We're still walking through the forest. Apparently we're nearly there. But I still feel lost.
I'm hoping we are nearly there. I'm pretty sure that the temperature is still dropping. And Martyn has started to lag behind. He suddenly seems.. Ill.. He's dragging his hooves across the ground as he walks, his eyes are half closed, and the sparkling blue that they were when he arrived has dulled. He's not looking up from the grass, and from where I'm walking, it looks like he's breathing fairly heavily. He's shivering. A lot. Patches of warm air leaving his mouth in uneven clouds. I turn my head to focus on what's in front of me, but moments later I hear a groan and a thud. I turn around again to see the Sapling King laying on his side in the grass. A strange mist starting to form around him..
I approach him slowly. The air seems to get colder the closer I get. Espio seems hesitant though. I think he thinks that Martyn's just passed out. Then again. I think he might have done as well.
"M-Martyn.." I stutter as I stand about six feet away from him, cautious to move closer. He says nothing. Though I do hear him take a deep, shaky breath. A strange spark of what I can only presume is magic dances around his horn for a few seconds, before the mist surrounding him starts to thicken. Through the cloud I can see an odd sparkle effect moving across his body, leaving him an icy blue colour. "Martyn.." I repeat. Hoping for a response this time but not getting one.
The other unicorn. Who is still stood a few paces behind me. Cocks his head slightly to the side. Seemingly trying to analyse the situation. I can't think of an explanation myself. So he has no hope. There must me something.. Something that's caused this. Something I can't remember... Ugh.. Helpful..
The now blue unicorn stays motionless for about a minute, before he slowly starts to stir. He rolls onto his front, eyes closed as he spreads his forelegs out in front of him. Trying to steady himself perhaps..? He opens his eyes slowly and looks up at me. Before they were a perfect shiny blue. Now they're pale and cold. Still blue. But not the same as before.
"Martyn?" I repeat myself once again. Not sure what to expect from him. He still doesn't speak at first. Just tilts his head a little. He blinks a few times before he talks.
"Why.. Why are you looking at me like that?" He says quietly. His voice is suddenly very cold. Like his eyes. But yet he seems oblivious to what's just happened.
"Are you.. Are you ok?" I ask, slightly confused. He sits up a bit too quickly and wobbles a bit as a sudden spell of dizziness seems to come over him for a moment. He just looks at me with a peculiar, quizzical look on his face.
"Yeah I'm fine. I just. Tripped." He says slightly loader, still not smiling, and he seems to be doubting his own words.
"No you didn't. You collapsed. And now.. Now you're blue." I say, being careful how I word it.
"Blue? Well yeah, my eyes are blue but that's ---" He stops as he looks down at his hooves, which are now an icy blue, and blinks in confusion before jumping to his feet. He does a twirl on the spot, almost falling over in the process, and looks at himself. Blue all over. Even his cutie mark's gone from green to blue. Heck. Even his headband has turned a dark blue. Something seems to set in as it all comes together in his mind. He looks up at me again, suddenly seeming a bit depressed. "Inthelittlefrost."
"Pardon?" I smile slightly as he walks closer to me. Leaving spots of ice on the grass where his hooves touch it.
"Inthelittlefrost." He repeats. "It's what I call my Minecraft winter skin. It's like my normal skin. But. Blue."
"It's June." Espio says from the back. I want to say something about it being very cold for the middle of summer, but I don't. Just encase he lectures me about the forest working differently to the rest of Equestria.
"Yeah I know. Well actually I didn't. But it seemed kinda summer-ish. It might be June. But it's cold. Really cold. Well. I can't feel it now. I don't feel cold. But it is cold. Maybe that's why I changed." He says rather bluntly. I'm not sure how to respond. But Espio seemingly does.
"That's preposterous. A simple magic spell. That's all it is. Nothing more." The purple unicorn says. Clearly not willing to believe that Martyn just went through some peculiar seasonal transformation.
"If it was just a spell I wouldn't have changed. I wouldn't have done it!" The smaller unicorn snaps. Suddenly seeming rather aggressive for a moment. He stops and takes a deep breath before continuing. "It wasn't just a spell. It may have had something to do with my magic. But I didn't do it by choice. I'd have known. And at first I didn't notice the change." He says, his voice back to its much calmer state.
"Still. Before you fell. You looked kind of.. I dunno. Ill. Tired. Almost like you didn't want to keep going. And when you collapsed, this weird mist surrounded you. And you changed with a sort of sparkle effect. A bit like something out of a video game.." I say in a somewhat concerned manner. Martyn looks at me for a moment before turning away and closing his eyes.
"This is all starting to seem like a video game. A strange. Twisted game of life and death. Like a virtual reality game gone wrong." His voice becomes quite stern. Less than half an hour ago he seemed fairly cheerful. But now.. Now he seems to have sunk to a much darker place.
"Wasn't there an anime about a virtual reality game that went a bit wrong.." I say as I catch a reference he may or may not have made on purpose. He nods but doesn't speak. I hear Espio sigh and move closer to the blue unicorn before speaking.
"This is pointless. We're wasting time. I have no idea what you two are going on about. Nor do I know what caused you to change. Though I'm fairly certain it was nothing more than a magic trick. If we hang around for too long we'll get captured or killed. Neither of which I'm particularly keen on." The ninjas voice seems much darker than before. He turns to face me, his bright yellow eyes almost seem to be piercing through me. "I thought you wanted to find Xephos. In fact you seemed pretty desperate to find him. But now you almost seem to have forgotten he exists." That last sentence sets something off inside my mind. I move closer to him and look up at the tall unicorn, a rather serious expression on my face.
"Forgotten about him?! He's my best friend how could I forget about him!? I'm trying to stay calm about the whole situation, and how creatures and characters I thought were virtual are actually real and in this very forest! Trying to kill me no less! Plus Martyn's my friend, and when my friends start seeming under the weather I like to make sure they're ok." I say rather quickly, trying to sound a bit angry. But the unicorn just looks down at me with a slightly confused expression on his face. He crouches down so he's at my eye level and instantly changes the subject.
"I've been meaning to ask. If you're a fully grown stallion. Why are you so small?" He's confused about my height!? Well I suppose that does make sense. I'm less than half his size. And I didn't stand much taller than the unicorn twins, and they were just foals. Though the answer is very simple. I'm not in the mood to act as if it's ok for him to ask such a seemingly obvious question.
"I'm a dwarf." I say rather sternly. "Ya know. Diggy diggy hole and all that. That's why I'm short. And I doubt it helps that you two are so tall." I continue, staring into his bright yellow eyes. He stands up straight and gives me another puzzled look.
"I'm not particularly tall. Not that far above average. And neither is your friend here. The only reason we seem tall is because you're rather small." Espio says somewhat matter-of-factly. Before I have a chance to say anything. Martyn speaks up.
"Why are you two bickering like children? What do you expect that to achieve. We need to move. I'm starting to feel like we're being watched." The blue stallion says, starting off a little angry but quickly starting to sound concerned. Not another word is spoken as the three of us start walking again. Continuing into the depths of the forest. Martyn is still trailing behind slightly. Leaving a trail of ice on the ground as he walks. Espio is just ahead of me. Focusing on what's in front of us. Not long now. I hope..
---
We kept walking. And walking. And walking. Well. It only took another ten minutes to get to where we were going. But the eerie silence surrounding us and the freezing cold made it feel like hours.
We found ourselves in a small, dimly lit clearing in the trees. In the middle, stood a house, that looked like it had been made from a tree, a bit like Twilight's library, but a fair bit smaller. The house looked tiny from the outside. Long, twisted branches had what looked like potion bottles hanging from ropes wrapped around them. Several strange wooden masks were scattered around the outside, one, slightly smaller than the rest, was perched above the round wooden door. An odd yellow light was coming from the two small circular windows. Long vines hung from the trees branches. It was rather creepy actually.
"In there?" Martyn asked, almost doubtfully, as he looked at the house.
"Yes." Espio said flatly. "Come along." He added as he walked towards the door, tapping on it a few times with his hoof before opening it slowly. Martyn and I walked over to him, and followed him inside.
The first thing I noticed what that the room we had entered seemed far to big to be inside the relatively small looking tree. The second thing I noticed was two ponies at the back of the room, one sat, hunched over on the wooden floor, bandages wrapped around their hind legs, the other stood in front of the seated pony, a vial of something purple in their hoof.
There was something odd about the standing pony. They were about the same height as the other mares I'd met during my time in Equestria, but they were a fair bit stockier. Her coat was an off white colour, and her body was streaked with dark grey. Her hooves were almost black. And her mane was short and straight, and standing upright on her head. Striped with similar shades of grey as her coat. She wore golden rings around her neck and left fore leg, and large hoop ear-rings in her ears. Her eyes were a dark cyan. And she seemed to be talking to the pony sat in front of her before she noticed us walk in. My gaze drifted from the peculiar mare, and onto the other pony. Who I recognized instantly. Brown coat, dark brown hair and beard, bright blue eyes that seemed to be glowing slightly, and wearing a silky shirt striped with blue and white. There was no doubt, it was the pony I had been looking for. I felt an odd rush of joy run through me as a wide grin spread across my face. I walked quickly over to him, having to restrain myself from leaping at him, I stood beside him. Even though he was sitting down, he still towered over me.
"Hello." I said. My voice taking on an oddly high pitch tone, even for me. The stallion looked down at me, he looked exhausted. His glossy hair was messy and no where near as neat as I expected it to be, and his eyes were tired, making him look older than he is. "How ya feeling?" I add, a goofy grin still on my face that I can't seem to get rid of.
"I've been better." He said rather dully. A smile creeping across his face. His voice was dry and a bit croaky. But it kinda matched how he looked. "It's good to see you though, Simon. Can't say I imagined you being so small though." He continued, wrapping an arm - well, leg I guess - around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. I roll my eyes at the mention of my height and smile up at him. His eyes seeming oddly bright despite how generally tired he looks.
"Your eyes glow." I pointed out. Feeling the need to mention something odd about his pony form, like he did with mine.
"So I've been told." He smiles. "Not sure why though."
"You're an alien, Xephos." I joke, winking at him. Purposely using his username, rather than his real name. He just smiles and shakes his head. I look down at his hind legs and notice the bandages again. "What.. Happened.. Exactly?" I ask slowly. Changing the subject.
"Creeper." He says flatly. "You know what they're like. Crept up behind me."
"Boom." I mutter.
"Boom." He repeats. "And then I found myself here. I'm ok though. A bit sore. But otherwise ok." He smiles. I open my mouth to reply, but I'm distracted by the mare talking rather sternly to Martyn about bringing ice into her house. Her sentences all rhyme with one another. Which confuses me. Martyn seems rather flustered but eventually moves out the room and stands awkwardly in the doorway. Espio has vanished. Not sure where he's gone.
"Does she always speak in rhymes?" I ask Lewis, though it's not what I was planning to say, for some reason I want to know.
"Zecora? Yeah. From what I can tell she does." He responds. "But who's she talking to?"
"Martyn." I say quickly.
"Martyn? What. Martyn Littlewood?" He says, seeming rather confused. I nod. "Why, or rather how, would he be bringing ice into the house?"
"Not sure. We were walking through the forest, and it was really cold. And then he sort of. Collapsed. And turned blue. And now he leaves ice on things he touches. Apparently." I say rather bluntly. Not really sure how else to explain it.
"Ok then." Is all Lewis seems able to say at this point. I turn my head to look at Martyn, who's leaning against the door frame, looking at me and Lewis and smiling. Lewis, or Xephos as I should probably start calling him, looks at the blue unicorn as well and smiles. "Hello Martyn." He calls across the room.
"Hi Lewis." Martyn responds. "Rough night?" He chuckles.
"You have no idea." Lewis laughs.