"Are you sure you'll be okay watching the school and castle while I'm away?"

Twilight Sparkle anxiously scurried across the wooden train platform to her unicorn friend, Starlight Glimmer. The Ponyville Express station had been decorated brightly in anticipation for the upcoming holiday; bright, rainbow - colored lights were strung across every surface higher than three feet, garland laced the benches and ticket stands, and silvery blue icicles dangled from the overhang, which was covered in a fresh blanket of white snow. The wooden floorboards were slick with a thin coating of ice, only barely visible enough to warn ponies to watch their step.

"It'll be fine, Twilight, don't worry! You girls go and enjoy yourself!" Starlight replied, placing a cold hoof on her friend and mentor's shoulder.

Nodding, Twilight moved on. "What about you, Spike? Are you sure you don't want to come with us to the Crystal Empire?"

Spike waved a purple - scaled claw at the alicorn mare. "Sure I'm sure! Besides, Starlight will probably get lonely without me here to protect her!"

As Starlight Glimmer proceeded to sigh heavily and place an exasperated hoof on her forehead, another figure came to Twilight's side in an effort to ease her inevitable worries.

"There ain't no reason to stress, sugarcube. It's the holidays! Lighten up a little!"

"I know Applejack, you're right." the alicorn smiled weakly at her friend. "It's just that this is the first Hearth's Warming I'll be spending with Cadence and my brother, and without Spike."

Before Applejack could respond, the screeching whistle of the train alerted everypony at the station that the time to depart was drawing nearer, and that it was time to say final goodbyes. Starlight Glimmer and Spike waved side - by - side as the group of six ponies boarded the train and took their seats. The rainbow - colored train let out a final screech to announce its departure before cheerfully chugging away, white clouds of smoke marking its path.

Hours passed as the train stopped almost everywhere in Equestria, Las Pegasus, Manehattan, Baltimare, Appaloosa, and almost every stop brought with it different holiday sights. Rarity oohed and aahed at the colorful lights and decorations, Fluttershy stared, awestruck, out the windows as each brightly decorated city came into view, and Pinkie Pie had hopped off the train more than a few times to sample each place's edible delights, to the point where the conductor had banned her from even standing near the door until she reached her actual destination. A certain cyan Pegasus, on the other hand, wasn't as excited to be travelling for so long.

"Are we there yet?!" Rainbow Dash groaned, hanging upside down from her seat. "By the time we get to the Crystal Empire, Hearth's Warming will be over!"

"Simmer down, Sally." Applejack warned from the seat across from her friend. "We ain't been at this not two hours, yet. We'll get there in good time."

This only prompted Rainbow Dash to groan even louder, wings flared. "You have got to be kidding me! I wish we were there already!"

As if on cue, the train stopped abruptly with a loud crash, causing everypony to lurch in their seats, and Rainbow Dash to fall from hers. The rainbow - maned pegasus sat up, rubbing her head as she surveyed the damage.

"Is everypony alright?" Twilight asked nervously, rising from her place to individually check in on each of her friends.

"I'm alright, but I'm quite sure my hair isn't! And I spent so long curling it to perfection too!" Rarity complained, sweeping out a compact mirror to gaze into.

Applejack rolled her eyes, rising as well to make her way out into the middle of the aisle. "Somethin' must've appeared in the middle of the tracks that the engineer didn't see 'til now. 'Least, that's what ah'm hopin'. We should start movin' again any time now."

But they didn't start moving. Every second that passed seemed to cause the deathly silence to draw on further and further. Suddenly, a shrill scream filled the car, and everypony's attention was directed towards Fluttershy, who was now huddled up in the corner of her seat, whimpering fearfully.

"Wh - what if we don't make it out alive?! Wh - what if we freeze to d - d - death right here?! What if-!"

"Take it easy, sugarcube, it'll be alright." Applejack comforted her friend while Twilight walked over to the car door.

She tugged on it, grunting with each pull, even using her wings as extra leverage, but all to no avail. As a last resort she began to strike the metal door with bright, violet beams of light, making dent after dent before it finally gave way, the entire door flying off its hinges and somewhere into the dense, snowy area outside. Icy snowflakes flew through the air at incomprehensible speeds, making it hard to see. Twilight lit her horn and did a three - sixty turn, trying to figure out where they were, but she could barely see anything through all the snow. What she could see, however, was bad enough for worry and panic to visibly cross her facial features. The train had slid completely off the track due to the ice, and the first few cars were gone, most likely with the conductor and engineer inside them.

"Uh... girls?" Twilight called. "We might have a little problem."

One by one, each of Twilight's friends stuck their heads out the now wide - open entrance, Fluttershy last of all. Their expressions varied from concern, to panic, to, in Pinkie Pie's case, nervous excitement.

"A 'little' problem?!" Rarity snapped. "I say this with love, darling, but if this is your idea of little then I'd hate to see what you think of as a big problem!"

Without another word, Rainbow Dash flew up above the train, nearly disappearing through all the snow. She returned mere seconds later, already covered in the frozen substance. "There's a bunch of lights off to the east! It might be a town or something, we can take refuge there!"

The small group then began their trek through the snow, carrying with them only what could fit inside of their saddle bags, and headed in the direction of the town. To her friends' disdain and irritation, Pinkie bounced along as though they were only walking a short distance to an amusement park on a sunny day, rather than hiking through miles of snow to what they assumed to be a safe town. However, no pony thought to scold the energetic pink earth pony; they were using all their energy to walk at a reasonable pace.

An undeterminable amount of time later, the town came into view, illuminated by lamp posts strung with fairy lights that glittered and shone through the snow. But that wasn't what got the group of mares excited, it was the sight of a pony waving them over from what appeared to be the entrance. She was shouting, but the loud wind muffled her words. They could just barely make out her form, however, a pale yellow earth pony with long green hair. She appeared to be wrapped in a forest green scarf.

They made it.

Author's Note

So! This is my first story on fimfiction! Yay! I have been working on this one a while, and hope it gets a few reads from the people here. It'd also be helpful if someone could show me the ropes of this place, I'm not entirely used to how things work...