In the dark of an alley, a young pegasus foal shivered. His pure white coat was tainted with blood, and his deep purple eyes were half closed. One wing was bent awkwardly, and there were cuts and scratches along his side. His breathing was shallow. His mane was the only thing that kept him from blending totally with the snow, as it was black with purple tips. Nopony noticed him. Nopony cared. He slowly started to completely close his eyes...
Toxic Rain was trudging through the thick snow, her face set in a scowl against the bitter wind. The sparkling flakes were caught in her long, yellow-green mane, and melting in the folds of her thick scarf. The alchemy professor was determined to find the Scarlet Promise, a flower that bloomed only in the freeze of winter, and carried the chemicals she needed to complete her latest experiment. They looked nice, too, and her laboratory was feeling rather cheerless lately. All of her students had gone home for the holidays, and she was left alone with her formulas and test tubes. So the charcoal pegasus decided to give herself a fun project, to celebrate the holidays herself, and to do this, she needed some Scarlet Promise. The red-petaled flower was elusive, but Toxic Rain was armed with research. She was just minutes away from where the flowers grew every year, and a warm blush of excitement rose to her cheeks. She loved the hunt for components; especially when it was just for fun. Her yellow eyes were set on the trees ahead of her, so she didn't see the small lump in the snow that she tripped over. All she felt was a cold, hard, face-full of ice as she catapulted over the little colt. After a moment of grumbling and spitting out the snow, the pegasus got to her hooves and turned around to see the culprit that had interrupted her little journey. She glared at what looked like just a pile of snow, but she grew a bit confused after staring for a few seconds. Was it.. breathing? She stepped closer, leaning down to notice the dark mane beneath the blanket of snow, the spatter of red against white. Gasping, Toxic rushed closer, realizing this was an actual little pegasus. Her wings fluttered in upset, and one bent around the colt to brush off the cold snow. She gathered him up in her hooves, pressing his small form against herself, and winding her scarf around him a few times. The professor was shocked and a little horrified; who in their right mind would leave their colt out in the snow? She looked up from the colt at last, sighing since she knew she wouldn't be able to retrieve her Scarlet Promise. She had a colt to warm up. The dark pegasus turned around, following her tracks back to the University.
The little pegasus stirred slightly, fighting to cling to life. He could feel himself warming up, slowly but surely. He shivered and looked up at the dark pegasus, his eyes dull. "M... Mom?..." was all he could say before going limp again.
