Persica stood shivering and unmoving over the cold, damp ground with an expression conveying panic, hopelessness, and fear. There was a malevolent force flying around her like a barn owl stalking a sniveling mouse through the pitch darkness that her eye could never seem to adjust to, and she didn't know what she could possibly do. Terror was all she felt at the moment, and it sapped her of every last drop of her will. She was unarmored, unarmed, and had no way of defending herself. And so she stood there, still shivering and waiting for this presence to strike first.

"What do you see in him?" a voice suddenly asked, echoing like a hellish bell long after it had spoken. "What could you possibly see in him?"

Knowing of who its spoke of right off, Persica was hesitant to answer, but she did so anyway in spite of her near-crippling fear. "I... I don't know. No, I don't feel anything for him. I don't feel anything for Habeas at all."

"Liar," hissed the voice. "You see something in him you want. You want to replace me with him. With a savage beast whose kind was the entire reason for my death in the first place. Disgusting and wrong are the only words I have to describe that."

"He's nothing like that! He's nothing like the one who did this to you!" Persica argued before she could silence herself. "He wouldn't harm anyone! He's kind. He's generous. He's..."

"Replacing me!" the voice thundered. An invisible force suddenly slammed into Persica from above, sending her crumbling to the ground beneath her. Before she could get back to her feet, another force punted her away with a yelp of pain, the impact hitting her square in the face. When she landed in the dirt nearly a dozen feet away she lifted her head in a desperate attempt to find where the attacks were coming from, her nose broken from the damage and bleeding profusely as tears fell from her eyes.

"Before everything, you said that I was your most valuable possession. You said you loved me more than anything in this world, and I believed it. But the second I went off in the forest to fend off one of his kind, you left me to do it on my own. And then you killed me," the voice continued to speak over the sounds of Persica's agonized whine. "And now that changeling's come into your life. And as soon as he did some little, trivial favors for you, you're already thinking about giving that worthless insect the same 'undying' pledge as what you gave to me. Next thing you'll do is merrily invite him into your bed, correct?"

"N-n-no! N-no... I-I could n-never..." the mare tried to respond. But from behind the haze that clouded her mind, Persica could tell that the apparition didn't believe her. And it deserved to, as she herself could no longer tell if what she said really was the truth anymore. Without warning another blow came at her like a crack of a whip, and as she felt her skull splinter and crack from the force everything went red, then faded to black.

Persica's eyes flashed open. Her wits quickly came about her, and she lifted her head groggily from the pillow it laid upon in a sluggish motion. The imaginary pain her dreams instilled upon her left her heart beating rapidly within her chest, but with the revelation that there was nothing really happening, it eventually slowed. She rolled a hoof over her blind eye and traced the tip of it over the scar that covered it.

After catching her breath she soon slithered off of her bed and slogged her way to the window on the other side of her room to lift the shades from it, already knowing morning had come upon her due to the fact that a faint light was translucently illuminating from behind it. Pulling the curtain up she looked out it and saw something of a bright color that caused her to shield her eyes for a second behind her leg. But as her blurry view became clear and she removed her leg, she saw the brightness was because of something of a near blindingly white complexion spread out over the yard.

It was snow. Colorless and powdery in form, it fell in great clumps from the gray clouds in the morning sky to the ground below. Already the dry grass of her property was covered by more than five inches of it. Peach Blossom was to have school today, but as reports in yesterday's newspaper predicted, that wouldn't come to pass with this weather.

"Well, well," she sighed, knowing how her daughter would react to this news the moment she was to awaken. "It's..."

"...Snowing!" Peach Blossom shouted with glee, watching what was currently happening outside from behind her bedroom window. Already almost a foot of the stuff had accumulated on the ground, and that could only mean one thing. "No school!"

She continued to chant those two words as she skipped out from her bedroom and dashed down the stairs, then zoomed past the kitchen. "No school! No school! Hahaha!"

Without hesitation or desire to eat some breakfast first, she put on her jacket that was waiting for her like a loyal pet on the coat rack by the front door. After that she wrapped a red-and-blue scarf around her neck, and put on a small, warm cap over her head. With haste in her stride, she then burst out from the door and retrieved the sled she had kept laying against the side of the house for just such an occasion. After that, she sped in the direction of the long, but short hill that sat a fair distance past the peach orchard and away from the house.

As many dozens of minutes went by, Peach Blossom sledded many times down the slope, and trudged back to the top of the hill to do it again with great vigor. After trekking back to the summit of the hill again, the filly was preparing to jump upon her small wooden vehicle once more, when she saw the shape of Habeas walking up the hill through the snow to join her; brought out to greet her by the loud sounds of childish chuckling that had reverberated through the morning air. The changeling was dressed in a warm, brown wool coat he was given by Persica, among other things to keep him more comfortable in the barn at night.

"What's all this?" he asked as he neared Peach Blossom. "Oh, I know what it is. Sledding, right?"

"Yessir," she replied. "Best time to do it is when the snow falls like it has right now. It canceled my school for the day, and I'm sure as Celestia not going to waste even a single moment of it!"

"Looks fun," he commented again, his eyes squinted from the brightness of the cloud-covered sun's light reflecting from the snow. Peach Blossom was just about to push herself off, when a thought came to her mind. She looked to Habeas and smiled deviously.

"Hey, why don't you try?" she asked him.

"Me? Sledding?" Habeas inquired back as the filly exited the sled and circled around to his other side. "No, I couldn't."

"Oh, come on," she said, pushing him toward her sled until he had no choice but to put his first foot in it or else trip. "You'll love it! And I'd bet none of you changelings have ever gone sledding before."

"That may be so, but Peach Blossom, even I know I'm too old for something like this," he insisted, his other front foot now in it with Peach Blossom's pushing, followed closely by his first back hoof. With a grunt, the filly managed to get the rest of him into it, and pressed him down into a sitting position soon after.

"Nopony's too old to go sledding!" she exclaimed, cracking the wirsts of her hooves and silently chuckling to herself. "Get ready, Mr. Brittle..."

"Peach Blossom, I don't know about thi- aaagh!" Habeas let out a sharp cry as Peach Blossom gave him a powerful shove, sending him down the hill leading to the direction of the barn and house. He continued in his uneasy shouting as he zipped onward without stopping, every cold snowflake brushing past his face causing him to flinch as though they were razor blades falling from the sky. From a more positive and collected standpoint, it looked like the ride would go smoothly between the house and barn, and this brought some peace to his panicked mind. That peace of mind was then abruptly shattered into unreformable scraps of glass when he saw a figure exit the barn and go on the path to the house.

It was Persica. She had decided to get some more wood for the fire she started inside, and so picked up a few pieces of chopped-up wood from inside the barn. She was wearing some snow gear in the shape of a thick plaid coat and had earmuffes over her head. To Habeas's horror, she seemed oblivious to the sled-riding changeling heading directly her way.

"Persica!" Habeas shouted in a panicked voice as he sped toward her direction like a lightning bolt, despite his best efforts to turn the sled; all methods of which failed. "Look out! Incoming!"

From behind the earmuffs over her hears, Persica heard what sounded like a dulled shout that she quickly recognized as belonging to the voice of Habeas. Curious, she turned in its direction, just as Habeas's sled hit an area of sunken earth hidden beneath the snow, throwing him from it and at her like a cannonball. His screaming, cloth-covered, chitinous body impacted against hers before she could so much as gasp in surprise. The wood that was being carried over the mare's back was thrown like confetti into the air and then landed on the ground with individual thuds, and both the pony and the changeling went soaring away into the bank of snow behind Persica, disappearing within it.

From the top of the hill, Peach Blossom had watched the entire fiasco with her breath held and her hooves covering her mouth. When she realized that everything had gone still, she raced down from it and toward where the pair had crashed, hoping neither of them had gotten hurt.

"Mom! Mom!" she shouted, dashing as fast as her legs could carry her to the area of snow where they had disappeared under. "Mr. Brittle! A-are you two okay?! Answer me!"

Back at the spot, and sucking in a deep breath when she was sure she was okay, Persica opened her eyes and her good one looked around as her neck brought her head upward. She was mostly above the deep pile that was kicked up with the impact, yet the snow that was falling upon her from the sky had already mostly covered them up.

Yes, them.

Through it, and easily felt seconds beforehoof, she could see Habeas was there with her, wearing a fearful face with his eyes closed; his hooves hugging tightly around her as his body shivered. His grip was strong, and he wasn't doing any other real movement.

He looked very much terrified. While Persica wanted to do nothing more than push him off of herself, there was a part of her that kept her from doing it. A part of her that she was just then noticing didn't want this moment to end. Keeping her hoof wrapped around his shelled back, Persica held him close to her in a firm but gentle way, for a few seconds longer anyway.

And then she realized what she was doing, and reacted appropriately.

"Habeas," she growled as she took her hoof off of him, her expression suddenly souring like curdling milk. "You have exactly three seconds to get off of me."

Slowly, Habeas opened his eyes. His head lifting from Persica's chest, it broke through the inch of snow covering both of them and looked around, very much bewilderingly. "I-I'm not... dead?" he stuttered, snowflakes falling past him.

"You're about to be," she mumbled again. Roused to action by her words, Habeas instantly let go of the mare and sat up, fully emerging from the snow just as Peach Blossom had reached them. Persica also popped out up and got to her feet, brushing as much of the snow from her body as she could get off. With her earmuffs noticeably missing, the mare turned back to the ground and rummaged around for them as Habeas backed up in the filly's direction.

"Are you both okay?" Blossom asked him.

"I am," he replied. "I think your mother is too, but I'm not fully sure..."

"I'm fine," Persica said, overhearing the two of them from where she stood sifting around through the snowy ground. "I've just lost my earmuffs."

Taking a chance look to his left, the changeling saw a dark, fuzz-edged object sticking out from the snow next to him. "Um..." he started, picking it up. "I found them."

Persica turned to him. "Oh. Well, thanks," she mumbled, walking toward him and snatching the headgear from his hoof. After shaking them off and putting them back over her head, she looked at the many pieces of wood that had been scattered about in the snow; all now dampened by the snow and too wet to be used in the fireplace. Huffing, she walked over to the closest one and stretched a leg out to pick it up, when Habeas's hoof touched it at the same time as hers.

"I'll do it," he said to her, both of them looking at each other.

"No, I'm doing it," she said back, tugging it away with both of her hooves.

"Please, let me," he repeated as she set upon the other ones. "I think I deserve to bring them back and get new ones after that little crash."

"No, really," Persica adamantly refused. "I've got this."

"Are you sure?" Habeas inquired, trotting behind her wherever she went.

Persica sighed. "Habeas, I can handle this. Right now, could you stop being so... so..."

"Helpful?" he finished.

"Yes. Stop being so helpful. Please."

"But... I like being helpful," he said dejectedly. As their small argument went on, had anyone taken a look over in Peach Blossom's direction, they would see an expression of amusement growing on her face as she watched the adults go at it like young children fighting over who was going to do the chores, only in reverse. She decided to leave them alone when she saw her mother collect the last of the wood into her grasp and head back to the barn, only for Habeas to follow behind her. After all, all those snowponies destined to be formed on this luscious field of white certainly weren't going to build themselves...

Persica tried to close the barn door behind her after going through it, but Habeas stopped it and went in himself. By the time he had gone to the center of the barn, Persica had gotten to the back, where wood had been stacked up. After placing the wet pieces at its base, she took time to look for a few dry pieces to grab, already preparing to leave afterword. Habeas stood quietly behind her for a few seconds before speaking again.

"Persica," he spoke again. She grumbled angrily at the fact he was appearing to continue this conversation long past the point when it should have ended, but the changeling was able to remedy this feeling with what he said next. "Listen, this isn't about the wood. I just... want to know why you're being so... rigid around me still. It's been almost two months, but your disposition has changed only a little. Am I doing something that you don't like?"

Persica stopped collecting from the stack for a moment. "Habeas, you're not doing anything wrong," she started. "I trust you well enough. I know you mean no harm at all. But..."

"But what?"

Persica shifted her view from the pile of wood to the changeling in front of her, and stared deeply into his eyes. Her thoughts went back to her late husband. To that last look she could ever remember seeing in his own eyes as the life left them all those years ago. The life that she took. The mare gritted her teeth until her gums started to ache with the horrid memory, and what she said next came out in a faint whisper. "I couldn't tell you, Habeas. I just couldn't. I'm sorry, but I have other things in need of tending to at the moment."

"But I-"

"You'd be a big help if you were to go out and keep watching Peach Blossom for me," Persica interrupted in a much lighter and normal tone, turning around and picking up three pieces of wood to bring inside. "Please, do that. And tell Blossom that I'll have her breakfast ready in a half hour."

She hoisted the wood she had gathered onto one leg and brushed past the changeling before he could speak again. Watching her then walk out of the barn so casually would make just about anyone see nothing as being wrong in the situation, but the forlorn feeling Habeas could sense was lingering in the cold air told him everything. Watching her bear such a burden and hold out under the weight of her own negative feelings was like witnessing a pony drowning right in front of him. Every time she was close to opening herself up in any way, any minuscule, microscopic way at all, that one, rotten, self-hating feeling within her soul kept coming out and slamming the doors shut.

Habeas wanted desperately now to know how to mend and warm her broken soul. Her scarred soul. She did not deserve in the slightest to let herself feel this way, and when he was to inevitably leave however few days laid between now and his wings fully healing, Habeas most certainly didn't want to leave this wonderful, beautiful mare in the state of mind she was currently in. Long had he actually known that Persica barely, if at all meant all the things she did in the various ways she had antagonized him since accepting him here, but only now was he noticing why she acted so grumpy and distant as they grew ever closer.

Habeas had been here long enough to know that there was an affable, cheerful side to Persica that she was trying with most of her might to hide, almost as if disguising herself under a facade resembling her suit of armor. She let her guard down that night they both shared those drinks, and it really brought out a friendly, playful shade of a personality that seemed very unlike her. He only regretted the whole thing a tad due to the incident that occurred the morning after.

Sitting there on the barn's floor, he pondered on many fruitless ideas with his mind, and when that brought up few useful results, he thought with his heart. And as it beat within his chest, he trusted every word of wisdom it gave to him. He stayed in this practically-meditative stance for a few minutes in his efforts to uncover the coveted solution, until he came to his final decision on what had to be done. And it was a decision that felt as dangerous as it did worthwhile.

If Persica wasn't going to open up to him, then by everything good in this world, he was going to open up to her. Whether the attempt would lead to something more, something less, or more mangled limbs at worst, it was a grim fandango only fate could ultimately decide. And for his and Persica's own sake, he was more than willing to go through with it if it meant changing her life for the better before he was to depart her forever.

But how would he do it? How could he do it? That was all there was left to plot out...