That Which Lies in Snow

“What in tarnation do y’all mean ‘nopony got hurt’? Ah’ wasn’t aware that was somethin’ I should be concerned about”, Applejack’s hoof stomped on the hardwood of her kitchen. “Y’all told me it was just some simple scooter tricks, and now Apple Bloom’s tellin’ me y’all took her to the Ghastly Gorge and she darn near fell to her death!”

“It’s fine, AJ, she’s fine, she and Scoots were impressed, actually, swooped in and caught her at the last second!”, Dash took flight, and performed a little miniature swoop in the air to prove her point.

“Yea, Applejack!”, Apple Bloom chimed in, “ah’ can see why y’all like her so much now! She’s as awesome as Scootaloo says!”, the little filly’s innocent excitement clearly doing little to back up her older sister’s point.

Applejack breathed a heavy sigh, “Apple Bloom... Just go to yer’ room...”

“Wh-what? B-But-”, Apple Bloom’s lip quivered.

“Yer’ not in trouble, sugar cube, ah just need to talk with Dash here.” A peek up at the pegasus revealed her cocky resolve hadn’t faded, but had, in fact, only been strengthened due to Apple Bloom’s praise. “Ah’ need to talk to her... alone”.

Apple Bloom hesitated, her gaze of childish excitement turning to realization that this was a bigger deal than a bit of childhood rebellion or simple recklessness. She made her way to the stairs. She paused as she reached the first step, turned, looked at Rainbow, and said, “Fer what it’s worth, Dash, ah’ still don’t hold it against ya... even if ya’ weren’t entirely honest...”, before continuing up to her room.

Rainbow watched as she ascended the stairs, a pit forming in her gut as even Apple Bloom realized her mistake. The excitement and pride of impressing Apple Bloom started to fade into the pang of guilt she had felt ever since the near accident.

“Now, what in the hay were y’all thinkin’?!”, AJ continued as she turned back to the cyan mare.

“I was thinking you’re welcome for saving your sister from a lethal fall”, Rainbow rolled her eyes to look back at AJ, “you are welcome for that, by the way”.

The orange earth pony furrowed her brow, “she was only in danger cause’ y’all lied tuh’ me about where y’all were goin’! And then y’all didn't even have the decency to tell me she darn near died!”

A crack appeared in Rainbow’s cocky attitude, a glimpse past the facade of ‘awesomeness’ to the vulnerable, guilt-stricken pegasus that lay beneath. Applejack narrowed her gaze at her, awaiting a response. “yea, well... it won’t happen again, alright?”

AJ shook her head. “That ain’t good enough. Ya already lied once, so if yer’ gonna be part of this family, I gotta know yer’ not gonna let something like this happen again.”

Let something like this happen again? Of course she wouldn’t!... Or, would she? She’d bucked it up so badly, her mind dwelling on the image of what might have happened if she’d been even a few seconds too slow.

No! She was awesome! If this kind of thing happened again, she’d just be her awesome self and fly to the rescue again.

“Uh, duh!”, Rainbow shrugged casually, “Listen, I messed up by lying, I concede that, but the only reason I didn’t tell you was because I didn’t think it mattered that much”. Rainbow noticed AJ’s glare narrow in response, prompting her to continue, “She’s fine, AJ! Hay, she was even asking if she could go again! I saved her, she loves me even more because she got to see how awesome I was! Everything ended happy, let’s just put this behind us and let it go!”.

Applejack pulled back a bit, and there was a moment’s pause. She opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by a familiar chime and blinking light originating from their cutie marks.

—--------------------

“Whatever”, AJ said, finally reaching the end of her patience, “it don’t matter, I’m savin’ mah’ sister, whether y’all join me er’ not!”. And with that she was gone, leaving the pegasus alone with the slowly dying fire.

Rainbow’s first instinct was to rush after her marefriend, but she hesitated. The howling of wind made it clear she wouldn’t be able to safely take flight. Applejack had already disappeared into the stormy darkness. She’d likely die out there if she went out without proper preparation... She felt helpless, one buck up after another led her to this situation, if only she’d owned up to her mistakes before this mission, if only she’d heeded the buck’s warning, hay, if only she’d not lied in the first place!

“A-Applejack? Is that you?”, the little filly’s voice was more desperate now, and it was enough to pull Rainbow out of her stupor. What was she thinking? Her marefriend was out there, and it sounded like her little sister-in-law was too! Even with her doubts and guilt, she couldn’t just stand idly by and let them get hurt, or worse.

Rainbow searched over the little cave, Applejack had taken the saddlebags, leaving her with very little to equip herself to handle the harsh elements outside. She rubbed her wings together, exhaling warm breath into them. Flying wasn’t an option anyways, so she used her wings to cover her mouth to the best of their ability.

Rainbow Dash braced herself, and dashed out into the snow.

She couldn’t stop moving once she got out into the storm, if she did, the cold would quickly take her and she’d be as good as dead. Unlike Applejack, she had been properly trained on how to deal with frigid temperatures as part of the Wonderbolt academy’s training, but even so, spitfire herself wouldn’t last long so ill-prepared in a storm like this. She had to hurry.

Rainbow soon found tracks in the snow, deep ravines that were quickly being filled in by fresh white fluff. Quickly, she began to follow them, or, as quickly as she could, the tracks were hard to see in this darkness and blinding weather.

Soon the tracks led to a dead end. The mare’s rose colored eyes darted around the near pitch black forest, looking for any sign of Applejack.

“Apple Bloom! Ah’m here! Where are ya?”, Rainbow’s ears perked up as she heard the voice echo through the forest. It was Applejack, but where was she? The voice almost sounded like it was part of the wind, carried throughout the forest to echo off the threes. Was she just hearing things? The more she thought about it, the more likely that theory sounded. It wasn’t uncommon to hallucinate when hypothermia started to kick in. She didn’t feel overly cold yet, but then again, you never do when you’re staring down that frigid doom.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a crash that echoed through the forest, followed by an exasperated groan. This time she could hear where the sound was coming from, and turned to dash in its direction. “Applejack!”, she yelled out, “I’m coming, just st-”.

The mare was cut off mid-sentence, struck hard in the side and sent crashing into the ground. Rainbow was agile, however, and she quickly leaped back to her hooves, only to lock gazes with those beady pairs of eyes. Four eyes total, though it was hard to make out much else about the creatures. Their figures were masked by the whipping snow and dancing shadows.

“Just, what the buck are you?!”, she yelled out, knowing she was in no condition to fight and banking on the off chance these things could talk, “and what do you want, huh? What the hay do you get out of tormenting us?”. To her surprise, she got a response.

“What am ah’?”, The large silhouette said, the voice identical to that of Applejack’s, “Ah’m the lie that broke her heart”.

The mouth below the lower set of eyes opened, and a higher pitched voice, identical to that of Apple Bloom, spoke, “Ah’m the storm that y’all created”.

“So you’re what the shaman was warning me about?”, Rainbow spat on the snowy ground, “well I’m not afraid of you! I know I bucked up! And I intend to make it right!”

The howling of the wind warped into what sounded like a deranged cackle. “It’s too late for that”, the voice of Applejack said, “Do y’all really think she’d ever take you back? She’d rather run off into the storm alone than have to live with yer’ lies.”

Rainbow felt a knot form in her throat, her resolve wavering as the voice of Apple Bloom continued. “Besides, by the time ya’ find her, it’ll already be too late. I’m not sure what ya’ expected, letting her rush in there alone, it’s like y’all wanted her to freeze to death”.

Rainbow nearly felt her heart stop when she heard that, “W-what? No, you can’t fool me! I know how long a pony can last in the cold, it wouldn’t happen that fast!”

The two mouths on the two heads responded in unison, this time in a third voice, Rainbow’s own voice. “Oh, the cold’s the least of her concerns”, they responded, followed by a cocky chuckle befitting the voice they stole. “Not while I’m around, at least”.

Rainbow’s eyes widened in realization. “No! I won’t let you!”, she cried out, flaring her wings and flying directly at the source of the voices, rear hooves bared for a massive flying buck.

The expected impact with whatever was taunting her never came. Rainbow felt her stomach drop as she lost control and came to a graceless crash, slamming hard against a tree.

Rainbow’s head spun as she slumped down into the snow. And for a moment it all went black.