Keep Walking [Open]

[FireDash]

Winter was walking, always walking, as far as she could for as long as she could. No time to stop. If she stopped, it would happen, but she was tired and her eyes were drooping. She was coming up on a small village, full of carefree ponies going about their normal day. She tried to move her wings to fly over them, by passing this place and any damage she could do but her wings were frozen to her body. She sighed and kept walking, knowing she couldn't stop, not for anything. The curse...

She looked on ahead, crossing a path leading into the village, everypony seemed so happy there, no problems that couldn't be solved, no fighting or battling, just a carefree little place where ponies went about their days away from the turmoil of the world. Where Winter had come from was not so happy. It was a place of fear and hunger.

She was hungry now, starving, and her shrunken stomach showed it. She was weary and tired and she wanted to rest but if she did, if she did lay down to rest, eat, recuperate, it would happen. What destroyed her home and every other place she stopped in. She had to keep walking.

She was cold and her breath was visible even in what she thought looked like a hot summer's day. She was freezing, her hooves blue under her pale, icy white coat, her eyelashes silver with ice, her wings frozen together and her mane stiff with cold. She shivered, you'd think she'd be used to it by now but it never got easier. It got harder.

She ignored the looks she was getting from ponies and continued on relentlessly, light blue eyes focused only what was in front.

She couldn't stop. Not ever. She had to keep going until... until she couldn't any more. Maybe then, maybe when she could no longer move, no longer breathe, it would stop.

She kept walking.

[InsanityDash]

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[ThunderBrony]

Cool Temper was walking idly through the village deciding this was a vacation he needed yet his mind would never rest. The town folk always seemed so carefree and naive, yet there was always the danger of any sort of problems arising. The greatest fear these town folk had was maybe a flower dying, he sighed heavily. Maybe it was time to become more of a base captain than an out in the field captain, just then he noticed a little mare walking beside a pegasus that was badly injured.

Cool Temper trotted over silently and approached the two. "Excuse me miss but you are gravely wounded. Please allow me to be of any assistance and you little mare is this your sister? are you travelling alone?" Cool Temper said with a stern yet caring voice, before the mare could say anything, Cool Temper bent over and hoisted the pegasus onto his back. Being in the Stalliongrad guard made his body very well muscled and his strength legendary among his company.

[FireDash]

Winter was so focused on the path ahead, she didn't notice the mare walk up to here. Her sudden voice made Winter jump. "I-it's fine, I'm fine, really. I just have to keep going." She turned her attention back on the path ahead, trying to get away from these ponies. The less there were around here, the better.

When another pony approached her, Winter tried to pick up her pace but failed. She coudn't seem to move any faster, her joints were getting stiff. "It's not that bad, really. I can't stop, I really can't-" She felt the stallion pick her up, hoisting her onto his back. "No!" She cried, trying to jump off. "I can't stop, I have to keep walking!" It was dificult now for her to move under sheer will-power, she'd been walking longer than any pony has ever had before by now, she was sure of this. Her legs felt stiff and hard to move but she managed to get off the stallion's back and stand up, she felt herself begin to droop as she stood still, her eyes wanting to close. She started to walk again, foring herself back into her usual pattern.

Right, left, right, left. No time to stop. "I-I'm sorry, I just really have to go..."

[fireraven23]

Balance was taking a nice, long, not-very-much-needed vacation from his every day life, in such a nice place. He loved it there. Not a single large trouble. If he worked there, he would be the first homeless pony there. He thought that, until he saw this mare, surrounded by a few other ponies. She didn't look very healthy. Balance couldn't walk by, he had to do something. He walked up to her.

"Umm... Excuse me, but do you need medical attention? I know were a close doctor is..."

[sevofthesands]

Draco was traveling again .. always walking sucked but he had to to hide his wings. he then heard what happened between the sickly mare and the others.

"miss? why do you have no time to stop?"

[InsanityDash]

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[ThunderBrony]

Cool Temper felt her get off his back staying nearby and watching her to make sure she was going to be okay, noticing the little filly still following her, he decided it would be best to stick around and make sure the mare and the filly would be okay. "Miss I can walk for you. Just point me in the right direction. I am not here to hurt you, I only wish to help." Cool Temper said softly and kept and eye on the small filly "Do you want a ride there little filly? you seem awfully tired?" he said softly to her, giving a small smile.

[InsanityDash]

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[FireDash]

Winter shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine. Can't stop. Can't ever stop." She was exhausted, but maybe if she got past this village, she could rest a moment... "Look, really, I'm fine. I can't stop, though. Just passing by." Her hoofsteps fell heavy, her head was swimming. Just keep going... it'll be okay, it'll be just fine. Just fine.

She let her head fall a moment but strained to keep it back up again. Her vision was blurry. Everypony around her looked so blended, all just colourful blobs obstructing her view. She foused on her hooves but she couldn't feel them any more. She was so tired, so cold, so hungry....

Everything was spinning. She felt dizzy, like she was going to be sick. She couldn't focus any more. But she had to. She had to keep going, keep walking don't stop, never, never, never....

The world was twisting and whirling and everything sounded so far away. She didn't know which way was up, where her own hooves were, everything was so confusing and it hurt to focus on anything. Everything hurt. Everything was either numb or throbbing with pain, pulsing with every heartbeat. Her stomach growled, her head swam, her hooves stumbled. No! She had to keep walking, had to keep going. Can't stop. Can't let it happen. Have to keep walking have to-

And then everything went black.

[sevofthesands]

Draco caught the sickly mare as she fell.

"oh my are you ok miss? miss?" he did not notice that ponys could see his wings there were more pressing matters.

[ThunderBrony]

Cool Temper saw the small colt catch her and leaned over hoisting her onto his back "Do you have a home nearby? she needs rest and something to eat. She lacks nutrients. I have seen this before with weary guards." Cool Temper asked the colt who first caught the mysterious mare. Cool Temper made sure to keep an eye on the filly next to him "And you little filly please stick close by because I cannot allow anything to happen to you or this mare."

Cool Temper shifted the mare more on his back so it would be a more comfortable position for him to be trotting in. He looked about to see if there was a doctor nearby or just some shelter for the time being he had a lot of bits he saved up from being the captain of the guard.

[sevofthesands]

Draco shook his head.

"i have a campsite that's it .. i am just a traveler.."

[ThunderBrony]

Cool Temper shook his head and walked towards the exit of town "Lead the way colt since we both know she doesn't want to stay in this town and little filly could you do me a favour? If I give you some bits can you get some food for us? It's in my saddle bag on the left just grab the bag and go get us some food?" Cool Temper started walking the same direction the mare had first started in.

Hopefully they can get her name and ask why she is driving herself so hard for a walk. Does she need to meet someone? Why the hurry? and most importantly why is she so malnourished? is she not sleeping? Questions were flooding Cool Tempers mind as he worried over every detail.

[sevofthesands]

Draco nodded and led him to his campsite and laid out a blanket for the sickly mare and took her off the other ponys back and laid her on the blanket he then laid his cloak on her as a second blanket

his wings now fully visible ... they were dragon wings

[FireDash]

Winter twitched in her deep, black sleep. Her wings started to thaw and her body relaxed, warming up, the heat of the sun melting the ice clean away as she lay still. She mumbled, as though dreaming but not pleasantly.

She was standing in a large, vast blackness, the sun had gone out from the sky and ponies stood frozen in horror all around her, all starring at her, all horrified of her. She tried to run but when she moved, she started to freeze as well, black ice grabbing onto her, consuming her until she was nothing more than a frozen statue. Unable to stop, she fell to the ground and shattered into a million tiny pieces.

The pegasus awoke with a start. "No!" She screamed and realized something. She was warm. She looked around, noticing she had stopped moving, was lying still, the heat of the sun had melted away the ice. She noticed clouds had started to form in the skies and no pegasus was making them.

She shot up immediately. Somepony had laid a cloak on her and she shook it off. "Have to keep going, have to... have too..." But she couldn't force her hooves to more, couldn't pick them up. They were just so heavy. "Have to... have to... have..." She collapsed again, feeling helpless. She hated this. Hated feeling helpless, hated the exhaustion and the cold, knowing she had to keep going, though, couldn't stop, never, never, never.

But she couldn't even get up now. She was so tired, so weak. She could barely move her wings and her stomah growled and complained with hunger. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

[sevofthesands]

Draco looked up.

"oh good your up... im glad i was worried you had left this world.." he said releaved "why are you trying to leave again miss?" he asked as he saw her try to get up and heard her speak,

[InsanityDash]

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[fireraven23]

Balance followed the group to the camp, hoping to be able to do something. He wasn't too surprised by the dragon wings. He's seen some crazy things in his day as a lawyer, so things like this never affected his judgement on others. He was more focused on his thoughts about the situation. He felt useless. He was completely unprepared for this to happen, and knew nothing he could do. That one pony had money, so Balance couldn't help in that way, no amount of being friendly seemed to help the pony, and he had nothing to heal her. He felt very useless, and mostly just hid it behind a poker face. He thought he could at least start a conversation to end the awkward silence.

"So... Cool bird you have there." Was the only thing he could come up with. Wait, is that a raven!?

Please, don't go into that story again.

You should remember about that fortune-teller, soul-seer, whatever else, pony better than me!

It's probably not even a raven. We only know it's part of the Corvus family, it could just as likely be a giant crow. And by the way, she just made a lucky guess. She was just scamming us.

I disagree, and either way, I'm going to ask.

"What kind of bird is it?"

[InsanityDash]

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[ThunderBrony]

Cool Temper had been watching the scene between the small filly and the newly arrived unicorn with an extreme amount of caution. He was worried for the filly's sake and what he would do to the unicorn if he even tried to harm a hair on her mane but his charge was with watching after the injured mare, getting some water boiled over the camp fire and soaking a small rag which he brought back and placed on her forehead.

This was a sad a futile attempt to bring the fever down, breaking the food up for portions enough for the party of four ponies and one raven into bowls. Cool Temper searched in his saddlebags for survival blankets which he placed on the ground making it somewhat more comfortable for the others to sit down on. He headed outside to check on the weather. A bad storm was brewing but the trees would provide enough cover for the night hopefully. Walking around the camp site and re checking all the pegs to make sure they were in far enough. Heading back into the tent and checking on the sickly mare before sitting down at the entrance to make sure no one would come in and disturb the unlikely gathering they had.