//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Frosty Fates // by Storm Vector //------------------------------// "Wake up…" came a voice from somewhere far away. Winter recognized it…Vlyka, it was Vlyka, calling for her to come back around. She realized that she’d passed out somehow, and that something ached in her body…as she struggled to bring herself back to consciousness, Winter’s head hurt tremendously. She pushed through it and cracked her eyes open, startled to realize she was out in the middle of the bright sun at…well, she could remember it should have been summer or so, and she was out in the middle of the heat. Had it been another heatstroke? No…probably not. Vlyka had helped her through one before, and certainly been concerned, but she remembered now that Vlyka had been…shouting. Something had seriously disturbed her, so much so that she broke her general quiet nature to yell at her out of worry. "Uh…Vlyka? Was that really you?" she asked, groggy and dazed as she started to feel out what kind of condition she was in. The bright light forced her to keep her eyes shut for a minute, but she felt she was lying on her side on what felt like something familiar, a little pillowy and comforting to her. Was it…snow? In the middle of summer? "Where am I? What happened?" She opened her eyes slowly, seeing Vlyka’s burgundy coat swim into view. Vlyka stared silently at Winter, fear evident on her fanged face. She heard Winter's question and opened her mouth, only to close it and look away awkwardly, her right foreleg shifting across her left as she did so. Crystal had told Winter it was a tell, an unconscious thing Vlyka did when she was feeling socially pressured or uncomfortable...and Winter felt that it wasn't just trying to take care of her passed-out friend in the middle of a public street. She let her gaze wander past the little mare and take in her surroundings. It was like the village from two years ago all over again, or part of her nightmare come to life. Spikes of ice jutting out awkwardly from the ground, a steady covering of snow atop every cart and stall in the once-crowded marketplace, and ponies everywhere with frozen terror on their faces. Nopony was encased in ice, thankfully, but that didn't stop ponies from staring right at her, judging her. Winter withered under the assault as her memories flooded back to her, her eyes grazing the same dark-coated unicorn that had accidentally infuriated her, set her off and sent her into a blizzard -summoning fury. He didn't look any worse for wear, even a little worried about Winter herself...but she couldn't look at him, knowing what she'd nearly done to the poor stallion. Winter turned and stood up, feeling the snow and ice beneath her hooves, all centered around her in a conspicuous target as to just whom had caused this chaos. She looked up to avoid seeing the ice on the ground, only to see the clouds still dropping a light dust of snow across the marketplace. Everywhere she looked was more evidence she'd screwed everything up all over again. "Winter?" Winter turned and glanced down a bit, staring at the worried face of Vlyka. She looked up at Winter, eyes wide as she looked her up and down. She'd been there, at the epicenter of the storm, come through the worst of it...Winter gasped as she saw Vlyka's shoulder, still raw from her impact with her blood noticeable even compared to her reddish coat. She'd gotten hurt by Winter's outburst, one of Winter's best friends was bleeding on the street because of her magic... Vlyka cautiously stepped closer, but Winter snapped out of her daze and jumped back. "No, Vlyka stay back. Don't come closer." Vlyka blinked in surprise. "Winter, it's me. It's just me, Vlyka..." "No you don't understand..." Vlyka gulped, but spoke again louder. "I'm not going to hurt you, Winter, it's just me..." "I...I can't...I, Vlyka please, don't, I can't keep you safe...I might..." Winter's heart was pounding in her ears as they pulled back as far as they could. Winter kept trying to back out of her talk with Vlyka, not watching where she was going as she backed into a cart. Vlyka moved closer to her, her hooves shaking as the poor little mare was clearly out of her emotional depth, yet trying hard to protect her friend as well. It would have been sweet and welcome, if not for the sheer terror that Winter might snap again and put Vlyka in a block of ice...or a morgue. By now the whispers had started, ponies gathering around to watch and speculate what had happened, talk about Winter and her power, her fury, stare and judge for what she'd done. She heard them, the new words melding with the old as her terrifying memories from the last time surfaced again. Winter cried out in fear and turned to run for her house, but Vlyka stepped in front of her. "Winter please, relax a little..." the tiny mare murmured, as Winter tried to run around her other side. But Vlyka always was a stubborn pony, and she shifted again to block her escape. Twice, three times more, before Winter gave up and hung her head. She wouldn't trick Vlyka that easily, there was no escaping to her home. Unless... "I'm sorry, Vlyka." Winter raised her head just enough to meet Vlyka's eyes, unintentionally showing the little mare the tears frozen on her face, as Winter brought forth more power into her horn and aimed at Vlyka's hooves. Vlyka gasped and tried to rear up to avoid Winter's icy beam, but it was too late. By the time she could center herself enough to react, Vlyka's hooves were trapped in ice, frozen to the ground. She yanked at her legs and tried to break free for a second, only to realize she was well and truly stuck. She raised her head to Winter, but as they made eye contact the betrayal in Vlyka's eyes was too much for the snowy mare to bear. More tears freezing to her eyelashes, Winter turned and ran past Vlyka, shutting out the panic in Vlyka's voice as she cried for Winter to stop and stay. She heard her bucking against her ice restraints, but Winter couldn't stop to apologize again, as she ran straight for her home, using a bit of ice magic to startle ponies and make herself a path. By the time Winter returned home and slammed the door shut behind her, gasping for breath out of a mixture of her running and her emotional torment. To add to her stress her ice from earlier hadn't melted yet, the magically altered climate of her home allowing it to survive longer than it should have...too long, in this case. "I can't control it..." Winter collapsed against her doorway and sobbed. "I'm a threat..." She hung her head and curled herself up tightly, crying frozen tears that fell and shattered on the ground. "Nopony is safe near me."