The wind howled through the valley and a heavy blanket of snow fell in all directions. Rainbow Dash shivered through every step, careful to see where she planted her hooves. Nothing but white specks clouded her vision, leaving her visibility down to a few feet. The intense cold of the coming blizzard stung against her exposed coat, and even started to nip through the jacket covering her head and torso.
"Twilight! Fluttershy!" she shouted, but no answer came. Rainbow stopped to look around, hoping one of her friends would come to her through the blanket of harsh snow. The onslaught made her flinch every time she looked directly into it, keeping her from surveying the land around her.
"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow tried to take flight, but the wind was stronger than what effort she could pour into her stiff wings, forcing her to the ground again.
"Ow..." Rainbow casted a worried look towards her wings. The joints ached and the feathers burned from being exposed directly to the cold. She extended one wing to try to stretch it out, but only succeeded in letting some of the warmth under it escape. She quickly snapped it back to her side and winced as it settled into the fresh build-up of snow on her jacket.
She turned her head to get a look at her wings. Her heart picked up its pace when she noticed it was starting to look a little darker blue. The numb feeling in certain area's scared her enough to reconsider having them out in the elements.
Rainbow Dash pulled her jacket up enough to squeeze her wings through the holes and somewhat into the safety of the warm fabric. She sat back on her haunches and pulled it down with her hooves again.
A burst of wind almost knocked her off-balance, forcing her a few steps to her left. She grimaced at the feeling of the cold air rushing through the wing-hole at her side. She silently wished she'd asked Rarity just to not cut them out.
A sound echoed through the veil of snow, demanding Rainbow's attention. She jerked in the direction of the call, desperately searching for one of her friends' figures. "Rarity? Applejack? Is that you?"
Through the snow came a couple of sharp barks, then the figure of a dog ran up to her. Rainbow let out a disappointed sigh. "Oh, it's just you, Winona."
Rainbow looked back out into the snow, hoping Applejack would be close by, but after a couple of moments passed, she knew that wasn't the case.
"Oh... Where is everypony?" Rainbow couldn't help but let the worry build up inside of her. She told her friends the weather was turning bad, but they had some adventure to be on. Rainbow rolled her eyes. She couldn't even remember what they were out here for. Whatever it was, it wasn't worth losing her friends out here.
Despite the cold making her want to slow down and give up, Rainbow stood tall, determined not to let some snowstorm get the best of her. She looked down to the dog at her side.
"Winona. Applejack, find Applejack."
Winona barked and in an instant was off. Rainbow kept right behind her as close as she could manage. Winona would stop every couple of steps and wait for Rainbow Dash to catch up with her. Rainbow didn't know how in Equestria that dog knew where to go, but didn't question her one hope at the moment.
After a couple dozen yards, Winona started to slow down, only keeping a few feet in front of Rainbow Dash. Still the dog soldiered on, a direct goal in her sight. Rainbow looked down at Applejack's pet, confused to see her not even shaking.
"Ugh, how are you not freezing?" Rainbow asked. Winona only kept marching on.
It was almost funny, seeing a dog in one of Rarity's brown fur coats--the same one she had on, albeit bigger. Rainbow would've made a joke if Rarity was here, and that thought only made her miss her friends more.
She had no idea when she had gotten split up from her friends. It could've been hours ago by this point. Rainbow knew she was tough enough to weather the storm, but she had her doubts about her friends. She just wanted to get out of here and go home. A nap on a cloud in the summer sun sounded like the best thing in the world to her.
The thought of her friends freezing to death made panic build up inside Rainbow. "Twilight!" she yelled out with as much as she could spare. She waited for a response, but the only sound was the snow crunching beneath her hooves, and the howl of wind through the valley.
"No no no no no..." Rainbow said nervously. Her anxiety was starting to get to her, making the panic overcome her logic.
"Winona, we've got to hurry." Winona let out a bark and picked up her pace again. Rainbow started a light trot to keep up behind her. The wind and having to trek through the snow made a light trot almost as hard as sprinting for Rainbow. Her muscles grew weaker with every step.
The thought dawned on Rainbow that if she didn't find her friends soon she might actually die out here. Rainbow let out a soft whine at the thought. As the numbness spread up through her hooves, the thought quickly became more and more of a reality.
Winona stopped in front of her and began barking at something in the snow. Rainbow walked up to inspect it. Her face brightened up when she saw a set of hoof-prints in the snow leading off into the distance. A smile grew on her face and she broke out in to a gallop to follow them. "Finally! Now we can get o--" Rainbow stopped dead in her tracks when she looked down to her right. A much smaller set of prints dotted the snow as well.
"W-What? N-No! That's impossible!" Rainbow Dash fell to her haunches in disbelief. They had been going in circles.
Winona walked up under Rainbow's front leg and tried to snuggle up next to her. She let out a few soft whines and looked up to Rainbow Dash. Winona felt like a brick of ice up under her. Rainbow could feel her little form shaking violently from the cold; Rainbow wasn't fairing much better herself.
Rainbow kept one hoof over Winona and brought the other one up to her face. The edges of her hoof were almost black, and all the feeling she had in them were gone now. "No... not like this." Rainbow felt like crying, but held back her tears. She had to save her friends from this storm, and she wasn't getting anywhere like this.
"Hold on, Winona." Rainbow gripped the dog against her belly and slid her wings back through the holes in her jacket. With as much strength as she could muster, she flapped her way into the sky again.
Fighting against this kind of wind was one of the hardest things she'd ever done, especially with how weak she felt. Every flap drained the rest of her energy out of her, but sheer determination kept her fighting through it.
The only way Rainbow knew she'd find her friends was from the sky. Rainbow fought against the snow assaulting her from all sides and desperately searched the ground for anything.
Rainbow turned around a few times before finally making out a figure that was different from the snow. Her face brightened up again and she opened her mouth to yell out.
Before she could, the wind slammed against her again. It was more than her tired wings could handle. Trying to fight against the sudden gust made both of her wings cramp up to her sides, causing her to plummet back to the earth.
Rainbow yelled as she fell out of the sky. She closed her eyes tightly, bracing for an impact she couldn't avoid.
She hit the snow on her back, trying to keep Winona safe. The initial impact drove all of the air out of her lungs and flipped her through the snow a few times.
Rainbow finally slid to a stop, dazed and exhausted. For a few moments she just sat there, struggling to breath in the cold air. Her body felt a hundred times heavier than it actually was.
Winona came up to her barking. She tried for a few moments to rally Rainbow to her feet, but Rainbow didn't budge. Applejack's dog sat back on her haunches and whined at Rainbow, occasionally licking her face to try to get her to wake up.
Rainbow felt too hazed to do anything. The warm sweat she had built up from overexerting herself in that flight was starting to freeze inside of her jacket. A small part of her yelled to get up, that this was her last chance to get out of here.
Rainbow struggled to get up to her hooves. After several agonizing moments of yelps and groans, Rainbow finally stood up. "Okay... let's--"
As soon as Rainbow tried to take a step forward, all of her muscles failed her. She face-planted back into the snow, unable to even try to move her limbs. Her wings laid out in the snow beside her, and Rainbow went limp.
"Win-Winona... get... help..."
Winona barked a few times, then quickly complied, running off into the snow. Rainbow's breath was short and ragged. She put the last of her dwindling energy into trying to breath, but it felt like something was weighing down on her lungs, making every gasp of air less than the last.
The numbness in her limbs began spreading at the joints, and soon Rainbow struggled to even keep her eyes open. The shivering that plagued Rainbow ever since the blizzard had started finally stopped, helping her to relax.
Rainbow couldn't hold out any longer. The urge to sleep was too strong. Her eyelids felt heavy, and breathing was too much effort to sustain anymore. Rainbow finally let go and stopped trying to heave in breath. The steady rise and fall of her chest stopped, and her body finally relaxed.
As her eyelids slid down, the last thing Rainbow saw was that harsh, unforgiving wall of snow.
