Dark Frost

by BlueColton

Suppositions

Ponyville General Hospital was full by the time Pinkie Pie came crashing in—literally.

A huge snowball came barreling in the front door, startling all those gathered in the lobby. For a moment, all eyes stared dumbfounded at the mammoth mound of snow in the room, fixated on the lone Hearth’s Warming hat at the top. A pink head exploded from beneath the hat, now wearing it.

“Rainbow Dash!” The ball exploded sending bits of snow everywhere. Pinkie was oblivious to the complaints of the patrons as she rushed toward the reception desk. “Ohmygoshohmygoshomygosh!” She said repeatedly. “Where’s Rainbow Dash? Is she okay? Is she DEAD?” From behind the counter, the red-haired reception pony cowered as as the pink mare leaned her head closer and closer, her neck extending like some crane until it was twice the length of her body.

“Miss Pie!” A commanding voice said. Pinkie’s neck retracted as Nurse Redheart trotted up to her. The nurse had clearly been busy, the fur on her forehead was matted with sweat. “Please calm yourself! This is a place of healing, not one of your insane parties!” Realizing she had been raising her voice, Nurse Redheart immediately calmed down and cleared her voice. “Now your friend was brought here with the rest of the train survivors. She’s in stable condition and if you wish to see her then I suggest,”

“Oh, oh!” Pinkie’s eyes widened as she spotted the patient list on the counter. “Room 9.” She sped off, creating a vortex that pulled Redheart’s hat right off her head. Pinkie’s elongated head stretched backward. “Thank you,” she said, before catching up with the rest of her body.

“I swear, sometimes I think we should lock that mare in the insanity ward,” Redheart complained as she went to pick up her hat.

Not ten seconds later, Pinkie was standing in the doorway of Room 9. She found Rainbow Dash, her head bandaged and leaning against a pillow, bored out of her mind as Derpy regaled her with tales from the muffin factory. “Some ponies prefer cranberry. But blueberries are an excellent source of anti-oxidants,” the gray pegasus went on. “They’re a great way to help build up an immunity system. I remember this one time I got sick, I ate blueberries for a whole day and wound up in the nurse’s clinic.”

Rainbow glanced awkwardly at Derpy. “How is that a good thing? I thought blueberries helped you stay healthy.”

“They do. I was in the clinic because of the stomach ache I got from eating too many blueberry muffins in one day.”

Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She was almost in tears.

“Oh. Hi, Pinkie.”

“You’re alive!” The pink mare dashed toward the bed, wrapping her hooves around Rainbow’s head.

“Ow! Pinkie. That’s my head.”

Pinkie released her. “When I heard you fell from the sky I was like ‘What?!!’ So I ran over here as quickly as I could. Well, I actually tripped and rolled over so much that I collected a whole bunch of snow around me so when I got to the lobby it was like this HUGE snowball and every pony was like ‘Really?’”

Rainbow’s gaze shifted upward. “What’s with the hat?”

Pinkie chuckled. “Oh, I ran over an elf on the way over here. Funny that.”

“What’s an elf?” Derpy asked.

Rainbow looked at her and shrugged.

“But seriously, what happened?” Pinkie asked.

“I’m not sure,” Rainbow explained. “There was some kind of invisible wall where the train tracks ended. I tried to fly over it, through the clouds, and the next thing I know there was this loud crash and,”

“Wait!” Pinkie cut her off. Her eyebrow went up. “There was a wall?”

“Yes. Now I heard this crash…”

“You slammed into a wall?”

“No, Pinkie. I found a wall.”

“In the middle of the train tracks?”

“Yes.”

“What color was it?”

Rainbow was getting annoyed. “It had no color. It looked like the rest of the country. Like a mirror or something. I don’t know. Do you want to hear this story or not?”

Pinkie zipped her mouth shut.

“Okay. I heard this crash and the next thing I knew I was falling down. It was like something zapped me. I lost all strength in my wings and my body. I was starting to fall asleep, but luckily Derpy was there to catch me before I broke my neck.”

Derpy brightened up. “I saved her.”

“Don’t rub it in, Bubbles,” Rainbow said, using her nickname for her fellow pegasus. “Next thing I know I’m waking up in the hospital. Doc says I should be up and flying by tomorrow.”

“That’s good.” Then Pinkie said. “Wait. So how did you hurt your head? I thought you said Derpy caught you before you hit the ground.”

“She did.” Rainbow crossed her arms, glaring at Derpy. “Care to explain?”

Derpy became coy, pawing at the ground as she blushed and looked away.

“What happened?” Pinkie asked.

“According to witnesses, Bubbles over here caught me by the tail. She was so busy crying out for help that she knocked my head against several trees before putting me gently on the ground.”

“You were heavy,” Derpy said.

“You need to work out more.” Rainbow turned her attention toward the window. Outside, the snow was still falling. Rainbow felt her heart grow heavy. “Derpy filled me in. It looks like the weather teams haven’t been able to make a dent in the clouds. It’s like our pegasus magic isn’t working.” Her thoughts went back to the wall. “Or maybe it’s being stopped somehow. Like the train.”

“What are you saying?” Derpy asked her leader.

“I’m saying that whatever stopped the Ponyville Express from leaving might have something to with why we can’t part the clouds. I couldn’t even get high enough to see the sun. It’s like it didn’t want me to see something.”

“What didn’t want you to see something?” Pinkie asked.

“I don’t know, Pinkie.” Rainbow looked out the window again. “I don’t know.”

---

When news of what Rainbow Dash saw had reached Friendship Palace, Twilight Sparkle was flabbergasted. After visiting her friend in the hospital, the princess made her way over to the site of the train crash to see for herself. Accompanying her were members of the weather team, Flitter, Thunderlane, and Blossomforth, as well as Mayor Mare and her political entourage. Following Rainbow Dash’s description, Twilight found the supposed “wall” that stood between her and the rest of Equestria. Touching it, the wall shimmered, marking the point where the illusion started.

“What is it?” Mayor Mare, her cashmere scarf billowing in the wind, asked. “Some kind of dark magic?”

Twilight squinted as she studied the rippling effect. “I don’t think so.” Her horn glowed. A beam of light struck the wall, creating a sizzling sound as if to cut right through it. It wasn’t a very powerful beam. Twilight only meant to study the effects such an attempt would have on the supposed barrier. She couldn’t well go blasting it without knowing what that might do. Strange magic was unpredictable at the best of times.

Twilight shut off her beam, watching as the line of light she’d created against the barrier gradually reseal itself, like a tearing fabric only backwards. When it was done, the illusion of the horizon remained where it was, present but unreachable. “Well, that explains it.”

The ponies behind her leaned forth in anticipation.

“Ponyville is cut off from the rest of Equestria by some invisible force. The Ponyville Express, which left early in the morning on its way to the capital, no doubt crashed into the barrier, causing it to derail.”

“But what about the snow?” Blossomforth asked her.

“And what about the princesses?” Thunderlane added. “They’d send help for us, right?”

Twilight turned to them, deep in thought. “No doubt the princesses would do everything in their power to help us. Let us assume that word of our trouble hasn’t reached Canterlot as of yet. It’s only been a few hours since this “barrier” came up, so it will be some time before some pony on the outside alerted Canterlot.”

“Is there no way for us to get word to the outside?” The mayor asked.

“As of yet, no. We can’t leave Ponyville for obvious reasons and magical communication is out of the question as well. My assistant Spike tried reaching the princess earlier and failed. We should inform ponies to avoid communicating with the outside world until we know what we’re dealing with. Thunderlane?” Twilight regarded the pegasus. “I’d like to know just how far this barrier has spread around Ponyville. Do you think you could have your scouts establish a perimeter?”

“Sure,” he admitted. “But that means pulling ponies off of cloud-busting duty. We’ll be short-hoofed.”

“Can’t be helped. We need the Intel.”

“Consider it done.”

“But what about the snow?” Mayor Mare asked. “How do you explain that?”

Twilight thought on it a moment. “I’m not sure. The barrier obviously has us completely contained. Perhaps it entrapped a cold weather front when it was erected.”

“Fine,” the mayor said. Something in her voice told Twilight that she wasn’t fully pleased with her supposition. “But I have another question: who would do this, and why?”

One of her aides cleared his throat. “That’s two questions, mayor.”

She offered him a hard glare and he turned away.

“Right now, mayor, I’m more concerned with finding out how it’s being done. We find the source. We fix it. Ponyville is saved.”

“I hope you’re right, princess.” Mayor Mare spoke with a voice befitting a true politician: measured but with a hint of cynicism underling her words. “As the Princess of Friendship, your word carries great weight. But as the duly-elected representative of this glorious little hamlet, the citizens will look to me for leadership. I hope that that when they come looking for answers I will be able to do more than offer abstract conclusions.”

It was the closest thing to a belittling comment the mayor had ever offered to Twilight. As a young mare, she would have taken offense. However, Twilight had matured and she understood it for what it was. Mayor Mare was afraid. Her calm exterior hid a frightened pony who was out of her league. She was a politician whose field of expertise lied in negotiation and subterfuge, not magic and the supernatural. Her small jibe was a way of venting her frustration, of her inability to control the situation.

“Don’t worry, major,” Twilight said in as confidant a voice as she could muster. “We will figure this out. I promise you.”

Mare dipped her head and turned around, her entourage following her back to Ponyville. When they were gone, Twilight addressed the weather team. “Listen, Rainbow Dash told me what happened to her. Make sure you tell your ponies not to fly to high or else they might lose consciousness. The last thing we need is more pegasi dropping out of the sky.”

The trio nodded.

“Also,” Twilight paused a moment, looked up as if she heard something, then said, “Rainbow said she heard a loud crash just before she passed out. Keep an eye out and your ears open. If something struck Rainbow Dash, it could mean that something is watching us.”

At her words, all three pegasi looked up nervously, eyes scanning the clouds. Seeing how she unnerved them, Twilight quickly added. “Of course, it could be nothing at all. I’m just spit-balling here.”

“Twilight!” A distant voice called out to her. Looking up, she spotted a familiar purple dragon bounding through the snow.

“Spike?” Twilight moved to intercept, closing the distance faster than Spike’s little legs could ever hope to. He was panting. Twilight realized he must have run all the way from the palace. She waited for Spike to catch his breath before asking, “Spike, what is it?”

Gasping, Spike cleared his throat. “Y…You’ve got to…to…come back home.”

“Why?” Twilight became worried. “Is something wrong?”

“I…don’t know,” he said. “But I came…to find you…as soon as I saw it.”

“Saw what?” Twilight pressed.

“It’s Sunset Shimmer,” Spike blurted out. “She’s contacted you. There’s something wrong at CHS!”

Author's Note:

Just another update! Hope you had a great weekend.