The snow fell silently upon the streets of Manehattan. The wind howled in the distance, a low mumbling traveling through the empty town, stirring up gusts of snow as it rippled across the ground.

Once, in a time almost forgotten by some ponies, the streets had been buzzing with life and movement. Ponies walked the streets, chariots hurried down the roads, flames burned in lanterns come nightfall, but the city never slept.

Now, Manehattan stood silent and empty, its final resting place beneath a thick layer of snow and ice and bitter grief. Much was lost with the city’s fall. Much was forgotten and left to slowly wither away.

Some ponies claimed that the mere sight of the ruined city would cast a shadow over anypony’s heart, a shadow as deep as the abyss, and darker than death itself. Some claimed the city was haunted by the souls of the ponies that died in the invasion and the following war. Others claimed that the great sorrow and fear it brought had cursed the city.

In the east, the first golden rays of light broke across the frozen sea as the sun rose to greet yet another day of the cold land. The radiant light made the snow run red as with blood, and flames danced in the unyielding ice.

The dance of death as the world peaked on the edge between light and shadow, the uncertainty and fear. Fear that the next day would never come. But it always did, no matter what. Eventually, the world would step over the ledge and emerge into the light, and leave the shadows behind in an endless cycle, over and over again until nothing but dying embers remains of the world.

And even then, perhaps the dance would go on, never to be seen by mortal eyes again. A flickering flame forever held just inches away from its own death. Flickering forever and ever, long after the last ashes buried the world.

Eventually, the sun had risen high enough for its light to reach a certain building in the middle of Manehattan, a hospital built like a ring around a courtyard. The façade was cold, every door and window covered in ice.

The orb that had been suspended in the courtyard to provide light for crops and vegetables for the ponies that previously had inhabited the abandoned hospital now lay shattered and broken on the ground. The ice had caused the suspensions to break, and the orb fell, crushing several trees in its landing.

Shards littered the courtyard, and snow had begun to cover the green grass. Whatever the strange, glowing artifact had been or where it once came from was now forever lost, a mystery that would remain unsolved.

In the entrance hall of the hospital, all was quiet. Not a single movement could be seen, and the only sounds came from the small bundle of bodies, huddled up in one of the far corners of the room.

The human lost in an unfamiliar world, with his back propped up against the wall. His cloak was wrapped around him as makeshift blanket, and the head of a red pony with rainbow mane could be seen sticking out from underneath, resting just at the top of the humans chest. Next to them sat a second pony, she too wrapped in a cloak, resting the side of her body against the human’s shoulder.

No other sound could be heard throughout the entire hospital except the trio’s joined, quiet breathing.

Anton, Willow and Lilly. Three friends huddled close together for warmth. At first, they had agreed that Lilly would take the first guard, and after a few hours, she would switch with Anton and get some sleep herself.

She had fallen asleep almost instantly.

The trio was exhausted and spent, and no amount of fear or worry could keep the sleep away.

When the light of the sun pushed its way through the snow-covered windows, none of the three noticed. After a while, the light touched upon Lilly, and she stirred slightly in her sleep but didn’t wake up. Instead, she just turned away and buried her face behind the human’s shoulder, mumbling something in her sleep.

After a little while longer, the light had moved up to Anton’s face, and after a short struggle against it, he woke up and slowly opened his eyes to the morning sun. The light was blinding, and he wanted to move a hand up to his eyes. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and what had happened earlier.

He closed his eyes again when he realized that his right arm was wrapped around Willow, and that Lilly pressed herself against his left. Despite the cold, it was oddly relaxing, like waking up to your dog sleeping across your legs. Warm, comforting. And Willow wasn’t shaking from cold like he did earlier. Now he seemed calm and relaxed.

Carefully so as not to wake the others, he shifted himself a bit to get more comfortable, at least as much as it was possible on the cold floor.

A quiet yawn came from his left as Lilly woke up from his movement. She looked at him with lidded, tired eyes, her mane a complete mess and her ears flopping limply.

“So much for shifting guards, huh?” Anton said calmly, hoping not to wake Willow up as well.

“I tried to stay awake…” Lilly mumbled as she wiped her eyes with a piece of her cloak.

“Never mind.” Anton answered. “Nothing happened and we’re all still here, so no harm done.”

Lilly nodded before yawing again, and then stretched out her stiff legs, taking extra care about her left fore leg. After a moment of silence, she spoke up. “Is he going to be alright?” She looked at Willow, still sleeping in Anton’s lap.

“I hope so.” Anton looked down at the sleeping Pegasus. Even though he was obviously relaxed, he looked incredibly fragile and tiny. “But I wouldn’t be too surprised if he catches a cold.” He looked back at Lilly. She gave him an unsure look, and opened her mouth as if to say something, but promptly shut it again, and didn’t say anything else.

For a long while, they sat in silence, both of them wrapped up in their own thoughts. Lilly was contemplating how they should get out, while Anton worried about Willow.

“Hey, can I…” Lilly said, trailing off mid-sentence.

“Hm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Pretty sure you just did.” Anton answered.

Lilly gave him a long look. “Funny. But I’m trying to be serious here.”

“Fine, ask away.” Anton moved a bit, did his best to wrap Willow better in his cloak. “I’m not going anywhere anyway.”

The little unicorn scooted closer to him. “What was life like back where you come from? Tell me everything.”

“Everything?” Anton asked.

“Or anything.” Lilly said. “Please, just tell me anything, I need to think about something else for a while, I…”

Anton sighed. “Where should I begin?”

“Anywhere.”

For a short while, Anton sat silent, seemingly thinking. Then, he looked at Lilly, extended his right hand in a gesture towards her that she didn’t recognize, and then said: “Hej, Lilly. Jag heter Anton Svanström, trevligt att träffas.”

Lilly’s eyes shifted back and forth between Anton’s face and his outstretched hand. “Okay-? What are you doing?”

“Put your hoof in my hand.” Anton said. “Go on.”

She did as he said, he grasped it, gave it a little shake. “This is called a handshake. It’s how humans sometimes greet each other. And I also just told you my name and that it’s nice to meet you.”

“Huh. I don’t think I’ll ever understand your language. What’s it even called?”

“Swedish.” Anton said, then let go off her hoof. “Or Svenska. It’s not actually that hard to learn. Like, I remember this kid back in kindergarten. His family came to Sweden from America, and he learned to speak Swedish fluidly in two, three weeks.”

“America?” Lilly wondered. “What’s that?”

“A different country, that’s… It’s actually a lot like Equestria, oddly enough.”

“Really, how so? I thought you didn’t have any ponies where you come from.”

“Not like that, but.. I don’t know how to explain it. Probably because I don’t understand it myself. Take this Manehattan for instance. America has a place called Manhattan, and they both look pretty fucking similar.”

“That’s… Yeah, that’s odd, to say the least.” Lilly said.

“I wouldn’t be too surprised if there’s even more similarities, but…” Anton furrowed his eyebrows in thought. “I wonder if there’s a different version of Sweden here – a pony version.”

“No idea.” Lilly answered. “But maybe we could find something in some geography books? We could go and have a look upstairs, see if the library survived the ice.”

“Kanske det. But what about Willow?” Anton asked. “I can’t leave him alone here, and it’s probably not a good idea to go carrying him around.”

“You could stay here with him, I’ll go myself.” Lilly said, and then made a move to get up.

“No.” Anton answered instantly. “You’re not going anywhere alone, and neither am I. With all the shit I’ve seen here, I don’t trust this place for a second. We’ll go together later.”

Lilly sat down again, sank back into silence for a few minutes.

“Could you teach me?” She suddenly asked.

“Teach you what?” Anton said in response.

“Your language.”

“… You want to learn Swedish?”

“Please?” Lilly’s eyes suddenly widened.

Anton shrugged. “Guess I could try.”

“Awesome!” Lilly exclaimed, letting her older, childish demeanor shine through for just a seconds. The sudden outburst caused Willow to shuffle in his sleep. Lilly fell silent when she realized what she had done and her body slouched a little when she remembered the last time she acted in such a way.

Ashcraft.

When she followed Duskshine to the inn to talk to the Stalkers. She could still remember how nervous she was, and her rapidly beating heart, but it felt like it had happened ages ago, in a different world.

“Sorry.” She blurted out. “Didn’t mean to disturb him.”

“It’s fine, he’s still sleeping. So, wanna start with the basics?”

“Yeah, sure.” Lilly perked up a bit again, did her best to push back the memories of her former life.

“okay, uhm… Let’s start with ‘hello’. That’s easy. Try to repeat what I say, okay?”

Lilly nodded in response.

“Hej.”

“… Hay?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“So, in Sweden you call each other Hay all the time?” Lilly asked with a grin.

“Some say hallå instead.” Anton added.

“Hal-?” Lilly began, unable to pronounce the word.

“Hallå.” Anton said again. “Like, uh… Oh, like halo, but with two L’s, and a little different emphasis on the A.”

“Hallo?” Lilly asked slowly.

“Close enough, I guess. Wanna try something harder?”

Lilly nodded yet again.

“Okay, try this; jag heter Lilly.”

“Y-yag? Yag… what did you say, heater?

Anton chuckled. “No, heter. Jag heter Lilly.”

Lilly tried again. “Yag-hetter-?”

“Almost got it.” Anton said. “Try again, and try to put more emphasis on the first letter, you’re turning it into a Y, it should be a J. And it’s heter, not hetter.”

“… Jag?” Lilly looked at Anton with wonder eyes, and he nodded encouragingly. “Jag… Heter Lilly?”

“You got it, girl.”

“What did I even say?” Lilly asked.

“You said that you’re name’s Lilly. Not too hard, right?”

“No, it really isn’t. Anything more?”

“Okay, let’s try something a bit more challenging. Ready?”

“I was born ready.” Lilly said with a smile.

“That was terrible, Lilly.” Anton answered grinning at her. “Anyway, how about this; Min svävare är full av ålar.”

“I… Okay, that was long. What did you say, meen…?”

“Min svävare är full av ålar.”

”Meen… sveh-vare?”

”Close.” Anton said. “Min svävare. Är full av ålar.”

“Min? Min sveh-vare are ful? Min sveh-vare are full..”

”Av ålar.” Anton finished.

”Min sveh-vare are full av ohlar?”

Anton couldn’t hold back a laugh as he watched Lilly’s attempts. She looked like she was trying to tie her tongue into a knot, and then swallow the entire thing.

”Come on, you’ve almost go it.” Anton said when he managed to stop laughing. He repeated the sentence again, slower, to let Lilly hear every word properly.

“Min svehvare är full av… oh-åhlar?”

”There you go!” Anton said, then started chuckling again.

“What’s so funny?” Lilly asked. “What did I say? Did you make me say something stupid, or something dirty?”

“You said that your hovercraft is full of eels!” Anton had to bury his face in his palms to keep the laughter back.

“What?!” Lilly asked. “Why would I need to say that? And what’s a hovercraft?!”

“Fuck if I know!”

“And why is that damned thing filled with eels?! And you’ve got terrible humor!” Despite her claim, Lilly still couldn’t stop herself from laughing too, at the sheer stupidity of it all.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t help it! Bara så du vet så är din svävare full av ålar!”

”Min svehvare are full av ohlar.” Lilly said once again. ”… Gods, that’s stupid.” She stopped laughing, scrunched her mouth.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re adorable when you’re mad?” Anton said, trying to calm himself from the fit of laughter. He didn’t even realize what he was saying until after he’d done it.

Lilly instantly tensed up at his words. Her eyes darted back and forth, trying to find anywhere to look other than at Anton. The fact of what he had just said made her mind race, and she couldn’t understand why he would say something like that.

Quickly, the cheerful atmosphere between the two turned awkward and tense.

Anton was about to say something to end the silence, when a slight stirring caught him off guard. He looked down at the Pegasus wrapped up in his lap.

Willow’s eyes slowly opened, and a weak groan escaped his lips.

“… Anton-?”

“Yeah, It’s me.” Anton whispered. “Finally decided to wake up?”

Willow drew in a few hard breaths. “Where… Am I?”

“Still in the hospital.” Lilly answered. “How are you feeling?”

The Pegasus shifted his head a little to the side, barely enough to see the blue little unicorn next to Anton.

“Lilly? Is that you…?”

“It’s me, yes. We’re both fine.”

“… It’s so quiet.” Willow whispered. “Why is it so quiet? And so cold?”

“Don’t worry about that, buddy.” Anton answered. “Right now, the most important thing is for you to get better, okay?”

Willow nodded slowly, and then looked around him carefully, then straight up into Anton’s face. “Anton?” He asked. “… What am I doing on your lap?”

“I’m trying to keep you warm.” Anton said.

“Oh…” Willow whispered. “… T-thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Anything for my friends.”

Willow sighed. “Did… Did you guys say something about the library?”

“I did.” Lilly responded. “Thought we could go there, see if it made it.”

“What do you mean, made it…?” Willow whispered. “Did something… something happen?”

Anton sighed, held back his tongue for a while, contemplating whether or not he should tell Willow. After a little while, he came to a decision.

“Yeah, uhm-“ He cleared his throat. “Last night, there was an… incident. You where there.”

“… I can’t remember.” Willow said. “Everything is hazy; I can barely remember anything from before I woke up…”

“I’m not sure what happened either.” Anton said back to him. “But, uh… It was my brother. I think it was him, I mean. He… hurt ponies. When I yelled at him to stop he knocked me out. And now… I don’t know what the hell happened when we were out, but… something bad. The hospital is empty now. Every pony is gone, and we don’t know why. There’s ice everywhere, that’s why it’s so cold. I guess my brother conjured it up, for whatever reason…”

Once he was done talking, Willow looked down on the floor and sighed. “… Did he kill anyone?”

“We don’t know.” Lilly said. “But hopefully not.”

Willow nodded solemnly. Then carefully, he stood up from Anton’s lap and crept down to the floor next to him, finally giving Anton freedom to move his limbs.

“Go to the library, then.” The Pegasus said as he wrapped himself in Anton’s cloak. “I’ll just… stay here.”

“We’re not going to leave you.” Anton said. “No way, you’re still weak.”

“I’m fine, I just need to sleep some more…” Willow whispered. “Besides, the library isn’t far, we-“

“No.” Anton said, interrupting him mid-sentence. “My brother caused all this, and since he’s not here I have to take the responsibility for his actions. No matter what they are.”

Willow looked at him with tired eyes. “Just go, I promise I’m fine. I tried to say that the library is just upstairs, you’ll still be able to hear me if I call for you.”

Anton groaned.

“And you said the hospital was empty, right?” Willow pushed on. “So… what’s there to be afraid of? Empty hallways?”

“… Fine.” Anton said after a while. “But I still don’t like it. Carefully, he stood up on his feet, his joints cracking from the long period spent on the cold floor. “You coming, Lilly?” He didn’t face her when he spoke to her.

“Yeah, hang on.” Lilly said and got to her hooves. “And Willow, promise you’ll call us if anything is wrong, okay?”

Willow nodded.

Then, the human and the unicorn set off across the entrance hall and made their way up the same spiraling staircase that they had fallen down earlier. It creaked and cracked under their weight, and they had to move cautiously due to the slippery ice covering each and every step, but eventually they found themselves at the top.

The first thing Anton saw was a patch on the floor, a big area that was still untouched by the ice.

“What’s that?” Lilly asked when she saw it.

“That’s where I was. And you as well.” Anton said. “The ice never so much as touched us.”

“Any idea why?” Lilly said back to him.

“No, and I don’t know if I even want to find out.”

None said anything else, and the two continued past the strange anomaly and set down the corridor on the right side of the room, straight opposite from the corridor where Anton’s room had been.

They walked on in silence, and neither of them had looked the other in the eyes after what happened earlier. The tension between them had become as thick as fog.

“So, uh…” Lilly suddenly spoke up. “About earlier. What you said-?”

“Let’s just forget about it, okay?” Anton responded.

“Oh, right, right.” Lilly answered, then went silent again for a while.

They found the door to the library, and luckily it was open. If it had been shut, the ice would’ve made it impossible to get through. Anton used his body weight to push it open a little bit more, and the ice around its hinges shattered and fell do the floor without almost a sound.

Inside, things looked pretty much the same as last time they’d been there. The books that Lilly had been reading still littered the large table on the other side of the room, the pages now frozen stiff in a thin layer of ice. Every single book case and shelf shared the same fate.

Just like every other shelf, the book case labeled “Geography” was also covered in ice, and the books were impossible to pry lose.

“Well, so much for that.” Lilly said. “I really wanted to know…”

Anton still didn’t look at her. He still felt embarrassed of what he had said before. And even more embarrassed over what she possibly thought of it. He stood still, instead focusing all his attention on the books in front of him.

One of them caught his eye.

A guide to Scandineighvia – From Lush Forests to Glistening Seas.

“Anton?”

“Yeah?”

“… Did you really mean it?”

Anton tore his gaze from the book, and looked down at Lilly. She looked a bit anxious.

“Mean what?” He asked, trying to pretend that he had no idea what she was talking about.

“You know what.” Lilly said, her voice now flat and stern. “Why did you say it?”

Anton remained silent, averted his eyes from her. “… Yes, I meant it. Yes, you are adorable when you’re mad.”

Lilly raised an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

“Yeah, but… I mean, it’s not just you.”

“What do you mean?” Lilly asked.

“I mean that pretty much every single pony I’ve seen so far looked cute. You’re all so colorful and pleasant. Well most of you, anyway. Maybe not Crescent so much, but… Damn it, ponies are adorable.”

“Oh.” Lilly answered.

“Oh?” Anton asked.

“Yes, oh.”

He looked back down at her, and for some reason she looked almost… disappointed.

“… Did I say something wrong?” Anton asked.

Lilly shook her head. “No-no, not at all. Just not what I was expecting, is all.”

“Well, what did you expect?”

“I don’t know, just… A different answer, I guess.”

Anton didn’t like where the conversation was going, and decided to focus his attention on the books again. Perhaps if with enough force, he could move them.

“Are you even listening to me?” Lilly asked.

“Of course, I just really want this god damned book!” He hit his fist against it several times.

His sudden outburst made Lilly’s ears fall flat, and she closed up completely, didn’t say anything else while Anton hammered away at the book. Slowly but surely, the ice begun to crack, but with every new crack, the tension between the two friends seemed to rise.

Then finally, the ice shattered, and the final impact caused books to sail to the floor in droves. Lilly quickly jumped back as some rained down towards her. Anton squatted down, started rummaging through the books until he found what he was looking for.

“Here.” He said to Lilly. “Look – A guide to Scandineighvia. There has to be something in this.”

Lilly walked up to him and took a peak over his should has he flipped open the book, its pages still stiff as cardboard. He flipped to the last pages, hoped to find an index. And then suddenly, there it was.

“… Norhay.” He read aloud. “I’m guessing that’s Norway. Wait, here’s something… Älgi- Oh, you got to fucking kidding me! Älgie! Really? The pony version of Sweden is Elken? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”

He flipped to the page that the index pointed him to. “Then again, we do have a lot of elks, but still, it’s just… Oh, look at that.” They looked down on a complete map of the supposed Elken, and Anton found that it looked almost identical to Sweden.

“Is that... your home?” Lilly asked cautiously.

“Yeah… That’s Sweden, all right.” Anton whispered. “So… What the hell does this mean?”

“Maybe Equestria is a parallel universe or something? The same world but still slightly different?”

Anton shook his head. “Any rational person would say this is complete insanity, all of this. But from what I’ve been through so far I’m inclined to believe almost anything.”

“Think you’ll ever be able to go back there?” Lilly said.

“I have no idea. And honestly, I prefer not to think about it.”

Lilly reached her head around his shoulder to get closer to the map, looked at it intently. “I wish I could see it someday.”

Anton looked closer, and managed to find what he was looking for. “Here. See that, Eskilstuna?” He pointed a finger on the map. “That’s where I come from. Strange that it has the same name here…”

“Do you miss it?” Lilly asked.”

“I don’t know.”

“And is that a lie?”

Anton looked at her, finally breaking through the uneasy tension that had been building. “Of course it is.”

For a while they remained there, just looking at each other, none speaking a word. There wasn’t much to say anyway, both had readily forgiven the other almost instantly. Then, Anton closed the book, stood up and put it into his back pocket.

“I think it’s time we head back to Willow.” He said quietly.

“Sure…” Lilly answered.

They left the library and headed back, and Anton was sure that Lilly was walking much closer to him now than before.