In the middle of a snow storm, there was a mare.
She shivered slightly and subconsciously fluffed her wings as the wind whipped snow across her face, her scarf, cloak, and boots, doing little to protect her from its harsh bite. Her natural resistance to cold didn't help her much either. It had been snowing for the last four days of her journey; why she didn't stay at the inn and wait out the storm, she had no clue. It wasn't like her objective had a deadline or anything like that, and she was sure her friends would rather see her alive and well when she returned rather than dead and frozen, assuming somepony found her body out in this barren wasteland in the north.
She trudged on through the snow and thought about her increasingly dire situation. She had run out of food yesterday, and her water supply was frighteningly low. She had also not slept for the last three days, having not found anywhere suitable to take shelter. The only comfort that she had was in knowing that her journey was nearing its end, one way or another. That same comfort, however, was slightly unnerving in its certainty. Unnerving since she was either going to die from cold or starvation, or succeed and eventually return home with the few injuries she had acquired along the way.
She frowned to herself as she recalled the day she left Ponyville, tasked with going to the northernmost city in the Arctic North: Pegasopolis. Princess Celestia herself had come to Ponyville asking for her assistance, but had refused to explain further. When her five friends had asked whether they could join her on the journey, they were denied, and when they inquired, Celestia told them that Pegasopolis held on to prejudices against unicorns and earth ponies, believing that the pegasi were above them in standing and that their hostility towards non-pegasus ponies would only distract them from the objective. Fluttershy had attempted to reason that because she was a pegasus, she should be fine. Celestia had shook her head at that, claiming that the inhabitants of Pegasopolis also held themselves to the military standards of the pegasi of old and that Fluttershy's shy nature would be seen as a sign of weakness, thus leaving Rainbow Dash as the only pony qualified for the journey.
That was a week ago. She shook her cyan head, as if to dispel her thoughts and stumbled, accidentally shaking loose her canteen. Apparently, she had not corked the container as well as she had thought, and upon hitting the snowy ground, the canteen spilled its magically sustained warm water across the ground. Rainbow stomped her foot in frustration, " I knew I should have asked Twilight for a third canteen, but noooooooo. Celestia said that after I came past the inn, that Pegasopolis would only be two days away and that I wouldn't need another." she mumbled to herself.
Sighing, she bent down and retrieved the canteen, re-corked it, and placed it back on the hook on her belt, all while grumbling about how she was totally cool enough to fly in sub-zero temperatures. Rainbow's stomach growled, giving her yet another thing to complain about while also reminding her that she hadn't eaten for more than a day.
The storm had begun around noon on her third day of travel, just after leaving the Crystal Empire. Her first two days were uneventful; the first day was taken up by the train ride from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire, and the second was used to gather the supplies she would need for the supposedly four day trip to Pegasopolis.
On Rainbow's fourth day since leaving Ponyville she had come across an inn. It was small and was more reminiscent of a cottage than an actual inn. The inn keeper was a gruff earth pony stallion with a dark brown coat and a tan mane, who looked as if he'd seen better days. The only time he talked was when she asked him something, and when he would answer it was in a dull, emotionless monotone that irritated her to no end. She stayed the night there and continued on first thing the next day after asking whether he knew how far she was from her destination. He'd responded after a couple of minutes of thinking, saying that it was only a couple of days away if traveled by foot, which, matched what Celestia had said. When he had responded, his voice had wavered.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh days were as boring as the first day, just walking across a grey-scaled plains. Nothing but grey and white as far as she could see... which was another problem. She couldn't see very far through the falling snow.
'Stupid Arctic North, always freaking snowing! How is a pony supposed to know what time it is?' She thought to herself as she glanced, for the umpteenth time, at the dark grey clouds that covered the sky, and wishing, for the umpteenth time, that she could fly up there, bust them, and let some much-needed sunshine through to the ground. She had tried to do exactly that on her fifth day in the perpetual snow storm that covered the entirety of the Arctic North, but all she received for her efforts were nearly frost-bitten wings. Now that she thought about it, Rainbow realized she couldn't feel her wings, furthermore; she couldn't feel her feet or her nose!
Beginning to panic now, Rainbow glanced at her surroundings, looking for someplace to hunker down and warm up (she wouldn't even mind a cave at this point), but she had no such luck, and hadn't expected to actually find a spot to shelter, as she was in the middle of a mostly-flat plains.
She began shivering uncontrollably. She had no food, no water, and was freezing. She had also not slept since she had left the inn, as there had been no suitable places to shelter since then. At this point, she didn't even know whether her best chance of survival lay in Pegasopolis, where she was supposed to arrive today according to the innkeeper and Celestia, or at the inn, three days travel walking in the opposite direction. She guessed that, regardless, she wasn't very likely to live that long, probably not even an hour. On an impulse, she turned around and trudged back across the frozen ground that she had covered earlier that same day.
Rainbow Dash tried to run and cover more ground, but with the cold and her lack of water constantly sapping her strength, she found herself trudging even slower than before within seconds. After about five minutes she couldn't even move her wings to try and fly and nearly a minute or two later, she collapsed.
The cold was leeching her already waning strength, her fatigue and thirst making her attempts to get back up even harder, and in the end, she gave up, falling sideways into the shin-deep snow. Tears froze on her face, and as her eyes fluttered shut, her final thoughts flew across her mind:
I can't believe it... I've failed, defeated by freakin' snow!
Why didn't I find Pegasopolis?
Was Celestia wrong?
Why did I have to go alone? I hate being alone...
I wonder if anypony will find me out here...
I wish could have said good bye... to her...
That same day, in Canterlot Castle, a brown stallion entered the throne room, nervously walking towards the imposing figure of Princess Celestia. His eyes repeatedly flicking across the room, as if he expected somepony to attack him. He kneeled before the Solar Princess.
"She is gone."
"Well done, and the letter?"
"Has been written and sent, Your Highness"
"Excellent. Now go, I have a student to comfort. Your reward will be given to you on your way out."
The stallion stood up from his kneeling position and bowed. Once the doors were closed, Celestia waited until sound of his footsteps were gone. She chuckled to herself, these foolish ponies, thinking that they will get paid a great reward for dealing with her problems, don't realize that they become a liability and that their only reward from her is death.
What Celestia didn't know, however, was that the innkeeper suspected foul play and guessed what his 'reward' would be. On his way to Canterlot, while he was still on the Great Frozen Plains where his tiny inn was located, he had been stopped by a group of five mares. The five mares seemed to be in a hurry, and if his assumptions were correct, they had every right to be. They were dressed in heavy coats and boots, and also had three canteens on their belt each and a pack on their backs, which made sense seeing as the Great Frozen Plains were in a perpetual blizzard and they weren't likely to find any fresh water.
They had inquired as to whether he had seen a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, confirming his suspicions as to who they were. He had told them that he had, in fact, seen the pegasus earlier that day, just before he had started his journey and suspected she was dead at that point, and if she wasn't, she would be soon. From there, the mares, who were quite understandably infuriated that he would suggest that, only asked in which direction their friend had went. He told them the right directions and they went on in the direction he had come from. He didn't know whether they would make it in time, they were only a few hours behind their friend, and they were travelling slower due to having a larger group.
The stallion shook his head slowly and looked up from the intricate white marble flooring of Canterlot Castle and up at the last door between him and sweet freedom. He knew there were two guards quickly approaching him. He knew he wouldn't make it to the door. About ten meters from the door, the guards caught up to the stallion and quickly, but silently, knocked him unconscious. The guards dragged the stallion down a flight of stairs that were just to the right of the exit that he had been so close to, and into the dungeon, where they swiftly executed him.
Author's Note
I might make a second chapter to this.
This is my first fic and any constructive criticism is welcome.
It is cold.
Why is it so cold?
Rainbow Dash woke up to a strange feeling. She could clearly feel the freezing wind nipping at her skin and wings through the thick jacket on her back, but she could barely feel anything from the front half of her body. Rainbow tried to open her eyes, only to find that she couldn't. Panicked, she tried to rub her face with her hands, and fell.
Immediately, her body froze in shock as the cold on her back and wings intensified ten-fold.
"Rainbow!"
...Applejack?
"Is she awake?" a voice asked.
"I think so, elsewise I wouldn't have lost my grip on her." the first voice, with a slight country accent responded.
"Rainbow? Rainbow talk to us, are you awake?"
There was a pause, as if waiting for a response. Rainbow tried to answer, but she couldn't feel her face, much less her lips.
"I guess not. Regardless, we need to keep moving, quickly. Who knows how long she's been unconscious out here for? We need to get her somewhere warm before...." the voice trailed off at the end.
"I hope she'll be ok." came a softer voice.
"The sooner we get her back to that inn, the better off she will be."
Rainbow determined the first voice, the one with the accent and the one to call her name, to be Applejack's and the second to be Twilight's. The soft one must've been Fluttershy's, and if there was anyone else with them, Rainbow couldn't tell.
Rainbow still hadn't gotten her eyes open when someone, probably Applejack, picked her up again.
"Jeez Rainbow, you sure are heavier than one'd think a pegasus would be." Applejack said, trying to get a rise out of her freezing friend. When none came, Applejack pursed her lips, "come on y'all, we need to get goin' real quick like." Rainbow felt Applejack shift around, trying to get Rainbow into a better position to carry her.
"Would one of you help me get her on my back again?"
Moments later Rainbow felt another pair of hands lift her from Applejack's arms, and the owner of the new hands nearly dropped her.
"Wow Aj, you weren't kidding! She's heavy!" This voice was higher pitched than the others and sounded like it held barely suppressed excitement. In a slightly subdued manner it continued, "she's also freezing cold."
This was a new voice, but from the high pitch of it, it could only belong to her other earth pony friend, Pinkie Pie.
"Twilight, how close are we to the inn?" Applejack asked as she readjusted her bags.
"According to the tracer I left, we're about twelve miles away."
The wind started to pick up, carrying flurries of snow along with it, making it harder than ever to hear the others.
Finally, Rainbow managed to mutter through chapped blue lips, "Guess I didn't make it too far, huh?"
Startled, Applejack nearly dropped her again.
"Rainbow! Thank goodness you're awake! We were worried you were in a coma or somethin'."
"Nah, I just can't feel my face...or my arms, or anything really. It's so cold..." Her voice trailed off at the end as she struggled to stay awake. Her eyes were still shut from her frozen tears that were shed hours ago.
"Don't worry sugarcube, we'll get ya warm and toasty in no time."
"Hmmm...toasty sounds good..."
"Oh my gosh! Rainbow, you're awake!" Pinkie shouted from where she was trudging through the calf-deep snow alongside Applejack.
"I'm tryin', but my body's saying otherwise."
"Her body is trying to conserve energy, so feeling tired is a good thing for now, but we really need to get her somewhere warm." Twilight shouted from the front of the group.
"What do you think we're tryin' to do Twi? I'm pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say we want to keep her alive!" Applejack shouted back against the wind.
"Is it just me, or is Dash's face blue?" Pinkie mentioned.
"I dunno if you noticed Pinkie, but Rainbow's face is always blue."
"I think she means more than usual." Fluttershy spoke up from a few steps behind Pinkie, barely able to be heard over the wind.
Applejack glanced at Rainbow's face, and noticed that it was, in fact, a paler blue than usual.
Rainbow grumbled to her self as she started to doze, despite her attempts to stay awake, and buried her face in the crook of Applejack's neck, causing said mare to stiffen momentarily.
"Woah, Rainbow! Your cheek is cold!"
"I think we established that already."
"Doesn't make it less true now does it?"
There was no response.
"Guess she passed out again." she muttered to herself, trying to ignore the other mare's shallow breath on her neck.
Two hours passed in relative silence as the wind and snow continued to whirl around them, it being the only movement on the frozen plains aside from the mares themselves. Perhaps it would have been beautiful to watch, had they not been caught outside in it.
"Twilight, how close are we to the inn now?" Applejack hollered.
Twilight paused momentarily where she was a few feet ahead of the rest of the group. "My trace is saying that we're about four miles away now, which, is pretty good considering how much snow and how little visibility there is!" She started walking again. "We should get there in the next hour."
Applejack glanced behind her to where Pinkie was, a foot or two away. "You think Rarity will have anything cooked and waiting for us when we get back?"
Pinkie glanced up from the ground and Applejack noticed that her nose was a little blue at the end. "Of course she will, silly! How else would we get everybody feeling warm and cozy really quickly?"
"I guess you're right. Hey Twilight!" Said mare glanced back, "how come you don't just teleport yourself and Dash the rest of the way?"
Twilight rolled her eyes, "Because I can't teleport that far. At least, not with another pony."
"But didn't you teleport a few miles with Dash, Rarity, and Spike when trying to get away from some teenage dragons a while back?"
"That was different! I had adrenaline to help provide energy back then. Besides, I'm pretty lucky that teleporting that many ponies didn't kill me outright upon completion of the spell!"
Applejack felt heat rise in her cheeks as she began to get angry, "And you're saying that this situation isn't adrenaline inducing?! Rainbow's life is in danger; I'd like to think that that's adrenaline makin' material right there!'
Twilight spun around with a glare, stopping the group's forward progress, "Would you rather my life and Rainbow's to be at risk!?"
"No, I'd rather be able to say that we're doin' all we can to make sure that Rainbow actually is alive when we get to the inn!"
A hurt look flashed across Twilight's face and Applejack knew she had crossed the line to even suggest that Twi wasn't doing all that she could for their friend. Before Applejack could apologize, Twilight's fists and jaw clenched, and she spoke in a voice that rivaled the freezing weather with how cold it was, "So...I guess since I'm not doing 'all I can', then, perhaps you'd like to see if Fluttershy could, since she can fly after all."
"Twilight, I didn't--"
She cut her off, "They'd probably both freeze to death trying to fly through this storm faster than they would had they been walking, and that's being kind considering that the specks of ice amidst the precipitation would sooner shred them than they could fly a hundred feet, but at least she would have done 'all she can.'"
"Twi please--"
"Or maybe you'd rather find out whether Pinkie's party cannon is around and attempt to launch Rainbow to the inn that way."
"That's ridiculous Twilight! I'd--"
"Unfortunately, that would probably eviscerate her quicker than flying would, but, that's ok, because we did 'all we could'."
Applejack glanced back to where Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were standing, fidgeting in place as the two mares argued, neither wanting to get caught in the one-way verbal crossfire. None of them had ever seen Twilight this angry. In fact, they couldn't recall a time that Twilight actually was angry.
"Twilight, please calm down." Pinkie bravely spoke up from where she was.
"I'm not angry!"
Silence fell momentarily, and it was during that silence that Applejack noticed two things. The first was that the very air itself and all the snowflakes and ice shards in it were humming with the magical energy that Twilight was unknowingly exuding.
The second: She didn't feel a cool breath on her neck anymore.
Twilight too, noticed the magic in the air and shuddered. She took a deep breath and raised a hand to her chest, balled it into a fist, and thrust outward, opening her hand as she did so. She repeated the gesture several times, and calmly, if not sorrowfully, said, "I'm sorry girls. I-I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."
As Twilight apologized, Applejack whipped a hand up to Rainbow's head, and held it palm up to the woman's mouth. The swift movement caught the other mares' attention.
"Um... what's wrong Applejack?" Fluttershy asked, speaking up for the first time in hours.
Applejack moved her hand from Rainbow's mouth to her neck, feeling for a pulse. "I-I-I'm not getting a pulse!' She stuttered out.
The other girl's faces paled.
Twilight closed the few foot gap that was between herself and Applejack quickly, and helped move Rainbow from Applejack's back to her arms. Twilight cast a few quick spells, magic emanating from her fingertips and her horn, as she quickly traced her hands over Rainbow's body, trying to find out whether it was a problem that she could fix.
"We have to get her to the inn now." Twilight said, looking up from Rainbow and into Applejack's face, her magic's violet aura casting a shadow over her own face. "She's still breathing, there's just a longer time than normal between each breath," Twilight paused, taking a shaking breath, "I'm going to teleport."
"But you just said-" Applejack started.
"I know what I said! Maybe since there's less ponies and a smaller distance, I can make it." Twilight snapped, a panicked look visible even through the purple glare. "As it is, we'll be lucky if my magic can heal the frostbite that she has."
"She has frostbite?!"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Of course she does! Not to mention hypothermia. She's been out here since this morning....at least, I'm pretty sure that this is the same day that we came across that stallion. Either way, we don't have time to argue, heck! We didn't have time to argue a few minutes ago!"
Applejack winced. "I'm sorry Twi', really I am."
Twilight bowed her head, "It wasn't entirely your fault Applejack. You were just worried for our friend. We all are," she gestured to Pinkie and Fluttershy who were now huddled next to them, "but now we have no other realistic options; I have to try."
"But Twilight," Fluttershy started, "if what you said is true, your efforts would be in vain, and then we'd have lost two friends instead of the one we stand to lose."
"Would you rather me not try at all?" Twilight shot back. "Besides, who knows? I may just be underestimating myself."
"As awe-inspiring as that is, whatever we do, it has to be done now! She can't survive like this." Applejack interjected. She looked down at the blue pegasus cradled to her chest. The mare was shivering uncontrollably and her skin was unbelievably pale. It was then that Applejack came to a decision.
"Twilight, turn around."
The unicorn did as asked without question, and moments later she felt a weight hit her in the back, "Wha-"
"Teleportin' is her best option. If you don't try, she won't even have a chance of makin' it to the inn. Now grab her legs." Applejack commanded as she wrapped Rainbow's arms around Twilight.
Twilight did as she was told and after a little help from Applejack and Pinkie, managed to stay balanced.
A gentle hum filled the air as Twilight began channeling her magic, "Well girls, I guess I'll see you back at the inn." She fished through her pants' pockets, temporarily letting one of Rainbow's legs dangle. When she removed her hand from the pocket, she was holding a compass. "Without me to trace our steps back, I figure you'll need this."
Applejack smacked herself in the head, and spoke sheepishly, "I'm glad one of us thought of this before you left."
Twilight giggled.
"So, which direction are we headed?"
"South-west, and it shouldn't take you three more than an hour to get there."
With that, the glow from her horn pulsed once, twice, and then a third time, the glow becoming more intense, and then, with a flash, the unicorn and pegasus were gone.