The Exegesis of Frozen Waters

by HolyJunkie

Chapter 5

[PAGE 0550 - CHAPTER 5]

The University of Everfree was a small establishment at the time. It was vastly different to that massive horseshoe-shaped marvel you silly fillies and colts get to hang out in over in Canterlot. My university experience was one advanced class out of three, and a number of ponies attending were some of my comrades. They all, like me, wanted to further their education for better jobs since the war was over.

I should probably remind you all that Canterlot didn't exist. There was a temple in the middle of a grown-in Everfree Forest. That used to be the palace, up until the breakthrough of rune stones that allowed hovering structures like Cloudsdale and half of Canterlot to exist.

I took up a course in architecture... Well, it was the only one available at the time. We were still building Equestria... and rebuilding Equestria. I had to spend my free time reviewing mathematics in order to keep up with my studies. I had no friends, so I had all the free time in the world... at least, any free time that didn't involve me bouncing a ball against my dorm wall.

In hindsight, I literally did have all the free time in the world... heh...

Queen Galaxia visited often. She always approved of ponies taking the effort to better themselves. As she always said, "The only way to achieve utopia is to work for it. It may be grueling, but once we're there, we reach Nirvana."

I had no idea what 'Nirvana' is- the word, I mean- but it sounded like relaxing akin to retirement. I guess the term is something only a winged unicorn would understand.

The Queen sure was beautiful. She seemed doubly so to me. After all, she helped save my life from deep in Rhino territory.

I still deep-down felt nervous about Kurgan's threats- empty as they seemed. Indeed, I knew he and I were destined to meet again. Until then, I didn't know what to do. How long would it take before I meet that monster again? A decade? A century? Several?

Galaxia was beautiful. Oh dear reader: you may have those history books that told of the Queen. All those pictures did no justice to how divine she was.

I knew I had no chance; I was half her size, and she was all-powerful. I was just an earth pony- a worker drone. Despite what I had done in life so far, I wasn't a big stallion. I instead wound up dating a mare who was only a year older than me. Her name was Mahogany, named after the colours of her mane and skin. She was a real dame.

Not the rank of dame, mind you. She had a certain maturity to her character. Given the horrors of the war rendering us ponies a relatively jaded folk, I'd be surprised to meet a mare who didn't have said maturity to her character..

No, the word I was looking for was not 'jaded'. We still have enthusiasm. We all agreed that the only way to leave the rhinos behind us was to leave the rhinos behind us. That's what we did. We built the Everfree Town you all once knew and forgot about within ten years. We coupled our learning in architecture with the actual reconstruction of the city. Our magic- honed in power from the war- made it all the more easier.

Everfree Town faded when levitation rune stones were discovered in what's commonly known as 1233. I see it as 43BC- as in Before Celestia's birth. From there, Everfree faded and got claimed by the forest we now refer to by the same name.

The new city was named after the King; Canterlot. I never met the King.

I still loved Everfree Town. It was a marvel by itself, constantly added to, constantly improved, constantly made more appealing to the eye. It was where architects went to become artists.

I loved Mahogany. She and I worked together to make Everfree Town that place architects go to become artists. We became more and more of an item. I rather enjoyed having a special somepony to share the next three decades with.

Then her illness struck rather early in her life.

She lay on her deathbed. She had a work-related disease, something that affected her lungs. Her face was wrinkled, but still beautiful. She asked me "You look the same as you did when we first met." It was then that I remembered Kurgan Indrik's words... I was immortal.

I told her about my encounters. She was the first pony to learn of what I had been through. I wondered why I hadn't told my sister, or brother, or mother and father.

She died rather unceremoniously. You know those movies that prolong a character's death in order to get a naive, yet inspiring speech across? She never got to start on hers. She succumbed to whatever plagued her lungs.

I cried a river... but then, I knew what I had to do...

I returned home.

Mom and Dad were already gone. Ocean and Salt still remained in my hometown, with their respective husband and wife. They had children... they were strong and fine.

I never had children with Mahogany... It never happened, no matter how hard we tried.

...

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Any ink that had been on the remainder of this page had been washed away by what we assume is a salty solution. We couldn't reclaim anything. We apologize for the inconvenience.]

...

... told my siblings. They both looked immensely older than before. They were both shocked to see me look as young as I was.

I recall the conversation with my sister.

"Frozen," Ocean said, "What happened to you?"

"I can't die, Ocean," I replied, "I should have been dead a long time ago."

She didn't understand. Neither did her husband. An immortal was unheard of- aside from Kurgan Indrik, for obvious reasons. The whole family eventually united... I think I just got lost in my own writing.

Reunited with family, told them of this blessing... curse... whatever... Salt looked old... He looked remarkably old. He wore a beard and was proud of it.

"How's things?" I asked, despite the concerned expressions from every adult in the family.

I felt alone. Even with my own family, I felt alone. I knew they would be dead in another twenty years.

Oh yes, the children were at the same age as me. They were busy with their own stuff... Ocean and Salt... I miss them...

I never had a good opportunity to really get to know my brother and sister. I was too young to have any real intelligent conversation with them before the war. We were busy getting our hooves dug into our new homeland. Then the war happened, and I never saw them for a few years... then I just worked to get the bits for my education...

Oh Galaxia... I never got to tell them I loved them. They died when I wasn't around! I never learned of it until I met my nephew for the first time.

I'm behind on the damn times! I'm behind on those terrible, terrible times!!

I miss Mahogany... I miss my family... I miss Luna...

---

At last, the party had arrived at a small town comprised of elevated, relatively elaborate wooden shacks. Only two buildings had any real foundation to speak of. Everything else was suspended on admittedly excellent supports.

The sun beat down on the ponies. Mitts' hide shone from the sweat pouring from his thick mane. Silver felt glad he had his akubra to shield his own mane. Trixie's hat and cloak didn't look efficient at keeping herself cool, but she didn't appear tormented.

"Dodge Junction," Mitts said, "Here's where I got on your train."

"I haven't been here before," Trixie muttered. Only Silver could hear her, as Mitts was several steps away. "Not much of a crowd to muster."

"What do you mean by that?" Silver asked to the burgundy giant as he bookmarked the 600th page. He had the subtle trace of dried tears at the corners of his eyes. "Actually, better question. How did you know to get on the train at exactly this time?"

"I was following the ponies in suits," Mitts replied, "Had been following them for a week before they found you.

"That sounds a little creepy," Trixie said.

"Well, the Guard practiced it in a little thing called "Stakeouts" - except the target was always moving... No, there's a term for that."

"Irregardless," Trixie said. She failed to spot the scriptwriter cringing horribly. "What are we doing here?" She asked.

"I just want Silver to finish with the book. To do that, we would need a good place to hide away from more ponies in suits." Mitts glanced around as he spoke. "I give it another hour before they start getting real estimates and move in on us."

Mitts gritted his teeth. "Frustrated?" Silver asked.

"Yeah. I wish we had a more ideal location with easy access to supplies, or food," Mitts replied.

"What's your idea of an ideal location?" Trixie asked sarcastically.

Mitts didn't catch the tone. "The Everfree Forest. I've done my fair share of hiding in there."

"The Everfree Forest is on the other side of Manehattan!" Trixie glared in annoyance.

Mitts held a hoof up. To him and what Silver learned from many days spent for research, the hoof was a visual gesture for silence. However, Trixie didn't appear knowledgeable in the workings of the Guard, so Mitts said "Hush for a sec."

More ponies in suits, five in total. Mitts cursed under his breath. Silver assumed it was a curse, but he thought he heard a sound implying excitement.

Mitts whispered for the other two to hide somewhere. Silver quickly rolled under the nearest deck. He didn't see where Trixie went.

The tux-clad ponies finally spotted Mitts. Silver saw them glance at each other, and then cautiously approach Mitts.

Even at a distance, Silver could catch something rather disturbing on Mitts' face. It was something no pony on Equestria would ever wear on their face in such a situation.

That face was the face of one who wanted to get attacked. It's of a pony who wanted his opponents to take their best shot. Silver knew the description of such a face.

It was the face of a warrior. The scriptwriter didn't know warriors still existed. He thought they were fairy tales that had faded away from all but the history books- the very things Silver used as an influence for his action-centered screenplays.

He felt awe-struck as this pony waited for the ones in suits to approach.

Mitts lowered his stance ever so slightly.

"Mr. Foalington," the lead dressed pony said, "What a surprise."

Foalington? Silver thought. He could have sworn he heard the name before. Was it an upper-class party? He remembered only being able to get in because Gold invited him along. The scriptwriter often envied his brother's general success, compared to the mediocre can't complain life Silver had been living the past decade.

"I told you guys, and I told Baton already," Mitts said in as polite a voice he apparently could do, "I'm not doing any more favours for Princess Celestia."

The lead stranger put a hoof to his face to adjust the eye-covering shades that seemed to come with the suits. "This isn't about Her Highness. This about Her Majesty."

Mitts paused, and then asked "Which one? Luna, or Celestia?"

"Neither... now we want that book. She wants that book under wraps before anything bad happens."

Mitts nodded slowly, but he maintained that menacing expression. Silver hoped the strangers at least noticed that look on the giant's face.

"You're not getting it," Mitts replied, "Equestria has a history, and the books we get do nothing but lie. Ponies deserve to know."

"Honestly, do you really think we want to do this?" the lead stranger asked.

"Of course not," Mitts said, "It's in our nature. It's in Guard training."

"We're getting that book, with or without you in our way. As a representative to the Queen, I order you to stand down."

The stranger huffed. The lead stranger responded with a gesture to his mates. Namely a hoof swung sharply forward. They all charged.

Silver watched Mitts perform in a way he could never hope to replicate on a screenplay. There was no choreography, only brutality. The disjointing of limbs produced sounds Silver never imagined.

It was all nothing like the custom sounds put into films to add that punch that cause an audience to imagine the intense pain caused by a good hit.

These fights were real. The punches were more solid. The sounds were more... subtle... and they always were followed by verbal anguish.

The scriptwriter felt sick to the stomach. He wondered about how the fillies and colts that watched The Last Earth Pony even understood the horrors of pain. Until now, Silver thought he did.

The five or so strangers lay in battered and broken heaps, with Mitts smiling amidst the carnage. Ponies all around Dodge Junction had left the front doors of their homes to see the cause of commotion. They all stared in horror.

"What on Equestria is wrong with you?" Trixie shouted as she climbed out from under a nearby house across the street from Silver's position.

Mitts didn't reply. His demented grin faded into an expression of revelation.

There was an audience this time around.

Mitts turned to Trixie, and then to Silver. The giant then burst into a gallop. The scriptwriter scrambled out of his hidey-hole and attempted to catch up to the warrior. Trixie reluctantly followed. The ponies around them stepped back into the safety of their homes as the trio rushed out of town.

Silver hid his eyes with his wide-brimmed hat. He didn't want anypony to see how nauseous he looked.

Frozen Waters was right: ponies had adapted too well to peace.

Comments

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Awesome! Haha. And what is this... something's afoot!