Blue Syringe

It's snowing.

It's snowing and I'm cold and I am miserable.

I'm not even able to use my sled either, so my damn hooves are cold.

I'm almost regretting not accepting the offer of the chariot but that has the same issue as my sled.

It's too high profile.

Sighing, I keep trotting onwards to the town I can see in the distance, that is mounted on the side of the mountain.

I wonder if the etymology of 'mounted' is linked to mountain or if it's one of those similarities that occurred randomly.

I think I've been out in the cold too long, usually the sled is exciting enough to keep me warm but this is miserable.

I suppose it could be worse, I did in fact pack for the weather and brought some heavy clothing though I wish I brought a hot water bottle or something, even my paltry magic reserves are good enough to keep that hot.

Though what's got me shaking is not the cold, okay the cold might be causing some of it, but what on Equestria I might be trotting into.

Best case scenario, I am just paranoid, which I suspect might be the case, I am trying to read into the emotions of a grief stricken mother who is bottling her emotions in the best way to help her daughter and the worst case scenario is I am walking into a battalion of heavily armed guard focused in the destruction of even the thought of me…

Yay.

Looking ahead as my rambling thoughts spin around my head, I notice that I've managed to get to the side of the mountain that the town is situated on, luckily with some pre planning it is the shorter side as I'll be honest I wasn't up for hiking up the big side with the chances of an avalanche increase with every inch of this damnable snow piling up.

Starting up my ascent up the mountain, I make sure that I try to keep to the less steep part of the mountain to make sure I don't slip, probably wouldn't fit the stealthier ponysona I was going for.

As I struggle my way up the last few steps, I ponder about the possibility of trying to make a medicine to make my breathing more efficient as my lungs feel like they are on fire. I'd argue that I am a fairly mobile pony, sure not the most active ever but how on Equestria are ponies here making regular trips to this damn town.

Giving a quick glance around said town, I am not noticing any massive fortifications or congregations of guards, which I'd argue is a great start, and due to the snow, there are less ponies on the streets at the moment.

Looking in the direction of the Bloom household, I take confident steps forward but I am interrupted by my rumbling stomach.

Right, food would probably be a good idea.

Hoping nobody had heard my offending organ, I decided on the alluring tavern I'd been to before when I came to the town last.

I know visiting the patient should be at the top of my priority list but I make it a rule that I am in the best condition I can be before treating somepony else due to mistakes I could make due to the distraction.

Making my way down the street, I manage to catch myself a couple of times while walking over the icy stones and luckily before I am able to injure myself, I arrive at the front door of the Dragongem Inn.

Shaking the snow that had accumulated on my clothes, I then push the doors open into a moderately busy room and notice that the voice levels seem to reduce in volume as I come in.

I make my way over to the serving bar and notice that while the conversation starts picking up again that I am getting some side eye as I move, I remember this town being reticent to visitors but I think they seem more cautious than usual.

Giving a smile to the bartender, I say "Hi, I was wondering if you do food here?"

The bartender, a tall-ish pony with a cream-coloured coat and a reddish mane, gives me a look up and down and says "... yeah, got a table in the back as well I think. Come with me"

The bartender, not waiting for a moment, moves towards the side of the bar in which he raises the wood blocking him in, and motions for me to follow him."

I follow him into the back of the bar while hearing some conversations on the way.

"Stew's pretty good today, wonder how Creamer gets fresh carrots in so regularly"

"I hear he's got some contacts with a group of pegasi traders, probab…"

"Still rubs me wrong what they did, it ain't right."
"I know, but not much we can do about it now right? They let her keep her right."

"True, but …"

The bartender sits me down at a small round wooden table and points at a black board saying "Menu and costs are on the board, if nothing is to your liking then we got some other ingredients in the kitchen but it costs more for custom meals."

Giving the board a glance, I can see that there is a range of about 5 items but going off what I heard while walking, I say "Carrot Stew sounds nice to me, and a glass of water as well if possible."

"Of course, not to be rude but a rule we follow in this bar is any non-locals have to pay upfront" The bartender says to me.

I internally frown at the statement but not wanting to cause any drama, I draw out the requisite bits from my bag and hand it over to the bartender.

He seems to count them for a moment and says "Thanks, I'll bring your food and water over when it's ready, I think it'll be about five minutes."

Giving a nod, I make myself comfortable in my chair and pull out a book to pass the time as well as let the conversations wash over me again.

"Why do you think they are still here?"

"No clue, good for business though, I know some shops aren't particularly fond of them being so noisy at times but they pay on time and apparently quite like tea"

"You don't mind what they did? Or is that concern waylaid by the increased profits?"

"I'm hesitant to be annoyed at the situation until we find out more, I imagine they'd done their research into the topic before doing something like this and we'll find out if Ni… "

I am yanked out of my eavesdropping by the bartender putting a bowl on the table along with a mug of water.

"Your stew, enjoy" I hear him say.

I nod in appreciation and quickly eat the surprisingly flavourful stew.

After finishing up, I leave a few bits on the table and make my way out of the building

With my nutritional needs met, I suppose that there is no way of further delaying this meeting and so I start heading my way to the Bloom house household once again.

Making my round the streets, I notice that some ponies are starting to add some nets up around the area, which I presume is for avalanche mitigation, but nothing else is out of the ordinary.

Maybe I was just being paranoid after the visit to Appleloosa, I mean they had just got lucky that I was in the building when that letter was received. How on Equestria would they know about a random filly in the middle of nowhere.

Managing to make my way to the street that the house is on, I give a quick look around before attempting to go any further but whereas the street was mostly empty, I do hear two voices coming down one of the side alleys in parallel to mine.

"This town is too cold to have a prolonged stay in, I think when I get back to the carousel, I am going to move my bed in front of the fireplace to hopefully get some warmth back into me" a more refined voice says, something I'd expect from Upper Canterlot but not fully.

"Ah find myself agreeing with you, don't think ah'd ever live here. Hopefully she shows up and we can be done with this whole encounter" a voice with a distinct southern drawl says.

"Maybe we should ask Twilight to message her again, it's been a week since the first and we've heard nothing since." the refined southern drawl says in return.

Twilight? As in Twilight Sparkle? As in the one chasing me down?

I try to peek around the corner and look towards the direction I'd heard the voices, luckily they were in the alley closer to the house than me.

I see an orange-coated earth pony and a white coated unicorn walking down the street, I think back to the book I had read on the carriage, Applejack and Rarity I think?

Okay that confirms it, I need to leave now, maybe I can sne…

"What are we looking at?" I hear a cheerful voice say behind me.

I whip my head around and as my eyes are assaulted by the pinkest coat I've ever seen, I notice a pony is standing on her back hooves so she can peak around the corner as well.

Taking a few steps away from her but making sure I don't step out the street.

"Just having a look around… There's someone I'm trying to avoid, a messy argument" I hurriedly say.

I look at the pony in front of me and the first thing that comes to my mind is candyfloss. I didn't think it was possible for something to be so pink but noticing the balloon motif on her hindquarters,I can only assume that this is the Pinkie Pie.

As in a pony that is both most assuredly after me and something I need to be far away from very quickly.

Pinkie starts saying "That's not good to hear, ponies should try to resolve their arguments with each other. I remember when Button was having an argu…"

Before I am locked into place listening to this conversation, I interrupt her "I'm sorry I don't have the time to talk. There is somewhere I need to be."

I turn around and start heading towards the outskirts of town but I am confronted by Pinkie standing there.

How did she get behind me?

"I can walk with you! Oh my Celestia, I've not even asked your name yet. I know you're new to the town, I'm pretty sure I've met everyone in the town, your accent is somewhat different as well, I'm guessing Canterlot but it's hard to tell really, it sounds like a bit of everything. Do you do a lot of travelling? I love travelling but find it hard… "

My head is bombarding with the litany of questions and I start walking away as she continues her rambling.

Sadly, she notices.

"So where are we going? And what is your name? I'm Pinkie Pie, the premier party planner of Ponyville, it's south-west-ish here but if you are from Canterlot then you can just get a train from there if you ever wanted to visit" Pinkie continues.

"I'm uhh Place" I managed to get out.

"That's funny, my friends met a Place Bo recently, any relation?"

Oh for crying out loud, how did I forget that was my mother's name? Been using that name for ages, thank Equestria I didn't say the surname.

"No, I'm the only Place I know" I lie.

Pinkie starts saying"Ahh okay, we are actually looking for her daughter Blue, got a fancy medical symbol for her…"

I start galloping, I don't care if it's more obvious at this stage, if I stay close to this mare than I am doomed.

I gallop around the next corner and start heading to the outskirts of town while activating my horn to start undoing the straps of the cart of my back.

"Hey why are you running?" I hear to my right, as I turn my head I see Pinkie coming from a side street that she had no possible way of going to.
I skid to a stop and turn left down to gallop down another alleyway.

And Pinkie is standing in front of me.

What manner of eldritch being is she!?

I shift my backpack as I turn around again to make sure the now loosely strapped sled doesn't fall off.

"Hey please stop running, your backpack might fall off. Hey I can see your cutiemark now, that looks like the one I was talking about… Are you Blue Syringe? Please stop, Princess Celestia wants to see you if you are. My friends are at the Bloom house and we can sort this out, you don't have to keep hiding." Pinkie says I continue galloping away from her.

A tempting offer, but I'm pretty sure Celestia isn't going to offer me tea and cookies.

I glance ahead down the street I'd picked to run down and luckily Pinkie hadn't to get ahead of me again, and I can see the edge of the town which leads down the slope of the mountain, while generally I hate going into a slope blind of the dangers it will still be safer then getting caught.

I shake the sled off my back and sit down on it after placing it on the edge of the slope.

I attempt to push down but find my back leg held in place back.

"Please Blue, my friends are coming. We just want to resolve this peacefully, don't you want to see your family again?" Pinkie's voice emanates behind me.

I turn around to look at her and say "I can't imagine that if I return they'd let my family see me, I know the consequences of what you accuse me of."

"I don't think the Princess will do anything like that, please we have data from some rea…" Pinkie starts saying but is interrupted by her… shaking tail?

I stare at the peculiar sight and glance back to Pinkie, she seems to nod at her tail and then pushes me down the mountain.

My mind reeling on what on Equestria just happened, I pay attention to my sled and the remarkably large boulder that I was about to smash into.

Yanking the sled's reigns to the right, I just about manage to avoid it and start plotting a route quickly down the mountain.

Why did she let me go? I look around to see if there anypony down the mountain to catch me but seemingly it's empty.

If I think about it then I am going to get distracted, I need to get out of this range and get back to society to re-plan. Evidently they've worked out enough to start placing traps for me
Looking backwards I notice that I have managed to get a decent distance away from the town and while I do some figures collecting next to where Pinkie was standing doing some quick math, somepony would need to be moving faster than the speed of sound to catch me now.

BOOM

Had to open my bloody mouth, didn't I!?

Glancing around rapidly, I am covered in iridescent lights and glancing into the sky I see a… Rainboom?

I thought those were a myth, created by a pegasus breaking the sound bar…

I feel something collide with me as I am launched off my sled sideways.

Trying to protect my neck I wrap my hooves around my head and then painfully collide with the ground.

After I stop moving, I try to get onto my hooves quickly and glance around but I am met by a stabbing pain in my hoof.

I suspect a fracture, I imagine when the adrenaline wears off I am not going to have a great time.

Looking around for the cause, I see about 50 meters away a rainbow-haired pegasus very angrily looking at me and looking like she is going to charge.

I go to speak but notice a roaring noise coming in the direction of the top of the mountain.

She's set off an avalanche.

And it's going to hit us in about 20 seconds.

We need to move now.

I point to the wall of icy death coming towards us and I try to start galloping to my sled in the hope I can get further down the mountain when it hits me.

I notice out of the corner of my eye that Rainbow has ignored my pointing and has decided to launch herself at me while saying something I cannot hear over the avalanche.

20 meters before she gets to me, she is swept up by the avalanche.

I just about manage to get to my sled as the wall of snow hits me.

Author's Note

Well I had hoped to release this in December but I at least managed to release it in winter.
We have finally managed to have a meeting of the main characters!
Oh and also,

HAPPY NEW YEAR