A voice in the dark

by EmberLight

Chapter 10: The Perpetually frozen Peak

The soft white ground crunches beneath my feet, I can feel it holding a hatred toward me. I'm still cold.

In the cold of the frost,
One finds their friend,
A little poor bug,
Very near its end,

The kindling warmth,
Of a lover near,
Will save the poor bug,
From its own fear.

...they're watching again.

---

I wake up for the second time today, I look around to see that I'm outside- in bright daylight, quickly forgetting the dream. Fyre's on one side of me while Chaio's on the other. They both look very worried about something, did I pass out?

"What happened?" I ask.

"You randomly fell asleep when we were walking to the everfrozen peak!" Fyre replies.

"Then your necklace started glowing!" Chaio said, almost immediately after Fyre had finished his sentence.

My necklace. It was one of the few things I had ever actually owned- as well as it being the only gift I ever got from my parents. It was made specifically for me by the royal jeweller- designed to ward off nightmares and bring good luck. Although, I don't think the 'good luck' part of it ever actually activated.

"Oh, right..." I said. "How long was I asleep?".

"Only a few minutes, still though- it looked like you were having a really bad dream," Chaio said.

"It wasn't too bad- just odd. There was a lot of snow- and I was speaking in riddles and rhymes." At least, I think that's what I was doing, I'm not too sure though. I can't help but feel like these dreams might be important.

"Well anyway, it's over now- so. You wanna get going?" Fyre asked, with enthusiasm on his face. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have lost all his friends, his family- and then suddenly be told by one of them that they might all be fine. It must have been torture for him. I can understand his impatience- after all, it's got to have been the best thing that's happened to him for these seven years!

"Yeah, don't want to keep your friends waiting anyway," I say, with an enthusiastic voice. I honestly am looking forward to searching the forest, and if the rest is just as beautiful as the stuff Fyre has shown me already- I'm not going to keep him any longer than we have to.

We begin walking- Chaio and Fyre talking with each other- while I look at the scenery. The trees aren't as clumped together as they are normally so I can see much more clearly than earlier. There are flowers of all kinds growing in the spots that the sun reaches, mostly ones that I don't recognise. Whatever path Fyre and Chaio are following, is one I can't see- or maybe they're just following from their memory- from what I can tell, the path we're taking is one familiar to them anyway.

I wonder how long it will take for us to reach this 'everfrozen peak', I know that we've only been walking for a few minutes but it's already starting to get cold... Oh- right, I'm an idiot. It's getting cold because we're getting close to the everfrozen peak.

"Hey Shimmer, since you're a pegasus- why do you fly so little?" Chaio asked.

"Hey, don't ask her that- she might be sensetive about it!" Fyre defended me, quietly- but violently aimed at Chaio. That was sweet, but he really didn't need to.

"It's okay, I don't mind. Really the only reason I'm not flying is because I like living on the ground, nothing more- nothing less. There's so much that you miss when you've got your head in the clouds." Pun intended.

"Thanks for the answer, and I appreciate the pun!"

"Oh god no..." Fyre said, hanging his head inches from the ground, had I done something wrong?

"What?"

"So, did you have that pun prepared or did you just wing it!"

"Whenever he starts with the puns, he never stops, run while you still can!" Fyre said to me, whispering the last part- before turning back to Chaio and trying to stop him from continuing with his puns.

I actually found it rather amusing seeing them get in a fight to the death that resulted in the half-ling throwing the semi-draqonequis off the icy cliff and into a ravine.

Oh, we're here.

Luckily, neither of them were severely hurt, Chaio whistled as he was falling off- teleporting him back to the edge of the ravine. They are both almost untouched, but Chaio still healed them both up, before making another pun- resulting in Chaio falling off the cliff again- and teleporting back, before apologising and laughing his head off.

The everfrozen peak wasn't exactly a mountain, since it had a ravine running through it- but it still lived up to its name. It seemed to be completely glazed over with ice, making it hard to walk on. I actually did end up choosing to fly since it was that slippery, Fyre seemed fine walking though, and Chaio summoned a pair of skating boots that he put on- that somehow allowed him to walk perfectly fine up the slope.

"You know, this is actually where I first found you too. I tried jumping over the ravine and I fell in- before I heard you a while away." Fyre said. Huh, so we were visiting the place I fell in... Oh right- because of them. My 'mother'. I almost feel obligated to thank her, since without her I would have never been able to see all of this, to meet Fyre- even Chaio despite how annoying he's proved himself to be.

Further up in front of us was a snowstorm cloud resting there and shielding the rest of the peak from view, it reminded me of a snowstorm that I had once been in with father, he and I had set up camp in the frozen north when we were travelling looking for a place we could stay. When we were there a snowstorm hit, making us stay there longer than we had hoped- almost three days- just about starving us to death. Luckily once it ended, there were some ponies who found us and were willing to help us recuperate, before we set off again... I miss father. He was kind to me, mother would only ever think of herself. That's why father vanished- mother made him vanish- why mother killed him!

"Shimmer, are you okay? You're looking very... Lost," Fyre asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," I said, with a smile and an energetic voice. Smiles cover up everything. Everyone believes you if you wear a smile. It was one of the very few things mother had taught me that came in useful- everyone trusts a smile.

"You sure?" Fyre asked again, his fur a deep yellow colour for skepticism, I nodded, again with a smile. "Good, well anyway- do you want to come with us to find one of my old friends- or are you going to be sitting out here waiting for us?"

Good, his fur returned to his normal red- he bought the smile. It would only go badly if I had to explain who mother was- Fyre would run, and Chaio would go with him, and I'd be all alone again. I couldn't have that happening. "I'll go with you, I want to be as helpful as I can." I wasn't really lying, I did want to help Fyre get his friends back.

"Well, Chaio will need some time to set up an enchantment to protect us all from the snowstorm, so we've got plenty of time to waste. You want to help me set up a campfire?" He asked, his coat rapidly changing to a turquoise colour, probably to represent curiosity.

"Sure, sounds like fun!" I said, as we trotted off back to get some sticks and wood for a fire. Chaio was sitting at the side with his eyes closed and strange red symbols coating his body, I thought it best not to question it.

And with that, we went back to the woods.

---

The bug's patience wears thin,
His sanity thrown away,
The love from another will heal him,
But that day shan't be today

---

Author's Note:

What's this! Three chapters in one week? What kind of witchcraft art thou using!

Another chapter in Shimmer's perspective, I really do find it quite fun writing from her view.

So... It turns out Shimmer has mummy issues, and we see more of the everfrozen peak!

...am I supposed to say something here? I don't know what to say! Help me!!

Comments

[EmberLight]

All Chapters have been resubmitted!

I don't intend to continue working on this anytime soon, but I figured it would be rude to just leave these chapters in limbo.