Chapter Text
Winter is an absolutely wonderful time of year. Well, maybe that's not being fair to the other seasons. They all have really wonderful things about them. But whenever winter came along, Pinkie Pie always ended up thinking of that as her favorite season. Of course, this happened for every other season as well, but it was all for different reasons, so that didn't make winter any less special.
Pinkie could probably make a list of at least one million things that she loved about winter. The snow looked beautiful, and it was fun to make snowponies, and to make snow angels, and to have snowball fights, and to go ice skating, and it was the perfect time for making gingerbread desserts and peppermint desserts and hot chocolate, and it was also the perfect time for being near cozy fireplaces. And there was Hearth's Warming, too, and Twilight Sparkle's birthday!
That was only eleven reasons out of one million, but Pinkie would just think of the other nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred eighty nine reasons later.
She didn't know if this counted as reason number twelve because it was basically just reason number five again, but Pinkie Pie also loved to ice skate with Twilight Sparkle.
She remembered the first time they'd done it. It didn't really end well. Twilight had crashed into both Pinkie and Spike, and since she was a unicorn, she ended up almost stabbing Pinkie with her horn once they all collided in the snow. Pinkie didn't tell her that because Twilight was already pretty embarrassed about not knowing how to ice skate.
Several years had passed since Twilight's first Winter Wrap Up, and since then she'd come very far in her ice skating abilities. Now she could keep her balance on the ice for a whole two seconds! After that, Pinkie had to keep her steady, which would be a little easier if she didn't have to worry about stabbing Twilight in the chest with the blades on her ice skates.
There was a high risk of accidental stabbing when it came to ice skating, apparently.
"You could probably just use your magic to help you skate, can't you?" Pinkie asked as she guided Twilight around the frozen lake.
"I'm sure I could," Twilight answered. She didn't make eye contact with Pinkie, probably because she was focused on her hooves and trying not to fall over for the eighth time today. "I think all it would take is self-levitating across the ice."
"Then why don't you try that? This isn't Winter Wrap-Up ice skating, it's romantic date ice skating."
"But I want to be good at ice skating like you are. It's not real skill if I just take shortcuts with my magic."
Pinkie went to nuzzle her, then changed her mind because that would basically be tipping her over. "Well, if you wanted to do a cool ice princess dance, you'd use your magic, right?"
"No," Twilight softly laughed. "Why would I do that?"
"It'd be good at fancy dances! And at our wedding!"
"Our--" Twilight immediately blushed furiously. Pinkie tried to hold her still, but she still stumbled over onto the ice. The good news was that she ended up landing on her tail, so if she got frostbite from this, it at least wouldn't be on her face.
Twilight looked incredibly adorable flustered like that, so Pinkie couldn't help giggling. "What? Did you think I wasn't gonna wanna marry you after all this?" She held out one of her forelegs for Twilight to grab back onto. "I mean, like, I'm not proposing right now. I don't even have a ring yet. And I would make it a really big fun surprise, too."
"I know you would." Twilight cautiously held to Pinkie with her forelegs as she slowly pulled herself back up. "I guess...I'm just not used to anypony wanting to be married to me."
"Well, you should be! Who wouldn't want to marry somepony as wonderful and amazing and smart and beautiful and perfect as you?" Pinkie took the opportunity to kiss Twilight's cheek. "I'm really lucky you'd wanna marry me!"
Twilight averted her eyes with a very adorably sheepish grin. She let go of Pinkie and stared down at her hooves, which were immediately trembling with effort. After two seconds, Twilight started to smile again. "I think--"
Before she could finish her sentence, she lost her balance again and stumbled backward. Pinkie had to skate around so that she could reach Twilight, but she stopped dead when she heard something crackling.
The ice was breaking. The ice underneath Twilight. The ice that they'd just been skating on a few moments ago was breaking, while Twilight was on top of it, and it was going to drop her in a deep lake of freezing cold water.
Twilight probably knew some sort of magic to quickly get herself out of the gap in the ice, but Pinkie couldn't just watch her girlfriend try to escape from drowning. She pulled off the skates on her front hooves and threw them somewhere behind her, so that she could properly grab Twilight. Her head was just under the surface, and her eyes were closed, which Pinkie really didn't like to see right now, but Twilight was still trying to reach up with her hooves. She wasn't flailing all over the place like in movies and plays and stuff, so it was easy for Pinkie to reach her hoof.
But then, when Pinkie tried to pull Twilight upward, her hoof slipped away again. And suddenly, Pinkie realized the cracks in the ice were spreading toward her, too.
There was no time to think about how to get away to a sturdier part of the ice. Before Pinkie knew it, she was being swept up and swiftly carried and dropped over on the snow surrounding the lake.
It was Rainbow Dash! She didn't bother staying with Pinkie for another second before racing back to the hole in the ice. From here, Pinkie couldn't even see the water moving anymore until Rainbow Dash stuck her hooves into it, keeping herself hovered above the ice. It didn't seem to be working out, because then she proceeded to kick her back hoof into the ice to break it apart more, then dived right into the water.
Everything was happening too quickly. Pinkie Pie really didn't know what to do. She couldn't try to help Rainbow Dash and Twilight, or even just one of them because then she'd fall through the ice too, and there would be no way to help anypony if she was trapped in icy water. She could barely even register what was going on in the first place.
But there was hope. Rainbow Dash emerged, soaked from head to hoof, holding Twilight up as she carried her back over to where Pinkie was watching. She set her down on the snow before darting back up to the clouds.
The snow certainly wouldn't help. Twilight had to be freezing right now. It wasn't much, but Pinkie pulled Twilight closer to her, hoping that maybe that would warm her at least a little bit.
But Twilight was already so cold.
She was shivering violently and she wouldn't even open her eyes. Pinkie stroked the feathers of Twilight's wing, still wet and cold to the touch. If only Pinkie had wings, she could wrap them around Twilight, the way Twilight always did with her. But she wasn't a pegasus, and she couldn't will a pair of wings into existence, so she had to settle for holding Twilight very, very close.
Pinkie could hear Twilight breathing now, and she could see the frost of her breath in the air. That meant her breath was at least warmer than the cold air, right? That was a good sign. But Twilight still wouldn't open her eyes. Maybe she was like the princess in that fairy tale where she was under a curse that made her sleep until a true love's kiss woke her up. Pinkie very softly and gently lowered her head to kiss Twilight's lips, but she still wouldn't open her eyes. And now the frost of her breath wasn't visible anymore--
She wasn't breathing anymore.
Why? She wasn't supposed to not be breathing, she was breathing just a second ago, she was talking and laughing just a few minutes ago, she was fine, her eyes were open and she was moving and breathing and smiling and laughing, just a few minutes ago? What happened? What happened? Where was Rainbow Dash? Had Rainbow Dash been here at all? Was this a dream? Was this real? She felt too cold, she was too quiet to be real, and she didn't feel like anything? Was she ever anything at all? She was supposed to be here, she was supposed to be happy, she was supposed to be smiling--
"Pinkie?"
Something interrupted, and Pinkie had to take a second to actually register it.
"Look, I'm--I'm sorry I yelled at you, I--are you okay?"
She felt a very light, feathery texture wrap around her.
"Listen, okay? It's gonna be fine, Twilight's gonna be fine, okay? See, she's already warming up."
It was okay, then. She just had to take a second to breathe, and then look back at Twilight's face. She was still breathing, her chest was still rising and falling. It was just the frost of her breath that disappeared, along with the snow around them. She was lying on the grass now, safe from the cold.
Rainbow Dash had made an opening in the clouds for the sun to shine down, and the snow surrounding them had been melted. Or, if it didn't melt fast enough, it had probably been gathered into the giant mound of snow sitting at the edge of clearing. Now, she was hugging Pinkie close with her wing, and staring at her with some kind of deep concern. When Pinkie actually looked back at her, she smiled with relief. "Are you--"
Pinkie immediately hugged her very tightly. It was the least she could do, at least for now. She was so, so lucky to have Rainbow Dash as a friend, and that Rainbow Dash had been able to save Twilight's life when Pinkie couldn't.
"Thank you," she said, not as brightly as she wanted, but still trying to smile. "Thank you, thank you, thank you…"
"No, no, don't mention it. I just wanna make sure you're okay." Rainbow Dash gently pushed her away to look at her. "Before we take Twilight to the hospital. 'Cause we probably should do that just to make sure she doesn't need any special treatment."
"I'm fine!" Pinkie insisted. "I'm only slightly panicked about the concept of my girlfriend dying a sudden and tragic death because of my own carelessness and failure to rescue her!"
Rainbow Dash sighed and patted her back with a wing. "Look, I'm scared too, but I'm a hundred percent sure everything's gonna be okay. Just come with me to take her to the hospital. 'Cause literally nothing good is gonna come out of leaving you alone right now."
Pinkie had to agree with that. She absolutely did not want to be alone right now, so she would have accompanied Rainbow Dash whether she liked it or not. Fortunately for both of them, she did like it, and they didn't waste any more time before making their way to the hospital.
The Ponyville Hospital didn't seem to be having a very busy day. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were the only ponies in the waiting room, which was very fortunate, because no one else needed to be in a panic about Twilight's safety.
It was also fortunate that Rainbow Dash was here, because sometimes you just really need somepony to be there to listen.
"Ponies can die from being too cold like that, right? She felt so cold, and she--and she fainted because of that, right? So she's too cold and she's really sick now, she's really sick and hurt or maybe she has some really rare incurable disease like Zecora did a long time ago and I know they found a way to fix it but they just got really lucky--and this time it won't be lucky, and she's going to get even sicker and she'll die and it'll be all my fault because--all because I just wanted to take her ice skating and now--"
At this point Pinkie was just hyperventilating, and she knew maybe, realistically, she was getting worked up over nothing, but that didn't stop her from shaking so badly. But again, Rainbow Dash was here to remind her to try to breathe more slowly.
"That's not gonna happen, Pinkie, okay? It's gonna be fine." Rainbow Dash gave her a very warm smile. "She might be sick, yeah, but it's nothing she can't recover from, okay? Everything's gonna be fine, I promise."
"Pinkie promise?"
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash nodded. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, okay?"
Pinkie Pie returned her smile and gave her a very tight hug, but it didn't last very long before she had to break away to face the yellow mare approaching her.
"Nurse Snowheart!" Rainbow Dash addressed her eagerly. "What's the sitch with Twilight? Is she gonna be okay?"
"Absolutely."
Rainbow Dash sighed with a grateful smile, and Pinkie tentatively smiled with her, but neither of them said anything in response, allowing the nurse to continue.
"At worst, Miss Sparkle just has a moderate case of hypothermia. She should be able to recover completely in less than a week." Nurse Snowheart offered a small smile. "We're just keeping her here for one night to double check she doesn't have anything more serious besides that, but--"
"And what if she does?" Pinkie Pie thought she was getting good at not grabbing ponies' shoulders to emphasize her point, but this was not a good example of that, as she had just grabbed Nurse Snowheart's shoulders to emphasize her point. "Is she gonna be okay? Is she gonna need to get surgery? Is she gonna be okay after she gets surgery? Is she--"
"I know this can be worrying," Nurse Snowheart calmly interrupted, gently pushing Pinkie off of her. "I know it's hard to just relax about this kind of thing, but I assure you, I've seen ponies go through much, much worse and survive. I doubt she'll need surgery, but if she does, it will go smoothly."
"How do you know?"
"Surgeries always are a success here at--"
"But what if this time it--"
"Pinkie." Rainbow Dash held Pinkie by the shoulders. "You're getting waaay ahead of yourself. Just, like...just take a breath, okay? Twilight's gonna be fine, she'll probably be home by tomorrow."
"That's right," Nurse Snowheart affirmed with a nod. "If it puts you more at ease, you should be able to visit her tomorrow morning before she's discharged. But she won't be ready for visitors today, I'm afraid."
Pinkie had many more questions, such as "what if she has to get open heart surgery, which is probably the worst kind" and "what are you going to feed her because the only time I was a patient here was a really really long time ago and I can't remember what any of the hospital food was or if it tasted good so if she's going to be here for longer than you say she's going to be then I need to make sure she's at least eating stuff that tastes okay," but she could take a hint by now. Besides, there was probably nothing to gain from just standing here on the verge of another mental breakdown making a nurse stand here answering her questions instead of making sure Twilight was getting whatever help she needed.
"I can take you home," Rainbow Dash offered, as she held her wing around Pinkie and guided her toward the exit. "Or my place. Or wherever's a good place to try to get our minds off this."
Pinkie nodded. "I should probably get back to Sugarcube Corner. Just 'cause I have the day off, doesn't mean I won't have work to do."
"The Cakes aren't capitalists, Pinkie. I'm pretty sure they're cool with you not working for just a day." Rainbow Dash released Pinkie as soon as they were outside to hover nearby. "But yeah, I'll go with you back there."
"I know they're cool with it, but I still like to help!" Pinkie explained. "Plus, baking's a really good way to un-stress."
"You mean de-stress?"
"Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean." Pinkie glanced up at Rainbow Dash for a moment, just to make sure she was still following her. "Aren't you worried about her too?"
"Of course I'm worried about Twilight," Rainbow Dash replied. "I mean, it's probably not even that bad? It's probably just a cold or something. But, like, of course I'm gonna be worried seeing one of my friends pass out after almost drowning."
Almost drowning...that was a lot to register. Twilight had almost drowned. She would have been dead if it weren't for Rainbow Dash, and it would've been all Pinkie's fault.
"Hey." Rainbow Dash gently brushed her tail against Pinkie's ears. "The Pinkie Pie I know wouldn't beat herself up over something like this. You weren't this upset when you guys had to take me to the hospital when I broke my wing, were you?"
"You can't die from a broken wing," Pinkie pointed out, before remembering that she was not a medical expert by any means and adding, "Can you?"
"No, but, like...if you guys hadn't done anything, maybe I would've just laid there until I bled out. Which would've been super unlikely, it would've been as unlikely as Twilight dying of a cold."
That was a good point. It was pretty hard to imagine Rainbow Dash having died as a result of that accident. So if that was, realistically, the same probability as Twilight not recovering from this, everything was going to be okay.
But still, they had to wait a whole day to find out exactly how long her recovery would have to take.