//------------------------------// // The Good Life // Story: Cold as Ice // by CamoBadger //------------------------------// Chapter 7: The Good Life Just give up. Even if you escape now, we will catch you eventually. No! I'll never let it happen! Oh come on, it won't be so bad, you're used to the cold right? Get away! Cryssy woke in a cold sweat yet again, her breathing heavy. The once beautiful room was coated in snow, and the sheets were practically frozen themselves. A layer of frost had formed in her mane, and her hooves were numb. She just couldn't shake these nightmares, even after yesterday, the best day she'd had since she left home, the thoughts of what she'd seen, what she'd heard, still filled her dreams. And how would she explain this to Applejack? She had offered Cryssy a room to stay in, and now it was devastated. Maybe staying here wouldn't be such a good idea after all. She focused on the table beside her bed, and of course the clock had been knocked down in the night. She reached down and felt around the snow coated floor, hoping desperately that the clock would still work. Her hoof knocked against a small metal block, which she lifted to her face. Luckily it was an older clock, with very well pronounced hooves to tell the time. "4 o'clock" Cryssy whispered to herself. She didn't have the slightest idea what time she had fallen asleep, but she didn't really care either. Even if she had only slept for 2 hours, she didn't want to go back to sleep now, and risk the room being destroyed further. The unicorn rolled out of bed and went to the task of trying to get rid of the snow. She lifted small hoof-fulls of snow one at a time and threw them out the window, glad that the ground outside had was still covered in snow by the current winter. Maybe that would be her excuse; she'd opened the window for some fresh air and forgotten to close it. She just hoped Applejack would buy it, and not be angry with her. After removing most of the snow before it melted, Cryssy had to find a way to dry the floor and walls before the water damaged them. She tried using the sheets from the bed at first, but those were saturated as well, and didn't make any difference. She quietly stepped into the hallway, looking across the walls for a door that could be a closet, and hopefully find some towels. She only saw one door, so she tip-hooved over to the handle, and carefully pulled the door open with her mouth. Sure enough, it there was a shelf full of what looked like towels a few inches from the ground. The unicorn grabbed a few in her muzzle and quickly went back to her room. The hardest part of doing laundry, at least for Cryssy, was trying to figure out how to hang the wet cloth on the line. She could only hold one clothespin in her mouth at a time, and try to pick the laundry up to the line so she could pin it up. It was an impressive balancing act that she had taken quite a while to figure out back home, which always left her wishing she could use her magic to pick at least one of the items up. She had hung her sheets and was starting on the towels when a voice behind her almost caused her to fall off of the stool. "Good mornin'." Cryssy caught her balance and turned to see who had almost caused her to tumble. "Oh, good morning Applejack." "Ah'm not used to anypony wakin' up before me" the earth pony said as she trotted over and pulled out a towel from the laundry basket. "I'm a bit of an early bird" Cryssy said as she grabbed the towel from Applejack. The pair took about 5 minutes to put the rest of the laundry on the line before either of them spoke again, "Ya' know sheets last more'n one night sugarcube?" "I know, but they got a little wet. I accidentally left your window open," Cryssy lied with a drooped head, "I'm so sorry." "Well it looks like ya' cleaned up after yerself, and that's what matters. More'n what most guests would'a done." Cryssy lifted her head and nodded, "It was the least I could do after you took me in so willingly." "Don't mention it. That's all part a' Apple Hospitality" the earth pony replied with a smile and a slug on Cryssy's shoulder. The unicorn winced and rubbed her shoulder softly, "Thank you." "Would ya' like to join us fer breakfast? Ah'm sure the rest o' the family would like ta' meet ya'." "Yeah, that sounds nice" Cryssy replied with a little smile. It was still so surprising to her how nice everypony here seemed to be. She had been greeted with a party, given a free manecut, and she was practically ordered to stay with Applejack. And nopony had judged her for being blind. If only she could stay. The breakfast was wonderful! Applejack had introduced Cryssy to the rest of her family, at least the ones that lived here. She recognized the filly Applebloom from the night before, she had been one of the fillies that had complimented her eyes. Big Macintosh was her older brother, though he didn't seem to talk much. And last was Granny Smith, who took particular interest in Cryssy's blindness for some reason, asking a lot of questions about how to cope and what it was like. Applebloom was a very talkative little filly as well, and she spent a lot of time talking about something called the 'Cutiemark Crusaders', "And then, Scootaloo thought we should try bein' lumberjacks, but Ah don't even know what a lumberjack is." "I don' want ya'll out there gettin' hurt again t'day. Ya' remember last time right?" Applejack sternly told her little sister. "It was just one bruised rib! Ah barely even felt it" the filly tried to argue, but did a poor job. "Ya' know sugarcube, ya'll don't gotta do nothin' dangerous to get a cutiemark." "But that's the best way to get a good one!" Applebloom continued her argument. "Don't matter. Why don't ya'll try somethin' like designin' or singin'?" "We did try that! Remember the talent show?" the filly whined to her sister, "Ah promise we'll be careful!" Applejack continued to glare at her sister for a moment before giving in with a sigh, "Fine." A smile erupted onto the filly's face, "Alright! I'll be back later sis!" she jumped down from her chair and galloped out the door, presumably to meet her two friends. Applejack shook her head, "Sometimes I worry 'bout her Big Macintosh." The big red stallion simply nodded and answered with "Eeyup." "Sorry 'bout that Ice Crystal." "It's alright Applejack. She's a cute filly." Cryssy knocked gently on the heavy wooden door, and was quickly answered from inside "Coming!" The door opened, revealing...nopony? Cryssy focused on the images being flashed into her mind, trying to see who, if anypony, had answered the door. "Hey, I'm down here!" the same voice shouted. Cryssy looked down, and finally saw that the door had been opened by a dragon! The unicorn jumped back a bit, worried that she had gone to the wrong building. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I was looking for Twilight Sparkle." The dragon's face twisted with confusion, most likely due to Cryssy's reaction, "Twilight's upstairs. Oh, are you that new pony she met last night?" Oh thank goodness this was the right place. The unicorn stepped back to the door, a bit of a blush filling the center of her face, "Yes, that's me. Sorry I jumped." "That's okay" the dragon replied as he stepped to the side and yelled into the giant tree, "Hey Twilight! Somepony is here to see you!" Cryssy heard hooves walking through the tree and over to the door, where Twilight appeared a few moments later. "Oh hey there Ice Crystal! Come on in." There were books everywhere in the tree, literally. They were on the ground, spread across a few tables, and a few were even on the shelves that lined the walls. The door clicked shut behind the blue unicorn as she examined the room, and the dragon started to walk back upstairs. "There's a dragon in Ponyville?" Cryssy asked Twilight after she was sure the reptile had gotten out of earshot. "Spike? Yeah, he came here with me from Canterlot" Twilight replied as she tried to clean up the library a little, lifting books magically onto shelves from the floor. Cryssy nodded and continued to look around at the library, admiring the number of books that could fit into the tree. "You've read all of these?" Twilight answered as she continued to pick up books, "No, not all of them yet. But I've gotten through most of them." "What are they all about?" "Everything. Magic, history, music, food, and all of the different places around Equestria." "What's this one about?" Cryssy asked about the book that was opened on a pedestal in the center of the room. "That one is actually pretty interesting, it's about a distant city called Cirrotropolis. Apparently the pegasi there were exiled from Equestria a few hundred years ago by Princess Celestia" Twilight finished cleaning up the books from the floor while she explained, then stepped beside Cryssy. "I haven't gotten to where it explains why they were exiled, but it must be something bad." For some reason the name of that city sounded familiar to Cryssy, though she couldn't figure out why. She didn't remember hearing about it before. It had probably been in one of her bedtime stories when she was a filly. She shook off the thought and turned to Twilight, "So what do you want to do?" "Hm, why don't you decide? My hobbies aren't exactly normal for most other ponies" the unicorn replied with a sheepish smile. "Actually," Cryssy took another look around the room, then back to Twilight, "I wouldn't mind doing some reading if you're okay with that?" The pony audibly gasped, and followed up with a big smile, "You mean...you like reading?" she asked excitedly, as if nopony had ever said that to her before. "Well, I've never actually read before, but I always liked it when Mama and Daddy read to me" once again Cryssy wished she hadn't brought up her parents, but unlike the night before she pushed back her sadness and stayed in the present. "Can you not read with that magic vision?" Twilight asked cautiously, trying not to offend the blind pony beside her. "No, I can't see the words. Which is why I, um..." Cryssy paused for a moment while she tried to figure out how to ask, "would you mind reading out loud for me?" Twilight smiled and nodded, "Of course I can. I usually do that by myself anyways" the unicorn giggled a little. "Wait, you and your friends are the Elements of Harmony?" Cryssy asked once Twilight had finished reading the story about the Mare in the Moon, and told her how she and her friends had stopped Nightmare Moon. The unicorn nodded and smiled to the blind pony, "Yes." Maybe she would be safer here. The Elements of Harmony sounded really strong from the story she had just been told, maybe they could protect her from the ones trying to capture her. Twilight suddenly tensed up and started mumbling to herself before addressing Cryssy again, "Ice Crystal, I'm so sorry, but I really have to go." Cryssy was a bit confused, but Twilight must have some reason to leave so quickly if she had reacted like that, "It's okay Twilight. And you can just call me Ice. It's shorter." "Okay Ice. Thank you so much for coming today, I can't remember meeting anypony that actually wanted to read with me before." "It's no problem Twilight, I enjoyed it." The pair walked back over to the doorway, which Twilight held open for her blind friend, "And I'm sorry again, but I have a lot of planning to do for tomorrow and I totally spaced it." "It's fine Twilight, I understand," Cryssy replied again, "but what's tomorrow?" The unicorn smiled and jumped a little before answering, "It's Winter Wrap Up!" The door to the throne room flew open with a heavy crash as it slammed into the stone pillars just on the other side, an action normally leading to punishments of the highest degree, but would likely be forgiven for the intruder. At the head of the room, a hulking form sat upon his golden throne. While he was currently bathed in shadows at his order, a practice he normally partook in to show his unwillingness for visitors, his gleaming eyes were still visible through the shroud. As the doors swung closed once again, his pupils squeezed into pinpoints at the intrusion, but quickly returned to their usual size at the sight of the one which had come before him. "Have you found the one I requested?" his voice echoed through the room, just loud enough to fill every corner. "I'm afraid we've encountered a problem in securing her" the visitor spoke with a strangely confident tone for a bearer of bad news, especially with the reputation of the one before her. "What kind of problem?" his words were punctuated by the sound of talons grinding across metal as his claw clenched into a fist. "After her latest escape, one of my scouts reported that she is in yet another town." "I fail to see the issue, you've entered towns in pursuit before" his voice showed his impatience and anger as he struggled to keep calm. The messenger took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts before speaking again, "It seems she is in Ponyville, and is currently staying within the home of one of the Elements of Harmony." Within seconds his massive body had descended from the throne and stood glaring down at the bearer of bad news. His beak stopped mere inches from her face, giving her an up close look at the jagged edges which only served to show how he had gained his throne so easily. "I don't care if she is housed by the Princesses themselves, bring her to me. Take my personal guard if you have to, just get. it. DONE!" Her face showed no reaction, no fear, at her king's demands. After spending her entire life under his talon, she had learned that any weakness will only lead to greater suffering at his claws. It was a lesson learned the hard way, though she could not doubt the results his methods garnered. "Yes sir, she will not escape this time" after issuing this promise, she rendered a short bow before turning to leave the room. The door swung open as she approached, nearly silent in their movement as to prevent causing the king any further frustration. Once the door had closed behind her, she promptly tore the head from a nearby statue in order to vent a portion of her ever-growing anger. "You, guard!" A nearby guard, clad in obsidian adorned armor, quickly rendered a salute in response, never making direct eye contact with the one who addressed her. "Gather all of the guards who are not currently on duty, and tell them to meet me in the courtyard, NOW!" Without bothering to render another salute, the guard quickly took flight, leaving his incredibly frustrated commander alone with her thoughts. This was her last chance, and she knew it. If she didn't get Ice Crystal this time, her head would be on a pike within minutes of her return, regardless of her past with the king.