, and they ran in a different direction. "Flash... I... Can't run... anymore..." She tried to say.

After minutes of running, Flash and Twilight came upon a small clearing with a cliff. They were trapped. "Oh no..." Flash said as they were cornered. They had their backs to the drop, and they were closing in. Flash looked back, and noticed there was an unfrozen lake below. The cliff continued along the lake, with no way to get to land. The nearest shore was far, but reachable.

Vaculists can't swim... But it may be shallow, and even if it is deep enough... we'll freeze... He looked at Twilight.

No... We can't give up yet.

He wasn't going to let it end like this.

"Twilight..."

"Flash?"

"Do you trust me?"

Twilight nodded her head, then before she knew it, Flash took her by both her hooves and jumped.

They landed in the freezing water, twilight was immediately taken over by the temperature, and her's dropped. She started shivering. Before she knew it her heart rate was dropping, and she was sinking into the dark pits of the lake.

This... is it... Flash... Rainbowdash... Pinky... Applejack... Rarity... .. Fluttershy.. . . .. . Celestia.. .  . . .   .   .      .        . This is the end.. . . . . . . . .

That is, until somepony grabbed her.