//------------------------------// // Freezing Cold's Tale of Illness [Sad] // Story: Legends of the Shady Trough // by _No_One_Remains_ //------------------------------// Conrideas laughed, “Oh please, you insane mule! Do you seriously expect us to believe that you have some incurable disease? If you did, how would you even still be here?” Freezing’s icy white coat seemed to shine as he leaped to his hooves. He scoffed, “You don’t have to believe me, funny colt, but my illness is as serious as any others you know of!” He crossed his front hooves over his chest in indignation. A wickedly sinister voice hissed over the chatter of the group of patrons, “Silence yourselves if you value your lives! This stallion’s tale is not one of lies! I feel in his aura the pain of a lifetime…many of you could not see it if it were written on a sign!” Lamia’s disturbing rhymes sent my skin crawling and caused me to shiver in discomfort. Pigeon giggled, “Oh great, now the witch is feeding the flame!” The visionary zebra sent the griffon a look of intense scorn. I could almost feel the cord tighten between the two. Sir Ox Berry chimed in, “Now all of you little brats behave!” He slapped the table loudly before groaning, “This is a contest, and we all deserve respect for our stories! Caitiff and I had our turns, now shut up and let the sufferer share his!” The entire bar fell silent at Sir Ox’s request. He seemed to be one of the few patrons with enough sense to refrain from bickering with the others over meaningless facts. Even Lamia backed up into her chair with respect to the Minotaur, which said a lot considering she hated anything that wasn’t equine in nature. Regardless of the motives, we all turned our attention to Freezing as he sat back in his chair and cleared his throat. His voice developed a solemn tone as he began to tell his tale. … I wasn’t always ill, you know. I was born as just another normal Pegasus up in Cloudsdale. My father was a higher-up in the Cloudsdale Weather Generating Facility, a CEO in fact. He loved his work, and his subordinates. He would come home every evening and brag about how wonderful of a crew he had to work with. He loved his job so much, in fact, that for my third birthday he decided to take me with him to work and show me the different departments of the facility. At the time, I wasn’t quite excited to be visiting some old boring factory. In fact, I outright expressed my disapproval many times over, making sure he understood just how much I loathed the industrial center. He continued to insist on taking me with him, and after a bit of enticing from my mother, I agreed to go with him. I maintained a very obvious expression of annoyance during the tour, though. Of course, I regret my behavior now. I followed close behind him, my heart set on getting the reward Mom promised me when we got home. We walked through the facility fairly quickly, stopping only for a few minutes so he could explain the different machines to me. I never really cared, and instead just ignored most of his words. That is until he showed me the Rainbow Vat! It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, honestly! Sure, there are plenty of rainbows all over Cloudsdale, but none were as concentrated and bright as the Rainbow Vat. As soon as I laid eyes on it, I tuned my dad in and started to learn all I could about the vat. “This is where all of Equestria’s rainbows are made, son. Every natural rainbow that you see is produced here. It’s one of the most concentrated centers of magic in the world, and it’s right in your home town!” My eyes lit up as he explained how the vat worked. We stopped by a large lever with a bulky stallion operating it. The worker nodded at Dad and chuckled, “Good evenin’, sir! Everything’s in tip-top shape!” Dad cheered back, “That’s great! Keep up the fine work!” Fate has a funny way of toying with people. Just as the two finished their exchange, alarms began to roar in the facility. The Rainbow Vat started to bubble up and the room’s temperature skyrocketed. Dad took me by the hoof and practically dragged me up a large set of stairs. I saw workers scattering around the whole facility, each one screaming in panic and desperation. An alarm in the vat room roared, “Warning! Warning! Magical overload eminent!” I didn’t understand at the time. Neither did Dad. It looked like the Rainbow Vat started to boil. The entire facility was in a panic. The exits were completely sealed shut, not wanting to let any of the weather leave on accident. One of the workers at the factory was busily pressing buttons on a console, assumedly trying to stop the overload. It didn’t work. The last thing I remember from the tour of the facility is a loud exploding sound, and colors flying all over the place. I woke up in the hospital three days later. I was placed in a tub of ice-cold water. I was freezing so horribly, I almost thought my skin was ice. It was so cold, but my head felt like it was on fire. Within seconds of being awake, I burst into tears. I tried to get out of the tank, but my muscles just wouldn’t work. I couldn’t open my wings. I couldn’t even speak. My entire family was there with me. The doctor carried a large needle over to my side. He leaned down to me and whispered, “It’ll be okay. Just try and relax, please.” He injected the syringe into my neck, and within minutes I blacked out. I don’t remember much about the next few weeks. When I next woke up in the hospital, I had full range of motion and could easily speak and think. I still couldn’t open my wings. My head still felt like it was burning, while my body continued to shiver and freeze. I was discharged after it became apparent I could use my muscles. The doctor said I’d be flying again in no time. He also said that the chills and heat were caused by a fever. He said it would break after a little fresh air. Everything else is a pain-filled blur. Finally, after weeks of therapy and medicine, the temperature was a bearable nuisance. It was no worse to me than a mosquito bite would be to other ponies. I still couldn’t fly yet, but the doctors cleared me to return to school. So I did. Within the week of my return, most of my classmates had caught either extreme colds or flu, or they were paralyzed for a few days. The first outbreak was taken as a simple coincidence, perhaps the same thing I had caught from the Rainbow Vat exposure. The second time, however, everypony began to blame me. I couldn’t so much as enter the schoolhouse or a café without being thrown out by a long stick. Nopony would risk touching me. My family didn’t hate me, though. That was until my youngest brother caught the strange illness. Out of all the ponies that had been infected, my brother was the only one to actually die from it. That’s when all hell broke loose in Cloudsdale. All of the residents despised me for being a disease-carrying freak, and they were all determined to cast me out of the town. After my brother finally passed away, my parents were broken-hearted. They didn’t even try to stop the others. My siblings did try to defend me, until my older sister fell ill. By then, nopony cared about me. I was driven from Cloudsdale by everypony. I had nowhere to go. I had no one to trust. I travelled from town to town looking for refuge, trying to find someplace safe to stay where I wouldn’t be condemned for an illness I couldn’t control. One by one, every town I visited had outbreaks of illness, and they all quickly linked it to me. For almost five years I went around like this. Nopony accepted me. Nopony would take me in. Every Pegasus I came in contact with would get sick and have brief cases of paralysis. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stop it from happening. I had no friends. Everypony hated me. So I started to hate everypony. The few people that didn’t hate me because of my disease hated me for my attitude. After a few years of being scorned, I grew colder. I stopped looking for acceptance. I went where I wanted and stayed until I just couldn’t risk it anymore. And then I found the Shady Trough. Barman took me in with open hooves. He offered me a job, lodgings, and food. I accepted with a hesitant suspicion. I figured it would only be so long before I was run out by him and his patrons. I was wrong. The few Pegasi that lived here didn’t bother me. They never got close enough to get sick. I’ve lived here for three years. I haven’t gotten a single pony sick. When I do communicate, I use a buffer, not allowing coat-to-coat contact. I’ve been cautious not to lose my home again. I hope it stays like that for a long time, actually. … “So there you have it. I got poisoned in an accident at the Weather Factory, and then I got ran out of town for being a freak.” Freezing stomped off of the stage, anger obvious in his eyes. I could tell he regretted telling the story, as it resurfaced the scars of his past. Truthfully, I felt sorry for him. As soon as the plagued Pegasus left the stage, chatter erupted from the patrons of the bar. Intense debate exploded. Arguments about whether the events in Freezing’s tale were true or false continued for a while. Almost exactly, half of the patrons believed his story, while the others denied it wholeheartedly. I couldn’t help but laugh at the group’s petty bickering. Freezing, on the other hoof, seemed mildly entertained by the quarrels of his fellow patrons. As far as listener-interaction went, Freezing’s story took the cake so far. In fact, I doubted that any other story would be able to top it in terms of getting the crowd riled up. At the same time, I just wanted to be done with the contest, so I secretly hoped that another patron would hurry up and take the spotlight. Almost as if beckoned by my thoughts, Wolf leaped from his seat onto the stage. He roared, “C’mon fellas, there’s no sense in fighting!” The crowd immediately turned their attention towards him. Razor Ice hissed, “What, are you gonna mesmerize us now?” The Changeling chuckled at his friend’s annoyed glare. The hunting pony scoffed, “I’m getting tired of hearing ponies’ life stories! I think this contest needs a little fantasy!” He plopped into the spotlight chair and let out a content sigh. Miss Violet rolled her eyes and moaned, “Oh? And I suppose a brute such as yourself can provide that?” I could almost taste the annoyance in her voice. I was beginning to get the feeling that she didn’t like my crowd. At the same time, I didn’t care. Wolf slapped a hoof to his chest and cheered, “I sure can, lady! Just sit back and listen!” The donkey fell silent, a nice shade of red gracing her features. I wasn’t sure whether she was angry or embarrassed, but the blush was definitely a plus. The large Pegasus grinned widely as the rest of the patrons fell silent. I brought him a glass of his favorite drink: red wine with a slice of lemon.