COLD

by Shadow Spector

Episode 5: Journey of a Jester

CLICK! The sound of the camera mixed with the flash of light was blinding to Droll, but he was determined to keep his eyes opened throughout the moment. He was not about to sit still for yet another picture. He was already starting to get frustrated with the amount of imperfect pictures being tossed out. 
The adult yak put the camera down to look at the picture that exited out from its box. Immediately, Droll marched over to get a look at the sight. He saw four yaks all varying in ages, one adult female on the very left, another the complete opposite as a male baby right next to her, one more female that was about three years younger than Droll was on the very right of the picture, and finally, Droll in the middle right next to the baby. As Droll looked in closer to the picture, one shocking factor stuck out to him like a broken horn. 
“Pipette,” he sighed. “Yak eyes closed? Need take another picture.”
“Sorry,” Pipette sincerely said. “Light blinding. Hard to open eyes.”
“This rate, family be here all night.”
Pipette flinched before lowering her head. She regarded Droll in partial sorrow, which made the him grit his teeth. He didn't like seeing her that way, but also had no idea how to fix it.
Instead, the yak awkwardly marched around back to the family circle, standing right next to his siblings and mother as his dad got ready to take another picture. Within a few seconds, another blinding ray of light came from the camera lens.
“Ow!” the baby yak yelped.
Droll widened his eyes. “Jewell, . . . just stay still."
The brown non-pony marched around his family again to take another look at the picture, realizing that the photo was blurry from moving the camera at the time the picture was taken. “Yak picture bad again.”
Droll’s dad huffed in annoyance. “Well, yak try best.”
“Yaks no need to try best. Yaks best at picture taking.”
“Droll . . .” his mother tried to chime in.
The young yak looked at his mother. "Yak should have perfect picture. Yak picture not perfect, yak try again."
By this time, Pipette’s face was filling with more annoyance at her brother’s actions. Her expression was apparent to Droll, causing his eyes to widen.
". . . Yak do something wrong?"
Pipette stared back. "Take guess."
Droll lowered his eyebrows. "Yak no mean to. Maybe Pipette be less sensitive."
Immediately, his sister's jaw dropped and her eyes appeared more watery, prompting the young yak to stutter and continue.
"Uh, no, yak no mean . . ." His mind raced but he couldn't think of anything to save himself from that comment. He always felt an empty feeling whenever he was the cause of that familiar expression on Pipette. Deep down, he felt he was ruining her life.
Before anymore words could be said, Droll's dad intervened in the bickering.
"Yaks just need one photo before Prince Rutherford announcement. Then family can go back to house to warm up by yak fire."
Pipette's shallow breathing was interrupted when she said "fire? Dad, yak have the canister this time?"
"Of course," he said. "Canister down in guest room waiting for yaks."
Droll turned to his father. "Yak take picture and then family finally be done?"
"Droll no rush things like this. Yak be happy to spend much time as possible with other yaks. Family more important than anything."
Droll softly smiled. "Yes, then yaks take another -."
Finally, he noticed his sister's absence. "Pipette! Yaks need perfect picture!"
Droll's father laughed. "Yaks actually have plenty pictures. Family use this one, but picture needs to be framed before it becomes not perfect."
Droll looked down at the picture that was already not perfect with Pipette closing her eyes, but she was still smiling in it and that was enough to make Droll see it as perfect.
"Fine, but one day, Droll will have new picture and will truly be perfect," the young yak said with a humorous smile.
Suddenly, the sound of a strong voice overtook the streets where Droll’s family had been at.
“Yaks!” the voice of Prince Rutherford began. “Gather in town for important announcement!”
Droll's father clenched his teeth before quickly giving Droll the family picture. "Yak hurry. Frames in yak's room. Meet family at announcement after."
Droll beamed. "Thank you, Dad. See yak soon."
The brown non-pony carried the picture carefully on his head in between his calcium horns as he made his way to his house. Throughout his walk, he kept thinking about what his father said. He absolutely agreed that family was the most important thing, but then he thought about Pipette. If it was so important to him, why did he continuously make her life worse? Every time he tried talking to her, it would always end with her saddened expression. Hopefully after today, things would change.
The yak finally arrived at his huge, two-story house, beautifully sculpted in pristine condition. Yaks were indeed best at building. He took a deep breath at the beautiful sight before entering in to accomplish the task at hoof. 
Droll’s weird-sensors were going off the chart when he noticed a few things scattered on the floor as if someone had rushed through there. Droll’s first impression would have been that they were robbed, but stealing wasn’t like yaks. They weren’t dragons. He inevitably came to the conclusion that it was probably his father rushing to get the family photo out before Prince Rutherford's announcement. He would ask his dad the next time he talked to him.
As he walked through the house, the quiet sound of hoofsteps that weren’t his own snaked across the floor behind him. Droll turned immediately to find himself still alone. He was softly shaking in slow shock, but he decided to persist forward, thinking that there were just bugs going around the house. 
As he traveled around the house to his father's room, his ears twitched at the near silent sounds of soft hoofsteps sneaking across the floor. Droll narrowed his eyes as he tried to identify the location until the sound of something heavy hit the ground in a room near him. Instantly, Droll was on his way to the source, and the sound of heavier hoofsteps left the room in a rush.
“Who there!” Droll yelled, but got no response.
The room he was in was empty except for the diamond ring on the floor that he quickly identified as Pipette’s. She must've lost it, and instinctively, Droll picked it up. Normally, he would just put it back in her room for her to find, but after today, he felt delivering it to her directly would help make up for how horrible he made her feel. At least, it would be a start.
As the young yak continued, he heard the soft sounds of hoofsteps one more time. The sound appeared to be getting closer to the exit, causing the brown non-pony to redirect his gaze to it, but his attention was quickly diverted by the sudden burning smell that appeared slightly distant. He rushed to his father’s room to look out a window in order to get a view of what might have been burning. Yaks weren’t much for barbecue, but Droll knew he’d be best at it if he tried.
Finally, Droll found the acclaimed picture frames and pulled the family picture from his head where it had been motionlessly resting the whole time. After putting the picture into place, he tucked the diamond-gold ring inside the frame so he wouldn’t lose it. Finally, he sighed at the sight of his family, all smiling in one place. He would try to make that more of a reality instead of the normal negative expressions he had been so good at giving.
The burning smell grew overwhelmingly strong and this time, it appeared that the smell came from within the house. Within the second, his fight-or-flight senses went off and he rushed out of the room to see what the danger was. Before him in the hallway outside the room was a sea of orange flames that kept approaching him with every passing second. It was covering all of the walls as well as the floor in front of him, blocking his path. Droll yelped and rushed down a different hallway to avoid the oncoming destruction.
He was huffing and puffing in fear as he held the picture frame close to him. His sole goal at the moment was survival, and he knew he could only do it by getting out the front door. He rushed through the house, worried that at any moment, his only safe routes through the house would be completely engulfed in flames. His fear was off the charts when he exited through another hallway, nearing the front door with every heart-beating second.
The door was closeby, but as he turned a corner, a wall of flames blocked his way. He figured that this was his only way to get to his front door, but with luck, perhaps he could pass through the flames and not give it enough time to hurt him. 
He eyed the flames in determination as the smoke filled the room, making it difficult to breathe. If he waited any longer, the smoke would suffocate him and the flames would finish the job. It was now or never.
He backed up as far as he could to create as much room between the wall of flames and himself. He would’ve backed up further if it hadn’t been for the flames coming up behind him, making his safe space even smaller with every passing second. He didn’t have much time at all. If he waited any longer or even hesitated, the straight-away he made for himself would be too small to gain enough speed to burst through the flaming wall. Without much choice, he took off, stampeding at full speed into the danger in front of him, the heat getting unbearably hot as he got closer to it. He didn’t slow down though. He felt that this was his only chance at survival. Before his cloven hooves could run into the fire, he jumped with so much force against the ground, hovering over the flames as best as he could to make it to the other side. His stomach was singed and he could fear a stabbing pain all over, but he made it through without managing to catch on fire . . . almost.
Droll landed on the other side where he was beginning to cool off from his sudden heat, except his tail was still in massive pain. When he turned around to look at it, a single flame danced behind him, traveling up his tail closer to him. Instantly, he jumped and patted the flames out. Quickly, he took the picture frame down from between his horns, looking for any damage. To his frustration, he noticed the picture clouded with smoke, but that didn't make him give up on it. With several shallow breaths, he tucked the picture back between his horns before continuing through the house.
He turned a corner to locate his saving grace only to find even more of his deadly friend in the way. He panicked at the hopelessness but remembered that the exitway was supposed to be there. As Droll studied his surroundings, he noticed that the doorway had been completely engulfed in flames, but the damage at the doorway was way more severe than the area around it, causing Droll to realize that it was a starting place for the fire, as if someone had carefully designated that location to set ablaze first. 
The fire in the doorway had spread all throughout the front lawn and this time, there was no hope to burst through it. His fur would’ve caught on fire completely, and there would’ve been no place to roll it out. He wasn’t prepared to experience the pain of catching on fire either, especially not if the burning feeling on his stomach was a sneak-peek.
In a desperate attempt to cling to life, Droll looked around him, finding the stares barely intact and a small pathway that wasn’t burning yet. His initial thoughts were that going upstairs would be counterproductive to escaping the house, but now, the second floor would be productive to staying alive. Without wasting anytime whatsoever, he bolted up the stairs, stumbling over himself from his speed, but he still made it up without many problems.
Although he was afraid, he looked back down the stairs to notice something off. The stairs were still not catching on fire despite the fire surrounding them. The only possible way for this would be if the stairs were coated in a fire-repellent material, as if someone wanted the stairs to be a pathway. Droll was confused as to why this would be the case until he got to the next room where a full gas canister stood in the middle of the room with fire building up around it, getting closer and closer to it with each passing second.
He was covered in ash and soot by the time he realized what his future would look like. He was panicked beyond belief and tears streamed down his face. If the fire reached the canister, there would be no possible way to avoid the fire. It would go everywhere. 
The smoke began to overwhelm him, but fresh air entered in through a window behind him. He looked out at his backyard where bushes were lined up directly below him and considered calling for help, but his lungs were filling with smoke and he couldn’t talk. He looked back at the gas canister, wanting to throw it out the window, but the sea of flames was too big to cross. He shook violently in fear as he was trapped in the room with the full gas canister, knowing very well what would happen once the flames built up to it. It didn’t take long after for the flames to touch the object and cover it in the orange strings that tangled with eahother. With no other choice, Droll jumped through the window with the framed picture still lodged between his horns as the gas canister finally erupted into fire that ejected out the window as well, sailing over him as gravity pulled him to the ground.
He landed in the bushes, weak and burned with his ears ringing from the explosion. He coughed up soot from his lungs, trying to regain fresh air and muster the strength to stand, but he could only crawl. Set out before him was a field of tall grass that he began his way through, gripping the dirt in front of him to pull himself through the grass and advance to the streets where he could get help. He wanted to give up and let the burn marks and singed lungs get the best of him, but he knew that wasn’t an option. Deep down, he knew that he couldn’t lose hope. It was all he had that allowed him to cling to life.
Through the tall grass, he could see the light peeking from the streets, alerting him that salvation was right there. He coughed silently again before bringing himself closer, hearing the spraying sound of moving grass. When he peeked his head through, the only sight he saw was that of his sister, Pipette, staring at the burning house with widened eyes. Droll tried to speak but couldn’t, making him clear his throat silently. All he wanted to do was get help, but he couldn’t bring himself to make a sound, terrifying him that he wouldn’t be able to make himself known.
"Pipette!" a familiar voice yelled.
Her eyes didn't move from the wreckage, the reflection of the burning house appearing in her pooled eyes.
"Pipette, what happened?" her father said as he ran to her.
"Pipette did this . . ." she said while still looking at the disaster.
The adult yak flinched. "What?"
"Y-yak just went to get gas canister. It spilled and . . . Droll . . ."
"Oh Celestia," the father mustered.
Pipette watched in silence as the flames escaped upwards and disappeared into the sky. Finally, her father gently put a cloven-hoof against her.
"It okay," he began, "Pipette no mean to."
Her eyes finally broke contact from the flames, her tears becoming more apparent. "Yeah . . ."
Droll put a burnt hoof to his mouth, covering it in shock. He watched the exchange go down as the tears fell onto his arm. From the corner of his eye, he could see his mother rushing onto the scene, holding Jewell in her arms.
“What happen?!” she yelled, causing Jewell to cover his ears in fear.
Pipette began to hyperventilate. "House burning. Yak think Droll was in there."
Droll’s father clenched his eyes shut as he lowered his head, but the older female yak stared at the burning house in sadness, her eyes welling up in tears. Finally, Jewell uncovered his ears to look at his mother.
“What wrong, mommy?” he began. “Where big brother Droll?”
His mother wiped a tear from her eyes. “Droll in better place now.”
Droll wiped his eyes with an ashy cloven-hoof. He couldn't believe what was happening, but one glance back at his sister's saddened expression brought only one thought to his mind. This was the face he had been so acquainted with every time he interacted with her. Every time she had said something to him, Droll would unknowingly make a remark that would ruin her day. This expression he was witnessing now though was infinitely worse than anything he had scene from her before. He wanted to pop out of the grass and go to his family to tell them that he was there and still with them, but he knew that if he did that, there would still be more negativity around. His guilt was immeasurable in that moment, and all he truly wanted for them was to live out their days unhindered by him. He couldn't stop himself from making his family upset, but maybe this could be the last time he ever had to sadden them.
Droll looked one last time at his sister, ingraining her expression into his soul so he'd never forget it. With a deep breath, Droll snaked back through the opposite side of the fields, holding the framed picture still firmly in his grasp. He gained enough distance on the house to stand up fully without being seen. Finally, he weakly began walking outside the gates of Yak-Yakistan, following an icy road that led down to territory he had never been to before.

Droll was freezing on his long trek down the frosty, narrow road, but he didn’t complain at all about it. He knew this was what he deserved. He was still in disbelief of his own actions. He really must’ve been so much of a disease that a fire had to be the only way to eradicate him.
Droll felt the crushing of the snow beneath his cloven-hooves, and the satisfying sound concentrated his mind into a state of calmness. He was thankful for that feeling since he had already been through too much today. To his left was the giant wall of the mountain side, and to his right was the empty chasm that began once a curved cliff started. It was night and the drop was so far down that he couldn’t even see the bottom, so he took his mind off of it to go back to the straight path in front of him.
He looked down at the framed picture in his cloven-hooves, staring at the last thing he had to remember his family by. He eyed the fake smiles on each of his family members. Droll knew that in that moment, no one was actually happy, not even him, and it was entirely his fault. It was because of him that his family was in such turmoil, and the more he thought about it, the more guilt he experienced from realizing how unhappy he made everyone. He could practically see the distress on everyone’s face, and he knew deep down that he had to be better. He had to make sure that no one ever again would have to deal with who he was.
He was still walking while staring down at the photo, focused enough that he didn’t realize the road curved beneath him. He was so used to walking in a straight line that he assumed it would continue this way, but soon enough, he felt the lack of solid ground beneath his cloven-hooves. Instantly, Droll was on edge again, and he stumbled on the curved snow, staring down at the enormous drop beneath him. The yak sunk into the snow, trying to gain his stance back, but he was too far over the edge. When he looked up, the view of the beautiful kingdom close in the distance reflected in his eyes. He was so close to making it out, but he was even closer to tumbling down to his doom.
He looked up to where the ledge to the road was. His upper left hoof was keeping himself stabilized at the side of the snowy cliff, but his right hoof was focused on making sure the picture didn’t fall from his grasp. If he was able to use both hooves, he would be able to climb to safety, but he would have to release his grasp from his family picture. He wasn’t about to do that. He realized what it meant if he decided not to use both cloven-hooves to reach for safety, but he also knew that losing that picture meant losing his reminder to be better, and life wasn’t worth it to him if he wasn’t the best he could be.
He grasped the side of the cliff for dear life, trying to be able to save himself without having to let go of the picture. For a brief moment, he considered throwing the picture over the cliff to safety in order to free up both of his hooves, but he instantly shot that down. He didn’t trust his accuracy whatsoever, and he felt that the safest place for the picture was right in his grasp. His cloven-hoof was freezing in the snow, but he clamped down on the side of the mountain. He tried lifting his other hoof to see if he could get a grip on the mountain without letting go of the picture frame, but he quickly learned that he could only grip onto one thing. Through the frozen weather, his frustration was finally put into perspective, and he let out a loud yell, furious at his own stupidity for letting this happen to him.
Moments after the yell escaped his breath, a thunderous rumble sounded from the very top of the mountain, and it only grew louder from there. Droll looked up at what was happening when he noticed the oncoming avalanche proceeding towards him, causing the yak to scream at the hopelessness of the situation. 
The snow hit him with great force and removed his grip from the side of the mountain, causing him to progress into freefall as he began sailing down the edge of the cliff. He couldn’t help but unleash a desperate cry for help as he was falling to his doom until a loud snap pulled him through space at the last moment. 
He landed on a blanket of snow without much impact, and the first thought he had was that he was dead. He was in a sitting position, and his eyes were clenched tight in fear, but he could still feel the picture in his grasp that he was clenching against his stomach. 
“Hey,” a gentle female voice said. “Are you okay?”
Droll didn’t open his eyes, but he was still breathing hard as if the danger was still happening. From the distance in front of him, he could still hear the crashing of snow fall down into the seemingly bottomless pit, but it was a lot quieter than he had just experienced. “Yak dead?”
“No, thankfully not,” the voice continued. “You’re lucky that I could still see you as you were falling. If I didn’t get an exact look at you, my magic wouldn’t have been able to work.”
Droll was still shivering with his eyes closed before the female voice spoke again.
“It’s okay. You can open your eyes now.”
The yak tried his best to steady his breath, but he obeyed the female’s wishes and opened his eyes slowly. Before him was a beautiful pink unicorn with a mane consisting of three colors each in their own stripes: one purple, one dark pink, and the last color a mixture of white and tan. She was standing directly in front of him, causing the view to her cutiemark to be obstructed by the angle.
Droll regarded her beauty, completely mesmerized before managing a simple question. “Who pony?”
She smiled kindly. “I’m Princess Cadence, leader of the Crystal Empire.”
Droll’s interest immediately turned to fear at the realization that he was talking to a princess, and immediately afterwards, Droll could see the wings partially extend from the side of his savior. 
“You look like you’ve been through a lot,” Cadence continued. “I can help you out if you’d like me to.”
Droll looked up at the princess before lowering his eyebrows emotionally and taking a deep breath. “Yes, please.”
“We can’t go through the front door though. I may lose credibility as a princess if my ponies saw me helping a yak. Normally, if it were up to me, I would go out and make it public with no fear at what anypony thought, but if I did, nopony would listen anymore. My ponies need someone like me to be able to help them. If they simply disregard me, my kingdom may fall.”
Droll nodded in understanding. “So what pony do-?”
Before the yak could finish his statement, Cadence’s horn glowed a cyan color, causing a loud snap as well as a brief flash of light to illuminate every inch of Droll’s vision. When it cleared, the two were in a lit room that Droll presumed to be inside the kingdom. From the second time teleporting, he was starting to get a little dizzy, but his look of distress was nothing compared to the princess’s. His first sight was of her eyes rotating in circles around her sockets, trying to go back into focus.
“Princess okay?” Droll asked in a concerned manner.
“Yeah. Just kind of dizzy. Precise teleportation takes a lot of effort.”
Droll smiled softly. “Thank you.”
Princess Cadence met his smile with one of her own. “I don’t believe you’ve told me your name yet.”
The yak widened his eyes at the sudden request before clearing his throat awkwardly. “Oh, princess want to know yak name?” He hesitated for a moment before answering. “Yak name . . . Droll.”
Cadence nodded in understanding at the yak’s words. “Droll. That’s easy to remember.” The alicorn looked passed Droll’s face at the leftover fur that managed to survive the fire. “So what happened to you? You look like you’ve got quite the story to tell.”
Droll regarded Cadence sadly. “Droll annoy family. Yak went home, but home on fire. Droll barely escaped, but family no want Droll. Yak know.”
The alicorn’s eyes widened at the summarized story, but that was all she needed to hear.
“Oh my, that’s horrible! You’re homeless now, aren’t you?” Cadence shifted in guilt, crossed at the decision she couldn’t make. “I really wish I could help you, but my ponies can’t know about you. You don’t know how difficult of a task it is to hide someone who’s not a pony.” Cadence regarded Droll in sadness before putting on a studious look. “But I can still try my best to help you.”
The princess’s horn illuminated in its cyan glow again, and Droll could feel the tender touch of her magic on his fur. He could feel the burn sections of his coat return to normal and the singed smoke marks on his face begin to fade from existence. When Droll looked down at the photo that he refused to let out of his grasp, he noticed the magic aura around it as well, cleaning it of the smoke and erasing any evidence of its past.
When Cadence finished, she brought a mirror over to the yak, levitating it out in front of his face before lowering it just below his chin. “What do you think?”
Droll stared down into the reflection, seeing his face light up in front of his eyes. 
“Good, stay that way,” Cadence continued. “Life is so much better when you can smile.”
Droll could see the yak’s eyes in the mirror begin to tear up, and he watched as one droplet from each side of the mirror fell to eachother before colliding into one at the mirror’s surface. He looked up at the kind pony who had already done so much for him. “Thank you.”
Cadence smiled affectionately at him, pleased at what she did. “Anything to get a smile."
That final word resonated with Droll as his ears perked up. He stared at the princess's bright beam of an expression and finally it felt like his life finally made sense. The warmest of feelings started inside him and he quickly associated it with Cadence's expression. It was the complete opposite of the expression he had been so used to, and instead of the normal empty feeling he always had, he felt insurmountable joy at what he was able to witness. He knew in that moment that's all he ever truly wanted to see.
Finally, Cadence continued. "I wish I could help you more, but this is all I can do.”
The brown non-pony nodded in appreciation, not knowing any possible way to repay her. He was speechless for a moment before he finally spoke again. 
“What now?” Droll asked. He had no idea what was next for him.
“Well, I suppose I can safely guide you out of the Crystal Empire. The last thing I want to do is to just randomly teleport you across Equestria.”
“Yak appreciate it.”
“Well, let’s find you a place to sleep tonight and-.”
A sudden series of knocks sounded on the door, and an unknown male voice shined through.
“Cadence! Come quick!”
The princess widened her eyes in a rushed manner, turning her head back in unbelievable speed to face the door. “Uh, I’ll be right there, Shining!”
Cadence looked around frantically for a hiding place for Droll, but couldn’t find any location for the yak on such a short notice. The knocking sounded again, and Droll froze in fear, unaware of any possible actions he could take. Finally, the door knob illuminated in a purple glow, causing Cadence to panic. Droll looked Cadence in her widened purple eyes before he watched the cyan membrane illuminate around her horn for the last time, causing a loud spark to occur and teleport Droll to a random section of Equestria.