Author's Note

I'm so sorry this took so long. I've been incredibly busy this last year. However, I plan to be writing regularly for the duration of this summer. With any luck, my schedule in September will allow for me to be just as productive. I hope you enjoy this new chapter, and I'd appreciate any feedback you'd be willing to give me, even if it's negative. As I said, I haven't written in awhile, so I wouldn't be surprised if I had a few pitfalls in my writing. Thanks for reading!

Snowed Under

YOU TOLD HER WHAT?" Twilight screamed at her brother.

At this point, Twilight was in full freak-out mode. The group had just come to the realization that Rainbow Dash had received the location of the vortex through manipulating Shining Armor. Furthering Twilight's panic was the background commotion of the rest of the main six. Rarity had fainted on a couch upon hearing the news, and Spike was curled up next to her doing his best to maintain composure. Fluttershy sobbed quietly in the background, while Pinkie was gushing with tears that sprang out of her eyes like the spray from one of the castle fountains, both being practically inconsolable. Not knowing how to handle the situation, even the normally calm and level-headed Applejack had tears bubbling in the corners of her eyes.

"Twilly, relax, we'll-"

"We'll what?" Twilight interrupted. "This is Rainbow Dash we're talking about! She could literally be there already if she flew her fastest, which I'm more than sure that she did! It's been so long that she could be bleeding out, badly injured, or freezing to death while we are too far away to even attempt to save her!"

"Please, Twilly. Just calm down. Calm down and take a deep breath."

"Yeah, I can take a deep breath Shining Armor! See look!" Twilight said as she began to hyperventilate out of fear and frustration. "I can take a deep breath, but you know who might not be able to right now? Hmm? Rainbow Dash! Because she could be out there DYING!"

"That's enough!" Luna interrupted, taking control of the conversation. "Yelling and being frantic isn't going to save Rainbow Dash or any of the people trapped in Cloudsdale right now."

"Well, said, my dearest sister," Celestia concurred. "What we need to do is regroup and stick with the plan we have at hand. We will do our best to make sure everyone comes out of this safe and sound, including Rainbow Dash."

"Y-yes, Princess." Twilight's lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears. Her ears drooping, she failed to keep herself from sobbing into her supportive brother's shoulder as he went to comfort her.

"In the meantime, however," Celestia said more gently, "I think it would be best if you and your friends took the next two hours before the people of Canterlot wake up and expect news and leadership to recover from this situation's implications."

"I'll make sure that it’s taken care of Celestia," Cadence promised, stepping forward with a worried glance toward Twilight and her brother.

"Please do," Celestia said in a hushed voice. "None of them are in any condition to lead anypony at the moment. Make sure they are given ample opportunity to relax, convene, and compose themselves, especially since there is a high probability that they will all be needed later."

Celestia approached Twilight, still in the arms of her brother, who made one final attempt to wipe away her tears before backing away to let the Princess address her pupil.

"Twilight, please listen to me. I know how hard it is to go on when you're being weighed down by the thought of the people closest to you suffering, but the people of Equestria need you to be strong for them to remain strong. Rainbow Dash needs you to remain strong so that she'll have a stable home to come back to once she's found, and she'll need you to be strong for her in the time of weakness after this, during which she'll be recovering, mentally and physically."

"I understand, Princess Celestia."

"I know," Celestia stated quietly, daring to brush her head against Twilight's neck to briefly comfort her star pupil.

"Sister, we must deploy with our troops." Luna said.

"I'm aware," sighed Celestia. "Come, Shining Armor. We will need you for the entirety of this mission."

"Yes, Princess."

Shining Armor donned his helmet, and gave Twilight a final worried glance before exiting the room to perform his duties. Luna and Celestia left together in silence, gathering themselves internally as the weight of the situation became ever heavier. Cadence approached Twilight and her friends, who had gone silent after Princess Luna’s statement. Even Pinkie Pie was left tear-less with a completely deflated mane that hung limply off the side of her head. Without saying a word, Cadence hugged Twilight tightly before extending a comforting wing and leading Twilight and her friends into the main dining hall.

Where there should have been a sharp pain in Rainbow's head, she felt nothing. All the pegasus saw was the white of the snow that she lay prone on. She had no feeling left anywhere in her body. Instinctively, she tried to move, but nothing happened. Her limbs stayed stiff and frozen, unmoving as they were continually whipped by the blizzard winds speeding over them. Robbed of more warmth by the second, Rainbow struggled to think clearly as her thoughts became foggy. It's not over. I breached the vortex. Almost there. The pegasus tried to move again, once again receiving no response from her limbs. Panic began to take over, giving her a small burst of adrenaline along with a slightly faster heart rate.

The next wind that blew over Rainbow Dash caused her body to lurch violently in it's final attempt at a shudder. I can still shiver. I can still move. I've got to move. At that moment, Rainbow realized that her body was slanted. She was resting near the bottom of the mountain on the incline right above the mountain base. Miraculously, Rainbow managed to lurch just enough to dislodge her body from its place in the snow, causing the pegasus to roll sideways down the rest of the mountain and land on her stomach in a snow drift at the base.

Barely, able to lift her head, Rainbow strained to try to check the condition of her wings. She vaguely remembered the strain that breaking through the black wall of clouds had put on them. She tried to move her wings. No response. Her pair of cyan wings were just as worse off as her body, if not even worse due to the heavy icing they had endured upon making contact with the vortex's outer wall. Rainbow Dash strained to pull herself out of the snowbank. I have to get to shelter. Finding a place where she could prevent freezing further was imperative, although possibly a futile effort in Rainbow's current condition.

The winds began swirling much faster, drowning out the drone of machinery gone haywire at the source of the chaos in Cloudsdale. All Rainbow Dash knew was that the storm was getting harsher, and she was in no shape to handle even the previous temperatures. Move, Rainbow. Move. She couldn't move, and she knew that she couldn't move. She continued hopeless attempts to will her body into motion. Rainbow couldn't think straight anymore. Her mind was just as exhausted as her body, and as less and less oxygen managed to reach her brain due to decreased blood flow, Rainbow began to blackout. The last bit of Rainbow's strength was put into keeping herself conscious, making the situation even more dire as hypothermia began slowly shutting her body down.

Celestia, Luna, and Shining Armor had began the journey to the northern mountains over an hour ago, deploying the troops by way of commandeering the Friendship Express. In the time they had been gone, Twilight had calculated that it would be an approximately six hour journey for the princess and the troops to get to the storm despite the train moving at its top speed and the removal of all stops. That would surely be too late, not only for Rainbow Dash, but for the other people in Cloudsdale. Another scroll came in detailing Cloudsdale’s poor condition for Celestia, telling of how the storm may be capable of doubling in size and intensity by the end of the day.

Twilight sighed as she sat staring out the window on the third floor of the castle at the sunlit streets of Canterlot as the citizens began to gather for a speech to be given. The speech to be given by herself and Cadence declaring the situation in Cloudsdale a national emergency was in fifteen minutes, but Twilight felt as if she was too weighed down from emotional fatigue to stand, let alone give a coherent speech.

“Hey, Twilight,” Spike called,”I forwarded that letter to Princess Celestia.”

“Good job, Spike.” Twilight didn’t even bother to turn her head in response.

“It’s almost time for your speech.”

“I’m aware.” Twilight continued to stare disinterestedly out the window.

Spike sat down next to Twilight. “I know you’re worried about her, Twilight. Everypony is.”

“I should’ve stopped her. I should’ve searched more and flown faster. I should’ve told Princess Celestia she’d run off before we got here. Then she wouldn’t have made it past Canterlot.”

“You can’t blame yourself, Twilight!”

“And why not?”

“Because then you’d be talking just like Rainbow Dash! Guilt is how we got into this mess, and more of it isn’t going to get us out!”

After a long pause, Twilight responded, “You’re right, Spike. I just hope…”

“We all do, Twilight,” Spike said, hugging her. “Come on, your speech is starting soon.” Spike stood up and reached out his claw to Twilight.

Sighing, but managing a small grin at her dragon assistant, Twilight stood and walked beside Spike out of the corridor. The pair walked briskly down two flights of stairs and into the open doors of the main dining hall. The remainder of the main six were waiting there for Twilight along with Princess Cadence.

“Are you ready, Twilight?” Cadence asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Twilight said, again managing a small grin.

Cadence flew over and walked with Twilight out of the main dining hall. Spike stayed behind with the rest of the main six, who, while not actually part of the speech, would be required to stand on the balcony behind Twilight and Cadence while the speech was taking place. The little dragon took his seat next to Rarity and shoved another two pancakes in his mouth, enjoying the fact that Twilight wasn’t there to tell him he was over-eating while he could.

“You ready to go, too?” he asked, pushing his plate away from him and grabbing a napkin.

“I reckon we ought to be,” Applejack said sadly.

“Poor Twilight,” Fluttershy chimed in, “having to make a speech at a time like this.”

“I’m sure Twilight is more than up to the challenge, even under the pressing circumstances,” Rarity replied. “Although, I can’t imagine she’s happy about the situation.”

“Well, it’s her royal duty,” Spike said as he hopped down from his chair and started walking out. “Right now, ours is just supporting her and Cadence on stage.”

The rest of the main six followed him out. The silence among the group was awkward and tense. Pinkie Pie’s mane was still completely deflated; she walked at the back of the group in complete silence. Rarity and Fluttershy chatted quietly about the stitching of the castle curtains in an effort to distract themselves. Applejack offered Spike a ride on her back, her reasoning being that it made her feel better to “do some sorta labor,” not that carrying Spike was that laborious at all. She really just needed to feel like she was doing something, anything right now.

By the time the group reached the balcony where the speech was taking place, Cadence and Twilight were already standing at the railing and calling for the crowd’s attention. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy stood to the left side of the balcony behind the two princesses, while Applejack and Rarity stood to the right. Spike slipped off of Applejack’s back and stood between her and Rarity, straining to try and see Twilight’s face.

“Attention, everypony!” Cadence called.

Silence came over the crowd as Cadence continued, “I, Princess Mia Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire…”

“...and I, Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle…”

“...are here today to address the situation of Cloudsdale city. For those who may be unaware, Cloudsdale’s weather equipment has malfunctioned causing a series of catastrophic machinery failures that lead to large scale damage. The Weather Factory is in lock down, and the staff are doing their best to keep the damage contained.”

“However,” Twilight took over, “the result of the failures was the creation of a powerful polar vortex that has trapped the entire city of Cloudsdale inside a harsh blizzard. The conditions of the polar vortex and the damage done to different machinery has caused the storm to take on characteristics of multiple different weather phenomena. The storm is structured like that of a hurricane, and therefore has an eye where the city of Cloudsdale is located. The storm itself is blizzard-like with heavy snow, fierce winds, sleet, and hail.”

“The storm continues to expand, and as it does so, the eye in the middle of the storm has shown to be slowly decreasing in size. I the eye becomes too small, Cloudsdale will have the face the fiercest weather the storm has to offer in the wall of the eye.”

“The citizens of Cloudsdale are mostly safe as of the present, only having to deal with cold temperatures. However, there is no way to enter or exit the storm as of ye. To counter the storms expansion and mount a rescue mission to save all the people of Cloudsdale, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are traveling to the vortex alongside a deployment of one hundred troops led by Captain Shining Armor.”

“We are confident that the situation can be handled; however, as of this moment, the nation of Equestria is in a state of national emergency.”

There were murmurs and gasps from the crowd. Wide-eyed stares and whimpers of fear reached the Princess’ ears as they continued speaking.

Twilight continued over the commotion in the crowd below. “We have more troops ready for deployment if necessary, who will be lead by the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, including myself. If I am sent to help Princess Celestia and Princess Luna along with the element bearers…”

“...I will take over as the temporary leader of Equestria until the situation has been contained.” Cadence spoke. “Due to the disorder this will cause not only in Canterlot, but for the rest of Equestria as well, until the storm has been taken care of, Canterlot’s citizens are asked to stay home and stay off the streets. The other cities in Equestria will be receiving similar news shortly.”

“While we are aware that this may cause disruption in many of Equestria’s citizens’ lives, we ask that we have your full cooperation and patience. There’s no need to worry about the safety of the rest of Equestria, The storm is very far north, and is hundreds of miles from any other Equestrian cities, so we request that you stay in your home and allow us to handle the situation. Thank-you.”

Almost immediately, there was barrage of questions. Cadence could see Twilight’s worry starting to wear on her, and did her best to answer all of the questions herself in order to give the Princess of Friendship a small break. Unfortunately, the inevitable question was finally asked.

A reporter called out, “Princess Twilight Sparkle, I notice that there are only five element bearers present for this meeting. Where is the Bearer of the Element of Loyalty?”

Silence was Twilight’s only response. She opened her mouth, and then she clamped it shut again. This hesitation lasted for several seconds, before a chorus of civilians’ voices urging for an answer.

“Yeah, where is she?”

“Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

“Has she gone ahead with the troops?”

“Where’d she go?”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t aware of any declaration. She had no idea that the troops had been deployed, or that the storm was worsening around her. She didn’t even have awareness of her own freezing body. The pegasus couldn’t think. Her eyelids, heavy with ice, kept her eyes closed. She was just barely conscious, internally fighting for her life with everything she had left, which wasn’t very much.

If she could see her wings, Rainbow Dash would note how brittle her feathers had become due to icing. If she could feel her legs, she’d feel the painful stinging of frostbite settling in, threatening to render her permanently immobile if she were so fortunate as to make it out of this situation alive. I she could find the energy to open her eyes, she’d know that the storm had worsened to the point that a pony could barely see one foot in front of him/her.

Rainbow knew of none of these things. All she knew of was the blackness that was threatening to swallow her up. Her body, which was now completely limp, had been buried underneath about a foot of snow. Her face, along with a tuft of her mane, and her rainbow colored tail were the only two visible parts of her body. Another fierce wind blew past Rainbow, momentarily making her aware of the torturous cold that had her freezing down to her core. She tried to hold, but she couldn’t hold onto consciousness forever. She felt herself slip into the darkness, leaving her unconscious and completely at the storms mercy.

“Ahem!” Cadence stepped in. “As of right now, Rainbow Dash is in the field taking steps to control the storm due to her skillful flight abilities. That being said, Princess Twilight and I have many duties to attend to, so this will be the end of the declaration.”

The ponies standing below the balcony began to scatter as Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight turned and headed into the building. Twilight’s outward calm was beginning to crumble. The rest of the maine six were waiting in the corridor leading to the balcony. Princesses Cadence entered the hall, but Twilight stopped in the doorway.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy began to ask, “are you oka-”

“Spike.” Twilight said curtly, interrupting Fluttershy.

The little dragon walked to Twilight and, at her beckoning, climbed onto her back. Twilight lifted her head to look at the rest of her friends, but her eyes seemed unfocused and far away.

“I’ll be in the throne room to discuss any further measures in fifteen minutes, Cadence. Spike, hold on.”

There was a flash of purple light, and with that, Twilight teleported out of sight. The alicorn was very tired, and couldn’t find the energy to teleport back to the spot she’d been staring out the window all in one go. After three separate teleports, she was standing in the same spot she had been previous to the speech. Spike hopped off, and the two sat down without a word. Twilight choked first, a single tear escaping her eye and sliding down her muzzle. Thankful for one another's company, the two life-long friends sat together and cried.