Cold as Ice

by CamoBadger

Glass Eyes

Chapter 1: Glass Eyes

Snowfall stepped back into her home, the cold stone clicking loudly beneath her hooves with each step. The cold air bit through her coat, eliciting a small shiver as she trotted further into the room toward the couch. Close behind her was her loving husband Riptide. The blue pony stepped around his wife, making his way to the other end of the room and to the fireplace. His horn lit with a pale blue light, which a few small logs of wood mimicked as they were lifted into the stone walls. Once they were placed a bolt of energy shot from his horn, lighting the wood before him.

For the first time in a week, their home was filled with heat, and the flickering yellow light of the fire. Snowfall settled herself onto the couch, wiggling her torso to move the small bundle from her back to her belly. The bundle shifted a bit as it was bathed in the heat of the fire, and a pair of glassy eyes popped out of the top. Snowfall unfurled her wing and gently covered the little filly, her beautiful newborn daughter.

She looked to her husband, a smile from ear to ear across her muzzle. He moved to the couch and lay beside his wife and daughter, nuzzling into the pegasus' neck and staring down at the eyes poking from beneath her wing. "Have you thought of a name?" He asked his wife lovingly, unable to take his eyes away from their little foal.

"Yes. I thought of it on the way home" she told him as she lay her head over his, "Her eyes are so beautiful, like looking into ice."

Riptide nodded in agreement, "They certainly are."

"So, I decided to name her Ice Crystal."

The unicorn smiled at the name and rubbed his nose against the filly's, "Ice Crystal...it's perfect."

---

"Mama!" a little yell came from the other room, not of fear, just of curiosity. "Mama, where are you?"

Snowfall smiled and yelled back from the kitchen, "I'll be right there dear, I'm making cookies!" She could hear a series of light thuds in the other room; her daughter's little hooves hitting the ground after each jump of joy. The sound always made the mare giggle, especially when paired with the sight of her daughter bouncing up and down with her big toothy grin.

"Yay! Cookies" the squeaking voice replied joyously between thuds.

Snowfall closed up the oven and trotted into the other room, greeted with the sight of her daughter still bouncing like a jumping bean. When she heard her mother enter the room, the little filly stopped jumping and opened her eyes; those beautiful silvered eyes.

When the doctor had told her, the pegasus had been devastated. Her daughter, her little Ice Crystal, had been born blind. She had spent a lot of the next day crying, not even Riptide's best efforts had been able to comfort her. She was so worried that her little girl would get hurt, or that she wouldn't be able to do all of the fun things that other fillies could. Everything she had done as a foal; the games with friends, drawing pictures with colorful crayons, even bouncing a ball around, her daughter wouldn't be able to do any of that.

But after a few days, she noticed that the filly was almost always smiling, as if she didn't know anything was wrong. At first she thought Ice was just putting on a brave face for Mama, but that wasn't it at all, she was actually happy even without being able to see.

And ever since then Ice Crystal was a bundle of joy. She hardly ever cried, and she found happiness in the smallest things. Every time she heard her father yell "I'm home!" after a long day of work, she would light up. And once she learned to walk she would stumble her way over to him. Sure she bumped a table or a chair once or twice, but once she figured out where everything was, she had no problem at all.

"What are you playing in here?" Snowfall asked as she brought herself back to the present.

"I'm playing Guessy!" Ice Crystal replied enthusiastically.

"Guessy! And what have you found so far?" The pegasus asked her daughter.

The game of Guessy was a game created by Riptide for his daughter. Every morning before he went to work, the stallion would place a few 'mysteries' in the playroom. The game was for Ice Crystal to find the items, and then guess what they were based off of how they felt, what noises they made, or sometimes what they smelled like. He started out using easy things, but as his daughter got older and started to guess those too easily, he started getting new 'mysteries' to challenge her.

"Well," the filly took a deep breath, "the first one was a book, but Daddy thought he could trick me by putting balloons on it."

"Oh did he?" Snowfall asked her daughter in a fake angry tone, "And why would he use balloons?"

Ice Crystal thought for a second before smiling really big, "Because today is my birthday!"

Snowfall smiled and sat on her haunches beside the filly, "That's right! How old are you today?"

The little unicorn started bouncing up and down again, her hooves clicking against the stone floor with each jump, "I'm 5 Mama! You know that!"

The mare smiled and wrapped her wing around her daughter, "That's right!"

Ice Crystal's ears swiveled to the front of the house as the front door clicked shut. "I'm home!" a male voice called.

Snowfall released her daughter from her wing, "Go say 'hi' to Daddy."

"Daddy!" the filly shouted as she ran to the front of the house, almost running into Riptide's leg.

"Hi there birthday girl!" He bent down and caught her in a hug as she ran. "How was your day Cryssy?"

"It was good!" the filly replied as she hugged her daddy back. "I played Guessy, and Mama's making cookies!"

The unicorn placed his daughter back on the floor, and levitated a small package behind her. "Mm, what kind of cookies?" he asked her.

Cryssy sniffed the air for a moment, then smiled back to her daddy, "Smells like chocolate!" she yelled excitedly.

"Ooo, your favorite, right?"

"Of course" Snowfall chimed in. "Welcome home dear." The pegasus welcomed her husband with a quick kiss.

"But before we eat those delicious cookies," Riptide placed the package on the floor behind his daughter, "it's time to open your present." He smiled to her.

Cryssy's smile could have lit up half of Equestria as she reached out in front of herself to find the box, or bag, or whatever else daddy had put the gift in this year. Snowfall pushed the box around to the filly's hooves, smiling as she tried to pull the ribbon off with her teeth.

She turned and whispered to her husband, "Did you find them?"

He smiled and nuzzled with the pegasus, "Yeah. The store only had 2, I hope she doesn't mind."

"How long will it take her to outgrow them?"

"Not long I think, but the shop owner offered to expand them as she got older."

"How nice of him."

The filly finally tore the last piece of wrapping paper off of the box, and started working on the box itself. She was so excited she started to shake, and a little spark shot off the tip of her horn. Her mother didn't notice, but her father did, and his eyes lit up with pride.

The box finally popped open, and Snowfall bent down beside her daughter, "What did you get?"

The filly quickly turned her head and smiled to her mother, "I got bracelets!"

Snowfall stood up and stared at her daughter for a moment, knowing Riptide was doing the same beside her. The two looked at each other in shock before looking back to their daughter. "How...how do you know that sweety?" Riptide asked her, "You haven't even touched them yet."

Cryssy smiled to her father, her eyes shining with joy, "Because they look like bracelets!"

Comments

The plot thickens. I await more kind author.

[Chip Unicorn]

I appreciate stories where the main character has to overcome a strong obstacle. And blindness is a big one.

Congratulations on making such a believably cheerful character!

[La Barata]

Hm. You've gained my interest. Let's see if you keep it.

[CodeBroviet743]

I have gotten as far in All That Remains as you have written, so I decided to read your other shit.