Frozen Over

by nctransgirl

Chapter II - Latent Power

Chapter Two: Latent Power

It has been one year since Kalki arrived at my makeshift home in a small cave far in the Frozen North of a land he called Equestria. I have learned how to speak, which truly was a boon, but I could still feel no magic inside. I was beginning to think that on that day so long ago, I simply used all of it up. The fish had returned to the pond, having laid thousands upon thousands of eggs, just as Kalki suggested they would. And today, a very interesting event took place that I was not exactly thrilled about.

"Kalki, come on! You can be really slow, you know!" I shouted to him from afar, my voice echoing throughout the empty land around us.

"Snow, you really must calm down, I'm simply enjoying the scenery," he said, looking from side to side as he slowly came my way,"which is looking particularly lovely today."

"Scenery? Kalki, you're so silly, there isn't anything to look at!" I rolled my eyes a little, and kept trotting toward the lake he had discovered some days ago. The lake was extraordinary, spanning what seemed like miles, and filled with amazing new fish I had never seen! There were some fish that shone like rainbows with lovely luminescent scale, and some that didn't shine at all - you could see right through their bodies! And we were going to get a big one today, I knew it.

"Oh, Snow, you're thinking about the here and now again. Someday, in many years, this land could be a forest, or a tundra. Nothing lasts forever, you know. One of these days, things are bound to change, and whether it is good for the environment or not, the animals will need to adapt. In a hundred years, ponies might come here during the summer, not in the winter as they normally do."

When he said this, I stopped on a dime. "Did you just say that ponies come here during the winter!?" I cantered back to him and put a hoof over his back. "Well why didn't you say so? Lead me to them!"

"They aren't here, Snow. They're very, very far away. I'm sorry, but as far as I know, we're the only two sentient creatures for no less than one hundred miles." He looked at me seriously for once.

"Oh..." I looked down in disappointment. "Kalki?"

"Yes, Snow?" He stopped in his tracks.

"You said we're the only two...I might not know why I've always been here...but how did you get here? As far as I can remember, I'd always been alone until you came to me. Are you somehow alone too?" I dug my hoof into the ground, waiting for his answer.

"Snow, this might take a bit of time. Let's keep moving toward the lake." I did as he said. I was overjoyed! I'd finally learn how Kalki came to be with me...but at the same time, I felt sorrow in his eyes.

"Many years ago, I lived peacefully as a monk in a land very distant from Equestria, a land where griffons rule. It was a very wondrous place, I must admit. Mountains covered much of our land, where we would make our homes, quietly waiting for our prey to unknowingly pass into our territory. I lived at the base of one such mountain, in a cavern similar to the one you've lived in, with my family."

"You have a family? So why are you here?" I looked into his eyes, for a moment having sworn that I could have seen a tear. Never once had I seen a tear even threaten to escape from Kalki's eyes!

"I had a family." His voice was deeper than usual, and much more forlorn. After a few seconds of silence, I knew I had to speak.

"Kalki? What happened to them?" I was getting increasingly saddened by Kalki's tale. Suddenly I didn't really know if I wanted to hear the end of it.

He stopped again, tears now visibly streaming down his face and down his cheeks. Using my hoof, I managed to wipe some away, but they just kept coming.

"The Simurgh took them away from me. That damn simurgh took them all away, just like that..." At this point, he took a seat on the ground, and I followed suit.

"Simurgh? What's that?" It sounded like the most horrid creature I could imagine.

"She's a magnificent creature with the body of a lion and the wings and head of a bird - much like myself, but many times larger. She lives in an enormous tree in the center of the Griffon Kingdom, and takes care of planting our crops, for it is said that whenever she takes flight, the seeds of every plant to have ever existed would scatter all the world over. We griffons had an agreement with the simurgh! If she planted our crops, we would not take the trees in her forest! But we became selfish...rumors spread about the trees, that she protected them because the leaves had healing properties. One day, a group of griffins gathered and took one of the trees from her sacred forest, and noticing this, she went wild, flapping her wings so hard that trees toppled in the far borders of the Kingdom. She decided that if someone would take what's hers, she would take some of our own. One morning, I awoke to find the Simurgh flying away with my beloved and our three eggs...there wasn't a thing I could do..." He clenched one his claws tight.

"Kalki..." I found myself beginning to cry, not exactly because of the story he told per se, but because, like he for his wife, I knew there was nothing I could do or say to help him...

After he wiped away one last tear, he continued. "So I left. I stormed out of my home, out of the entire kingdom, not caring where I went, as long as it was a place where I could be alone forever. After many days of near-endless flying, I found myself on the border of the Frozen Lands, a place I believed to be deserted, until I found you on your way to that pond. When I saw you fighting for your life in that pond as a little filly, I knew there was someone I could protect, so I took hold of you and brought you to the nearest shelter I could find, the cave you live in. I hope that answers your questions. Yes, Snow, I was alone for a time, but now, I have something to protect, and am alone no longer."

"Well, Kalki, I'm really happy that you want to keep me safe! As long as you're with me, I know that I can handle anything! Now let's keep moving, I'm getting hungry!" My stomach, which growled rather loudly, was followed immediately by another growl from Kalki's.

"Yes, I'm beginning to get hungry as well!" We began to laugh, that is, until I saw something in the distance, a large, sky blue lake. The sight of the lake after hours of trotting made me just want to jump up in joy, because the appearance of the lake meant only one thing, and that was food!

"Kalki, look! There it is! We're here!" I yelled back at him, for by the time I finished speaking, I was already in a gallop toward the lake. Kalki wasn't far behind, flying far above me in the air. His flight had always been a beautiful thing to witness; when he spread out his wings and propelled himself into the sky, it was as if he was decreeing for all the land to know, "I am Kalki, and I rule the air!" Every flap of his wings was no less powerful or majestic than the last. For that reason, watching him fly was one of my favorite things to do.

When we arrived at the shimmering lake, my attention was immediately directed the school of fish in the northern section of the pond, whose scales glistened all colors of the rainbow, which, though I had seen before, was no less captivating. I made my way into the water, merely trotting so as to not frighten the fish. Kalki, meanwhile, watched from afar.

"Remember, Snow, when you use your magic, you must concentrate. Magic comes not from strength of body, but of mind. You must control it, or it will control you, and cause a rebound. You must use your willpower." His words echoed in my head. I'd tried to levitate the fish many times, but distractions always kept me from succeeding. However, today, I felt lucky.

I searched for a small enough fish, eventually settling on a rather plain looking white one that seemed to be detached from its school. Thinking hard about how much this spell means to me, not only because succeeding in using it would mean a meal, but because its success would make Kalki even more proud of me, I began to see sparks fluttering down into the water from my horn, and soon after words, a cerulean glow around the fish itself. Using my thoughts of impressing Kalki as fuel, I finally began to lift the fish out of water, when, just as its head reached the surface, it was swept away.

"Kalki! The fish flew away while I was casting the spell! Did I do it wrong?" I shouted back at him with confusion.

"What? But how!?" He leaped into the air and glided to my side, a few feathers departing from his wings to dance in the wind before settling on the surface of the lake. Looking down deep into the water, for just a split second, we saw something strange.

A pair of yellow eyes. Kalki turned to me and spoke simply:

"Snow. I'm only going to say this one time. Run."

I galloped away from the water as fast as I could, finding my way to a nearby edge of the lake. What were those eyes? Had he seen them before?

"I know you're in there." Kalki spoke these words, seemingly to the water. Suddenly, I heard...purring. Not from something small. This was big. Peering at Kalki simply standing there and believing he was simply being silly, I began making my way back to him slowly, when suddenly, a claw emerged from the water, threatening to slash at Kalki, who instantly matched it with one of his talons! I knew at that point that I should just stay back.

"Snow Squall, this beast is a snow leopard. They have the extremely handy ability of being able to dissolve into water, a tactic they often use for sneaking up on prey. Luckily for us, they aren't particularly friendly, so they often travel alone. Don't worry about me; I can handle this." Kalki clenched the striped paw of the beast even tighter, the leopard letting out a painful scream that seemed to reach the borders of the land. After a few seconds of allowing the leopard to writhe in pain in stillness, Kalki flung his body up, tossing the entire creature out of the water and into the air! For just a few seconds, as the leopard flew clumsily above Kalki, I caught a glimpse of its body. It had smoky gray fur with black spots scattered all about, and a tail like a snake that thrashed wildly.

As Kalki prepared the fly up to deliver a slash to the big cat, I saw something that instilled fear into my heart. It was another pair of those menacing yellow eyes, travelling quickly toward Kalki!

"Kalki, behind you! Watch it!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, fearing for him, as I once did for myself.

By the time Kalki looked back, the second snow leopard was already in mid-jump, and with a quick, but wide, swipe of its claw, Kalki ceased his flight, and soon afterward, went rocketing down into the shallow waters. As the first beast landed nearby, managing to get up, nearly unharmed, the second grabbed Kalki by a damaged wing using its fangs. I expected a scream to escape him, but there was no sound. I couldn't tell at the time if it was because he had given up due to his wound, or because he had simply lost consciousness.

At that moment, I felt something inside of me snap, and suddenly, I felt the magic return to me. With tears of fury building up in my eyes, I began to concentrate my energy once again, my horn beginning to glow after mere seconds. Just a few moments ago, I was fighting for food, and for myself. This time, I was fighting for him, for his life. And I wasn't about to let him down. Soon, the cerulean glow began to envelop my entire body. When the first leopard came back to Kalki, now hovering motionless in the air by a wing, I knew it was time to act.

Gritting my teeth, my veil of energy beginning to leak out onto the ground, I screamed:

"Why don't you two just leave him alone!?

All at once, the magic around me gathered in my horn, traveling to the very tip, and spread out like a wave onto the lake, freezing every inch of water into solid ice. As it approached the leopards and Kalki, driven by pure instinct and adrenaline, I ran along the ice, using what magic I didn't use to act as skates, just eager to get rid of the predators that had brought harm to my only friend. The leopards, not noticing the nearly-silent crawl of ice coming their way, were easily covered by the ice, but not before roaring a final time from the intense pain I had caused them, letting Kalki out of their grasp in the process. With one charge, I slammed my entire body into the frozen remains of the leopards, shattering them instantly. It was strange...I felt no remorse ending two lives to save just one.

Once the two beasts were demolished, I turned my attention to Kalki, who was now lying nearly motionless on the ground, turned on his side, which exposed the three long bloody scars that now ran down his back. Running to his side, I found myself overwhelmed by tears, and began to panic.

"Kalki, are you okay!? Kalki? Stop messing around! Stop messing with me! I ran around him in circles, waiting for a sound to slip out, an eye to open, anything. But nothing did. Noticing a small stream block off by the lake, I tried my hoof at the levitation spell from earlier, this time, with success, pouring it into Kalki's open beak. Soon, I heard a gulp. Next, a cough. Finally, he spoke faintly:

"Thank you, Snow. Your bravery will be rewarded with a big meal...tomorrow..." Upon saying this, he closed his eyes, and I laughed, just a little. Only he could say something like that after being bloodied.

As the sun began to give way to the moon and the animals began to fall asleep, I did my best to keep Kalki warm with my body, though I knew we were both beginning to freeze. As the night continued, so did the numbing of my body. Eventually, I could feel nothing. On that night, the time for sleep never came, but it was worth it to keep him safe.

When the sun rose, Kalki rose with it. He seemed to have a way of doing that every morning.

"Snow..." he turned his attention to me. I was barely staying awake thanks to the events of the night before, not to mention the strain of staying up all night. "Did you do all of this?" He pointed a claw around us, at the frozen lake.

"Yes...I did. You aren't mad at me, are you?" I was half-expecting him to scold me for being reckless.

"Of course I'm not mad at you, Snow. This just proves to me that your reserves of magic are no joke. Do you think you could freeze something else?" It almost seemed like he was asking me a favor. I turned my attention to the stream from the night before and focused my energy into my horn, recreating the glow from the night before, and after only a few seconds, the stream of water became a block of ice.

"Very impressive, Snow Squall! It looks like something happened last night that brought out your latent energy. It's wonderful, don't you think?" He looked around again, marveling at the result of my magic.

"Snow?"

When he turned around, I was lying on the ground, snoring.

He laughed for quite a bit. "You're still just a filly, I almost forgot." As he picked me up by my flank and tossing me on his back, I regained my senses long enough to hear him say:

"You've gotten so much bigger. I don't know how many times I'll be able to carry you like this."

Comments

[Midnight Words]

I really like how this is developing!

This review is brought to you on behalf of the group: Authors Helping Authors
Name of Story: Frozen Over
Grammar: 9/10

Pros: Great Original OC story!
The writing and grammar is great!
Characters are extremely believable!

Cons:I really can't think of any other than pacing (WHY DOES THIS NOT HAVE MORE VIEWS?)

Notes: I don't know why you don't have more views and likes, compared to me, you are really good. I really can't say anything helpful, you really got it down pat.

Enjoy your review! Please help me out by looking at my story/ this story: An Angel and her Soldier