Izzy Moonbow and the Frozen Lake

The lake outside Bridlewood was covered in ice, and the surrounding land was covered in a thin layer of snow. A purple hoof wearing a purple and blue crystal bracelet reached out over the Frozen water's edge and tapped the ice a few times. The hoof belonged to the unicorn Izzy Moonbow, who wore a blue scarf and fuzzy earmuffs due to the chill of winter.

Izzy's face was focused and her lips were pursed as she tapped the ice. After a few taps, she smiled, satisfied that the ice was solid. She then lit up her horn and levitated her smart phone out of the pocket she sewed into her scarf.

Izzy turned on the phone, went to the video sharing site, and turned on the Livestream function. Once she had it levitated to just the right position, she gave an adorable smile to the camera and declared proudly, "And now, I, Izzy Moonbow the unicorn, presents, dum-da-da-daaaaaaa! 'Dancing On Ice'!"

Then, without further ado, Izzy gracefully leaped up into the air with her left hindleg up in the air, her bracelet bearing left foreleg raised slightly. and her nose upward as well.

She brought all four legs back underneath her and landed on them all, and continued to slide forward on her goods, moving swiftly across the ice. She then lifted her hindlegs and swung her rear to one side, causing her to turn and drift across the ice. Leaning into the turn, she spun around, letting her long blue mane and tail swing around her.

After this spin, Izzy pushed back with her forehooves to slide backwards. Smiling wide, she said to the camera, "Moonbow walk!" She then alternated lifting her left and right hooves as she moved backwards across the ice.

Izzy spun around again, and reared up onto her hindlegs, coming to a stop. She then fell back down onto all fours and then pushed off with her front left and back right legs. Then she used her opposing legs to continue.

"Hm-hmm. Hm-hmm. Hm-hmm. Hm-hmm. Hm-hmmmmmm..." Izzy hummed as she alternated legs. Then she threw up both right legs and slid only on her left legs. Her flowing mane dragged across the ice as she moved in a nearly sideways position.

She fell back on all fours and she lowered her body to pick up speed. She slid in a wide circle around the center of the lake. Round and round she went, getting closer and closer to the center of the lake. Then she popped back up onto her hindlegs and pulled her forelegs in as she pirouetted fast on the ice. She spun so fast that she became a lavender and blue blur. Then, she came to a sudden stop, standing on the tip of her left hind hoof with her right hindleg bent so that her hoof was pointed straight up. Her left foreleg was slightly raised, while her right foreleg was pointed straight up at the sky.

"Ta-daaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Izzy said giddily to the camera.

Crack-crack-crack-crack!

Izzy pulled a comically confused face at the sound, and she looked down and then all around her. Her left hind hoof tip had managed to pierce the ice, and from that point, a large network of cracks had spider webbed throughout the entire frozen surface of the lake.

Izzy blinked and said awkwardly, "Huh.... Okay...." Izzy looked back up at the camera and flashed a genuine optimistic smile and said, "So, now Izzy Moonbow presents 'Escaping Certain Frozen Death'!"

Izzy looked back down at the cracked ice and said, "Well, there's really no need to worry. After all, I only had a bowl of cereal for breakfast this morning instead of eggs and waffles."

Izzy unbent her right hindlegs and stretched out ahead of her, then lightly set her hoof onto the ice. She slowly applied weight to it and nodded with a smile.

"Okay, that feels good," she said with a nervous chuckle, and she lowered her right foreleg and moved it close to her chest along with her left foreleg. Standing up on her hindlegs, she slowly leaned forward. Immediately, her right hoof began to slip and slide around in front of her.

Izzy caught her leg between her forehooves to hold it still. Sighing in relief, Izzy set her forehooves down and pulled her hind left hoof out of the ice. Looking around carefully, Izzy took a very slow and tentative step forward, setting her left forehoof down carefully on the cracked surface.

When the ice didn't make a sound in response, Izzy brightened up and grinned as she took another step forward.

Crack!

Izzy squealed in fright as her right forehoof fell right through the ice. She quickly pulled it out and shook the freezing water out of her lavender fur. "Ooh, that water sure is cold. Yep, really cold. Yeah,I would totally die if I fell in," Izzy then rolled her eyes and laughed, "But that's silly, cause I'm not gonna fall in. No way, no how, not me!"

Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!

The cracking of the ice caught Izzy's attention again, and she looked around to see the entire frozen lake surface break apart. Ice fragmented and shattered into tiny floating bits that sparkled on the water's surface. This also revealed how thin the ice really was.

Izzy looked ahead of her and saw that, miraculously, there was still a path of unbroken ice leading to solid land. However, this ice looked very thin. Thin enough to see through.

Izzy closed her eyes and muttered to herself, "Okay then... Who is super light on their hooves..." Her eyes snapped open and she said bright and happily, "Ballet ponies!"

Izzy went hopped up and landed on the tips of her hind hooves, keeping them close together. She raised her forelegs up above her head and pointed her forehooves at each other. Then, taking a quick breath, she leapt forward onto the ice bridge.

In her mind, Izzy was light as a snowflake, dancing weightlessly across the ice on dainty hooves. In reality, however, whenever her hooves touched the ice, it shattered immediately. Lucky for Izzy, she moved quick enough so that by the time the ice shattered, she had already leapt onward.

Izzy was nearly off of the lake, to the point that one more leap would do it. However, as Izzy got closer, where the ice happened to be a bit thicker, she was unable to stick the penultimate landing. Her hoof slipped on the ice, causing her to cry out as she flipped forward and landed horn first on the ice.

Crack!

Izzy was wide eyed as she soon on her head, the entire world upside down with her horn stuck in the ice.

"Don't panic," she said as she slid her forehooves flat across the ice over to the opposite side of her head. With her hindlegs kicking, Izzy pushed with all her might with her forehooves.

POP!

Izzy shot straight up into air upon freeing her horn from the ice. However, when she came back down, she landed perfectly on all four hooves. This actually surprised Izzy, and she lifted her forehoof to her chin in thought. "Huh....am I part cat?" she remarked curiously, then she made her eyes big and waved her forehoof. "Meow-meow! Purrrr!" she said as she flicked her tail around. Then she laughed and waved her forehoof dismissively, "Nah!" she said, and she brought her forehoof down hard.

Crack!

Izzy's eyes widened. "Uh-oh."

CRACK!

The ice Izzy was standing on shattered completely, and she immediately let out a long terrified scream up to the sky. However, after a solid minute of screaming, Izzy noticed that her fur wasn't being soaked and submerged in freezing cold water. Izzy looked down and saw that she was standing in the shallow edge of the lake, and that the water only came up to where her fur met her hooves.

"Oh," Izzy said, and she smiled again and happily pranced out of the water and into the snow dusted ground. She had taken just a few steps when she suddenly paused mid step as a shiver ran through her.

“Ooh, wait, cold hooves! Cold hooves! Really cold hooves!” she shouted as she experienced the delayed reaction of having freezing cold water in contact with the soft sensitive frogs of her hooves. She kicked out alternating pairs of hooves, bouncing from pair to pair as she shook her legs frantically as the cold caused her to grimace. She breathed in and out heavily as she bucked the air hard in an attempt to warm her hooves up. She ran around in a tight circle, looking as if she were chasing her own tail. Then she reared up and wildly waved her forelegs with all her might. She flailed her legs so hard, that the bracelet around her left forehoof was flung right off and flew out into the lake, landing on a small piece of floating ice far off from the shore.

Izzy’s eyes widened and she smacked her cheeks with her forehooves and let out a loud and long gasp of horror. But then, her expression suddenly switched from horror to glee as she crossed her eyes to look up at her horn and said, “Duh! Magic!”

Izzy smiled and pointed her horn over at her wayward bracelet. Her horn glowed, but nothing at all happened to the far off bracelet. Izzy pouted, and she went back down on all fours and trotted over towards the shore. When her hooves reached the very edge, Izzy leaned forward and stretched her neck out as she focused hard on the bracelet, which was still some distance away.

“Too. . .far. . .” Izzy moaned as she strained to reach out to her bracelet. Eventually, she huffed and stared sadly after her treasure. She looked around, almost aimlessly, until something caught her attention and cheered her up. Izzy ran over to a fallen tree limb that was more or less as long as she was tall, and about as thick as a pony’s leg. Lifting it with her magic, Izzy turned to look out after her bracelet. Closing one eye and licking her lips, Izzy lined herself up with the necklace and then tossed the tree limb out into the lake. The piece of wood flipped part way and fell straight down into the lake, and ended up standing straight up out of the lake and sticking up out of the water a dozen inches or so.

“Alrighty then,” Izzy said as she walked backward and lowered her body slightly, “No biggie. Jump for the log, grab my bracelet, then jump back. Easy.”

Izzy nodded to herself and smiled, all attempts to psych herself up to do this, and then, once she’d walked far back enough, she ran full speed towards the lake.
“Aim for the log. Aim for the log. Aim for the log,” she repeated to herself as she ran to the edge of the freezing water. Right when she reached the shore, she jumped.

“Aim for the log. Aim for the log! Aim for the log!” Izzy shouted desperately as she stretched out her right foreleg as she came down from the top of her jump’s arc.

Izzy’s right forehoof landed right onto the small round platform provided by the tree limb. Izzy quickly shook and flipped her long mane off of her face as she stood upside down on one hoof in the middle of a lake full of hypothermia inducing water. Her left foreleg was sticking out and her hindlegs were begging to fall forward. In a burst of panic, Izzy pushed up off of her hoof and flipped over, landing on her left rear hoof in a wobbly fashion. She could feel the tree limb begging to wobble underneath her, and as she began to fall forward, she immediately leaned back and held out her forelegs in a T-pose. Her eyes widened as she began to fall backwards, and she kicked out a few times with her right hindleg to offset this. Slowly but surely, Izzy adjusted her stance, lifting and bending her right hindleg in, until the wobbling stopped and Izzy was perfectly balanced on the thick branch.

Izzy lifted her head up from looking down and said, “Okay. Breathe in. *huff*. Breathe out. *puff*. Feels good.”

Izzy’s innocent smile had returned as she peered over at her bracelet, still on the floating piece of ice. Using her magic, Izzy levitated the bracelet off the piece of ice and brought it over to her left forehoof, which was still extended out to her left in Izzy’s T-pose. Izzy’s smile got a bit bigger as the bracelet slid back onto her hoof. She closed her eyes and let out a little giggle of relief. At that moment, however, Izzy felt herself begin to lean to her left. Her eyes opened as she felt herself completely lose her balance. She waved her forelegs as she continued to fall to the left. Even worse was how the log she was standing on was starting to tilt and sink down into the lake bed.

“Jump back. Jump back. Jump back!” Izzy shouted as she hopped around in a circle as fast as she could. Once she was facing back to shore, she bent her leg low and gave a desperate jump and desperation dive back to shore.

Izzy landed right onto the ice covering the shallow part of the lake near the shore, all four hooves punching through the ice and becoming completely submerged in the shallow, freezing water. This time, the reaction to the freezing water wasn’t delayed for Izzy. She let out a loud gasp from the cold seeping up into her hooves through her frogs. Her pupils shrank and her teeth chattered as her mind went blank due to the low temperatures. Eventually, Izzy managed to get past it and let out a long sigh. She shook her head a bit, and proceeded to move forward.

Creak-creak!

Izzy blinked when she found that she could not move her hooves. She looked down and saw that the ice had refrozen around her hooves during the time she’d been paralyzed by the cold.
“. . . .Heh-heh. . .” Izzy laughed awkwardly, “Okay. . .that’s enough now. Really, this all can end so I can go home now.” She then made another attempt to free her hooves, but they were frozen quite solidly in the ice. “Okay. . .” she said again, and she took a deep breath and held it as she thrashed around vigorously. She finally threw her entire body forward and cried out when first her hind hooves and then her forehooves popped out, sending her tumbling tail over head onto the ground.

Izzy let out a soft moan of pain, and she rolled over and stood up on her hooves. She shook her head and took a step forward, only to find herself stumbling and slipping wildly.

“Huh?!” Izzy said, and she looked down and saw that all four of her hooves were encased in ice. “Oh, no, no, noooooooo!” she moaned as she ran in place, and then began to slide sideways and spin around. Out of control, she slid across the ground away from the lake.

“How does. . . Sunny. . . Skate!?” Izzy shouted as she wildly slid on her frozen hooves. She looked ahead of her and saw that she was headed right towards a tree. “How does she stoooooop!?” she cried out.

Clunk!

Izzy collided with the tree horn first, and she stood with her horn jammed into the tree for a moment. She sighed, and then tugged her horn out of the tree with a pop.

“This tree sure is hard,” Izzy said dizzily as her eyes spun around. Then she blinked, and her eyes lit up as an idea came to her. With a sly grin, she raised her right forehoof and kicked the side of the tree. The ice around her hoof cracked, and then shattered. Delighted, Izzy did the same with her left forehoof. Then she hopped and spun around 180 degrees, then bucked the tree with both hindlegs, which shattered the ice on her rear hooves as well.

Izzy had a big smile on her face as a did happy piaffe in place, stopping suddenly and posing with her left forehoof raised.

Pompf!

All of the snow in the tree branches fell at once, which was just enough to not bury Izzy, but completely encase her. The air was just cold enough, and Izzy’s fur was just the right texture and length, for the snow to cling to her entire body and flash freeze into solid frost.

After a silent second, Izzy’s glowing horn caused the frost to fall off of it, a loud heavy breath from Izzy’s nostrils blew out the frost on her nose, and her eyes blinked open and knocked the frost off of her eyelids.

“Mmm? Mmm? Mmmf!” Izzy grunted, muffled by the frost encasing her mouth and the rest of her body. She remained like this, eyes darting around as she tried in vain to move at all, for what felt like forever until she managed to hear voices through the frost covering her ears.

“There! That’s the tree!”

“Ohmigosh, I see her! It’s even weirder seeing it IRL!”

“Izzy! Don’t worry! We’re coming!”

Pipp and Zipp arrived near the frozen unicorn first, and Sunny arrived seconds after.

“Come on!” Zipp said urgently, “We need to get her out first.”

There was a flash of golden light, and Sunny bore translucent wings and a horn, a horn she waved over the frozen unicorn once to send a wave of warming magic, which instantly melted the frost on her.

“Ooooooh, so warm. . .” Izzy cooed as she bore a look of extreme blissful contentment on her face, and she leaned forward and nuzzled her friend warmly, “Thank yooooooou. . .”

Sunny was relieved and happy as she said, “Heh-heh. You’re welcome Izzy!”

Izzy then jerked back and said with wide eyed amazement, “Woah! You must have used your amazing Alicorn magic to detect that I needed help!”

Pipp stepped in and said, “Good guess, but actually no. I just saw your Livestream.”

Izzy tensed up, and turned to the side to see her smartphone still floating next to her. Throughout her entire misadventure, Izzy had somehow managed to subconsciously keep her smartphone levitated in her magic field in just the right positions to capture every bit of the events. She brought the smartphone close to her face and took a look at the live chat. Upon reading the comments, she gasped, and she smiled adorably with her forehhoves pressed into her chubby cheeks and said, “They like me! They all really like me!”

As Sunny laughed and Zipp rolled her eyes, Pipp just smiled with heartwarming pride and said, “Finally. Now there’s a mare after my own heart.”

The End