Hurricane and Pansy started their trip early the next day. Saddlebags full of supplies they took to the air immediately. Hurricane made a conscious effort to stay several hooves away from Pansy at all times.

Dark, heavy clouds hung above them ominously while heavy winds pushed the two pegasi back as they flew. It seemed the harder they fought against the weather, the worse it got. Eventually snow and small chunks of hail rained down on them heavily, making it almost impossible to see.

Both pegasi struggled against the onslaught of wind, snow and ice. Pansy, being smaller and more lightweight, was knocked backward by a particularly strong gust of wind. Spinning out of control, she squeezed her eyes shut in terror as she attempted to stop her rapid decent.

Strong forelegs snatched her out of the sky and held her close to a dark grey chest. Pansy found herself looking up in shock at Hurricane, whom continued to battle the storm in search of shelter. Spotting a cave, Hurricane descended quickly into the temporary shelter.

“I think we will be safe in here.” Hurricane peered out of the cave, unaware that she was still protectively embracing Pansy.

Heart fluttering in her chest, Pansy wrapped her forelegs tightly around Hurricane and buried her muzzle into her dark grey chest. Hurricane froze at the movement, emotions warring violently within her. A few moments passed before Hurricane regained composure and ripped herself away from Pansy.

Pansy nearly fell flat on her face from how fast Hurricane shot away from her. Sitting up slowly, Pansy glared heatedly at Hurricane, whom at the moment was completely on the other side of the cave, breathing heavily.

“Although I appreciate being saved from falling to my death, I don’t appreciate nearly breaking my muzzle because somepony is jumpy.” Hurricane winced slightly at the scathing remark.

“.......Sorry.....” Hurricane muttered out just loud enough for Pansy to hear.

*****

“Awwwww...but why?” Pinkie pouted as she looked at Dash with big sad eyes.

Feeling guilty for upsetting Pinkie, Dash gently nuzzled the pink mare, “I know Pinks. It’s for the best though. It’s getting way too dangerous to live here.”

"But Dashie! I almost have everything properly planned out!" Pinkie sighed, looking around. "See?"

Rainbow Dash looked around, eyeing the decorations Pinkie had placed everywhere. Warm colours were splashed on the walls, balances out with bright, cool colours on the furniture. "I'm so sorry, Pinks... I tried explaining to Hurricane but....."

"It's okay.... Just means I'll have a tooooootally new house to decorate, right?" Pinkie spoke, brightening up dramatically.

"Yup!" Dash nodded, a relieved grin forming on her face, "Want to come do some combat training with me? We're saving the gym for last in packing, so we should be fine."

Pinkie bounced up, nodding eagerly. "You should teach me to fight better! I could be even MORE help to your tribe if I could fight like you!"

Dash paused, looking at the pink mare. "Pinkie, this is your tribe too..."

“Other ponies here keep giving me dirty looks when you aren’t around...and this one brown colt keeps throwing things at me.” Pinkie looked down sadly.

“Dumbbell...” Dash growled out with a frown. “He just doesn’t know when to stop being such a feather-head!”

Storming out of the home, intent on giving Dumbbell a new facial scar as well as some broken bones, a pink blur flashed in front of Rainbow Dash and grabbed her in a tight embrace.

“Please don’t start a fight, Dashie. You are better than that and you aren’t even fully healed yet.” Pinkie tightened her grip on Dash, hoping to calm the irate pegasus.

Sighing in frustration, Dash gently returned the embrace, “Fine...but if I ever see him or anypony else throw things at you or treat you like dirt......I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

Pinkie giggled, “I know, Dashie.”

*****

Awkward silence filled the cave for several hours, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Both pegasi sat on opposite ends of the cave, shivering violently from the harsh icy wind that blew into the mouth of the cave.

Pansy, being much smaller, was starting to black out from the intense cold. Dropping to the cave floor heavily, she struggled to keep herself alert and aware. Sharp stabs of icy numbness slowly creeped up her legs, her breathing becoming shuttering gasps.

Terror filled Hurricane’s eyes as she watched the small mare collapse weakly to the ground. Without a second thought, Hurricane rushed over to the trembling mare, pulled her behind some rocks to keep some of the wind off her, removed her armor and laid on top of her.

Hurricane tucked herself tightly around Pansy, sharing as much body heat as she could. Carefully shaking her helmet off, Hurricane tucked her head next to Pansy’s, resting her cheek against the green pony’s. Pansy unconsciously pressed her cheek against Hurricane’s, soaking in as much warmth as she could.

Pansy slowly warmed up with each passing minute, her violent shivers replaced with slight trembles. Hurricane shivered from the onslaught of freezing wind, tensing up around the smaller mare and huddling closer to get warm.

They had a long night ahead of them.

*****

“Jus’ what in the hay is goin on here?” Applejack trotted through the pegasi tribe, eyeing all the ponies rushing around and gathering up things into crates and carts.

“APPLEJACK!” Was the only warning the orange mare had before being tackled into the ground with one of Pinkie’s famous hugs.

“Oh my gosh! I’m sooo glad you are here! Mine and Dashie’s home is all built and I nearly finished decorating!” Pinkie wore a bright smile that slowly faded into a pout. “But now we have to move.”

"Wait huh?" Applejack face was the picture of confusion.

Pinkies bounced, nodding cheerfully. "Hurricane decided that it was too dangerous for the Pegasi to stay here anymore, so she and Pansy are out looking for a new place to live!"

“Really? Chancellor Pudding-Head got the same idea! Both her n Smart Cookie left a few days ago.” Applejack paused, a thoughtful look forming on her face, “Ah wonder if the unicorns are doin’ the same thing?”

A loud amused snort sounded above the two earth ponies before a cyan pegasus dropped to the ground next to them.

“Are you serious? Princess Platinum would be too afraid to chip a hoof before even thinking about searching for new land.”

Applejack snickered, “Yea, yer right, Rainbow. Them unicorns are too prissy fer that stuff.”

The orange earth pony slung her foreleg good naturedly around Rainbow Dash as they devolved into a heavy fit of laughter. A few seconds went by before Pinkie joined in on the laughter, rolling around on the ground with glee.

“Why are we laughing?” Pinkie managed to spit out in between hearty giggles.

Before anypony could answer, a panicking weather pony dropped next to Dash, “Lieutenant General! There’s a huge storm coming straight towards us at an unbelievably rapid rate! We can’t control it no matter how much we try!”

Dash immediately sobered up from the laughter, “Warn everypony! Inform them to gather in the Safety Bunkers immediately!”

Saluting, the shaken up colt shot off immediately. Dash turned to the two earth ponies, a grim expression on her face.

“There is no time to waste. Help me gather up the foals and the elderly, they will have the most trouble making it to the Bunkers safely.” Dash eyed the pegasi that pushed and shoved each other out of the way in an attempt to make it to the bunkers.

“But...they might not want help from an earth pony.” Applejack spoke, a worried tone in her voice.

Dash looked straight into Applejack’s eyes pleadingly, “...I...really need your help...” She shifted her attention to Pinkie, whom was staring at her with a stern expression, “Please.”

The orange mare looked taken aback for a moment, before a focused look came over her. Applejack nodded quickly. “You got it Rainbow Dash. Pinkie, ah’ll get the pegasi on the North and West side of the camp and yah’ll can get the pegasi on the South and East. This storm’s already comin’ in.”

The three mares look into the sky and see the icy blackness surrounding the pegasi camp. Dark clouds enveloping the clear blue in a thick fog and snow and ice began to fall from it, the wind suddenly picking up and whipping around anything that isn’t secured to the ground.

“C’mon Pinkie, we’ve gotta get a move on!” Applejack shouted hurriedly, trying to be heard over the howling winds blowing in from the storm.

Pinkie nodded silently and watched the mare rush off with an old mare and her grandcolt. Her expression stiffened and she turned to face the cyan pegasus.

“I know I can’t talk you out of doing anything for your tribe, Dashie, but please be careful while doing it okay?” Pinkie stepped forward and nuzzled Dash’s cheek before sprinting off to be shrouded from view in the fog coming from the East end.

“Don’t worry Pinkie, I will be.”
*****

The density of the storm was far greater at the cave Hurricane and Pansy were trapped in. It had been several hours since the green mare had collapsed, and she seemed to be recovering from the blinding cold, but the weather showed no signs of clearing up.

As the cool winds buffeted the rock Hurricane had chosen as protection. The larger mare began to feel a bit hazy, her vision beginning to blur from stress. The only thing that kept her awake was the thought of keeping Pansy warm and away from the icy temperatures from outside.

“Hur-Hurricane...” The small pegasus whispered from the grey mare’s embrace.

Hurricane held Pansy closer beneath her and drew her wings down to cover her body more. Kissing Pansy lightly on the cheek, Hurricane spoke softly, “Don’t worry Pansy.... I’m not leaving you... Not this time.”
*****

“Everypony inta the bunker quick! The storm’s gettin’ close!” Applejack now had to scream out to be heard over the fierce winds of the storm.

She had managed to gather all of the pegasi, some with a little more difficulty to persuade given that she was an earth pony. But once she had gotten the ponies to notice the black clouds in the sky they seemed much more agreeable to the idea of listening to her.

The door to the bunker was about to close when Applejack spotted a pink blur coming from the misty side of the camp.

Two pegasi were quickly slamming the door shut, but the orange mare shot up to them and pointed their attention at the rapidly approaching ponies.

“Hi Applejack!” Pinkie chirped from inside the crowd. She leaped from the front and landed before the orange mare, smiling brightly and looking out at the ponies she had gathered. “I got all the pegasi I could find and brought them straight here. Uuuum well ,I might have stopped a little on the way for some snacks, but I just told everypony we’d have to get here quicker.”

“It’s okay sugarcube, jus’ get them ponies in fast so we can get outa this freezin’ storm.” A small amused smile creeped onto Applejack’s face from the pink pony’s antics.

As the last of the pegasi came from the fog, Pinkie began to look around uncomfortably. She stepped away from some appreciative ponies to step up beside Applejack, unusually quiet for her normally bouncy nature.

“W-where’s Dashie?” Pinkie asked as all the ponies rushed in through the doors of the shelter.

Applejack shrugged. “I ain’t seen her since we left a while back.” At the worried poster Pinkie took from hearing that, the orange earth pony threw her hoof over Pinkie’s back reassuringly. “C’mon now Pinkie. You know Rainbow Dash better than that. She won’t let a storm like this get her anymore.”

Pinkie managed to smile at the earth pony’s encouraging words. “Thanks Applejack.”
*****

Dash stood perched on a hill near the shelter, guiding some foals to the shelter. Her eyes shifted from pony to pony until she saw a pink mare and an orange mare standing together outside the door.

“Good work you two. I knew I could count on you both. Whether you want it or not, I think you’re already a part of this tribe.” Her magenta eyes stayed locked on the pink pony until she heard a soft shout of pain from her left.

Turning her head away quickly from Pinkie, Dash squinted into the storm and spotted movement from far away. Her heart sank as her vision cleared from the storm. “Is that.... Scootaloo!”

In the distance, a small orange and purple dot appeared to be struggling violently against something. Without a second thought, Dash flew straight into the harsh, heavy blowing winds to reach the poor filly. Her stomach wounds stretched and twisted painfully as Dash pushed herself through the violent weather.

The closer Rainbow Dash got, the easier it was to see what was pinning Scootaloo down. A large wooden beam from one of the ruined food storage buildings had been torn off by the strong wind and was pinning the filly to the ground.

“R-Rainbow Dash...Help!” A pained plea came from the small orange filly, small trails of blood dripping from her nose.

Rushing over to the beam, Dash strained to lift the offending object. Her injuries screamed in protest as she slowly lifted the beam up high enough for Scootaloo to crawl out. Panting heavily, Dash dropped the beam and rushed to Scootaloo’s side.

“Oh no...” Dash’s eyes widened when she saw the severity of Scootaloo’s condition.

The orange filly’s wings were twisted, bloody and nearly torn off from the force of the beam smashing her into the ground. Two of her ribs snapped and were jabbing at her skin, threatening to tear her open.

Dash carefully wrapped her forelegs around Scootaloo, avoiding the injuries as best as she could. Lifting up the poor filly, she flew as fast as she could back to the shelter. Debris slammed into the duo, forcing Dash to hold the small filly tight against her chest.

Diving into the Safety Bunker, Dash began searching frantically through the hundreds of pegasi.

“Fluttershy! Fluttershy, Emergency!”

*****

A light dusting of snow covered Hurricane. She had passed out hours ago from exhaustion, the storm finally passing as dawn hit. Pansy remained pinned under the larger mare, still a little weak from collapsing the night before.

“Hurricane?” Pansy whispered, trying to wriggle free of the pony on top of her. “Hurricane are you alright? The storm’s over... you can get off me.”

Hurricane’s eyes opened blearily as she felt the small pegasus shifting beneath her. Feeling a surge of emotions rush over her, the grey mare lifted herself off Pansy. “S-sorry... well I suppose we’d better keep looking. I just hope Lieutenant General Dash is doing all she can to help the tribe.”

Pansy slowly stood on her hooves and walked up to the Commander, now standing at the entrance to the cave and looking out into the snow covered hills before them. “Hurricane you... you saved me again... why can’t you just-?”

Hurricane’s wings flared angrily and she turned to face the green mare. “You collapsed from the cold and exhaustion Private! What was I supposed to do, let you die? Nothing in the name of pegasi kind... could make me do that...” Her wings drooped back to her sides and she whispered those last words softly; just enough for the mare to hear them. She turned away from Pansy trying to escape her pleading purple eyes.

Pansy stared at Commander Hurricane in shock and surprise. The stare quickly evolved into a heated glare at the larger mare. Her wings flared out suddenly, gaining Hurricane’s attention once again. “Fine. Let’s find your new homeland to avoid me in just like before.”

Hurricane stood silently in front of Pansy and looked suddenly nervous. “Uh, you know, I kinda... removed your armor when the storm hit... to-to keep you warm I mean...”

“What?!” Pansy’s eyes widened and she looked at her hooves, an embarrassed flush covering her face. Looking around frantically, Pansy spotted her armor near the rock they had huddled behind moments ago.

Hurricane watched the pegasus gather her armor and looked away slightly when she began to put it on, feeling her face heating up. “Oh, and that reminds me. I also took my helmet off when I laid on you to warm you up.” The grey pegasus touched her hoof to her mane and looked over to the armor on the floor.

“I don’t care! Have your stupid helmet back!!” Pansy grabbed the piece of armor and chucked it at Hurricane. She earned a direct hit on the larger pony’s nose and a sharp yelp of pain from the Commander as she covered her now throbbing nose with a fore-hoof.

Pansy’s hardened look softened a bit at the grey mare’s shout, but turned her head away in anger at the nervous pony. She continued to slowly pull her weapons and armor back on, ignoring Hurricane completely.

Her nose bloody and dripping, Hurricane took one last look at Pansy before silently walking out to grab her helmet from the snow outside.

*****

“Scoots! Kid! Fluttershy, please tell me Scootaloo’s gonna be okay.” Dash looked over Fluttershy’s shoulder anxiously, fearing the injuries would be too much for the small filly to handle.

Fluttershy worked diligently to try and save the filly’s life, attempting to reset the wings broken bones and joints as best as she could. “It-it’s hard to say right now Rainbow Dash. She isn’t in good condition, but... it’s good you found her when you did.”

Applejack put a comforting hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Come on RD, let Fluttershy do her job. It’ll only be worse if yah’ll keep askin’ her stuff.”

“Please Dashie, you gotta let her work. I’m sure Scootaloo will be fine.” Pinkie tugged on Dash’s foreleg gently, urging her to leave Fluttershy alone.

Dash finally let herself be pulled away, watching as Fluttershy made small incisions in the little filly’s chest to reset the broken ribs. Feeling emotionally drained, Dash dropped onto the ground heavily. Mean spirited snickering broke through the emotional haze Dash found herself in.

“Way to go, Rainbow Crash. If I was leader nopony would have gotten hurt...” A devilish smirk formed on Dumbbell’s face, “Except for dirty traitors like you and Fluttercry.”

“Now jus’ hang on a moment. She worked her flank off trying to save everypony here.” Applejack snarled angrily, storming up to the offending stallion.

“Eww..a dirt pony!” Dumbbell smashed his hoof against Applejack’s eye, cracking the bone and splitting the skin.

The orange mare fell heavily to the ground, fading in and out of consciousness. Before Dash could even respond, Pinkie was standing over Applejack protectively.

“You are the biggest meanie-head I have ever met! You DON’T hurt my FRIENDS!” Pinkie glowered angrily at the smug stallion.

“Oh look, the sex toy is going to defend this farm trash. You know she doesn’t really love you, I mean, why would she? You are the most pathetic of all the dirt ponies! Enough that they dumped you from their dirty tribe to go rot on your own!” The brown stallion grinned sadistically, watching Pinkie’s eyes shimmer with unshed tears.

“How do you know about that, Dumbbell?” Dash spoke in a clear and calm voice, her face darkened by her helmet, betraying no emotion.

Dumbbell laughed cruelly, “I was there remember? Helping take a share of the dirt pony food. You were probably too distracted ogling this filth to even notice.”

A sharp crack resonated throughout the whole bunker. Dumbbell dropped lifelessly to the ground, a gaping hole in his chest where the armor didn’t cover. Dash stood over him on her hind legs, her wings flared dramatically. Her right hoof was soaked in blood, slowly oozing it’s way down her foreleg.

“That was a long time coming, Dumbbell.” She growled out softly as she glared coldly at his body.

Remembering where she was, Dash looked up. Everypony was staring at her in fear and awe. Many of the foals that had looked up to her with admiration were instead hiding from her in their mother’s protective embrace. Turning toward Pinkie, she felt as if her heart stopped.

Unrestrained terror filled Pinkie’s eyes, darting between Dash, the corpse, and the bloody hoof. Grabbing Applejack, Pinkie scrambled away from Dash as if her life depended on it. Trembling, Dash looked down at what was once Dumbbell.

“I-I'm so sorry...."

*****

Hurricane stood at the base of a cliff, looking out at the expanding territory around her. She remembered this place to be surrounded in vibrant lush green outstretches of pine and grass for miles. Now it was ice covered and cold. Lifeless, uninhabitable.

“We should probably keep moving. Those clouds overhead don’t seem to be getting any nicer.” The grey pegasus turned from her post and looked behind her at the expressionless Pansy.

The smaller mare sighed. “Yes Commander.”

Those two emotionless words cut Hurricane deep. She felt a pang in her heart and immediately stifled the feeling, looking away instead, to another cliff head in the distance.

“There. That’s our destination.” Hurricane stated quickly, pointing her hoof in the direction of the cliff.

Pansy walked up beside the larger mare and groaned. “You said that two destinations ago.”

“Well this time I’m positive.” Commander Hurricane turned to the green pegasus, determination set on her face.

“You said that before too.” Pansy stared at the cliff, avoiding any eye contact with Hurricane. She was still using that toneless voice the larger mare hated to hear from her.

Instead of doing anything, all Hurricane did was look at the cliff, before throwing out her wings to their full splendor, “This all seems so familiar to me.” The grey pony took off into the skies, heading for the cliff ahead.

Pansy watched the rapidly fading form of the pegasi leader, wondering what she could have meant by that.

Sighing, Pansy spread her own wings and shot after Hurricane.

*****

Rainbow Dash sat curled up as far from her tribe as she could. Panic was set in her mind, her eyes closed tightly. “I am not..... I didn't just...... “She thought, curling up tightly into herself.

She had killed Dumbbell. As much as he deserved to have been hurt or something, death wasn't it. Maybe a black eye or a broken leg or something...

“I'm going to turn out just like her...” Dash thought, letting out a shaky breath. “I'm going to turn out just like Hurricane.....”

She could hear her tribe talking and whispering behind her, the shock and disbelief heavy in their voices. Dash could tell none of them were happy with her at all.... Ignoring them, her ears sought out one particular voice.

“Pinkie's scared of me....” The cyan mare felt a single tear slide down her face.

The pink mare in question was sitting at the front of the tribe, her eyes focused on Rainbow Dash. After the initial shock of watching Dash kill Dumbbell had worn off, she became worried about the cyan mare.

"She's killed before...." Fluttershy whispered, looking at the pink mare. "Hasn't she told you?"

"I know, I know...,." Pinkie muttered, glancing at the medic. "I... didn't think she would have killed him though."

Applejack held ice against her swollen injury, a sad expression on her face. “She’s really beatin’ herself up over this.”

A small filly suddenly broke from the group of pegasi. She was a little orphan, nopony held her back as she slowly approached the distraught cyan mare. She paused in front of Dash, looking directly into her magenta eyes.

The small filly lunged forward and wrapped her small hooves around Dash’s neck.

“You’re still my hero, Rainbow Dash.”

Everypony froze in shock.

The first to recover were the foals. They tore themselves away from their families and trotted quickly over to Dash, hugging her tightly.

A small smile slowly formed on Rainbow Dash’s face.

*****

"Huh...I guess you were right this time." Pansy muttered, in awe of the lush surroundings.

"See?! I told you this was our destination!" Hurricane beamed proudly.

Pansy looked around, a small frown on her face. "Gee, perfect, great, now can we go back to the tribe and bring them here?"

“Hang on Private, we need to check to make sure there’s nothing wrong with this place.” Hurricane launched herself at the nearest cloud, dropping herself on it unceremoniously.

“This place is perfect!” The grey mare smiled brightly, poking her head up from the fluffy cloud.

Pansy couldn’t help but smile back with just as much enthusiasm as her Commander. A small blush tinged her cheeks as she watched Hurricane. Hurricane hopped from one poofy cloud to the next, like an excited filly.

Dropping her saddlebags, Hurricane pulled out a collapsible pole and a flag. Setting up the items, she triumphantly stabbed it into the cloud she was currently perched on.

“I claim this land as Pegasopolus!”

“Unicornia!”

“Earth!”

Hurricane peered down through her cloud and gaped at who was below her. “Huh? You! What are you two doing here?!” She growled and took to the sky again to glare at the ponies.

Princess Platinum tossed her royal blue mane and smiled smugly up at the Commander. “What does it look like Commander? I am here to claim this land in the name of the unicorns.”

“Well I am here to claim it as Dirt-ville!” Pudding-head stamped her hoof, as she glared up at Platinum.

“Uh, I thought we agreed on Earth.” Smart Cookie muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Oh well whatever I named it, I’m not going to let some snobby unicorn declare it her own.” The brown earth pony growled, jabbing an accusing hoof up at the white unicorn.

“And I will not let some brutish pegasi leader take this gem-filled land from under our hooves.” Platinum crossed her forelegs hauntingly, her nose turned up at Hurricane.

“Oh, whys that Platinum? Got your hooves done this morning?” Hurricane felt her muscles tense, preparing her for battle.

“As a matter of fact I did, and I would appreciate it if you would not touch anything here with those dirty hooves of yours. This is our land after all.” A challenging gleam shown in Platinum’s golden eyes.

“Your land? We got here first! I didn’t see any of you standing here waiting for me to put my flag down.” Hurricane snorted, rushing at the unicorn leader.

“Oh, well that’s ‘cause I got here earlier than first. Waaay earlier than any of you two. Plus, I brought along a map for this occasion to find a new land.” Pudding-head sat proudly, staring up at the two ponies with bright strawberry colored eyes.

“‘S`cuse me Chancellor Pudding-head, but I think we lost the map back when you decided to take a detour through that waterfall. After that we just walked in a bunch of circles until we got here.” Smart Cookie sighed heavily.

Chancellor Pudding-head blinked and then gasped in remembrance. “... oh yeah, that was fun too... but this is serious business, we got here before you two!”

“I am afraid you are wrong. It was I who arrived first!” Platinum frowned deeply at the brown earth pony’s antics.

“No, I got here first and put my flag down before you even got yours out with your so called magic.” Hurricane jabbed Platinum in the nose with her hoof, eliciting an angry growl from the white unicorn.

“Uh, Princess Platinum?” Clover the Clever tentatively walked up to the two feuding ponies, attempting to get her leader’s attention.

Fiery golden eyes locked in a glaring match with dark blue, Platinum refused to break eye contact as she responded to the green unicorn.

“Not now Clover the Clever. I am dealing with the brute.”

Smart Cookie’s brown eyes widened dramatically, “Hey, Chancellor Pudding-head? You might want to take a look at the weather.”

The Chancellor waved a dismissive hoof in the light yellow pony’s direction, “In a minute Smart Cookie, I did do that just ten minutes ago. Hey, is it snowing?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to-” Smart Cookie began with a frustrated sigh.

“Hey Hurricane, think fast!” Pudding-head scooped up a small amount of fallen snow and chucked it at the grey mare’s head.

Hurricane cringed and spun around to face the giggling dessert headed mare. “Ugh, why does everypony enjoy throwing stuff at my head?!”

“It is a rather large target.” Platinum snidely commented.

“Commander! It’s happening again! Another storm!!” Pansy frantically flew toward Hurricane, eyes wide.

“What? Oh no! This is all your fault!” Hurricane jabbed Platinum in the chest, growling with rage.

“My fault? You probably tainted this land and its gems from your barbaric behavior- ooph!” Another snow ball had been hurled and smashed directly in the face of the unicorn leader. The snow melted off the enraged unicorn’s boiling red face.

Before the enraged unicorn could respond, a large chunk of ice whizzed by, nearly slamming into her. A small crater was left in its wake.

Everypony gaped vacantly at the softball sized ball of ice until several more smashed heavily into the ground. Panic hit the group, all of them scrambling to avoid the deadly hail. In their desperation they worked together, searching for shelter.

After several near misses, and some agonizing hits, the odd group limped as fast as they could into a cave.

*****

Dash smiled thankfully. Nearly her entire tribe had forgiven her for her....slip up.... Many of the pegasi that forgave her had suffered from his brutal, bullying behavior. Even with everything turning somewhat back to normal, there was still one pony she really wanted to forgive her.

Dash’s ears fell flat against her helmet. The look Pinkie gave her was burned into her brain. Every time she closed her eyes, it was like she was reliving the moment over and over.

The sudden feeling of forelegs wrapping around her startled the distraught mare. Turning her head behind her, she came face to face with a softly smiling Pinkie Pie.

“P-Pinkie..I-” Dash was cut off with a gentle kiss. Dash’s eyes opened so wide she wondered if they would pop out of her skull.

"It's okay, Dashie..." Pinkie smiled, nuzzling the cyan mare’s cheek softly. "I forgive you...."

Strong overwhelming emotions rushed through Rainbow Dash. Reaching for the pink mare, Dash locked her into a deep and passionate kiss. She poured all of her feelings into that loving embrace. By the time she broke the kiss, Pinkie was panting heavily and felt just a little lightheaded.

Glancing at the crowd of ponies staring at her and Pinkie, Dash chuckled awkwardly, “Welll...uhh..thank’s for...you know..forgiving me and stuff..”

Turning her attention back to Pinkie, she was nearly taken aback by the smoldering, seductive look she was met with. Leaning forward, Pinkie wrapped her hooves around Dash’s shoulders and began whispering in her ear.

“If forgiving you makes you kiss me like that, I should do it more often.” She finished with a quick flick of her tongue against the shell of her ear.

Dash trembled in excitement.

*****

Hurricane had just finished bandaging Pansy’s foreleg. The deep gash carefully cleaned and stitched together. Her wings were fanned out behind her, in an attempt to give Pansy some privacy from the other two tribes.

Both pegasi didn’t speak to each other during the exchange. Instead, Pansy inspected the several smaller gashes that peppered the Commander’s legs. The largest gash was on her left cheek. Blood slowly dripped from Hurricane’s chin as she took care of Pansy.

As soon as Hurricane finished, Pansy immediately began cleaning the grey mare’s banged up legs, cleaning and wrapping them tightly. She left the facial injury for last.

Hurricane’s eyes drifted to the other tribe leaders and their travelling companions while Pansy worked, taking in the level of damage the two different tribes had suffered.

Unicorns, thanks to their magic, were able to surround themselves with a weak shield. Most of their injuries were superficial. Of course, that didn’t stop Princess Platinum from agonizing over her ruined royal gown as if it was her most beloved treasure.

The earth ponies suffered the worst of it. Without the protection of armor or a magical shield, the hail had an easier time causing more serious damage. Both earth ponies had to remove their clothing in order to treat the wounds that littered their body’s.

A gentle hoof against her cheek, startled Hurricane out of her thoughts. Pansy had begun carefully cleansing the wound, preparing it for stitches. Carefully angling the grey mare’s head, Pansy began stitching the wound. Hurricane clenched her teeth tightly as she felt the sharp needle tear into her skin and slowly pull her skin together.

“Oh just look at those brutish pegasi over there, stabbing each other with needles.” Platinum snorted, finally tearing her attention away from her ruined gown.

Hurricane growled, doing her best to not turn and threaten the white unicorn. At least not until Pansy had finished stitching and bandaging her last injury.

Not a second after Pansy finished, Hurricane bolted over to Platinum, grabbing her by the neck of her robes and yanking her in the air.

“You better learn some bucking respect, you snobby inbreed!” Hurricane snarled into the white unicorn’s face.

An aura of light green magic surrounded Hurricane and Platinum, tearing the two away from each other.

“Please, we need to work together if we want to survive this.” Clover pleaded with the feuding ponies, as she gently set Hurricane and Platinum down.

Platinum snorted indignantly, "But Clover, did you not SEE such barbaric behaviors those bru-"

"For your information, Princess, it's the best way to treat wounds!" Hurricane barked, stomping her hoof to the ground. "I don't see any of you snobby unicorns offering to help fix our wounds!"

"Hurricane, Clovers right..." Pansy attempted to reason with the irate pegasus.

"Not NOW Private!" Hurricane snarled, making the small pegasus shrink back in shock.

"Oh PLEASE, you even treat your companion with such brutish antics!" Platinum huffed, sticking her nose up in the air. "Clover! Fix my gown!"

"Hey!! None of you should be complaining!! Smart Cookie and I have WAY worse injuries and neither of US are moaning and howling about it!" Pudding-head interjected, trotting up to glare at the other two leaders. "So you should just-"

"Chancellor, your side's bleeding again." Smart Cookie chastened, rushing up to the brown mare.

"Oh. Oops." The Chancellor muttered out, looking at her slowly bleeding wound.

"And Commander," Platinum began, ignoring the two earth ponies. "Would you PLEASE keep your filthy hooves away from me."

Hurricae growled at the unicorn, spinning around to face Pansy. "Pansy! Mark out our territory!"

The green mare sighed, flapping her wings and quickly taking flight. "Yes, Commander..." She muttered, dragging her hoof along the ground.

"See?! Everything on THIS side is OUR territory!" Hurricane flared her wings aggressively, positioned near the edge of the crudely drawn line.

"Hardly is that fair!" Platinum argued, stomping past the freshly drawn line. "That's over half the cave!"

"Yeah!" Pudding-head argued, stomping up to the line. "Besides! We hardly got a say in it!"

"Yeah well ya snooze ya lose!" Hurricane snorted, roughly shoving each of the other leaders back over the line. "So there!"

Pansy glanced at the cave entrance, her eyes growing wide. Ice had begun to slowly cover the entrance, sneaking its way into the cave. With a gasp of shock, she quickly shook Hurricane's shoulder, pointing at the ice covered entrance.

"Commander!"

"What?!" Hurricane snapped, spinning around to face the cave opening with wide eyes. "Oh no!"

"Well now look what you've done!" Platinum huffed, stamping her hoof to the ground. "Now we're trapped here forever!"

"My fault?! Why don't you take a look at your stupid pedicured hooves to see who's fault this is!" Hurricane retorted, pulling Pansy with her to a wall as far away from the two other groups. "This sure as heck isn't MY fault!"

"And I didn't do anything!" Pudding-head shouted, pushing Smart Cookie to the far corner as well. "This is all your faults!"

"Well, I NEVER!" Platinum argued, using her sparkling blue magic to drag Clover to the opposite wall of the other two tribes.

“Why don’t you snotty unicorns and dirt ponies stay over there, we might catch some kind of disease from you.” Hurricane snorted.

“Hey! Just because we are earth ponies, doesn’t mean we are dirty! It’s the unicorns and their freaky magic that we all have to worry about!” Pudding-head gestured wildly at the white and green unicorns, eyes wide.

“Try not to breathe too hard over here, dirt pony. Your rancid breath would kill manticores.” Platinum held her hoof to her nose, a mean grin on her face.

Ice creeped along the cave floor, circling around the tribe leaders and ensnaring them in their icy grip. The three ponies not captured in the strange ice, backed away slowly eyes wide with horror.

“What in the hay did you do Platinum?” Hurricane growled out, a tinge of fear in her voice as ice rapidly climbed up her legs and surrounded her body.

Pudding-head was in near hysterics, yanking and tugging in a vain attempt to escape the solid ice. “S-Stop it, Platinum! Please!”

Platinum’s horn glowed brightly as she attempted to tear herself out of the ice. “I-It must be something the pegasi did!”

With the ice closing around the three leader’s heads, Hurricane looked directly into Pansy’s terrified purple eyes.

“I’m sorry...”