Frozen Heart

Equestria. Ponyville. Winter had laid its cold blanket of white over the small village. But the serenity of winter was not present, as a mighty blizzard raged through town with its freezing wrath. The entirety of the town population stayed in their snow-topped homes, fearing the merciless storm. Nopony dared to step outside in this weather, not even members of the tenacious Apple family. The ponies all had a very good reason for this. This year's winter was colder than it had ever been. So cold, in fact, that the Mayor herself had issued a warning to not step outside during the snowstorms. In spite of this, there was somepony outside...

or rather, someone.

A unicorn pony under the name of Twilight Sparkle was pondering over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore in the treehouse library situated in the center of Ponyville, which was also her home. The day was coming to an end with the dusk followed by the sacred night. Ponyville had yet to be entirely consumed by darkness, however, as a few minutes of daytime remained. The blizzard had subsided, leaving the town dark and silent. Twilight calmy lay by the fireplace, endorsed in her books, lost in time. She suddenly became aware of her surroundings when the now familiar howling of the blizzard had come to a halt. She peeked at the clock and let out a long sigh. She couldn't believe how much time had passed since she started reading! One thing was for sure, it was bedtime. As she was about to close the curtains, however, she noticed something outside the treehouse in the dim light. In the cold snow lay a dark figure, outlined by its impact with the snow surface. Normally, she would have thought it to be some piece of junk, like a fallen branch, which seemed reasonable considering the preceding storm. Branches do not leave footprints, however. It appeared lifeless, dead. But Twilight felt a tingling sensation inside her that told her that was not the case.

Not yet.

She hastily put on her scarf and started for the door, knowing there was no time to lose. Whatever was out there had only minutes to spare before death would claim its life. The front door crashed open with a snowy explosion and Twilight quickly made her way into the cold darkness. She went as fast as she could through the heavy snow with a worried and troubled expression. Eventually, she reached the entity and lifted it up with her magic before backtracking her own steps, always keeping up the pace. After what seemed like an eternity or two, she was back inside. Right there she faced a dilemma; she needed help to save the stranger, but the only helping hand available in the immediate timespace was her faithful assistant, Spike, who was sound asleep. She made up her mind.

"SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!!!!!!"

Her voice thundered through the hollow tree and shortly after, sure enough, the tiny purple dragon showed up with a tired expression.

"Do you have any idea what time it is, Twilight?", he said and held up a watch.

"What is the meaning of waking me up like thi...", he stopped when the gravity of the situation sank in on him. There was... some kind of body lying on the table and a very grim Twilight right beside it hastily throwing blankets over it.

"Stop fooling around and heat up some water, Spike! This is life or death!", Twilight yelled at him in a tone he was unfamiliar with. He did not delay any further and quickly went to work. Twilight estimated a very small chance of survival... maybe none at all. The odds were against them, but Twilight firmly believed that they could still save it.