That Which Lies in Snow

“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 staggered to her hooves, covering her mouth with her wing as she panted heavily.

“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.”

The pegasus took a few moments to steady herself and listen to her surroundings. The storm still whipped brutally around her, but she was still, still enough to listen for any sound that she could use to locate Applejack. She was a Wonderbolt, and she’d been a weatherpony for even longer, she’d been trained to locate ponies in brutal weather conditions like this. She just needed a moment of calm to focus.

“Was it Rainbow Dash? Ah’ always knew she was bad fer’ ya… puttin’ me in danger, and then leavin’ y'all alone out in the cold”. Rainbow’s head snapped in the direction of Apple Bloom’s voice. It was barely audible over the wind, but enough for the pegasus to find its source.

The rainbow mare galloped quickly in the direction of the voice, ‘Don’t worry AJ, I’m coming’, she said to herself.

—--------------------

“Don’t worry, big sis, yer’ safe now.”, Applejack looked down at the small filly she held in her forelegs, who looked back up at her. Applejack’s blood ran as cold as the rest of her body, the pair of eyes that looked back up at her were... wrong. They were glazed over, like they had been dead for ages and preserved in frigid temperatures. Applejack staggered back.

“What’s wrong?”, the little dead filly asked, “Y’all did come all the way out here for me right?”. A grin spread across the small mare’s face as she started to approach the now panicking Applejack. It was then Applejack noticed the silhouette behind what she thought was her little sister.

The little mare’s smile spread far too wide, with teeth that were far too jagged, her head turned to the side until it made a sickening crack. The rest of her body contorted and collapsed inward as it was raised high over the dark form behind her.

The filly’s body dangled limply like a puppet from an appendage connected to the back of her neck, an appendage that Applejack realized to be a tail as the shadowy creature’s figure came into her field of vision.

Her panic spiked as the shadowy figure lumbered forward on all fours. Though its body suggested that it could stand upright, like a horse rearing up on hind legs, it now hunched low, its forelegs more like ape's arms ending in crude hooked claws, unlike anything one might see in nature.

Then came its face. It resembled a wolf's skull with flesh half-flayed and sloughing away, as refusing to cling to the bone. A pair of sunken, beady eyes bored into the frozen mare, and when it opened its maw, row upon row of jagged, oversized teeth glinted in the faint light—too many to fit comfortably inside, as if they would split its jaw at any moment.

AJ’s horror-filled eyes were drawn to the false Apple Bloom, she watched as the broken body that once resembled her beloved sister imploded in on itself and seemed to retreat into the tail it was attached too. The skin and flesh on the face rotted away, revealing a face that was similar to, but even more decayed than, the one on the creature’s muscular shoulders.

“What are you?!”, Applejack finally managed to yell out.

With a single, swift movement, the creature grabbed the wounded earth pony. Applejack could feel the claws piercing into her skin as it slammed her hard against a tree, pinning her there as it brought its grotesque face close to hers.

Cold, necrotic smelling breath licked her cheek as the creature spoke in an all too familiar voice—the gleefully insane voice of Rainbow Dash. “I’m your mistake, I’m the broken trust that you know can never be fixed, I’m the lie that’s going to suck the final breath from your lungs”.

Applejack cried out in pain as she felt the creature’ grip tighten around her. Unable to draw new breath as her chest was tightly restricted, she whimpered out with what she knew could very well be her final breath, “Rainbow, ah’m sorry”.

As if on cue, a raspy battle cry echoed through the forest, as a pair of cyan hooves smashed into the creature’s hideous face.

The creature staggered back, its gaze turning to fix on the rainbow mare. It simply chuckled, a myriad of voices filling the air as it did.

Rainbow’s gaze turned from the target of her buck, to what the creature held in its grasp. No! Was she too late? She couldn’t tell, but she pushed those hopeless thoughts and fears to the back of her mind.

The creature let out an otherworldly shriek as it reeled back and threw the limp earth pony at Rainbow. Quick as lightning, Rainbow took flight, catching her marefriend mid air and holding her tight as they were sent flying into the snowy forest. Eventually crashing and wiping out into a roll that prevented them from a lethal collision with the ground.

Pressing her ear to AJ’s chest, she heard a heartbeat, that was good, but in this storm, she couldn’t hear breathing. Holding firmly onto the earth pony, Rainbow spread her wings and took flight, there wasn’t time to lose, she needed to get Applejack to a hospital, and soon.

Zipping past trees as she held AJ close to her chest, she could feel the mare’s cold body against hers. She was almost there, she could see a familiar light in the distance, Fluttershy’s cottage.

But as she came ever so near to the edge of the Everfree, a shadow came crashing down in front of her. Rainbow averted her forward momentum into a backwards upward swoop, narrowly avoiding a swipe of the creature’s claws and flying through the air before landing a few meters away.

Rainbow gently laid Applejack down on ground, and stepped forward, hoofing at the ground and letting out a challenging snort. They were so close to safety, and she wasn’t willing to give up now.

The creature looked over the pair, speaking in Rainbow’s voice, “Really? You’re going to risk your life for a mare that’s just going to leave you behind after this? A mare that gave you so much grief over such a simple misunderstanding?”, The creature stepped forward as it spoke, “Seriously, we can do better than that! You know we can do better than that!”

“Shut up!”, Rainbow interjected, “I don’t bucking care if she takes me back! I don’t care if she forgives me! That’s not the point!”. She shook her head as exasperated tears of rage and fear began to fill her eyes and stream down her cheeks, “I’m protecting her because I’m loyal, I’m protecting her because I love her! I love her more than myself, I love her more than my stupid pride!”, Rainbow’s wings flared, readying herself for a lunge at the monster, dawn breaking in view behind it. “So if you want her, you’ll have to go through me!”, she shook her head again, “no... if you want her, you’ll have to kill me first!”

And with a flap of her wings, Rainbow kicked off the snowy ground and darted towards the creature, colliding with the center of its chest. The creature’s claws were bared, ready to grab her feeble attempt to damage it.

But unfortunately for the beast, Rainbow wasn’t done, and a massive rainbow-colored blast tore through the early morning air as she plowed into the monster’s barrel, the force of which took it off its hooves. A long trail carved through the snow as Rainbow carried the monster just over the ground, before swooping upward and into the sky.

Rainbow’s cry echoed through Ponyville that morning, as a second blast of rainbow spectra pierced the sky, a beacon of raw emotion, of the desire to protect and support the one she truly cared for the most, that could be seen all the way to Cloudsdale and Canterlot. The creature was blown to pieces, its flesh evaporating into frigid shadow that vanished in the early morning sun, and the sea of clouds hanging above them dissolved into shimmering, iridescent mist, enveloping the are in a warm and comforting golden glow that gradually faded to reveal clear skies behind it.

But as she pulled off this spectacular victory, she knew she had overdone it—, that second sonic rainboom had taken more energy than she could spare. Rainbow felt her wings give out, and she soon began to plummet towards the ground. Her muscles felt like jelly, and she watched as feathers floated down in her path as she fell.

It wasn’t the worst way to go out, she supposed, falling to her death after giving her all fighting in defense of the one she loved. She looked out over Ponyville, hoping her display would be enough to alert somepony that could help Applejack…

Rainbow closed her eyes, too exhausted to do anything but surrender to her fate, bracing herself for a fatal impact with the ground. But then something caught her.

Rainbow opened her eyes. She blinked. It took her a second to register what she was looking at; the strained and struggling face of a light-yellow mare, her wings flapping as quickly as they could, struggling to stay airborne as she carried twice the weight she was used to.

“Rainbow Dash!”, Fluttershy exclaimed as they reached the ground, “Are you ok? I saw the rainbooms and-”

She was cut off by Rainbow, “A-Applejack... she’s hurt bad...”, she managed to stammer out, staggering in the direction of the Everfree Forest, before collapsing into an exhausted heap in Fluttershy’s back yard.

—--------------------

Applejack sat and waited across the room from the hospital bed where a cyan pegasus lay. Bandages covered the earth pony’s wounds. Eventually, she perked up as she heard Rainbow stir.

The rainbow mare’s rose colored eyes fixed on Applejack, and her expression showed a wave of relief as she saw her. “Mmmh... how long was I out?”, she asked, clearly still groggy.

“Almost twenty four hours now, sugarcube”, Applejack responded, closing her book and approaching Rainbow’s hospital bed.

“Are you-”

“Ah’m fine”, Applejack didn’t even let her finish her question as she responded, “Doc said it was a close call, but honestly, he was more worried about you. Not many pegasi can do one sonic rainboom, and y’all were crazy enough to perform two back to back.”

“Heh, yea, I definitely overdid it, my wings are so sore I can hardly move them…” Rainbow sighed, “AJ... I’m sorry… I bucked up... and it won’t happen again, I promise”. Averting her gaze, Rainbow breathed out another heavy sigh, “but... I understand if you still don’t-”

Rainbow’s sentence was cut off by a small peck on her cheek. “Ya’ love me even more than yer’ pride, huh?”, Applejack chuckled, “That’s high praise coming from you”.

Rainbow blushed a bit at her own words. “Ugh, that sounds so sappy now that I hear somepony else say it…”, a pause lingered in the air of the hospital room, before Rainbow continued, “But, yea, it’s true. After you rushed out into the snow alone, I imagined you not making it back, I thought about what my life would be like without you, as a marefriend or not… and I couldn’t even let that be a possibility. I love you, Applejack, and I’m sorry if I ever made you doubt that.”

“Then consider yer’ apology accepted”, Applejack reached a hoof up and turned Rainbow to face her, pressing a kiss onto her lips. A wave of relief washed over the earth pony as their lips met; the two had survived the storm, and developed an even stronger bond because of it. The two held there for a moment, just wanting to enjoy the moment of reunion. Eventually, Applejack broke from the kiss, and said, “Because, Rainbow, ah’ love you too.”