Ponies bustled about from place to place, all seemingly in preparation for the upcoming snowstorm. There were more than a few foals, however, who couldn't care less about the new addition of snow to their already snowy home. Despite their complaints and protests, they were rushed inside by the adults, who kept their eyes on the windows in anticipation for the first snowflake to fall.

~~~~

Twilight Sparkle blinked herself awake, her pink - streaked indigo mane falling messily into her view. She magicked a brush to tame the messy locks, taking in her surroundings in the process.

Unexpectedly, she wasn't in her room at home, the Crystal Empire, or anywhere she recognized. Instead, she was sitting in a rather modest little bed piled with various quilts of different colors and sizes. The room itself was small, but homey. Purple curtains lay draped over the windows, which pictured a light flurry of snow that contrasted to the monstrous storm the night previous. The rest of the room followed the same theme, with a fuzzy purple rug and a wooden wardrobe in the corner painted a dark violet. The handles of the wardrobe were shaped like olives.

Twilight stepped out of the bed, making it up again and fluffing the pillows so it looked better than she had left it when getting up. The room was deathly silent. One would be able to hear a pin drop, even if the pin were microscopic. The lavender alicorn approached the only door she saw and opened it, revealing a short hallway. The sounds of her hooves against the wooden floor echoed across the walls, surely announcing her presence to anypony there. The smell of pancakes wafted upstairs from down below, and Twilight eagerly followed it.

She stepped hoof into a small kitchen, decorated just like the bedroom with purple curtains and olive patterns, and was greeted by a figure approaching her carrying a knife holder, which flew towards the alicorn when said figure tripped over the small rug in the doorway. Before any harm could be done, Twilight erected a large bubble around herself, which caught the knives when they hit it, sticking them to it like glue. From here, she could see the figure's paled expression and the humiliated flush that crept across her face.

"Oh, goodness me, I am so, so, so terribly sorry, Princess Twilight Sparkle! I - I didn't know you were there and - and I'm so clumsy I should really look where I'm-!"

"It's okay!" Twilight replied with a comforting tone, letting down her bubble and allowing the knives to clatter to the floor. "Mistakes happen. I should've been more careful walking in."

"Oh, no! This was all me, Princess Twilight Sparkle." the mare exclaimed, reaching down to pick up her fallen cutlery.

"Please, just Twilight is fine." Twilight shuffled in her place, a little embarrassed by the repeated usage of her title and full name.

"O - of course Prin - I mean Twilight. I - I'm Olive Glow! I'm a baker!"

As soon as she said this, the smell of smoke suddenly filled the air, and the room started to get darker.

"Oh no-! The pancakes!! Stay back, Princess, I'll take care of it!"

While Olive tended to her now - charred cakes, Twilight took a good look at her. Her coat was a pale olive yellow, and her green mane was braided into a bun. The tips were tinted a snowy white, as if they'd been dipped in the substance and it stuck. The thing that struck Twilight the most was her cutie mark, two olives, one dark and one light, hidden behind a cloud. It seemed to be a strange mark for a baker, but then, given the current situation, baking probably couldn't be considered her talent. Even so, something about the young mare struck her as familiar...

"Olive, I feel as though I've seen you before..."

"Well I sure hope you have, I waved you and your friends over from the snow and settled y'all in just last night. Granted, it was snowin' a whole lot, and you all were awful tired." The earth pony mare balanced a few plates of blackened pancakes on her head, surprisingly unfazed by the steaming hot burn they gave off.

"Where are my friends?" Twilight asked, trying to keep her voice level. It hadn't even dawned on her that they weren't in this house.

"Oh, right! Shoulda figured you'd ask, Princess of Friendship, y'know?" Olive chuckled, plopping a pot on the stove to boil some water. "I checked 'em into the inn just up the street, run by a nice ol' mare."

"Thank you- I should check in with them." Twilight scurried to what she noticed to be the obvious front door, given the welcome mat gracing its base.

"Oh-! But Princess Twilight, I should tell you about-!"

Olive's statement was cut off by the closing of the door, and Twilight was gone, already on her way to meet her friends.

The inn was a warm, cozy thing, modeled after a log cabin, although it clearly wasn't one. The main lobby was lit with a fresh, crackling fireplace that cast a soft yellow glow across the room. The oak wooden floors were an unnatural sight given the location of this building, but Twilight didn't bother to question it. She trotted over to the front desk, which was bare with the exception of a few books and a bell next to a sign that read, "Ring Me for Assistance!" So, she rang the bell. Shortly after, a short and plump pink unicorn with white hair but for the purple streaks came racing in from the next room over, a bright, cheerful smile on her face. It immediately faded into a scowl, however, when she set her eyes on Twilight.

Following behind the mare was a familiar group of pastel - colored faces, all more than overjoyed to see the young alicorn, in contrast to the pony who had entered before them.

"Twilight!" They shouted in unison, trotting over to wrap her in a hug Fluttershy's bear would be envious of.

"Twilight, darling, we were so worried! We hadn't a clue where you'd gone off to!" Rarity cooed, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie chimed in. "I woke up in the warm, cozy room and Applejack was there and Rainbow Dash was there and Fluttershy and Rarity but you weren't! So then I started to get really, really worried because we don't know this place that well so you could've been literally anywhere! But Applejack told us to stay calm and not to panic but of course I wasn't going to just sit around and wait for you so I met Miss Merry and she said that you'd find your way back to us eventually and you did!"

Miss Merry, the elderly unicorn, glanced back at Pinkie Pie in utter shock. "This is the 'super special friend' you were talking about?"

"Well duh, who did you think?"

Before Merry could even open her mouth to respond, a very out - of - breath Olive Glow crashed through the front door, wearing her scarf once again, which, upon closer examination, was littered with tatters and moth holes. She was also equipped with a pair of brown - rimmed goggles with orange - tinted lenses, most likely to keep the snow from her eyes. The earth pony pushed the goggles up to her forehead, surveying the scene before her and immediately paling at the sight of Merry's less than merry expression.

"Olive Glow. Girl, you've got quite a bit of explaining to do."

Olive gulped, following the older mare to the next room. Just before she vanished through the doorway, she called, "Feel free to walk around, y'all! I'll find ya later!"

Twilight waited until she and her friends were outside and a few feet away from the inn to ask, "What was that all about?"

"Ah have no idea." Applejack responded, shivering slightly in the cold. "You'd think you'd'a come in and spit in her gumbo or somethin'."

"Well Twilight must've spit in a lot of ponies' gumbo then..." Rainbow Dash added, subtly directing her friends' attention to the slowly growing barrage of multicolored eyeballs.

It looked as if everypony in town had come to stop and stare at the small group of newcomers, specifically the alicorn mare standing in the midst of them. Their expressions ranged from curiosity, to fear, to anger. None of them were good.

"Did we do something wrong?" Fluttershy asked timidly, inching closer to her rainbow - maned friend.

Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, was all smiles. "Wow, Twilight! You sure do have a lot of fans!"

"Something tells me they aren't fans, darling..." Rarity said, her voice barely above a low whisper.

Suddenly, a flash of dark blue whizzed by the group of friends, and when it disappeared, so did Twilight. Fortunately, they didn't go far. Rainbow flew after the pegasus mare who now stood peeking out of a snowy back alley, with a very confused and dazed Twilight Sparkle at her side.

"Hey! What in Equestria do you think you're-!"

"Shhhh!" The pegasus placed a cold hoof on Rainbow's muzzle, only firing her up more.

Twilight stopped the cyan pegasus' next outburst before she even had time to prepare it, turning instead to the young mare who had swept her away, just as the rest of her party had arrived at the spot.

"Who are you?"

The pegasus flinched when Twilight addressed her, as though expecting her to spit fire with every word. Her coat was a dark blue, tinted with white in some places. Her long hair was made up of various shades of blue, like a monochromatic rainbow.

"Snowflake." She replied simply, her voice almost as quiet as Fluttershy's, if not quieter.

"I take it you're a local as well?" Applejack piped up, trudging through the snow to approach the new pony.

"Yes."

"Oh yea?!" Rainbow Dash immediately took flight, making sure her face was as close to the pegasus' as possible. "Well what did you want with Twilight, huh? Is this some sort of ritual you guys do?? Because if it is, I swear to Celestia I'll-!"

"I was saving her." Snowflake whispered, casting a sideways glance at the alicorn beside her, who looked beyond confused at this point. "They would've torn her apart."

"And just what in the hay is that supposed to mean?" Applejack asked, her tone taking on a sharp edge.

Snowflake's purple eyes softened. "Couldn't you tell?

"We don't like alicorns here."

Author's Note

Back again!

I just want to thank y'all for the support! Even if it's not an awful lot, I didn't expect not a single comment, upvote or anything on the first day! I'm overjoyed that this story is already off to a positive start, so here's another update for y'all!