Nothing could be seen or heard but the whistling of the wind and the ice mixed with ash over the cold and barren wasteland for miles. The landscape was completely devoid of life, not a single creature in sight. Well, that was until there was a loud *BANG* that awoke a monster from its slumber underneath the ashy snow.

It sprung up from its resting place, sending snow and ash flying everywhere. It was a cat like creature that was about 6 feet tall and 8 feet long with an extremely muscular build. It had a mangy snowy white coat, and had razor sharp teeth and claws capable of giving severe wounds to those unlucky enough to be its prey. After shaking off the excess ash and snow out of its dense and shaggy fur, it turned toward the direction in which the sound originated and began sprinting towards it in hopes of finding prey. It ran with incredible speed, almost hitting 30 mph as it traveled.

It slowed down to stop as it reached the edge of a circular canyon. Looking down, the big cat found the source of the sound, however the source confused it. It expected to find humans firing at each other or other creatures, in which it would eventually claim the dead and whoever remained as a meal, but what it did find completely baffled the creature. The sound did not originate from gunfire as it had first expected, instead it originated from an strange glowing sphere in the center of the canyon. It knew for a fact it had never seen this kind of thing before, not even the creatures from the sky had anything that did this.

Curiosity got the best of the creature and it prepared to jump down to investigate the mysterious orb up close, but never go the chance to do so when several more *BANG*s originated from the sphere. The creature jumped back and peeked over the edge, that is when it saw something that baffled it even more. From its cover, it no longer saw the glowing sphere, it was now looking at several small quadrupedal creatures of all decked out in gear that was almost similar to the humans' gear.

The creatures appeared to have three different variants, one variant had some sort of horn on its head, another had a pair of wings, and the rest had neither. When it came to appearances, they were all unnaturally colored, and none of the creatures could possibly be bigger than a mouthful, and appeared to be a prey type of animal. Their clothing and strange weaponry indicated to the monster that these creatures were indeed intelligent.

The monster looked at them doubtfully, deciding whether or not it should attack. They looked like they would be easy pickings and a quick meal, but it has learned from its years of experience to not underestimate its prey. If their weapons were any indication, they were probably expecting threats and had taken measures to ensure their safety. So it was going to wait and watch, study their strengths and weaknesses, learn how they behave, and strike when the time was right.

The creature lays down in the snow, allowing its fur to camouflage itself as it stalked its new prey.

Twilight was instantly met with a wave of mixed feeling of cold, nausea, and pain as she exited the portal, the fact that she was sent through space to an unknown world, where it appeared to be winter, at a speed a little bit slower than light and landing directly on her face did not help. After a trip like that she could only say one thing.

"Ouch..." she muttered into the snow.

Removing her face from the snow she turned to look around the environment around her. It appears that she had landed in a cannon of some sort, semi-steep slopes surrounded her on all sides. It was going to be hard to scale these slopes with the equipment they had. Despite this, her face formed into a smile. This was it, an entire new world to study and explore. Her years of work had finally paid off and now she was the first pony ever to step on (and face plant on) this new world. She turned around to face the portal she emerged from and waited for the rest of the team to come through.

The first to emerge was her brother along with a few of the royal guard, they didn't have any better luck with the landing. Twilight giggled a little as her BBBFF and the rest of the guards struggled out of the snow and retrieve their crossbows that landed a few feet away.

"Looks like I arrived first, have a nice trip?" Twilight asked.

"Could have been better, Twily." Shining responded with a grunt.

"Dear Celestia!!! It's cold out here!" A unicorn mare guard named Sparks complained.

"Second this statement! It is a good thing we have these adaptive suits! Our ears would have frozen off by now!" The earth pony stallion guard named Iron Hoof agreed as he adjusted his hood around his head.

"Yeah, It appears we came through in the middle of a winter storm." A pegasus mare guard named Sky Chaser responded.

A second later another three ponies came through, the timid animal expert Fluttershy, the inter species diplomat Lyra Heartstrings, and survivalist expert Daring Doo. Daring was the only one who had a little better luck with the landing, but not by much, she at least didn't face plant.

"That is something I do not want to experience again." Daring said holding back the urge to vomit as she got onto her hooves.

Fluttershy was not so lucky as she vomited into the snow. "Oh my..." she mutter after seeing her breakfast make an second appearance before her, already starting to freeze over.

"Yeah, that felt worse than the morning after a party..." Lyra agreed as she helped the poor yellow Pegasus up.

"Aright, is anypony hurt?" Twilight asked the group.

Everybody shook their head in response. Besides feeling extremely nauseous, everyone in the group was okay.

"...and everypony remembers why they are here?" Twilight then asked, bringing up a holographic notepad and her "Mental evaluation" checklist. Ready to check off everypony and make sure that there was no mental side-effects from using the portal.

Daring Doo rolled her eyes but was the first to respond. "I am here to make sure we all survive until the end of the week so we can leave." Daring replied with an annoyed tone.

Twilight was slightly annoyed at the pegasus's half assed response, but checked her off the list.

Lyra Heart Strings was next. "I am here in case we find intelligent life here and initiated a first contact." Lyra stated professionally.

With a nod, Twilight then checked her off the list.

Shining was next after that. "We're here to protect the team until we return at the end of the week." Shining stated professionally.

Twilight checked him off the list.

Fluttershy was the last to respond. "I am here to assess the animal wildlife here and hopefully keep them from attacking us if they turn out to be mean. I am also here as a medic." She replied in a low voice just loud enough for them to hear.

Twilight smiled, and checked Fluttershy off the list, happy to find that no one had suffered any sort of brain damage from the portal. Not that she believed there would be, she was sure it would be just fine.

A few seconds later their supplies came though. The supplies included more weapons, a weeks worth of food and water, camping equipment, survival equipment, and most importantly (least for Twilight) research equipment. After being sure that everything was here Twilight grabbed her communication crystal.

"We are all set here, see you in a week." Twilight spoke into the crystal.

"We hear you, Twilight. Remember, you can use your communication crystal to come back early should you run into problems. Good luck." A voice on the other side responded.

At that exact moment the portal faltered and quickly diminished without a sound or sign that it ever existed. Twilight secured her communication crystal within her thermal saddlebags. All that remained now was the team, they were on their own. If any of them were having second thoughts, none of them showed it. Well... perhaps one was having a few second thoughts. Fluttershy was looking pleadingly at where the portal used to be in false hope that it may reappear and take her home. Twilight trotted over and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"It's okay Fluttershy, we'll be home in a week and you'll get to see your animals again then. Just try to stay brave, we may need you before the week ends." Twilight reassured, placing a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder for comfort.

"O-oh yes... I know..." She replied with fake confidence.

"Alright, Fluttershy, I'm going to see about getting a few surface samples, why don't you see if anypony needs any help setting up camp. I doubt that we are bound to run into anything dangerous right now." Twilight said before trotting off away to settle her own business.

Fluttershy wasn't entirely reassured by Twilight's words as she look around the rim of the bowl canyon they were in, she couldn't stop getting the strange feeling that something was watching them. She continued looking around the rim but couldn't find anything that stood out. That was when she thought she saw two red eyes staring at her from the cliff above out of a snow mound. After doing a double take she noticed that they disappeared and all that remained was the plain snow mound that didn't really stand out. Shaking her head believing that she was just being paranoid, Fluttershy went to rejoin the team.

While everyone was working on setting up camp, Twilight got busy collecting samples of the surface. She was getting frustrated however as she notices she couldn't get an actual soil sample, it was nothing but snow everywhere and it was deep, obviously more than a few feet. It would probably take excavation to reach the actual surface of the planet. However, she was able to draw some hypotheses from this observation. This density in snow indicated that snowy weather was a constant occurrence on this world, or at least in this part of the world. However, she found something strange about the snow, it was snow, but then again it wasn't. It looked like snow but it doesn't entirely feel like snow or really act like snow. It was far to... dusty... She ignored that little thought for the moment as she made her way back to camp with her samples.

The camp was now entirely set up and ready to go by the time she got back. Everyone was now in the process of getting the equipment sorted out. Twilight made her way to the tent with all her research supplies inside. Setting up an sample analyzer she began to test the things she found. Placing a sample of snow into the analyzer, she turned it on and allowed it to perform its magic. The device hums before silencing and printing out it's data. Twilight takes a look at what the device had found and was surprised to find what this snow consisted of. It was a combination of frozen water and something else... Something her analyzer couldn't pick up. Apparently it was slightly toxic. Not toxic enough to harm anyone, but it could over a period of time.

This brought some questions to mind. What was it? Why is it toxic? Is it like this everywhere on this planet? Something in the water maybe? And, if that is the case, what happened here?

Her focus was broken when Daring came the room. "Have you notice that something is wrong with this snow? It's like it is not snow at all, it far too powdery." She asked.

"I don't quite know... All I do know is that it's definitely toxic. It's more than likely that our wool masks won't do the trick. Tell everyone to begin using our gas masks. It's most likely not extremely harmful, but I don't want to take any chances." Twilight responded.

Daring looked a little shocked at the sudden fact that they've been breathing something potentially toxic, but nodded and put on her mask and goggles before heading out to tell the others. Twilight continued to test other samples she had grabbed while she was out, all the results were pretty much the same. She was interrupted again as the guard, Sky Chaser, barged in.

"Uh, hey, I'm sorry to be the one to say this, but the storm seems to be getting worse, we need to secure all the equipment and wait for it to blow over... that means your analyzer too. Sorry, but it looks like we might lose a day over this." She informed before flying off.

Twilight let out an annoyed huff as she magically packed her analyzer and put it back into its case. She was irritated that they were not even on this world for an hour and they were already about to lose a day over a silly storm, but protocol was protocol. There was no sense in taking risks, especially when it came to unknown factors that could apply.

With the analyzer packed and ready to go she secured it along with the rest of the equipment in the supply tent before moving outside and to the into the living tent. Upon reaching the tent she realized that everyone was here getting their own bed preparations set up. Shining notices Twilight and trotted up to her.

"Hey, Twily, what is with this rumor I hear going around saying that the air here is toxic?" Shining asked.

Twilight face hoofed at Daring's this misinterpretation of her words. "I said that the snow is toxic, not the air! Either way it is not that big of a deal, the toxicity of it is low enough for it to not be immediately deadly or even a threat to any pony's health unless exposed to it for a long period of time. However, I still recommend wearing a gas mask when moving around outside." Twilight explained.

"Well, that is good to know, I'll tell the others of the mistake." Shining responded as he gave Twilight a brief hug before walking off.

While Shining Armor went off to explain the snow situation to the rest of the team, Twilight took her time to settle her own bed situation. With some manipulation of her magic, she easily set up her cot in a free spot next to a window within the tent. After carefully stress testing it to make sure she had set it up correctly, she jumped up on her cot, grabbed her holographic notepad, and tried to get comfortable. It wasn't as if they were going to do anything until this storm had blown over, so she decided that she would take notes of the storm events and its effects on the environment. She figured she might as well stay productive while they waited out the coming storm.

A few minutes pass as she is taking notes on the worsening weather when she noticed a pony outside her window looking out towards the slope, as if looking for something. Looking around the entirety of the living tent, Twilight observed that everypony other than Fluttershy was currently present. This lead Twilight to conclude that Fluttershy was the pony outside her window. With a sigh, Twilight put her note pad down in front of her, proceeded to get off her cot, and walk towards the exit of the living tent.

Twilight knew that she needed to get Fluttershy inside before the storm got any worse, and she knew that Fluttershy wouldn't simply come in without some encouraging words. She knew, as far as Fluttershy was concerned, that she was going to be living in a single room full of complete strangers for an entire week; other than her and her brother that was. Strangers were not Fluttershy's profession and she is likely getting hesitant to come inside the tent for that same reason. As such, Twilight knew she needed to get Fluttershy before she decided to spend the night out there.

Shining Armor noticed his sister walking out of the living tent. "Hey, Twily! Where are you going? Sky Chaser tells me that this storm should be hitting any second now."

"I'm going to get Fluttershy, she is still outside. Probably in need of some encouraging words. I won't be long." Twilight explained to her brother before exiting the tent, not waiting for a response.

Her brother simply gave a nod in response before returning his attention to his previous task. Twilight grabbed her mask as well as an extra one for Fluttershy, slipping her's over her face and stepping outside. The cold immediately hit her like a train, it was now far colder than it originally was in their initial arrival; it actually took her Adaptive suit several seconds to adapt to a suitable temperature. Twilight assumed it must have been because of the storm and put down a mental note about it to record later. Moving around the corner, Twilight spotted Fluttershy and quickly trotted up to her.

"Fluttershy! What are you doing out here? Didn't you hear about-"

"Shhh." Fluttershy simply said as she continued to study the horizon of the canyon.

"Fluttershy! We need to-"

"SHHHH." Fluttershy stated with a bit more emphasis as she continued looking for something.

"Fluttershy... What are you doing?" Twilight asked in a softer tone.

"I think something is watching us..." Fluttershy whispered.

"Wait... What do you mean something is watching us?" Twilight questioned worriedly.

"I mean something is watching us... I saw it once before, but I thought it was me just being scared... but now I have seen it for the fifth time now... Not a coincidence..." Fluttershy stated.

Twilight took Fluttershy's words seriously as she began to look along the horizon as well. However, she obviously couldn't see whatever Fluttershy was looking for. After a minute of looking Twilight was beginning to become a bit impatient. "Fluttershy, I don't-"

"There it is..." Fluttershy said quietly as she pointed to a mound of snow on the far horizon.

Twilight blinked in confusion as all she saw was Fluttershy pointing at an inconspicuous mound of snow. "Fluttershy... that is just snow. Are you sure you are not just seeing things?"

"That is not snow, Twilight. I think it is some sort of animal using the snow as camouflage; I have a few animals myself that like to hide using the same method. I can't tell what it is exactly though... It might be a cat..."

"A cat? You mean like Opal?" Twilight questioned.

"No, I-I think it is bigger... m-much bigger." Fluttershy began to stutter, beginning to visibly shake. Twilight took notice.

"Uh... Fluttershy? Are you okay? Your shaking..." Twilight asked concerned, turning her full attention to her friend.

"Oh. I-I'm s-sorry. I-I think it is g-getting colder." Fluttershy stuttered out.

Twilight quickly realized what was wrong as she as well began to feel chilled to the bone as well; even through the adaptive suit she had on. "Oh, I think the storm is getting closer! We need to get inside Fluttershy! We don't want to be out here when it hits!" Twilight exclaimed as she grabbed Fluttershy and began to guide her to the living tent.

"B-but what a-about the cat?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight looked back over her shoulder to spy the mound that Fluttershy was referring to. However, when looking back, she found the mound was no longer present. Nothing could be seen besides for a now obvious approaching whiteout and a relatively flat, snowy landscape. Twilight knew she couldn't had of just imagined it, both she and Fluttershy spotted it. Now, it was gone. This lead Twilight to believe Fluttershy's suspicion just a bit more than that.

"W-We'll worry about it later. Right now, we just need to worry about not f-freezing to death." Twilight stuttered out, now starting to feel the effect of the storm as well.

With that, Twilight and Fluttershy made their way inside the tent to wait out the storm. Now both a little paranoid about what was stalking them and what its intention was.

Cold. It was getting colder. This was not good, I feel myself freezing to death with every step I take. An ash storm was coming, and it is going to be a bad one. If I don't find shelter soon, Spike and I are going to be frozen flesh popsicles by the end of it. Theses storms are deadly to anything living, thermal suit or not, nothing can withstand its sub zero conditions; not even the mutant animals that thrive in these frozen wastes. We need to find shelter of any kind soon, or we are both going to die.

It has been two weeks since we have left the bunker. Ever since then, we've been traveling, dealing with problems as we came across them, looting whatever building we could, scavenging what little precious supplies we could. However, that has only gotten us halfway to New York, we've completely ran out of food and water supplies, ammunition was on the low end, and now Spike and I were trapped in the middle of an ash storm.

I continued, slowly, pushing through the heavy wind and snow. Spike was not far behind me, not looking much better than I was as he slowly followed within the path I created. Both of us were shivering heavily as fatigue and tiredness crept over us, but we pushed on. Desperate to find something, ANYTHING, that could save our lives. A wrecked building about to fall down, a cave full of hungry gobbers, a fucking bandit camp for fuck sake! We were not about to be picky at this point.

However, we could find nothing; there was not a single fucking thing in site that I could consider a form of shelter. Just more frozen wasteland.

Was this it? Some sort of cruel joke of an end? Were we to die here before we could even make it to our final destination? Will I die not finding out who I was? Will Spike die a pointless death out of loyalty to me? Was this entire trip, this entire quest of enlightenment, going to be a pointless means to my end? Was all this effort and survival all for nothing?

I felt Like I was about to fall down dead there and then, but that was before I noticed that we were coming upon a canyon. Upon seeing the canyon, I felt a new found strength build up inside of me; fueled by simple hope. No, I wasn't about to give up now. There was a chance to get through this. This canyon has to have a cave of sorts somewhere, they usually do. This cave will hopefully protect us from most, if not all, harsh weather we are currently enduring.

I pushed forward at a faster pace. Spike, seemingly feeling my positive energy, picked up the pace as well. When I reached the slope of the canyon, even more of my newfound energy rejuvenated my body as I spied a small camp in the middle of the canyon.

This was far better than what I had first imagined! I would have settled for a cave, but I found a functional camp instead! Seems to be fully equipped as well, we will most definitely be able to wait out the storm here.

"FUCK YEAH!!! We're going to make it Spike!" I hooted, throwing a single fist in the air in victory.

"WOOF!!!" My companion barked loudly in reply upon seeing what I was so excited about.

Desperation and hope took over my actions temporarily as I quickly began to make my down the slope. Spike hesitated for a moment, being the first to realize my rash mistake, but followed moments later. It was only when I was at the bottom of the slop that I realized the mistake I had made. Looking around me, I realized that I had put myself in a rather compromising position. I was now in the canyon, with no easy way up, out in the open, right dead next to a camp of potential enemies. I swore under my breath as I got down in hope that no one had spotted me as of yet; Spike joined me moments later.

"Stupid... Stupid... Stupid..." I scolded myself as I grabbed the AK-47 attached to my backpack and unzipped its protective casing. That could have ended really badly if I had simply approached and entered the camp unannounced. If there are people in there, which there most likely are, they would have shot me regardless of whether or not they were friendlies or bandits. Despite the desperation of our situation, we needed to approach this one carefully; have the upper hand before the conflict starts.

I quickly checked my weapon's functionality, test firing it without ammo and checking for any frozen parts, before I loaded it with a clip of live ammunition in and cocked the weapon. I was now ready to approach.

"Alright, I am going to approach the door and make contact. Spike, you need to flank from another side and stay out of sight. If things go south, you know what to do. Got that?" I asked Spike.

Spike replied with a quiet grunt.

"Good. Lets get this under way." I said as I got up and began approaching, keeping my focus and my gun solely on the tent and all its potential exits. Spike took off in another direction to accomplish his own objectives.

If they are friendlies, hopefully they won't mind us staying until the storm blows over. If they are bandits, they will be evicted. In either case, we are going to get inside this camp and wait out this storm. One way or another.

Hope they are friendly...

Author's Notes:

Wanderer/Pony encounter next chapter...

Hold onto your butts!