The Puppetmaster

by XSomeGuyX

A Faithful Friend

The soft snowfall on the mountain began to intensify and the wind howled, slowly evening out the rough ground created by the recent avalanche. However, something beneath the origin of the avalanche stirred, cracking the new snow on the surface. Suddenly, a snow-caked, blue hoof broke free from under the snow, followed by a second. Both grabbed hold as best they could on the loose snow directly in front of them, slipping from time to time. Finally, they succeeded in hoisting up the pony they belonged to.

Rainbow Dash gasped deeply and promptly shook off the snow that clung to her. She suddenly recoiled and winced. Though the avalanche had not completely crushed her, it still managed to make her sore all over, hardly being able to move without making her entire body ache.

“Where is he!?” Rainbow Dash hissed as she quickly scanned the area and found something rustling beneath a small mound of snow. She limped over to the mound and uncovered it. Underneath was the head of the very pony she was looking for. For a moment, they stared at each other in silence. With a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes, Rainbow Dash grabbed ahold of Cloud Slider’s head and pulled out him of his snowy prison.

As he stumbled to his feet, Rainbow Dash socked him in the face, sending him back down. “That’s what you get!”

“What was that for!?” he barked.

“For making the avalanche!” Rainbow Dash wheezed.

“That was more your fault than mine!” Cloud Slider said, pointing a trembling hoof at the mare. “You’re the one that crashed me into the mountain!”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t try to run away, I wouldn’t have tackled you into the mountain!” Rainbow Dash yelled back.

“I wouldn’t need to run if a certain pegasus wasn’t chasing me like a maniac!” he replied.

“Me, me, me! Is that all that you ever think about?” she said as she narrowed her eyes on him. “Ugh! I’m wasting time!” Rainbow Dash paused, rubbing side of her head with a hoof. “I need to find Twilight and the others… It’s getting colder… And I’m pretty sure the avalanche didn’t go easy on them...”

“We’re not exactly the picture of health either. We’re not gonna find them like this,” he replied, feeling his own sore muscles and eyeing Rainbow Dash’s limping form. “We should just head back to the cabin. I’m pretty sure they’ll head over there too.”

“I’m going to look for everypony. You can do whatever you want!” she told him, pushing her hoof into his chest.

“How do you expect to find them?” Cloud Slider asked. “You don’t know the mountain at all. The only thing that’s gonna happen is you getting lost.”

“How about you worry about you? It’s what you’re best at anyways,” she said, grinding her hoof further into his chest.

“What makes you think you know anything about me?” he growled, slapping her hoof away.

“Besides spilling your guts on the train ride here, you also act like you don’t even want to be Twilight’s personal courier,” Rainbow Dash said as she turned away from him. “You’d think you’d try and impress her or something, not leave her stranded on a mountain.”

“I didn’t leave her stranded, you guys still had Professor Tall Tale,” he answered. He continued under his breath, “Besides… I don’t want to become a Royal Courier to serve the Princess.”

“Huh?” she asked, just barely catching his last sentence over the howling winds. She turned around and Cloud Slider instantly refused to meet her in the eye. “Why would you want to become a Royal Courier then?”

“The bits… the time…” he muttered. “Royal Couriers don’t have as heavy a workload as the Cloudsdale Couriers, and they get paid even better. If I was able to get promoted… then maybe I would have the time to find a marefriend…”

“You think that anyone would want to be your marefriend with the way you act? Pff, good luck with that, buddy!” she scoffed, trying to catch his evasive eyes. “You got to learn what it takes to be a good friend before you can get a marefriend at all.”

“What is a ‘friend’ anyways?” Cloud Slider said. “When I was a colt, my ‘friends’ got me in a lot of trouble. Whenever we accidentally broke a window or hurt somepony while playing, I was always left to take the blame! My parents even stopped defending me after a while and considered sending me to the Junior Guard Academy, where all the bad colts are sent. Then when we had decided to stand up to a bully that used to take all our lunch money, they chickened out and let me get beaten to a pulp by a colt twice my size! Is that what a ‘friend’ does!?” As he finished, he waited with gritted teeth for a response from the blue pegasus, his chest heaving and his nostrils flared.

“You done?” Rainbow Dash finally said through a yawn and half-lidded eyes. “The way you were acting, I thought you were going to tell me about how your older brother betrayed you or something.” She paused and pulled him in. “Look, I get that you had a lousy bunch of colts that you hung out with back then. Trust me, I grew up in Cloudsdale too. I know first hoof how lame they are. But those weren’t real friends. Real friends will always stand with you, they won’t abandon you… and you shouldn’t abandon them. I knew something was wrong with you, but... ”

She paused with a sigh. “Look, I’m not all that great with emotional junk like Fluttershy, or Twilight... or even AJ,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “I wanted to help, but you weren’t making it easy on me, so it started to get on my nerves. So when you just bolted on us, I guess I kinda lost my cool. But I only chased you because I couldn’t leave you when you needed help! Even if you didn’t want it!”

“I… I didn’t see it that way… I thought you just wanted to beat me down for running…” he said, finally meeting her eyes with his own widened ones. He fell silent for a few moments before letting his gaze fall to the floor with a sigh.

“I… I’m s-sorry… I just assumed you guys were gonna use me and toss me away like those colts did…” Cloud Slider said as he flattened his ears and hung his head. “I just couldn’t bring myself to rely on anypony after what those colts did to me. I guess that’s just how I started to treat everypony since then… and I kind of turned into them too. I haven’t been a very good pony, have I?”

“Nope, not at all!” Rainbow Dash said, smiling brightly and vigorously shaking her head. “But what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t forgive you!?” she asked, playfully tousling his mane. “Now, there’s not time to be feeling sorry for yourself! If you wanna start making up, you can help me look for the others!”

Cloud Slider lifted his head at her words. Quickly digging through his saddlebags, he retrieved a flat, blue hat and set on his head. With a smile, he nodded determinedly.

---

“Twilight!” Pinkie shouted, jerking her unconscious friend. “TWILIGHT!”

“Ugh… uh…” Twilight groaned as her blurry vision slowly focused. “Huh? Pinkie?”

“Twilight, you missed it!” Pinkie said, grabbing Twilight’s shoulders tightly. “I just had the best ride in my life! That must’ve been the biggest wave I’ve ever seen!”

“Pinkie, where is everypony else?” Twilight said, noticing nothing but an icy layer of white as far as the eye.

“Oh… I dunno!” Pinkie said with a shrug of her shoulders. “But about that wave…”

“Pinkie, focus please,” the alicorn said, lifting herself up but finding her body a little heavier than usual.

“You okay, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, helping her get her footing.

“Just a little tired,” she answered huskily. “Guess that avalanche took more out of me than I thought.”

“Well, I’d say so! You’ve been out for almost two hours!” Pinkie said as she looked at an inexplicably obtained pocket watch.

“Two hours!?” the purple alicorn yelled as her wings sprang open. “Pinkie, don’t you remember what Cloud Slider warned us about? The higher we are on the mountains, the colder it gets, and at night, no pony can survive the cold of the mountains! We have to find the others!”

“Looks like they already found us!” Pinkie said, looking through some inexplicably obtained binoculars. She watched two ponies awkwardly marching through the snow. “It’s looks like… Rainbow Dash and Cloud Glyder!”

Twilight squinted, trying to bring the two distant figures into focus. Though she could only make out the color of their coats, she could tell that Pinkie was not wrong. She rushed to the two approaching ponies, with Pinkie following suit. However, as she closed in on them, she noticed both exhaustedly dragging their hooves through the snow.

“Ha… I to… told you it… would work!” Cloud Slider said between heavy pants.

“I… owe you... two bits!” Rainbow Dash said with a smile, her chest heaving with each word.

“Are you two okay?” Twilight said, supporting Cloud Slider from his left side and Pinkie rushing in to support Rainbow Dash from her right.

“Well, we were crushed by an avalanche and been wandering around the mountain for past few hours, but nothing we can’t handle,” Rainbow Dash said, proudly pounding a hoof against her chest, wincing a bit as she did so. “Ain’t that right?” she asked, looking towards Cloud Slider.

“Don’t worry about us, Princess,” he told Twilight, finally catching his breath. “We pegasi are made of sterner stuff.”

“How did you find us? The avalanche could have sent us anywhere on the mountain range,” Twilight asked.

“While the Cloudsdale Couriers aren’t the coolest group around...” Rainbow Dash began.

“We always get the job done…” Cloud Slider finished the sentence, handing the purple alicorn a crudely wrapped package with tag labeled “For: Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight quickly unraveled it and revealed a small twig. “What’s this?”

“You see, Princess, we were pretty lost for a while,” the courier answered. “And we didn't even find a trace of anypony out here. I haven’t failed a delivery since I joined the Cloudsdale Couriers. So I figured that maybe I could use my special talent to find you… but we needed something I could deliver to you.”

“And I bet him two bits it wouldn’t work,” Rainbow Dash said with small, breathy chuckle.

“Since when have you two been so buddy-buddy?” Twilight said with smile. “If I’m remembering right, it’s you two not being able to get along that caused the avalanche in the first place.”

“Yeah… about that...” Rainbow Dash said with an awkward smile.

“It… it’s my fault, Princess,” Cloud Slider interjected with a heavy sigh. “I have been a pretty bad pony lately. If I wasn’t acting so bad, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have gotten so mad and we wouldn’t be in this mess. I must’ve been getting on everypony’s nerves throughout the whole trip. For all the trouble I’ve made for you and your friends, Princess, I’m so sorry. I’m ready to accept any punishment from you. But first… I want to help make things right. I want to help find everypony.”

“Whatcha think, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked with a smile reaching from ear to ear. “I did a good job, didn’t I? Score: 1 Friendship, 0 Jerks!”

“I think…” Twilight paused. “I think Professor Tall Tale was right. You’re not a bad pony. As for your punishment,” she paused again, rubbing her hoof under her muzzle, “I guess I can put it off until we find the others, but I won’t be lenient!” She gave the girls a small wink as she finished her sentence.

Twilight then rewrapped the twig and crossed out her own name on the label, replacing it with Fluttershy’s. She hand it back to him and said, “If it worked once…”

Cloud Slider nodded as he readjusted his hat.

---

“Sorry about this, Spike…” Fluttershy said, a large frown overtaking her face. She and Rarity were riding on the dragon’s back, exhausted from their hours of trudging through the snow.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” Spike replied, chuckling. “I’ll take a lot more than this to tire me out!”

“It’s our own knight in scaly armor!” Rarity exclaimed, smiling and petting his head.

Truth be told, Rarity’s praises were the only thing keeping the dragon going. Between lack of sleep and all the mountain climbing they have been doing, Spike was exhausted. Rarity and Fluttershy were probably the two most delicate members of the group, so he knew if the fatigue was catching up to him, then they surely could not last much longer either. He tried his best to hide his ragged breathing from the two mares, but he was sure they could feel how often his back rose and fell from each breath he drew.

Though they had been wandering the mountainside nonstop since the avalanche stopped, every area they came across looked exactly like the last; a blanket of white dotted with a couple of trees or bushes here and there. He had hoped that they would run into at least one of the others by now, but they had no such luck. Suddenly, his two front legs give way and his head fell into the snowy ground.

“Spikey-Wikey!” Rarity gasped, jumping off the dragon’s back. She rushed to his front and lifted his weary head from the ground, brushing the snow from his features. “Are you alright?”

Spike did not respond. He simply looked back at Rarity with weary eyes. But then he noticed a group of figures behind Rarity, moving towards them. He felt a new rush of energy burst within him. Squinting his eyes, he was able to make out the figures. “Twilight!”

“Twilight?” Rarity asked, a bit confused as to why he would call her name out.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy called out as well as she took off towards the approaching ponies

“Girls! Spike!” Twilight exclaimed, meeting Fluttershy in the air with deep embrace. Looking around, Twilight frowned as she could not find the remaining members of their group. “You guys haven’t run into Applejack or Professor Tall Tale?”

“No… we haven’t seen anypony, until now,” Fluttershy answered with a frown.

“Hmm… But it’s okay, Cloud Slider can…” Twilight paused as she saw the courier breathing heavily and his head hanging low, lagging behind her and Pinkie. Rainbow Dash looked no better. “You two really need to rest! You can’t keep this up!”

“Don… don’t worry a… about me, Princess,” Cloud Slider said between pants, giving her a small, but cocky, smile. “You’re looking at the best courier in Equestria! I’ve delivered to all of Equestria by myself! I can do this… Besides, it is my responsibility! I promised to take you to Professor Tall Tale and bring you back, remember?”

“Not bad, pal,” Rainbow Dash said, patting him on the back. “Not bad at all! Maybe the couriers aren’t as lame as I thought.”

“But…” Rarity said as she turned her head to Spike, who struggled back to his feet. “I don’t think Spikey-Wikey can continue like—”

“I can keep going!” Spike interrupted, his eyes narrowed and small fire plumes shooting from his snout.

“Okay, then let’s make this fast!” Twilight said, once again readdressing the “package,” this time writing in Applejack’s name.

---

“Just wait till I get mah hooves on that Rainbow Dash and Cloud Slider!” Applejack fumed.

“Now, now, there’s no need for violence,” Professor Tall Tale lectured. “That is the very reason we are in this whole mess.”

Though Professor Tall Tale had very good knowledge of the mountain, they had hardly made any progress. While Applejack came out of the disaster with only a few scratches and bruises, Professor Tall Tale had broken one of his front legs in the aftermath. She was used to such injuries on the farm and was able to set the bone with a few strong branches and some torn cloth from their saddlebags, but they needed to get him some real medical treatment. However, due to his injury, he had to support himself on the farm pony which made walking for both awkward and slow.

Applejack released a heavy sigh. “Yer right. I’m really just hopin’ everypony’s okay.”

“Hmm… Are you sure that the others wouldn’t head back to the cabin?” Professor Tall Tale asked, combing his hoof through his beard.

Applejack simply shook her head. “Ain’t a doubt in mah mind that they’re out there, lookin’ for us. Don’t know about that Cloud Slider, though. He looked like he was about ready to leave when he first met us.”

“I didn’t think he would just up and leave back there. I had him pegged as the dependable sort, but I guess I was...” Professor Tall Tale paused, spotting something in the distance. With a smile, he finished his thought, “Right!”

Led by the courier pony, the large group of ponies approached them. They sped up as they noticed the two colored dots on the otherwise white surrounding. Though over the moon at the sight of her final, lost friend, Twilight’s eyes opened wide as she noticed the splint on Professor Tall Tale’s leg. Cloud Slider also hurried towards the injured unicorn at the sight of his leg.

“Professor Tall Tale!” Twilight exclaimed, frowning as she examined his leg.

“It’s nothing, Princess,” he replied. “I assure you.”

“Professor…” Cloud Slider said as he hung his head.

“Now, now. I said it’s nothing, Cloud Slider,” he said with a smile.

“But it’s my fault…” Cloud Slider said, slamming a hoof on the floor. “If I didn’t…”

“Instead of thinking what you could have done, think about what you can do,” the turquoise unicorn smiled again, placing a hoof on the courier’s shoulder. “Now then, is everypony accounted for?”

Twilight smiled and nodded at him. “But it looks like we’re not heading back to the cabin. We’ve got to get you to the Crystal Empire and get that leg looked at.”

“I suppose I could use a break from my work,” Professor Tall Tale laughed to himself while the rest of the group rolled their eyes.

---

Though the trip down the mountain was brutal, the group made it to the guard’s checkpoint before the storms of the north claimed them. To their surprise, Shining Armor was waiting there, ready to welcome all of them back. However, Shining Armor’s smile soon faded as he saw the condition the group was in and ordered his troops to escort Professor Tall Tale to the castle’s private doctor. The prince also saw that each of the ponies received a filling meal and a comfortable bed. Though he did not want to bother his sister with the details, his worry won over and he entered Twilight’s room.

“Twily?” Shining Armor said, knocking on the door behind him.

“Oh hey, Shiny,” Twilight replied, jumping a bit from the break in silence.

“So…” he began his eyes wandering around the room. “Wanna talk about what happened?”

Twilight did not answer him at first, nibbling her lip.

“I mean, if you don’t want to talk about it…” Shining said as he turned to leave the room.

“Wait!” Twilight exclaimed, accidentally slamming the door with her magic. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry, it happens. Your magic’s probably gotten a lot stronger since—” he began.

“No, not about that… well, that too… but…” Twilight interrupted, tripping over her own words. “About… before I left. I didn’t mean to get mad you. I’ve just… been under a lot of stress lately.”

“It’s alright, Twily,” he said, nuzzling her hanging head. “I’ll always be there. Even when you don’t want me to. B.B.B.F.F., remember?”

“Thanks, Shiny,” she told him, looking at him with tear-filled eyes and a bittersweet smile. “Anyways… we were caught in an avalanche—”

“An avalanche!” Shining Armor shouted, taking her by both shoulders. “I mean… uh… you did… good? You all made it back okay.”

“Yeah, thanks to Cloud Slider,” she said.

“The courier? Didn’t look that impressive,” Shining replied with a small pout. “How did that avalanche happen anyways? In all the time that Professor Tall Tale’s been up there, I don’t remember once there being an avalanche.”

“Oh… umm… I’m not sure…” Twilight said with a small gulp. “I’m just glad everypony’s okay.”

“I guess you’re right,” he smiled and nodded. “By the way, you don’t have to worry about anything tomorrow. I’ve already got your tickets for train tomorrow afternoon and I’ve got the chef making your favorite daffodil salad for breakfast. Get some rest, sis. You’ve earned it.”

“Thanks, Shiny,” Twilight said, flopping onto her bed with a heavy sigh.

“No problem, Twily,” Shining told her as he tucked her in. Walking towards the door, he extinguished the lanterns lining the room’s walls with his magic.