Echo and the Mango Curse

by Matthais Unidostres


Chapter 2: Frozen Treat

The freezer door opened up, and Echo's left forehoof came up and rested on the edge of the freezer shelf. Then her right forehoof came up, and Echo lifted herself up to see into the freezer. Echo smiled as she flapped her wings to lift herself so she was level with the freezer. She reached in with both hooves and pulled out a mango entirely encased in a block of ice.

Echo flew to the kitchen table, slowly frowned as she took a closer look at the ice block in her forehooves. She set the ice encased mango on the table, and the tapped it twice with a forehoof. Echo huffed in annoyance, and she leaned in and licked the ice block. She paused when she felt her tongue getting pulled out and stretched.

Echo blinked her eyes and looked down at where her tongue was frozen to the ice block. She gave a frustrated eyeroll, and then gripped the block of ice with her forehooves. She pulled her head back slightly, stretching her tongue out a bit. Echo grunted, and she pulled her head back with a sharp, quick tug. This resulted in her tongue being pulled off of the ice, and caused Echo to fall flat on her back.

Echo jumped back up, standing up on her hindlegs with her forehooves on the table on either side of the frowned mango. She grabbed the block of ice between her forehooves and began to bang it repeatedly on the table. After some time, Echo dropped it onto the table and panted, slightly out of breath from the exertion. She pouted and sighed sadly when she saw that her attempts to get at the fruit were in vain. The ice encasing the mango wasn't even cracked. Echo rested her chin on the table, staring miserably at the mango inside the ice. Then she let out a small gasp as her eyes lit up a bit, an idea having suddenly come to her.

Echo grabbed the ice block and settled down on the floor. She laid herself down and the slid the ice encased mango close to her side. She shivered slightly as she brought the ice block against her body, but nevertheless curled up around it and draped a wing over it. She nodded to herself and settled in for a long wait.

During this long period of time, Echo occasionally sighed and tapped her right forehoof on the floor impatiently. Eventually, Echo noticed that the floor, and her fur, was slightly wet. She looked to see that much of the ice had melted off of the mango.

With a look of delight, Echo quickly picked the frozen mango up with her forehooves, lifted it up, and dropped it on the floor. This caused the remainder of the ice to shatter. Now fully elated, Echo picked up the mango again and brought back onto the kitchen table.

Drooling slightly, Echo opened her mouth wide and bit eagerly into the mango. After about a second of utter silence, Echo suddenly recoiled and cried out in pain. Her entire mouth was vibrating in pain from when she tried to sink her fangs into the frozen mango. It felt like she had just tried to bite into a rock.

As Echo staggered backwards, her teeth still in pain, her back hooves stepped into the puddle of water from the melted ice. Echo found herself slipping as the hooves she has been standing up on suddenly had no grip or traction, and she flailed her forehooves as she fell forward and towards the table. Her left forehoof ended up knocking the mango off of the table. The next moment, Echo herd a shattering sound that made her left ear twitch. After regaining her balance with the aid of the table, Echo looked to her left and saw that upon hitting the ground, the completely frozen mango had shattered into a hundred or so tiny slivers as if it had been made of glass.

Echo stared at the shattered mango with her mouth hanging open in disbelief. Then she frowned miserably and rested her chin on the table again. However, her back hooves started slipping on the wet floor again, and Echo let out a surprised gasp as her hind legs slipped back and sent her sliding off of the table to face plant on the floor.