It was cold.
It was so cold.
She didn't think she could hate the only thing that gave her comfort, but she didn't think she could even exist. She probably shouldn't think at all.
And yet she did. And she was cold.
It was another beautiful day in the snow covered town of Ponyville, the pastel residents on their merry ways to get ready for Hearth's Warming. Only a week away, it was a time of year to be busy, full of joy, and to be prepared for all the holiday mischief and fun that may ensue. And in one of the shops that made the town what it was, a stylish place known as Carousel Boutique, there were a pair of unicorns, one a pearly white with a purple mane while the other had a lavender coat and matching purple mane with a few streaks of aqua-blue. Like many of the other residents of the town, they too were getting ready for the holiday.
Rarity had a measuring tape all over Starlight's body, who for her part tried to keep still while the fashionista levitated it around and wrote down the specifics.
"Are you sure you need all this again?" she flinched a little as it wrapped around her barrel, "It can't be too far off from last year."
"Nonsense, I have to keep every dress up to code! Otherwise we might have another Macintosh incident," Starlight let out a laugh while Rarity put the tape away, writing down a few last notes, "A little more trim than last year..." she muttered under her breath, "You're not on a diet, are you Starlight?" the bug-eyed look was all the confirmation Rarity needed.
"What, no, I-" she was at a loss for words before slumping, "Yes..."
Rarity shook her head, "Take it from a regular in the area, you're not the slightest bit fat and you shouldn't listen to anybody saying otherwise."
"I know, it's just..." Starlight looked away, staring down to the fabric littered around the room, "I just haven't been that hungry lately. That's all."
There was a pause as she stared down. And then she felt Rarity's hoof on her shoulder and looked up to a worried face.
"Is everything alright, Starlight? The girls and I are here for you if you need somebody to talk to."
"I..." the words died in her throat and she pulled her stare away from those concerned eyes, "I know you all are. You're great friends, but I- I need some time to think on it."
They were still like that, letting the air rise and fall from their chests for a few brief moments before Starlight spoke up again.
"Please don't tell the others. This is something I need to do alone for now..."
Rarity sighed, upset at the request. Certainly she could give her the time she needed, but how long before something else went wrong?
"I'll keep an eye on you... But yes, Starlight. I won't breathe a word to Twilight or the others," she got a smirk on her muzzle as a thought struck her mind, "I don't think telling Pinkie would end well anyway. She'd scout you out for a month to make sure you were eating enough."
Starlight winced back, "Heh... Right. Thank you, Rarity."
They smiled for a moment before Rarity cleared her throat, "Now, onto the topic of your dress, might I suggest a nice black and blue ensemble for..." she trailed off as she saw the glowing flanks of her companion, "Oh... I think we'll have to take a raincheck on that. It appears the Cutie Map is calling for you."
Starlight glanced at her cutie marks, frowning, "And I really wanted to get this done today..." she sighed before looking up. Then Rarity spotted the surprise on her face, "But it looks like we might... Can you make them on the road?"
"Well, yes, but whatever for?" Rarity tilted her head in confusion. Starlight's only answer was to point behind Rarity, and she turned her head to see another set of glowing cutie marks, "Ah."
For as long as she knew, she knew she was a mistake. The youngest of three, each of them felt love, each of them were cared for.
But not her. To her parents she was one foal too many, one more burden, the straw that would break the camel's back. The last to be looked after, the last to finish, the last of her parent's foals. She was the last for everything. And where her siblings showed potential, each getting a mark one after the other, her flank had been left bare by whatever cruel fate existed in the world, be it Celestia, the Mare in the Moon, or the dark king Sombra. She was scorned by her family, by the world, by destiny itself.
She was a mistake.
And she was cold.
"It's about time!" Spike greeted the pair as they walked in the doors of the castle, taking a gander over the flashing flanks of the two, "It feels like months since the Cutie Map's done anything!"
"And at the most inopportune of moments at that," the pair trotted in with Spike, him leading the way through the still confusing halls of the crystalline structure, "Why in Equestria would it call for us when Twilight's busy in Canterlot?"
Starlight shrugged, "Magic can do as magic wills. Whatever the problem, we don't get a say in when it needs solving."
"It could have waited until I'd gotten your dress made..." Rarity muttered under her breath to a short laugh from the small dragon.
"Let's see where it's sending you, you might not even need to leave town!"
They walked down the halls, each hoof-fall leaving a clack on the crystal surface. It was a grand building, each room and each hall grown from the same crystal that made up the rest of the castle, it was a creation worthy of a Princess of Equestria. Though it certainly wasn't designed to be quiet, it was a place that Twilight had made her home.
Eventually after many steps across the castle, they had made it to the elusive room the Cutie Map had been placed by whatever magic governed it. The magical device was a table surrounded by seats for Twilight and each of the other six bearers of the Elements of Harmony, positioned to view the short map of Equestria that projected up from the circular surface. From the far reaches of the Gryphon Empire to the border with Yakyakistan, it showed the layout of every part of Equestria and each city and town within its borders. But the real specialty of the map came from the unique way it reacted to creatures, both equine and serpentine alike. Most commonly it used the Cutie Mark of the pony to summon them and as an emblem above where they needed to go, but when other means were necessary it was known to use anything from the head to the tail of the creature needed. It tasked them to fulfill its mission and solve whatever friendship problem had occurred, to bring peace to wherever it was they needed to go, and make Equestria a happier place.
Spike hopped up onto one of the chairs to get a good view as Rarity and Starlight walked up beside him, "Let's see, where is it sending you..."
Rarity looked a little glumly to the center of the map. Neither of their cutie marks were above or around Ponyville or Canterlot. Instead they were swirling around each other over a mountain range to the east, just within the borders of Equestria.
"Look like it'll be a few days of travel," Starlight pulled a map over from the side of the room, laying it out beside the map on the table, "Looks like the Hornhare Mountains. Aaannd... There just so happens to be a train track out that way!"
"At least our journey will be in comfort," Rarity shook her head before turning to Spike with a sweet smile, "Oh Spikey Wikey, would you be a dear and help me pack for the trip?"
"Oh, uh, yeah!" Spike puffed up his chest as he flexed his arms, "You can count on me, Rarity!"
Starlight rolled her eyes as the two left the room. She took a glance back as something itched in the back of her mind. Something was familiar about that name.
"The Hornhare Mountains..."
She hadn't meant to be a problem for anybody. But she hadn't become of any use to anyone either. She'd simply existed, too weak and frail to work the fields, unskilled in hunting and fishing, and being the youngest she was already the least precious.
Which is why she shouldn't have been surprised about what happened that winter. When the world was so cold...
The train ride had taken a day and some change to get to the nearest stop in the small town of Hoofridge and just a few miles from their destination. Rarity had gone through the process of designing, planning, and putting together a first draft for a black and blue... White and gold? Some strange dress for Starlight. It wasn't all that detailed yet, but it wasn't the worst thing she'd seen the fashionista make.
As for Starlight, she'd picked up a travel book from the library of the castle with a brief descriptor of the mountains and some surrounding myths. Apparently it got its name from the jackalopes the settlers found when they arrived. Any other stories were minor visits from historical figures and a couple local legends here and there. All in all it was a remote location to go, but it boasted a few sights to see and the ever elusive jackalopes that had their home there.
They were the only two to get off at the stop there, and only a couple of ponies got onto the train to replace them. The town was a quiet sight from the station, and while most of the townsfolk were busy with preparations for Hearth’s Warming it was still bearing all the festivities to greet ponies coming in.
“Well, it’s certainly not a Polomare Social, it’s still… Cozy,” Rarity said as they took in the view from where they stood.
“Luckily we’re not here for the view,” Starlight unrolled the map with the area marked out on it as they started trotting away from the station and onto the snow covered street, ponies passing to either side, “The Cutie Map had our marks centered over this spot here, which would be…” she gazed up above the shops and buildings to the nearby mountains, “Right up there.”
Cold, frigid, uninviting, those were a few words that one could use to describe how the Hornhare mountains looked from where they stood. They were tall and imposing, with their shadows stretching out to the east with the setting sun. They could only make out a singular lonesome path from the town going beyond the crest of a hill before disappearing towards the mountains.
“…We might not have packed heavily enough,” Rarity quipped to the side with a frown.
“I… I’m sure somepony in town is selling some hiking equipment?”
“Howdy, strangers!”
A colt’s voice sounded out from behind them. The two mares turned to see a brown earth pony with a blue mane walking up, a little shorter than they were. He had a cutie mark with a pair of skis.
“Uh, hi there?” Starlight replied nervously.
“Name’s Snow Wood, haven’t seen the two of ya’s pretty faces here before!” he gave an easy grin as he stopped a couple steps away, “Might I ask what two beautiful mares like yourselves are doing here so lost?”
“Well, we two ‘beautiful mares’ would prefer to keep that our business, thank you,” Rarity coldly raised an eyebrow, “Usually one asks a mare’s name before trying to woo them.”
“Rarity,” Starlight elbowed her while whispering, “He might know something about the mountain!”
“That doesn’t excuse being rude,” she whispered back.
“Oh, uh…” he paused for a moment as the two mares whispered, “I just noticed you staring up at the Hornhares. I s’pose y’er here about the ghost?”
Rarity and Starlight paused for a moment before turning back to him, “Ghost?” they asked in unison.
Her dad had taken her out to hunt. He said he needed her help with it and she’d been so excited she didn’t ask what she would be doing.
It was a long time they spent walking away from the cabin and out in the forest and snow. Her dad hadn’t said much, his hoof steps making up much of the noise. The steady crunch, crunch, crunch. The only times he said anything was about food, about the winter, about the cold…
And then he stopped next to a tree. It had started snowing a lot as they walked out there, and she could barely make out where he was, much less where they were. She didn’t even notice the cliff before she was falling off of it.
And with the shove, she could only make out one cold, cold word from her father.
“Goodbye.”
And then everything was cold. It was so cold… It’s so cold…
Starlight made some idle chatter as Snow pulled the cart, pulling Rarity and her several bags along with the supplies he’d gone into town for, a mixture of cheeses, nuts, and other goodies.
Apparently he and his family had been afflicted with a ghost, from crying in the woods and leaving hoofsteps deep in the snow around his family’s house, to sometimes staring at them in the night or sending shivers through their blood, general haunting etiquette.
“So how long has this been going on?” Starlight asked, trotting alongside him.
“A week or two now,” he answered while splitting focus between the icy road and his companions, “Scared aunt Pearl out’a here, that’s fer sure!”
“It sounds like you’ve got a problem with somepony pranking you,” Rarity piped up from the cart, “Ghosts don’t show up out of nowhere.”
“Speaking of, was there anything you did recently that could have disturbed the ghost?” Starlight leaned in, curious and eyes sparkling, “Messed with a grave, dropped a relic, maybe one of you insulted a witch?!”
“Well we did build a new storehouse last summer, bu' ah don't see hows it didn't come for us 'fore now if that's the reason," he shrugged, "Ma an' pa might know if'nythin' happened."
"Anything would be appreciated! It's not everyday you can find out more about a paramagical anomaly like a ghost!" she pulled a notepad out of her saddlebags, "I'll have to write down some plans!"
Rarity rolled her eyes, "And she wonders why ponies confuse her for Twilight..."
Snow Bounce kept trotting on and leading the way up the path. The trees only grew more and more dense to each side as they kept moving forward, the pines blotting out the direct rays of the sun and leaving a white canopy of icy branches above their heads. The climb was the worst part as it kept getting progressively colder with the altitude, the only thing staving it off being the pair of coats Rarity had, Snow already wearing flannel to keep warm.
It took an hour and a half to make it through the hills and the mountain, the colt guiding them over the ridges to finally see smoke coming from the chimney of a cabin with a dozen chopped trees laying in a pile near it. In the middle of a clearing it was a medium building with a few wagons crowding space around it and a pair of ponies chopping the trees into firewood, the thunks of their axes sounding out in a simple pattern.
"Hey Pa!" Snow called out as they got within hearing distance, the two ponies pausing to look up, "The ghost catchers're here!"
But Starlight stopped cold as the stallion turned to them, surprise on both of their faces.
"Is that... Heart Wood?" Starlight seemed to shrink into herself, "Oh no..."
"Hmm?" Rarity hopped off the cart to stand next to Rarity, "Whatever's the matter, Starlight?"
"Well-" she didn't get the chance to respond as the stallion came marching over, a scowl on his face. He was a tall blue earth pony with a grey mane and his own plaid flannel shirt on. He had a pair of crossed axes on his flanks for a cutie mark.
"If it isn't Starlight 'Our Town' Glimmer," his glare could only deepen, "Why did ya bring her here, son?"
"Oh, uh, y'see, she's here about... The ghost?" Snow nervously glanced between the two, "She's from Our Town?"
Starlight looked down with a grimace, taking a step back, "I- I'm sorry for what I did, but-"
"No buts!" Heartwood yelled, teeth bared in a very predatory manner, "It won't change the lies ya told them, ya told me!"
Starlight flinched back with each word, shrinking in on herself... Until Rarity put a hoof down into the snow between the two.
"Now, listen here you, you rapscallion, you!" she poked a hoof into his chest, "Starlight's been a good pony for a long while now! just because you have a few grievances doesn't mean you get to bully her away when she's here to help!"
"And can ya say that after having your mark stolen and the pony doing it gettin' off with nuthin'?!" he growled back, leaning in nose to nose with Rarity.
"Yes I can, my friends and I had that happen to us and we were the ones who fixed it!" she poked his chest a couple more times, "What did you do to stop her from doing that, hmmm???"
"Rarity..." Starlight stepped out from behind her friend, looking at Heartwood with sad eyes, "It's fine. He's right to be angry..." she took a breath in before speaking, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."
The staredown continued for a few more seconds before a cough sounded out, "Ahem, dear, you weren't going to do anything to these poor mares, were you?"
They looked to see the other pony from the cabin had walked up, wearing a red coat that was thicker than what Heartwood and Snow Wood were wearing. She was light green with a grey mane, while on her flanks sat a wooden duck.
He glared at Starlight for a second more before relenting, looking away with a sigh, "No... No I wasn't," he stood there looking at the ground before turning and going back to the cabin, "I'll finish the chopping. Yell if'n ya need me."
The mare could only shake her head as he trotted away, "That stallion can be so much trouble sometimes," she looked back up with a small but strained grin, "Hi there, I'm Honey Wood. Nice to meet you two."
"Pa's been riled up like that fer the las' few weeks," Snow rubbed the back of his, "Din't think he'd go off on ya's like that."
"It's... Fine," Starlight sighed while staring to the ground.
"Anyway," Rarity stepped forward to introduce herself with a bow, "I'm Rarity Belle and, as you might have guessed, this is Starlight Glimmer."
"I gathered that," she gave a deadpan look to the purple unicorn, "I can't say I'm too fond of you myself... But we can put that aside for now. Why'd you bring 'em, Snow?"
He had unhitched from the cart for the moment to walk up and point out a direction in the woods, "They're here abouts the ghost in the trees. They said they might be able ta do something."
"Really now?"
Starlight nodded when Honey turned to her and Rarity, "We're here to help."
"And regardless of her past, I'd say you should accept. Who would be more qualified to fix a ghost problem than the mage responsible for Our Town?" Starlight winced at that while Honey snorted, though she had a grin on her face.
"Alright, I'll bite. You two can stay in the guest room for the time being while we work out the ghost huntin'," she gestured to Snow, "Bring their bags up while I show 'em where the problem is."
She didn't bother to confirm her son's obedience before she was walking out towards the tree line, Rarity and Starlight hurrying to keep up.
She didn't remember waking up. She didn't remember falling asleep. She just remembered existing.
She was in snow. She was cold. She was at the edge of a cliff, looking out to the stars.
'Stars? So... Beautiful...' It was a sight she didn't want to leave, something to never forget.
But she was pulled away, away from the cliff, away from the stars, like a rope around her heart. She could almost see it, it was so strong. Around tree after tree, through the woods, she saw something new.
'A... House?'
And she was curious. And she was cold.
The ghost had first appeared around the edge of the clearing the cabin rested in. It left hoofprints in the snow and stood watching the building at night, though they never saw more than a shadow. There were the occasional trails right up to the windows, but never any farther or closer to the door.
The family had tried to find out its cause only to hear weeping and crying in the woods when they chased after it, hooftracks wandering in circles, chills running from their coats to their marrow, and the haunting shadow always out of reach yet ever present in the trees. It had left the area almost lifeless, what wildlife there was scattering out and away to the other mountains in the range. The family out there for Hearth's Warming had already up and left, tails turned and over to Manehatten. It had gotten to the point that they'd given up hope of anything happening.
"...and that's when we sent a letter to some folks in Canterlot yesterday, but we didn't expect company so soon," they were back from the tour of the area around the cabin and the hooftracks still littered around, now sitting at a wicker table with a fire pumping smoke through the chimney. Honey set down the kettle after pouring a few tin cups of tea, "Thought we might've had ta wait till winter wrap-up to see this fixed."
"Luckily we have a different way to know when there's a problem," Starlight took a sip of her tea. 'Seems like a simple enough Friendship Quest...' "We can get started tonight and see what the ghost does."
Rarity nodded in agreement, "I think we should start with what happened around the time it arrived? Any momentous occurrences out of the ordinary, dear?"
"Like skeletons, meteors, ancient witch-"
Rarity popped a hoof up to Starlight's muzzle to stop the ramble from starting, "I think she understands what 'out of the ordinary' means, Starlight."
"Eheh..." she hid a blush behind her cup.
"It's quite alright," Honey had a small smile, "I think that it started right after Heart made a big delivery of lumber up north. He was rather secretive about where it was all headed, but he promised it wasn't for anything nefarious," she tapped a hoof to her chin as she recalled, "I believe he was a mighty bit irritated when he got back, though the payments were all in order and everything was fine. I didn't have the chance to ask him what was wrong 'fore the ghost business started up."
"Up north..." Starlight paused, thoughts flowing through her head before her face dropped a little, "From here, that's the direction of Our Town."
That grabbed both of the other mare's attentions.
"Ponies still live up there?" Honey asked.
"Last I checked, they were reorganizing how the town was run a month and a half ago," Starlight grimaced, "I didn't stick around too long. Just enough to see that they're okay..."
"Well, if Mr. Wood is making deliveries up there, it sounds like there's a bit of expansion planned," Rarity emptied her tea in a final swallow, "I suppose he's still quite attached to the friends he made there."
"Attached?" Honey let out a laugh, "He almost couldn't shut up about them when he first came back. The world he experienced, the joy when they all got their cutie marks back..." her smile slipped off bit by bit as she continued, "How sorry he was... How stupid he felt... He was pretty shaken up about it all."
"He sounds like a very caring stallion."
Rarity paused to look over to the silent Starlight, her eyes cast down. The cup of tea she'd been drinking sat half full on the table while she slumped.
"...Are you alright, Starlight?"
There was a pause before she stood up, walking away from the room, "I'm gonna go outside and see if I can find that ghost."
They heard her pull the coat on and the creaking of the door, sitting and listening to the fire crackle in a dead mood.
"Sigh... She's changed a lot since Our Town," Rarity broke the silence, letting her own cup rest with a thunk, "She's grown so much as a pony, as a hero... But she can't escape that guilt, can she?"
Honey mirrored the fashionista letting the cup rest on the table while going over to pat Rarity on the shoulder, "She's most rightly not the mare my husband talked about, not anymore. I can imagine having that weight on your shoulders would be too much for a good many ponies."
"Ohhh, what am I to do though!" she stretched her hooves out while leaning back on the chair, much to Honey's amusement.
"And Heart says I overreact," she shook her head, "Just be there for her, be a friend. That's all you can do until she can move past it herself."
Rarity was about to reply when she heard a yell from outside. Both she and Honey bolted upright at the sound.
"Starlight!"
The cabin looked familiar to her, yet so far removed from what she knew. It was a place of heat and warmth in spite of the fresh snow that had fallen around it. There were many ponies inside, being jolly and being happy. It was hard to see, hard to be near. It was painful to look at what she didn't deserve.
But what pulled her heart was the one pony to the side, a smile on his face while something ate at him from the inside. Something so familiar.
He was cold. The hottest of flames to the side, yet in his heart there was nothing but coldness. And she couldn't help staring in, her own cold life reaching a solidarity with him.
And that's when the other ponies felt it. Felt her. Felt cold.
Starlight had only meant to step out to look around the trees, to calm herself down, to find the ghost, she wasn't too sure of which guided her hooves. She passed by the pair of stallions tying together bunches of chopped wood and loading them onto the wagons, Snow giving her a wave while Heart didn't even bother acknowledging her. Instead he focused on the twine and splintered pine in front of him.
She couldn't blame him as she passed by. She didn't even know if she could say anything back. She just trotted along, one hoof in front of another all the way to the trees.
And that's where the ghost found her.
"Cold..."
She looked up from the snow, glancing around in a panic, "Who- Who's there?!"
"So... Cold..." the whisper grew louder.
A hoof fell in front of her, transparent, black, making her jump back. She heard one of the stallions making their way over behind her, but she couldn't tear her focus as she moved her gaze up the leg to the blank and transparent eyes of the mare in front of her.
"You're so... Cold..." she suddenly leaned in, "You made him cold too..." her eyes narrowed to a glare, "Your fault..."
And then before she could even fire up a spell, her hoof was grabbed as she was pulled into the woods with a yell.
It went on for weeks as she stared out at the house. Ponies left one by one until only two stayed with the cold stallion, the warmest ones of all.
And yet he was so cold. He never stopped being cold. She would make him warm if she could, yet he always stayed like her.
She didn't know how to feel. She was a mistake. She shouldn't exist. Yet here she was, abandoned and watching on as others became like her.
'It's not fair...'
Until the day another cold pony came, a cold mare with another warm pony with her. She couldn't help but see the spark of heat, of rage, build up in one cold pony as the other became as ice, colder and colder. It was odd. It was strange. But she wasn't so naive as to not see the connection. Not so much as the child she was to not know what had to happen.
So she would grab that mare, and take her to where the cold began for her.
She would stop her cold. She would make the mare stop being like her. And the other ponies would get better. She was sure of it.
If only she could be warm too... But she would stay cold... So cold...
Rarity and Honey charged from the cabin with barely the time to grab their coats. Snow was just getting away from the wagon while they saw Heart charge into the trees. There wasn't time to ask questions, to wonder at what happened, only the time to kick up the snow and charge after him with only Rarity's horn to she light on the way.
Twists and turns around pines clawing out to the sky, branches laden with snow to send chills as they pushed past. The branches lost their needles the farther they went, the snow getting thinner on the trees as they went after Heart and Starlight. It was a long chase, leaving them breathless and cold before ending up at a cliff.
Heart had a hold on Starlight as they arrived, hooves gripped around hers while something almost monstrous held stoicly to the hind legs.
A mass of shadows and hooves, she stood twice the height of a normal mare. Her head was at and odd angle as she gazed down to the ponies, icicles lining from her muzzle to her barren flanks. And through her being, Rarity could see the night sky and the stars shine through, the coat of the mare, the ghost, doing nothing to stop the light as she dragged the two closer to the edge.
"Let go... She's cold... She made you cold..." the words didn't seem to come out in time with the ghost's mouth, "Let me stop her...!"
"Oh no you don't!" Rarity charged forward, her own hoof grabbing onto Starlight's, Snow and Honey grabbing her and Heart's hind hooves, "You let go of her, you beast!"
"Stop it!" Heart yelled out, glaring up to the mare, "Don't do this!"
The halt was so sudden that they felt themselves shake in the game of tug of war.
"Why... Why help her?" her head twisted even more to the side, eyes wide and staring, "She hurt you... She made you cold..."
He took a moment to catch his breath while looking up to the shadowy ghost, hooves still clutching Starlight, "I don't care! She don't deserve it, so you can't do it!"
She looked down blankly. An unreadable expression fell over the twisted head before she backed up, letting Starlight fall to the snow, everypony falling back with her.
"Starlight!" Rarity pulled her into a hug, letting the mare shiver in her hold, "Oh, thank goodness you're alright!"
"Yes... Thank you..." she whispered back, looking over to the ghost as she walked over to the edge. Heart Wood was walking up to her side.
"You've been dodging us for weeks, doin' nothing... But why do this? Why try and hurt her?!"
She looked down the cliff to the snow far below, down to the rocks littered around the edge and the barren trees crowded around it, "You were so cold... She made you that way. I wanted to make you warm again... Stopping her would make you warm..." she glanced back up to meet his eyes, "My family was cold too."
Honey raised a hoof to her mouth in shock while Heart just frowned. He sighed, kicking up the snow at his hooves, "Just cause she made me like this don't mean killin' her would do anythin'. It'd just cause a lotta pain, that's what."
"But I was cold... They needed me gone to be warm..." she looked down again, "Were they wrong...?"
"Nopony deserves that," Starlight spoke up, exiting Rarity's embrace, "Whoever they were, what happened to you was wrong."
The ghost didn't say anything in reply, simply looking up to the sky.
Rarity walked up next to the other two, the shadowy mare flinching back when she strode up beside her, "Listen, whatever your past was, you're here with us now. Maybe... You simply need somepony to help you out, hmm?"
"I've been so cold... You're so warm..." she looked down, reaching a tentative hoof out to the fashionista, "I... I'd like that..."
There wasn't a chance for anypony else to respond before Rarity and Starlight's flanks started sparking up with a glow. They glanced down with surprise only to see the ghost start glowing too. The light pulled off the cutie marks to reach the mare, wrapping around the shadows and melting off the ice and snow. Bit by bit her impressive height shortened, her hooves grew smaller, until a flash went out to light up the night while the ponies covered their eyes. Each one was shocked as their hooves fell to see what had become of the shadowed mare.
"Come on, let's gooo!" the filly cried out from he bundle of a coat around her, jumping up and down in the snow. Starlight just laughed along.
"Alright, alright, we're going!" she shook her head with a smile, "I'm never gonna get used to these Cutie quests."
She and Rarity followed the grey filly out of the cabin with Heart and the other Woods just behind them.
"Yer' sure yer' fine with her goin' with ya?" Honey asked with a smile, "We'd be happy to have 'er live with us!"
"Well, it was her choice after all," Rarity looked a little haggard, but boasted a smile nonetheless, "I'll just need to explain Belle Wood to the others... Oh boy..."
"Be sure to come back and visit!" Snow came over to give the little filly a hug, "Ghost 'er not, yer family, yeah? So I expect ya next Hearth's Warming!"
"Promise!" she giggled before going back over to the two mares, "C'mon, mama! I wanna see Pawnyville!"
"Ponyville, dear," Rarity corrected.
"Pontyvile?"
"Ponyville."
"Horseford!"
Rarity raised an eyebrow, "Now I know you're messing with me."
Starlight giggled along with her before looking back to the Woods, "I'm glad we could get that all sorted. And... I'm sorry again, Heart. Thank you for saving me."
He looked uncomfortable before Honey gave him a small jab in the ribs, "Er, yeah... I forgive ya, Starlight. I just... I didn't have the heart to say it. I don't know why I couldn't when everypony else seems ta' have done it in Our Town."
Starlight's ears went straight up in surprise, "They have?"
Heart mirrored her surprise, "Ya' didn't know that?" they held that look for a few seconds, eyes staring back into each other before he broke down into a slow laugh, head falling with the chortle, "Gah-hahaha! You didn't know? They wanted all the wood ta make the town pretty enough fer you to come back and visit! Don' tell me you didn't even talk to 'em?"
Rarity just gave a short chuckle back nervously, "It sounds like I have some things to check on too..." she shook her head, "Thank you again, Heart. Happy Hearth's Warming."
They waved back in goodbye while making their way down the road and back to the town, the Woods looking on with smiles. They waved back, continuing until the three had crested a ridge and were no longer visible.
"What a strange pair of ponies," Snow chuckled while going back inside.
"So, feelin' better now?" Honey rested her head on his neck, "Not so 'cold' now, are ya?"
"No..." he smiled down to her, "Not in the least dear."
Author's Note
It was the day after Hearth's Warming, and Snow was outside chopping up wood. It was a jolly holiday for the whole lot of them, and the cakes and pies and whatnot were the best things in a while. He wouldn't have traded that day for the world.
But he heard the sound of trumpets fill the air while a carriage flew down through the sky to land in the front yard. It was a royal gold and white with a pair of pegasus in royal armor at the head, but he didn't have time to look at that before a purple mare with her own wings and a horn was out the door and marching toward him.
"Where's the ghost?!"
"Don't got no ghost no more, somepony fixed it."
"What- you can't just-" she leaned in with a glare, "Who?"
"Er, Starlight Glimmer?"
The mare's eye twitched before she took in a deep breath, looking up to the sky, "STARLIIIIIIIIIGHT!!"
