The Walking Snowby Haoryu ChangerChaptersThe Snow Walks"What is happening!?"What To Do?A New ThreatLeaving Ponyville, Finding A New ShelterThe Snow Walks"You're not joking?" The first voice said, not at all amused. "Of course I'm not, this will be great!" The second said, sounding excited. "I honestly think this will be hilarious!" A third voice said, as excited as the second voice. "I still don't see the point in this..." The first said. "For one, it's to test the ponies, especially the bearer of the Elements. And two, this will be most entertaining." The second said. "Can we do it now?" The third said, really eager. "Yes Discord, let's combine our magic!" The second said, giddy. "I'd rather not get involved." The first said. "Yes!" Discord pumped his claw. Suddenly, the area shined. It was a peaceful day in Ponyville. The sun shined brightly, birds chirped, and ponies walked among themselves. Quite high in the air, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were riding in a carriage, getting carried by two white pegasi in golden armor. "I still wish you would've packed some more food." Spike said annoyingly, while bending over the side of the carriage to look below. "I'm said I'm sorry." Twilight whined. "The princess called on short notice. And I rushed... and I forgot to pack more food." Twilight looked over to Spike. "I didn't even get to grab any of the gems in my secret stash." Spike whimpered. "You have a secret stash?!" Twilight asked. "Never mind, I guess I'll deal with the royal food this time." Spike said pulling away from the side and leaning back against the seat. Twilight sighed to herself and pulled out a letter. She read it again to make sure. "Princess Celestia said that there was an emergency in Canterlot. We need to get there as soon as we can." "What happened this time?" "I don't know, she didn't explain anything in the letter. She'll explain when we get there." "Hopefully this doesn't take too long. I want to get back to my nap." Twilight giggled. "Oh, you and your naps. When this is all over, we'll all have plenty of rest." The ride was smooth. Spike and Twilight leaned back and relaxed. It was the middle of winter, and close to Hearth's Warming Day. Suddenly, the guards grew wide eyed when a couple of ponies flew in front of them. They didn't have enough time to stop or turn out of the way. So they crashed. The latches on the guards broke off. The guards crashed in different directions and the carriage was no longer flying. Twilight and Spike got thrown around in the carriage as they screamed and the carriage hit the ground a second later. Twilight opened her eyes slightly, only seeing blur. She got up but felt dizzy. She wobbled a bit then shook her head to get the dizziness out. Once she gained composure, Twilight looked around and saw no pony. She was in some part of Ponyville, but everything looked destroyed. The air looked like a dull orange, and the sky was a tad darker. Had the carriage actually done this? She called out, but no answer came. She then peeked into the heavily damaged carriage, and saw no pony or dragon in there. Twilight looked back at the surrounding area. She tried to flap her wings, but the recent impact made her somewhat weak. She decided to walk around to look for somepony to help. She kept yelling out for help, but every time no answer was returned. After some walking. She saw what looked like to be a white pony in the distance. Twilight trotted up to it and started inspecting. "Why isn't this pony moving? ...At all." She cleared her throat started to talk. "Hey! Can you help me? I'm kinda hurt, and I don't know where the hospital is- AH!" She screamed as the pony turned and screeched. The pony was full-on white. Even her pupils were white as snow. Twilight stepped back in fear as this "pony" slowly walked over to her. Twilight inspected the pony some more and saw that it kind of lacked a mind. It looked lifeless but creepy at the same time. The unknown pony put one hoof out, making Twilight realize that it wants her. The alicorn was soon backed into a corner, then realized, "Wait! What am I doing? I'm a princess!" Twilight mentally slapped herself. "Alright... whoever you are. If you didn't notice already, I'm princess Twilight!" The pony didn't stop. "Explain to me what is happening!" The pony still didn't stop. Twilight shut her eyes tight, getting ready for whatever was gonna happen. As the pony was mere inches from Twilight, she panicked and swatted at the pony with her hoof. Twilight opened her eyes immediately after, and was shocked to see the hoof she swatted some meters away. The hoof was stable, then collapsed into a clump of... snow? She looked at it carefully, "Snow?" She thought. "Is that what it's made of?" Twilight lit her horn and used weak heat beams to cut through the rest of the unknown pony's hoofs. The pony fell to the ground and Twilight wiped the sweat on her head. "What was that? A pony made from snow. And it tried to do something to me." Twilight could hear some shrieking from below her, and saw that the snow pony wasn't out of commission. She gasped and stepped on the pony's head, making it drop once again, turning it into harmless snow. Twilight breathed heavily. "What was that?" She inspected the pony. "Please tell me this wasn't a (gulp) real pony." All of a sudden, Twilight started to hear some more shrieks come from around her area. "There's more of them!" Twilight was shocked. She looked in the air and saw some other ponies like the one she just encountered. "If those ponies up there act the same as this one was, I'd better stay on the ground. It'd be a lot safer." Twilight said to herself. Then she started to walk in a direction which led somewhere she didn't know. "This is probably what's happening in Canterlot. I'll need to go there and find Princess Celestia, then, we can stop whatever this is." Cloudsdale "Alright! Go again!" Rainbow yelled out. Scootaloo, on a cloud above Cloudsdale ground, and a few meters away from a flying Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, jumped off and pulled out her wings. She started glide down slowly, as Rainbow and Fluttershy watched in amazement. Soon though, Scootaloo felt like she was falling a bit faster than when she first jumped off. And then she realized, she stopped gliding and was falling fast. Scootaloo yelled and closed her eyes as she fell. But shortly after, she felt as she stopped falling. She opened her eyes to see Rainbow Dash holding her. "Wow! Thanks Rainbow!" "No problem squirt, and even if you did fall, the clouds would have saved you." Rainbow said. Rainbow landed beside Fluttershy who was sitting on a bench, and set down Scootaloo. "Take a five kid." Scootaloo nodded and walked a short distance away. "She's doing great Rainbow!" Fluttershy said. "I'm telling you, soon, she is going to be able to fly fast like me!" Rainbow said as she sat down next to Fluttershy. "Maybe even faster." Fluttershy giggled. "Wha- No way! I'll always be the fastest." Rainbow protested. They watched Scootaloo in the distance try to jump and fly. She flew in the air for three seconds, and fell flat on her belly. She giggled when the clouds tickled her belly. Rainbow's stomach growled, and Fluttershy snickered. "I guess I'm hungry." Rainbow shrugged. "Hey Scoots! Let's get something to eat!" Rainbow yelled out. Scootaloo turned her head and replied, "Okay!" She ran to Rainbow. "Let's go." Rainbow said. During the walk, Scootaloo just told Rainbow excitedly how she almost flew. The walk to the restaurant wasn't too far. It took them about 2 minutes to reach there. As they were about to step into the restaurant, they all heard somepony scream. Rainbow looked back and saw multiple pegasi flying away in one direction. Rainbow took note that they were all panicking. She then looked to the left of the shop and saw a turquoise pegasus mare being cornered by some ponies who were walking and flying slowly towards her. "Hey!" Rainbow yelled as she flew towards the group. Rainbow landed in front of the turquoise pegasus, blocking the other ponies. However, they did not stop slowly walking towards the two. "You want some? Come and get it!" Rainbow put her hoofs out in a fighting position. All she got in return was some screeching sounds. When Rainbow realized they wouldn't stop, she landed a punch on one of them. The pony who she punched, turned into a pile of packing snow. Rainbow looked at what just occurred. "Snow? These ponies are made out of snow?" Rainbow started to plow through the other ponies who were made out of snow. The turquoise pony took the memo and decided to help. She started to buck and hit the snow abominations. When all the 'snow' was back on the ground, Rainbow turned to the other pegasus mare. "Go! Get out of here!" The pegasus nodded and flew away. Rainbow heard somepony else yell and saw Fluttershy by the restaurant getting cornered by some more snow ponies. She was about to go help her when she heard Scootaloo yell to her across from Fluttershy. She too, was getting surrounded. "Okay, Scootaloo has less of those things, but she can't defend herself well. Fluttershy can defend herself, but there's too much of them for her to handle." Rainbow gulped and thought to herself, "Fluttershy, or Scootaloo? Scootaloo, or Fluttershy? Fluttershy, or Scootaloo?! Scootaloo, or Fluttershy?! FLUTTERSHY, OR SCOOTALOO?! SCOOTALOO OR FLUTTERSHY?! FLUTTERSHY, OR SCOOTALOO?! SCOOTALOO OR FLUTTERSHY?!" Rainbow started to sweat. "Who do I save?" Author's Note This is where you all come in. Yes YOU, the readers. You all will decide who will get saved, and who will not. This is your first test. You will be tested throughout this story. And the choices you make, will change the story as it progresses. Now who should Rainbow Dash save? Fluttershy? Or Scootaloo? Comment bellow for your choice. "What is happening!?""That was excellent!" The second voice said feeling achieved. "Yes, yes, can we stop this now?" The first voice said mildly amused. "No, we can't! This was only the first part of the test. Let's see if they can get more answers right!" The second said. "I am quite excited myself!" Discord said happily. "But Discord? Won't you lose the trust from the ponies if you continue doing this?" The first voice questioned. "Aw, don't worry yourself. If I know those ponies, then they will most understand." Discord said confidently. "Okay." The first said while doing the rolling eyes gesture. Rainbow looked left and right. "Who do I save?" She debated to herself for awhile, then called out, "Fluttershy! Try your stare!" Her words were useless as Fluttershy was too scared. Fluttershy soon covered her ears to block out the screeching noise they were making. Rainbow looked to Scootaloo. "I..." Rainbow thought for a bit more. "Sorry Fluttershy. But Scoots needs me!" Rainbow quickly flew over to Scootaloo's pack of snow monsters, and started to hammer away. Once all of the demons were taken care of. Rainbow quickly grabbed Scootaloo and looked over to where Fluttershy was supposed to be. She gasped when she saw a massive group of the snow monsters around Fluttershy. Rainbow then shielded Scootaloo's sight with her wind, and shut her eyes tight, as the timid mare she knew, was lost in the crowd. It was dark in the room. Rainbow took herself and Scootaloo to a nearby hotel. She thought it would be a safe place... for now. Rainbow quickly pulled up the blind for the window. She turned to see Scootaloo softly weeping. "Hey... No need to cry kid." She tried to sooth her. Scoots sobbed. "What's gonna happen Rainbow?" Rainbow looked out the window once again, saw some more snow monsters, and replied, "I don't know Scoots." Scootaloo continued to weep. Rainbow decided to comfort Scootaloo, so she trotted over to her, sat down, and placed her right wing around her. "Hey, we might not know what's happening, or what's gonna happen, but how about we change that." Scootaloo sniffed. "H-How?" "We have to find things. Clues, other ponies, things that can help us." "But after we do those things, what do we do after? Fight until... whatever happened to Fluttershy, happens to us?" Rainbow's grip on Scootaloo with her wing tightened. "I know we can't fight forever squirt..." Rainbow didn't know what else to say, she never encountered this, and she doubted Twilight or either of her other friends did as well. "Come on, let's go." Rainbow ordered. "Where are we going to go?" "We have to keep moving, those... things, will definitely roam this area soon, and we can't take any chances." "O-Okay, I understand." Rainbow knelt down and placed a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "Hey, you have to be strong. Okay?" Scootaloo nodded. "How about we make this... fun?" "Fun? How?" "Hmm, we keep calling these things... "things"! So, how about we make a name for them?" Rainbow suggested. "Well, they're snow. And they look zombified in a way." Scootaloo thought. "Zombified?" Rainbow was confused. "It's a thing that we made up. Basically, they are mindless ponies that search for the living ponies. Those are called "zombies", but these real life ones... seem, different." "What do you mean, different?" "Not the way they're acting, just... their appearance." "How do they usually look like." "Um... nothing you would be interested in." Scootaloo said sheepishly. Rainbow gave Scootaloo a knowing look. "Anyways! How about we get to that name?" Scootaloo said quickly. "Hmm, zombies, snow, ponies." She repeated those three words in her head repeatedly. "Zombies, snow, ponies... how about Snowbies!" Scootaloo thought out loud. "That's a great name squirt." Rainbow said, cheering up Scootaloo. "Yeah! It sounds nice too." Rainbow giggled. "How about we get going now?" "Sure!" "Alright then, let's get out of here." Rainbow instructed. Twilight crawled into the window at Sugarcube Corner. It was dark. For some reason, most of the lights were off in the bakery, and those that were on, were slightly flickering. She silently trotted around, not wanting to encounter more snow ponies. "Pinkie? Mr. and Mrs.Cake?" Twilight whispered loudly. "Pound? Pumpkin?" She called out again, in a whisper. Twilight heard some rummaging, and then some giggling. Twilight recognized the voice. "P-Pinkie? Is that you?" She slowly and carefully trotted over to the kitchen, where the giggling was coming from. As she got closer, the noise got louder. And as she got closer, Twilight's heart beats picked up the pace. She soon peeked her head in from the doorway, and saw... nothing. As eerie as the nothingness, the noises stopped as well. Twilight started to breathe faster and sharper. She wiped her head left and right as she entered the kitchen. When she was somewhat in the room, Twilight looked at her surroundings. The kitchen was a mess, food and ingredients on the floor and counters, machines like the blender and oven looked destroyed, and the fridge was tipped over. "Hi Twilight!" Twilight screamed out of shock, and leapt back as Pinkie stood behind her, oblivious to what she'd just done. Twilight soon noticed who was the pony she just encountered, and started recollecting herself. "P-P-Pinkie! Why'd you do that?" "Do what?" Pinkie asked, still oblivious that she almost gave Twilight a heart attack. She gave a face hoof in response to Pinkie's reply. "Never mind. I'm just glad I found you. Where are the Cakes and their foals?" Pinkie put a hoof to her chin as she started thinking. "I don't think I saw them at all today..." "Well, can you explain why Sugarcube Corner's in such a mess?" "Actually, when I left this morning, it was all fine." Pinkie explained. Twilight sighed in defeat. She then started to think, "It's hard to say this, but we can't go out and look for individuals. We have to get to Canterlot and fix all this." Twilight turned to Pinkie with a determined face. "Pinkie? You up for an adventure?" Pinkie hopped and yelled, "An adventure? YAAAY!" Rainbow and Scootaloo were carefully walking down the a street of Cloudsdale. "Rainbow, can't we just fly away?" Rainbow considered it, but when she looked up and saw more snowbies she tossed away the idea. "I don't think so." "Is your wing broken or something?" "No, it's just a big risk, that's all." Rainbow explained. "Oh, right." They walked some more, when they heard some screeching behind them. Rainbow and Scoots looked behind themselves, to see a hoard of snowbies, probably hundreds of them. "O-On second thought, how about we do fly out of here!" Rainbow bent down. "Get on my back!" Rainbow said in a rush. Scootaloo did as instructed and Rainbow took off, easily losing the snowbies behind them. Soon however, a random fluttering snowbie flew in front of Rainbow's path, making Rainbow crash into it, and lose control. On impact, Scootaloo came flying off of Rainbow's back, yelling while being hurled in the opposite direction as Rainbow. Rainbow darted downwards, and soon hit a machine with a dud. When she did, the machine turned on with a buzzing sound, and white fog appeared above it. She was heading to the outskirts of Cloudsdale, then to Equestrian grounds, under Cloudsdale. Right before she made impact with the hard ground, she pulled out her wings in an attempt to lighten the fall. It still wasn't enough though, and she hit the ground hard, blacking out. When she opened her eyes, she saw a purple blur. Scootaloo's mane perhaps? No, she shook her head and looked at the pony in front of her. It was the Princess Of Magic looking worried, and behind her was Ponyville's party pony. "T-Twilight?!" Author's Note Who do YOU think is the first and second voices? Forgot to say this in the last chapter, but not all chapters will have choices to make. What To Do?"Are you alright Rainbow?" Rainbow Dash looked up at the alicorn, who was looking down at her with concern. "T-Twilight?! What are you doing here?" "What do you mean? This is where I live." Twilight replied with a chuckle. "H-Huh? Aren't we below Cloudsdale right now?" Rainbow asked. "Hm?" Twilight looked up, and behind some clouds she could slightly see none other than Cloudsdale. "What the..." Rainbow and Pinkie Pie also looked up, and saw the floating city. "Woah! You said we're at Ponyville right?" Dash said. Twilight still shocked, nodded. Pinkie put a hoof to her chin. "Hmmm... If Cloudsdale's up there and Ponyville's down here, then that means Cloudsdale moved above Ponyville, or maybe Ponyville moved closer to Cloudsdale, and now it's under the city. Or maybe they both moved equal distance towards each other and they're in the middle? My head hurts..." Pinkie rubbed her head. "The first assumption made sense, but I doubt the others." Twilight said. "But how DID Cloudsdale get above Ponyville?" "I don't know, maybe-" Rainbow was cut off by the sounds of screeching. The three ponies looked at their surroundings, and saw around twenty snow ponies. "Snowbies! A lot of them too!" Rainbow said as the three back up into one another. "Snowbies? Is that what you call them?" Twilight asked, still back to back with Pinkie and Rainbow. "It's the name me and Scoota-" Rainbow's eyes widened as she thought of Scootaloo. Rainbow looked around frantically. "Scootaloo! Scootaloo, please answer me! Tell me you're okay!" "Rainbow?" Twilight asked, worried for her friend. "Scootaloo! Scootaloo!" Rainbow yelled to the point where her voice was starting to give in. The Snowbies were still approaching slowly, as another ten of them appeared from behind. "Maybe they just want to play?" Pinkie inquired, trying to brighten up the situation. Twilight took a glance at Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, we have to go!" "I can't, what if Scootaloo's out there?" "We have to save ourselves before even thinking of trying to search for her." "But what if-" "You already called out so loud that the dragons could hear you, and Scootaloo didn't reply." She mentioned. Rainbow thought for a second, then grunted. "Fine... Let's go..." Twilight shot a magical beam at the Snowbies who were blocking the path to her castle. After the beam hit and those Snowbies were snow again, they ran and headed to the castle. "Try not to fly too much Rainbow! ...And you too Pinkie." "Okey dokey lokey!" She replied. They ran around the corner, and they could see Twilight's castle. "Not too far now! We'll be safer there!" They ran for a couple more seconds when more Snowbies crept out the shadows and blocked their path, causing them to skid a couple meters before stopping completely. Twilight looked left and right and saw no way around. What she did see was Rainbow walking up to the hoard. "Rainbow? What are you doing?" She asked in shock. "These Snowbies are no problem, just a hoof hard to the face and they'll fall!" She replied confidently. "I'm in!" Pinkie excitedly said. "Alright, we'll do it your way Rainbow." "That's what I like to hear!" Rainbow said, not removing her frown. Rainbow pumped her hoofs together, and made the first strike. So they began. Twilight firing with magic, and physically hitting them at times. Pinkie with her randomness, and party cannons. And finally Rainbow Dash, swooping from above and getting personal with the monsters. It didn't take long, a minute or two, but they succeeded in defeating all the Snowbies. "Alright! Let's get out of here befor-" They all heard screeching and turned to see another hoard of Snowbies. "Yeah, let's go." Rainbow suggested. They turned to start sprinting towards the castle again, but was blocked by more Snowbies. "More of them?!" Twilight was shocked. They stepped back a bit, but stopped when realizing that there was more behind them. "We're trapped!" Rainbow said. "Can we play again?" Pinkie asked. "There's too much!" Twilight explained. They heard a sound behind them, and looked to see that some of the Snowbies were disassembled. "Huh?" Twilight raised an eyebrow. Soon after, some of the Snowbies were encased in a blue aura. They were soon turned into packs of snow. They looked down to see the snow which was the snowbie, but snapped back up when they heard a single screech. The screech was cut off however, when a pair of hooves hit the sound maker roughly making it turn into a patch of snow. They all gazed at the owner of the orange hooves. "A-Applejack?" Twilight smiled. "The one and only!" Applejack said as she tipped her hat for a hello. "I can't believe you notice her but not me; the one who took out most of those ruffians." They looked to their left and saw Rarity. "Rarity! You're all fine!" Twilight said. "Yes! We-" "Okay! Let's talk later! Right now, we need to get out of here!" Rainbow said. They all nodded and made their way to the castle, reaching moments later. "Go to the throne room!" Twilight ordered. When they entered, Twilight immediately shut the door with her magic, and put six wooden barricades to keep it from opening again. She threw a sigh of relief as the intensity left for the time being, and she made her way to the throne room where her friends were waiting. When she entered the throne room, her friends were sitting in their respective thrones, and Twilight did the same. "We should be safe here, I've put a protective spell around the area. Those snowbies won't be coming in anytime soon." Twilight said as she sat on her throne. "Snowbies?" Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that's what Rainbow Dash called them, so I figured that I should call them that too. You know, for no confusion." She explained. "Well I think that's a pretty easy name to remember." Rarity said. "Ah'm fine with it, but uh... do any of y'all know what in Equestria's happening?" Applejack asked. They all stayed quiet, thinking about possible explanations. Before long, Twilight spoke, "I don't know what's exactly happening, but right before this madness started, Princess Celestia sent me an emergency letter, telling me to get to the castle as soon as possible." "And you think the princess knows what's going on?" Rarity queried. "I'm not sure if she knows what's happening one-hundred percent, but this may be happening in Canterlot as well." "Alright then, let's go to Canterlot and meet up with the princess." Applejack proposed. "Yes, and we might need the Rainbow Power as well." Rarity added. "Yeah, all we need is Fluttershy." Twilight said. Rainbow Dash, lost in her own thought, gasped at the mention of her lost friend. "Have any of you seen her today?" Twilight asked the group. They all shared their "no"s and the shaking of the heads. Rainbow finally spoke up. "You guys... aren't gonna see her..." She said sadly. The others burrowed their brows and looked at one another. "Why not? Did she eat too much cake and got a stomach ache?" Pinkie asked. "Did she go on a trip or something?" Rarity seriously asked. "N-no..." "What happened Rainbow?" Twilight asked softly. "...Earlier, me, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo were up in Cloudsdale. You know, just hanging out." Rainbow then shut her eyes closed. "That was when the snowbies jumped on us. Before I knew it, both Scootaloo and Fluttershy were surrounded by those things, and I had to choose who to save." Rainbow was about to tear up. "I-I chose to save Scoots. I don't know why, I just went. By the time Scoots was safe, those monsters got to Fluttershy." They all gasped, save for Rainbow. Applejack was shocked. "Those things... they make others turn like them." Twilight looked to Applejack. "What do you mean?" "This one pony who was with me and Rarity some time before, was bitten by one of those things hours earlier. We thought nothing of it, but then... he suddenly turned into a snow pony." "That can't be!" Twilight said, shocked. "Then that means that..." "Fluttershy's one of them!" Rarity finished. Rainbow continued her tale. "After all that, me and Scootaloo hid for a while. And after that, it got crazy. I tried to fly away, but it made things worse. Scootaloo got knocked off my back, and I don't know if she's alright, or if she's even safe." Rainbow slammed her hoof on the table, making the others jump. "I-I failed..." "Rainbow..." Twilight looked at her friend with worry. Rainbow was now letting the tears free, they were falling down her cheeks and dripping from her chin. "I not only let down Fluttershy, but Scootaloo too." Twilight had to reassure her friend somehow. "Rainbow, Scootaloo's a strong filly, And we'll fix this, I promise." Rainbow stayed quiet. Twilight put back on her serious face. "Alright, we'll stay here and wait out the night. Once we rest, we'll make out for Canterlot." She instructed. They all nodded in response. "I'll get Spike to send a letter to Celest-" Twilight's eyes widened in shock. "...Twilight? What's the matter?" Rarity asked. "Spike may not be with us either..." She said as if part of her disappeared. A New ThreatTwilight and the others were walking down the castle hallways. On their way to the guest rooms. Rarity noticed Twilight's sadness. The things she heard from before must have been devastating. She wanted to help her friend in some way, and what's better than to have a little chat in this situation? Rarity picked up her pace, and trotted next to Twilight who's head was drooping low. "Hey... I'm sure that Spikey's alright. He's a tough dragon." Twilight didn't respond. "And he sure is smart as well, don't you think?" Twilight nodded slowly. "Don't worry about a thing Twilight, once we arrive at Canterlot and find Princess Celestia, everything will go just fine." Rarity reassured. Twilight sighed in response. "Yeah, sure..." Rarity raised an eyebrow. Twilight looked at Rarity for the first time in their conversation. "He does have his fire breath, and he picks a good fight... but I'm still worried. I mean, other than the fact that he's cold blooded and the cold could freeze him harshly, I don't think those things could get him." Twilight smiled. "Don't forget those dragon scales." Rarity reminded her, in a sing-song voice. Twilight nodded more firmly. Twilight turned, which caused the other three to stop in their tracks. "Okay, we'll sleep the night and head out tomorrow. We'll need our strength to move on." Twilight said. The others nodded, save for Rainbow Dash, and headed into their separate rooms. Once inside her bedroom, Twilight took a glance out her window, and was both shocked and frustrated at what she saw. A snowstorm. Not even a big snowstorm, a tremendous snowstorm. You could slightly see hail mixed in too. Twilight sighed in exasperation. "Now it's going to be harder tomorrow when we have to walk in deep snow." Twilight, defeated, turned and jumped in her cozy bed. While burying herself in her warm blankets, she thought about tomorrow, and hoped that everything will be alright. If only that were to be true... Rainbow, unnatural for her, gently slid into her bed. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly. "Scootaloo, wherever you are, I hope you're safe..." A single tear dropped from her eyelid as it made its way down to her other eye, because of her slanted position. "Fluttershy... " Rainbow shut her eyes close and hugged the pillow tighter. "I failed you... Both you, and Scootaloo..." She then looked up at her window, looking at the heavy snowstorm washing down on them. "I'm sorry..." Twilight put her hoof over her slightly opened eyes, blocking Celestia's sun as it peered through the window trying to blind her. "At least I know Celestia's safe..." When she was about to get out of her bed, a cheerful pink pony jumped in front of her, frightening her to death. "Good morning Twilight." Pinkie said in her jolly tone. "Pinkie Pie! It's so early!" Twilight said sounding pretty irritated. "I know! We have to be on our heals if we want to get through this A-okay!" She said cheerfully. Twilight sighed as Pinkie hopped off her bed. She groaned as she too got up, the pain from her sore wings because of earlier was a little annoying. She made her way to her bathroom, where she brushed her teeth and took a quick shower. In the span of ten minutes, she was ready for breakfast. The smell of the morning meal entering her nose the moment she reached the kitchen, where she saw Pinkie Pie and Applejack making breakfast. "You two didn't have to do all this!" Twilight said, feeling guilty. "Don't worry none Twi, Pinkie and I handled it just fine." Applejack reassured. "But-" "Stop bickering, just take a seat and wait for ya food." Applejack pushed Twilight to her chair with her head. "Besides, we'll be working extra hard for these next days! Better get used to it now." Rarity walked slowly into the room, making a yawn in the process. "Have a good sleep?" Twilight asked as Rarity took the seat next to her. "You could say that. No... -snowbies is what Rainbow called it?" Twilight nodded. "Yes, no snowbies around made my sleep many times better." "Agreed. We should be good in here, those snowbies shouldn't be getting through the barrier anytime soon." Twilight turned to stare out the window. "We should start packing as soon as we can. The sooner we stop this mess, the sooner I'll be able to relax." Rarity suggested. Pinkie looked around the room, noticing somepony missing. "Hey girls? Where's Rainbow Dash? She's usually the third one to wake up, after Applejack." She asked. Applejack sighed. "She's probably still coping about Fluttershy and Scootaloo... She's blaming herself." "It's like how I felt," Applejack started. "-when ah couldn't save Big Mac..." Applejack tipped her hat to hid her shame. Pinkie hoppped up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Speaking of family, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were at school... Oh, I pray to Celestia that they're alright." Rarity hoped. "Ah'm gonna find them Rarity, I plan on it." Applejack told. "Wait? Why didn't Scootaloo go to school?" Pinkie asked. "I heard that Rainbow got her to skip school for something in Cloudsdale. She even convinced Cheerilee to let her go, and took Fluttershy with her." Rarity explained. "That's odd..." All heads turned to Twilight. "Yeah... odd..." Applejack replied. "No, not that. I just- ...I was never informed about a snowstorm at this time..." Everypony looked at the raging snowstorm out the window. More drastic than they've ever seen. "Uh-oh..." All heads turned to the worried pegasus, who was standing at the entrance to the kitchen. "Rainbow?" They all said in unison. "I think when we were trying to escape the snowbies, I crashed into the main snow machine." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head with guilt. Rainbow darted downwards, and soon hit a machine with a dud. When she did, the machine turned on with a buzzing sound, and white fog appeared above it. "I... I'm sorry. I messed up again." Rainbow said in defeat. "Rainbow Dash, that could have happened to anypony. You don't need to beat yourself up because of a few mistakes." Twilight said understandingly. "A snowstorm wont make much of a difference anyways." "Y-You think so." Rainbow perked up. "I know so. Look, I'll go check right now!" Twilight's horn flashed and she disappeared in a purple spark. Seconds later, she reappeared with big smile on her face and snow covering most of her body. "See? I checked, and other than the high height of the snow, there are no problems." "O-Okay, I'll take your word for it. I'll just go sit down for a while." "Don't you want breakfast?" Pinkie asked. "Naw, I'm good. I'll eat in a bit." Rainbow said with a sad smile. When Rainbow was out of hearing range, Twilight finally let out all the sweat she was holding in. "This is bad. This is bad. This is so bad." If Twilight had fingernails, she would be biting them. "Huh? But ah thought-" Twilight cut her off. "The snow, i-it's going to almost be impossible to walk in. The ice, it's going to be so slippery. Buildings are buried in snow, it's freezing..." Twilight went on and on, and the more she explained their situation the more shocked everypony looked. "A-And the worst part..." Everypony waited for Twilight to finish her worried rant. "Most of the snowbies... have combined with the hard frozen ice, and now it'll be harder to stop them." She finished. Everypony in the room gasped in shock. Leaving Ponyville, Finding A New ShelterAuthor's Note Warning: Pony type swearing ahead! And I've been busy for the last two weeks, but now I'm back. Leaving Ponyville, Finding A New Shelter "For the last time Rainbow, you don't have to be sorry!" Twilight said worryingly. The Mane... Five, were walking in deep snow. They checked the train station which they thought headed to Canterlot, but instead it was abandoned, figures. When Rainbow saw the deep snow that would cause trouble for them, she was pounded with guilt as she was the one who made the snowstorm. "No! This is all my fault! The snowbies are more powerful, the snow makes it hard to walk in, and we have to walk all the way to Canterlot!" Rainbow cried. "Rainbow this is unlike you. We need you to put it together." Applejack said. Rarity tapped Twilight's shoulder. "Um? Twilight?" She started to ask. Twilight turned to Rarity. "Yeah?" "Couldn't you just teleport us there?" "I tried! Many times actually. But something's negating my magic." "Maybe this is all a test by Celestia and she's blocking your magic?" Pinkie judged. "Celestia wouldn't do this, she cares too much about her ponies so she would NEVER put them in danger just to give us a test." "Well... she is a troll." Pinkie said to herself. "What?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at Pinkie Pie. "Nothing!" She said playfully. Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash and saw that her head was still drooping low. She put on a stern face and stepped in her way, making the rainbow maned pegasus stop. "Alright Rainbow! You need to stop that right now!" Rainbow, still sad but confused, asked, "Stop what?" "Being... So... Depressed!" Pinkie grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders and started shaking her wildly. "Give us back the real Rainbow Dash!" "I want the old Rainbow Dash back too." Twilight agreed, with a more concerned face. "B-But, I am the real Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shook her head. "The Rainbow Dash I know would have denied her mistakes, being stubborn as always. Not mope around like a filly who didn't get her candy." Rainbow tried to intervene, but Twilight continued. "She would also be trying her best to stay positive, and would find a way to help her friends. Even those who are not around." Rainbow's head drooped low once again. "Y-You're right...." She looked up at Twilight and the rest. "I'll try to be... me. But I need some time to think things over first." "Alright." Twilight and the others smiled and continued to walk forward. "I hope the real Rainbow Dash returns soon. We need her. She's part of the team." She thought. They walked a few more miles. The snow fell harshly, covering their sight from the beautiful city on the mountain known as Canterlot. Suddenly, four of the five mares heard screeching. Rainbow continued to walk straight in thought and she eventually walked into Rarity's rump. Rarity did not notice however, as she was too shocked at her surroundings. About a dozen snowbies. More than half of them was covered or spiked in ice. "Whatdowedo? Whatdowedo?" Rarity whispered. Another screeched. "Just stay calm. We obviously need to buck these things into the next cider season before we can move on. Better to keep our heads in check." Applejack explained. They took their stance a bit longer. Twilight glanced at Rainbow and she looked really angry for some reason. She simply shrugged it off and went back to examining the situation. Applejack stared at the closest snowbie to her. She proceeded to run up to it and buck it like she does an apple tree. The snowbie, covered in ice, budged slightly, but didn't look as if it took any damage. It screeched once again. Applejack quickly noticed this and retreated back to the group. "It's like I said before! Most of them merged with the ice from the storm, and now they are more durable." Twilight told. "Didn't that hurt Applejack?! It looked pretty tough." Rarity asked, undoubtedly worried for the farm mare. "Ah bucked plenty of apple trees in my time. Ah think I could buck almost anything and not feel a thing." She explained. "Alright. I'll take care of the ones with the ice-" Twilight tried to plan as she was interrupted by Pinkie shooting a party cannon at one of the ice snowbies, surprisingly defeating it. Twilight blinked. "As I was saying, me and Pinkie Pie will take care of the ones with the ice." She planned. So then they went to work. Applejack easily dismantled three with some bucks, and Rarity took one out by melting it slowly with her, somehow mobile, blow dryer. Pinkie blasted three with her party cannon, and Twilight simply used her magic to disassemble the last four of them. Soon after, they heard some pounding. They all turned to the noise and saw something that horrified them. Hunched down on her knees was Rainbow Dash. She was in a state her friends didn't like seeing. She was angry. Not mildly angry, but furious. She had her teeth clenched together very hard. The other mares could swear that they heard some teeth crack. And while in this angry state, she repeatedly punched the snow beneath her, which her friends guessed that was what the snowbie before her once was. She kept punching and punching. Grunting while doing do. "Rainbow? Rainbow, stop!" Twilight tried to tell her. But it was in vain. Rainbow didn't stop. It didn't even seem that she heard her. She was so consumed by rage that she didn't even notice her friends trotting up to her. Pinkie covered her eyes. "This Rainbow Dash is even worse! Make it stop! Make it stooop!" Rainbow continued to wail on the snow beneath her. Applejack rushed up to her and grabbed a winding punch. "It's done Rainbow! Ya can stop now!" She yelled. Rainbow's eyes widened as she looked up at the frowning Applejack, and back down to the bullied pile of snow. "I-I..." Twilight was still concerned about the situation. "Come on, let's get out of here." Rainbow picked herself up and began, along with the others, to run down their path yet again. A couple more minutes passed, and the five thought they were in the clear, causing them to start to slow their pace. "You think we're safe?" Rarity asked. "Those things are pretty slow. I think we'll be okay from the ones back there. Hopefully, there aren't any around here." Twilight was sure she saw Pinkie Pie's pink coat turn a bit darker, and that her mane got a little less puffy, but she didn't put any thought into it. "Huh, that's weird..." Applejack started to comment. "What is darling?" "Ah don't reckon seeing this much trees on the way to Canterlot." "Are you sure? We usually ride the train there so maybe you've missed them." Twilight predicted. Applejack shook her head. "Ah've been on the train to Canterlot and back so much ah can't even count. And I know ah didn't see this much trees." They all looked around their zone, and it looked like a forest. More specifically, the Everfree forest. But it wasn't the Everfree. Was it? Surely they didn't go the wrong way. No pony knew, and they wouldn't take the chance. All of them looked at each other, and they soon knew that they were thinking the exact same thing. "Uh...? Maybe we should hurry to get OUT OF HERE!" Pinkie yelled as she immediately ran for her life, making the others panic and away too. Little did they know, they were going the right way all along, but many obstacles will slow them down significantly. After about an hour, you could see the Mane Five walking slowly down a path. They only just exited the forest and all but Applejack seemed tired. "Can we just please rest for just a moment." Rarity whined. Twilight gave her a sad look. "I wish we could, but we would be too vulnerable to the snowbies. We need to find a shelter or something-" "Found one!" Pinkie interrupted. All eyes turned to Pinkie who was pointing to... not one shelter of some kind, but many. In fact, it was a city! "Woah!" All but Pinkie said in amazement. "Has there always been a city in between Ponyville and Canterlot?" Applejack asked. "N-No..." Twilight replied. They were all now walking down one of the streets. All around looked like abandoned homes, destroyed shops, and... snowbies. The group of mares turned frightened, but soon went into fighting position. Twilight and Applejack made a glance at Rainbow, and they saw, albeit a little less, raged pegasus. They were both about to say something when somepony called out, "Hey! Over here!" All heads turned to the call and they saw a small brown earth stallion with a little red kerchief around his neck. He was standing at a doorway to a game/comic store. "Bro! What are you waiting for?" He began when the Mane Five didn't budge. "Hurry the buck up!" The mares hesitated for a second but soon ran for the door in a panic. As soon as they entered the building the dwarf stallion slammed the door closed. He proceeded to put his ear to the door to listen for any approaching snowbies. When he was certain that no monster was coming, he let out a sigh of relief and looked at the five mares. "Follow me." He commanded, as the brown stallion began to walk down a hallway. Twilight was the first to obey, and the others soon followed her. After thirty seconds or so, Twilight began to ask, "So... who are you?" "My name is Gang Gang." Twilight raised an eyebrow at the name, but she didn't want to make him feel bad. "Oh, well greeting Mr. Gang-" The mysterious stallion began to laugh. It was an unusually high pitch laugh that made the others grimace and stop walking. "You actually believed that. Yooo!" After a bit more laughing, he began to speak normally. "The name's Shock Wave. Me and my boys were just chilling here, trying to survive." "Oh, you have kids? What were you doing at the door then?" Twilight asked. Shock shook his head dramatically. "They aren't my kids, they are my "boys", my friends. And anyways, it's my stupid turn to be the watcher. The watcher basically makes sure that no snobster gets inside." "Snobster?" Rarity asked astonished. "Those... things outside. That's the name we came up for them." He explained. Rainbow gritted her teeth and pushed Applejack out of her way. "Hey!" Rainbow ignored her and put all her attention on Shock Wave. She was angry. "They. Are called. Snowbies!" She boomed. The stallion didn't flinch. "Jeez. Sure, whatever suits your flank." He started to walk off again, making the others follow. "The rest are in the living room. Apparently this game shop was also a house. So we decided to stay here until it ran out of supplies." "Where's the ponies who own this place." Applejack asked. "We... kind of made sure that they weren't walking around in "snow form"." "Oh..." They approached a door, and Shock opened up and yelled. "Yo! Found some mares!" In the living room were three long couches. There were seven stallions, two of which were holding game controllers and were slumped against the couch rather than sitting on it. The other stallions were indeed on the couch sitting properly. Another stallion stepped out from what looked like a kitchen. "Siiick." He said. In front of the couches was a game. You could see what looked like a first-pony vision of a unicorn firing magic blasts from her horn. "Just chill here for a bit, it's all good." Shock said, causing Twilight to nod. "Yo shock!" One of the stallions, a red pegasus, called. "Yo Incinerator, what's up?" Shock replied. "Come bro." "What?" "Just come bro!" He demanded. Twilight turned her attention to the other stallions who were paying attention to the video game. She sighed and turned to her friends. Applejack asked, "What are we going to do?" "Well, they're being nice enough to let us stay. I say we stay the night and leave." "That sounds good. We needed some rest anyways." Rarity agreed. Twilight's ears twitched and caught onto something. She heard a noise, it seemed like arguing. "Try to find somewhere to sit down. I'll be right with you in a moment." The others nodded and Twilight began to track down where the noise was coming from. The noise led her to a slightly opened door. As she came closer, the noise became clearer. She soon stopped when she noticed she could understand clearly what they were saying in there. "...understand the princess, but did you have to bring the other four too?!" The stallion sounded like Incinerator. "What did you expect me to do yo? Leave the others to get eaten?" Incinerator grunted. "Now we have more mouths to feed man! We're running out of supplies already!" "You know what Game Changer would want us to do!" Twilight busted through the door, not wanting the argument to go any further. "We have food and supplies! We can share with all of you." Incinerator frowned, not noticing that Twilight was spying on them. "But what will happen after that's done? We're finished man!" "No, we're not. Never give up hope." Twilight said. "Well, do you have any ideas princess?" "Of the matter of fact, no, I don't. But we can fix this. I need to get to Canterlot to find Princess Celestia." "And what will that do? What if you find her and even she doesn't know how to stop this?" "I don't know. But what other option do I have? At best, if she doesn't know how to stop all this, we'll start a new civilization, mourn about the loss of ponies afterwards. But right now, I will not give up hope. And neither should you." After her quick speech, the room went quiet. After a sigh from Incinerator, he said, "I'm sorry, I'm just really stressed right now." "And that's okay too. Who wouldn't be stressed right now." Twilight said. After some silent seconds, Twilight spoke. "My friends and I are leaving tomorrow anyways. We need to get to Canterlot to try to stop this mess." As she was about to leave, Shock Wave said, "We'll roll up with you." Twilight was confused by sentence. "Roll... up?" He sighed. "We'll come with you." "Oh. It's alright. You don't have to-" "No. It would be better than just staying put, doing nothing while other mans are suffering and crap." "Okay. That's very kind of you." Twilight was about to leave when, "By the way. What... exactly is this place? This... city?" The other two stallions raised an eyebrow at her. They gave each other confused looks and Shock said, "How don't you know what this city is?" "I've never seen this city before? In fact, I've never seen any civilization between Ponyville and Canterlot." She explained. Shock scratched his head. "Well... I don't know about in between Ponyville and Canterlot, but you're in Fillydelphia."
The Snow Walks"You're not joking?" The first voice said, not at all amused. "Of course I'm not, this will be great!" The second said, sounding excited. "I honestly think this will be hilarious!" A third voice said, as excited as the second voice. "I still don't see the point in this..." The first said. "For one, it's to test the ponies, especially the bearer of the Elements. And two, this will be most entertaining." The second said. "Can we do it now?" The third said, really eager. "Yes Discord, let's combine our magic!" The second said, giddy. "I'd rather not get involved." The first said. "Yes!" Discord pumped his claw. Suddenly, the area shined. It was a peaceful day in Ponyville. The sun shined brightly, birds chirped, and ponies walked among themselves. Quite high in the air, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were riding in a carriage, getting carried by two white pegasi in golden armor. "I still wish you would've packed some more food." Spike said annoyingly, while bending over the side of the carriage to look below. "I'm said I'm sorry." Twilight whined. "The princess called on short notice. And I rushed... and I forgot to pack more food." Twilight looked over to Spike. "I didn't even get to grab any of the gems in my secret stash." Spike whimpered. "You have a secret stash?!" Twilight asked. "Never mind, I guess I'll deal with the royal food this time." Spike said pulling away from the side and leaning back against the seat. Twilight sighed to herself and pulled out a letter. She read it again to make sure. "Princess Celestia said that there was an emergency in Canterlot. We need to get there as soon as we can." "What happened this time?" "I don't know, she didn't explain anything in the letter. She'll explain when we get there." "Hopefully this doesn't take too long. I want to get back to my nap." Twilight giggled. "Oh, you and your naps. When this is all over, we'll all have plenty of rest." The ride was smooth. Spike and Twilight leaned back and relaxed. It was the middle of winter, and close to Hearth's Warming Day. Suddenly, the guards grew wide eyed when a couple of ponies flew in front of them. They didn't have enough time to stop or turn out of the way. So they crashed. The latches on the guards broke off. The guards crashed in different directions and the carriage was no longer flying. Twilight and Spike got thrown around in the carriage as they screamed and the carriage hit the ground a second later. Twilight opened her eyes slightly, only seeing blur. She got up but felt dizzy. She wobbled a bit then shook her head to get the dizziness out. Once she gained composure, Twilight looked around and saw no pony. She was in some part of Ponyville, but everything looked destroyed. The air looked like a dull orange, and the sky was a tad darker. Had the carriage actually done this? She called out, but no answer came. She then peeked into the heavily damaged carriage, and saw no pony or dragon in there. Twilight looked back at the surrounding area. She tried to flap her wings, but the recent impact made her somewhat weak. She decided to walk around to look for somepony to help. She kept yelling out for help, but every time no answer was returned. After some walking. She saw what looked like to be a white pony in the distance. Twilight trotted up to it and started inspecting. "Why isn't this pony moving? ...At all." She cleared her throat started to talk. "Hey! Can you help me? I'm kinda hurt, and I don't know where the hospital is- AH!" She screamed as the pony turned and screeched. The pony was full-on white. Even her pupils were white as snow. Twilight stepped back in fear as this "pony" slowly walked over to her. Twilight inspected the pony some more and saw that it kind of lacked a mind. It looked lifeless but creepy at the same time. The unknown pony put one hoof out, making Twilight realize that it wants her. The alicorn was soon backed into a corner, then realized, "Wait! What am I doing? I'm a princess!" Twilight mentally slapped herself. "Alright... whoever you are. If you didn't notice already, I'm princess Twilight!" The pony didn't stop. "Explain to me what is happening!" The pony still didn't stop. Twilight shut her eyes tight, getting ready for whatever was gonna happen. As the pony was mere inches from Twilight, she panicked and swatted at the pony with her hoof. Twilight opened her eyes immediately after, and was shocked to see the hoof she swatted some meters away. The hoof was stable, then collapsed into a clump of... snow? She looked at it carefully, "Snow?" She thought. "Is that what it's made of?" Twilight lit her horn and used weak heat beams to cut through the rest of the unknown pony's hoofs. The pony fell to the ground and Twilight wiped the sweat on her head. "What was that? A pony made from snow. And it tried to do something to me." Twilight could hear some shrieking from below her, and saw that the snow pony wasn't out of commission. She gasped and stepped on the pony's head, making it drop once again, turning it into harmless snow. Twilight breathed heavily. "What was that?" She inspected the pony. "Please tell me this wasn't a (gulp) real pony." All of a sudden, Twilight started to hear some more shrieks come from around her area. "There's more of them!" Twilight was shocked. She looked in the air and saw some other ponies like the one she just encountered. "If those ponies up there act the same as this one was, I'd better stay on the ground. It'd be a lot safer." Twilight said to herself. Then she started to walk in a direction which led somewhere she didn't know. "This is probably what's happening in Canterlot. I'll need to go there and find Princess Celestia, then, we can stop whatever this is." Cloudsdale "Alright! Go again!" Rainbow yelled out. Scootaloo, on a cloud above Cloudsdale ground, and a few meters away from a flying Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, jumped off and pulled out her wings. She started glide down slowly, as Rainbow and Fluttershy watched in amazement. Soon though, Scootaloo felt like she was falling a bit faster than when she first jumped off. And then she realized, she stopped gliding and was falling fast. Scootaloo yelled and closed her eyes as she fell. But shortly after, she felt as she stopped falling. She opened her eyes to see Rainbow Dash holding her. "Wow! Thanks Rainbow!" "No problem squirt, and even if you did fall, the clouds would have saved you." Rainbow said. Rainbow landed beside Fluttershy who was sitting on a bench, and set down Scootaloo. "Take a five kid." Scootaloo nodded and walked a short distance away. "She's doing great Rainbow!" Fluttershy said. "I'm telling you, soon, she is going to be able to fly fast like me!" Rainbow said as she sat down next to Fluttershy. "Maybe even faster." Fluttershy giggled. "Wha- No way! I'll always be the fastest." Rainbow protested. They watched Scootaloo in the distance try to jump and fly. She flew in the air for three seconds, and fell flat on her belly. She giggled when the clouds tickled her belly. Rainbow's stomach growled, and Fluttershy snickered. "I guess I'm hungry." Rainbow shrugged. "Hey Scoots! Let's get something to eat!" Rainbow yelled out. Scootaloo turned her head and replied, "Okay!" She ran to Rainbow. "Let's go." Rainbow said. During the walk, Scootaloo just told Rainbow excitedly how she almost flew. The walk to the restaurant wasn't too far. It took them about 2 minutes to reach there. As they were about to step into the restaurant, they all heard somepony scream. Rainbow looked back and saw multiple pegasi flying away in one direction. Rainbow took note that they were all panicking. She then looked to the left of the shop and saw a turquoise pegasus mare being cornered by some ponies who were walking and flying slowly towards her. "Hey!" Rainbow yelled as she flew towards the group. Rainbow landed in front of the turquoise pegasus, blocking the other ponies. However, they did not stop slowly walking towards the two. "You want some? Come and get it!" Rainbow put her hoofs out in a fighting position. All she got in return was some screeching sounds. When Rainbow realized they wouldn't stop, she landed a punch on one of them. The pony who she punched, turned into a pile of packing snow. Rainbow looked at what just occurred. "Snow? These ponies are made out of snow?" Rainbow started to plow through the other ponies who were made out of snow. The turquoise pony took the memo and decided to help. She started to buck and hit the snow abominations. When all the 'snow' was back on the ground, Rainbow turned to the other pegasus mare. "Go! Get out of here!" The pegasus nodded and flew away. Rainbow heard somepony else yell and saw Fluttershy by the restaurant getting cornered by some more snow ponies. She was about to go help her when she heard Scootaloo yell to her across from Fluttershy. She too, was getting surrounded. "Okay, Scootaloo has less of those things, but she can't defend herself well. Fluttershy can defend herself, but there's too much of them for her to handle." Rainbow gulped and thought to herself, "Fluttershy, or Scootaloo? Scootaloo, or Fluttershy? Fluttershy, or Scootaloo?! Scootaloo, or Fluttershy?! FLUTTERSHY, OR SCOOTALOO?! SCOOTALOO OR FLUTTERSHY?! FLUTTERSHY, OR SCOOTALOO?! SCOOTALOO OR FLUTTERSHY?!" Rainbow started to sweat. "Who do I save?" Author's Note This is where you all come in. Yes YOU, the readers. You all will decide who will get saved, and who will not. This is your first test. You will be tested throughout this story. And the choices you make, will change the story as it progresses. Now who should Rainbow Dash save? Fluttershy? Or Scootaloo? Comment bellow for your choice.
"What is happening!?""That was excellent!" The second voice said feeling achieved. "Yes, yes, can we stop this now?" The first voice said mildly amused. "No, we can't! This was only the first part of the test. Let's see if they can get more answers right!" The second said. "I am quite excited myself!" Discord said happily. "But Discord? Won't you lose the trust from the ponies if you continue doing this?" The first voice questioned. "Aw, don't worry yourself. If I know those ponies, then they will most understand." Discord said confidently. "Okay." The first said while doing the rolling eyes gesture. Rainbow looked left and right. "Who do I save?" She debated to herself for awhile, then called out, "Fluttershy! Try your stare!" Her words were useless as Fluttershy was too scared. Fluttershy soon covered her ears to block out the screeching noise they were making. Rainbow looked to Scootaloo. "I..." Rainbow thought for a bit more. "Sorry Fluttershy. But Scoots needs me!" Rainbow quickly flew over to Scootaloo's pack of snow monsters, and started to hammer away. Once all of the demons were taken care of. Rainbow quickly grabbed Scootaloo and looked over to where Fluttershy was supposed to be. She gasped when she saw a massive group of the snow monsters around Fluttershy. Rainbow then shielded Scootaloo's sight with her wind, and shut her eyes tight, as the timid mare she knew, was lost in the crowd. It was dark in the room. Rainbow took herself and Scootaloo to a nearby hotel. She thought it would be a safe place... for now. Rainbow quickly pulled up the blind for the window. She turned to see Scootaloo softly weeping. "Hey... No need to cry kid." She tried to sooth her. Scoots sobbed. "What's gonna happen Rainbow?" Rainbow looked out the window once again, saw some more snow monsters, and replied, "I don't know Scoots." Scootaloo continued to weep. Rainbow decided to comfort Scootaloo, so she trotted over to her, sat down, and placed her right wing around her. "Hey, we might not know what's happening, or what's gonna happen, but how about we change that." Scootaloo sniffed. "H-How?" "We have to find things. Clues, other ponies, things that can help us." "But after we do those things, what do we do after? Fight until... whatever happened to Fluttershy, happens to us?" Rainbow's grip on Scootaloo with her wing tightened. "I know we can't fight forever squirt..." Rainbow didn't know what else to say, she never encountered this, and she doubted Twilight or either of her other friends did as well. "Come on, let's go." Rainbow ordered. "Where are we going to go?" "We have to keep moving, those... things, will definitely roam this area soon, and we can't take any chances." "O-Okay, I understand." Rainbow knelt down and placed a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "Hey, you have to be strong. Okay?" Scootaloo nodded. "How about we make this... fun?" "Fun? How?" "Hmm, we keep calling these things... "things"! So, how about we make a name for them?" Rainbow suggested. "Well, they're snow. And they look zombified in a way." Scootaloo thought. "Zombified?" Rainbow was confused. "It's a thing that we made up. Basically, they are mindless ponies that search for the living ponies. Those are called "zombies", but these real life ones... seem, different." "What do you mean, different?" "Not the way they're acting, just... their appearance." "How do they usually look like." "Um... nothing you would be interested in." Scootaloo said sheepishly. Rainbow gave Scootaloo a knowing look. "Anyways! How about we get to that name?" Scootaloo said quickly. "Hmm, zombies, snow, ponies." She repeated those three words in her head repeatedly. "Zombies, snow, ponies... how about Snowbies!" Scootaloo thought out loud. "That's a great name squirt." Rainbow said, cheering up Scootaloo. "Yeah! It sounds nice too." Rainbow giggled. "How about we get going now?" "Sure!" "Alright then, let's get out of here." Rainbow instructed. Twilight crawled into the window at Sugarcube Corner. It was dark. For some reason, most of the lights were off in the bakery, and those that were on, were slightly flickering. She silently trotted around, not wanting to encounter more snow ponies. "Pinkie? Mr. and Mrs.Cake?" Twilight whispered loudly. "Pound? Pumpkin?" She called out again, in a whisper. Twilight heard some rummaging, and then some giggling. Twilight recognized the voice. "P-Pinkie? Is that you?" She slowly and carefully trotted over to the kitchen, where the giggling was coming from. As she got closer, the noise got louder. And as she got closer, Twilight's heart beats picked up the pace. She soon peeked her head in from the doorway, and saw... nothing. As eerie as the nothingness, the noises stopped as well. Twilight started to breathe faster and sharper. She wiped her head left and right as she entered the kitchen. When she was somewhat in the room, Twilight looked at her surroundings. The kitchen was a mess, food and ingredients on the floor and counters, machines like the blender and oven looked destroyed, and the fridge was tipped over. "Hi Twilight!" Twilight screamed out of shock, and leapt back as Pinkie stood behind her, oblivious to what she'd just done. Twilight soon noticed who was the pony she just encountered, and started recollecting herself. "P-P-Pinkie! Why'd you do that?" "Do what?" Pinkie asked, still oblivious that she almost gave Twilight a heart attack. She gave a face hoof in response to Pinkie's reply. "Never mind. I'm just glad I found you. Where are the Cakes and their foals?" Pinkie put a hoof to her chin as she started thinking. "I don't think I saw them at all today..." "Well, can you explain why Sugarcube Corner's in such a mess?" "Actually, when I left this morning, it was all fine." Pinkie explained. Twilight sighed in defeat. She then started to think, "It's hard to say this, but we can't go out and look for individuals. We have to get to Canterlot and fix all this." Twilight turned to Pinkie with a determined face. "Pinkie? You up for an adventure?" Pinkie hopped and yelled, "An adventure? YAAAY!" Rainbow and Scootaloo were carefully walking down the a street of Cloudsdale. "Rainbow, can't we just fly away?" Rainbow considered it, but when she looked up and saw more snowbies she tossed away the idea. "I don't think so." "Is your wing broken or something?" "No, it's just a big risk, that's all." Rainbow explained. "Oh, right." They walked some more, when they heard some screeching behind them. Rainbow and Scoots looked behind themselves, to see a hoard of snowbies, probably hundreds of them. "O-On second thought, how about we do fly out of here!" Rainbow bent down. "Get on my back!" Rainbow said in a rush. Scootaloo did as instructed and Rainbow took off, easily losing the snowbies behind them. Soon however, a random fluttering snowbie flew in front of Rainbow's path, making Rainbow crash into it, and lose control. On impact, Scootaloo came flying off of Rainbow's back, yelling while being hurled in the opposite direction as Rainbow. Rainbow darted downwards, and soon hit a machine with a dud. When she did, the machine turned on with a buzzing sound, and white fog appeared above it. She was heading to the outskirts of Cloudsdale, then to Equestrian grounds, under Cloudsdale. Right before she made impact with the hard ground, she pulled out her wings in an attempt to lighten the fall. It still wasn't enough though, and she hit the ground hard, blacking out. When she opened her eyes, she saw a purple blur. Scootaloo's mane perhaps? No, she shook her head and looked at the pony in front of her. It was the Princess Of Magic looking worried, and behind her was Ponyville's party pony. "T-Twilight?!" Author's Note Who do YOU think is the first and second voices? Forgot to say this in the last chapter, but not all chapters will have choices to make.
What To Do?"Are you alright Rainbow?" Rainbow Dash looked up at the alicorn, who was looking down at her with concern. "T-Twilight?! What are you doing here?" "What do you mean? This is where I live." Twilight replied with a chuckle. "H-Huh? Aren't we below Cloudsdale right now?" Rainbow asked. "Hm?" Twilight looked up, and behind some clouds she could slightly see none other than Cloudsdale. "What the..." Rainbow and Pinkie Pie also looked up, and saw the floating city. "Woah! You said we're at Ponyville right?" Dash said. Twilight still shocked, nodded. Pinkie put a hoof to her chin. "Hmmm... If Cloudsdale's up there and Ponyville's down here, then that means Cloudsdale moved above Ponyville, or maybe Ponyville moved closer to Cloudsdale, and now it's under the city. Or maybe they both moved equal distance towards each other and they're in the middle? My head hurts..." Pinkie rubbed her head. "The first assumption made sense, but I doubt the others." Twilight said. "But how DID Cloudsdale get above Ponyville?" "I don't know, maybe-" Rainbow was cut off by the sounds of screeching. The three ponies looked at their surroundings, and saw around twenty snow ponies. "Snowbies! A lot of them too!" Rainbow said as the three back up into one another. "Snowbies? Is that what you call them?" Twilight asked, still back to back with Pinkie and Rainbow. "It's the name me and Scoota-" Rainbow's eyes widened as she thought of Scootaloo. Rainbow looked around frantically. "Scootaloo! Scootaloo, please answer me! Tell me you're okay!" "Rainbow?" Twilight asked, worried for her friend. "Scootaloo! Scootaloo!" Rainbow yelled to the point where her voice was starting to give in. The Snowbies were still approaching slowly, as another ten of them appeared from behind. "Maybe they just want to play?" Pinkie inquired, trying to brighten up the situation. Twilight took a glance at Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, we have to go!" "I can't, what if Scootaloo's out there?" "We have to save ourselves before even thinking of trying to search for her." "But what if-" "You already called out so loud that the dragons could hear you, and Scootaloo didn't reply." She mentioned. Rainbow thought for a second, then grunted. "Fine... Let's go..." Twilight shot a magical beam at the Snowbies who were blocking the path to her castle. After the beam hit and those Snowbies were snow again, they ran and headed to the castle. "Try not to fly too much Rainbow! ...And you too Pinkie." "Okey dokey lokey!" She replied. They ran around the corner, and they could see Twilight's castle. "Not too far now! We'll be safer there!" They ran for a couple more seconds when more Snowbies crept out the shadows and blocked their path, causing them to skid a couple meters before stopping completely. Twilight looked left and right and saw no way around. What she did see was Rainbow walking up to the hoard. "Rainbow? What are you doing?" She asked in shock. "These Snowbies are no problem, just a hoof hard to the face and they'll fall!" She replied confidently. "I'm in!" Pinkie excitedly said. "Alright, we'll do it your way Rainbow." "That's what I like to hear!" Rainbow said, not removing her frown. Rainbow pumped her hoofs together, and made the first strike. So they began. Twilight firing with magic, and physically hitting them at times. Pinkie with her randomness, and party cannons. And finally Rainbow Dash, swooping from above and getting personal with the monsters. It didn't take long, a minute or two, but they succeeded in defeating all the Snowbies. "Alright! Let's get out of here befor-" They all heard screeching and turned to see another hoard of Snowbies. "Yeah, let's go." Rainbow suggested. They turned to start sprinting towards the castle again, but was blocked by more Snowbies. "More of them?!" Twilight was shocked. They stepped back a bit, but stopped when realizing that there was more behind them. "We're trapped!" Rainbow said. "Can we play again?" Pinkie asked. "There's too much!" Twilight explained. They heard a sound behind them, and looked to see that some of the Snowbies were disassembled. "Huh?" Twilight raised an eyebrow. Soon after, some of the Snowbies were encased in a blue aura. They were soon turned into packs of snow. They looked down to see the snow which was the snowbie, but snapped back up when they heard a single screech. The screech was cut off however, when a pair of hooves hit the sound maker roughly making it turn into a patch of snow. They all gazed at the owner of the orange hooves. "A-Applejack?" Twilight smiled. "The one and only!" Applejack said as she tipped her hat for a hello. "I can't believe you notice her but not me; the one who took out most of those ruffians." They looked to their left and saw Rarity. "Rarity! You're all fine!" Twilight said. "Yes! We-" "Okay! Let's talk later! Right now, we need to get out of here!" Rainbow said. They all nodded and made their way to the castle, reaching moments later. "Go to the throne room!" Twilight ordered. When they entered, Twilight immediately shut the door with her magic, and put six wooden barricades to keep it from opening again. She threw a sigh of relief as the intensity left for the time being, and she made her way to the throne room where her friends were waiting. When she entered the throne room, her friends were sitting in their respective thrones, and Twilight did the same. "We should be safe here, I've put a protective spell around the area. Those snowbies won't be coming in anytime soon." Twilight said as she sat on her throne. "Snowbies?" Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that's what Rainbow Dash called them, so I figured that I should call them that too. You know, for no confusion." She explained. "Well I think that's a pretty easy name to remember." Rarity said. "Ah'm fine with it, but uh... do any of y'all know what in Equestria's happening?" Applejack asked. They all stayed quiet, thinking about possible explanations. Before long, Twilight spoke, "I don't know what's exactly happening, but right before this madness started, Princess Celestia sent me an emergency letter, telling me to get to the castle as soon as possible." "And you think the princess knows what's going on?" Rarity queried. "I'm not sure if she knows what's happening one-hundred percent, but this may be happening in Canterlot as well." "Alright then, let's go to Canterlot and meet up with the princess." Applejack proposed. "Yes, and we might need the Rainbow Power as well." Rarity added. "Yeah, all we need is Fluttershy." Twilight said. Rainbow Dash, lost in her own thought, gasped at the mention of her lost friend. "Have any of you seen her today?" Twilight asked the group. They all shared their "no"s and the shaking of the heads. Rainbow finally spoke up. "You guys... aren't gonna see her..." She said sadly. The others burrowed their brows and looked at one another. "Why not? Did she eat too much cake and got a stomach ache?" Pinkie asked. "Did she go on a trip or something?" Rarity seriously asked. "N-no..." "What happened Rainbow?" Twilight asked softly. "...Earlier, me, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo were up in Cloudsdale. You know, just hanging out." Rainbow then shut her eyes closed. "That was when the snowbies jumped on us. Before I knew it, both Scootaloo and Fluttershy were surrounded by those things, and I had to choose who to save." Rainbow was about to tear up. "I-I chose to save Scoots. I don't know why, I just went. By the time Scoots was safe, those monsters got to Fluttershy." They all gasped, save for Rainbow. Applejack was shocked. "Those things... they make others turn like them." Twilight looked to Applejack. "What do you mean?" "This one pony who was with me and Rarity some time before, was bitten by one of those things hours earlier. We thought nothing of it, but then... he suddenly turned into a snow pony." "That can't be!" Twilight said, shocked. "Then that means that..." "Fluttershy's one of them!" Rarity finished. Rainbow continued her tale. "After all that, me and Scootaloo hid for a while. And after that, it got crazy. I tried to fly away, but it made things worse. Scootaloo got knocked off my back, and I don't know if she's alright, or if she's even safe." Rainbow slammed her hoof on the table, making the others jump. "I-I failed..." "Rainbow..." Twilight looked at her friend with worry. Rainbow was now letting the tears free, they were falling down her cheeks and dripping from her chin. "I not only let down Fluttershy, but Scootaloo too." Twilight had to reassure her friend somehow. "Rainbow, Scootaloo's a strong filly, And we'll fix this, I promise." Rainbow stayed quiet. Twilight put back on her serious face. "Alright, we'll stay here and wait out the night. Once we rest, we'll make out for Canterlot." She instructed. They all nodded in response. "I'll get Spike to send a letter to Celest-" Twilight's eyes widened in shock. "...Twilight? What's the matter?" Rarity asked. "Spike may not be with us either..." She said as if part of her disappeared.
A New ThreatTwilight and the others were walking down the castle hallways. On their way to the guest rooms. Rarity noticed Twilight's sadness. The things she heard from before must have been devastating. She wanted to help her friend in some way, and what's better than to have a little chat in this situation? Rarity picked up her pace, and trotted next to Twilight who's head was drooping low. "Hey... I'm sure that Spikey's alright. He's a tough dragon." Twilight didn't respond. "And he sure is smart as well, don't you think?" Twilight nodded slowly. "Don't worry about a thing Twilight, once we arrive at Canterlot and find Princess Celestia, everything will go just fine." Rarity reassured. Twilight sighed in response. "Yeah, sure..." Rarity raised an eyebrow. Twilight looked at Rarity for the first time in their conversation. "He does have his fire breath, and he picks a good fight... but I'm still worried. I mean, other than the fact that he's cold blooded and the cold could freeze him harshly, I don't think those things could get him." Twilight smiled. "Don't forget those dragon scales." Rarity reminded her, in a sing-song voice. Twilight nodded more firmly. Twilight turned, which caused the other three to stop in their tracks. "Okay, we'll sleep the night and head out tomorrow. We'll need our strength to move on." Twilight said. The others nodded, save for Rainbow Dash, and headed into their separate rooms. Once inside her bedroom, Twilight took a glance out her window, and was both shocked and frustrated at what she saw. A snowstorm. Not even a big snowstorm, a tremendous snowstorm. You could slightly see hail mixed in too. Twilight sighed in exasperation. "Now it's going to be harder tomorrow when we have to walk in deep snow." Twilight, defeated, turned and jumped in her cozy bed. While burying herself in her warm blankets, she thought about tomorrow, and hoped that everything will be alright. If only that were to be true... Rainbow, unnatural for her, gently slid into her bed. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly. "Scootaloo, wherever you are, I hope you're safe..." A single tear dropped from her eyelid as it made its way down to her other eye, because of her slanted position. "Fluttershy... " Rainbow shut her eyes close and hugged the pillow tighter. "I failed you... Both you, and Scootaloo..." She then looked up at her window, looking at the heavy snowstorm washing down on them. "I'm sorry..." Twilight put her hoof over her slightly opened eyes, blocking Celestia's sun as it peered through the window trying to blind her. "At least I know Celestia's safe..." When she was about to get out of her bed, a cheerful pink pony jumped in front of her, frightening her to death. "Good morning Twilight." Pinkie said in her jolly tone. "Pinkie Pie! It's so early!" Twilight said sounding pretty irritated. "I know! We have to be on our heals if we want to get through this A-okay!" She said cheerfully. Twilight sighed as Pinkie hopped off her bed. She groaned as she too got up, the pain from her sore wings because of earlier was a little annoying. She made her way to her bathroom, where she brushed her teeth and took a quick shower. In the span of ten minutes, she was ready for breakfast. The smell of the morning meal entering her nose the moment she reached the kitchen, where she saw Pinkie Pie and Applejack making breakfast. "You two didn't have to do all this!" Twilight said, feeling guilty. "Don't worry none Twi, Pinkie and I handled it just fine." Applejack reassured. "But-" "Stop bickering, just take a seat and wait for ya food." Applejack pushed Twilight to her chair with her head. "Besides, we'll be working extra hard for these next days! Better get used to it now." Rarity walked slowly into the room, making a yawn in the process. "Have a good sleep?" Twilight asked as Rarity took the seat next to her. "You could say that. No... -snowbies is what Rainbow called it?" Twilight nodded. "Yes, no snowbies around made my sleep many times better." "Agreed. We should be good in here, those snowbies shouldn't be getting through the barrier anytime soon." Twilight turned to stare out the window. "We should start packing as soon as we can. The sooner we stop this mess, the sooner I'll be able to relax." Rarity suggested. Pinkie looked around the room, noticing somepony missing. "Hey girls? Where's Rainbow Dash? She's usually the third one to wake up, after Applejack." She asked. Applejack sighed. "She's probably still coping about Fluttershy and Scootaloo... She's blaming herself." "It's like how I felt," Applejack started. "-when ah couldn't save Big Mac..." Applejack tipped her hat to hid her shame. Pinkie hoppped up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Speaking of family, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were at school... Oh, I pray to Celestia that they're alright." Rarity hoped. "Ah'm gonna find them Rarity, I plan on it." Applejack told. "Wait? Why didn't Scootaloo go to school?" Pinkie asked. "I heard that Rainbow got her to skip school for something in Cloudsdale. She even convinced Cheerilee to let her go, and took Fluttershy with her." Rarity explained. "That's odd..." All heads turned to Twilight. "Yeah... odd..." Applejack replied. "No, not that. I just- ...I was never informed about a snowstorm at this time..." Everypony looked at the raging snowstorm out the window. More drastic than they've ever seen. "Uh-oh..." All heads turned to the worried pegasus, who was standing at the entrance to the kitchen. "Rainbow?" They all said in unison. "I think when we were trying to escape the snowbies, I crashed into the main snow machine." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head with guilt. Rainbow darted downwards, and soon hit a machine with a dud. When she did, the machine turned on with a buzzing sound, and white fog appeared above it. "I... I'm sorry. I messed up again." Rainbow said in defeat. "Rainbow Dash, that could have happened to anypony. You don't need to beat yourself up because of a few mistakes." Twilight said understandingly. "A snowstorm wont make much of a difference anyways." "Y-You think so." Rainbow perked up. "I know so. Look, I'll go check right now!" Twilight's horn flashed and she disappeared in a purple spark. Seconds later, she reappeared with big smile on her face and snow covering most of her body. "See? I checked, and other than the high height of the snow, there are no problems." "O-Okay, I'll take your word for it. I'll just go sit down for a while." "Don't you want breakfast?" Pinkie asked. "Naw, I'm good. I'll eat in a bit." Rainbow said with a sad smile. When Rainbow was out of hearing range, Twilight finally let out all the sweat she was holding in. "This is bad. This is bad. This is so bad." If Twilight had fingernails, she would be biting them. "Huh? But ah thought-" Twilight cut her off. "The snow, i-it's going to almost be impossible to walk in. The ice, it's going to be so slippery. Buildings are buried in snow, it's freezing..." Twilight went on and on, and the more she explained their situation the more shocked everypony looked. "A-And the worst part..." Everypony waited for Twilight to finish her worried rant. "Most of the snowbies... have combined with the hard frozen ice, and now it'll be harder to stop them." She finished. Everypony in the room gasped in shock.
Leaving Ponyville, Finding A New ShelterAuthor's Note Warning: Pony type swearing ahead! And I've been busy for the last two weeks, but now I'm back. Leaving Ponyville, Finding A New Shelter "For the last time Rainbow, you don't have to be sorry!" Twilight said worryingly. The Mane... Five, were walking in deep snow. They checked the train station which they thought headed to Canterlot, but instead it was abandoned, figures. When Rainbow saw the deep snow that would cause trouble for them, she was pounded with guilt as she was the one who made the snowstorm. "No! This is all my fault! The snowbies are more powerful, the snow makes it hard to walk in, and we have to walk all the way to Canterlot!" Rainbow cried. "Rainbow this is unlike you. We need you to put it together." Applejack said. Rarity tapped Twilight's shoulder. "Um? Twilight?" She started to ask. Twilight turned to Rarity. "Yeah?" "Couldn't you just teleport us there?" "I tried! Many times actually. But something's negating my magic." "Maybe this is all a test by Celestia and she's blocking your magic?" Pinkie judged. "Celestia wouldn't do this, she cares too much about her ponies so she would NEVER put them in danger just to give us a test." "Well... she is a troll." Pinkie said to herself. "What?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at Pinkie Pie. "Nothing!" She said playfully. Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash and saw that her head was still drooping low. She put on a stern face and stepped in her way, making the rainbow maned pegasus stop. "Alright Rainbow! You need to stop that right now!" Rainbow, still sad but confused, asked, "Stop what?" "Being... So... Depressed!" Pinkie grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders and started shaking her wildly. "Give us back the real Rainbow Dash!" "I want the old Rainbow Dash back too." Twilight agreed, with a more concerned face. "B-But, I am the real Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shook her head. "The Rainbow Dash I know would have denied her mistakes, being stubborn as always. Not mope around like a filly who didn't get her candy." Rainbow tried to intervene, but Twilight continued. "She would also be trying her best to stay positive, and would find a way to help her friends. Even those who are not around." Rainbow's head drooped low once again. "Y-You're right...." She looked up at Twilight and the rest. "I'll try to be... me. But I need some time to think things over first." "Alright." Twilight and the others smiled and continued to walk forward. "I hope the real Rainbow Dash returns soon. We need her. She's part of the team." She thought. They walked a few more miles. The snow fell harshly, covering their sight from the beautiful city on the mountain known as Canterlot. Suddenly, four of the five mares heard screeching. Rainbow continued to walk straight in thought and she eventually walked into Rarity's rump. Rarity did not notice however, as she was too shocked at her surroundings. About a dozen snowbies. More than half of them was covered or spiked in ice. "Whatdowedo? Whatdowedo?" Rarity whispered. Another screeched. "Just stay calm. We obviously need to buck these things into the next cider season before we can move on. Better to keep our heads in check." Applejack explained. They took their stance a bit longer. Twilight glanced at Rainbow and she looked really angry for some reason. She simply shrugged it off and went back to examining the situation. Applejack stared at the closest snowbie to her. She proceeded to run up to it and buck it like she does an apple tree. The snowbie, covered in ice, budged slightly, but didn't look as if it took any damage. It screeched once again. Applejack quickly noticed this and retreated back to the group. "It's like I said before! Most of them merged with the ice from the storm, and now they are more durable." Twilight told. "Didn't that hurt Applejack?! It looked pretty tough." Rarity asked, undoubtedly worried for the farm mare. "Ah bucked plenty of apple trees in my time. Ah think I could buck almost anything and not feel a thing." She explained. "Alright. I'll take care of the ones with the ice-" Twilight tried to plan as she was interrupted by Pinkie shooting a party cannon at one of the ice snowbies, surprisingly defeating it. Twilight blinked. "As I was saying, me and Pinkie Pie will take care of the ones with the ice." She planned. So then they went to work. Applejack easily dismantled three with some bucks, and Rarity took one out by melting it slowly with her, somehow mobile, blow dryer. Pinkie blasted three with her party cannon, and Twilight simply used her magic to disassemble the last four of them. Soon after, they heard some pounding. They all turned to the noise and saw something that horrified them. Hunched down on her knees was Rainbow Dash. She was in a state her friends didn't like seeing. She was angry. Not mildly angry, but furious. She had her teeth clenched together very hard. The other mares could swear that they heard some teeth crack. And while in this angry state, she repeatedly punched the snow beneath her, which her friends guessed that was what the snowbie before her once was. She kept punching and punching. Grunting while doing do. "Rainbow? Rainbow, stop!" Twilight tried to tell her. But it was in vain. Rainbow didn't stop. It didn't even seem that she heard her. She was so consumed by rage that she didn't even notice her friends trotting up to her. Pinkie covered her eyes. "This Rainbow Dash is even worse! Make it stop! Make it stooop!" Rainbow continued to wail on the snow beneath her. Applejack rushed up to her and grabbed a winding punch. "It's done Rainbow! Ya can stop now!" She yelled. Rainbow's eyes widened as she looked up at the frowning Applejack, and back down to the bullied pile of snow. "I-I..." Twilight was still concerned about the situation. "Come on, let's get out of here." Rainbow picked herself up and began, along with the others, to run down their path yet again. A couple more minutes passed, and the five thought they were in the clear, causing them to start to slow their pace. "You think we're safe?" Rarity asked. "Those things are pretty slow. I think we'll be okay from the ones back there. Hopefully, there aren't any around here." Twilight was sure she saw Pinkie Pie's pink coat turn a bit darker, and that her mane got a little less puffy, but she didn't put any thought into it. "Huh, that's weird..." Applejack started to comment. "What is darling?" "Ah don't reckon seeing this much trees on the way to Canterlot." "Are you sure? We usually ride the train there so maybe you've missed them." Twilight predicted. Applejack shook her head. "Ah've been on the train to Canterlot and back so much ah can't even count. And I know ah didn't see this much trees." They all looked around their zone, and it looked like a forest. More specifically, the Everfree forest. But it wasn't the Everfree. Was it? Surely they didn't go the wrong way. No pony knew, and they wouldn't take the chance. All of them looked at each other, and they soon knew that they were thinking the exact same thing. "Uh...? Maybe we should hurry to get OUT OF HERE!" Pinkie yelled as she immediately ran for her life, making the others panic and away too. Little did they know, they were going the right way all along, but many obstacles will slow them down significantly. After about an hour, you could see the Mane Five walking slowly down a path. They only just exited the forest and all but Applejack seemed tired. "Can we just please rest for just a moment." Rarity whined. Twilight gave her a sad look. "I wish we could, but we would be too vulnerable to the snowbies. We need to find a shelter or something-" "Found one!" Pinkie interrupted. All eyes turned to Pinkie who was pointing to... not one shelter of some kind, but many. In fact, it was a city! "Woah!" All but Pinkie said in amazement. "Has there always been a city in between Ponyville and Canterlot?" Applejack asked. "N-No..." Twilight replied. They were all now walking down one of the streets. All around looked like abandoned homes, destroyed shops, and... snowbies. The group of mares turned frightened, but soon went into fighting position. Twilight and Applejack made a glance at Rainbow, and they saw, albeit a little less, raged pegasus. They were both about to say something when somepony called out, "Hey! Over here!" All heads turned to the call and they saw a small brown earth stallion with a little red kerchief around his neck. He was standing at a doorway to a game/comic store. "Bro! What are you waiting for?" He began when the Mane Five didn't budge. "Hurry the buck up!" The mares hesitated for a second but soon ran for the door in a panic. As soon as they entered the building the dwarf stallion slammed the door closed. He proceeded to put his ear to the door to listen for any approaching snowbies. When he was certain that no monster was coming, he let out a sigh of relief and looked at the five mares. "Follow me." He commanded, as the brown stallion began to walk down a hallway. Twilight was the first to obey, and the others soon followed her. After thirty seconds or so, Twilight began to ask, "So... who are you?" "My name is Gang Gang." Twilight raised an eyebrow at the name, but she didn't want to make him feel bad. "Oh, well greeting Mr. Gang-" The mysterious stallion began to laugh. It was an unusually high pitch laugh that made the others grimace and stop walking. "You actually believed that. Yooo!" After a bit more laughing, he began to speak normally. "The name's Shock Wave. Me and my boys were just chilling here, trying to survive." "Oh, you have kids? What were you doing at the door then?" Twilight asked. Shock shook his head dramatically. "They aren't my kids, they are my "boys", my friends. And anyways, it's my stupid turn to be the watcher. The watcher basically makes sure that no snobster gets inside." "Snobster?" Rarity asked astonished. "Those... things outside. That's the name we came up for them." He explained. Rainbow gritted her teeth and pushed Applejack out of her way. "Hey!" Rainbow ignored her and put all her attention on Shock Wave. She was angry. "They. Are called. Snowbies!" She boomed. The stallion didn't flinch. "Jeez. Sure, whatever suits your flank." He started to walk off again, making the others follow. "The rest are in the living room. Apparently this game shop was also a house. So we decided to stay here until it ran out of supplies." "Where's the ponies who own this place." Applejack asked. "We... kind of made sure that they weren't walking around in "snow form"." "Oh..." They approached a door, and Shock opened up and yelled. "Yo! Found some mares!" In the living room were three long couches. There were seven stallions, two of which were holding game controllers and were slumped against the couch rather than sitting on it. The other stallions were indeed on the couch sitting properly. Another stallion stepped out from what looked like a kitchen. "Siiick." He said. In front of the couches was a game. You could see what looked like a first-pony vision of a unicorn firing magic blasts from her horn. "Just chill here for a bit, it's all good." Shock said, causing Twilight to nod. "Yo shock!" One of the stallions, a red pegasus, called. "Yo Incinerator, what's up?" Shock replied. "Come bro." "What?" "Just come bro!" He demanded. Twilight turned her attention to the other stallions who were paying attention to the video game. She sighed and turned to her friends. Applejack asked, "What are we going to do?" "Well, they're being nice enough to let us stay. I say we stay the night and leave." "That sounds good. We needed some rest anyways." Rarity agreed. Twilight's ears twitched and caught onto something. She heard a noise, it seemed like arguing. "Try to find somewhere to sit down. I'll be right with you in a moment." The others nodded and Twilight began to track down where the noise was coming from. The noise led her to a slightly opened door. As she came closer, the noise became clearer. She soon stopped when she noticed she could understand clearly what they were saying in there. "...understand the princess, but did you have to bring the other four too?!" The stallion sounded like Incinerator. "What did you expect me to do yo? Leave the others to get eaten?" Incinerator grunted. "Now we have more mouths to feed man! We're running out of supplies already!" "You know what Game Changer would want us to do!" Twilight busted through the door, not wanting the argument to go any further. "We have food and supplies! We can share with all of you." Incinerator frowned, not noticing that Twilight was spying on them. "But what will happen after that's done? We're finished man!" "No, we're not. Never give up hope." Twilight said. "Well, do you have any ideas princess?" "Of the matter of fact, no, I don't. But we can fix this. I need to get to Canterlot to find Princess Celestia." "And what will that do? What if you find her and even she doesn't know how to stop this?" "I don't know. But what other option do I have? At best, if she doesn't know how to stop all this, we'll start a new civilization, mourn about the loss of ponies afterwards. But right now, I will not give up hope. And neither should you." After her quick speech, the room went quiet. After a sigh from Incinerator, he said, "I'm sorry, I'm just really stressed right now." "And that's okay too. Who wouldn't be stressed right now." Twilight said. After some silent seconds, Twilight spoke. "My friends and I are leaving tomorrow anyways. We need to get to Canterlot to try to stop this mess." As she was about to leave, Shock Wave said, "We'll roll up with you." Twilight was confused by sentence. "Roll... up?" He sighed. "We'll come with you." "Oh. It's alright. You don't have to-" "No. It would be better than just staying put, doing nothing while other mans are suffering and crap." "Okay. That's very kind of you." Twilight was about to leave when, "By the way. What... exactly is this place? This... city?" The other two stallions raised an eyebrow at her. They gave each other confused looks and Shock said, "How don't you know what this city is?" "I've never seen this city before? In fact, I've never seen any civilization between Ponyville and Canterlot." She explained. Shock scratched his head. "Well... I don't know about in between Ponyville and Canterlot, but you're in Fillydelphia."
