Applejack
As ah watch the colours shine down on the white snow tumbling down, Ah utter out loud "Rainbow, ya idiot. Can anypony see them?"

Ah turn to my right and look down the line of my friends in the hope that somepony else can see something, noticing that most of them are looking intently but Pinky seems a tad withdrawn.

Ah'm pulled out of my thought process as ah hear Fluttershy say "I think they both got drawn into the snow, I could be wrong though."

"We need to get them out quickly," Ah hear Twilight say in response "They might be injured or running out of air if they are too deep in the snow."

"We also need to be careful," Rarity says as well "I've heard that secondary avalanches can be possible and pockets of air could mean more issues. I'd suggest we get the guards to help us, they might have training for a similar scenario."

Pinkie says in a much less excited tone than usual "I am going to go and see if any of the town's members can help us, I think some have started checking it out already," Pinkie then points along the town's ridge at the congregation of ponies.

"Okay, I think Applejack, you should go with Pinkie and see if you can coordinate something with them. Rarity, go and get the guards and tell them what happened and also tell them that Blue is down there. Fluttershy, lets go and fly down, the winds aren't that strong today so we shouldn't have any issues" Twilight orders.

A chorus of affirmations in varied degrees of tone and we all separate out into our individual groups.

Ah start trotting at a fast pace alongside Pinkie, who seems to not be skipping which on a side note ah need to check out what happened with her as ah think something happened between her and Blue, and ah notice that several ponies seem to start hauling out some boxes.

Heading over, ah notice seem weary looks from the crowd as we approach but that weariness can be damned for all ah care.

"One of mah friends got caught in that avalanche, also the pony we've been waiting for. We've got our friends scouting ahead if anypony can spare some hooves or some tools" I called out.

I notice some ponies seem to hesitate until a stallion with a grey mane and a barrel with a strap for a cutie mark steps forward.

"Of course we will help," the stallion says while doing a salute of some kind. "We've got some gear we can use and few of the other ponies and I have experience with this type of thing. We will go first to start helping where we can, everypony else if you want to coming we are going to send you with a pegasus equipped with an iron rod "
The stallion pulls a rod about two meters long from one of the boxes and shows it to the group.

"Pegasi, your job is to gauge if the ground is safe. Basically jab this into the ground and wave your group down, everyone else you bring down these boxes. They contain tools for digging through most terrain and in addition there are tools for detecting body warmth. If anyone doesn't know how to use it, come to me now, I'll show you."

Ah'll be honest, ah expected that to be more complicated.

The crowd seem to group themselves up and aside from a few ponies, Ah'm expecting them to be the professionals, who gear themselves up with a harness with tools and what looks like spikes mounted to their hooves.

The stallion at one stage at his demonstration pokes his head and looks at Pinkie, who seems to be just watching the crowd, and says "Oi you, stop standing around, I know from experience that you've introduced yourself to every living entity in this town can you go around and make sure that everyone is accounted for?"

This actually seems to pull Pinkie out of her stupor and she says "You can count on me" and then she starts running around to each pony.

The pony pays attention back to his lecture and after promptly finishing it, calls out to the group.

"Right, I hope everypony has got everything because we need to start moving now. I will direct you all to zones on the mountain that I think will be good to check along the way, using the scouts that are down there already to advance further. Good luck everypony!"

After about three hours, a sense of dread had started filling me in.

We'd managed to check the upper slopes and all the areas that we'd seen last and aside from a shattered sled that we suspect that Blue had owned, we had found nothing.

The foreman, who ah discovered during the investigation was a dedicated Mountain ranger before he'd retired to the town, had warned us that we'd had about four hours left of daylight and then unless we had found any more signs then we'd have to retire back to the town.

Also, and he wouldn't tell us why, he'd said the body heat device might start being less effective and I can guess why.

They are getting colder.

While Ponyville ain't anywhere near any mountains to have avalanche risks, ah have heard of the dangers and while Rainbow was tough even she might have a struggle.

Ah hope not, we've got out of worse but ah can't lie to myself about this.

Though ah wouldn't be the saddest pony in the world if the other never showed up again.

"Applejack, would you like some coffee, darling?" ah hear behind me.

Ah turn around to see that Rarity was hefting around a cast iron pot with her magic and Spike seemed to be following.

"Ahm, sure. Ah hope it's hot" I say, reaching for the tin cup being handed to me.

"Dragon-fire hot, my darling, good enough to fight off the biting cold off this mountain. Managed to acquire a triple reinforced pot after the incident in the carriage and spikey-wikey here is so generously offering his fire" Rarity says in a positive tone.

"Weren't you helping with one of the rescue teams?" ah say, in between sips.

"Yes but if we want Ponies to stay motivated then we need to keep their energy up, I suggest to the team lead and she was all too glad to agree."

Hmm.

"Well ah appreciate it myself, feel like this is taking so lo…"

Ah'm interrupted by a sharp whistle from the bottom of the hill.

Whipping my head in the direction, Ah say "The whistle, ah think they found something. Everypony lets go, though keep an eye on where you are going!"

After travelling down the mountain for about twenty minutes, ah find a large group with the rest of my friends.

Making my way to Twilight, ah ask "What is it?"

She turns to me and says "A hole and hoofsteps, some blood as well but not a serious amount."

Ah nod and say "Blue or Rainbow, do we think?"

"Not sure yet, I suggested we follow straight away but the foreman said that more might get lost if we didn't meet up first."

Ah frown, my hooves feel itchy not going straight away but ah can't disagree with the logic.

"There's a second hole!" I hear shouted over the wind.

Ah take off in the direction of the call, feeling Twilights half-hearted attempt to stop me slide off straight away.

Ah dash the fifty or so meters to where ah hear the call come from and see a congregate of about three ponies standing around a hole.

The first thing ah notice is that there seems to be a singular set of footprint between the two holes besides mine and they have blood drips in them.

One of the three ponies addressed me "We think the pony in this hole dragged out, there are marks of it along the footprints, pretty sure they went into the valley as well."

Why would Rainbow drag blue into the valley?

Maybe the blood is from her wing, wasn't able to get to use but needed to also get warmer.

Maybe it wasn't Rainbow who did the dragging…

The foreman finally managed to bring the group over to us and after we relay what we learned to the foreman, he calls to the group as a whole.

"Right folks, we at least know they are alive and not under the snow. I'd wager that if they've gone downhill they have probably attempted to find a cave for shelter, if so a lot of ponies is going to hamper the search at the stage as we are going to need to move quickly if we want to find them before sundown. So I am going to have to ask those who weren't part of my crew and those who don't know either of the ponies to please return to the town, I thank you all for your help and I assure you a round of drinks when we can back up!"

A cheer erupts from the crown and they start working their way up the mountain.

The foreman turns to the rest of us remaining and continues "right, I know the area pretty well and there are about thirty caves I could viably guess they are in, luckily its not a great area for wild animals due to the weather so they usually avoid it. There are a few caves tucked away up the slopes, I will take my crew to check these just in case. You all check the rest and we should find them pretty quickly."

Not wanting to delay any further, we all give a agreement and start heading down the valley.

Ah start walking with Fluttershy as we head towards the caves on the further end.

"I hope Rainbow is okay, I wonder if she's still with Blue" Fluttershy says as we mentally mark off another cave.

"Ah'm sure she's fine, though ah think we really need to have some words after all of this. It's lucky that only two ponies got hit by all of this" ah reply.

"You aren't wrong but if Rainbo… do you see that?" Fluttershy asks while pointing.

Ah follow Fluttershy's hoof and notice a bright colour on a rock.

"Must be them, Rainbow has probably left a marker to help us!" I turn around and call behind us "Ah can see something, ah think it might be them."

Fluttershy and ah quickly make our way to the cave the marker stood out and after trying to unsuccessfully listen out for anything, ah call out inside "Rainbow!? Ya in there?"

A very strained voice returns "Yeah, I need some help"

Ah give Fluttershy a look and start heading in, internnaly relieved that the daft mare was still alive, and after about a minute we manage to make our way into a bigger chamber

That's when we see Rainbow lying on a large stone slab.

"Rainbow!" We both call out.

"Hi" ah hear her croak out though she doesn't seem to move.

As both approach, ah notice some splatters of blood on the slab below her and then ah notice that a large patch of fur on the back of her neck seems to be shaved.

"Ya alright?" Ah say while approaching.

"No clue, I think so" Rainbow says, still unmoving aside from her eyes and mouth "she told me she'd injected me with a paralytic which would wear off in about eight hours, didn't want her to touch me but she'd done it before I woke up, havent been able to feel anything at all."

"There's a note" ah hear Fluttershy say.

Looking from the angle Fluttershy was standing at, ah can see a scrap of paper placed under a rock.

Reaching forward, ah pick it up and read it.

Subject has suffered a serious neck injury and shouldn't be moved without a brace and a stable platform.
i've managed to preform surgery and there shouldn't be any serious complications but I'd suggest taking the subject to an orthopaedic specialist just in case.
I've injected the subject with a paralytic and some painkillers, the paralytic to ensure upon waking the subject could listen to why they shouldn't move if they'd like to walk again.
Painkillers should be regularly reinjected every six hours, I estimate the time of writing to be about four o'clock but my watch has broken.

DO NOT INTEFERE WITH DEVICE IN THEIR SPINE

Ah blink and re-read the note.

"It's a doctor note, says we shouldn't move Dash. Well Ah think she's talking about Dash, phrases it weirdly. Any idea how long ago she left, Dash?" Ah ask.

"No clue, didn't realise she left at first. Can't have been more than a hour and can't imagine she's got that far, I think she broke her hoof in the avalanche - it was bloody last time I saw it."

Author's Note

And so writing inspiration continues to be fickle, managed to literally write this in a day.

wonder what device is in Rainbows neck