An icy trek

by mokaevans

The shadow

Applejack had known this was risky. A delivery to the yaks was something she’d usually leave to Pinkie, but her pride wouldn’t let her. These were apple family apples, and while there was a chance Pinkie was related to her, she felt bound to make the trip herself. Things had gone well earlier. She had made the delivery to the yaks just fine. The yaks offered to let her stay the night, but she’d declined.

She was beginning to regret that. A storm hit the mountains as she headed down. The wind howled, and the snow was so thick you could hardly see. She was too far along to go back, and so she pressed forward, though she knew not what lay ahead. She was exhausted but she couldn’t stop. If she fell asleep out here she may die.

Her hooves ached. It had been a long and tiresome journey up the steep mountain to where the yaks lived. Each step seemed to take moons as she fought against the snow. The icy wind chilled her to the bone, despite her winter coat. In Ponyville it hardly ever snowed hard thanks to the efforts of pegasi. Still she cursed herself for not thinking to pack a thicker coat.

After she trekked through the storm for minutes she saw a shadow from the corner of her eye. She blinked in surprise. The shadow had vanished. “I need to lay off the late night candy apples.’ She thought. She shrugged it off.

A few minutes later she saw the shadow again. She shook her head to clear it, attempting to peer through the snowstorm. ‘It’s probably just a rock, and I’m making a big deal out of nothing.’ She was tired after all, sleep deprivation could make one paranoid. She continued onward.

When she saw the shadow again she paused. Maybe she was just paranoid, but it seemed as though the shadow was following her. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she knew she should avoid it. It could be a wild animal this far up in the mountains. She began to walk slowly, knowing many predators were attracted to movement. The shadow moved from her vision and she breathed a sigh of relief. This was short lived as a bit further up the road she saw the shadow again.

Her breathing began to pick up, but she knew she couldn’t panic. If she panicked she’d run, and if she ran the shadow, whatever it was, would get her. She had to remain calm. She continued to move forward, hoping the shadow would lose track of her. Once more the shadow moved from her vision.

As she continued to move forwards it felt as though her hooves were getting heavier by the second. It became harder and harder to move until eventually she felt the need to look down. What she saw confused and scared her. Her hooves were covered in a thick layer of ice, and while it was possible the snow on her hooves had frozen, there was something off about it. It was too smooth, too form fitting, the thickness was the same all around. Had it been natural she felt it wouldn’t be so perfect.

Regardless she needed to get it off her hooves. She peered through the snow thick wind and saw the outline of a rock. She removed herself from her wagon and walked over. She carefully geared up for a buck and slammed her back hooves into the rock, breaking the thick ice that surrounded them.

She turned and swallowed. Her back hooves were strong from years of applebucking, but her front hooves were less so. Hitting the rock with the amount of force necessary to break such thick ice was going to hurt. She grit her teeth and slammed her front hooves into the rock, she winced at the pain but knew she’d done what she had to. Now free from the ice, she hooked herself back to the wagon. As she was about to continue she heard a high pitched ponylike giggle. She glanced left, sure enough the shadow was back.

Applejack didn’t know what to think. Clearly it wasn’t a wild animal, but another pony here in the middle of the night, at this altitude? It seemed unlikely, unless it was Pinkie, but the giggle had not been hers. Whatever it was, it was sentient, and it knew she was there.

“Why are you following me?” She asked, on the off chance it understood. The shadow only giggled again.“I’m not gonna hurt you, I just want to go down the mountain.” She tried to reason, thinking that maybe the creature was just being territorial. If it could giggle, it might understand her. The shadow merely giggled.

She could feel the ice creeping around her hooves again. She began to lightly stomp her feet into the ground to avoid them freezing again. She knew the creature had to be behind this.

Applejack was scared and frustrated. The combination was making her less reasonable than she should be. She found herself yelling at the creature. “What do you want!” Once more the creature giggled. Then it began to rush towards her.

Applejack began to run, the creature was hunting her now, nothing she’d done up to this point would work. She felt the wagon behind getting caught on things and cursed her shortsightedness. She should’ve kept it unhooked. As it was she continued to run, not really thinking about the repairs she might have to make later.

The giggling, which had been off putting earlier, now terrified her as she heard it behind her. It meant the creature, thing, whatever it was, was on her trail. It was getting closer. Applejack ran faster than she’d run in her life, she knew if the creature caught her it was all over. She felt the icy ground trying to wrap around her hooves. It was like it wanted her to slow down or slip. She couldn’t left her hooves touch any part of the ground for more than a second or two. All the while the creature continued it’s insufferable giggling.

She felt herself slowing and noticed the wheels her wagon covered in ice. If she didn’t get it off her soon, she was going to be frozen in place. She thought quickly and began to run off the path, hoping the rough terrain would aid her in breaking free.

She felt the wagon dislodge as she ran over a particularly rocky patch. Now free from the extra weight she began to put on speed. The giggling grew softer, and softer, eventually fading away entirely. Applejack slowed, beginning to run out of energy. She fell over, unable to continue on. She lay there for a few minutes, her breath slowing as the adrenaline that had got her this far wore off. It was then she heard another giggle.

Applejack’s heart began to pound, it had found her. She saw the shadow out the corner of her eye as it stalked towards her with confidence. She struggled to get up, to run, to roll, anything she could do to get away, but she felt the ice creeping around her form again. The creature moved toward her slowly, continuing to giggle. The shadow loomed over her as she passed out.

When she next woke, she began to panic. She was halfway entrapped in ice, and the whole thing reminded her of being trapped in Chrysalis’ cocoon. She looked around in horror. She was in a cave, surrounded by creatures of every kind. She saw a hippogriff, a griffin, several yaks, a Zebra, a few ponies, and most worryingly of all a pre Thorax changeling. It had to have been here for quite some time. They were frozen by a thick layer of form fitting ice, like a macabre collection of ice sculptures.

She saw glowing ice blue eyes stare at her from the darkness, as the ice continued to creep up on her. She realized the ice covered denizens were the creature’s victims, and she was about to become one of them.

The ice continued to crawl up her form. Applejack couldn’t help but think about the effect this would have on her family. They’d already lost her parents, and at least they knew what had happened to them. She was going to disappear from their lives with no explanation. A tear trickled down her face, freezing about halfway down.

What of Equestria? She had her duties as the element of honesty. Who would replace her when she disappeared? Would her friends get hurt looking for her? Answerless questions filled her mind as the ice began to creep around her head.

In the darkness another pair of eyes appeared at a higher point. It was then that Applejack realized that the creature who had hunted her down was merely a foal. If this was how powerful the foals were, she didn’t want to think about how much power the large one had.

At this point, all but her snout had been covered. Applejack knew there was no escape. In her last moments she pictured her family, and her five best friends. ‘Take care of my family girls, especially Applebloom.’ No sooner than she thought that she was completely entombed in ice.

Author's Note:

I've had this idea for a while now, but never really got around to writing it. The Halloween in April contest was the perfect time to finally write it.
If you're familiar with Japanese legend it show be obvious what caught Applejack.

Comments

[anonpencil]

Than you for the entry. I look forward to reading it.

[TheOneAJ]

It’s okay, but seeing as there was word room (even if this wasn’t for a word count limit) it lacks any build up tension. Like... you seen the Disney cartoon sleepy hallow where icabob is traveling, and it builds up? Could use a little more that. Also, you have tons of run on sentences

[PresentPerfect]

I'm actually not familiar and would be interested to know what monster you've used here. Yuki-onna?

[mokaevans]

10554398
Yes actually. According to legend they freeze their favorite humans, or in this case ponies, and keep them in their cave like some kind of macabre knick-knack. Since Yuki-onna are usually depicted as humanoid I figured a pony equivalent would be equine in nature.
Generally they prefer males, but they don't exclusively hunt them. Sometimes they're depicted with a monstrous face, sometimes as beautiful woman, but unlike some monsters they are always maleficent.

[PresentPerfect]

10555010
Ah! My knowledge of Yuki-onna begins and ends with "it means 'snow woman'". XD

On a different note, I kinda wish there'd been a bit of a scene with AJ and the yaks. Like, I just want to know, what would they call her? "Orange Pony"? "Apple Pony"? Maybe a combination of the two? Which I now realize would be intensely confusing and possibly even offensive to her. XD

[mokaevans]

10555995
I get that but I was worried it'd go against the tone I was going for. As for what they'd all her, at the end of not asking for trouble Pinkie calls her Applepony while wearing the honorary yak horns. Doesn't mean that's what they'd call her but it's as close to a canonical answer as you'll get. Unless they mention it in the comics.