Selene and Neighbourhood continued up the mountain. They were traveling up a relatively steep slope, with a sharp drop off to their left and a dense forest on their right. It didn't look like the path really lead anywhere, but they didn't have any other directions to go at the moment.

They were still a good way from the top of the ridge when Selene began to hear the faint sound of flapping coming up from below and behind them, heading towards them. He stopped, stopping Neighbourhood with him, and listened closer. There were two different sets of flapping, each with it's own rhythm, one pegasi slightly larger than the other.

"There are two pegasi coming up behind us. Do you know them?" Selene asked, trying not to sound accusative.

"No, I don't know any pegasi... well, other than you, darling," she added, pawing at Selene's forelegs. "I don't think they mean us any harm, and they might be from the town in these mountains. If it comes to it, I can protect us."

"Alright," Selene shrugged, removing his wing from Neighbourhood's back, and turning to face the newcomers. They flew almost straight up the side of the mountain, out over the forest and quite a ways to their side. Selene spread his wings and tilted their leading edges up, to show the maximum surface area to the pegasi flying by, and slowly waved them up and down.

His dark green-grey feathers and fur that had helped him blend into the forest earlier in the day now made him stick out against the white snow. It would just be a matter of luck if they saw him or not, and as it turns out, they did. When a pegasus saw another pegasus on the ground, with their wings spread, they assumed something was wrong, as if something wasn't the grounded pegasi would just fly up to get the passing pegasi's attention. Because Pegasi could travel such extreme distances so quickly, they often traveled light without the supplies for a longer trip on the ground, which meant if they became injured and couldn't fly while out in the Wastes between settlements it would often prove fatal for them without help, and they all knew it.

It may have been an unspoken creed, but it held firm for Selene all his life to this point; he had been on both ends of a pegasi coming to anothers rescue several times, and likely would again. These two apparently felt the same as after just a brief exchange they both began a gentle dive towards them.

As they drew closer they slowed into a hover, and began to talk to each other again, still too far away to hear. Neighbourhood had pulled her hood back and they must have gotten close enough to spot that she was not another pegasi, but a unicorn. I honestly can't blame them...

After a moment speaking to each other, the larger pegasus slid back into a gentle dive, and landed a few feet away from them. The other circled around behind them, and landed a few yards away.

Selene focused on the larger pegasi who landed just a bit in front of them: he was a decent sized stallion who looked to be quite a bit on the older side, possibly twice Selene's—and he suspected Neighbourhood's—age, if not even older. His coat was mostly covered in a thick brown jacket, but what could be seen was a faded light blue. His mane was either shaved or he was badly balding, but his forest green tail was still plainly visible, if quite short.

"Hey," Selene took the lead, stepping forward, away from Neighbourhood, "I'm Selene. My wing was ripped up pretty badly," he splayed his left wings feathers out, clearly showing that half were missing, "but we've got a days supplies at least. We're trying to find a town or settlement or something up here, to resupply... Neither of us are from around here," he added, as the stallion continued to stare at him.

The stallion took a moment to look over Selene's wing, winced slightly, then looked over the rest of him. Selene was still completely without armor or even clothing, but his fur was thick enough no pony would mind normally. Still, it left the stallion with nothing to judge him on, which apparently set the stallion on edge.

"Well, I'm sorry to see a wing that badly mauled, but it looks like you two would be traveling by land anyway," he gestured behind Selene, at Neighbourhood.

"Well, yea, but I could scout out the nearest town pretty easily if I could fly, but, well, you know how it is," Selene said with a large wing-shrug.

"That I do..." The stallion squinted his eyes, deep in thought, and looked passed Selene for a moment.

Selene turned to follow his gaze, finding it falling directly on Neighbourhood, who had crossed her front legs and bowed her head, doing her best to look innocent. It tripped warnings in Selene's own mind; he could only imagine what the other two Pegasi must be thinking. Unicorns are trouble: a Unicorn trying looking innocent is outright dangerous...

"Hey, it's not polite to refuse an introduction," Selene with a smile, turning back to the stallion.

"No, it's not polite at all," the stallion confirmed, looking back to Selene, his hard features softening a little. "The names Dusty Skies." He took a few steps forward to close the distance between them and held out a forehoof.

Selene took it in one of his own and shook. Dusty Skies' grip was surprisingly strong for someone so old, but Selene was strong for somepony of such a thin build, and he was able to match it.

Neighbourhood cantered up beside Selene, and leaned heavily against his right side. Selene had to reposition his hooves to take her weight. "Hello Dusty Skies, I'm Neighbourhood, and it is quite nice to meet you." She had pressed herself so close Selene could feel her fluttering her eyelashes as they scrapped across his cheek.

Selene was a bit taken aback, but Dusty didn't seem surprised: in fact, he suddenly seemed much more at ease. "Well g'day miss Neighbourhood, it's a pleasure."

"Please, simply Neighbourhood will do," she returned with a hoof-wave.

"For you, miss? Anything. You Unicorns don't have sir names?"

"Some of us do, some of us don't. I don't."

"Not that this isn't an interesting conversation," a mare said, walking around them to stand beside Dusty, and stowing her weapon—a small caliber rifle—across her back, "but I think we should get to business?"

"And this is Mineral Fortune," Dusty declared. "Her mother, my wife, is one of the founding members of Luckies Find, a small mining town just up this mountain, and the town I believe the two of you are looking for."

Mineral was not wearing much armor, and her light coal grey fur was clearly visible over the majority of her body. She must not mind the cold anymore than I do. She wasn't the most attractive pegasi Selene had ever seen, but she was up there.

"If you don't mind me askin," Dusty drawled, "how did you manage to do that much damage to yer feathers without breaking any bones?"

"He did break bones," Neighbourhood answered for him, "and he tore tendons, but I was able to heal those for him... with magic," she added when the two of them stared, wide eyed. "It's not terribly difficult, although it does take immense energy. Unfortunately I was unable to mend his feathers: I have no idea where to even begin with them, I'm afraid."

"Well," Mineral began, smoothly recovering her composure. She completely lacked her fathers drawl. "We have an alchemist in town who's a pretty good healer, although nothing as... impressive as you."

"Oh, I assure you, no pony is." Neighbourhood was not turning out to be a subtle Unicorn, Selene noted, still not sure what to think of his new traveling companion.

"So how close is this town?" Selene asked, drawing the conversation away from Neighbourhood's ego before she could offend them. "As I said, we only have a day or two's worth of food at the most."

"Oh, it's just over this hill and around the peak a bit," Dusty answered. "If you're heading that way you pretty much can't miss it."

"I'd guess it would take you no more than seven to ten hours hiking from here," Mineral took over. "I'd offer to fly you, but we're late getting back as it is." The longing look she gave him said otherwise.

I bet if I didn't have Neighbourhood with me, you'd be dragging me back with you, Selene thought to himself, lost in her eyes for a moment.

"Are you sure you two are going to be ok spending the night up here?" Dusty asked, clearly not wanting to leave them out here, but also not wanting to commit to flying a Unicorn two hours over the mountain either.

"Yes, we will be fine," Neighbourhood answered with a smile. "My darling Selene here seems to be immune to the cold, and I can light a fire easily enough."

"Alright," Dusty began, "I'll let the town watch know you're com'in. I'm not sure how well they'll respond see'in you, Neighbourhood. You know, no hard feel'ins but we don't get a lot of your kind up here."

"It's ok," Neighbourhood said, rocking her head to the side. "I know what that's like, but I imagine you'll be more accepting than most."

"So, we're off," Mineral said giving Selene a quick wink. "See you in town," then she leapt into the air.

"Yea, we'll be see'in you," Dusty said with a small smile, then followed Mineral into the air.

The two pegasi had only just left hearing range, when Neighbourhood half tackled Selene from his right side, shoving him to the ground and sitting on his side. "So, why is it every time I introduce myself to an Earthpony, or even a Pegasi, they ask me why I only have a one part name, but they didn't care that you don't have a sir name either?"

Selene tried to push her off of him, but she ended up laying on her belly, with her forelegs on one side of him and her hindlegs off the other. Still, he was able to twist himself onto his back so he could look at her. "I guess because that's only a Unicorn thing, so they don't expect it from me."

"If so then wouldn't that make it more noticeable coming from you?" she asked, gently jabbing him on the nose with a hoof.

"I guess he wanted to make a good impression on me, or he was more interested in you. Look," Selene said, twisting out from under her and standing, "they said we're out up to ten hours from their town. We have maybe six more until it's dark, and I'd like to get there early enough we don't need to wander around at night looking for a place to stay."

"It's all, 'you—you—you,'" Neighbourhood mocked, but she hopped up as well. "Lead on," she added, shouldering him in the side.

Selene lead the way up the wide trail. For about seven hours they hiked their way up the mountain, until finally the sun slid below the mountains to their west. They were near the top, and Selene was willing to bet they were only one to two hours from the town, but they decided to stop and find a place to sleep the night.

Neighbourhood created a bright light with her horn, which they used to wined their way into the evergreen forest still clinging to life at this high altitude. "What are we looking for?" Neighbourhood asked, panting slightly. They hadn't been moving very fast, but the thinner air was apparently getting to her. Selene was used to flying at this altitude, near the eternal grey cloud cover of the Wasteland.

"This," he said, moving over to a very thick tree. The snow here was pretty deep, up to maybe four feet (about as tall as Neighbourhood, and just a touch below Selene), and it would take far too long to dig through it, and it would be a waste of clothing to use Neighbourhood's cloak to insulate them if they chose to sleep on the snow. Selene could get himself up into a tree, with their branches even providing some decent protection from the wind, but there was no way he could get Neighbourhood up, and she would have troubles herself given how much she was shaking and how short of breath she had become.

Instead, Selene had lead them in search of a tree well: a small area around the base of a tree where a pocket of air forms as the tree branches stop the snow falling. They could be dangerous in softer snow, but at this altitude the snow was far more than old enough to be packed hard, reducing the danger significantly.

Selene checked the tree closely: the snow had risen all the way to it's lowest branches, even burying a few of the lower ones. He parted them enough to get his head back towards the trunk, and was happy to find the well had formed almost all the way to the ground, and was quite wide out from the trunk.

"Ok," he said, gesturing for Neighbourhood to come up behind him, "this will work wonderfully."

"What?" Neighbourhood asked as she moved up beside him, not sure what he was even suggesting.

"We're going to spend the night down beside the base of the tree."

She looked at him, very skeptical but also shaking heavily in the cold despite her cloak.

"Listen, just trust me, and get in the hole." He pointed down between the branches. "Just try not to pull any snow down from the wall."

She looked at him again, then looked down in the snow-pit wrapped around the tree, then back at him again, then finally sighed, and turned to lower herself into the hole.

Selene held her forelegs as she lowered her hind-half into the hole, and once she had her rear legs down, pushed her away from the snow wall and let her forelegs fall to the ground. He was right, and the snow was just high enough to be level with the top of her head. Selene then moved about a quarter of the way around the tree, and hopped down himself.

Neighbourhood had come down facing clockwise, facing around the tree. Selene had made sure he'd come facing the same way, since they'd be unable to easily turn around once in the hole, since it's width out from the tree was much shorter than they were front to back. They had maybe one and a half feet from the tree trunk to the snow wall, at most.

Selene came around the tree behind Neighbourhood, who raised her head to looked over her shoulder at him: as he expected she was unable to turn her body around in the confined space. Luckily she didn't appear to be claustrophobic (Selene already knew that he wasn't, having spent nights in tight tree wells before); the look on her face was only slightly worried.

"It's going to be fine," Selene promised, jabbing her in the back of the flank. "Although if you can use your magic to dig enough of the snow off the ground so we don't have to sleep on it, and I'll pull some branches off for a lose bed."

She nodded after a moment, then turned to look at the ground and began doing just that. Selene had expected her to move a small hoof-full at a time, but she began to collect up huge clumps of snow, and toss them out over the side of the tree well. Selene ripped some branches off of the far side of the tree from where they would be laying, then set them out to make an impromptu bed. The bed ended up being just large enough Selene expected it would be comfortable for one and a half ponies, who would be happy being pressed against each other, but it would have to do.

Neighbourhood laid down first, and Selene draped himself across her back. He ended up with his back pressed against the snow wall, so we arranged some tree branches to insulate himself from them well enough he wouldn't get frostbite.

"You sure must like me," Neighbourhood goaded, craning her neck around to poke at his face with her nose.

"I'd rather you not die tonight," Selene admitted.

"So... why do you only have one name?"

Damn it. "I know nothing about you, while you know a bit about me. It would only be fair for you to tell me something about you first."

"I'll make you a deal: find something you want to know about me that I can agree to, and we'll trade." She fluttered her eyelashes. "But please don't take too much time; I would really like to get to sleep at some point tonight."

Selene thought for a moment. Something about the raiders she was with will just be shot down, and she flat refuses to talk about her family... probably because they are the raiders. He couldn't think of anything else to ask about. "Why don't you suggest something?"

"Hmm... well, I can't actually think of anything I'd be willing to tell you... So I guess we'll just hold it on credit?"

"Fine," Selene puffed, "but then you only get the short version of my names story. It's an old Equitish synonym for Luna, who was my grandmother... so, goodnight I guess."

Selene enjoyed the somewhat wide-eyed stare Neighbourhood gave him, and when she went to open her mouth Selene interrupted her by covering it with a hoof. "Until you tell me something about you, that's all you get."

She stared at him a moment longer, then reluctantly nodded, and pushed his hoof down. "Well, then I guess it's goodnight for now, darling."

Author's Note

Tree well shelter, for those of you having difficulty picturing it.