In the middle of a snow storm, there was a mare.
She shivered slightly and subconsciously fluffed her wings as the wind whipped snow across her face, her scarf, cloak, and boots, doing little to protect her from its harsh bite. Her natural resistance to cold didn't help her much either. It had been snowing for the last four days of her journey; why she didn't stay at the inn and wait out the storm, she had no clue. It wasn't like her objective had a deadline or anything like that, and she was sure her friends would rather see her alive and well when she returned rather than dead and frozen, assuming somepony found her body out in this barren wasteland in the north.
She trudged on through the snow and thought about her increasingly dire situation. She had run out of food yesterday, and her water supply was frighteningly low. She had also not slept for the last three days, having not found anywhere suitable to take shelter. The only comfort that she had was in knowing that her journey was nearing its end, one way or another. That same comfort, however, was slightly unnerving in its certainty. Unnerving since she was either going to die from cold or starvation, or succeed and eventually return home with the few injuries she had acquired along the way.
She frowned to herself as she recalled the day she left Ponyville, tasked with going to the northernmost city in the Arctic North: Pegasopolis. Princess Celestia herself had come to Ponyville asking for her assistance, but had refused to explain further. When her five friends had asked whether they could join her on the journey, they were denied, and when they inquired, Celestia told them that Pegasopolis held on to prejudices against unicorns and earth ponies, believing that the pegasi were above them in standing and that their hostility towards non-pegasus ponies would only distract them from the objective. Fluttershy had attempted to reason that because she was a pegasus, she should be fine. Celestia had shook her head at that, claiming that the inhabitants of Pegasopolis also held themselves to the military standards of the pegasi of old and that Fluttershy's shy nature would be seen as a sign of weakness, thus leaving Rainbow Dash as the only pony qualified for the journey.
That was a week ago. She shook her cyan head, as if to dispel her thoughts and stumbled, accidentally shaking loose her canteen. Apparently, she had not corked the container as well as she had thought, and upon hitting the snowy ground, the canteen spilled its magically sustained warm water across the ground. Rainbow stomped her foot in frustration, " I knew I should have asked Twilight for a third canteen, but noooooooo. Celestia said that after I came past the inn, that Pegasopolis would only be two days away and that I wouldn't need another." she mumbled to herself.
Sighing, she bent down and retrieved the canteen, re-corked it, and placed it back on the hook on her belt, all while grumbling about how she was totally cool enough to fly in sub-zero temperatures. Rainbow's stomach growled, giving her yet another thing to complain about while also reminding her that she hadn't eaten for more than a day.
The storm had begun around noon on her third day of travel, just after leaving the Crystal Empire. Her first two days were uneventful; the first day was taken up by the train ride from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire, and the second was used to gather the supplies she would need for the supposedly four day trip to Pegasopolis.
On Rainbow's fourth day since leaving Ponyville she had come across an inn. It was small and was more reminiscent of a cottage than an actual inn. The inn keeper was a gruff earth pony stallion with a dark brown coat and a tan mane, who looked as if he'd seen better days. The only time he talked was when she asked him something, and when he would answer it was in a dull, emotionless monotone that irritated her to no end. She stayed the night there and continued on first thing the next day after asking whether he knew how far she was from her destination. He'd responded after a couple of minutes of thinking, saying that it was only a couple of days away if traveled by foot, which, matched what Celestia had said. When he had responded, his voice had wavered.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh days were as boring as the first day, just walking across a grey-scaled plains. Nothing but grey and white as far as she could see... which was another problem. She couldn't see very far through the falling snow.
'Stupid Arctic North, always freaking snowing! How is a pony supposed to know what time it is?' She thought to herself as she glanced, for the umpteenth time, at the dark grey clouds that covered the sky, and wishing, for the umpteenth time, that she could fly up there, bust them, and let some much-needed sunshine through to the ground. She had tried to do exactly that on her fifth day in the perpetual snow storm that covered the entirety of the Arctic North, but all she received for her efforts were nearly frost-bitten wings. Now that she thought about it, Rainbow realized she couldn't feel her wings, furthermore; she couldn't feel her feet or her nose!
Beginning to panic now, Rainbow glanced at her surroundings, looking for someplace to hunker down and warm up (she wouldn't even mind a cave at this point), but she had no such luck, and hadn't expected to actually find a spot to shelter, as she was in the middle of a mostly-flat plains.
She began shivering uncontrollably. She had no food, no water, and was freezing. She had also not slept since she had left the inn, as there had been no suitable places to shelter since then. At this point, she didn't even know whether her best chance of survival lay in Pegasopolis, where she was supposed to arrive today according to the innkeeper and Celestia, or at the inn, three days travel walking in the opposite direction. She guessed that, regardless, she wasn't very likely to live that long, probably not even an hour. On an impulse, she turned around and trudged back across the frozen ground that she had covered earlier that same day.
Rainbow Dash tried to run and cover more ground, but with the cold and her lack of water constantly sapping her strength, she found herself trudging even slower than before within seconds. After about five minutes she couldn't even move her wings to try and fly and nearly a minute or two later, she collapsed.
The cold was leeching her already waning strength, her fatigue and thirst making her attempts to get back up even harder, and in the end, she gave up, falling sideways into the shin-deep snow. Tears froze on her face, and as her eyes fluttered shut, her final thoughts flew across her mind:
I can't believe it... I've failed, defeated by freakin' snow!
Why didn't I find Pegasopolis?
Was Celestia wrong?
Why did I have to go alone? I hate being alone...
I wonder if anypony will find me out here...
I wish could have said good bye... to her...
That same day, in Canterlot Castle, a brown stallion entered the throne room, nervously walking towards the imposing figure of Princess Celestia. His eyes repeatedly flicking across the room, as if he expected somepony to attack him. He kneeled before the Solar Princess.
"She is gone."
"Well done, and the letter?"
"Has been written and sent, Your Highness"
"Excellent. Now go, I have a student to comfort. Your reward will be given to you on your way out."
The stallion stood up from his kneeling position and bowed. Once the doors were closed, Celestia waited until sound of his footsteps were gone. She chuckled to herself, these foolish ponies, thinking that they will get paid a great reward for dealing with her problems, don't realize that they become a liability and that their only reward from her is death.
What Celestia didn't know, however, was that the innkeeper suspected foul play and guessed what his 'reward' would be. On his way to Canterlot, while he was still on the Great Frozen Plains where his tiny inn was located, he had been stopped by a group of five mares. The five mares seemed to be in a hurry, and if his assumptions were correct, they had every right to be. They were dressed in heavy coats and boots, and also had three canteens on their belt each and a pack on their backs, which made sense seeing as the Great Frozen Plains were in a perpetual blizzard and they weren't likely to find any fresh water.
They had inquired as to whether he had seen a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, confirming his suspicions as to who they were. He had told them that he had, in fact, seen the pegasus earlier that day, just before he had started his journey and suspected she was dead at that point, and if she wasn't, she would be soon. From there, the mares, who were quite understandably infuriated that he would suggest that, only asked in which direction their friend had went. He told them the right directions and they went on in the direction he had come from. He didn't know whether they would make it in time, they were only a few hours behind their friend, and they were travelling slower due to having a larger group.
The stallion shook his head slowly and looked up from the intricate white marble flooring of Canterlot Castle and up at the last door between him and sweet freedom. He knew there were two guards quickly approaching him. He knew he wouldn't make it to the door. About ten meters from the door, the guards caught up to the stallion and quickly, but silently, knocked him unconscious. The guards dragged the stallion down a flight of stairs that were just to the right of the exit that he had been so close to, and into the dungeon, where they swiftly executed him.