White.

This was all Applejack could see as she slowly trudged through Ponyville.  The entire town was immersed in a violent snowstorm, the snow covering buildings and piling up on the streets.  Everypony else was hidden away in their houses, probably curled up around their fireplaces.

But not Applejack.

The wind stung her face as she walked against the storm.  She was tightly wrapped up in her winter gear; a winter cap, a knit scarf, and a parka over top of a sweater.  She sported her favorite work boots as well, but her cowboy hat unfortunately had to stay in the wagon she pulled behind her.  Said wagon also contained multiple blankets, a few books, and a covered pot of vegetable soup that she had made at home.  The sides of the wagon were full of firewood, with a hatchet strapped to one side.  The wagon was quite heavy, not helped by the fact that snow kept piling up on top of it.  But Applejack was a strong pony, and thinking of Rarity always gave her a kind of extra strength.

Applejack exhaled a sigh of relief as she parked her wagon in front of Rarity's boutique.  She trotted around to the back of the wagon, gathering her things.  With everything tied up in the largest blanket she brought, she did her best to balance it on her back as she approached the front door.  Rarity had entrusted her with a spare key some time ago, which she withdrew from her parka and entered the boutique.

"Rarity?" Applejack called out, closing the door behind her with her back hoof.  It was much warmer inside the house, and AJ began to regain feeling in her hooves.

A gentle sneeze came from the other room.  "I'm over here darling," said Rarity, sounding quite stuffy.  Applejack placed her parka on a coat rack next to the door, putting her cap and scarf in one of it's many pockets and setting her boots by the doorstep.  She turned around from her coat to see Rarity coming to greet her.

Rarity had a fuzzy blanket draped over her back, and pink slippers on each hoof.  Her eyes were a tad puffy and her nose a bit red, but still she looked happy to see her marefriend.

"Aw, sugarcube," said Applejack, "you really look under the weather, it's a good thing I came today."  She pulled Rarity into a tight hug, rubbing her back.  Rarity hugged her partner back just as tight, wrapping her blanket around them.

"Thank you for coming dear," said Rarity, pulling away from their embrace, "although you may want to take it easy on the affection today, I really don't want you to get sick!"  She gave a soft smile as she led AJ into the next room.  Applejack picked up her blanket-wrapped goods and followed her.

"I think if I made it through that chaos outside without catching a cold, I will be fine with a hug sweetie," said AJ as they both entered the kitchen.  Rarity sat down at her kitchen table, looking out the window with a concerned frown.  Applejack set her blanket down and began unpacking.

"Sweet Celestia," said Rarity, levitating a box of tissues over to her, "I was able to hear the storm, but I hadn't really looked outside since it got bad.  You really shouldn't have come today, love.  It looks absolutely dreadful out there!"  Applejack nodded solemnly as she put the pot of soup onto Rarity's stove.

"I'd be lying if I said it was a pleasant trip over here," said AJ, "but I'm still glad I came.  Hopefully I can help you feel a little better.  That seems like a pretty nasty cold."  Rarity blew her nose, groaning afterwards while levitating her tissue into a trashcan.  AJ turned on the stove and walked back to the table.

"It has been a particularly nasty one," Rarity explained, "and it has been completely preventing me from working on orders.  I will have to pull some pretty long catch-up nights once I'm over this."  Applejack wrapped another blanket around Rarity, kissing her on the forehead.

"That may be so, but let's just worry about getting you better first," said Applejack.  She picked up the pair of books she had brought with her, holding them up to Rarity.  "I finished the Shadow Spade books I was working on, do you want me to go put em back on your bookshelf?"

"Yes, why don't you run upstairs and switch them out for the next two," Rarity replied, "and you can go ahead and grab the books I borrowed from you off my nightstand, I finished them as well."  Applejack nodded and headed upstairs with the books.

Rarity's room was dark, and AJ could hear the storm blowing away outside.  She glanced out the bedroom window as she walked over to Rarity's nightstand.  All she could see was swirls of white and gray whipping about.  She shivered as she placed Rarity's books on their small shelf, and then grabbed her own books off of the nightstand.  A couple of books about traditional earth pony home decor, Rarity had taken a fancy to them so she let her borrow them.  She took another look outside at the storm and then grabbed the next two Shadow Spade books off of Rarity's shelf before trotting back down the stairs.

Rarity had left the kitchen, but AJ could hear her sniffling in the living room.  She had also taken all of the blankets with her.  Applejack walked over to her soup, which was now heated up and ready to eat.  She grabbed a ladle, bowl, and spoon from Rarity's cupboard  and dished out a bowl of soup.  Putting a towel under it, she picked up the bowl and headed to her marefriend.

Rarity lay on her couch, which was across from the fireplace.  She was curled up in multiple blankets, only her head visible.  She had a box of tissues resting on her tummy.  Applejack smiled at her, sitting down at the foot of the couch and setting the soup down next to her.  The fireplace was filled with a warming fire, although it was starting to die down a bit.

Applejack took a spoonful of soup, blew on it to cool it off, then lifted it up to Rarity.  Rarity gave her partner a snarky look.

"Oh no," said Rarity, "we are not doing this."  Applejack countered with a stern look.  Rarity raised an eyebrow, unamused.

"Just give me this, Rare," said Applejack, moving the spoon closer to her marefriend's face.

Rarity rolled her eyes with a huff before accepting her spoonful of soup.

The fire was growing dim, and Applejack had found herself staring into the red coals for a short while.  Pulling herself out of this, she looked up at Rarity.  Her eyes were closed, her head leaned over onto the couch.  Applejack listened for a moment to Rarity's gentle snoring before slowing getting up and taking a look at the fireplace.  There were still a few weak flames, so Applejack decided to go and fetch some of her firewood to perk the fire up.  She gently kissed Rarity on the cheek and then proceeded to quietly walk back to the front door.

She closed the front door quickly after getting outside, not wanting any snow to blow into the boutique.  Applejack's hair whipped around in the wind and she trotted over to her cart.  All around her she was surrounded by wooshing white snow drifts.  Nothing outside of the boutique was easy to make out through the storm.  She held a hoof above her eyes as she looked through her firewood and picked out a few smaller logs, placing them on her back as she found them.  Satisfied with her choices, she turned around and started walking back to the front door.  About halfway to the door, she stopped.  Applejack felt a chill run down her spine.  It wasn't the weather, it didn't feel cold exactly.  It felt wrong.  She turned to look back at Ponyville.  Her eyes widened.

She could make out a figure in the storm.  It looked to be about the size of a pony, but with only one feature easily visible.  Two very large red eyes.

And it was staring right at her.  Not moving, not being blown around by the storm.

Applejack felt her heart start racing.  She lifted her hoof up to her face and rubbed her eyes, then looked back to the figure.  She gasped.

It was gone.

AJ's eyes darted around, trying to see if the figure had moved while she wasn't looking.  But she couldn't see it anywhere.  Nothing but wind and snow for miles.

"Am I...am I seeing things?" Applejack thought, "Did I..?"  She looked around one last time.  Nothing.

She took a deep breath, turning around and going back inside.  She assured herself it was just her mind playing tricks on her, nothing to get worked up over.  Rarity called out to her and she headed back into the living room with an uneasy smile.