Walking on Frozen Paws

by Saysy

Chapter 01: Ponies! They're Everywhere! (edited)

Equestria, a country where harmony thrives, and friendship is magic. But that wasn’t always the case. Before, there was a creature named Discord, a being so chaotic that you only needed to look at him and you would have gone insane. Finally, after years of suffering under his long reign, two sisters stood up against him in a fearsome battle and after a long fight--of about one minute--he was turned to stone with the help of the Elements of Harmony.

It had been more than a century since the defeat of Discord. The Ponies have re-established their diarchy under Princess Celestia, the ruler of the day and guardian of the sun, and Princess Luna, the ruler of the night and guardian of the moon. These two now rule over the ponies in their castle in the town named after the Everfree Forest.

Five in the morning only half an hour until dawn, if you listen carefully you could hear the birds singing.

---

Celestia POV

I awoke at five in the morning as always and washed my teeth, mane, and coat--a luxury you can only get when you’re a princess or the high nobility. After completing the first part of my daily routine, I walked out onto the balcony, across from the Sun Tower I could see the Moon Tower where my sister was just about to enter her position to lower the moon. Her horn began to glow and after a few seconds, the moon started to lower and make place for the sun. I reached into my body to channel my magic into my horn and a few seconds later I could see the golden light of my sun behind the horizon.

I walked back into my room and over to the door that led to the hallway. As I opened the door my guards instantly stood at attention.

“Good morning,” I greeted.

“Good morning to you too, Your Highness.”

I walked to the private dining room, my guards a meter behind me. The door to the dining room was a simple wood door with ornate carvings. The room had a simple wooden table in the middle with two seats. I turned to my seat, where my breakfast consisting out of pancakes with honey and a cup of tea. I sat down as my sister walked in.

“Good morning, sister.”

“Mor-ahhh-ning,” came my sister’s reply with a yawn.

She walked over to her seat and sat down. Shortly after, she face-planted into her breakfast.

“So, how was Night Court?”

“Only Lady Money Hoard was there to complain that the taxes on the nobility are too high,” she grunted.

I cut a grimace, “Oh, yes, I remember her. She was in my court too, complaining about the same thing. I think she thought that you would agree with her.”

“Then she thought wrong,” she replied unenthusiastically.

After Luna finished her meal, she stood up and walked out of the room. But before she closed the door she wished me a good day.

As I walked out of the room, I noticed my right hoof, Dusty Page, awaiting me.

“Good morning, Princess,” he said as he bowed.

“Morning, Dusty, I hope you slept well tonight. What is on the list for today?”

“Like a foal. As for your list: First morning court at eight, then after lunch there’s the guard inspection, at three PM you have a meeting with Duke Fine Manor, from Trottingham, and at five evening court begins, Your Highness.”

---

Morning court was tiring as always, especially the nobles. Well, not all of them, but the majority. The guards were in top condition. After that, I sat down on my throne and prepared for my meeting with Duke Fine Manor.

“Dusty, do you know why the Duke, wants to see me?”

“No, Your Highness. He only said that his matter is of utmost importance.”

I nodded. My throat was a bit dry, that is why I asked one of the maids on the sideline if she could bring me a cup of tea.

Ten minutes later a cup of Jasmine tea hovered by my side in a golden aura.

Just as I took my first sip, the doors to the throne room opened and an earth pony stallion in his forties with a blue coat and a short silver mane made his way through the room. As he stopped in front of me he bowed and said in a silky-smooth voice, “Greetings, Your Highness. What a wonderful day you brought us today.”

I raised an eyebrow at his phrase, but I didn’t make a comment on his obvious attempt at flattery.

“To you too, Duke Fine Manor. What brings you here today?”

“I have an important request for a loan.”

“And what is this loan for?”

“We found a gem vein right around two kilometers away from Trottingham. We hope that we can build a mine there. But to do that we need more money.”

“First, I want to know if there are any Diamond Dog packs claiming this vein. Second, how much money do you have in mind?”

“The plan has been prepared beforehoof, and our team calculated that we need roughly fifty-thousand bits. And we found no sign that Diamond Dogs are operating in that area.”

‘Fifty-thousand bits is a lot of money, but it is a good thing to have more gems for enchantments.’ I thought.

After a minute of thinking I gave the Duke my answer.

“Very well, you shall get the money. Please, go to Golden Bit and give him-” I signaled Dusty Page, to give him the document to receive money from the crone, “-this document, that you have my permission to enter the treasury.”

“Thank you, your Highness,” he said as he bowed again. Slowly he made his way out of the room and trotted to the treasury.

---

Jordan POV

The first sensation that I had after I woke up was a ridiculous amount of pain. It felt like my whole body was stuffed into a freezer for twenty-four hours. The pain subsided after about ten minutes and I slowly regained feeling in my body.

Then I noticed that my body was completely different from what I used to. I felt considerably smaller than before. In front of my eyes I saw a little snout with ice-blue fur. I tried to move my head to see the complete changes my body had gone through. The rest of my body was entirely covered in the same color fur as my snout. In place of hands and feet, I have four tiny paws. The proverbial cherry on top is a fluffy tail with white fur at the tip.

Some would think that I should have flipped out by now, and I thought that too. But oddly enough, my mind was as calm as it could be.

I made a mental checklist of what I should do next.

Ok, first curse that guy that did this to me. Second, where am I and what am I? And then look around.

<<Curse you, Mr. Kaiser.>>

I noticed my voice was noticeably higher than in my human body. Then I remembered that form, that I filled in before I got sent here. I’m probably a fox cub or something akin to a child.

That answered one of the two things from the second point on my checklist.

I tried to stand up and it worked. Then I took a step forward and another. I noticed that I could move easily on four legs. Huh, that guy that brought me here was nice enough to give me basic locomotion for quadrupeds.

Every time I took a step there was a ringing sound on the ground. I looked down and saw golden coins. I looked around the room and everywhere in the room my eyes saw more of these little coins. More than that, there were rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other jewels, along with a collection of other golden and silver objects. It looked like a dragon’s hoard or a treasury.

I was so stunned by this place that I didn’t hear as the door behind me was unlocked and two horse-like creatures trotted in. I was only out of my stupor when I heard two gasps behind me. I turned around and my eyes felt on two horses--or more like ponies, considering their height. For me though, they were more like giants. The first had a blue coat and a silver mane and the second one had a brown coat and a white mane. What got me, was that they could speak.

“What is an animal doing in here?” the blue one asked.

“I don’t know,” answered the brown pony.

<<Have a nice day!>> I said and darted past them through the door.

Outside of the room, I could see more ponies in the left corridor. This time they looked like guards on patrol with their golden armor. They spotted me and took chase. For obvious reasons, I decided to turn right and ran for my life. After a few turns left and right, the guards were still behind me and I could see a pony wearing a maid outfit in front of me, scrubbing the floor with water. As I ran through the water it froze into patches of ice when my paws touched it. The guards, unable to stop in time, slipped on the ice and quickly became a pony pile-up with the maid somehow ending up on top and unharmed.

After another few turns and stairs, there were no guards in sight and I ended up at a dead end. There was only one door to be found, and it bore an insignia of the moon. The door was slightly open, and I thought for a few seconds to go through, hoping to hide. In the end I decided against it and turned around. There was only one problem, and that was that I could hear hoofsteps nearby. So, I changed my mind again and walked through the door and carefully closed it behind me.

I was stunned by the sight of this newest room. You could see the stars on the ceiling even though—as I could see through some windows—it was the middle of the day outside. It was dark inside, but because of my new eyes I could see perfectly fine. There was a large window on the left side with big, dark curtains completely blocking the light from entering the room. There was also a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, it was currently occupied by the biggest pony I had seen so far. But that was not what made my fur turn pale. What turned my fur pale was the massive warhammer with spikes on both sides, leaning on the side of the bed… and I closed the door. Ah, shit.

I quickly looked around for something to open the door and found nothing. There was another door on the right side of the room. The door was open, so I tried my luck with that door. As it turned out, I have zero luck. When I walked through the door I slipped on the wet ground and slid straight into the tub. What happened after that was that the water in the tub froze instantly. As if that wasn’t enough, I also laid on my back, paws in the air and head looking at the entrance and I couldn’t move. I felt a little bit sleepy and the ice was, surprisingly enough, very comfortable. Well, goodnight.

Comments

[Omniverse Infinity]

OMNI:This is...cute please continue.

[Factorisimo122]

I’m probably a fox cup or something akin to a child.
Cub not cup.
“What does this animal doing here,” said the blue one.
This sentence doesn't really make sense, a better line would be "what is an animal doing in here" or "what's an animal doing in here"
Other than that this was a very good start to the story and I cannot wait to see more.

[DAMN HAMSTER]

Nice English, child.

[God of Death]

unique, I will see where this goes.

[Sky Hooves]

Not bad for a first story. I gave certainly seen worst ones and yours count more to the good ones^^

I'm looking forward what happens next

[Efadd]

I washed my teeth’s,

teeth

[Chrome Masquerade]

Then I noticed that my body was completely different from what I used to. I felt considerably smaller than before. In front of my eyes I saw a little snout with ice-blue fur. I tried to move my head to see the complete changes my body had gone through. The rest of my body was entirely covered in the same color fur as my snout. In place of hands and feet, I have four tiny paws. The proverbial cherry on top is a fluffy tail with white fur at the tip.

Not exactly alolan Ninetales.