Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. Though when she saw what was around her, she wished she hadn’t. Snow, that was it. Nothing but a dark sky and snow. The wind stung at her skin through her coat. her nose seemed like it had began to run a long time ago as her nostrils burned with frozen mucus. And her wings, she couldn’t feel them. She tried to stretch them out, but they kept her torso warm, so she quickly hugged them close.
As she looked around, Rainbow’s first question was quite obvious: “Where am I?” The thought bounced through her head for at least thirty seconds as she could only really focus on how cold she was. She stood, and with a shivering step, moved forward.
A pegasus pony is usually always used to the cold, but this was different. She knew she had been in the snow for hours, or at least in this blizzard for hours. When she had stood, snow had fallen off of her, fully exposing her to the harsh winds and torrents of freezing water flying through the air.
Her thoughts could only focus on two things; how cold she was, and how lost she was. With just choosing a direction out of random, she began walking at a slow, shivering pace. She figured that moving in any direction would be better than just waiting to die of frostbite.
Every step was accompanied by pain as her hooves were already numb. Her tail was moved only by the wind as she couldn’t feel it either. Her eyes crossed to verify her nose hadn’t fallen off. Her wings, she shook them to make sure they were still there, and to get some of the snow off her back.
She tried to remember what had happened to get her here. As she began to clear her mind the questions came rolling in. Who had she made mad? Was it one of her fellow Bearers of Harmony? Did Lightning Dust drag her out her? Gilda? Was Celestia putting her to a test of endurance? She tried to remember. Where was she before she woke up?
Warmth, a fire, a library. Rainbow’s squinted eyes danced with visions of her memories before today. A fleck of snow buried itself into Rainbow Dash’s ear and she had to shake her head, disrupting her concentration. She gazed across the snowy tundra and let out a gasp of air, her eyes tearing up. Why? Why am I here!? She dared not yell her thoughts. Any moisture she had she needed to keep, for attempting to drink snow would be fatal.
Shelter. If she could build an igloo, maybe she could at least warm up enough to weather this blizzard. She gathered up a snow ball and pounded into a brick of ice. Then again, and again. Within an hour she had only build the first row of the shelter. Rainbow Dash had to move slow, her hooves felt as if they were filled with shattered glass, and every time she stomped a snow ball into a brick, it was as if thousands of needles were being shoved through her hooves at once.
Two hours, she had a lot more done. Why was it easier now? She looked at her hooves and noticed small crystals forming and the color was changing to an ugly black. Her hooves were beginning to show signs of frostbite. NO! her mind screamed. She glanced over her back to her wings, which also had lost feeling. The feathers were starting to be carried off with the wind, and the fleshy stub that was visible was also beginning to darken.
Her gaze looked around. No trees. No grass. Just snow. Kilometers upon kilometers of snow. How was she to survive this? She smashed together another brick, in hopes of surviving this.
Four layers. That’s all she could do for now. Her hooves stung with what little feeling they had. At least now the wall she had built was tall enough to block the wind and the snow she had used cleared away to the frozen ground. She curled up close enough to the wall to be protected and tucked her hooves under herself in an attempt to warm them.
For a moment she stared at her accomplishment, proud that she had managed to get as far as she did. Her vision lowered to her nearly featherless wings. What was she to do now? They were turning black, and she could not as easily cover them with her body. Letting out a sigh, she rested her head on her wrists. A tear escaped her eye, slid down her cheek, and then froze to her fur. She hardly noticed, after all she was now covered in snow that did little to warm her.
Now she had time to think, as what little warmth from her stomach gave some feeling back to her hooves. Twilight’s Library. A spell. Did Twilight accidentally teleport her here? No. Twilight is clumsy, but not so much so to endanger her friends. What was the spell!? Her memory danced. Twilight’s romp was predominant. “WHAT!? I was staring at her ass!?” Rainbow exclaimed. She covered her snout knowing that speaking would also dehydrate her. Rainbow continued trying to remember what had happened before. There was yelling. A familiar buzzing noise. Why was it so familiar?
Twilight’s butt…it changed to black? Those eyes…those green eyes…Rainbow’s head shot up in horror. QUEEN CHRYSALIS!? How had she come back!? And why did she send Rainbow Dash here? Rainbow stood, forgetting all of her pain. “I HAVE TO GET BACK!” after her outburst she found herself flat on the ground coughing vigorously. Her throat was dry, and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She was becoming dehydrated. The snow surrounding her little living space became very tempting. The problem with eating snow was that it would provide very little hydration, while draining one of any remaining body heat. Rainbow knew she needed all the body heat she could get, but she was so thirsty.
Cold, thirsty, hungry, and tiered. Her spine stung from her constant shivering. Once again she balled herself up in an attempt at staying warm. So now she remembered who had sent her here, but what could she do once she got back. She licked her nose to try and warm it up, but all that did was make it colder as her saliva drew the warmth from it. She couldn’t get warm. No matter what she did. Without any blankets or a roof over her head to stop the rest of the blistering wind from reaching her, she was never gaining any warmth. Her internal body temperature was beginning to reach a dangerous low.
Her heart slowed, her mind became numb, and her eyes grew heavy. She was exceptionally tired. The outburst of excitement at her memory had drained more resources from her than she had thought. She knew she had to stay awake though. If she slept, her body would give up, and she would for sure perish.
She raised her head up, keeping her bloodshot eyes from closing. How long did she have to be like this? Could she last? She shook her head vigorously in attempts at keeping her eyes open, but all this did was make here even more tiered. “I can’t give up now! All I have to do is stay awake till this blizzard dies off…” she looked above her at the snow flakes whizzing past. “But how long will that be?”
Warmth, where was it coming from? That bright light, what was causing it? The thoughts of death pushed through Rainbow’s mind. Was she to no longer suffer?
Asleep? She had fallen asleep? Her eyes blinked open from what had seemed like an instant of rest. She had made sure she wouldn’t sleep, hadn’t she? No. She had to have passed out. She had made certain she wouldn’t sleep so passing out was the only explanation. However, she found herself completely covered in snow. How long had she been out? And it explained the warmth. Now that the elements weren’t wearing away her body, she could think a little more clearly. Unfortunately there was a problem, she could tell that her breathing was becoming more burdening with every breath.
She soon realized that her enclosure was airtight, preventing any fresh air in. With a slight movement forward her nose poked through the thin layer of snow that protected her from the outside world. As the snow moved away from her head, she finally saw why there was light. Daytime had come at last. Now instead of a dark void above her a grey and unforgiving sky loomed over head. The hole in her white, cold shelter caused a rush of air to run down her neck chilling her bones.
It didn’t bother her much as being cold was her life. Her very existence. Her being as a whole now. All she could think about was how cold she was and wondered for a moment if that was all she was to be for what few hours remained in her life. She twitched a hind leg and she didn’t feel it move. Concerned, she picked her head up into the blistering wind and looked across her snow covered body. Again, she tried to get it to move and was relieved to see the snow move away with the twitch of a leg. The movement exposed some cyan fur and a lighting bolt cutie mark. She had to move, without doing such would cause her body to just stop functioning and she would surely die.
She stood, and then fell. Her legs had given out from under her as she felt so weak. Her hooves felt like needles being stabbed through them. She had to move, to return circulation to her now darkening hooves, and to get out of the wind. It had changed directions and was now blasting right into her. The half wall she had built now was now a row or two shorter as the wind’s new direction had knocked off the top ice cubes.
Picking herself up once more, she began to move slowly around the wall. Each step was an agonizing action as her knees shook with each hoof-fall. A gust of wind struck her hard enough to slam her into the wall and she slid down to the ground. Her face erupted with tears as the pain from her entire body erupted unhindered by the lacking of endorphins. She had been in pain for so long, and had not eaten or drank anything to provide her body any nourishment; how was her production of the self-made drug to be kept up? She fought to stand her legs shaking, her breath bellowing between her gritted teeth.
A step. Then another. Then one more. At last, after five minutes of pain and agony, she was around the wall. The wind no longer threatened to tear her sunder, but she had lost any body heat gained from staying under the snow. She shook uncontrollably as she spun around to face away from the hill that had built itself up the ice wall.
There, alone, cold, and broken, Rainbow dash collapsed hopelessly into the snow. A feather danced past her face and she glanced at her wings. The fleshy stubs no longer bore feathers except a few cyan dots that seemed frozen to her frost bitten skin. The flesh itself was black as night, indicating they were dead, no longer capable of being used. The sight made her begin to weep. No more could she perform the Sonic Rain-boom. No longer could she perform any stunts. No longer could she fly.
She found herself lacking any care. Without flight, who was she? She now begged for death to come, but it’s glorious relief seemed distant. It was not as far off as she imagined, as she suddenly felt overly hot. Her body felt that of being on a beach in the summer time, yet she shook with great vigor. The thoughts of her being near death seemed to comfort her. She would no longer be freezing, but warm in the heavens above. No longer alone, but surrounded by the family she had lost so long ago. However, just as death’s comfort began to seep into her mind, a loud pop was heard from the other side of the wall.
The noise was louder than the wind, causing her to believe she was hallucinating. Near death, she figured there was no harm in checking anyway. She stood and with agonizing steps made her way back to the edge of the wall. There she peered around to see a dark blue figure staring into the distant snowy tundra away from her. Was it Princess Luna? She squinted her eyes against the wind to try and focus her vision. IT IS! IT IS PRINCESS LUNA! Her excitement made her step fully into the wind as she began to move closer. However the figure did not move, only peered into the oncoming wind. Rainbow Dash stopped moving. It is a hallucination, she found her saying in her mind.
The dark figured then shouted, “RAINBOW DASH!” . Her name carried through the wind with ease. The figure presumed to be Luna shouted again, and again. Then using the royal Canterlot voice, Luna shouted for Rainbow. The shout was so loud it hurt what little of Rainbow Dash’s ears she could feel.
That was it! Luna was real! She was really standing there! Figments of one’s imagination is incapable of inflicting harm! With that Rainbow attempted to respond as she found herself unable to move her legs anymore. “I’m here!” she tried to shout. Her voice was scratchy and more along the lines of a squeak that was drowned out with the snow. Luna began looking around as she continued to shout for the cyan Pegasus, but she never looked at Rainbow who was only a few meters away.
Freedom from this frozen hell was so close, yet Rainbow could not reach out and touch it. If she didn’t do something this opportunity to live would wink away in a flash. She forced her fore legs into movement as she balled up a snow ball. With as much force as she could muster she threw it at the Princess. The harsh winds tore the ball asunder and the little chunks stayed together were tossed into the ice wall
Luna lowered her head in disappointment as her horn began to glow. It was either now or never! With what little energy remained in her frail body Rainbow pulled together another snow ball, packed it a little tighter and tossed it in front of Luna, hoping the wind would push it into the Princess. The snow ball flew in front of Luna’s face and broke apart, leaving the chunks to pelt her face. Luna shook her head and turned around to see Rainbow Dash face down in the snow, unmoving. With great haste she ran to the pony. Using her magic she lifted Rainbow Dash out of the snow and placed her on her back. In seconds a loud pop was heard and they were gone.
Warmth, talking, comfort. Rainbow knew she was dead. Luna had teleported away and she had died in the snow, alone and cold. With much effort she opened her eyes to see a well lit hospital room, and Princess Luna looking down on her. “Are you alright child?” the Princess of the Night asked.
“I’m…alive?” Rainbow queried in a weak and shaking voice.
“Yes, you are! I found you in the Crystal Kingdom’s frozen outlands. Do you know how you got there?”
“All I remember is A library…and Queen Crysalis”
“That’s bec¾”
“Princess Luna! We have located Rarity!” a guard dressed in dark violet armor said as he galloped up to Princess Luna. Rainbow strained her neck in an attempt to see who it was, but she did not recognize him.
“Have you told my sister? I am tending to Rainbow Dash at the moment.”
“We also found Twilight Sparkle your majesty. Princess Celestia has gone to help her ma’am.”
“Then I will go to Rarity, she must be in as bad condition as her friends.” The guard nodded and then dashed away. Luna turned to a pony outside of Rainbow Dash’s vision. “Tend to Rainbow please, I must go.”
“Yes your majesty” the pony said. Luna turned and then disappeared with a loud pop.
The pony Luna had spoken to leaned over Rainbow Dash and placed a warm towel on her head. “You will be okay now, Rainbow Dash. Just get some sleep.” Rainbow recognized her as Nurse Redheart. This meant to her that she was in Canterlot’s hospital wing.
“What’s going on…where are my friends?” Rainbow asked through a great deal of pain in her throat.
“Your friends have been scattered across the planet.” Redheart stated solemnly.
“Why?”
With a look of grief, she looked deep into Rainbow’s glossy rose orbs and said, “We’re at war”.
