//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Elsa's Snowdrop // by TheOneAJ //------------------------------// Elsa never felt more free in her entire life. Sure, she had just run away from home because her people—even her sister—had seen her for what she really was, a freak. It was supposed to be the best day of her life, her coronation into a queen. Yet, now that her secret was out, she didn't care. For her whole life, she had been told to hold it in, not to feel, and to not let it go, or else people would have treated her exactly like they had. Never would she get the fear on their face out of her mind no matter how long she lived. Now that her secret was out, she realized how she had nothing to lose. She had no reason to hide who she was anymore. As she threw her last glove and cape to the wind, she began to sing and test just what her powers could do. With nothing to hold her back, she could create snowmen, stairs, even an entire castle and wardrobe, and it felt unbelievably uplifting. The rush of power, the release of a lifetime of trauma, all flowing out of her as she made her new kingdom larger and larger. At the moment, it felt like there was nothing she couldn’t do. For a final touch, she took the crown upon her head and tossed it as far as possible. She then made her way out to the castle's newly formed patio to admire her work. “The cold never bothered me anyway.” Her song finished off as she gazed upon the sunrise. Smiling in satisfaction, she used her powers to close the balcony doors behind her. With all the freedom in the world, she could do anything she wanted. She squealed as if she was a little girl, and did the most un-queen like things by skipping around the castle. Though, after a while, the exhaustion from her little night had caught up to her reality sank in. Alone and free, what was she suppose to do, create snow-furniture all day? Not that she would choose the life she left over boredom, but she didn’t want to do nothing with her new freedom other than sit, create, sleep and eat forever. What was she to do now that she was the queen of nothing? What did she have to live for now? She created a small ice-chair to pounder this. Once she sat down down, she heard the castle's doors open. “Hello?” Elsa heard someone shout. “Is anypony home?” She jumped up from her newly formed ice-chair. No one could have possibly reached the mountain if it was a search party, so who could it have been? Anna? No, she couldn't have made it up here either. Cautiously, she made her way towards the entrance. “Hello,” the voice said, drawing closer, “can anypony help me? I fell out of Cloudsdale and I don’t know where I am. Am I somewhere in the north? It’s awfully cold for this time of year.” The voice sounded innocent enough, but she wasn’t going to take any chances after all she'd been through. “Please help me! I’ve been wandering around all night!" The voice was right around the corner. Elsa inched forward, focusing on the high-pitched intruder and breathing deeply to steady her nerves. No, it wasn't Anna, or human: everything about it was different. At its closest, it would be an ten-year-old-girl. Wait, a child? Elsa shook her head. No, she thought, that's impossible. Biting her lip, Elsa took one last breath to prepare herself for whoever, or whatever, was waiting for her just beyond the corner. She lunged forward, ready to defend herself at the slightest provocation, and shouted, "Halt!" The voice screamed. It was defiantly a scream of fear, but it was so weak. Elsa checked herself at the last moment, as much through her own willpower as through the other odd occurrence. There was no one here. And yet the voice stammered, "P-please d-don't hurt m-me." Elsa frowned and convinced herself to face facts and look down on the child that had somehow entered her new castle. What she saw was not a child—at least not a human one. It was a small, blue pegasus. Wha- How can- I don't- Elsa took a step back, eyes wide, her hand gently rubbing her forehead. This is impossible! Unless...did I make her somehow? Looking alternatively between the pegasus and the castle floor, the colors did match. There was even some sort of snowflower on the pegasus's haunch. "He - Hello," Elsa said. The pegasus's shivering did not stop, but it removed its hooves from over its eyes and folded its wings. It looked straight at Elsa's face and stumbled forward on the ice. "St-stay back!" shouted Elsa. The pegasus jumped backward and flipped, falling to the ground. Elsa took a step back of her own, resisting the urge to help. "I'm...dangerous..." Something about the pegasus's face told Elsa that it had realized something. It awkwardly rose to its hooves and said, "B-but you're f-f-friendly." It was not a question. Or if it was, the pegasus completely forgot to make it sound like one. Either way, the words floored Elsa. The pegasus approached again, more slowly this time. Her movements were oddly similar to Anna's way back when they had played together and saved a wounded bird. "P-please, I n-need h-help. I-I have n-n-no idea w-where I am, a-and it's s-s-so c-c-cold." And with those words, it all came flooding back. She—for the pegasus was definitely a she—was going to die from the cold, and it was all Elsa's fault. It was her sister Anna all over again, but this time, Elsa's parents were not around to fix her mess. Elsa took in a long deep breath "Alright?" The pegasus nodded and ever so slightly increased the pace of her approach. If she's cold, does that mean I did not create her? But that means... Shaking the fantastic and impossible thoughts from her mind, Elsa returned her attention to the pegasus. That shivering, it was not from fear. There was no telling how long she had wandered alone outside in the cold. Especially because she was blind. Elsa's eyes widened as she processed her thought. The pegasus's eyes were gray and glazed over. Yes, the pegasus was blind, and she had not even realized. Rushing forward, Elsa intended to share her body heat. In her haste, it was the only thing she could think of to save the pegasus's life. Yet, she stopped just short of actually touching the pegasus and retracted her hands. Elsa sighed, as much from relief as from irritation. I almost froze her even further. Elsa looked to her hands and bit her lip. It had to be done, but the mere thought of putting on gloves again made her shiver. "I-is s-s-something wrong?" the pegasus asked, head tilted to the side. How does she-- Shaking away yet another distracting thought, she had to warm this child up. "It' okay," Elsa said as careful placed a hand on the foals cheeks. After a moment, once Elsa was sure that the pegasus wasn't made of snow, she realized something else; the cheeks weren't turning to ice. Realized and not caring how the filly hadn't frozen (although she suspected her recent energy high had drained most of her magic) she picked the foal up and cradled the girl in her arms. "It's okay," Elsa promised, "as long as you're in my castle, no one will harm you." “Th-thank you,” the foal said as she hugged her. “Wait, are you not a pony, miss?” “No, little one, I am not.” She patted the foal on the head and let gave out a warm smile. Elsa couldn’t help it as she comforted the foal, she was adorable. “But I promise that as long as you are in my castle, you will not be harmed.” The foal smiled as she allowed Elsa to stroke her mane. “Than-Thank you.” The foal kicked at the ground around her. “I d-don’t ma...mean to sound rude, but-but is there some-some-anywhere else that I ca-can-can warm myself up? Not that I don't mind you, but a fi-fire sounds nice." “Of course.," Elsa smiled nervously. “Although, would you mind if I carried you? It would be easier to guide you around the castle if you don’t mind.” The foal huffed. “That sounds fine, miss.” And sighed. “Wait, is this your castle, and if so, would that make you a princess?” Elsa sighed as she turned her head away. “I was.” The foal tilted her head. “Was?” Elsa shook her head. “Long story, and I would rather not go into it." "Okay," the foal simply nodded as it tried to get comfortable in her grasp. "Although, do you have a name, Princess?” Elsa scratched the foals' head. “You can call me Elsa.” The foal smiled as she snuggled into her arms. “Thank you, Princess Elsa, my name is Snowdrop.” ‘Snowdrop,’ Elsa thought. A strange name, but then again, this had been a strange day. “Alright, Snowdrop, just Elsa is fine,” she said as she held her close to her chest to warm her up. “Now, let’s see if we can find you some warmth, child.” How was she going to do that? She was in an ice castle on top of a mountain that didn’t have a single tree for miles around. What was she supposed to keep this child warm and cared for? She didn’t run away from home, her sister, and her responsibilities of being a queen to take care of a child. Then she remembered something. In her moment of harmony, she had created a snowman earlier using twigs for arms. She hadn’t thought about it then, but how had she been able to move around tree branches when she only had ice powers? Not sure what else to do—trying wouldn't hurt—Elsa held out a hand and commanded for firewood to appear. It shouldn’t have been possible, yet enough logs appeared in front of her to keep Snowdrop warm for weeks. “Yes!” Elsa fist-pumped. She then lifted up her hand, expecting the logs to levitate and follow her, only to have them remain in place. “Oh, you have got to be kidding.” Snowdrop looked up at her. “What’s wrong, Elsa?” “Um, nothing,” she said as she held Snowdrop with one arm and picked up one of the smaller logs with the other. “Now, how about we find that fireplace?” Snowdrop beamed. “Yay!” Elsa chuckled though her teeth. “Yay.” Then she realized the next problem: Where was she supposed to build a fire in a castle made of ice? That was when she remembered that her castle was built into a mountain, a mountain that wasn’t made of ice. With a flicker of hope, she headed as far back into her castle as she could. After a moment of fear, she found a room she was looking for. While most of the room was made of ice, one of the walls was made of stone from the mountain. “Excuse me for a moment,” she said as she set Snowdrop down. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and blasted a section of the stone wall with her ice powers. It took her longer than she expected while Snowdrop shivered, but she had made a large enough hole in the wall to make a fire pit. Next, she made a window for the smoke to escape from, placed the log inside, and struck two stones together until she got a spark and a fire. “Um,” she heard Snowdrop mumble. “I’m sorry to ask, but is the fire almost ready? I mean, is there anything I can do to help?” Elsa smiled. “No need to, Snowdrop, the fire is ready. Why do you not come over here and warm yourself up?” Snowdrop’s eyes widened as she slowly made her way over by the sound of Elsa’s voice. Once she got herself comfortable, Elsa rubbed her on the back. Her coat felt, nice, comforting, and warm. It sort of reminded of her of when Anna— She drew her hand back. Snowdrop looked up at her quizzingly. “Elsa?” “It is fine, Snowdrop. I just need to get some more firewood. Wait right here. I will be right back.” “Oh, okay.” Snowdrop nodded, having no reason to distrust her. Elsa obtained more logs with the intention of leaving the logs in a place where Snowdrop could reach them and leave her be. All she had to do was make sure Snowdrop didn’t freeze to death while she found out where the foal came from, then get her home. While it was nice to have company, she had to be alone. She couldn’t hurt this child in the same way she had with Anna. That was why she had to be alone. Alone and happy, for the rest of her life. Elsa gathered the firewood and walked into the room. She had expected Snowdrop to greet her, but instead found that she had fallen asleep. The sight eased her fears for a time, because now she was feeling a new emotion, fatigue. Seeing Snowdrop asleep, Elsa realized that she, too, was tired from running and using her powers all night. Not wanting to leave the poor thing alone to freeze when the fire died out, Elsa made a bed out of ice so she could sleep next to her. A nice, cold, bed of ice. She was about to crawl in when she heard Snowdrop mutter, “Mama…” Elsa shot up and looked at her as she let out a long sigh. Knowing what the filly was going through, she decided to make a bold move. It was just for one time, and she had used up most of her powers anyways, so hopefully she wouldn’t freeze Snowdrop in her sleep. In a moment of weakness, she walked over to Snowdrop and picked her up. “Wa…” Snowdrop muttered as her faded eyes opened. “Shh,” Elsa whispered, “go back to sleep. I will make sure you don’t freeze. Then we will look for your mother when you wake up.” “Oh.” Snowdrop sighed as she curled up in Elsa’s lap once she sat down. “Yeah,” she said, yawning in her arms. “Thank for all you have done, miss.” “It’s no problem at all, Snowdrop,” Elsa said as she summoned an ice wall to lean on. Once her back touched it, she let out a wide yawn. “But let us get some sleep. Looks like you had just as big a day as I had. Do not worry, I will make sure you get home.” Elsa felt Snowdrop smile in her arms as the pair began to drift off. “Okay. Thank you, Princess Elsa.” “I am not…” Elsa began, but decided to not care as she drifted off into a peaceful sleep. ***** Down below in Arendelle, the cold retreated a bit as the sun broke through the clouds to give the people a moment of warmth.