"Shut up Rainbow..."
"Wow...."
"Rainbow...shut...up!"
"W...wow......that was..."
"RAINBOW!" Applejack shouted, the noise making the two stallions at the head of the carriage turn their heads in concern and confusion. Rainbow Dash was practically glowing, smiling like an idiot as she hung her head out of the window, looking up towards the stars. Applejack was sitting next to her, clearing her throat and double checking her saddlebags. She mumbled to herself "Alright...we left a note...got warm clothin'...apples...ah don't think I'm missing anythin' else...what you think Rainbow?" Rainbow simply sighed happily, staring up at the moon with her sly grin and mumbling
"Wow...."
"RAINBOW!!!!!!!!"
~~~
Scootaloo dove, shivering like mad as she hurried to get out of the air. The temperature was dropping too much for what she was used to, and her wings had begun to lock up, nearly making her fall out of the sky like a large ice cube. She beat them as fast as she could as the ground neared, slowing her descent and allowing her to touch down in the snow. She sunk up to her belly in the whiteness of the field and shivered. She hadn't really prepared for the harsh winter of the north. She trudged forward, her head bowed against the heavy wind. She shivered like crazy, stopping and falling back on her haunches. She hugged herself tightly, trying to get herself at least a little warm before she moved again.
The night time wasn't helping much, the frigid wind throwing about the freezing night air and making Scootaloo's wings snap shut. She couldn't move...she couldn't even breathe, the air making her lungs cramp and hurt with every hoarse breath. However...amongst the howling of the wind...there was another sound. A whisper...tiny but still able to be discerned to the orange mare.
"Sssscootaloooo!!! K..Koltzan!!!Koltzan!!! Sssscootaloo!!!"
Scootaloo gasped as she looked around frantically, screaming
"MOM!? MOM!!!! Mom where are you!? Mom!!!" She heard barking in the distance to her left, the cold starting to envelop her in an icy hold. She slowly looked to her left, ice and snow starting to stick to her coat. eight dogs in two lines of four were bounding towards her, a large wooden sled like contraption behind them. She stared at the dogs and the sled, her eyes drooping. The last thing she heard before her head hit the cold, wet ground were the words
"Whooaa!! Slow down doggies ya?! Das good doggies! Let's see vut we have here..."
~~~
Blackness hugged Scootaloo tightly, carrying her through an abyss of dreams and deadly silence. She couldn't hear anything...only see. Visions morphed and swam by, showing her Hoofington...Inspector Trottington, her death as she clung to the raft...being ripped apart from the monsters in the river. But overall...the only thing she could feel was cold...harsh, unrelenting cold. She shivered for moment until she felt something wrap around her, and a blast of warmth coursed through her. She opened her eyes, and gasped as pink flooded her vision. She looked up slowly, into the face of a straight-haired Pinkie Pie, who smiled down at her and whispered
"Soon..."
Sleep found Scootaloo yet again...dragging her into it's sweet, black abyss of comfort. She had forgotten how wonderful sleep had been...a night free of fear, of nightmares. When she awoke again, she wasn't in the arms of Pinkie Pie, but rather, in the hold of a giant wool blanket wrapped around her, a fire crackling near by. She looked around slowly, noticing she was in a cave, far from the entrance which was blanketed in a blizzard. She sat up slowly, yawning as she felt movement to her right. She jumped a little, looking beside her with wide eyes. She didn't even notice the eight dogs laying down all around her, creating a tight ring of warmth that made her feel rather toasty. A voice had her looking up towards the other side of the fire, a colt with a thick Russcoltian accent.
"Da, doggies warm yes? Dats good doggies...alvays so helpvul and nice...you lucky be alive da? You nearly turn into Pegasus Ice cube, ha ha ha!" He had a cheery expression on his face as he took a swig from some sort of leather flask, getting up and walking over to her, the flask in his outstretched hoof. He sat on his haunches as she took it, speaking with a warning tone in his voice "You drink easy now da? It's not common drink vor south ponies like you, bit of kick!" Scootaloo took a small sip and grimaced heavily, coughing as the colt laughed, patting her on the back "Das good da?! Finest vine in all of da Stalliongrad, best there is! Too bad all da roads leading to city ave' been closed...I running out of vine...Chush' sobach'ya , vutever..." Scootaloo handed back the flask after a long, throat burning swig, giving the colt a look over.
He was a tall, muscular colt...maybe just about as big as Big Macintosh, but she doubted it. He had a dark, dark brown coat that was still a little white from the snow, and his mane was a lot longer then most colts she knew. She coughed a little and spoke a little hoarsely
"Who...are you?" The colt laughed at this and took a graceful bow, speaking with formality
"I am Dimitri Snowvalker, I run doggie sled in vich I carry da packages...it's like a...how you say in south, mailmare da? Only I no mare, I know this! HAHA!" Scootaloo couldn't help but smile a little. He certainly was a character...very cheery. She frowned as she thought of his previous statement however and muttered
"Stalliongrad...it's closed off? But that's where I'm headed..." At this Dimitri laughed, sitting on his haunches again, accidentally sitting on the tail of one of his dogs. The dog barked as Dimitri lightly bopped him on his head, shouting
"Zavali yebalo!!!" He grunted as the dog put his head down, snuggling back down into his comrades. Dimitri sighed and looked over to the mare, nodding "Da, city closed, too much snow. Oh vell, at least der is Koltzan to the north, such a lovely vittle to-" Scootaloo looked at him with wide eyes, cutting him off as she shouted
"Koltzan?! That's a place? How do I get there, where is it? How far is it!?" Dimitri blinked in surprise for a minute before laughing and adding another log to the fire, speaking out of the corner of his mouth to her
"Da, Koltzan is a vittle village north of Stalliongrad, just along the Volmare River. It's good place, good vine...well...it vus considered good till the place vus considered haunted..." Scootaloo narrowed her eyes a little, muttering
"Haunted you say....by what?" Dimitri shrugged, sitting back from the fire and taking another swig, swallowing and sighing before muttering
"I don't really know...I used to deliver for Koltzan until only a few veeks ago...then the lord of estate there goes vittle crazy, closes off half of town, claiming da snow ponies try to steal his vall...HA! Vullshit, da whole thing!" Scootaloo gulped a little, whispering
"His...ball?" Dimitri nodded, looking over towards Scootaloo and saying
"Da, some sort of orb or some dumb vullshit, I don't know"
~~~
"What in tarnation you mean the roads closed!!!?" Applejack shouted at the roadblock in front of them, a red and white wooden barrier blocking off the road with a sign. It was labeled with some strange, foreign language, but underneath the message was repeated in the common ponyfolk speak, according to Applejack. The carriage pulling colts, now wrapped heavily in cold-weather clothing, looked back at the country mare with the green earmuffs, wondering what she wanted to do now. Applejack sighed and shouted up at them "Well!? What other towns are nearby that we can rest at!?" The colt on the left thought for a moment before looking back at her and saying
"Well, there's Koltzan, further up north!"
~~~
"An...orb" Scootaloo muttered. Dimitri nodded and sighed, looking towards the fire
"Da...it's making things very bad for business...hard to deliver when crazy pony going coo-coo up in his big mansion." Scootaloo bit her bottom lip for a moment, thinking. The orb was in Koltzan...that's where the voice was telling her to go...it wasn't in Stalliongrad that the statue was located...it was Koltzan. She looked up to Dimitri and said
"Dimitri...I need to get to Koltzan...but there's no way I can make it on my own...I'm not built or equipped for cold weather flying...and to be honest I didn't really come out here with a sense of direction either..." Dimitri laughed at this and nodded, pointing at her and speaking with glee
"Very true da!? You vittle Popsicle Pegasus, HAHAHA! I can take you to Koltzan, but you must do something for me da?" Scootaloo frowned a bit nervously, wondering what in Celestia's name his price was. Noticing her look, he laughed even harder, holding onto this belly and trying to speak between fits of laughter "Oh!!! Oh you very silly pony! Dat face...hahaha!!!! You misunderstand Dimitri da? I very good pony, I not make you do bad things. Price for ride very simple da? Two things, I need name of mare!" Scootaloo gave a silent 'oh' and cleared her throat, holding her hoof up which Dimitri took and shook, saying
"My name's Scootaloo...Diane Pie...I'm from Ponyville." Dimitri went wide-eyed and smiled, looking truly amazed and saying
"Vow!!! A pony all the vay from down there!? Vunderful! It is pleasure to meet Miss Scootaloo Diane Pie." He looked around her at the dogs and sighed "And these vittle bastards...are my poochies..." He pointed to each of them as he said their names. "Dat one there, is vittle Ivan, dat's Lev, Leonid, Ludvig, Taras, Yuri, Yakov, and Yan. Don't let Taras fool you, he may act tough, but he just a poochie." Scootaloo smiled, watching the dogs lift their heads up at the mention of their names. Dimitri looked at Scootaloo and smiled "One more part of price, you put log in fire. Poochie sled is team, everyone contributes to team, and everyone is happy da?" Scootaloo nodded, reaching over from her blanket and dog-like fortress to grasp a log between her hooves, placing it on the fire and smiling. Dimitri clapped with his hooves and exclaimed with glee
"Vunderful! You is part of team now, but only for vittle bit da? I only keep room for one pony and eight poochies, so I take you to Koltzan, and then once you done, I even bring Scootaloo Diane Pie home da?" Scootaloo nodded and smiled
"Thank you so much Dimitri." Dimitri waved his hoof and shook away her thanks, puffing out his chest with pride and shouting
"No thanks needed Miss Scootaloo Diane Pie, I am dependable snow pony! OI! VAKE UP POOCHIES, WE PULL!" He pulled a whistle out of some nearby saddlebags and blew it hard, the dogs yelping and jumping up. They rushed over towards the sled that rested on the far side of the cave and starting slipping into their own harnesses, gearing up for travel. Scootaloo stood, keeping the wool blanket wrapped around her and whispering with awe
"Wow...they're well trained." Dimitri nodded and headed over, smiling as he spoke
"Of course! They need to be always ready to get their tootsies cold. Dangerous if doggies don't know how to live in cold da? Come Scootaloo Diane Pie, let us get you too Koltzan, ve get you some good vine yet!"
~~~
The journey was relatively swift and straight-forward, their only stops were to let the dogs use the trees. Scootaloo sat on the middle of the sled, bundled up in her blankets with a thick wool cap on her head, a red star stitched on the front. She shivered a little and stayed bundled up, the loud howling of wind and the shouting of Dimitri the only sounds in the area "MUSH DOGGIES!, MUSH! Ve get good vine at Koltzan!" Scootaloo closed her eyes, dozing off for a moment.
Warmth filled her, and for a moment she sighed happily, opening her eyes. She was laying in her bed in Fluttershy's spare bedroom, the morning sun just starting to rise. She felt something press against her back and she smiled, snuggling back into something warm and soft. She felt hooves wrap around her and Pinkie's voice whispering
"Wake up dear...wake up...wake up...
"Vake up da?! You dead pony? Ve are here!" Scootaloo blinked a little, putting a hoof to her forehead and sighing, her mind slow to wake up. She looked around slowly, eyes wide and filled with awe. She was in some kind of town square, bundled up ponies and large huskies moving about and going about their business. The buildings in the town were all two stories and covered with blankets of snow, smoke rising out of all the chimneys. What caught Scootaloo's eye was the statue...the statue in the direct center of town. It was an old grey color, featuring a large Stallion standing up on his rear legs with a flag in one hoof and a hammer in the other. The flag was colored a dull red, and was faded with age. Scootaloo looked up with a terrified expression on her face, a cold wave of fear coursing through her body and making her shiver.
It was the same statue her mother had shown her in the vision.
She had no doubt about it anymore.
Somewhere...in the town of Koltzan...was Pinkie Pie.