The girls had spent the last few hours chatting about their past memories when they were friends, and all the videos they had made together. It had been about 6 hours, and no one had seen the smoke from their fire yet. The girls must have been very deep in the forest, because no one had come to rescue them. They had managed to continue talking about things on and off, various subjects from school to their favourite colours.

They had gotten up every hour or so to move around, just to keep warm and keep them wider awake. Minty had just finished taking a short run around the fire, and Frosty was doing lunges and jumping up and down.

“Do you think we can stop now?” Minty asked, sitting down on the ground and panting.

“Yeah, for now,” Lightning said as she stopped jumping. Frosty also stopped to take a breath, but she started coughing harshly, sinking to the ground. She coughed for a few seconds, and it didn’t sound very good. Minty was beginning to get worried.

“Are you alright?” Minty asked, walking over to her.

“I’m fine,” Frosty said before coughing a few more times. Minty helped her to sit up properly, as well as she could.

After another hour or so, the sky finally seemed to get a little lighter.

“I love the sunrise,” Minty said quietly. “Although, I’m never awake early enough to see it.”

“I’m usually up before the sunrise but I never stop to watch it,” Lightning commented. She looked down at the snowy ground, hoping the sun would make it at least a little bit warmer. It must have been the 23rd of December now.

“I really love my family,” Frosty spoke up. “I wish I told them more often.”

“You can tell them again,” Lightning said. “When we get out of here.”

Frosty scoffed. “When.”

“What was that?” Lightning asked.

“You said ‘when’ we get out of here,” Frosty said. “You think anyone is going to find us? Where do you think everyone else could be? It’s been almost a day.”

“Someone is going to come,” Lightning reassured her. “They’ll notice that the train never came back and send someone out looking for us.”

“But they’ll probably look near the location of the crash,” Frosty told her. “Not anywhere close to where we are. We shouldn’t have wandered so far, now they won’t even be able to locate us. We were probably thrown off the train when it crashed, and who knows how far…and who else could have survived that?”

Things were starting to become too much for her. The hunger, thirst, and exhaustion, she didn’t know how much longer she could go on like this for. “They think I’ve died,” she slowly said.

“No, they’re going to be-”

“How do you know?!” Frosty snapped, getting to her feet and standing by the fire. “I’m sick of this. We’re slowly freezing to death, and we can’t do anything about it. If no one finds us today, I don’t know how we would survive another night out here because if it snows, our fire will go out. And it looks like it’s about to anytime! I’m sick of these back-and-forth thoughts, and fearing the worst, and…”

She couldn’t say another word before she started sobbing, burying her face in her hands. Lightning just stared at her for a minute, never having seen her like that before. She realized that nothing she could say would help at this point. Instead, she walked up to Frosty and wrapped her arms tightly around her. Frosty looked surprised, but returned the hug anyways.

After a couple minutes, as the girls pulled away from each other, Frosty was still crying but significantly less than before. Both girls smiled at each other and looked over at Minty, who was smiling widely. Lightning quickly stepped back from Frosty, remembering that they weren’t friends anymore and that she was still mad at her. Although, in that moment, she felt a little warmer having these girls with her.

~.~.~.~.~.~

For the rest of the day, they stayed in the same area. If someone were to come looking, they would find them more easily if they weren’t moving around. The girls could try walking in one direction and get back to where the accident was, but it could also take them even farther away.

They kept up a conversation throughout the day, and managed to get along quite well, considering they didn’t have a choice. It distracted them from the cold and hunger, and prevented them from falling asleep.

By evening, there was still no sign of anyone. The 3 girls sat around the fire trying to keep as warm as possible. Frosty hadn’t said much of anything, and just wanted more than anything to go home.

The sun was setting again and it felt even colder than the previous day if that was possible. Minty had eventually suggested that they could go find some more sticks so in case this fire went out, they could build another. Right now, it was the only thing keeping them from freezing to death.

Lightning had offered to go with her, saying she could use some exercise to warm up as well. The 2 girls walked through the woods nearby, looking for sticks, but not having much luck.

“It’s weird, you know?” Minty said, picking up a small twig. “I was just thinking about you when I was getting on the train.”

Lightning looked at her. “Oh, you were?”

“And all the fun things we did,” Minty said. “How we first met, and our connection was instant. I thought we would really be friends for a long time.”

“Me too,” Lightning said, pulling a loose stick off of a tree. “And then you guys decided to kick me out of your channel, and for what? Just because we found different interests?”

“It’s not that,” Minty said. “I mean, not for me anyways. I think it’s fine if you don’t want to do everything with us, we still had lots of fun making videos. But it just hurt, every time you rejected us and not only that, you had to tell us the things we enjoyed were ‘lame’ and a waste of time.”

“They are,” Lightning replied. “And now we’re not friends, so that’s that.” They continued walking slowly, searching for more sticks. Lightning did think to herself whenever she saw Minty and Frosty comforting each other or hugging, she wished she had something like that.

Minty stopped and looked around. “That’s it?”

“Looks like it,” Lightning said. “Okay, this is not so good. If that fire goes out…”

Minty understood, finishing for her. “We’re probably not going to make it.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

“Do you think if I cried…it would turn into ice?” Minty asked the others as they sat around the small fire. It was becoming darker, and much colder.

“Probably,” Lightning said. The girls looked at her a moment later when she coughed loudly, and it sounded quite painful too.

“Are you alright?” Minty asked, still sitting on the other side of the fire.

Lightning nodded. “I’m fine,” she tried to take a deep breath before coughing again.

Minty eventually moved next to her and touched her hand. “You’re absolutely freezing,” she commented.

“Well, of course I’m freezing!” Lightning said. “It’s probably 10 degrees out and we’ve been stuck here for days! But hey, at least it’s not snowing.” She added, remembering to think positive. It’s what she had been telling the others the entire time, but it was only now she realized that it had been more of a reminder to herself. And positive thinking could only get you so far.

“Um…guys?” Frosty spoke up, reaching her hand out and looking up at the sky. “I think it may be snowing.”

Minty looked up as well, and noticed a few snowflakes falling down. “It is,” she said.

“Well, hopefully it doesn’t snow too much,” Lightning said, but just as she finished, she snowflakes got larger and heavier.

“Just stop,” Frosty glared at her.

“Oh yeah, like I made that happen,” Lightning said sarcastically. “Sorry for being hopeful.”

Minty was shaking more, glancing at the fire. “The fire is going to go out soon,” she whispered.

“We can make a new one,” Lightning suggested.

“That’s not going to work,” Frosty said plainly. “We already looked for wood, and even if we found any now, it’s all going to be wet from the snow.”

Lightning went to stand up. “We could look around and gather some really fast before it gets wet.”

“There’s no point in lighting a fire while it’s snowing,” Frosty told her. “It’s not going to last anyways.”

Lightning sat down again, staring at the fire, or rather what was left of it. She reached her hands over the fire and tried to warm them up.

“The snow is actually so beautiful, if you’re in the right place,” Minty laughed slightly. “I love the view from my bedroom, on the second floor of the house. When you look outside, it’s just so pretty. The lights of Canterlot City in the background…” She looked off thoughtfully.

“The fire is out,” Frosty commented. “It’s about to get a whole lot colder.”

~.~.~.~.~.~

Frosty turned out to be right. About half an hour later, it had gotten even colder than before, and everyone was shivering hard.

“Alright, I’m tired of sitting here and doing nothing,” Lightning said.

Frosty looked at her strangely. “Wait…do you mean you’re bored? How can boredom possibly be on your mind when it’s this cold outside?”

Lightning stood up, struggling a bit, but getting to her feet. “No, I don’t mean I’m bored. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and do nothing while we all slowly freeze to death! Come on, we should keep walking or something, and maybe we’ll run into someone.”

“No, we should stay here,” Frosty argued. “It’s the most logical option to stay close to the scene of the crash. That way, if someone is going to find us, we won’t be too far away in the middle of nowhere.”

“If is the key word here,” Lightning said. “Look, it’s been one and a half days. We have to try something else, and I’m not going to just sit here and wait. You guys can if you want to, though. You’ll probably be much happier without me here anyways.”

“We should stay together,” Minty said once again.

Frosty stood up, shaking. “She’s right. Or else it’s going to be impossible to find all of us! If you want to go, then I can’t stop you. It could take days to find someone else, but if you want to take that chance, then go right ahead. We’re not even friends. You’re going to get yourself more lost, but that’s none of our business. You just go do your own thing like you always have. You’re selfish, Lightning Dust, and you’re gonna spend the rest of your life alone anyways.”

Lightning glared at her after those last words, before turning and running in the opposite direction. Minty stared after her, in shock of what had just happened.

Frosty sat down next to her, not saying anything for a minute, just shivering. Guilt immediately overtook her, as she regretted the last words she had said. She looked at Minty, who finally spoke up.

“I don’t think she means it,” Minty said.

“What?” Frosty asked.

“I think that’s just who she is,” Minty explained. “I’ve tried telling you this before, but you didn’t listen either. Maybe…maybe she needs us, more than anyone. Maybe instead of just leaving her with no friends, we should try harder to be the friends she needs. Look, what have we shown her about friendship by kicking her out of our channel?”

Frosty nodded slowly, thinking deeply about how it happened. Lightning had her whole life ahead of her, and if she went too far away now, nobody would find her, and then…

She stood up, getting Minty’s attention.

“What are you doing?” Minty asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m going to find her,” Frosty replied, starting to walk through the snow.

“Hey, wait,” Minty called after a minute, struggling to stand up. “I’m coming, too. You’re my best friend no matter what, and I’m not going to let you wander off in this cold by yourself. I’m coming.”

~.~.~.~.~.~

Lightning slowed down after running for about 5 minutes, the pain in her twisted ankle becoming too much to handle. She sat down next to a tree, wincing as she tried to take a deep breath. It only caused her to cough harshly again. She and Frosty both seemed to be falling sick. As she looked back where she had come from, she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Surely, she would run into someone eventually, if she could find the strength to walk again. Right now, though, she wasn’t so sure.

She was sick of everything, but mostly the back-and-forth thoughts. One minute, she would think that they were going to get out of here and that someone would find them. It was sensible that someone would realize the train never returned that day and come looking. But the next minute, she would have thoughts that nobody was going to…no, she couldn’t think about it. If she thought that way, she’d drive herself mad…and it seemed like that was what she did earlier.

Looking back what she said to the girls, about them being happier without her, she began to wonder why she even said it. Maybe some part of her wanted them to stop her, to actually care if she stayed or not, but that never happened. Her dad was the only one who cared about her, and if he didn’t make it…

Lightning shook her head, hating herself for even thinking like that. She would get out, she would find her dad, and she would still be a fighter pilot in the Airforce. This was just a little setback…everything would be fine. She struggled while using the tree beside her for support and eventually got to her feet. She didn’t need those girls, anyways.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Frosty and Minty trudged through the forest as the snow kept falling down.

“Lightning Dust?” Minty called weakly, as she had several times. She couldn’t have gone that far, could she?

“Minty,” Frosty spoke up. “We have to go back to where we were. Now we are the ones getting farther from wherever the crash was, and losing our own chances of being rescued.”

Minty turned to her. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing. If she never gets rescued, and we could have done something…” Before she could continue, Frosty began coughing harshly again, this time collapsing to the ground. “Frosty!” Minty leaned down to check on her right away. She had stopped coughing, but her eyes were drooping, and she was breathing very slowly.

“Are you okay?” Minty asked her, already knowing the answer. Frosty just stared up at her for a minute as if she didn’t hear her. “Oh, no!” Minty started to panic, looking around. “Help!”

Lightning was several yards away, but she was still able to make out Minty’s weak cry for help. She felt something inside her she hadn’t felt before…concern. Looking back to where she had come from, she turned around and started back as quickly as she could, coughing quite a bit herself. “Minty?” she called out, her voice scratchy.

“Over here!” Minty called back. Lightning saw her up ahead, and wincing with every step, she made it over to her. Frosty was on the ground and she didn’t look very good. Lightning sat down beside Minty and stared at Frosty for a minute. Frosty breathing very slowly, and her lips were blue.

“We were coming to find you,” Minty explained, keeping her eyes on Frosty. “Then she coughed like crazy and now she’s collapsed here.”

Lightning nodded, still trying to figure out why they had come after her. Didn’t they think she was a terrible friend?

“Oh no,” Minty gasped. “Her lips are turning blue!”

Lightning looked back at her right away, the thoughts of them freezing to death out here becoming much more realistic.

“Can you hear me?” Minty asked Frosty once more. Frosty nodded slowly, looking up at her. “Your lips are blue,” Minty told her.

Finally, Frosty answered between shivers. “…They- they are?”

“Yeah, do you feel okay?” Minty asked.

Frosty didn’t say anything for a while, her eyes drooping. “I’m…I’m really tired…” she responded slowly, her eyes eventually slipping shut.

“No, no!” Minty cried, trying to shake her awake. “You can’t go to sleep, Frosty! You’re the one who told us we might never wake up again! Come on!”

“Hey, Minty,” Lightning grabbed her and got her attention. “She’s passed out.”

“Well, what do we do?” Minty asked.

“I don’t know, she’s the one who knows all this,” Lightning said. “We can try to keep her warmer.” Minty moved closer to her, tears filling her eyes as the girls realized the harsh reality. If no one found them soon, they would probably not make it.

They didn’t say anything for a few minutes, but suddenly Lightning sat up and looked around.

“What was that?” she said. Minty stared at her, wiping away tears. “I heard something. I think it was a person!”

Minty sat up and after a minute, she gasped. “I heard it, too!”

The girls called out for help, using the last of their energy. For a minute, it seemed like nobody heard them, but eventually they saw a light in the distance.

“I told you so,” Lightning nudged Minty, who just laughed.

The lights got closer, and finally a young man ran up to them with a flashlight, stopping right in front of them and looking shocked. “I found them!”

⚡⭐⚡⭐⚡⭐⚡⭐⚡⭐

Author's Note

These are all chapters I wrote a while ago, just getting around to finishing them up and posting them 💕😊 I'll try to post the next one this week and not disappear for 3 months again 😂