Twilight Sparkle paced around the main room of the Golden Oaks library. Occasionally she would glance up at the clock on the wall, her wings twitching in agitation every time she did so. Spike had passed out almost twenty minutes ago, after spending almost as much time trying to calm her down. She stopped her pacing, glancing up at the clock again with a growl of frustration.
“This is ridiculous! It’s been over an hour, she should have been back by now! I’m going to go look for her.” she said to no one in particular.
Rainbow Dash, being the weather manager for Ponyville, had been out helping to set up the big winter storm. Due to some kind of issue in the weather factory in Cloudsdale, they were almost a week behind schedule for the start of the snowy season. They had to make this storm pretty big to get the weather schedule back on track, and given the howling of the wind outside, it was going to do it’s job.
Rainbow had told her that it shouldn’t take them more than an hour to get things started. Twilight had planned for two after factoring in all the different issues that the weather team could possibly have run into, including having them all happen. The problem is, it had now passed the two hour mark and Twilight was now on the verge of a panic attack.
She knew that snow storms weren’t as dangerous as the thunderstorms Rainbow put together on a regular basis, but they did come with their own dangers. Cold winds and the snow itself could mix together and create ice on her feathers, causing her to crash. The winds themselves were bad enough to keep any normal pegasus grounded.
Twilight put on her boots and scarf, casting a warming spell on herself to keep out the chill of the wind. Once she had everything on, she quickly strode over to the door to begin the search for her marefriend.
At least she would have if she wouldn’t have almost gotten hit by the door as the wind nearly blew it off its hinges, the handle leaving a crack in the wall. Twilight didn’t care about all this, however, as she slowly pushed her way against the wind, using her magic to shut the door behind her.
The wind blew hard against her, threatening to push her over and whipping her mane and tail violently. She could barely see through the thick snowfall, not being able to see more than a few feet in front of her. The wind stinging her eyes caused them to water, reducing her visibility further.
“Rainbow!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. She started walking in a random direction. Her panic induced search didn’t even have a planned route of locations Rainbow could have gone to. She simply wandered the empty streets, screaming Rainbow’s name every few steps.
Somewhere near the fountain, which she could only tell what it was by the distinct shape of the statue in the center, she tripped over something that was concealed by the snow. She muttered several curses as she stood up, using her magic to brush the snow out of her coat. Keeping her horn lit, she turned around to find out what she had tripped over, so she could blast the offending object to Tartarus.
When she looked down, her breath froze in more than one way. She had managed to roll the object out of the snow when she tripped over it, the rainbow hairs that were now billowing in the wind letting her know that she had found what she was looking for. Without thinking, she grabbed Rainbow in her magic and teleported both of them back to the library.
They appeared with a flash in the middle of the room, Twilight called out for Spike as soon as she had materialized. She had told him to bring her every blanket they owned. Once she had given him the instructions, she moved Rainbow over beside the fireplace, throwing a couple of extra logs onto the fire and using her magic to instantly set them ablaze.
Now that she was sure that there was enough heat, she turned her attention to the still unconscious Rainbow Dash. Too scared to touch her, for fear of the worst, she stared at her chest for a few moments to see if she was breathing or not. When she saw that her chest rose and fell, if only just slightly, she moved in and gave her a full body hug.
She instantly jumped back as soon as she made contact with the blue pegasus. Rainbow Dash was freezing! Her first thought was to use the warming spell that she had used on herself earlier. She caught herself right before she was about to cast the spell, if she warmed her up too quickly, she could cause more harm than good.
“Spike! Where are those blankets!” she yelled impatiently, dancing on her hooves, wishing the little dragon would hurry.
“Right here!” Spike called down from the top of the stairs where he had a huge pile of blankets. Twilight used her magic and pulled the blankets over to Rainbow, almost knocking Spike down the stairs.
She unfolded the blankets and began layering them over Rainbow, gently using her hooves to rub her through the material. She had read somewhere that it would help to stimulate the blood flow. Once she had layered all of the blankets onto her marefriend, she touched her forehead with a hoof, jerking it back at the feeling of cold.
This isn’t working! She’s not warming up fast enough! Think, think, think, think, think! Come on Twilight! Think! You can’t lose her!
Another idea suddenly popped into her head. It was something she had read that they taught to ponies who would be going on expeditions in extremely cold areas. Laying down behind Rainbow on the floor, she used her magic to pick up all of the blankets, levitating them into the air. Stretching out her legs and both of her wings, she took a couple of deep breaths to prepare herself.
She reached out with her magic and grabbed Rainbow, taking another breath, she braced herself, pulling the rainbow mare into her body, wrapping her legs and wings around her, before letting the blankets fall back on top of them. It took only a couple of moments for her to begin shivering hard enough for her teeth to chatter.
Closing her eyes, she tightened her grip on the mare, recasting the warming spell on herself in an attempt to stave off the cold that she was absorbing from Rainbow. Her teeth slowly stopped chattering as the spell warmed her, she could still feel the cold coming off of Rainbow, but it was less intense now.
Several hours later she was awoken from her exhaustion induced slumber; the mare in her arms was finally stirring.
“Twi?” Rainbow asked, her voice barely audible in their dark sanctuary underneath the pile of blankets.
“I’m here Rainbow. I’ve got you.”
“So. Cold.” Rainbow said, before going silent again.
“I know, Rainbow. I know.” she gently kissed the back of her head, tightening her embrace and recasting the warming spell on herself to give her as much heat as she could.