The cold Manehattan winter wind was a painful thing even for the staunchest of earthponies a thick coat was an absolute must to brave the cutting cold if they were to go out at all. Most of the residents of Manehattan chose that on winter days when the wind whistled though the city skyscrapers, it was best to stay home by the fireplace with hot chocolate and marshmallows. And those that had homes to go to did, but not everypony in Equestria was so lucky as to have a home to go to.
A soft porcelain white pegasus filly, no older than ten, with a porcelain blue mane and tale, walked down a small side street hugging close to the stone brick of the building using it as a wind breaker. Wrapped tightly around her was a thread bare dirty blanket which though once being a vibrant pink had now become the color of mud. She pulled it tighter around her as she saw the wind, via the snow, slow down for a moment. She made her staggered run across the street. Her hooves went deep into the snow, her legs nearly completely disappearing with each struggled step. At the curb on the other side she tripped falling neck deep into the snow before getting back to her hooves and pushing her way into the next alleyway.
Teapot curled up into a little ball as a coughing fit threw her to the ground. At least in the alleyway the snow wasn’t as deep and the building she was up against was shielding her from the worst of the wind. She got back up as the coughing fit passed, and continued walking to the end of this alleyway. She had just five more such runs left to make before she could make it to the soup kitchen.
She pushed on with crossing the streets whenever the wind slowed down from their heavy gusts. The only good thing was that all of the streets of Manehattan, that were normally filled with wagons were now completely empty and devoid of all traffic. The seven block walk that in the spring or summer which would normally have taken her only a few minutes had taken nearly an hour, but she had finally made it to the soup kitchen. She slipped in and moved quietly. The room smelled like unwashed ponies and thick chicken noodle soup.
Teapot got to the end of the line and waited her turn to get to the server. The line was longer than normal, many of the ponies here weren’t the usual ponies she was used to seeing so she just pulled her blanky around her and tried not to make eye contact with any of them. It was never a safe prospect to make eye contact with a pony you didn’t know. When her turn finally came a bowl was filled up with noodle, carrot bits, and broth, the pony behind the counter even gave her a small piece of bread to eat along with her soup. She gave the pony a smile for thanks before slinking over to a little corner sitting on the floor to eat her food. She kept her blanky tight around her especially in places like this one. So many ponies she didn’t know, it was best to just be small eat her food and keep her blanky around her, the blanky would keep her warm and safe. She’d told herself that ever since her mom had found it in a small second hoof store, back when it had been a vibrant pink instead of the muddy brown it was now. She quickly finished her food before taking the bowl back to the server ponies. If it hadn’t been so busy, she’d have stayed there but with so many ponies she didn’t know she left as quietly as she come.
The cold wind and the icy snow cut into her as soon as she stepped out side the by comparison warm building. She struggled to get back to her hidey hole. Teapot stumbled though the snow not once stopping for the wind to die down. Despite the warm soup she’d just eaten, but the time she crossed the first street she was already chilled to her core, and the snow was only getting harder. She pushed on, but things stopped looking familiar after twenty blocks. She looked around but all the big buildings weren’t right. This wasn’t home. Home had been warm with Mommy and Daddy, a small fire and a puppy, out in a small village, not here. She panicked and started running, she tripped in the snow falling time and time into the white freezing powder before finally finding something that looked familiar, a large building that she’d passed when she and her mommy and daddy had first come to this city.
She just needed to follow this street. Mommy and Daddy would be looking for her, they wouldn’t leave her alone they just wouldn’t she reasoned trudging through the snow. Her legs already numb. She looked up forgetting where she was before remembering that mommy and daddy were at a park with lots and lots of pretty statues, that was the last place she’d seen them. They came here with all their friends and they went to the statue park. That was the last time she’d seen mommy and daddy. She pushed through the snow wrapping blanky around her even tighter. Until she finally made it to the statue park. Hundreds of stones stuck up from the ground some small some with elaborate pony statues on them. All of them had pony names some of them had two pony names. Teapot walked into the park pushing open the wrought iron gate into the park, this was the last place she’d seen mommy and daddy surely, they were looking for her here. Teapot walked down row after row of stone until she saw them standing over by a rock and waving for her. She pushed her way over to them. They were having a picnic by one of the rocks. She lay down in the snow next to them. They looked just like she remembered. Mommy started to hum and daddy sang to her, her favorite lullaby. She closed her eyes and slowly let go of her blanky falling asleep in the snow next to the rock that had mommy and daddy’s name on it. Closing her eyes for the last time as the wind blew her blanky away.
