Chapter 1: When You're a Stranger...
The wind beneath her wings, Rainbow Dash soared through the open skies on her way to Cloudsdale. Perhaps they weren’t so open today, though. On the horizon sat thick white clouds, blowing in on the same icy winds that lashed at her. Below her was the open plain that stretched beyond Ponyville, blanketed with snow and spotted with but one or two trees and shrubs. She grinned. Something about the scene was peaceful, and it had been so long since she been somewhere like this.
Rainbow Dash wasn’t a peaceful pony, not by any means. The thought of it made her shake her head and snicker. No, she wasn’t a peaceful pony. But that didn’t mean that moments like these could keep a smile from her face. She breathed in the chilly air, slowly letting it out in a plume of steam.
The clouds grew nearer now. Rainbow Dash kept her eye locked on them as she flew through the air. Dark and foreboding had never turned her away before, and this was no different. A smirk on her lips, she thrust her wings harder, propelling her to the clouds faster. Beneath them was a looming shadow that blackened the snowy fields.
Her grin grew larger as she barrelled towards the dark fluff before her. Wind stinging her face she thrust her forelegs out ahead of her. The clouds grew closer and closer, and soon she could hear the roar of the storm that was pelting the land below. Eye level with the bottom of the clouds, Rainbow Dash dipped down, getting low to the ground and leaving a white haze in her wake.
At the edge of the clouds, she let out a hearty laugh and arched her back and wings, thrusting her skyward. She would graze the side of the snowy mass and shoot high above it. A perfect boost of adrenaline to spice up an otherwise boring flight. In her eye, a little twinkle shone as she laughed her way up.
Only, she didn’t go up. The problem with being a pegasus, as she found, was that thick clouds were as strong as stone. And hitting them was worse, as was proven by the echoing smack the rang out from her cheek slamming against the cloud. It was followed by a scream. “That hurts!” Dash muttered, peeling herself from the cloud.
She fell a few feet and shook her head, gingerly rubbing her red cheek. The clouds had picked up and were speeding above her. Snow pelted her fur and face, forcing her to squint. Through it, she found the storm to stretch to every horizon except from where she came. Even then, the storm was quickly creeping towards it.
Beneath the clouds the wind was storming, swirling around like a hurricane. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth as she struggled to stay up like an insect in the rain. “Snow isn’t keeping me down,” she muttered to herself.
Patting herself and nodding, she flared her wings and charged to the edge of the storm. It would be an easy feat to reach it, but as she flew, the snow grew hard and the wind pushed her down. With a clenched jaw she pushed harder, doing her best to keep the wind from pushing her to the ground. Her face tightened and reddened with strain. This storm was obviously the product of professionals.
Her wings continued to flap and thrust, and soon she found herself on top of the storm once more, inching closer to its edge. And yet, just as she was reaching the fringe, the hard snow began to beat her down. What was soft and flaky was now hard, a rare weather malfunction that Rainbow Dash picked up on immediately. This was hail.
So much for professionals.
Under the beating of the ice, Rainbow Dash lost altitude, barrelling towards the ground. Her wings fanned out and eventually, her descent curved, but her speed hardly slowed as she ground into the snow, disappearing into a large white cloud.
She laid there for seconds.
Minutes.
Hours.
Hail beat down on Trixie and her cart as she planted another hoof firmly in the fluff and pulled. The wheels on her heavy cart groaned as they reluctantly turned, carving a path through the new snow.
“Trixie swears,” she said, her voice all but lost in the wind. “When she gets to civilization, she will just take the bits from those greedy ponies hooves.”
Through the darkness, snow, and hail, she trudged onward. There was no path anymore, no land, only snow. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed that her cart’s wheels were freezing over, and that soon, they would not turn at all. Trixie scowled and huffed, doing her best to keep them rolling.
Minutes later, and the only movement her wheels made were slight shifts on their axis. A loud growl escaped Trixie as she slammed her hooves down. Unbuckling her harness she began muttering curses beneath her chilly breath. Her hooves were heavy against the thick snow beneath them as she walked around and inspected her cart. Frowning, she sighed. The wheels were fine, the wood seemed to be holding up, and the roof was sturdy.
After giving her cart a nod, she went to the back and reached for the handles. Suddenly, she saw something in the corner of her eye, and she couldn’t help but turn to inspect it. A large lump of snow beside her cart was... rising? Trixie carefully stepped forward, keeping her hoof planted firmly on the ground to keep from being toppled by the wind. Bending low, she poked the snow.
If the rising and falling wasn’t enough to make her eyes shoot wide, the fact that it was warm certainly did the trick. She quickly began wiping the snow from atop the warm lump, throwing it every which way. Though it was dark, Trixie could easily make out a light shade of blue, offset by strands of rainbow.
This was a pony.
Trixie’s horn flashed. Eyes closed, she channeled as much magic as she could into it, slowly lifting the body from the snow. She dragged the pony through the snow, to the back of her cart. Hooves shaking, Trixie yanked open the wooden doors and pushed the limp, freezing pony into the cart, before quickly climbing in herself and shutting the doors behind her.
The cart was warm, despite the chill of the storm outside. Candles burned a blue flame on a magical wicker. Now, in the glow of the warm candles, Trixie caught a good look of the pony she had just saved. Something in the back of her mind shook. She knew this pony. This was one of the ponies that had started her descent to poverty.
She sneered, pushing the pony onto her only cot on the far wall. Then, she turned and inspected the rest of her carriage. Being a pony of little belongings, she had only the cot behind her, a mirror on the wall, a few brushes, and her hat and cape that hung on hooks on the wall, just above a small chest. Luckily, everything was still where it should have been. With a sigh, Trixie unwrapped the cyan scarf from her neck and sat beside one of the candles, soaking in the warmth.
The rainbow pony would wake up soon. And when she did, Trixie had words for her.
Rainbow Dash felt like she was beneath a rock. Her breathing was ragged and her muscles screamed in pain. A grunt escaped her throat when she shifted her head. Everything seemed fine, despite the pain. Her hooves still moved at her command, she could feel her face and tongue, and even her wings flared when she told them to. The only thing wrong was the pain.
She slowly opened her eyes. Blue light greeted her, and she soon realized that she was staring up at an arched wooden structure. Rolling, she groaned again, and let her gaze fall. What they landed on made her freeze, clench her jaw, and stare. Slumped on a wall was none other than Trixie, snoozing with a small bubble on her nose.
A deep breath in, and Rainbow Dash stretched her hoof out and pulled herself out of the cot found herself to be laying on. The exit went less than well, ending with her thumping on the hollow floor. Trixie jerked, the bubble popping and her eyes growing wide. “Who calls the Great and Powerful... oh, it is you.”
“Trixie?” Dash muttered as she pushed herself up. “Where am I?”
“You are in Trixie’s wagon, and she believes that you owe her a thank you. She did pull you out of the weather, after all,” Trixie said, turning her nose up.
Huffing, Rainbow Dash headed for the door. “Yeah, well, thanks. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to Cloudsdale for--” The wind lashed in when Dash attempted to open the door. She quickly yanked it shut, shivering.
“Why the rush?” Trixie asked, settling back down. “Trixie has nowhere to be.”
“Yeah, well unlike you, I have a job,” Rainbow Dash said with a scowl. Even still, she turned and sat back on the cot.
Trixie sighed and rolled her eyes. “Well you will not be going anywhere anytime soon. The storm outside is not a normal one.”
Arching her eyebrow, Dash said, “Yeah? Why do you say that?”
“What kind of snowstorm thunders?” she asked. Just behind her was a loud crack what bellowed from the clouds above. “This storm is giving Trixie a headache.”
Rainbow Dash looked up in thought. “You know, I don’t even remember a storm being listed on the schedule. There’s enough snow here already. Plus the clouds were unusually thick...”
“Trixie does not like it. But that does not matter now. Because Trixie does not like you. And you do not like Trixie,” she said, leaning over and popping her chest open. Rainbow Dash watched carefully as she began to dig. “But, Trixie supposes that company is company. Here, she has been saving this for just such an occasion.”
Out of the box levitated a long bottle of honey mead and two glasses. “Trixie has little in terms of bits, but she makes due.” Another crack of thunder ripped through the sky. “And seeing as the storm will only ever get colder, Trixie proposes we warm up a bit.”
A glass hovered over to Rainbow Dash, and she carefully took it. “If you’re thinking of pulling something funny...”
With a roll of her eyes, Trixie said, “Trixie is drinking the same thing as you. Now drink and be merry or something.” She poured the amber liquid into Dash’s glass, then filled her own and corked the bottle. After placing it back in her chest, Trixie took a light sip and sank further down on the wall.
Rainbow Dash slowly raised her glass to her lips and carefully tilted it back. The liquid rushed onto her tongue, and she couldn’t stop a content ‘Mmm’ from escaping her throat. “I’ll admit... this is good.”
“Trixie has fine taste, despite where she finds herself now,” Trixie said, taking another sip. “After you ponies ran her into the ground--”
“You did that to yourself,” Dash said, snorting into her drink as she went for another sip. “Maybe if you weren’t such a hard pony to get along with, you wouldn’t be where you ‘find yourself now’.”
Trixie scowled. “Trixie does what she must for the sake of the show. It is so cliche that you would think that Trixie is the same on stage as off. Honestly, what is wrong with you ponies? Trixie--when she had money, this is--used to donate a few bits to charity here and there. Now she is the charity being donated to!”
“Yeah, well...” A quick sip gave Rainbow Dash time to think. “The fact that you did something nice, doesn’t make you nice.”
“Trixie will hear no more of this from somepony who is as boastful, if not more boastful than she. Trixie remembers that you think you are the ‘fastest, coolest, most awesome pony in Equestria’.” She took a quick sip and waved her hoof. “Don’t give Trixie a hard time.”
Dash frowned and chugged the last of her drink. “Whatever.”
“Here, drink,” Trixie mumbled, refilling Dash’s glass, as well as her own. It raised up and swirled around, trapped in a veil of blue magic. “To not shouting yet.”
Rainbow Dash tipped her glass to Trixie, then downed the mead.
The process repeated until they hit the bottom of the bottle. Moments later, they had slipped back into the depths of sleep, and the inside of the cart was silent again save for the hollow thumps of ice and sleet on the cart roof.
The silence was heavy, even after Trixie’s eyes cracked open. Around her, the air smelled... different somehow. She rolled onto her hooves and stood high, arching her back and yawning. “Trixie’s mane is a mess,” she muttered when she noticed her ruffled appearance in the mirror.
After taking a moment to comb through the knots in her mane and tail, she turned and looked at Rainbow Dash, who was passed out on her cot, the glass dangling in her hoof. Trixie shook her head and looked to her own glass, which was neatly tucked away in the chest. Groaning, she turned and pressed her hooves to the back of her wagon, throwing the doors aside and letting the burning sun invade her eyes.
Through her squint, Trixie found that hardly any snow that had fallen was still on the ground. In fact, it was as if it hadn’t snowed at all. The blanket that covered the ground was at the same level it was before the storm. Trixie carefully reached out with a hoof and made an imprint in the snow.
The tracks of her wagon were still there. Her previous hoofprints were still there. And yet, something was wrong. The breeze toyed with her mane as she stepped out of the cart fully, trotting around it and inspecting it for damage. Running her hoof down the side, she muttered, “No, that is impossible. The hail should have dented this at least.”
“Trixie?”
Trixie’s heart fluttered at the familiar voice. “W-who is there?”
“Trixie, what are you doing out here?”
She spun around, but there was nopony in sight. This disembodied voice should have had a body, as the plains offered very little areas for hiding. “Show yourself!”
“Um, I’m up here.”
Trixie tilted her head back, only to jerk and pound her hooves, sending her flying backwards. Hovering above her was a light lavender unicorn with two golden appendages that fanned out from a girdle. They flapped just like wings. They looked just like wings. But they were not wings.
“T-Twilight Sparkle?”
“Yes. Trixie, are you okay? How long have you been out in the cold? Were you caught in that storm last night? Oh no, you were, weren’t you?” Twilight landed before her, folding the golden wings to her girdle. Trixie backed away, bumping into her cart. The Twilight before her was fully clothed in fine, yet rugged clothing that was almost Victorian.
“R-Rainbow Dash!” Trixie called out.
Twilight stepped forward, the chain dangling from a pocket on her shirt jingling. “You have Rainbow Dash in there too?”
“Ugh, Trixie, go back to sleep...”
“Yep, that’s Rainbow Dash,” Twilight mumbled. “So, why the new... cart? Got rid of the old one? This one’s a bit too old, don’t you think?” She walked around the sides, looking it over. “Well, no matter. I hope there are no hard feelings after our encounter in Ponyville. If it helps, I don’t hold a grudge,” she said, smiling.
Trixie pushed a smile onto her lips as well. “O-of course not. Much has changed since Trixie left apparently.”
“Not much actually. A few mishaps here or there, but nothing much,” Twilight said. She looked to the sky, squinting. Her horn lit up, and a pair of dark goggles slid down and covered her eyes. “When that storm passed, what happened? Anything unusual?”
Her hoof scuffed at the snow. “W-well, it was thundering and hailing, and Trixie found that to be strange...”
Twilight kicked the snow. “Right. Well, you’re okay, so that’s good. Mind if I...” A nod to the cart, and Trixie stepped aside. “Rainbow Dash, wake up.”
“What? Twilight?” an obviously groggy Rainbow Dash said. She wiped her eyes and sluggishly pulled herself off of the cot, weakly standing to her own hooves. “Twilight, what’re you doing out here? And dressed like that? Are those... wings?”
Twilight looked over her shoulder at her folded metal wings, fanning them out slightly. “Why yes they are. Why is that surprising?”
Blinking rapidly, Rainbow Dash stuttered. “Well, because you’re a unicorn. You can’t have wings!”
Trixie popped her head into the cart. “Trixie thought the same. It seems that she was wrong.”
Rainbow Dash slipped past Twilight and leapt into the snow, followed by her winged friend. As soon as Twilight was out, she wrapped her cuff-sporting forelegs around Rainbow Dash, pulling her in for a deep hug. Dash returned it, nuzzling Twilight gently.
“We were all so worried when we got word of that storm,” Twilight said as they broke away.
Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck. “Yeah, uh, what was that? Do you know?”
Shaking her head, Twilight said, “No, unfortunately. I got a letter from Princess Celestia around midnight saying she needed a group of unicorns to scour this place for anypony lost. She seemed pretty edgy. She even sent us these.” Her wings fanned out again. “They’re really hard to make, I hear.”
Trixie sat and huffed. “Alright, Trixie will bite. Why do you have wings, why didn’t the storm do anything, and just what the hay happened?”
There was a pause. After a quick glance to Trixie, Twilight leaned in to Rainbow Dash and whispered, “Is she okay? How long was she in the storm, do you know? She seems to have some bad amnesia...”
With slight force, Dash pushed her friend away. “Um, actually, and I hate to say it... I’m with Trixie. What’s going on?”
Twilight’s expression fell as her eyes flicked between Rainbow Dash and Trixie. “You two... you two don’t remember anything?”
“I remember you, but not those wings, and especially not that tacky outfit,” Rainbow Dash said, crossing her forelegs.
Trixie stepped forward. “Indeed, and Trixie remembers you too, though you’re just as strange as when she left.”
Silence befell them as glances were exchanged all around. Twilight chewed on her lip and scuffed the snow with a hoof. Then, she turned her gaze skyward. “Colegate, Lyra?”
Two ponies hovered high above them in a heated argument, their shiny wings flapping hard. At the sound of their names, however, they looked down and darted to Twilight’s side. “Yeah Twilight?” Lyra asked.
“Could you girls take the Trixie’s carriage to the airship? I need to get them to nurse Redheart.” The two ponies folded their wings and began tending to the carriage. Twilight turned and faced the two mares.
“Airship?” Trixie asked.
Rainbow Dash piped up. “With Trixie?”
“Yes and yes,” Twilight said, turning around. “It’s docked over this hill. Now let’s go, the longer we’re out here, the more worried I am for the both of you.”
The two mares swapped looks as Twilight walked ahead in the snow. They followed, slowly but still, and stuck close.
Trixie spoke first. “Trixie does not like you--”
“I know, I know. And I don’t like you. You got anything new to say?”
Holding back her hoof, Trixie let out a frustrated sigh and frowned. “As Trixie was saying, she may not like you, or this situation, but you are the only semisane pony she has seen so far, so she hopes that you would accept her offer to stick together until we find out what... this is.” She pointed to Twilight’s wings.
Eyebrows furrowed, Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “Fine. But when we figure this all out, you and me, we split.”
Trixie sighed and rolled her eyes. “Trixie could not be happier.”