Any Icy Existence
Chapter 3: Behind Those Eyes
By DigitDaemon
Edited by: Blood Lord
~~~~~
Twilight gave a content sigh as the void of sleep slowly left her mind and she squeezed her pillow tighter, which she was now hugging to her chest. She reveled in its plush softness and seemingly almost molten temperature. Her pillow gave a small chuckle and wrapped a hoof around her.
Twilight’s heart skipped a beat and the drowsiness cleared from her mind instantly. Pillows do not have hooves; and I don’t even own a plush pillow!
Carefully, Twilight opened her eyes, afraid of what she would find only to have light blue fur fill her vision. She quickly pushed and scrambled away from the thing out of panic, only for another surprise to greet her. The edge of the bed.
Twilight hit the floor with a dull thud and groaned as she worked her hoof out from underneath her. A snickering from above caused the alicorn to glance back up and see a very familiar pegasus with a multi-colored mane.
“Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow chuckled again, and flashed a lazy smile. “Hey, Twilight.”
Twilight gave the blue speedster a withering glare. “Why are you in my bed?”
“Oh, thats easy,” Rainbow Dash said, seemingly relieved at what Twilight thought was a pretty hard question to answer. “The princesses came by and said you were suffering from hypopotimis or something-”
“Hypothermia,” Twilight corrected.
“Yeah, hypodermic shock and until your body got use to not producing heat anymore, that you had to be kept warm. They said something about an Ember Stone or something like that, but I figured that it was probably just like when one of the high altitude team members gets hypothermia.”
Twilight started to slowly rub her forehead while giving Rainbow an annoyed look.
Rainbow Dash winked in response, “It is too easy to mess with you Twilight. So anyways, I volunteered to stay and help warm you up overnight.”
“Well that was very...kind of you’ Twilight tried to suppress a shiver “But I think I will be fine.”Just as she finished, a wave of dizziness swept over the alicorn and she was forced to lay back down.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I am just a little dizzy is all.” Twilight said quickly. In truth however, she wasn’t fine. The news that Rainbow Dash had delivered added to the already great mental burden the Twilight was bearing. To find out that she was drifting further and further from being a pony was becoming too taxing on her.
“You know, being Captain of the Weather Patrol means that I see every injury that happens on the job, including all the hypothermia cases. Last time I checked, shivering and collapsing were not signs that somepony is fine.”
Twilight just groaned in response, fighting hard to not lose consciousness again. She climbed back into her bed as Rainbow Dash laid back down. The blue pegasus pulled her drowsy friend up to her chest and patted her back.
“Don’t worry Twi, just go back to sleep, I’ve got you.”
Twilight slowly wrapped her forelegs around her light blue friend, clinging to the only source of warmth she could find.
Rainbow, like all pegasi, had an extremely fine coat that was almost like the down of a newborn chick. This was in order to give her better aerodynamics, and although Twilight was embarrassed to admit it, her friend was also extremely comfortable to cuddle with. The lavender mare subconsciously pulled herself up a little tighter against the pegasus. She shed a single tear, that was quick to ice over, as she drifted off.
Rainbow Dash watched as Twilight fell peacefully into dreamland, incredibly grateful that the bookworm couldn’t see the huge grin of victory on her face as she too began to doze.
~~~~~
Twilight stretched in her bed and gave a wide yawn. She clumsily grasped around, feeling like something was missing. The purple mare sat up and looked around for he new soft pillow, but didn't see the pegasus anywhere. The spot next to her was still warm though, which meant Rainbow must have just gotten up.
The lavender alicorn got up out of bed and yawned again as she cleared the ice from around her eyes. I must have been crying in my sleep, I suppose it is good I don’t remember my dreams.
Twilight got out of bed and stretched her legs a bit more before trotted over to the vanity in the corner of her room. She was afraid to look in the mirror, expecting to see a hideous monster in her reflection. Twilight took a few deep breaths before looking up and giving a sigh of relief. she still looked normal, and there was no ice clinging to her coat either. With the exception of her breath being visible whenever she exhaled, she looked normal. Twilight picked up the brush in her magic and then froze, her magical aura was a snowy blue.
“But my magic has always been the same color as my eyes,” she whimpered to nopony in particular.
"It still is…"
Twilight shivered at the sound of Frostmourne’s voice but took a closer examination of herself in the mirror. Her eyes were in fact now also light blue in color. She swallow hard and sat down, feeling as though she might collapse. The purple mare took deliberate, slow breaths in an attempt to keep the tears at bay. Confusion, grief, and panic worked through the young alicorn's body as she looked at the change. In the end, she failed and couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face.
“Hey Twi?” Rainbow Dash’s voice came from downstairs.
Twilight tried to pull herself together to answer, but she could only manage to say “yes,” horsley in between sniffles.
“Hey Twilight?” This time Rainbow’s voice was much closer and Twilight could see her friend out of the corner of her eye; she was standing at the bedroom door with a concerned look on her face.
The pegasus speedster swiftly stepped through the bedroom towards the lavender mare that she had been charged with taking care of. When she reached Twilight she placed a hoof on her friends shoulder. “Is everything okay Twi?” she asked apprehensively.
Twilight spun around and flung herself into her friends arms, her tears coming back to her.
The pegasus slowly wrapped her hooves around the purple princess and began to gently rock her her back and forth. After a few minutes Twilight finally regained control of her emotions and pulled away from Rainbow.
“Shh, It’ll be okay,” she whispered as stroked the back of Twilight's head. It was an action her mother did for her when she was a filly, and frustrated with flight school. It had a calming effect on her and it was something Rainbow was hoping would help ease her friend as well.
“Sorry...I just was overwhelmed I guess,” Twilight said as she conjured up a tissue to wipe her nose on.
Rainbow Dash gave the alicorn a confused look. “Sorry for what? You have been through so much, at least I assume you have since you haven’t actually told me anything that is happening yet, but anyways, you have obviously been through a lot and you can’t just keep these things bottled up inside of you.” Rainbow Dash walked over to where Twilight’s brush had fallen to the ground unnoticed and retrieved it. “But the important thing is that you don’t have to face it alone.”
“But how can I go to my friends when I am the biggest danger to them?” Twilight retorted, a hint of bitterness in her voice.
Rainbow didn’t answer at first, she just sat down behind Twilight and began to brush the alicorn’s mane. When she did speak, it wasn’t in her normally carefree manner or even in her fallback friendly voice; her voice was wise, mature sounding. “Now, I’m not really the best pony to ask, but my dad once told me, after a fight I had with Gilda in flight school, that friends hurt each other sometimes. I guess it makes sense. I mean who else could hurt somepony’s friends more than those they are friends with? I mean, our friends are the things we hold closest. So, when we hold everything else at hoof’s length away how could our friends not be the biggest danger to us?” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head, feeling a bit awkward. “I guess that doesn’t make much sense does it?”
Twilight sat in silence as she mulled those words over in her head. “I think I understand, but what if it isn’t really me though? What if it is something that wants to hurt you all and is trying to use me to get to you?”
Rainbow Dash did almost flinch but she managed to suppress it and just keep brushing. “And who might that be?”
“I did promise I would tell you what happened, and I guess now is as good a time as any, but I think we should probably eat first.” Twilight said with some confidence returning to her voice. Maybe if I can just handle this one step at a time, I can get past it without any problems...just one step at a time
Frostmourne’s presence flared in Twilight's mind and she felt his chilling words, "What a noble goal, I suppose I shall keep count of the hoof falls then..." His presence left as abruptly as it had come and served to only steel the alicorn’s mind.
One step at a time.
“Uh, Twilight?” Rainbow asked cautiously.
Twilight snapped out of her thoughts and gave a poor imitation of her normal chuckle, “Sorry, I must have just gotten overwhelmed by... the thought of food.”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but chuckle .“You’re so weird sometime,” she said with a smile and pulled Twilight to her hooves.
They then proceeded down the stairs to the dining room, Twilight quickly taking her own spot at the small wooden table. Only moments later, the small green and purple form of Spike walked in carrying a plate of food in either claw and one balanced on his head.
“Good morning, Twilight,” Spike said with a caring smile. “It’s good to see you are feeling better.”
“Thanks Spike,” Twilight replied, patting the dragon on the head as he delivered a plate in front of her. When she looked over at the plate and say the delicate, golden brown squares with rivers of brown sugary sap running down the side, her smile broke into a full on grin. “Waffles!”
By the time the young dragon took his own place at the table Twilight had already cleaned half of her plate.
“Woah, easy there Twi, you might give yourself a stomach ache,” Rainbow Dash said with slight concern.
Twilight froze and slowly turned to her prismatic friend. Dash almost flinched as they locked eye, Twilight’s seemed to boil with the intensity and rage of the sun. “I don’t care.” she replied through gritted teeth and then immediately returned to wolfing down her breakfast. About a minute later Twilight paused again and looked up from her plate with a sad expression. “Sorry, I… I don’t know what came over me.”
Rainbow Dash gave Spike a questioning glance but he just shrugged in response. The rest of breakfast passed in silence and once all the plates had been cleaned, including Twilight’s second plate, the purple alicorn cleared her throat.
“So, I guess now is as good a time as any to explain what happened?” Twilight said quietly, hoping that either Spike or Rainbow Dash would give a good reason not to explain what had happened.
Rainbow Dash nodded and Spike just kept his eyes locked on Twilight.
“Well, it all started with a mad pony and... a sword.”
~~~~~
“And that’s how Equestria was made!” Pinkie finished as she set down the puppet and the ice cream cone she had been using in her story.
She frowned though as the three fillies she had been entertaining were staring down the street and not at the ending of her production. “Hey, what gives? You guess just totally missed the super-duper awesome part! What are you looking at anyways?”
Pinkie Pie couldn’t wait to see what was cool enough to top even one of her own stories. So she hopped off the bench and followed the Cutie Mark Crusader line of sight down the road until she ran right into the coldest stallion she had ever crashed into.
“Sorry there, I didn’t see you, I must have been too busy tracking the lines of sight from my friends back there,” Pinkie pointed back at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and then let out a sudden gasp and began hopping with excitement. “Are you new to Ponyville? Are you visiting someone?”
The stallion groaned in response, to which the hyperactive pony took as a yes. “That’s so cool! I’m Pinkie Pie, what's your name?”
The stallion moaned this time in response.
“Auhhhhhhhhhhhh?” questioned Pinkie as she placed a hoof thoughtfully to her chin. “Hmm, I’ve never heard of that name before. Are you from Saddle Arabia? You must be a really important person! You should totally go meet my friend Twilight, she’s a Princess. And I’ll go get a party together for you so you can meet eveypony else!”
Pinkie Pie hopped away from the slightly confused corpse and it returned to shambling back towards the library treehouse.
It’s master calls.
~~~~~
“And now here we are.” Twilight finished and she then laid her head on the table, emotionally exhausted.
“Well,” Rainbow started, but she really couldn’t think of anything to say. Spike, for the first time today, also seemed to be without a response of any kind. Luckily, the silence was soon broken by a knock at the door.
“I’ll get that,” Spike volunteered and hopped off his chair, making his way out of the dining room.
The two mares sat in continued silence while they waited for Spike to finish dealing with the visitor. That plan was quickly destroyed however by a scream coming from the front door. Twilight jumped up in shock before sprinting out of the room towards the front door. She jumped over a hysterical Spike and continued towards the source of the disruption. Rounding the corner, she looked down the hall leading to the entryway and she couldn’t believe what she saw. It was the body of the colt that had died just a few days ago from her stun spell, standing up right on all fours. His coat was completely pale and frozen over, just like she had left him after their first and last encounter.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“Arr,” the animated corpse stopped its slow shambling for a moment as if trying to think. “This.”
Twilight backed up about half a pace as the corpse continued its slow progression forward. “This what?” she asked, confused as to what the icy body was saying.
“Arr...Thes”
Twilight shivered, the voice of the thing was saturated with death, but more so it had almost the same haunting echo that the voice of Frostmourne had.
The shambling corpse suddenly locked eyes with Twilight as if had finally found what it was looking for.
“Arth thus!” the cadaver exclaimed before lunging at Twilight with amazing agility and accuracy.
Twilight ducked and sidestepped the attack as some unknown instinct seemed to take over. She continued to give ground as the corpse pushed forward, trying to slash at her with its now rotting hooves. Eventually, It had backed Twilight into a corner and reared up on its hind legs to deal a devastating blow. But in that moment that exposed its torso, Twilight lunged forward, the icy steel shape of the cursed sword appearing in her hooves.
The wicked blade tore through the corpse’s stomach and with a swift upward slice, ending the abomination’s undeath.
As Twilight's senses returned to her, Spike and Rainbow Dash emerged from the other room to assess the outcome.
“Umm, Twilight…” the light blue pegasus said nervously. “How did you do that?”
Twilight’s eyes were fixed on the sword she now held in her right hoof and her voice was shaky with fear. “I don’t know, Dash, I don’t know...”