Beneath the Northern Skies

The sound of splintering wood echoed through the cave. Rarity levitated the pieces of the old wooden wheel into small fire in the center of the cave. The brittle shards cracked with apprehension before giving in and catching on fire. Rarity, having found a blanket in her saddlebags, made a part of the stone floor much more comfortable for the two mares. “There. Much better.”

Rainbow hesitated for a second before lying down and warming her hooves near the fire. “I hope its last owners made it out in one piece. It’s strange that they hid a perfectly good wagon here and never came back for it.”

“They could’ve been in a rush. Or maybe they were trying to escape Sombra and forgot.” She shrugged as she sat down on the blanket. “In any case, we were lucky to find it. Braving that awful blizzard right now would be unbearable for just about anypony—we’re not going out until the wind goes down to a more manageable level.”

Rainbow blushed and fought the urge to protest. Instead she met Rarity’s gaze with a weak smile. “I see what you’re doing, Rarity. Thanks. I was supposed to be the one helping you out, and now we’re stuck in a cave all because of my dumb fear.”

“Don’t say that, Rainbow.” Rarity scooched closer to the pegasus and bumped her on the nose. “I’d be terrified to go through that blizzard alone. You’re helping me more than you realize.”

“About that blizzard…” Rainbow awkwardly shuffled her hooves.

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

Rainbow swallowed and exhaled slowly. “I do want to.” Her voice came out clear and full of purpose. “It happened when I was still just a filly with no cutie mark…”

***

Rainbow Dash closed the door behind herself as quietly as she could. Her mom was out with the rest of the pegasi below, and her dad had just fallen asleep to the sound of the wind blowing outside—that left her with at least half an hour to prove that she’s ready for flight school.

The clouds on the lawn appeared to regard her with accusatory tilts and swirls. “Oh, be quiet!” she confidently whispered. “I’ll be back before they see that I went out.”

Rainbow made her way to the edge of the street. Close to her house, a tumultuous snow cloud was raging in the sky, threatening to approach Cloudsdale as soon as the ever-capricious wind would push it towards them. Normally, a weather team would’ve long since dealt with it, but on that day almost everypony was busy with the tornado duty, and so the small cloud was declared a low-priority issue, and its removal got rescheduled for the next day.

The tiny wings on Rainbow’s back buzzed with excitement. She was a far better flyer than other foals her age, and she had seen enough weatherponies at work to know how to disperse an unwieldy cloud. She jumped off and dove into the blizzard.

Freezing wind hit her from every direction at once. Rainbow spun around, frantically trying to preserve a semblance of balance. To her growing terror, the wind kept turning her around, making it impossible for her to reorient herself properly no matter the technique she tried. She flapped her tiny wings even harder, fighting for control with all her strength. Rainbow could feel the sweat on her coat freezing into small lumps of ice, further disrupting her flight.

Her wings grew heavy, unable to fight the wind’s relentless pull. Rainbow Dash screamed. Another cold gust hit her from behind, throwing her out of the cloud. Rainbow’s wings were unresponsive, coated in a thin layer of ice. The ground started to approach her at an alarming speed. Rainbow twisted her entire body to divert her path towards a tiny, low-flying cloud nearby.

She hit its surface like a filly-sized bullet, but the cloud held firm. Rainbow looked around in shock, still hyperventilating from the fall. She could not believe her luck—Cloudsdale was visible from her spot in the skies! Eager to return home, the filly tried to flap her wings. But the wings refused to carry her upward. Frostbitten and exhausted, she could fly no better than a flowerpot that slid off from the windowsill.

Rainbow looked around again. There was nothing in sight for several miles. She curled up into a ball, shivering.

***

“From what I was told later, my parents found me in less than thirty minutes. But time flows differently when you’re stuck all alone and so far from home.” Rainbow Dash failed to keep her voice level. “So yeah, that’s why I always have to get somepony else to do my snowstorm cloud assignments in winter.” She closed her eyes and slammed her hoof against the ground, next to the stain left on the blanket by her tears. “It’s so dumb, I know! I’m more than capable of handling some lousy cold clouds! But I just can’t! Do! It!”

Rarity wrapped her forehooves around Rainbow’s withers. “Sweet Celestia, that’s horrible! I can’t imagine how difficult it must’ve been for you to keep it a secret.”

“It—It was pretty bad, I won’t lie.” Rainbow returned the brief hug. “But it doesn’t ma—“

“It absolutely does matter,” insisted Rarity. She moved away to look into Rainbow’s eyes. “It shows how brave you are!”

“What?!” Rainbow did a double take. “You might be confused, Rarity. I just admitted that I’m too afraid to fly into a fast snow cloud!”

“Yet you still decided to help me, even though you knew we’d have to go through a blizzard. How many other ponies would be brave enough to do that?”

Rainbow blinked twice. “I… I guess you’re right. I did do that.”

“Do you know why I’m so adamant about reaching Ponyville? It was four years ago, when Sweetie Belle was even more of a little filly than she is now. I promised her that I’d spend Hearth’s Warming with her, but I got a little carried away with some dresses…”

“You were working on Hearth’s Warming?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know your job was that demanding.”

Rarity winced in shame. “It’s not that. I just… The inspiration for my holiday gifts didn’t strike me until the very last moment, and I found myself stuck with a list of names and no presents for them. Fortunately, I work well under stress. I came back home a few hours later than I had hoped—that was before I moved into the Carousel Boutique—carrying a very cute little winter hat for Sweetie Belle. But as soon as I saw her, I realized I made a terrible mistake. The hurt I saw in her eyes was soul-crushing! ‘You lied!’ she cried in that awful, quiet tone on the verge of tears. ‘You lied, and Hearth’s Warming is almost over, and you weren’t here with me!’”

“And you know what was the worst?” asked Rarity. “That she was right! So right then I made a solemn promise to never miss an hour of our Hearth’s Warming ever again, no matter what. That’s why I cannot allow it to happen now!”

“Oh wow, Rares, that was… intense. I guess it also explains why your whole family was in Canterlot when we performed in the play.” Rainbow fell silent for a few seconds. She visibly struggled to speak what she wanted, scrunching her nose in frustration. “They—your family—they must really care about the holidays.”

Rarity turned her head slightly and opened her eyes wider. “What do you mean, Rainbow? Everypony celebrates Hearth’s Warming. Your family does as well, don’t they?”

“Well yeah, kinda.” Rainbow shook her head. “I mean, it’s really just not a big deal for my folks. To be honest, I don’t remember the last time we spent it together.”

“So you were going to be alone on Hearth’s Warming? I cannot allow that to happen!” Rarity sat up straighter. “Listen, Rainbow Dash. We will make it back to Ponyville on time, somehow, and once we do, it’ll be my pleasure to have you at my Heart’s Warming.”

“Thanks, Rarity. We can talk about that if the snowstorm gets better before it’s too late.” Rainbow tried looking away, but Rarity pulled her back.

“I am not taking no for an answer, darling.”

“Alright,” conceded Rainbow Dash. A warm smile appeared on her face. “Thank you; it means a lot,” she said, wrapping a wing around Rarity. “It really does.”

The fire crackled as the sun set over the Crystal Empire, the cold winds raging over the desolate icy wasteland. But in that one small cave in the middle of nowhere, two mares slept peacefully through the night in their shelter, unbothered by the surrounding world.

And from that cold outside, a pair of piercing blue eyes observed them closely.