//------------------------------// // CH8: Frosters // Story: The journey // by Dashed_Brony //------------------------------// Something was above him. Just as he had intended to give up hope, and had nearly fallen asleep, he shot up. The hope gave him newfound energy. He soon found that 'energy' to be imagination, and fell straight back down, but his eyes remained open as he gazed up into the snowy 'skies' above him. Something was there. It couldn't be his imagination. The sound was too clear, and he wasn't unconsious enough to be hearing things just yet. Though, just as something made it through, the snow right above his head gave in and fell right on his head, being both thick, heavy and compact. He did not stay awake after that. Voices. He heard voices. The words were unknown, and they made no sense to him, but voices usually meant help, so he didn't care whether or not he could understand them. He was too happy to. He had trouble opening his eyes. His entire body was still freezing, and his eyelids were no different. They slid open though, carefully, but certainly. The first thing he saw, was a roof made of planks, laid alongside one another. "Thank Celestia..." He mumbled, and shut his eyes again. A familiar sound of wood echoing to the pressure of steps approached him. A total of 8 steps. Again, the unfamiliar language. He hardly had the energy to open his eyes the first time, and as he felt reassured he was in safe hooves, he fell asleep once more. ------------------------------ Again, he woke up. This time, energy had returned to him, as had the warmth. 'How long have I been out...?' He sat straight in the bed he was in. It was far from comfortable. The mattress was nothing but a layer of wool, and the blanket was rather thin. The room however, was brimming with heat. There was a metal oven in the corner, and it did wonders for everything else. He looked left and right, trying to figure where he was. The house wasn't normal though. He had never seen anything like it. Everything was made in wood, save for a chair with a pair of pillows on it, the oven, a large carpet in the middle of the room and what he figured was the 'Kitchen' part of the house. There was no other rooms, just this one after all. There was a sink on a bench, with some tools hanging over it. Generally kitchen tools, but neither were 'Best quality' material. They all seemed home-made. He realised why as he looked out the window. It was as dark as night, and the snow was lashing at the windows and ground, even more relentlessly than it had when he had released the avalaunche. There was nopony around though. No anything around for that matter. His best chatting companions were the furniture. Then again, being where he was, who knew when someone would barge in the do- The door shut open just as Laxed had started wondering. Two ponies, both massive, both of the earth kind, brown with black hair. They barged over to another bed that had been next to the one he had laid in. He wondered what the fuss was about, but was ignored as he tried to ask. He decided to walk over to the bed. There laid Toby. He couldn't hear neither breath, nor mumbles. The little colt was frozen. He hadn't noticed it earlier because he was still waking up. Now he sat next to the bed, simply gazing down at the unicorn. "N-No... No... Nononono..." The two others looked at the pegasi who refused to accept what he was seeing. "Is this yer friend?" The male of the two asked, the other being a female. Both were bigger and buffer than him though. Laxed didn't answer. He didn't even hear the question. "Ah said... Is this yer friend?" He went ignored once more. The earth pony sighed. "We'll be over at the kitchen tahble when yer ready to talk, lad" An hour passed. There hadn't been any movement. Not even a twitch. "What have I done...?" His eyes had gone empty and shallow by the time he finally stopped looking at the colt. His head lower than his shoulders, he walked over to the table. He didn't cry. He didn't frown. He was beyond that point. "Ye ready 'ta talk then?" The earth pony asked once more as Laxed took a seat on the third chair of the table. His head hardly moved, but it was a silent nod. "Alright then lad... Yer friend over there isn't dead. He ain't quite alive either. The thing is... Neither of us Frosters has what it takes to save him. We reckon ye do tho' lad" Laxed head shot up as he looked nearly happy towards the earth pony before him. That possibility made him smile. Just a little. He only barely managed to stutter 'Go on', it was still only a possibility. "Well lad... Y'see... It requires a bit of yer blood. Don't'cha worry. It won't hurt a bit, and we won't be need'n' much. However, the reason he hain't woken up yet, 's 'cause his blood has frozen over. We cain't donate any type o' blood t' him either. We do however believe ye have th' right type. 'S only a belief, but if ye want to give it a shot, just tell u-" The Froster couldn't finish before he found himself embraced by an overjoyed pegasi. Laxed was hugging the massive pony for the life of him. "Please. Take however much you need!" He whispered. "J-Just make sure Toby gets on his feet once more..." They nodded, and a few minutes later, Laxed was in his bed once more. Another large male pony had made an entrance. Somehow, the colors of them didn't seem to warry. They were all similar. Very much so. Even the lack of a cutie mark. He had many questions, but his current task was too important for him to start questioning them about anything. "Look away please" The pony held a small need- A NEEDLE! Laxed jumped out of the bed. "You never said anything about a needle! I am not letting you stick something like that into me! They hurt! They hurt sooooo much! Nononono! No needle! No deal! Get it some other" *Wack* "Waaaaay..." His last word came out as a slow and undertoned one as he fell to the ground, rhythmically alligned with it. ---------------------------- "Hey, hey Laxed!" He heard a faint tone yell for him. "I didn't drink that much Cider..." His head was pounding, and he was feeling light-headed. "That's the aftereffects of losin' some blood lad" Another tone spoke. This had to be the one who had suggested he gave some blood to saving Toby. Toby... The tone he had woken up to... Could it be? It was neither the 'Doctor', nor the two Frosters he had first met. It couldn't be any other. The unicorn he had mourned over now jumped atop his chest like the eager colt he was. "Ooof! Ooof! Ooof! Please get ooof!" Getting stomped in the stomach was slightly unpleasant, and he constantly kept getting his breath knocked out of him. Toby wasn't newborn, he was closer to a stallion than a colt, and that only made each jump that heavier. Toby obeyed, but he nearly wish the unicorn hadn't. The fact that he was so happy to see Toby walk, talk and jump once more made him smile. More than he had ever. He got out of the bed, and hugged him. Tears were coming out. Lots of them. He stained both his own face, and parts of Toby's. He didn't care. He ignored it completely. He refused to let go because of it. "H-Hey Laxed... You alright?" "Never been better" He sobbed in reply. An explanation and many tears later, they were prepared to take their leave as soon as morning arose. That was when the storm was at its lowest, and it was actually workable for a regular pony to make it across the mountain. "If we only knew that" Laxed mumbled annoyed. "Oh. An' one more thing. I have somethin' for ya. We tend 'ta write stuff up here. There ain't too much t' do 'round these parts but search fer lost ponies and writin', so we usually just write. Mah waifu's not always 'ere, so I cain't always be goin' 'round kiss'n' 'er either." The massive pony grabbed a book from the table and handed it to Laxed. "There ain' a thing in that book ya won't find useful one way or another" It contained a bunch of information, yet it was rather thin. That made it durable to carry around. It was still a small mountain of pages, but he had always enjoyed reading to a certain extent, so he didn't see that as an issue. It was untitled of course, it was written much like a diary. He had ended up sitting through the remainder of the night reading, getting through a major part of the book by the end of it, and as morning arose, the snow had calmed itself, and was gently falling down at this point. "Ye probably want t' have some sort o' boots so ya won't walk straight through the snow. Here. Mah waifu made 'em while you were out" There were a total of eight leather-boots. Four for each of them. The insides felt like clouds, and walking around was quite similar to walking on a cloud. "They are made from a special material y'see. Makes yer footsteps light as a feather. They're also nice fer sneakin' 'round and that kind o' stuff. Hope ya never haf'ta use 'em fer that though" "Thank you... For everything..." He smiled as he once again hugged his saviour. "May I please know the name of you and your 'waifu'?" He continued as the hug ended. No sooner had he ended the hug than had Toby done the exact same thing, the difference being that Toby didn't know when to stop saying 'Thank you', and only halted his assault of words as he was being pulled apart by the black and red pegasi. "Oh... No problem, the both of ya. An' my name's Sven. Mah Waifu is Inga." Laxed's hoove found Toby's mouth before he could even think of laughing. "Both lovely names... But I suppose we must take our leave if we want to get across the mountain before we get assaulted by snow again, and this time around, aren't as lucky as to meet you two..." "Yeah lad... I hope I don't haf'ta find two frosted ponies out there again... Ye aren't the first though, and ye probably won't be the last" "Probably not, but we can always hope it'll be a long time until you have to find anypony else..." "Let's keep our hooves crossed fer that then!" He shouted as Laxed and Toby had made their way out into the frosty desert. They were in the middle of a village. All buildings looked the same, with the exception of a few. A tavern even. They seemed to be holding out fine for living in a place where nothing ever grew. This time around, they had no issues on progressing, and within just under an hour, the sun still rising, they could see the bottom of the other side of the mountain, along with everything that lay ahead of it. It was a gorgeous view, and if they weren't racing against time, they would've stuck around to enjoy it even more. The downclimb was easy, the mountain wasn't just a steep drop, they had no trouble making their way down. They once again stood on grassy ground. What awaited them from here was just another adventure. As he had found his footing on more solid ground once more, he remembered his thoughts on dropping off Toby. It was the last time he would ever make a decision like that. Seeing him frozen had made him realise that he didn't, in the end, want to part with the unicorn. They had beaten the odds twice now, it could only be a matter of time before their luck ran out. - End -