8. Buck
~
"Be gone, cursed one! You bring nothing but death with you!"
"How did you do that?"
"I'm so hungry..."
"They will not accept us. They do not appreciate the beauty of it as much as you do."
"Can I call you mine, Buck?"
"You would go as far as to starve my people? You will not be-!"
CRK!
"AAHAAOOW!"
"RELEASE HIM, SUN TYRANT!"
***
Princess Luna awoke with a jump and let out a sharp hiss of pain. For the first time in awhile, her dream walking magic cancelled out without her willing it to. The world around her that had moments earlier been a swirling mess of thoughts, sensations and emotions regained the orderly definition of reality. Her head still buzzed with countless feelings that she knew weren't her own. A purple blur shaped itself into that of Twilight Sparkle, who was on the other side of the hospital bed from her, giving her a worried expression.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked. Luna blinked a few more times, trying to wake herself back up.
"Yes, Twilight. I am...I will be fine. There were just so many thoughts running around at once. His mind is still trying to sort out all these different moments, and it seems to be having a hard time figuring out what happened when," Luna answered. They both turned their tired eyes down to the sleeping face of Snowy. He rested on the bed in a deep sleep, surrounded in a nest of blankets that Twilight and Rarity had wrapped around him.
It was still strange to Twilight, seeing the young reindeer at this size. All of the features of his form that she couldn't make out inside the globe were obvious to her now. She hadn't really noticed just how fluffy certain areas of his body were, such as his ears. Whenever they flicked around in his sleep, she noticed the fluff inside each one swirl in the breeze. His chest was probably the fluffiest part of his body, but she already knew this from seeing him in the globe. His face was even a bit fluffy, especially around his cheeks.
Twilight's eyes caught sight of his horn stump again and she flinched. She was worried how such a bump to the head would affect him, not to mention how he would take the loss of an antler when he woke up. From what she had seen, his antlers were very much like her horn and were used to channel his magic. Just the thought of her horn snapping off made her shudder.
"He's been asleep for two days now...are...are you sure he will wake up...?" Twilight asked weekly, lifting a hoof to rub at her eyes. Both Princess Luna and herself had been up all night, watching over the buck in case he woke up. He hadn't been awake since his release from the snow globe, and they wanted to be the first thing he saw, just in case he freaked out. Twilight's eyes had grown dark purple rings under them and were fairly sore. Just keeping them open was becoming more and more of a struggle. Luna was used to staying up all night, but the mental strain of walking through a broken mind tired her out more than she thought it would.
"I am...very certain. But that doesn't mean that him waking up will be the end of his ordeal. I have a feeling that our troubles will only increase when he wakes," Luna said, casting a weary eye out the window. Snow had been falling steadily across the landscape. A few pegasi zipped around, trying to combat the untimely formation of snow clouds. They tried their hardest to dissipate the freezing sky puffs, but seemed to have no control over them.
They were not normal clouds.
A biting chill blew in through the window, prompting Twilight to reach out with her magic to shut it. With a soft click, the window latched shut and cut off the freezing air from entering the room. Beneath them, Snowy stirred a bit, the lack of his comforting cold disturbing his sleep. After a few moments, he calmed back down and went back to barely moving. His only signs of life were his rising and falling chest and pained expressions.
Twilight sighed and leaned down, rubbing her cheek against the fluff of Snowy's face.
"We're waiting for you, Snowy...please feel better," she whispered to him. The buck didn't wake up, but the pain on his face went away, leaving his expression neutral. Luna smiled softly at the small display of affection before a louder click drew her attention. Her ears flicked towards the door to the hospital room they had been occupying just as a snow white unicorn mare stepped through it.
Rarity walked into the room backwards, carefully maneuvering a few large bags through the doorway with her magic. Twilight and Luna watched her with tired eyes, wondering just what the fashionista had brought with her. Rarity was humming a little song to herself as she pulled bag after bag through the door, unaware that she was being watched. She only stopped her song and shut the door after no less than fifteen bags of who-knows-what were stacking neatly against the wall.
"Good morning, Princess Luna, Twilight, any news on-" she started as she turned around, but stopped when she saw the others were giving her an odd look. "What?"
Twilight snorted a bit but it came out sounded like more of a snore.
It might have just been a snore.
"Oh, goodness, Twilight, you look positively exhausted! And you too, Princess Luna! What has been going on?" Rarity asked, raising a concerned hoof to her chest.
"Haven't pulled an all-nighter in awhile," yawned Twilight. Luna looked down and motioned to the sleeping buck.
"His mind is still in shambles. Just being there makes me feel as unfocused as everything going on around me. There's not really much I can do to help. By the time I figure out what's going on, he's already moved on to a different thought, a different memory, a different...nightmare..." the dream-walking princess explained sadly. She hated the feeling of being useless in a situation like this. It frustrated her to no end, like an irritating itch that only got worse as you scratched it.
Rarity sighed and looked over Snowy's body, noting that the blankets were just as snug around him as she had left them the night before. They had been watching over him in shifts, with Rarity watching during the day and Twilight helping Luna during the night.
"Well, I'm here now so you two can go get some rest. I'm certain you need it. Those rings under your eyes look dreadfully sore, Twilight," Rarity told them as she walked over and gave her friend a small hug. She didn't hug Luna, but the larger alicorn didn't seem to mind. Luna still wasn't the biggest fan of physical affection and preferred keeping her own little personal bubble.
Princess Luna got up to leave, but Twilight stopped her.
"Did...did you happen to talk to...Cel-"
"No, not yet, Twilight. She hasn't been herself. And as much as I want to be mad at her for what I think she might have done in the past...I cannot stand to see my sister in such a state. When she will let me in, I will be there for her. Once she's settled back into her normal self, then I will kick her flank," Luna answered with a bit of a huff.
"But...you heard what Everest said..." Twilight whispered.
"Yes, and I heard it as she wailed like a banshee, destroyed a section of the Royal Library, and tried assaulting us. She might be telling the truth about what Celestia had done to her, but she is obviously not without fault," the sleepy blue alicorn said in a way that hinted that she was done with the conversation. Twilight groaned and followed her out of the hospital room, her gut twisting anxiously. She didn't want to think her mentor, the one being she looked up to the most, could go as low as trapping a young buck in a globe for hundreds of years out of malice, but she didn't have much in the way of other explanations.
Rarity listened for a few moments until she could no longer hear the sounds of hooves upon granite. She then resumed her humming and shut the door to the room, her magic lighting up the surrounding area as a few bags floated over to her. She pulled up a chair and sat next to Snowy, looking down at him with a thoughtful expression. From out of one of the bigger bags floated a long, striped piece of clothing. It was white and blue with masterfully made tassels covering either end. She then carefully used her magic to circle it around the reindeer's fluffy neck, trying her hardest to not move him.
"Scarf," she declared proudly as she examined her hard work. The scarf looked excellent on him, flowing down and around his chest floof. He looked so snug! Her humming grew in volume as she turned back to her bags full of experimental clothing options. So many garments, so little time!
This went on for a couple of hours, Rarity trying on little pieces of clothing that she had guessed the measurements for. Not all of them fit properly, as to be expected, but her expert eye had done its work and guessed most of his body proportions properly. Even if most of them fit, she was only truly satisfied with a few. Most were sent back to her bags for being not quite the right color, or not matching Snowy's fluffy coat well enough.
She ended up lifting the bottom of the bed covers up to get at his adorable little reindeer hooves. For these, she had no idea what to make. They were unique to her and she had to experiment a lot more before she was going to be able to find some bit of fashion that would add to their feminine look.
"Those...mine," a soft voice came from above her. She squeaked and jumped back from the bed, letting the covers fall back down over his legs. Beautiful blue eyes looked up and met a set of piercing brown eyes. The room went quiet for at least a minute, Rarity too stunned to move. They had told her over and over again what she was to do if he woke up while she was watching him, but in her stupefied state, she drew a blank.
The reindeer coughed gently, his eyes breaking away from hers to take in the room around him. It was like nothing he had every seen before. Everything was too clean, too white, too perfect and too...open.
His mind started to catch up with him, little by little. Pieces of scattered memory clicked into place.
"Rarity," he stated. He sounded uncertain, like he knew something was different. He took another look around, Rarity's eyes following his every movement. His eyes flicked from Rarity to the room around him, then back down to the scarf she had made him. "You're small now?" His voice was raspy, but that wasn't surprising to her. He hadn't used it fully in so long.
Rarity met his confused gaze. "No, Darling, you're just the proper size, now," she answered.
"Oh," was his simple response. "How...did you get in my globe?" Rarity flinched, having expected this line of thought from him, just not so soon. She had secretly hoped he would have woken up when Twilight and Luna were around him; they would be able to handle his initial questions much better. She knew she would have to tell him that his globe had been destroyed when he busted the glass, but she didn't know how.
Suddenly, his ears flopped down and his eyes went wide. His brownish color lost some of its definition. He was giving her an absolutely terrified stare, but why? She knew she hadn't said it, besides for in her mind.
"Oh...!" she gasped, raising a hoof to her mouth. She had forgotten about the mental link! Now that she thought about it, she could finally feel it again for the first time since he had broken free from his globe. From his end of the link, she could feel a panicked tingle. He looked around the room again, the details sinking in fully.
He wasn't in his globe.
He was with Rarity.
He didn't feel the usual comfort of cold. His mind was sending all kinds of red flags to him, telling him that he shouldn't have been that warm. The cold was good, the cold was familiar. He loved the cold. He loved a lady of the cold.
Everest
"Where...is she?" he asked Rarity, his eyes swinging back around to meet hers. Rarity noticed that his voice was a tad bit deeper and more foreign than the voice his mind portrayed. This added some more intimidation to his interrogation. Rarity looked out at the window, refusing to meet his eyes. The buck followed her gaze and looked out the window as well, seeing that it was steadily snowing.
He scrambled to get up out of bed, but his weakened limbs and head injury convinced him that the floor was a better place to visit. He let out a very deer-like blanch and fell to the ground. Rarity rushed over to the other side of the bed to aid him in getting back to his hooves. He didn't fight to get away from her, a relieving sign to Rarity that he didn't hold anything against her. He was much more focused on getting to the window.
The reindeer jumped up and pressed his front hooves against the window, looking at it in confusion. He had seen windows before from on top of his shelf, but he had never been tasked with opening one. Rarity's magic surrounded the lock a few seconds before a soft click was heard. He turned to Rarity and gave her a thankful nod before pressing the window open.
Without the glass sealing the room from the outside, the chilly winter air blew in, caressing the reindeer's face and surrounding him in the same loving cold he had known for so long. His scarf fluttered around him, drawing his attention. He stared at it curiously, not sure what to think of the new garment. It was warm, but in a good way. It was soft and made his insides flutter with same feeling the cold breeze gave him.
It made him feel loved.
Snowy was content to stand there for a few minutes with his eyes shut, letting the snowflakes blowing in from outside land on his body. The scarf fluttered around as he gently ran a hoof along its soft texture. It was a strangely serene scene to behold for the white mare in the room, watching the buck live his first moments of freedom in nine hundred years.
He opened his eyes soon after, but confusion fell across his features when he took a closer look at the outside world.
"I thought you said we weren't in a globe anymore," he pondered as he stared at the giant pulsing blue dome that surrounded the entirety of Canterlot. Rarity walked up beside him, pressing her body against his to stabilize him.
"That's not glass, Snowy. That's a shield spell that Twilight's brother is currently casting," she explained to him.
"Snowy?" he asked, turning to her. Her blood ran cold and a shiver went down her spine.
"Y-yes...? That's...your name, or...at least the one you were okay with..." Rarity stuttered. He raised a hoof to the side of his head that was missing an antler, rubbing out the pain that had been growing.
"Right...yes, right...Snowy..." he mumbled, his eyes going unfocused as more memories started flowing in, the name he had given himself acting as a trigger. Standing next to him, Rarity noticed that he was a good bit taller than her, but his body was also thinner, more streamlined. She couldn't help a small pout reach her lips. The things she would do to achieve a body shape like his! "But...I remember my other name now..."
"Oh?" Rarity questioned, her lips going dry.
"Yeah...it's Buck. Buck Frost." He came out of his unfocused state, but this time Rarity noticed that he hadn't felt any of the pain he had felt back when he was trying to remember in the globe. The white mare hmmm'd in thought. She had heard Everest yelling that back during the confrontation, but Rarity had just assumed she was yelling it as a vague term for male deer. In truth, they had heard his name several times already.
"Buck...Frost," she said to herself, testing out the sound. "It's...a very nice name."
"You can call me Snowy, though...hearing you say 'Buck' doesn't really sound right to me..." Snowy said with a shy rub of his leg. As improper as it was to ignore a gentlecolt's real name in favor of a nickname, Rarity couldn't stop herself from agreeing. To her, Buck sounded too masculine for him. Not to mention it had some inappropriate implications in pony culture. Snowy was much softer, much more cute. It matched him all too well.
She blushed as she noticed Snowy giving her a shy, flustered look.
The link!
She squeaked and closed her end quickly, cutting off the flow of thoughts concerning how cute she found the fluffy reindeer. He rubbed at his scarf in embarrassment, noticing after a few moments that he actually had no idea where it had come from.
"What is this?" he asked. Rarity took a few steps closer, admiring her own work and how well it matched him.
"Why, it's a scarf, dear," she started, intending to explain further. The word had clicked something in his head together and triggered another, more recent memory.
"Oh! This is a scarf!" he yipped with glee. He quickly buried his face in the soft material and rubbed it around. "It's very lovely. Did you make this?" Rarity basked in the feeling of having her work appreciated so much. It especially made her feel good about giving some cheer to one who had been through so much already.
"Why, of course, darling! Nothing but the best for my friends," she beamed, her cheeks glowing a rosy pink.
"Thank you!" Snowy was too fast for her to see coming, his excitement overpowering the lack of energy he actually had. His front legs wrapped around her and pulled her close, drawing her into a tight hug. Her face with buried in a sea of chest fluff. She couldn't see, and the only thing she could hear was the steady heartbeat of the warm cuddle-bug latched onto her.
She loved every moment of it.
And she was quite disappointed when he decided to let go.
"I can't wait to show this to Everest, and Dawn, and mother, and-" he started, but something else in his mind clicked and froze him solid. His eyes started flicking from side to side, like he was reading something in fast motion. In his mind, an endless series of lifetimes started playing. Years and years of thoughts, sights and feelings were brought back into reality. Things he had been forcefully made to forget were clear again.
And it broke him.
Rarity could only stand there and watch helplessly as the young buck realized just how ancient he truly was. His legs collapsed from under him, sending he sprawling to the cold floor below. But this time, he didn't bother getting back up. A loud, painful wail escaped his throat. Tears from the loss of everything he had loved fell freely from his cheeks, dripping to the hard floor and forming tiny pools. Choked sobs rang out and echoed around the room. It was such a depressing sight, to see one go from absolute joy to pure despair in only moments.
Rarity climbed down, ignoring the fact that she was getting dirt from the floor all over her pristine white coat. She pressed her body into his, giving him something to latch onto. He quickly accepted the sensation and wrapped his hooves around her again. The realization that this was the first living creature to cuddle him in hundreds of years only made him cry harder. Rarity didn't mind the feeling of wetness spreading along her back. With her magic, she lifted the end of the scarf and dabbed his eyes with it.
Her body sent calming warmth into him, and he didn't know how to feel about that. He had thought cold was the ultimate comfort for so long, that the idea of something warm being comfortable made him doubt his beliefs.
Over the next half hour, he cried out nine hundred years worth of emotions. When the sobs became hiccups, and the hiccups became sniffles, he finally spoke.
"Y-...you know...I remembered that I've cried about this before...long ago...after the first hundred years, I think...I...I knew they were gone. They couldn't have lived that long...then it was two hundred...then three..." he mumbled in her ear, the soft heat of his breath tickling her slightly and making her ear flick against his nose. He scrunched a bit but continued. "How could I have forgotten? I didn't even remember their names...my own mother...my sister...I-"
"Snowy," Rarity interrupted him by pressing the scarf to his lips. "This isn't your fault. You've been through something that very few other beings have. You were trapped inside of that globe for nine hundred years. That's so many lifetimes, so many generations...the fact that you're here with me, right now, talking as if you've always been here...you're an amazing gentlebuck, Snowy." He blinked a few tears away, the sound of both his real name and his nickname confusing him a bit. "And you didn't forget them. Your memories were being blocked by Everest while you were imprisoned. She kept you alive...she kept you happy. Now, I can't say I agree with her method of using pain to make you forget, but...her block is gone now. You didn't forget them. You remember them now, so soon after waking up for the first time. Isn't that right...?"
He sniffled a little more, pressing his face into her mane and hiding. "Uh...I...I guess so...but where is she?"
"Everest?" Rarity clarified, her body losing some of its heat at the thought of how cold she had been only days prior. Her mane snuffled with the movement of his head as he nodded. "She's...outside the shield right now. She was dangerous, Snowy...she attacked us!"
"She's not evil..." Snowy mumbled, heating her mane up with his breath. "Can we let her in? I need to see her."
"Snowy...we can't! She would only attack us again!"
"I could talk to her! She'll listen to me!" Something was bothering Rarity.
"What...exactly what is Everest to you?"
"She's my mate," he answered simply. Rarity's eyes widened as everything snapped into place. The winter spirit hadn't been just some evil entity claiming ownership over a host body.
They were mates. They were in love.
When Everest had accused Celestia of 'Breaking her Buck', she wasn't referring to Snowy as a piece of equipment that Celestia had rendered useless. She attacked Celestia because she locked Snowy, a mortal being, away for hundreds of years and broke his mind.
She was attacking the one who had hurt her beloved.
Rarity thought back to that wail Everest had let out when she was being blown out of the castle window. The look in her eyes, the pain in her voice...
She was losing the one she loved all over again. And now she was being kept out, the large blue shield surrounding Canterlot acting as a giant snow globe for him to be trapped in again.
Except this time, while Snowy was trapped in the globe, she was locked out of it.
A large tremble shot through Rarity. She knew this was only going to get worse. Things had been done that couldn't be undone, and they had taken everything away from a powerful, vengeful spirit of winter.
But here, right now, she was warm. Snowy was warm, and his embrace helped calm her.
It took her a few moments to realize that he breathing had fallen into a steady rhythm. She had been pondering the implications of recent events for a lot longer than she thought, and the stressed buck had cried himself to sleep against her back. That was okay, he probably needed it. The room was serene once more, except for the cold breeze and occasional snowflake that would blow in through the window.
That sense of peace was broken when Twilight burst through the door and skidded to a halt a short distance away from the prone pair.
"Rarity! Is everything okay, I felt a lot of panic and stress coming from your end of the link! Is he okay? Are you okay? What's going-" The purple alicorn shut her mouth when she noticed that the body of the reindeer was now on the ground instead of in the bed, and it was wrapped around her best friend.
"Hello Twilight, this is Buck Frost, but you can keep calling him Snowy," Rarity said calmly from her position on the floor. "He's just lost his family and is going through a really hard time. I'm sure he could use a hug."
Behind her, with his face still hidden in her mane, Snowy slept.
It was a peaceful sleep.
~
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Poor Buck.
Buck Frost! Like Jack Frost! I love it!
8853201 Damn, you beat me to it. That was the first thing that came to my mind too. With this revelation, what might we (the readers) find out about Snowy?
Is it wrong that I'm hoping that Everest will end up transformed into a deer and take the name Velvet?
Come now, Twi, no mention of his fluffy behind? For shame.
Oh, Rarity! I'm laughing so hard right now!
As I expected, also as I feared. This just got more complicated.
Perfect name. A mix of Jack Frost and the fact young deer are called bucks. Also heartache.
Well.....that happened. Got a feeling it's gonna hit the fan as soon as has happen to Everest gets known.
...
More Please!
I know it is telling of my ruffian nature but Reindeer called Buck Frost who has a Snow Spirit of some kind as a mate? *Childish Snicker*.
But anyway a great story!
The more we learn about Snowy/Buck and how exceptional his circumstances were the less and less plausible Celestia simply forgetting becomes. A powerful evil spirit of winter falling in love with a mortal is pretty damn memorable.
8853282
Them fighting herds ha
I just read through the whole thing, and a few things have become apparent to me.
1, I really, REALLY want to slap Tia right now.
2, This story is really good, and I love it.
3, I'm going to write a story with a reindeer in it, just so I can have ponies go on and on about how floofy he is.
Buck Frost? Already, this reminds me of a remake of a terrible movie that was made less bad by virtue of the fact Pixar or Dreamworks has competent storytellers... In my opinion a one viewing every five years sort of feature and more or less cute sort of way, but better than the original Santa vs the Devil. incidentally, there also is an even older myth about not letting a 'cat' who looks at the moon live in the same biblical sense you should never let a sorcerer live...
Which is odd, because my initial impression was that he'd be more like Tony Tony Chopper...
I hope everything works out well for Everest...
Makes me wonder were are the other reindeer & wingoes? 🤔
Also, really good chapter... I feel that love between a pony that’s very different and a deer that loves her snow. I just can’t understand these Equestrian ponies. There had to be more then 3 tribes like we have Sea Ponies and Bat Ponies in the MLP universe and yet they sort of been mentioned as Creatures and not ponies.
Well, at least his name is not Fucking Cold.
8855608
Yes it is
8854695
Grimdark explanation: there used to be more hoofed critters around before Celestia ascended.
Loving the story so far and it's such a wonderful surprise to see another update so soon!
8854695
8855847
In the comics (inb4 >comics) regular deer showed up as reclusive, forest-dwelling not-elves, so you could make the assumption that reindeer follow the same pattern but in the frozen north.
Huh. With the way Rarity dotes on Snowy and how they cuddle up and their cute little embarrassed moments and how she's the shoulder he cries into for half-an-hour and the first pony he wakes up to, I officially announce the Rarity x Snowy ship has embarked for a wonderful jour—
And sunk.
So...threesome when?
Though in all seriousness, good to see the plot progressing now. I suppose while Celestia owes us an explanation for what happened in the past, there's also not really any reason why Buck can't go outside of the barrier to go see Everest, besides having to heal his body up a bit first. After all, it's shown pretty clearly in A Canterlot Wedding that ponies can selectively enter and exit the barrier.
Butt floof when?
celly really better have some good explanation, though it'd probably be justified, I think everest probably was gonna destroy the world or something
8875178
That's how you get dingle berries.
Ohhhh now this is a catchy story.
Looking forward to more of these OC’s!
Very happy to see this back again with the two latest chapters! It seems like your writing is only gotten better for the wait. Thank you for thr great chapters, looking forward to seeing where this story is going to go next.
Eeyup, no real sympathy for Celestia here. She condemned two beings to an eternity of a fate worse than death, no matter her reasons or how justified her actions were, that's pretty evil.
Plus even she seems to admit what she did was monstrous. Probably why she forgot (via natural repression or spell), can't feel guilt over past choices if you don't remember them after all. The fact it condemned him to an even worse never-ending nightmare solely so she could feel better is immaterial.
So yeah, give her to Everest on a silver platter, along with returning Buck, and pray she calms down once the offender is gone. She seems fairly rational after all, not wanting to hurt Luna, Twilight, or Rarity. Escalating in response to her will only lead to worse outcomes or death, the trick is to figure out how to de-escalate now that you've gone and done what is quite possibly the one thing worse than what Celestia did to them, at least in her mind.
I'm so excited to see new chapters upcoming hopefully since winter is coming!
Are you still there?
pp.userapi.com/c852028/v852028808/88db8/v_ko1eezan4.jpg
I miss you man, you wrote amazing stories.
This and blank are probably two of my favourite stories on the whole site if you can’t come back and finish them could you at least set them to cancelled?
It’s just I have a little hope that these stories could be finished one day
I would love to see the next chapter to drop soon :D; you're an execellent writer sir!