Near Miss woke up early the next day. She had slept fitfully, having had to awaken several times to re-heat the space heater, and as such was in a somewhat sour mood. Looking around, Near saw bat-butt hanging by her bat butt in the normal bat-butt position, but Spleens' butt was nowhere to be found. Trusting bat-butt to have survived the night, Near Miss exited the caravan.

"Good morning Near!" Spleens said more loudly than Near Miss would have liked. "I've made potato pancakes, would you like some?"

Near Miss was not ready for talking and just held up a hoof before trotting off to a nearby bush to urinate before she slowly made her way back, feeling somewhat more capable of socializing. "So what have you made for breakfast?" Near said as she properly looked at Spleens for the first time that morning.

Spleens was glowing in the literal sense.

The snow around her hooves had all melted away, as had that in the paths about which she must have used while cooking. Looking at her friend, Near Miss had to shade her eyes with a hoof as she shook her head to rid herself of her sleep inertia.

"Potato pancakes!" Spleens replied excitedly as she hopped up and down in place. "It's shredded potatoes formed into a pancake shape and then cooked on a frying pan with a bit of oil. I also put a little bit of mango in the middle of most of them for you and Long Shot."

An instant after Spleens spoke the word 'mango' Near heard a commotion from within the caravan. However, at the moment, that commotion was not Near's primary concern. "Spleens! You're glowing! Why are you glowing!?" She said as a bat pony landed face down into the snow nearby.

Spleens stopped bouncing in place, her left forehoof and right hindhoof held up in the air, before looking at her raised forehoof, rotating it slowly as she did so. "I-I-I." Spleens said as she looked back up towards Near Miss and the just-getting-to-her-feet Long Shot. "There's love here," Spleens finally said, "There's so much love here. It's in the air, the trees, even the snow. Somepony was loved deeply here. So deeply that they- that they,"

"That they what?" Long Shot shouted.

"That they-" was all Spleens was able say before she collapsed.

Author's Note

Comments and questions are always treasured here. I won't spoil the plot [lol butt jokes], but I'm always happy to clear up anything else I can.