Ch3 Thin Ice

Book 3/Chapter 3
Thin Ice

Year 00, Month 11, Day 06

Wearing thick cold weather gear, the group of climbers trotted up the cliffside path as, Everest spoke, “So… let me get this straight… You have no wings right?”
Zeil nodded, “Yes.”
“So if you changed into something with wings… you still wouldn’t have them right?”
Zeil nodded, “Yes.”
“So… what if you changed into something that had something else that you don’t have?”
Zeil asked, “Like what?”
The rest of the climbers thought to themselves as Hotham spoke, “How ‘bout a snake? They got fangs.”

Zeil sighed, “My original form did too, though we had no venom.”
Everest spoke next, “A unicorn? They got a horn.”
Zeil nodded, “I do too.”
To show what he looked like, Zeil turned into his reformed changeling self as the rest of the group looked at him in awe. After seeing his true self, Zeil turned back into a zebra without any hesitation in his step as they rest of the group excluding Angel spoke, “Whooo.”
Angel rolled her eyes as Hotham saw this and spoke, “Come now Angel, you were right all along. There was something strange about him that you didn’t trust, but now he told us the truth and it’s all in the open.”
Angel replied, “I don’t buy it… this isn’t what made me suspicious of him… if anything, it’s only proof that he is still hiding something important from us.”

As they continued up the path that was covered in snow the group steps through a deep snow bank as Zeil tripped over something. As he picked himself up and looked back, he was soon hit with shock as he spoke, “Chrysalis’s grace! It’s a body!”
Quickly picking himself up and backing away, Zeil stayed back as the rest of the group gathered around and brushed the snow from the corpse. When it was fully revealed, the group found themselves looking at a young male unicorn laying in the snow as he laid stretched out as if he died trying to crawl on his path. Seeing this Hotham sighed, “The bloke must have gotten caught in a snow storm or something, I admire his determination though. Looks as if he died still trying to reach the peak.”
Everest nodded, “Well… not all climbers succeed in meeting their goal. I guess the best thing to do is to carry on and finish what he started.”

With that, the group turn to the trail and started to continue as Zeil spoke in confusion, “Wait… we’re just going to leave him here?”
The group paused as Angel replied, “Yea… what of it?”
Hotham gave her an angry look, “Angel… be nice.” He looked back at Zeil, “There isn’t anything we can do for him. We can’t take him with us, and we can’t take him back since we still need to cross the mountain.”
Zeil tried to think, “Well… why don’t we bury him.”
Angel replied, “The ground is frozen solid, and we have nothing strong enough to dig a hole… so be my guest.”
Zeil continued, “But… we can’t just leave him here… can’t we do something for him?”
Hotham shook his head, “It wouldn’t make a difference. Sad to say, the mate has long since met his maker. The best we can do is acknowledge his attempt, and try to finish with him in mind.”
Zeil tried to think of something, “But… but…”

Kiloman spoke, “Zeil… my friend. We all know the challenges of taking on a mountain. And we all know what could happen to us, and what will result of it. This poor soul isn’t the first to meet his end up here, and he won’t be the last. And like him, any of us may find ourselves at the top of some forsaken peak. Lifeless, and frozen. All we can do for him, is to respect that he gave it his all, and accept that he is no longer part of this world.”
Everest added, “Many high peaks hold poor souls that died in the attempt. And many still lay upon those same mountains. But with the height too high to recover them by air ship, or the trail to treacherous to simply seek them out, it’s completely impossible to recover all who die upon those peaks. And though it seems cruel to leave them be… it’s simply the result that we all know and accept as one of many ways a climb can end.”
Hotham put his hoof on Zeil’s shoulder, “I understand your sentiment, but we can’t do anything for him. All we can do is continue.”

Hotham turned to the rest of the group as they continued on their trail as Zeil sighed, “I guess… your right…”
Everest nodded, “Don’t take it too personally Zeil… this is just the way it is. We have seen many on our travels… and no matter how many you see… it never gets easier to ignore.”
With that said, the group continued along the path as Zeil tried to forget about the poor soul left behind. As the group continued along the cliff, the pass eventually opened out into a large open area that stretched for a long distance before reaching smaller cliffs that they would have to scale to continue. Seeing the large frozen clearing, Kiloman spoke, “A lake.”
Zeil was confused, “lake?”
Everest nodded, “Yes, look at how this clearing dips in the center, then flattens out. The dips are the bank and the flat portion is a frozen lake.”
Zeil asked, “Is it safe to cross?”
Hotham trotted down the bank as he brushed away the top layer of snow and looked into the ice. As he looked, he pressed against its surface as he smiled, “Seems safe enough, not too thick, but it won’t break if we go jumpin’ on it. Just be on the lookout for thin ice.”

The group nodded as they started trotting over the ice towards a small cliff that sat on the other side. As they trotted Pike asked, “So Zeil, about the whole changeling thing… say you wanted to be a fish… would a changeling need gills to change into one?”
Zeil shook his head, “No, our lungs would turn into gills to adapt to the change. What we do is change our outside to acquire both physical and biological appearance of what we are changing into. If we already have the limbs, like wings horn or legs, then that part of us changes to look similar to the species we are changing into. However if that part of us is damaged, then it will change, but it will still be scarred just like it is naturally. If I tried to change into a pegasus, then I would be a pegasus with scars where my wings should be. As for parts we don’t have, our body can create them and they will work similarly to what they should, but since we naturally don’t have those appendages we may have a hard time using them, say a griffin and his talons. I can make them, but it will be hard getting used to moving multiple fingers that I wasn’t born with.”

The rest of the group nodded in understanding as Hotham spoke, “So your insides change too?”
Zeil nodded, “Yes, organs change to look similar, blood color, even skin texture. Everything we need to blend in to our surroundings. Since… not very many species take kindly to us.”
Hotham nodded, “I see, judging the entire race by the actions of the few. I heard stories about how bad changelings are, but I don’t judge by reputation alone, I only judge the individual by his or her actions.”
Zeil smiled, “I’m glad, not many ponies tend to think for themselves anymore.”
Kiloman nodded, “Your honesty shows your integrity. To us, that’s a good guy no matter how you sell it.”
As the group reached the cliff face, Pike looked at the ice beneath him as he spoke, “Looks like the lake goes under this cliff, anyways whose going to climb to place the anchor?”

Hotham smiled as he pulled a rope from his saddlebag, “I’ll do it. It’s not that high, a good fifteen feet or so.”
As Hotham tied the rope around himself, Angel gave him a climbing pick as she spoke, “Be careful.”
Hotham smiled, “I’ll be fine, just hang tight till I place the anchor.”
Using the pick in his hoof, Hotham started climbing the steep cliff as everypony else pulled climbing harnesses from their bags and started putting them on. As soon as Hotham reached the next platform, he took a few steps in and hammered an anchor about ten feet from the edge. Then he untied the rope from himself and tied it to the anchor before giving it a good tug to make sure it was secured. When he saw that the rope was tight, Hotham looked over the edge to see that the rope draped all the way down to his friends as he called, “Anchor secured mates! Everest, you’re up first!”

Nodding in agreement, Everest took the clip that was on his harness and clipped it to the rope before carefully climbing up the rope while keeping hold of it on both sides of the connected clip. When he reached the top he looked down, “She’s stable enough, whose next?”
As Everest unclipped himself then climbed onto the platform, Angel looked at Pike as she spoke, “You go next… I’ll be right behind you.”
Although the suggestion didn’t seem unusual to Pike, Zeil however felt that there was a strange tone in her voice as Pike clipped himself to the rope and replied, “Not a problem Angel.”
As Pike climbed the rope, Angel looked at Zeil with an untrusting look, then she raised her hoof up and made an action as if she was blowing on it. Although he didn’t quite catch what she was doing, Zeil did feel something a little odd when she placed her hoof back against the Ice beneath them.

It was a strange feeling but it felt as if the ice sank slightly as Zeil looked down and saw no change in the ice’s appearance. Thinking it was only his mind, Zeil looked back up the rope to see Pike just as he was reaching the top. However as Pike unclipped himself from the rope, something weird caught Zeil’s eye. All of a sudden, a strange string of condensation started climbing up the stone on the cliff from the ground as it quickly stretched to the ground that Pike was currently pulling himself up on. Before his rear hoof was planted, a large chuck of the cliff shifted downward as the unexpected shift caused Pike to lose his grip as the surprised earth pony slipped from the edge and fell from the cliff. Seeing his falling friend, Hotham called, “PIKE!!!”

Frantic, Pike tried to reach for the anchored rope but since it was too fare for him to reach, he was unable to slow his fall as he fell from the fifteen foot high before hitting the ice below. Too stunned to move, Pike laid on the unscathed ice as Zeil quickly rushed to him as he checked him, “Pike, are you alright? Do you f-“
“LOOKOUT!!!”
At that moment, Pike used what strength he had to kick Zeil away as the section of the cliff that had shifted before, had unknowingly fallen behind him as it crashed down on top of Pike causing the ice beneath him to shatter as both he and the large chunk of earth sank into the freezing water below them.

Hotham panicked as he rushed to the anchor, untied the rope, tied it around his body and ran back to the cliff as he dove from the high cliff right into the hole in the ice that Pike had vanished into. After seeing his actions, Angel called, “Hotham NO!!!”
Quickly reacting to chaos around them, Zeil looked to the other end of the rope that was quickly losing its slack as he ran to the end and grabbed it before calling, “Angel, Kiloman!”
Reacting to his call, the two ponies quickly rushed to Zeil’s side as they all grabbed ahold of the rope so it wouldn’t get pulled into the frozen lake along with the two who were submerged. As they held onto the end of the rope, Angel called, “We need to pull them out! On three! One, Tw-“
Zeil interrupted, “Wait!!!”

Trying to sense the earth ponies’ aura, Zeil placed his hoof against the ice as he tried to locate the two beneath it. As he continued trying to find them, Angel spoke, “What wait? We need to get them out of there! Hotham cou-“
“One sec, we need to give him time to get Pike!”
After his explanation, Zeil continue sensing the two until both auras seemed to connect, then he called, “NOW PULL!!!”
Reacting to the call, Angel, Kiloman, and Zeil pulled as hard as they could as the rope quickly tightened on the edge of the hole in the ice causing it to crack more. Ignoring the risk it could bring to themselves, the trio continued pulling on the rope as hard as they could while Everest could only watch from above in worry for his friends below. After a few second of pulling it wasn’t long before Hotham surfaced on top of the water as he held onto Pike with all his might.

Quickly assisting their friends, Zeil, Kiloman, and Angel pulled the two from the freezing cold water as they quickly pulled them towards the closest bank. After reaching solid ground, Hotham laid Pike on the bank as Angel wasted no time in removing his wet clothing and covering him with a dry blanket from her saddlebag then she proceeded to hold him close to try warming him up with her own body heat. As this happened Zeil looked over Pike’s body as Hotham spoke through his shivering, “how… how is he mate?... he… he didn’t look too good when I f-found… found him.”
Zeil knew right away Pike was in bad shape, “It’s not good at all, the boulder that hit him crushed him before shattering through the ice… and the black on his hooves… I think… that’s frost bite.”
Hotham nodded as he replied, “Th-then it’s set-settled. We camp here for the night.” He looked towards Everest who was still on the higher cliff, “Evvv- evvv… evvv…”

Seeing that Hotham was having trouble speaking, Kiloman called in his place, “Everest! Do you still have your rope in your bag?”
Everest nodded, “I do… is Pike and Hotham okay?”
Kiloman replied, “For now, they are fine, use the anchor to climb back down. We need to set up camp to treat Pike’s injuries.”
Everest nodded, “I understand!”
With that Everest found his rope and started climbing down as Kiloman quickly tried to set up Pike’s tent first while Zeil and Angel tended to Hotham and Pikes injuries.

Hours later after nightfall, Pike was lying in a tent with a fuel heater keeping him warm as the group treated him while Pike asked, “So… how’s it look Dr. Changeling?”
Smiling at his sense of humor Zeil replied, “Well… you want me to sugar coat it… or would you like it straight forward?”
Pike smiled, “You ain’t the type to give it straight… so just coat it with whatever sweetener ya got. Just don’t lie to me.”
Trying to say it as gently as possible, Zeil replied, “Well… I’m no doctor, but it’s easy to see that, you have a few broken ribs… and a lot of frost bit. Seems our only option is to take you back.”
Pike felt a little disappointment as he replied, “Is that so… shame, I was lookin’ forward to seeing the view from Angela’s Peak… S’pose I just wasn’t worthy after all.”
Hotham replied, “You have every bit of worth that the rest of us have mate. You just get your rest and we can try again next time… maybe then we can do it on the summer months eh?”
Pike smiled, “If you say so.”

With that the group started to leave the tent as Pike spoke up, “Hey Angel? Can I have a word with ya? I just want you to clear something up before… whatever happens next.”
Angel nodded and stayed behind as the rest of the group left the tent. Outside, Hotham, Zeil, Everest and Kiloman trotted to the burner where their food was cooking as Hotham spoke, “So… why didn’t you tell him the truth?”
Zeil shrugged his shoulders, “Because he is right… I don’t have the heart to tell him.” He looked at Everest, “Are you sure frostbite is that bad?”
Everest nodded, “The frostbite is stage four… the tissue on his hooves is dead and if we do not amputate, then… he will get gangrene, and die. Only a hospital has the tools to amputate limbs safely.”
Kiloman nodded, “And that’s if he’s fortunate to survive the night… the boulder did more than just break ribs.”
Zeil nodded, “Your right… And unless he gets an x-ray we can’t know just how bad he is. The broken ribs he has were pushed inward and most likely pierced a few organs. His heart and lungs are safe… but that only means it won’t be quick for him.”
Everest added, “Though he did seem to be in high spirits for his condition.”

Zeil nodded, “you can thank Zecora for that.” He pulled a flask from his saddlebag, “She used this paste on me when I lost my wing. It will make him feel weird, but it will also remove all pain from his body and nullify it. But it doesn’t heal anything, and it only numbs him for a few hours. I just hope it will last him till morning so he can rest.”
At that moment, the light in his tent went off as Angel exited the tent while speaking, “Just get some rest, and… I’ll see you in the morning. Sweet dreams Pike.”
As she closed the tent behind her, Angel looked at the rest of the group as she spoke, “He wanted to get some sleep. He doesn’t know how bad he is, but he can tell its bad since you gave him such a strong pain killer.”
Zeil nodded, “It is bad… so… what did he say to you?”
Angel shook her head, “I don’t really want to say… but… he thinks we should go on without him.”

Hotham thought to himself, “Go on without him… hmm…” He looked at Zeil, “Are you okay with it? I don’t want to cancel this climb if you still want to get to the other side.”
Zeil have Hotham a surprised look, “You really think I want to abandon him here? No… We are going back. I’m not going to let him die just for my goal. Zecora will understand a few days if it’s to save a friend.”
Hotham smiled, “Too right mate. The climb is canceled.” He looked at Angel, “You can tell the ol’ bludger that we ain’t going nowhere without him.”
Angel nodded, “I thought you would say that… let’s just hope he can travel with us in the morning. With his injuries as bad as they are… it’s in Angela’s hooves now.”

The group gave her a funny look as Everest asked, “Angela? I though you said you didn’t believe in that sort of thing?”
Angel nodded, “I don’t… But you have to admit, today seemed a little too orchestrated to me… as if somepony… or something planed it all out.”
Hotham was concerned, “Something?... like what?”
Angel replied, “Who knows, but if you ask me, it may have something to do with the old Angela rumor. Maybe this mountain is cursed, or maybe it’s all in my head. Then again… who knows, when I try to think about it, it just gives me a headache.”

As Angel said those words, Zeil started remembering the condensation he had seen earlier with the cliff’s face as he looked towards the place where he saw it. Only with the darkness of the night covering the area, he couldn’t tell if it was still there or not as Hotham saw his actions and asked, “What is it? You see something?”
Trying to second guess himself, Zeil shook his head, “no… I don’t think so anyway… just… maybe my imagination.”
Angel gave him a distrusting glance as Hotham stood up and replied, “Well… I’ve had enough of this day so… I think I’ll call it a night. I’ll see you blokes in the morning. We’ll be leaving bright and early so get your rest.”
With that Hotham trotted to his tent as Zeil asked one last time, “are you sure you’re alright? No numbness anywhere?”
Hotham smiled as he replied, “Cheers for the sentiments mate, but I’m as fit as ever. Just a little rooted from today’s excitement.”

With nothing more to say, Hotham went to bed as Everest and Kiloman both stood up as Kiloman replied, “I agree with Hotham… this day was more excitement then I was expecting.”
Everest nodded, “I agree, but… I wish I could have done more for Pike. Being stuck on that cliff, made me feel so useless.”
Zeil nodded, “We can do more for him when we go back tomorrow. We covered a lot of ground, so we will need your help getting him back to the inn.”
Everest nodded as he replied, “Your right, thanks Zeil. You’re a good friend.”
Kiloman nodded in agreement as the two started trotting to their tents leaving Zeil and Angel alone.

As the last two sat next to the burner Angel spoke, “So… can I ask you something Zeil?”
Expecting a disrespectful question, Zeil replied, “If you’re going to continue insulting me. I’d rather you didn’t… but, I don’t want there to be any more bad blood between us, so if your serious, I’ll hear you out.”
Angel nodded as she replied, “What would you say… If I told you, that… we will continue this journey up the mountain. What would you think?”
Zeil replied, “I would be surprised, but Hotham did say we were going back… and personally… I agree. Pike needs a doctor… a real doctor. All I can do for him is numb his pain, I can’t actually treat his wounds.”
Angel nodded as she replied, “So… you’re saying you actually care for his wellbeing?”

Zeil replied in surprise, “Of course I do, I care about his just like I care about all of the group… even you. Despite what you think of me, I’ve grown to like being a part of you guys. So much in fact that I wouldn’t wish any harm on any of you.”
Angel stood up as she replied with an unconvinced tone, “Somehow… I find that hard to believe.”
As Angel started trotting away Zeil replied in a tone that was equally disrespectful, “Believe it or not… I don’t care. I stand by my friends… as a changeling I find myself with so few that… I can’t afford to lose any more.”
Although she slightly admired his determination, Angel still replied in a disrespectful tone, “We will see.”
Confused by her words, Zeil could only watch the only pegasus in the group, as she trotted to her tent and went inside.

That night as Zeil slept, he started to see a strange vision. He could see a pony wearing so many layers of warm clothing that her coat color couldn’t be seen as the coughing mare made her way through a thick snowstorm. As she continued through the snow, her steps became more and more sluggish as the exhausted mare stepped onto a thin plate of ice that was concealed by the thick snow on top of it. Trying to carry herself on, the tired mare continued dragging her hooves until one slipped out from under her causing her to fall onto the thin ice as the entire sheet beneath shattered leaving the tired mare to fall into a deep crevice. As the mare vanished into the darkness, the vision faded leaving a terrible feeling of dread to fall on Zeil as he woke to find that morning had already come and that the sun was already out. Knowing that this feeling was a sign, Zeil quickly rushed out of the tent, but when he got outside, the feeling was confirmed as he saw Kiloman, Everest, Hotham and Angel all sitting around the fuel burner with unhappy looks on their faces. As he looked at the sad expression, Zeil paned his eyes over to Pike tent only to find that the tent wasn’t standing, instead he could only see the tarps used on the tent to wrap a body in its place as Zeil spoke, “Pike… is he?...”

Everest nodded his head as he replied, “It would seem that Pike Pete… passed peacefully in his sleep late last night.”
Hotham nodded as he added, “It must have been shortly after we went to sleep… he didn’t make it to morning.”
Zeil asked, “What was it?”
Everest sighed, “Possibly a fatal wound any of his robe, or even something worse… in all honesty we may never know… all we do know is…”
Angel spoke, “His last request was to continue on without him… so…”
Zeil shook his head in disbelief, “What… we are still going to continue forward… after this?”
Hotham nodded, “Why not… Pike took the challenge knowing that this was always a possibility. Just as we all do. The least we can do for him is to shoot through to the end.”

Zeil shook his head in disbelief, “But… what about Pike?”
Hotham replied with an unhappy tone, “What about him?... we leave him here.”
Zeil shook his head, “Were just going to leave him behind?”
Kiloman nodded as he replied, “Right now, Pike is one of many poor souls who failed to reach the summit. We can only leave him with the rest as we continue at his last will.”
Zeil shook his head, “you say that as if he were some random stranger. Pike was our friend, he was my friend! We c-“
Angel stood and spoke in anger, “DON’T TALK AS IF HE MEANT NOTHING TO US!!! You were the last to join this group! Meaning if anything he has been our friend long before you came into the picture! You don’t think we know how hard it is to lose somepony close to us?...”
“Angel…”
“YOU DON’T THINK WE UNDERSTAND HOW HARD IT IS TO LEAVE HIM BEHIND!!! YOU THINK IT’S SO EASY TO FORGET ABOUT SOMPONY YOU CARE ABOUT!!!”
“Angel that’s enou-”
“WHO ARE YOU TO SAY ANYTHING!!! YOUR NOTHING!!!”
“ANGEL!!!”

Realizing Hotham was trying to calm her, Angel sat down and silenced herself as Hotham continued, “That’s enough Angel…” he looked at Zeil, “Don’t see our actions as disrespectful mate… but we don’t have the equipment to drag him with us, and we don’t know what to expect further up this mountain. Pike was my mate… just as the rest of you are… but we can’t let his death be pointless. Now… he will never reach Angela’s Peak. But if we carry his memory with us… then once we touch the summit… it will be the best we can do for him.”
Zeil looked at the ground in disappointment as Kiloman added, “If something were to happen to you before you reach Zecora… would you at least want somepony to pass your message to your love in your place?”
Seeing it clearer, Zeil replied, “I would… but… I just think he deserves better…”
Everest smiled, “We aren’t just going to leave him out on display… we found a snowbank to bury him in. it isn’t very deep, but considering what we have, it’s the best we can do.”
Zeil still didn’t know how to feel about it as Angel sighed, “I’m sorry… Okay? What I said was a little harsh, so… I apologies. Pike was all of our friend and it just hurts to see one of us go like this. All we can do for him is let him rest while we fulfill his last request.”

The rest of the group stared at Angel in surprise as Zeil nodded, “Sure… if… if that was truly his last request… then let’s do it. For Pike.”
Hotham smiled as he stood up and put his hoof on Zeil’s shoulder, “For the yank. Let’s finish this climb.”
He looked at Angel, “Do we have an altitude reading?”
Angel nodded, “This incident put us back a number of hours, but considering what happened we were only able to climb about four thousand feet yesterday, as opposed to the hopeful ten thousand. Either way we are above my flight limit now so we can only guess how close the summit is from us.”
Hotham sighed in disappointment, “So we are about seven thousand feet from the summit then. Well time to make up for lost time.”
He looked at the rest of the group, “Let’s pack it up! We’ve already lost a little daylight, and I want to show Pike how much he means to us.”

The group stood up as they started taking down the rest of the camp. As Kiloman, Angel, and Zeil took down the camp, Everest and Hotham took Pike’s body to a large snowbank against a cliff face as they buried their friend as deep as the earth would allow. By the time they finished, the team of climbers stood over Pike’s grave as they shared a brief moment of silence before trotting back to the cliff that caused the incident and climbed up in the exact same method as the day before. After the remaining five climbers made it to the top of the cliff, Hotham and Angel took one last look at Pike’s grave from atop the cliff as Hotham mumbled, “Don’t worry mate… We’ll get to the summit. And you can watch the view with us when we do.”
As Hotham turned to follow the group, Angel mumbled to herself, “Pike… I’m sorry it had to end this way… at least, there was no pain. Let’s just hope that so-called changeling won’t cause any for the rest. I’d rather nopony suffers… this time.”

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