Chapter 4

Bowing back and forth from trying to land for the fifth time, Rainbow Dash kicks at a rock in front of her in frustration. "Going slow is one thing Twilight, but your kicking me to land every ten minuets isn't going to get us there until it's too late!" she has to shout over the wind and snow blowing into the purple magic bubble surrounding her and Twilight.

"I'm sorry Dash, this spell was always so easy to maintain but, just like you can't touch the clouds as well as at home, my magic is getting harder to use!" Twilight says, breathing heavily. Leaning down onto a half unconscious Spike, she relaxes most of the purple bubble until it only blocks the most direct aim of the wind and snow. "Just give me a moment and we can take off again."

Dash folds her wings up tight to try warming the muscles as she starts walking along the path in front of her. The mountain peaks howl around them with such volume that Rainbow Dash's ears swivel in uncomfortable patterns trying to figure out which way they are heading.

After about five minuets of walking the deep breaths on Rainbow Dash's back stop for only a moment before Twilight sits up-right in the harness and spreads the shield back out around them. "Okay Dash, you can take off again." she says in a low, tired tone.

'Maybe we should have waited until summer for this.' Dash says to herself after springing back into the air, the wind that is allowed to pass through the magic lifting her wings.

The barer of magic finally brakes when Dash falls into a pack of soft snow. Cold winds blow slowly across both ponies but the air is clear of ice and snow. Rainbow Dash forces her head up from the white mound and spits out the snow that had gotten pushed through her teeth. "Okay, okay." she says before pausing to blow out the snow in her nose. "ugh, everypony off. Rides over."

There was no replay from her back. Rainbow Dash twists her head back to see an unconscious Twilight laying forward and to the right on her back. "Um, Twi – are you alright?" The replay that comes from her words is little more then Twilight scrunching up her face and turning away from Dash's voice. Rainbow Dash lets out a sigh of relief figuring that her friend was just too tired to talk and not hurt. 'If she doesn't wake up though – I can't get them off of me on my own.'

Spike's mumbled voice from between the two ponies is the only other sound Dash could hear "Twilight, your crushing me." With the blanket cocooning him tightly and the open space for him to breath growing to a minimum he couldn't help but wake up to try freeing himself. His movement from trying to wiggle himself out causes another sigh from Dash.

"Spike, do you think you can get the straps? I think Twilight's passed out from holding that shield up for so long." Rainbow asks and holds her head down to give Spike as much room as she can."

"I might be able to – if I can get my tail out from under Twilight's stomach." he works himself forward, taking a hold of the Rainbow mane in front of him. With a final twist his tail pops out and causes Twilight to moan from the action. Rainbow Dash looks back at the sudden sound and is met half way in the turn by the side of Twilight's muzzle.

Light stars dance for several seconds before Dash realizes the blow had stunned her enough to drop her back down to the snow. She cocks her jaw feeling a pinch but nothing that would need any real attention. "Spike? Are you still up there?" she asks.

"Only for a bit longer-" he says, strain in his voice at the last word. A click of metal and a deep breath signals his freedom. He jumps clear of Dash's wings and drops to his knees for more air. "Oh sweet Celestia!" he calls out between breathing.

"Hey, if your done over there. Could you get Twi off my back now?"

Not knowing how the harness is suppose to be done up Spike looks at it with a mix of confusion and determination. The small metal latches behind Twilight's legs and under the saddle bag are all the same so they were the first thing he went for. The latch over Twilight's back came off first, than the ones around the left side. Spike steps back from the two and quickly warms his hands with a gout of fire before going to Rainbow Dash's right side.

Twilight drops to the snow with a soft 'whoomp' and her eyes jolt open at the sudden cold snow on her cheek. "Did – Did we just crash!" Twilight yells and scrambles to get her hooves beneath her. "I'm not strapped in! What happened, Dash where..." her eyes pass over Dash and stop, the panic inside them draining as quickly as it came in.

"We made it through the storm." Dash says while feeling her face blanch with warmth from the look she was getting from her friend.

"That's great, we can take a moment to rest then finish our last..." Twilight stops mid sentence, her eyes widening with surprise. "Dash?"

Rainbow Dash, already looking into Twilight's eyes, turns away from wanting to look too long. With her head turned Rainbow sees the same thing Twilight had.

Mountain peaks stand side by side so tall and packed together that only the way they had come in was low enough for any clouds to come near the center. The sky was clear inside the cold valley and they could both see easily to the far side, the bottom resting so many yards bellow them was also so smooth that it reflects the red afternoon sky with its own icy blue contrasts.

"So Twi, how long do we get to rest before getting to our last stop?" Rainbow Dash asks, trying not to laugh. "Oh, also, can you get this thing off me now?"

"Spike would you help her out?" Twilight orders while trying to keep her jaw from going slack.

The saddle-bolt, once off Dash's back, is folded up and laid neatly on top of Twilight's saddle bag. Spike does his part to make the area they landed into a more comfortable spot to rest by again melting a patch in the snow and also starting a letter at Twilight's command.

Dear Princes Celestia:

Rainbow Dash, Spike, and I have all reached our the fjord inside the Griffin Kingdoms safely and looking at it now I know that this valley will be everything we need for the experiment Rainbow Dash came up with. We will do our best to be back by tomorrow night, so please wait till then for my next letter.

Always: your faithful student

Twilight Sparkle

PS. If you could include in your replay the time of day, we would be grateful.

Spike rolls the scroll up and lights it on fire. The three of them watch it turn to nothing then wait for Spike to 'upchuck' the replay. It takes less then a minuet for the scroll to come and force Spike to belch it out.

To My Ever Adventurous Subjects:

You three have gone much farther then most ponies ever dare, and I am gladdened to know you have remained safe in your travels. It is just pass five in the afternoon and if the map I supplied you with is accurate then you three should be within the same time zone. I would also like to wish for Rainbow Dash's acceptance of my apology for the storm that was sent to Ponyville last night, though it was an emergency I should not have forgotten your plans so quickly when I allowed the storm call to be sent out.

I will await your safe return home and the results of your experiment with much anticipation.

Your Princess

Celestia

"Pass five?" Twilight asks no one in particular as she lifts a hoof to her chin and sets herself to plotting the time scale for the test. "Well, we're only an hour late so that's not a problem, I can easily work around that." She grunts lightly to get back onto her hooves and walks over to the saddle bag and opens the fuller of the two bags, she takes the gauze off and inspects her instruments. "It looks like everything here made it too."

"Then lets get to work." Rainbow Dash says smiling.

"For us to get everything ready, you will need to rest. I set it up for you to have a three hour break, you can still take that much time, or we can cut it to two for the time we were late. It's fine with me either way Dash."