Applejack opened the front door to a blast of cold air and a very concerned friend.

Fluttershy stood in her doorway for minutes upon minutes, letting in all the cold as she informed her that Twilight’s fancy new pet bird had ran away. Flown away, actually. 

“So it just--” Applejack motioned with her hooves. “No provokatin’ or anything?”

“Right out the front door,” Fluttershy replied. “Twilight was inconsolable. She had just fed it.”

Applejack nodded slowly. The way the muscles in her neck creaked and complained, it seemed she would be doing everything slowly for the foreseeable future. “Sure, I can help. What do you need?”

“You and I--well, I was just thinking we’d be the best at search-partying, so I volunteered us. We could start looking along the edge of your orchard. If it’s not there, we could work our way back into town. There’s so many places it could have gone, but if we get started now--”

“No need to check the orchards,” Applejack said, tossing a scarf over her neck dismissively. She knew she was coming across as surly, but even the modicum of effort it took to be polite seemed out of reach this morning. “Do you want some coffee?” she asked hopefully.

“No thank you. We should get going.”

See? No hope. Applejack threw on her coat, which did nothing to alleviate the draft. “I suppose we should,” she said, and together they started off towards town.

It was a long, slow walk to the section of houses across from the castle. “Remind me again why Twi got that thing?” Applejack asked once she had acclimated to the dry air.

Fluttershy replied over her shoulder, “I think she was lonely.”

“She got friends, don’t she? She got us.”

“Yes, well, I was thinking about that too when she first got the bird.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. And watching the bird fly around, and watching us all go about our days--I think we’re more flighty than that bird was. Sometimes.”

“But it flew away.”

Fluttershy nodded. “So do we, from time to time.”

“Ah‘m not a bird,” Applejack muttered. “You’re a bird.”

Fluttershy pretended not to notice. When they reached the main street leading to the princess’s castle, Applejack picked up her pace and set her eyes on the small groves of dormant trees sticking out between buildings.

It took hardly ten minutes of searching and circling before she found the noticed a splash of color in an otherwise empty tree a few blocks away from the castle. The bird was stone dead and frozen to a branch, dangling upside down like a ridiculously-colored icicle. Its feathers looked recently and professionally groomed. If a little bird could look sharp, this one would be the benchmark. She could see why Twilight would want it around.

Applejack had a short staring contest with the bird. Its eyes were frozen over, its body curled slightly. It looked like nothing to her. “How’s Twilight?” she asked. “Anyone keepin’ her company?”

“The rest of the girls are taking care of her.”

“Good.” Applejack turned towards town. “We should, too.”

Fluttershy held up her hoof. “We should get to burying it. Don’t you think we should?”

“Maybe,” AJ replies. “If I’m bein’ honest, something’ll come along and take care care of it before long. Winter’s starvin’ time. No sense lettin’ it go to waste.”

Fluttershy took her arm. Her eyes were pleading--something Applejack didn’t have the energy to counter. Cold earth was one thing. Cold eyes, hers especially, were another. 

“How long have you been at this?” Applejack asked. “You must be freezing.”

“Just a little while. It’s nothing.”

Applejack couldn’t help but admire how hard that little pegasus worked just to keep herself warm. When the hours were long and the cold was biting and death was dangling in the tree like that dumb bird, she sometimes thought of Fluttershy. It brought life to her days.

Applejack said, “I’ll get a shovel.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Get two.”