My beautiful world, it’s been so long since I’ve stalked your lands, the slithering being thought to himself as he stared down on his ancient home from atop a steep mountain range. The pale light of the moon bathed the lush fields which covered much of what he could see, filling him with joy and a sense of pure freedom after so long.
But so much has changed in you. His gleaming yellow eyes swept across all that he once knew, taking in every detail. The land had not shifted during his imprisonment, but it had been accented in strange new ways. It was nothing like what he would have the nation look like had he been around at the time of its founding.
This beast preferred a much more simple approach, no need for greens and yellows of the trees when the bare stone beneath always seemed so much more practical. True, it couldn’t be completely eliminated, after all, mortals needed their nutrients, but it could be minimized.
However, that didn’t haunt him nearly as much as the complete lack of the pony tribes where he once knew them to be. It seemed that they had moved long ago, leaving only the ruins of their ancient kingdoms behind. But they couldn’t have gone too far from this place, after all, he could smell their magic and love in the air.
I taste so much love in your air, so much happiness. In fact, the world reeked of it. Certainly a testament to how those children Celestia and Luna chose to rule, so weak and confident in their choices. They never were fit as Princesses, though he supposed that their ‘inequine powers’ likely aided in their takeover of his world.
He couldn’t describe the rage he had felt when Celestia visited that hellhole he had called home for nearly two millennia, and revealed that she and her sister were in fact the rulers of what they now called Equestria. Such an insult to his kind that an Alicorn had taken control of the world above, leaving him and his brethren to wallow within the flaming halls they were forever confined to.
But don’t worry my little ponies, I’ll soon have this world back to the way it should be. He flexed his decayed wings to the side, allowing fresh air to flow through the hole-pocked skin between the bones once again. With a single powerful flap, the serpentine creature took to the air, sending a rush of freedom through his rotting body.
Hush now quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now quiet now, it’s time to go to bed. Dear don’t dream of him, keep your mind off of his hymn. Dear don’t dream of him, or wake and see the dead.
A Cold Night’s Sleep
Prologue: Waking Up
A blue flash came to the resting unicorn as she finally woke from the world of dreams, her horn giving off a faint spark at the start of her day as it had since she was young. With another flash, the sight of her room filled the pony’s mind, and the memoirs of her life greeted her with all the memories they held.
A ragged scarf hung from a peg sticking out at the foot of her bed, granting her memories of all she went through to become a truly free mare. The stitching had begun to unwind a few years back, but the body of the garment remained mostly intact. She had often considered replacing it, but something about what the scarf had gone through with her when she was young gave it a value to her that couldn’t be matched with any number of bits.
Draped over a small mannequin in the corner was a flowing dress of unknown color to the mare, a gift from a dear friend in Ponyville whom she had met nearly a decade before. The dress was a reminder of her first and only time attending the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot, a night she held close to her heart as one of the greatest in her life. The gown still held its regal look and flow, never once losing its sheer beauty.
The unicorn rose slowly from her bed, stretching her still tired legs and neck with a series of cracks and a deep yawn. The mare trotted sleepily from her room toward the small living area just out the door, and the only other room in her apartment. The light of the sun fought to enter the room through a thin layer of ice which had formed over her window during the night.
Hung on the wall over the small fireplace on the far side of the room was a framed picture of the unicorn with six other mares draped in fancy dresses and adorned with jewelry. Though she couldn’t see the picture as it hung, the blind mare remembered that moment like it was yesterday. Her friends in Ponyville all posed in front of Carrousel Boutique in their new dresses before jumping in a carriage bound for Canterlot. They had all been so excited for the night ahead of them, and one or two even had dates meeting them at the Gala.
That had been five years earlier, and yet the memories of those times with her friends still hung in Ice Crystal’s head as clear as the day she gained them.
< < < > > >
A faint blue glow surrounded a clump of snow and lifted it gently into the air before launching it into the forest surrounding the fields. Where there was once white now sat green vines and leaves blooming with the first tomatoes of the season, small green balls hidden among the twisting vines on which they grew.
After almost an hour, half of the fields had been cleared of snow by the lone mare, a calming job for Ice to take care of each day after the usual snow in her home of Snowhoof. The northern town kept a regular schedule of snow each evening, and often times during the day, thanks to the diligent pegasi who inhabited the northern city. With this came the job of clearing snow from the farms which claimed the easternmost borders of the city to ensure the crops were not crushed or overwatered by the snow.
It had always been Ice’s dream to have that job of ensuring the town was provided with food year round. Ever since she had been given the work almost three years after returning from her Equestrian travels it had been a point of pride for her to be the most qualified unicorn for the job. It often seemed like it was her destiny to clear the fields each day since she gained the three icicles which painted her flank when she was just a foal, and her uncanny control over ice and snow made the job incredibly easy for her. At least it did after she learned to control her magic, a feat which had not been easy for the mare.
That was another glorious part of her job, it gave her opportunity every day to practice with her magic, and ensure that she didn’t lose control ever again. It had been a constant threat in her younger years, and because of this she still avoided any situation which may cause her to become overly emotional; whether in the form of anger, fear, or sadness. Luckily, it had been years since her last incident and even that had just been in the form of a nightmare from the past which caused her to wake in a room frozen over.
Another patch of snow rose from the fields, revealing a patch of budding carrot tops which would doubtlessly fill the farmer with joy. The blind mare tossed the bundle of snow into the woods, matching her movements perfectly with the music which drifted over the fields as she worked. A small portable record player sat not far from her, playing one of her favorite rock songs, Pony Erased. Something about listening to music while she worked helped her use her magic with ease, much more so than when working in silence, and the tones always calmed her.
Ice’s lips moved along with the words of the song as she worked, and her head gently bobbed from side to side with the beat. The unicorn lifted patch after patch of fluffy flakes, packing them into balls and launching them into the woods with the beat of her music, changing out the record with each finished song. She had amassed quite the collection in the past few years, a hobby made all the easier by the opening of a record store in the markets of Snowhoof recently. She would listen to just about anything, from rock to orchestral, and even a bit of techno now that it was becoming more common.
She had never had the chance to go to a concert, unless the live band at the Gala counted, but she was hoping to go some time. Each time she was paid the mare would place a small portion off to the side in saving for the chance to go to a concert when the opportunity arose, but so far she’d had no such luck. Not many musicians were eager to travel to a town which never knew a season that wasn’t winter.
Once her work was complete, Ice packed up her records and placed them in her saddlebags before disassembling the player and carefully dropping it into her other bag. Around her the fields were returned to their beautiful greens, even though she couldn’t see the colors themselves. The flaw of her ‘vision’ was that she couldn’t see many things as other ponies did. The sonar-like method her magic employed to give her sight only gave a vague image of what was around her, one which did not show pictures, two dimensional designs, or varying colors. It all came to her in one flat shade free of shadows or motion. If she concentrated the mare could increase the rate at which the magical waves fed her images, giving the illusion of motion, but it drained her quickly and often left her with a killer headache.
Still, the one moment when she had been granted true vision a decade ago had shown her the wonder of color and light, a gift from one of her friends in Ponyville during her first ‘visit’ in the town. She knew what color the fields should be, what shade the sky kept, and the awe inspiring glow of the sun at dawn. That image often appeared in her dreams, and every time it did the day following was always a bit brighter for her.
Not many other ponies were out in the town’s streets as she made her way home, most of them being either working or at school in the case of younger ponies. One or two waved to her from their stands in the markets, which she returned with a smile. She may not have been able to see motion, but she had figured out that a pony with their hoof in the air was usually waving.
She did stop to chat with her old friend Lemon Bar, who she had recently met for the first time since the two were in school together. After Ice had run from the town when her parents were killed, Lemon had followed close behind, moving to Fillydelphia for a change of scenery. It had lasted for a while, and the mare had even gotten married for a few years. She didn’t share many details about what had happened, only that it didn’t work out and after the divorce she moved back to Snowhoof.
“But the money I made there was enough to buy my own shop here in town, so I can sell my juices to everyone!” she had said in an attempt to change the topic, obviously not too excited to talk about her old life. And she was making off pretty good with her juice business, even getting contracts with a few of the local farmers to use their fruits and vegetables in her juices in return for a portion of the purchases.
After buying an Apple-Carrot drink from the stand, Ice continued on her way home with a smile on her face and a song in her head.