The Walking Snow

Twilight 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.