//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Mounting Questions // Story: Shattered Ice // by Inukshuk //------------------------------// The boy sat on the back of his father's snowmobile as it raced across the sea ice. His arms were wrapped firmly around his father's torso as the snowmobile rocked from side to side as if threatening to buck its two occupants off in a fit of rage. The dark world around them was illuminated by the soft green glow of the northern lights dancing overhead. The boy nudged his father, "Dad, I need to pee", he yelled over the roar of the snowmobile's engine. His father let up on the throttle and they came to a restful stop. "Make it quick we have a ways to go yet" The boy jumped off the snowmobile made a b-line for the nearest snowdrift. As he rounded the corner a familiar looking Arctic fox sat on the sea ice three feet away looking up at him. "Look", said a disembodied voice. Confused he looked around in an attempt locate the voice, but the only creature around was the fox. "Look", said the voice once more. This time the Boy saw that the fox was pointing a paw back towards the snowmobile. He turned around looked back to see his father sitting on the snowmobile patiently waiting for him. ~Crack~ The sound echoed through the barren landscape. He saw his father look around briefly looking for the sound originated from. Then his father disappeared from the ice in a splash of water. "Dad?" The eerie groaning of the sea ice shifting was the only response. Tears started flowed down the side of his face. "Dad, where did you go?", he yelled into the empty expanse. Desperately he tried to move towards where he last saw his father but his feet were stuck. Not willing to give up, he let out another more cry. ___ "Dad!", scream the colt as he awoke from his dream. Fresh tears flowed down his face down at the memory that had been relived. The glare of the sun shining through the window brought him out of his thoughts. Looking around he noticed he occupied one of two beds in a room. The walls were plain white and there was the heavy smell if disinfectant wafting through the air. On a small table next to his bed sat a glass of water. The sight of the glass made him aware of how parched his throat felt, it had been over a day since he last had anything to drink and his body demanded he coat his throat with the the glass's cool, wet contents. Shuffling his body closer towards the table. He reached out for the glass, the sound of something hard hitting the glass's surface echoed off the room's walls followed by the sound of water dripping onto the floor. He stared at the knocked over glass confused. His eyes moved from the glass to his arm and let out a gasp, what he saw was not his hand but a hoof. Dumbfounded by the sight he moved his forelimb up, down and side to side in an effort to convince himself what he saw was not real. Unfortunately the alien appendage obeyed his commands. The longer he studied the hooved appendage the more he became aware how strange his whole body felt. Afraid to find out what else may have changed he looked down at his body. What he saw made him hold his breath in shock. Gone were his arms and legs, in their place were four limbs that ended in hooves. In place of his tan skin a full pelt of white fur greeted his eyes. The final nail in the coffin though was the sight of a long black tail. His mind was now in full panic mode. Thinking this might be a nightmare he closed his eyes and hit himself across the face with one of his fore-hooves. A sharp pain erupted from the side of his face but as he opened his eyes he was still confronted with the same nightmarish scene. Unable to comprehend why this was happening he let out a blood curdling scream. Nurse Lemon Heart strode through the quiet halls pushing a cart loaded with meals for the various patients that currently resided within the hospital's walls. It had been a calm morning with no new ponies admitted. It had stopped snowing outside but the leaving streets were left saturated with over a foot of the white stuff. This ensured only the ponies with the most serious of illnesses braved the deep snow. Stopping in front of one of the many doors that dotted the hall Lemon Heart took a deep breath. In the room behind the door laid a stallion who was her least favorite patient. He had been admitted after he suffered the wrath of a mares that was not the least bit impressed with how he kept trying to flirt with her. Eventually he crossed a line and the mare broke three of his ribs. Pushing open the door Lemon Heart cautiously made her way into the patients room. "Hey there Lemon Drops, come to keep me company?", he asked in a poor excuse for a seductive voice. "The name is Lemon Heart. If you want your meal you will remember that", she warned in a stern voice while pointing an accusatory hoof in his direction. "But Lemon Drops fits so much better since you look sweet as candy." Lemon Heart rolled her eyes at the the stallions horrible attempt to flirt with her. From down the hall came a loud scream which caused her ears instinctively curled flat against her head in an attempt to protect her sensitive hearing. She felt her body grow cold with worry, something must of gone terribly wrong with a patient. Silently thanking Celestia for an excuse to extricated herself from the stallion's presence she left the room as fast as her legs could carry her. She rushed down the hall towards the cries of distress, bursting through the door she saw the colt which Red Heart had admitted last night laying in a bed screaming in fright. When he saw her standing in the door way his eyes shrunk to the size of pins and he fell deathly quiet. The absolute look of terror on his face made her heart sink. Tentatively she took a step forward towards the colt. He watched her wide eyed as she carefully made her way to his bed side. Standing next bed the colt continued the stared into her eyes with the same look of terror petrified onto his face. "Shhh, it will be alright just calm down", cooed Lemon Heart in the most soothing voice she could muster. Slowly she reached out to give him a reassuring pat on the withers. The colt watched as her hoof as it slowly made its way towards him. He let out a quiet whimper as she made contact the colt promptly fainted. The strong smell of urine began to fill the air. Lemon Heart's concern grew, never in her ten years of working as a nurse had she seen a pony react that way to her presence. It unnerved her to think what kind of abuse the colt went through to be so afraid of other ponies. She would need to let Doctor Horse know about her revelations, but first the soiled sheets needed to be changed and the colt was in desperate need of a bath. Caring Skies sat behind her desk in the Counselors office going through the many missing foal reports that had been wired to her from Canterlot. She had been looking through them for hours and had tackled most of the reports but unfortunately none of them seemed matched the description of the colt Pinkie Pie had found. She let out a groan of frustration, she blew her sliver hair out her eyes, gave her wings an agitated twitch then reached for yet another report with her sky blue forelimb. She read the first few lines of the report in front of her. "Nope", she mumbled under her breath discarding the report. She reached for the final report and once again discarded after giving it a quick glance. She rested her head on her desk, rubbing her temples with her hooves. It was rare for a young foal to become separated from their parents these days in Equestria, especially so for it to happen in Ponyville. This put her in the position where she would have to assign a temporary guardian for the colt, but she had no clue who she could approach. A knock on the door drew her attention away from her thoughts. "Come in", The door opened and in walked a earth pony stallion. He had a navy blue mane and wore a white lab coat of over his light brown pelt. "Stressful day I see" he said noticing the the large stack of papers on her desk. "I went through every missing foal report I could get my hooves on", She gestured to stack of papers , "And not one matched the colt's description", she finished with a sigh "Speaking of the colt Nurse Lemon Heart brought something interesting to my attention." Caring skies eyed the Doctor suspiciously, "Please tell me it's good news Doctor Horse" "Um well.... no",he admitted, she let out another groan while tried in vain burrow her face further into her desk, "The colt had a fairly bad panic attack and fainted while he was in the presence of the the nurse." "Is he alright?", she asked her face taking on a concerned expression "He is now, the nurse gave him a bit of sedative so he should sleep for a couple of hours while we figure out how to approach the situation." explained Doctor Horse "Well at least he is asleep", Caring Skies motioned towards the chair in front of her desk. "Take a seat it sound like we have some planning to do" The kitchen at Sugarcube Corner was alive with commotion as a pinkie blur could be seen rushing from one end to the other. The homely smell of fresh baking filled the air and a batch of fresh cupcakes sat cooling off on the counter. All that was left to do was add the icing. Pinkie had spent minutes trying to guess which flavour of icing the new colt would like. Nothing brought a smile on the faces of young ponies in the hospital better than the perfect get well soon cupcake. "Ah ha!" exclaimed Pinkie finally satisfied with her choice. With precision the of a great artist creating their latest work Pinkie decorated each of the six cupcakes she had prepared. Each cupcake was a different colour and had either "get well soon blank" or "welcome to Ponyville blank". She used 'blank' since she did not know what the colt's actual name was. Just as she finished her work Mrs. Cake walked in, "Oh good morning Pinkie, what are you doing up to so early?" "Just finished my super duper combination 'welcome to Ponyville' and 'get well soon' cupcakes" explained Pinkie as she reached into her mane and pulled out a box to put the cupcakes into. "Ah yes that's right, how was meeting the new pony last night?" Pinkie's mane lost a some of its bounce when she heard the question. "It could of gone better", admitted Pinkie stared down at the floor for a moment, her mane wilted a bit more. "The new pony was a young colt who I found unconscious and shivering in the snow so I brought him to the hospital" Mrs. Cake covered her mouth with her hoof in surprise, "I hope the dear will be OK." "He will be once I welcome him to Ponyville properly and he eats one of my super fantastic cupcakes", assured Pinkie, her mane returning to its normal bouncy self as she stuffed the now filled box of cupcakes into the seemingly endless void that was her puffy mane. Finished in the kitchen she bounced past Mrs. Cake towards the entrance. "Pinkie wait!" exclaimed Mrs. Cake as she grabbed a paper bag and proceeded to fill it with a couple of cookies and held it out for Pinkie. "Before you leave why don't you take some of the maple nut cookies. They were supposed to be sold today but..", Mrs. Cake motioned at the empty interior of the bakery with a hoof, "It doesn't look like anyone wants to brave the snow today." "Thanks I just know he will love them" Pinkie grabbed the small bag of cookies and in a similar method to the box of cupcakes they disappeared into her mane. Opening the front door Pinkie started to bounce her way through the snow towards the hospital. Most ponies would dread the extra effort required to try and move through the deep snow. Pinkie's unusual way of locomotion though went unhindered allowing her to make good time. Ten minutes later she bounced through the entrance of the hospital. The lobby was empty like much of the rest of town had been. "Hello?" Pinkie asked in a sing song voice. After a few moments she just shrugged proceed to walk down the hall in a random direction. After passing six different door she stopped dead in her tracks to stared at a door. Something in the back of her mind was telling this was the room she was looking for. Slowly Pinkie pushed the door open to take a look inside. On the only occupied bed was a sleeping colt. His distinctive black mane and white fur left no doubt that she had found the correct room. Quietly she made her way across the room to the colt's bedside. With a wide smile of anticipation she waited for the for the colt to wake. The colt let out a groan as he awoke from his fright induced slumber. His body felt exhausted as if he had run a marathon. Opening his eyes once again The colt was greeted with the warm plain colours of the strange room he awoke in previously. The colt brought up a forelimb to wipe away some of the sleep from his eyes. Something hard impacted his face, annoyed he opened his eyes and was greeted once more his alien appendage hovering in front of his face. As he stared at the hoof more unknown bodily sensations crept mind which caused him to let out a soft gasp. His heart picked up its pace, his ears pinned themselves down against his head and his tail twitched in agitation as panic began to set in once more. He took a couple large breaths as he tried to calm himself down. He did notice that some of the more uncomfortable sensations had disappeared such as sweat soaked fur on damp bed sheets. His fur now felt light and soft against the bed with the slight smell of peach permeating off it . Looking around the room the colt's eyes fell upon the now refilled glass of water. His dry throat once again demanded a drink. With a bit of effort he moved himself closer to the table. Remembering his first attempt he carefully attempted to grab the glass. A soft clink originated from the glass as his hoof made contact pushing it slightly farther away. Groaning in frustration he brought his hoof closer to his face so he could get a better look at it. Its grey bony exterior was almost unmovable and offered no visible way grip objects on its own. He looked at his second fore-hoof and saw it was almost an exact mirror of the other hoof. Out of curiosity he brought both hooves together. ~clop~ The sound permeated through the room. The colt sat there dumbfounded for a few moments as he tried to figure out a better way to use his new limbs. He reached out for the glass once more but this time he decided to use both hooves placing one on either side of the glass. Pressing the glass between his two hooves he tried to lift the glass. The near friction-less surface though did not agree with his effort causing the glass to slip from between the colt's hooves landing with a thump back on the table. "stupid useless hooves" he complained with another groan of frustration giving up trying to use his hooves. Moving his his muzzle closer towards the glass the colt opened his mouth and gripped it with his teeth. Arching his head back the cool refreshing liquid flowed down his throat. Only three quarters of the water made it into the colt's mouth, the rest dripped down his neck causing and onto the bed beneath him causing it to become damp. Letting out a sigh he beamed with satisfaction, he finally had accomplished something in his new body. Giggling from other side of the bed caused his ears to perk up an ruin the moment. Tentatively he turned his head, his ears instinctively pinned themselves to his head as he looked for the source of the giggling. Next to the bed stood another of the pony like creatures that had entered the room previously. This once had a bright pink fur and a curly mane. She stared down at the him with a wide expectant smile plastered across her face. Without warning the bright pink pony started to talk in a language the young colt didn't understand. A look of terror crept across this face as the pink pony kept up her rant. Once the pony finished talking and she stared at him as if she expected some kind of answer. When she did not receive a answer she brought her face in closer to him and started to talk once more. The abrupt invasion of personal space was a bit to much for the colt. He scooted as fast as his clumsy little body could muster away from the assertive pink pony. He let out a surprised yelp as he felt the soft padding of the bed disappeared from under him. Desperate he pawed at the sheets with his forelimbs in an attempt to keep himself from falling. He saw the Pink pony let out a surprised gasp and tried to reach out to help him but it was to late. ~Thump~ The colt landed on his rump and swiftly collapsed down onto his stomach. Tears began to flow down his face. He felt very alone, "I want my father" he whimpered as he buried his face in his fore-hooves. A large warm furry mass curled itself around the colt and pulled him into a tight embrace. removing his face from his forelimbs, tears staining his face he looked into the eyes of the pink pony. Her mane had lost most of its curl and her smile had disappeared, in its place she bore a look of great concern. Her embrace felt warm and comforting and reminded him of how his father had held him when he would have nightmares about his mother's passing. Wrapping his own hooves around the barrel of the pink pony he buried his face into the fur of her chest and let out his sorrows. Pinkie stared down at colt curled up into her side, His face was still buried into her fur even though he had cried himself dry fifteen minutes ago. She tried to understand why he had been so frightened, what had she done wrong and how could she make him smile. The grumbling of the colt's stomach brought Pinkie out of her contemplation. Looking down saw that the had a look of meek embarrassment on his face. Pinkie's smile returned to her face since she knew exactly what the colt needed. Reaching into her pink curly mane Pinkie pulled out the box of cupcakes she had prepared earlier. The colt watched with curiosity as Pinkie opened the box and with a single hoof pulled out a cupcake and placed it in front of him. The colt stared at the cupcake for a moment then looked up at Pinkie with questioning eyes. "Yes it's for you" Pinkie assured the colt and gave the him an encouraging nudge towards the baked sweet. In an attempt to copy Pinkie's actions he reached out with a hoof and tried to grab the cupcake and was rewarded with a hoof full of colourful icing. Groaning in frustration he brought his hoof face and stared at his hoof giving it the evil eye. Mumbling something unintelligible he let out a sigh he leaned forward and licked some of the sweet frosting from his hoof. A smile spread across his face as the rich icing teased his tongue. Licking his hoof clean of frosting his attention turned towards the offending pastry occupying the floor in front of him. Moving his head closer he stuffed his face into the cupcake and took a large bite. A moan of satisfaction escaped his throat. To Pinkie's delight he proceeded to quickly devour the rest of the sweet treat. He looked up at Pinkie, frosting stained his the fur on parts his nose and the edges mouth. He wore a grateful smile on his face which caused Pinkie's heart to flutter with joy. He then said something in a questioning tone that Pinkie did not understand. She tilted her head in confusion, she let out a short gasp as she realized the colt spoke a different language. If he did not understand her then that would explain his reaction when she tried to initially welcome him. He asked the same question again but this time pointed towards the box of cupcakes then back at himself. "Of course you can have another cupcake", said Pinkie as she realized what it was her wanted. She reached into the box and pulled out another cupcake and held it in front of the colt. He leaned forward and quickly devoured the offered pastry. Letting out a satisfied sigh the colt leaned into Pinkie's warm body and nuzzling her soft fur in thanks. An overwhelming sense of joy washed over Pinkie causing her to return the the embrace with an even tighter hug of her own. "Pinkie what are you doing with my patient on the floor?" came an accusing voice from the door of the room. Looking towards the door Pinkie saw Doctor Horse standing just inside threshold of the room with a slight frown on his face. Behind him followed an older sky blue pegasus with a pure white mane whom Pinkie recognized as Caring Skies. Pinkie took in a deep breath and began to explain, "He fell off the bed and started to cry and since I did not have a bag of flour near by to make him laugh I laid down next to him and held him in a comforting hug until he calmed down. His stomach then made hungry noises so I gave him some cupcakes and now we're friends." "And why did he fall off the bed?", asked Doctor Horse with stern eyes cast towards onto the Pinkie. A sheepish laugh escaped Pinkie, "Well I think I may have startled him when I did my welcome to Ponyville speech since he does not speak Equestrian." The Caring Skies raised an eyebrow at this new bit of information and turned her attention to the young colt laying in Pinkie's hooves skeptical of the fact he didn't speak Equestrian. Caring Skies approached him and lowered herself down onto her stomach so she would be eye level with him. He hid his face in Pinkie's fur as he shook in fear at the proximity of a new pony. "You're OK, I promise no one will hurt you", Pinkie said in a soothing voice while she reassuringly rubbed her hoof on his withers. At Pinkie's touch seemed work and he calmed down enough to pry his face away from her fur. Caring Skies wondered what horrible thing the colt had been through to make him this way. She was glad to see that he at least saw Pinkie as a pony he felt safe around and could trust. She could eventually use this relationship to help him open up a bit more, but first she had to see if Pinkie was correct. "Hello little one my name is Caring Skies. What's your name?" ,the colt stayed silent staring at her with a confused look. Caring Skies tried a second time, "If you can understand me nod your head". This time he blinked a few times then responded in a language that she did not recognize. With a sigh she turned to the Doctor, "I don't recognize the language, how about you Doc?" "Unfortunately no" said Doctor Horse while shaking his head, "But the language barrier can be tackled later. Since he seems calmer now lets get him on the bed so I can do a proper check-up to make sure there isn't anything else wrong other than his fearful demeanor." The colt cautiously watched with ears pinned to the top of his head as the Doctor walked up to side of the bed. Using a hoof Doctor Horse tapped the top of the bed, "Common, up on the bed you go", Doctor Horse said in an encouraging voice. Caring Skies watched the colt's reaction, he seemed was unsure of the situation but was not shaking in fear this time. He stared at the Doctor for a minute then turned to look up at Pinkie with worried eyes. "Pinkie", Caring skies started, "I think you will need to encourage him somehow" "Oooooo!", exclaimed Pinkie after a moment of consideration, "I have just the thing." she reached into the box that was at her side and pulled out another colourful cupcake and held it in front of the colt's face. His eyes lit up and he leaned forward in an attempt to take a bite. "Not so fast buddy" Pinkie said while shaking her head and moving the cupcake just out of his reach, "First you need to get up on the bed." Pinkie pointed towards the bed with her free hoof. The colt nodded understanding of what Pinkie wanted, shakily used his forelimbs to push himself into a sitting position. Everyone became worried after a few moments, the colt was just sitting there with a look of intense concentration but nothing was happening. Eventually he gave up and looked at his rear legs then up up at Pinkie with teary pleading eyes. He obviously did not understand why his body was not cooperating. Pinkie's heart sank, she reached out with her hooves and embraced the colt in a tight hug. "Don't you worry the Doc will have you fixed in no time", Pinkie cooed reassuringly to the distraught colt. Caring Skies and Doctor Horse exchanged worried looks. "You don't think the colt's hind legs are paralyzed do you?" Caring skies asked. Pinkie let out a gasp and the colt even tighter when she heard the question. "I won't know until I run my tests." Doctor Horse turned to Pinkie, "Pinkie can I get you to lift the colt onto the bed so I can run some quick tests on him?" Pinkie nodded, released her grip on the colt then lowering her muzzle. Using her mouth she picked him up by the scruff of his neck. He let out a yelp of surprise as he left the ground. Pinkie reared up on her hind legs she braced herself against the bed with her forelimbs. Gently she lowered the colt onto the bed. Doctor Horse reached out with his hooves, the colt shied away and let out a whimper at the Doctor's touch but otherwise did not resist. Doctor hooves closed his eyes as he ran his hooves over the colt. In his minds eye the Doctors earth pony magic allowed fine details of the colts body became visible. he paid extra attention the the colt's lower back trying to find any damage that would inhibit his movement but found nothing. To Doctor Horse's eyes physically the colt was in good health. As a final test Doctor Hooves gently stroked the bottom of the colt's hooves, hitting a ticklish spot the colt's leg jerked back on reflex. A sigh of relief escaped Doctor Horse, "Good news, I can confirm the colt still has feeling in hind legs, but that could mean he may have suffered some kind of brain damage that has made him forget how to use parts of his body." explained Doctor hooves, "I will need to run more test but that can wait for later." Doctor hooves motioned towards the colt who Let out a large yawn, "I think we should let him rest for a bit as he has been through allot today." "I agree" said Caring Skies, " But I think we need to give him a name. We can't keep referring to him as 'the colt'" Pinkie's hoof rose, "Ooo, pick me, pick me", she exclaimed Caring Skies rolled her eyes at Pinkie's antics, "Yes Pinkie, what do you suggest?" "I was thinking since he has soft white fur and I found him in almost covered in a pile of fresh snow we should call him 'Soft Snow'" Caring Skies considered the name for a second, it fit the colt well. Looking towards the Doctor She asked, "Any objections?" "Sounds good to me", Doctor Horse simply stated. "Then it is decided until we are told otherwise we'll call him Soft Snow"