They rebuilt the town.

The ..-. .. .-.. .-.. -.-- was ..-. --- .-. --. --- - - . -.

.-- .... --- / .-- .- ... / ... .... . ..--.. ?

Oh, that's right.

"I really hope we aren't imposing or anything, given you just came back and all, but when Olive came announcing your arrival, I couldn't wait any longer."

The old stallion waved an aged hoof in the direction of the alicorn, his expression sour. He was a thin and lanky old man, with curly white hair and a matching beard that hung low from his face. His coat was a pale, almost sickly - looking shade of lavender, but he certainly didn't act sick.

"Yeah, yeah. Long as yous ain't causin' me no trouble, we won't have an issue."

Two days had passed since the small meetup with Snowflake. The following day would be Hearthswarming. Even so, it didn't seem this was a holiday the Frost Village residents took part in, or at the very least, they only did so from the confines of their homes. Pinkie Pie had made an active attempt to bring the holiday spirit alive in the town with the smallest of celebrations held in the inn (with Merry's permission of course), but it had seemed more like a party thrown for a bunch of rocks than sentient beings. A good amount didn't even seem to know what Hearthswarming was. Olive Glow sneaked in halfway through to alert Twilight of the Mayor's return, and Fluttershy tagged along, simply wanting to be out and away from the awkward party setting.

"I should tell ye now, however," the old stallion said, his mouth curving upwards into a near sinister smirk, "I ain't entitled to do nothin' for you just because you're royalty. If you couldn't tell, we ain't welcoming to yer kind."

The way he said the last sentence caused Twilight to flinch, but she nodded and cleared her throat, taking on the diplomatic stance and tone that she had practiced time and time again. Granted, this wasn't a meeting with Equestrian dignitaries, but it was just as important, if not more. "Mayor, I have a few questions for you if you wouldn't mind answering for me."

"Excuse me, I hope I'm not interrupting." Olive Glow's head peeked from around the corner of the kitchen, upon it balanced a wooden tray with three porcelain cups on top of it. "I made you all some tea, as a compensation for putting this together so late. I won't bother you again, promise!"

Mayor's eyes seemed to visibly brighten upon Olive's appearance, but they returned to their cold form once she had left the trio of ponies alone once again. "She's a good kid, that Olive Glow. Came into town out of nowhere, she did. Didn't have the foggiest idea where she came from. Yer lucky she's on yer side, alicorn. Otherwise I'd've beat yer head in just for stepping hoof on this land."

Fluttershy visibly gulped at the threat, shrinking back in her seat as though it were directed towards her, when in reality, Mayor didn't even seem to notice she was in the room. Likewise, Twilight's full attention was directed solely on the stallion across from her. There was a long, drawn out silence as an unspoken staring contest ensued, Fluttershy's panicked eyes switching from between her friend and their host.

After a while, Twilight broke the silence. "I suppose it'd be most appropriate to ask first, then," she sighed, closing her eyes, "why is it exactly that alicorns are looked down upon so strongly here?"

The stallion scoffed, taking a sip from his tea. Twilight caught a whiff of the unfamiliar combination of strawberries, cider and cinnamon, yet she thought nothing of it.

"Alicorns are looked down upon because we ain't got any reason to look up to 'em. I'm sure y'all've spoken to the librarian, heard about the storm a decade ago. Biggest damn blizzard we ever seen."

The alicorn nodded. "Amethyst told us about the lack of assistance from the princesses, yet I'm having a hard time entirely believing that."

Mayor chuckled to himself, taking another sip of his tea. "Of course you would. If what I hear from visiting travelers is correct, you are the 'prized pupil' of the Princess of the Sun herself. Ah, but don't be so quick to disprove what that filly says. She's mad, but her words ain't all wrong."

"So... it's true then...?" Fluttershy asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Were you really rejected by the princesses?"

He opened his mouth as though to speak, but closed it again shortly after, a look of worry crossing his features. His scowl returning, he simply waved away the inquiry. "What a stupid question. That's what I said ain't it?"

"Something here isn't adding up..." Twilight muttered to herself, staring down at her hooves. "Something about this story feels incomplete. Mayor, could you recount the events of that time to us?"

Mayor rolled his eyes. "Well it started out like any other blizzard, violent winds, snow, the whole kit and kaboodle. A good number of ponies were misplaced that day, houses blown over, fillies, colts, mares and stallions alike were forced to seek refuge in the sturdier buildings. I had to take in a few of the kiddos m'self. Olive Glow, Snowflake, and another little colt, Thorn." He paused to think for a moment. "A few of the townsponies reported they'd seen some little filly out in the snow then, but she was completely unidentifiable. I brushed it off as a mass hallucination, honestly. A trick of the light or some weird illusion caused by the wind kickin' up the snow like mad."

Olive Glow, Snowflake and Thorn, growing up together? And what of that filly? Was Thorn's death connected to all this in any way?

Twilight's thoughts were racing back and forth in her head, and from the look on Fluttershy's face, her's were doing the exact same. "What about Olive and the others you raised? Did you notice anything strange about their interactions with one another?" Twilight asked.

"They were like normal kids." Mayor shrugged. "Olive was always an upbeat, happy type, you'd never think she was an orphan at all. Took in this little white rabbit that she's kept around ever since. Even though she obviously wasn't from the town before the storm hit, I figured she'd make a rather promising leader someday. Snowflake was always a silent, artist type. She and Olive had their petty arguments, but girls'll be girls I s'pose. Her relationship with Thorn, however, that was somethin' special. The boy was a real promisin' blacksmith, that is, until his passin'..."

The old stallion trailed off, a faraway look gathering in his eyes, and Twilight felt bad for the request she was going to make. It felt necessary.

"Can you tell us about Thorn's death?"

A look of dread crossed Fluttershy's features as she turned to her friend, as though pleading with her not to ask this one question. But, the deed was done. Mayor's scowl entirely faded, and beneath the wrinkles and white whiskers was the face of not only a crotchety, sad old man, but a father. A stallion who had faced more pain and loss than simple words could describe.

"It was sudden, I can tell yous that much. He an' Olive were out in the forest just outside of town, and next thing I know, Olive Glow comes screamin' an' cryin' out of there, calling that the boy'd been impaled. And... sure enough, there he was, stuck by an icy rock. I refused to tell Snowflake what had really happened to 'im, but she was hurt by it either way."

There was another prolonged silence, but this one was filled with grief and sorrow, rather than the tense hatred that hung in the air previously.

"I see." Clearing her throat, Twilight stood, and she gestured for the pegasus beside her to do the same. Fluttershy wordlessly followed her friend towards the door, but not before she caught the mayor's voice silently speaking towards them.

"I don't know what you fillies are trying to prove, or find out, but whatever it is, you ain't gonna find it here. Too much time has passed."

"What are we gonna do, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, her voice small and quavering with fear.

"I don't know..." The alicorn replied, looking up at the sky, which was dotted with hundreds of stars, seemingly stretching endlessly across the vast blanket of the night. "Something isn't right. I don't know what it is, but it just isn't adding up. There are so many sides to this story..."

"We haven't spoken to Olive Glow herself yet..." Fluttershy offered, but the almost menacing look she received from Twilight was all it took to avoid exploring the thought any further.

The alicorn sighed upon seeing her friend's slightly fearful reaction. "I'm sorry, I'm just... stressed, I suppose. All of this, everything that's going on, it's a lot." Turning to the pegasus, she placed a hoof on her shoulder. "We can't tell the others about this interview."

To this, Fluttershy was visibly confused. "What are you talking about? Don't you think they should know about this?"

"No, no I don't. It's already bad enough that the other girls suspect Olive Glow of having done something incriminating that ties into all of this madness, and with the stares of an entire town on my back I'd rather not have to worry about their opinions on this as well. Promise me you won't tell them?"

After a short while, Fluttershy sighed and said, "I promise."

"Thank you." Twilight smiled. "You should probably head back to the inn. If it makes you feel any better, I'll talk to Olive Glow myself, although I highly doubt her story will be any different from what we've heard already."

The pegasus nodded and did as instructed, flying alone back to the tall building further along the endless street. Twilight walked in the opposite direction, towards the tiny cottage she had nearly memorized by now. It wasn't until then, however, that Twilight had overlooked one very important detail.

Olive Glow wasn't from this town.

Author's Note

Howdy!

Wow, it feels like ages since I've updated. Well, here I am! Honestly, I just want to express how excited I am to have finally made it to this chapter, mainly because from here, things'll be really kicking into high gear

But that's all I'll say on that-