Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Applebloom couldn't see more than a few hooves in front of her. The snow was too thick; it blinded her. She tried to squint through the billowing whiteout in an attempt to see the trail ahead of her, but to no avail. She was growing disoriented. She hadn't been able to see any part of the ground save a featureless, white blanket since they had left the ice-choked river. It had been nothing short of miraculous that they had found the bridge over the stream in the first place, having only just managed to stumble across it after leaving Sugarcube Corner.
Applebloom was thinking more and more that they should have never stopped at the bakery in the first place. Pinkie Pie had, of course, tried to fill them up with as many free sweets as she could, but this was of little comfort to the fillies now. The snow had only started falling when they were inside, and Applebloom knew that they had had enough time to make it home before the blizzard began. The window had been open just enough for them to get through, but now it was closed, and they were stuck in the teeth of the storm.
Applebloom's hooves sank easily into the light blanket of newly-fallen snow. No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't distinguish where the trail was through the obstruction. She sighed in defeat. The only thing guiding them now was her sense of direction and intuition. "C'mon, Applebloom," She kicked at the ground, trying in vain to dig up a patch of snow in the hopes of uncovering a patch of dirt road, whispering to herself as she did so. "Ah can find mah way home in a blizzard." She hit a patch of ice.
There was nothing for it but to keep pushing ahead. They barely made ten paces before a particularly strong gust of headwind hit them, forcing Applebloom's eyes closed against the rushing torrent of sideways-blown snow. All three fillies were forced down into a crouch. The wind howled over their heads as they pushed themselves as low to the ground as possible, Applebloom's and Scootaloo's exposed undersides chilling against the frozen carpet beneath them. Just as Applebloom felt certain they would be picked up and blown away, the wind changed direction again, leaving them free to stand up once more. Applebloom shook herself, trying in vain to keep the chill of ice off her belly. In the meantime, more snow piled itself up on her back. She shook it off as best she could. It was no use. She knew the best way to stave off the cold was to just keep moving.
She glanced behind her, barely able to make out the outlines of her two friends beyond the murky white shroud. She tried to get their attention, shouting over the howling wind. "Are y'all ok back there?"
Sweetie Belle, still bundled tight in multiple layers of winter wear, materialized out of the swirling conflagration. Applebloom could just barely hear the young unicorn speak from behind her tightly-wrapped scarf. The din very nearly drowned her muffled voice out. "I'm fine."
It took longer for Scootaloo to appear. The orange pegasus filly struggled her way forward, finally coming to a shaky stop before her two friends. She shivered. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stared at her quizzically. "I…" She paused panting for breath. "I…" She choked as she inhaled some snow, coughing violently several times before she was finally able to continue. "I lost… Rainbow Dash's… scarf." She gasped over the howling wind. Her voice sounded faint and weak. "We have to… go back and… find it!" Scootaloo coughed again, her entire body shaking visibly.
Applebloom looked her fillyfriend over, concern growing. "Scootaloo? Are ya ok?"
"I'm…fine." Scootaloo tried to nod. "We have to… go back." She turned, making to plunge back into the storm the way they had come.
"Scootaloo! No!" Applebloom lunged forward, gripping the other's tail in her mouth to hold her in place. Scootaloo turned to face her. She dropped her tail. "We can't go back now! The storm's bad enough already. We need to go home."
"But… Rainbow Dash's scarf."
"It's no use now, Scoot. It's lost." Applebloom reached out and pulled the shivering filly into a hug, wrapping her hooves around her neck and nuzzling her gently. For a moment, the storm around them seemed to dissipate.
The feeling was only temporary, however, as another icy blast caught them from the side. Applebloom looked up. "We need to go."
Huddled in a tight group, the three made their way further along in the direction they thought would lead them home. Applebloom, at least, had walked this route her entire life. She felt confident that she would bring them all home safely. So confident, in fact, that she didn't see the tree in front of her until she walked right into it with a smack. She took a moment to shake herself off before looking up, her vision barely coming into focus to see the blurred outline of ghostly, bare branches above her through the torrent of falling flakes. There could be no doubt about it. This was an apple tree. She could recognize one anywhere, even in winter.
"The orchard! We're almost home!" She exclaimed out loud, her voice ringing out over the din clearly. She soon found a gap between two trees and dove in, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle right behind her. Inside the shelter of the trees, the wind and falling snow were cut down somewhat. Applebloom found she could see further forward, as the billowing snow was much lighter when obstructed by row upon row of silent, vigilant trees. The orchard offered the weary fillies more protection than they had had out in the open. They accepted it gratefully.
Applebloom had spent her entire life in and around this orchard. Her confidence was growing by the minute. She knew now that she would certainly find their way home. She knew this orchard like the back of her hoof, and she led them on through it, exuding confidence along the way.
They wove their way around tree after tree. The wind whistled in the branches above their heads and, every once in a while, a shower of snow would fall from a branch, only adding to the heavy barrage of flakes the Everfree storm was dumping of its own accord. Still, the three friends sauntered along. Scootaloo trailed along at the back, checking over her shoulder every so often. She shivered as she walked. The wind had blown her last remaining protection away, and Scootaloo felt even more exposed without the scarf. She dragged her hooves through the orchard's thick carpet of snow as she walked, moping. Rainbow Dash would certainly be mad at her for losing the scarf. It was all her fault. Rainbow Dash had trusted her to take care of it, and she had lost it. It was probably buried by now. Scootaloo sneezed. She tried to calm her body – just enough to stop shivering, but found it was no use. She kept Applebloom's swishing tail just within sight as she followed the other filly along.
The trio came to a small clearing, a spot where the trees stood far enough part that the wind blew even stronger, funneling its way into the clearing and gusting at high speeds in the confined space. Applebloom gritted her teeth and pushed her way into the high-velocity vortex, her mane whipping about around her face as she walked. Sweetie Belle plodded along beside her. Even though she had protested at the time, she was extremely glad Rarity had wrapped her up so well. Scootaloo followed dejectedly behind them.
At one end of the clearing, the fast winds had piled up snow in a high drift that reached almost halfway up the trunks of the trees it had piled against. The wind-whipped snow was picked up from the forest floor and deposited on these miniature hills, leaving the other side of the clearing with a much thinner sheet. The snow here was not as hard to push through, so Applebloom led her friends across this side of the clearing. Scootaloo trailed behind her absent-mindedly, caught up in her own thoughts. So distracted was she that she failed to see the slick patch of ice, exposed by the wind.
Her front hooves immediately lost traction when she stepped onto the slippery surface. Surprised, she stumbled several times, her hooves finding no purchase and sliding forward, out from under her. She attempted to gain her balance, but just as she got her hooves back under her, she fell forward, her momentum on the low-friction surface far too great for her to stop herself in time. She came down hard, her body careening towards an exposed root. Instinctively, she lashed out, trying to break her fall. It wasn't soon enough. With a sickening crunch, her flailing front leg was pinned between her body and the hard, frozen root.
The ear-splitting cry stopped Applebloom and Sweetie Belle dead in their tracks. They both whipped around to see the vague outline of Scootaloo, collapsed against a tree. Her screeching filled their ears as they struggled towards her. Applebloom skidded to a stop beside her fillyfriend. Her stomach felt as if flipped over on top of itself when she saw the pained grimace on Scootaloo's face. "Scootaloo! What happened?" She slid to a halt by the other filly's side, leaning over her, her eyes wide.
Scootaloo didn't respond. Her breath came in ragged gasps, as if she was choking and couldn't speak. Her eyes were clenched tightly shut, glittering drops of tears forming at the corners where they leaked out and down onto her face, only to freeze on her cheek in the chilling wind. Scootaloo continued whimpering, her head shaking back and forth as she gasped for breath.
"Scootaloo! Scootaloo! Speak to me!" Applebloom tried to reach out to comfort her fillyfriend, but as soon as her hoof touched the filly, Scootaloo shied away from her touch, gasping and sniveling. This only caused the filly's fore leg to press up even harder against the exposed root, setting a fresh scream ripping out of the pegasus's mouth. Even more tears squeezed their way out of her tightly closed eyes, hardening to ice even before they slid down her matted cheeks. Applebloom stumbled backward in horror.
Scootaloo tried to get her weight off her injured hoof, but to no avail. Her teeth chattered as she sucked in air, trying desperately to relieve the pain. She groaned, the pain in her arm and chest spiking even more. She couldn't stop crying, even conscious as she was of the building slick of frozen tears on her face. She tried to cry out, but her voice caught in her chest and she coughed again. "H-help," She croaked weakly.
Applebloom bit her bottom lip, pushing her fear of hurting the other filly out of her mind as she reached forward. Carefully, she grasped around Scootaloo's midsection, turning her over onto her back gently to get her chest off the frozen root. Her fore leg was bent at an awful angle. She nearly jumped at the sight of it. A small trickle of blood wove its way from the wound down to her shoulder. Scootaloo winced, her broken leg hung limply at her side. Her eyes finally opened and locked with Applebloom's. She gasped.
"I can't… I can't… move."
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Sticking close to the façades of buildings along Ponyville's main street allowed Rainbow Dash a slight lee from the fury of the storm. The snow cascaded down into the street in great sheets, tumbling and blowing every which way in the cacophony of wind; blown at high speeds within the narrow confines. She managed to stay out of the worst of the storm by hugging the walls, allowing the sheer size of each building to protect her. Every time she crossed a gap between buildings, however, she was left exposed to an icy blast. She shivered as she walked – her feathers shaking. She found herself wishing more and more that she had brought along something more substantial than Applejack's scarf for her protection. She shook the feeling off, however, and struggled forward. Finding the fillies was the only important thing.
Her ears rang with the oppressive sound of the storm swirling around her. The wind beat down upon the unassuming town with an almighty, ear-splitting roar. She could hear nothing else. The sound seemed to permeate her very subconscious, drowning out everything else. She could barely hear herself think. Still, she kept pushing forward. The snow was piling up in ever-changing drifts; little mountains that would be built up and blown down at the whim of the oppressive wind. The town seemed dead. All around Rainbow Dash, windows were dark and doors were jammed shut. Everything light enough for the wind to pick up that had not been tied down skittered down the street like some sort of tumbleweed. It seemed to compliment the billowing white sand, as if some great, frozen desert had come to reclaim the ghost town that was once Ponyville.
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but think how terrified Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle must have been. As far as she knew, they were trapped, somewhere out in the storm. Their vision would be reduced to nothing in the face of perfect white-out conditions. They would be disoriented, cold and miserable. She only hoped they would be able to find their way home, or at least find some shelter. Her mind kept drifting. She would think about how close to impossible it would be for her to find them, how they were as good as gone if the storm didn't abate. She tried to ignore herself as best she could. But then again, they could have wandered off somewhere, unable to find their way. They could very well be miles off course…
Rainbow Dash was suddenly caught in the face by a particularly strong blast of windblown ice. She sputtered, small bits of ice having managed to find a way into her mouth. She shut her eyes tight against the stinging blast, baring her teeth. 'It just had to be an Everfree storm, didn't it?' She thought bitterly to herself. In a sudden spike of rage and frustration, she kicked a pile of snow that lay in her path. It was quickly lost to the blowing white mass that surrounded her on three sides. Another strong gust nearly knocked her into a wall. She struck her hoof against the structure in anger, screaming to the world. "Why in Celestia's name wasn't I told about this? WHY?" There was no reason this storm should have been such a surprise, she figured. Somepony in the weather bureau should have contacted her. So she foraged ahead bitterly, cursing everything from the Everfree Forest to her bosses in Cloudsdale. Anything to keep her mind off the image of three fillies, lost, cold and terrified.
She battled her way to the edge of town. She paused for a moment, pressing herself up against the wall of the last house on the street. She could barely make out the details of the comfy-looking home in the darkness, but she could see enough to know she would much rather be inside. For a moment, her mind was besieged by comforting images. She sat at the big kitchen table, a steaming mug of warm cider by her hoof. She lay peacefully by the cozy fire, the warmth thrown off by the dancing flames toasting her pelt in all the right places. She snuggled underneath the covers of her soft, warm bed, an equally soft and warm Applejack held in her grasp, breathing softly in her sleep…
She shook herself, trying to clear her head of each pleasant thought. This was no time for that. She had a job to do. Three fillies she cared about deeply were out there, more than likely lonely and freezing. "And darn it if the Element of Loyalty isn't going to find them!" She screamed. Her words were lost to the overpowering roar.
She knew she was at the edge of town. Before her lay a narrow strip of land, across which the path out of town snaked its way towards the stream-bank. The gravel road, and everything around it, was already covered in snow. Rainbow Dash knew she wouldn't be able to follow it if she couldn't distinguish its meandering path underneath a thick, white carpet. She could barely see two hooves in front of her face anyway.
The only thing for it was to charge down blindly. With the wind at her back, she folded her wings against herself tightly and jumped forward. She kept herself as low to the ground as possible, making sure she couldn't be knocked over as she half ran, half slid across the icy surface. She heard the stream before she even had a chance to see it. Her vision was still obscured by the all-pervasive cloud of falling snow when she heard the unmistakable sound of rushing waters over the howling din. She skidded to a halt. The current was the only thing keeping the ice-choked stream flowing at this time of year, and she knew it meant almost certain death to fall into the near-frozen waters in blizzard conditions. Carefully, she picked her way forward, feeling with her hooves where she was rather than seeing. Gradually, the thickly-fallen snow gave way to the icy surface of the rocky riverbank, where the water flowed over the rocks, keeping them free of snow but covered in a sheen of ice. She stopped as soon as her hoof touched one of the slick, black rocks.
She leaned forward ever so slightly, peering into the murk even as the wind threatened to knock her over and into the water. She could hear it just under her nose, and sure enough, she found herself just barely able to see the moving water through the dark and blinding snow. The bridge, she knew from previous winters, acted as a sort of dam when the waters ran high. The largest ice chunks would get trapped by the stone piers and only the smallest pieces managed to slip past, borne on the rapid current. As she watched the water in the dim light, she could see no large chunks of ice. She had to find the bridge, and her best bet was upstream.
Carefully, she began picking her way along the bank, never straying so far away that she might lose it, but never getting close enough to slip on the rocks and accidentally fall in. She moved slowly cautiously watching out for any bad patch of ice or particularly large rock in her path. Even so, she nearly ran right into the bridge when she found it. She only managed to stop herself when the stone archway loomed its way up out of the grey murk, filling her vision but a few inches before her face. She sighed in relief, only to close her mouth when more snowflakes were blown in. She quickly scrambled back up the bank, finding the bridge deck to be covered in a layer of snow in its own right. She carefully picked her way across, making sure to keep well away from the edges. Once over the arch, she charged forward once again into the driving snow, sauntering through deep, windswept piles as she pushed onward.
Even though she could see nothing around her, she knew that the edge of the orchard lay not far from the stream. The distance she needed to cover was the narrow stretch of open ground that marked the end of the Apple Family property. Beyond the open space, the tree line lay, and she knew it would be easier going in there than out in the open. The hundreds of trees would provide a sort of shelter, blocking out the worst of the wind and snow. She could only hope that the sheltered space of the orchard would give her better visibility. If she was going to have any luck finding the fillies, she would need to see well.
She took comfort in the knowledge that the fillies had most likely made it this far, at least. Navigating the town, even in a blizzard, wasn't particularly hard. And if it had been easy enough for her to find the bridge, she hoped they had been able to do so as well. She drove the gut-wrenching possibility that they had fallen into the stream from her mind. She didn't need to think about those three meeting some horrible, frozen fate in an icy-choked stream. It was too much to bear. No, she decided, they had found the bridge. They must have made it. If they were still out in the storm, they had at least gotten this far.
"Scootaloo! Applebloom! Sweetie Belle!" The cold, unforgiving wind drowned out her frantic calls. She could barely hear her own voice, even as she screamed into the night. She kept calling anyway. "Scootaloo! Applebloom! Sweetie Belle!" She knew the orchard lay somewhere ahead of her. She wanted to believe, with every fiber of her being, that they had made it that far, yet, somewhere, in the deep recesses of her mind, she couldn't help but see the futility of her desperate search. Even so, she could not accept that they were lost. She could not accept that she might fail. And so she continued to cry out into the merciless din. "Scoots!"
=================================================================================
Between the two of them, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had managed to scoot their injured friend behind the tall mound of snow, where the sheer height of the drift blocked them from the wind. It was eerily calm in the lee behind their impromptu shelter. The wind whipped through the branches overhead, but they were blocked from its full force. The sound of the storm raging all around them seemed distant, as if they had found a peaceful, little, isolated pocket to huddle in. Scootaloo, still lying on her back, winced almost constantly as she clutched at her broken leg. Applebloom could barely stand to look at it. Sweetie Belle kept her gaze completely off it.
And so they lay, cut off from the tumultuous world outside, in their alcove. The wind and snow were held at bay. Applebloom kept stealing glances at Scootaloo, growing ever more frightened by her fillyfriend's condition. It had become painfully obvious that Scootaloo could no longer walk, and the pegasus filly remained worryingly quiet. Applebloom reached out to lay her hoof across Scootaloo's forehead. She looked up in surprise, taking her mind off the pain just enough to look up into her fillyfriend's eyes. Applebloom tried her best to give a comforting smile. She faltered, however, as she saw the pained look in Scootaloo's eyes. She leaned in to kiss her forehead. She couldn't think of anything else to do. ""Ah'm so sorry, Scoot."
"Applebloom…" Applebloom leaned in closer to hear her friend, her voice barely registering over the rush of the wind in the trees. "Applebloom… I'm so… cold."
Without hesitation, Applebloom whisked off her scarf and carefully wrapped it around her. "It ain't much, but it's the best Ah can do." She tried to smile, but it didn't come out right. Scootaloo nodded weakly in thanks.
Applebloom felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around to see Sweetie Belle. "Can we talk?" The unicorn whispered quietly, just close enough for Applebloom to hear her. She nodded and followed her friend a short ways away to the edge of their snowdrift. "What are we going to do?"
Applebloom sighed. "Ah… Ah don't really know." She kicked at the snow, lost in thought.
Sweetie Belle looked down. "We need to get inside."
Applebloom shook her head. "We can't leave Scootaloo. Not when she's like this."
"I know but… we can't stay here."
"There's no way Ah'm leavin' her, Sweetie. Either Scootaloo gets home with us, or none of us do." Sweetie belle remained silent. "There has to be a way…. We can't move her. We almost hurt her even more just tryin' ta get her here."
"We have to think of something. Anything!"
"Ah'm sorry, Sweetie, but Ah just don't know what to do." Applebloom glanced back over her shoulder. Scootaloo had curled herself up into a ball. She hated to see the other filly so alone. She turned back. Sweetie Belle stared at her expectantly. Applebloom sighed again. "We should at least stay close together, to save body heat." With that, she trotted back over to Scootaloo. Gently, she lay down next to the other filly, reaching her hooves around the young pegasus to bring her into a warm hug. She was vaguely aware of Sweetie Belle settling down on her other side. When Sweetie Belle began calling for help, Applebloom didn't try to stop her. She knew it was unlikely anypony would be out, braving the storm to look for them. She was beginning to think they might not even last the night. But, in a strange way, she was content with that. She held Scootaloo even tighter and closed her eyes.
Sweetie Belle continued to call out into the night, her cries growing weaker with every passing minute. Yet she kept going, desperately hoping that somepony might be able to hear her.
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Oh, boy, this is on Fimfiction too?
I guess I can stop piling notifications on DA then.
I feel chilly after reading this chapter.
Great chapter, nice setup here
Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no...
IF YOU KILL SCOOTS OFF NOW, I WILL DESTROY YOU! 
757442
That moment when I finally understand why traffic on my dA page is so slow nowadays.
Another good chapter. Nice suspense, pacing, and story arc. I like the juxtaposition between cold, unforgiving winter storms and the ideas of family, warmth, love, etc.
I've always thought your writing is enjoyable, you make good use of imagery and have nice descriptive passages.
One thing I think you could try to give chapters a little more "pizzazz" is finding some replacements for the pronoun "she". I think there's some good opportunities to get a little colorful and play around a bit.
I know a lot of authors will change the pronoun to something like "the cyan pegasus" or other such phrases, but I think with your style of writing you could even find some spaces to add more depth to characters' emotional states.
Examples:
"In a sudden spike of rage and frustration, she kicked a pile of snow that lay in her path."
You could replace "she" with something like "the exasperated mare/pegasus". It fills out the emotional state of Rainbow Dash while giving you a bit of reprieve from having to write "she" all the time.
"It was all her fault. Rainbow Dash had trusted her to take care of it, and she had lost it. It was probably buried by now. Scootaloo sneezed. She tried to calm her body – just enough to stop shivering, but found it was no use. She kept Applebloom's swishing tail just within sight as she followed the other filly along."
You could replace the second "she" with something like "the distraught filly", and then wouldn't have two sentences back to back beginning with "she".
Only suggestions of course. :)
Cheers.
757993 I could go back to opening it in DeviantArt just to give you the pageviews even though I only read it here
(no really, I used to do that, then I got lazy)
779385
Well, I can only assume you neglected to read the first part of this story if you don't know, so I would kindly direct you to my story "Confessions and Considerations", where you will find your answer.
46492 ... You don't get that the problem isn't the explanation in the first place, is it? Also, huuuu, no. You can't just direct people to another story to get their answers. Especially when you know beforehand that Like, EVERYONE will be asking that same question. Maybe a simple narrative device in the prologue? A little recap? A flashback? The filly becoming curious? A pony in the story asking the question? You know, something like that?
Meinos Kaen
803649
I expect people to read these stories in the proper order. If they can't be bothered to, I'm not going to entertain their misunderstandings.
805343 ... Wow. That's the most self-righteous thing I've ever heard. Expect them to? You don't force people to read past things by leaving a huge elephant in the room, you tease them into it, you know, with hints. Like, mentioning that it happened via magic but without explaining everything. Making it so that people can enjoy it as a stand-alone story without coaxing them to read through three others. It should be an option, not a need. A new reader put in front of this is more likely to just close the window, not go read all the others. You write so that other people can read your stories.
If you can't even bother to care about putting them in a position to do so without forcing them to go through thousands of other words before getting to the one that caught their interest in the first place, you're not a good author. The impression you give me is that you write for a sense of self-fulfillment first, and for your readers' enjoyment second. Nothing wrong with that.... When it doesn't show. If you purposely make it so that new readers have to go through all your stories without them being able to enjoy each of them as a standalone tale... It shows.
Meinos Kaen
805925
It's like watching movies. Nobody goes to watch a sequel to a movie without seeing the original (or at least, nobody should...). It's the same way with my stores. Reading the original series is paramount to both the understanding and enjoyment of the second series. If someone doesn't understand that and is confused, I will nudge them in the right direction, but if someone refuses outright to read the stories in their proper order, I won't be willing to pander to their individual needs. I have bigger fish to fry, so to speak.
807493 I get your reasoning, but at least a recap in the prologue would go a long way attracting new readers. I have no doubt you have a strong following, just saying you could have more.
About the story itself, it's very well written, even if I'm not that much into fillyfooling and FlutterMac, but I can see the effort and congratulations for the solid grammar. Keep up the good work. :)
Meinos Kaen
Edit: Although, the Luna ex Machina for the birth of Applejoy... Argh. My brain.