• Published 21st Nov 2011
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Cold as Ice - CamoBadger

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The Death of Innocence

Chapter 5: The Death of Innocence

"Just keep moving" she told herself.

The shawl was pulled tightly around her body, shielding herself from the flying ice all around her. The flakes stung against her calves as the wind blew them through the forest with the force of a hurricane. She hadn't heard any of the stalkers following her, which meant she must have lost them, again. She could move faster in here, where the trees were tangled together, making movement impossible for anything much larger than her. They would have to resume the search whenever the storm subsided; flying in this storm would be suicide.

Cryssy stumbled upon a small path, a break through the trees leading to only a place Celestia herself could possibly know. She fought with herself to decide if she should follow the path. Surely those following her would anticipate her going this way, but if she got lost in these woods, or slipped and injured herself...

She decided to follow the path, hoping it might lead to a town or that she would run into somepony. It had been weeks since her last sighting of civilization, and she was almost out of food. If she could somehow trade for some, or manage to scrounge up a few bits to buy something, anything, to eat, it might just give her time to reach Canterlot. The one place she believed they could help her, and maybe even protect her from the stalkers.

As she trotted down the overgrown path, Cryssy's mind began to wander back to how all of this had started. She wondered if there had been anything she could have done to prevent any of this, so that she could still be back home with Mama and Daddy...


It had all started that night, the night she came back late after a date with Red Lightning. It had been a wonderful night; the dinner, the moonlit lake, and now a personal escort back home? This had been even better than she thought it would be.

Unfortunately, it was a short walk back to Cryssy's house from the lakeside. Red had kept his wing over Cryssy's shoulder the entire walk, the warmth of his body pressed against her felt amazing on such a cold night. She wished it didn't have to end, but she would see him again soon, she hoped.

"Looks like we're here" the pegasus broke the silence in front of the darkened house. "Thanks again Ice, this was fun."

"It was. Thank you for a good time." Cryssy shyly replied as the wing lifted from her back, the chill of the night nipping at the newly exposed coat.

"Would you...want to do this again sometime?" he finally asked.

Cryssy had an internal celebration, but managed to keep her cool on the outside, only showing her excitement with a shy smile, "Yes, definitely."

Red smiled and unfurled his wings. Just before he took off, Cryssy snuck a peck on his cheek before turning back to her own house; trying to hide the blush which had found its way back onto her face again.

The door to her home squealed open as the chilled hinges fought against the movement, "Mom, Dad, I'm home!"

Something seemed wrong in the house. It was too quiet, she had been expecting her father to come running as soon as the door opened to make sure she was alright. Other than that, it looked as if the house had gotten messier than when she had left, as if somepony had turned the room upside down to find something.

A soft thud broke the silence, something hitting the ground above her, from where her parent's room was. She assumed it must have been her father crawling out of bed.

*CLANG*

Cryssy jumped at the sudden sound that rung from the kitchen, and found herself filled with an urge to run out of the house. But that would be foalish, she would just check the kitchen, see that the noise was nothing, and go up to bed.

The unicorn pushed back the urge to run and slowly made her way into the kitchen, her horn sparking at an increased rate as her heartbeat quickened. From the doorway, she could see that the kitchen mirrored the rest of the house; broken dishes were thrown around the room, food from the opened refrigerator strewn across the table.

She could hear a soft rustling behind the table, and suddenly a flash of a pan appeared in her mind.

*CLANG*

That urge to run out of the house returned, but she couldn't abandon her home, especially when she still didn't know where her parents were.

"Is somepony back there?" she half-shouted across the room.

The rustling stopped, replaced by a soft clicking as someone, or something, rose from behind the table. It looked like some kind of giant bird, except something seemed strange about it; something Cryssy couldn't recognize in her fear.

The bird let out a high pitched screech that filled the house, and suddenly the home was filled with noise. Above her, Cryssy could hear something running toward the center of the home; toward the stairs. The bird in the kitchen spread its wings, and closed on her with one forceful flap. It was much taller than her, it's head almost touching the ceiling as it stood over the terrified unicorn.

A loud thud sounded behind her, and the unicorn turned to see another of the giant birds glaring down at her. "I thought you said there were only two here" the new arrival spoke, it's voice raspy and angry.

But birds didn't talk, did they? Then again, Cryssy had never heard of birds twice the size of a pony before.

"I thought there were, I've never seen this one before" the bird in front of her spoke again, its voice was softer, but still shrill and frightening.

"Hm, bad day for her then."

A set of talons wrapped around Cryssy's neck, and she was thrown into the front room. Her back slammed into the wall, knocking the wind from her lungs. Images flashed into her mind faster and faster. Who were these birds? And why were they here?

"Where...what did you do with my Mom and Dad?" she managed to ask after her breathing returned. Something was building inside her body, she could feel it. A deep tingling grew within her gut, slowly weaving throughout her body. It was something new to her, yet somehow she thought that it had happened before.

"Oh, were those other two walkers your parents?" the larger of the two birds asked, its voice soaked in an uncaring tone, "you just missed them. They were so sweet, and a bit salty."

Cryssy's breathing froze, and her heart crumbled. They hadn't...they wouldn't.

"But a young girl like you," the cruel one spoke again, its voice scratching through Cryssy's head as it took a step toward the frightened unicorn, "I think you'll be so much sweeter."

The tingling grew, and consumed her body. Her horn ceased its flashing, surrounding her in darkness. She heard herself screaming, and suddenly the air around her was the coldest she's ever felt in her life. She could hear the birds screeching, but not like before. They were screams of surprise, of fear, and of pain.

Even though she couldn't see, Cryssy pulled herself up, though it was like she was lifting an extra pony as well. She felt so weak, as if she had just run a race. She ignored the thought and pushed herself to move. She had to get out, she had to escape from the birds. No, they weren't birds, they were demons, they had to be. No mortal creature could be so cruel, so heartless, as to...to even suggest that they had done that to a pony.

She stumbled across the room to where she remembered the door was located, hoping she could still get around in darkness as she did years before. After knocking a few walls, she finally found the wooden door, kicking it open to escape the home.

She stumbled into the street, and the cold followed. The tingling feeling had intensified to a near-burning, and was all focused into her head. The pain brought her to her haunches in the street, where she let out another scream of anguish that pierced the night air of Snowhoof.


Cryssy shook herself back into the present as tears welled up in her eyes. She hated herself for remembering that night. She hated remembering the pain, the loss, and especially what would come after. She just wanted to forget it all, and start new somewhere else, somewhere they would never find her.

That was why she had to go to Canterlot. It was the capital of Equestria, which means it has to be the safest place for her, right? They wouldn't dare chase her there...would they?

The path through the forest grew more and more narrow the further she walked, and she found herself focusing on the flashing ground, careful not to trip or stumble over the countless twigs and rocks which covered the ground and risk making a noise. The wind still blew heavily around her, but was starting to subside. Her legs felt as weak as they always did when she had an 'outburst' like that, but she couldn't stop now. Once the storm stopped, they would be searching again, and she wouldn't have the strength to run if she had to drive them back again.

After what felt like only minutes the wind halted, and the snow around the unicorn gently settled onto the ground. She had to move quick, and find cover somewhere. They would be in the air again soon, if they weren't already, and they could move much faster than her in the open sky.

The frozen grass crunched beneath Cryssy's feet as she continued forward, her mind frantically thinking of somewhere to...wait. Grass?

Cryssy's head snapped up, and the images flashed her new surroundings into her mind. She had left the forest, in fact it was so far behind her that her magic couldn't even touch the tree trunks. Everything around her was open; she was standing in some kind of field, a rolling plain of small hills from what she could see. The last place she wanted to be right now. She desperately scanned the area, looking for somewhere with cover before they found her, anywhere she could hide from their searching eyes above.

Then she found it; a small cave dug into the side of one of the hills, just the right size for a pony to fit in, and hidden from above. Cryssy trotted to the entrance and scanned inside, searching the mental images for anything dangerous. The inside of the cave looked perfectly safe to her, there were no bears or other carnivores slumbering inside, thankfully.

She quietly moved to the back of the cave, which was only about 20 feet deep, and lay down on the ground. She pulled the torn shawl from her back and placed it down beneath her head, providing some relief from the dirt under her. The exhausted unicorn curled herself into a ball, and the pace of the images flashing through her mind slowed until she finally drifted into sl-

"HEY THERE!"