Cold Running
A thick snowfall descended from the hazy evening sky. A think web of branches blocked what moonlight could be seen through the overcast. The sound of obscure caroling and stifled celebration echoed throughout the timberland as midnight approached. A slow steady pace of brisk snow crunching sang out of sync with the distant merry making as an iron box was dragged atop the frozen precipitate.
Warm clouds of condensed moister floated away in puffs from the nostrils of the working Equestrian. With each of her grunts the rigid prison moved two feet further along the ground. The energy that was poured into her effort kept the Equine figure from succumbing to the frigid environment. Her cerulean coat and azure mane complimented the chilled monochrome world.
She stopped tugging on the wool rope connecting to the cage to gather her breath. She wrapped herself tightly around her purple cape, eager to try to escape the bone-freezing gusts. Cold weather of any kind never had a warm spot in the mare’s heart, yet it still insisted on pursuing her like a stalking phantom from her past.
And still she kept on running from it.
A little unicorn filly with an ocean blue coat and a sky blue mane aimed a longing gaze towards snowy peaks beyond the window sill. Her curse of boredom forced her imagination to take a fascination of what lies beyond the mountain ranges of the estate. Floating thoughts sailed through her mind and formed a shield of ignorance from the conversation between the pair of adults behind her.
“And make sure my little sweetie eats her Brussels sprouts at lunch. She can be quite picky about what she eats,” one mare of a pale blue mane and alabaster coat commanded. The velvet-maned, pink nanny gave an assuring answer. “Do not worry, ma’am. Your heir will be safe with me. I’ll make sure your daughter will have all her needs attended to!” An acknowledging smile was given from the ivory baroness as she went to confront her daughter before the day’s duties to hold of the noblewoman. “Be a good girl for Ms. Caring Heart, alright, sweetie?”
“Alright, mama,” the cerulean filly replied with a bored tone. The duchess left the spell-bound child in the care of the rosy mare as she left the room. Several minutes had passed before the door opened again to allow the entrance of a grey unicorn stallion bearing a mane and beret both vibrant purple in color. His presence hadn’t registered for the young pony by the window sill until a cold purple glow engulfed her like a glacial blanket. An overwhelming panic swelled within her senses as the newcomer asserted a strong tone upon her.
“Listen up, you spoiled runt.” His chilling voice was not the only thing in the room that dripped of venomous malice. Ms. Caring Heart had the satisfying look of a wolf that was about to devour its cornered prey, and it wasn’t directed at the visitor. “This is the only time I will say this. If you divulge any of our plans to anypony, especially your father, or speak ill of us, there will be serious consequences. Just as a precaution, my enchantment I placed on you should help prevent a slip of your tongue.”
The magical glow died as he finished his spell. The filly dashed for the door in a run for safety, but an invisible wall violently impacted the pony child, sending her into a stark realm of dark unconsciousness. “Now that pest problem is taken care of, it’s time to commence business. Let the filly be, Ms. Heart. You and I have a few personal matters to clear up.”
The memory came to the cerulean unicorn with the full impact of a speeding train as she sat in the bank of snowy powder. The universe seemed to find it a cruel, amusing joke to prevent the mare to forget her past. The universe had been her only companion for so long, and it was quite the diabolical kind of companion as well. Every time a little happiness had an opportunity to grace the ocean blue pony, the evil companion found a way to send it into a blazing inferno of misfortune, leaving the nomadic Equestrian to mope in an icy plane of existence devoted to misery. Warmth was incapable of sustaining existence in her presence.
But the miserable pony had enough of the universe’s pitiless games. She refused to be the butt of a joke that long ago died and reincarnated into a piece of bleak mockery. This tragic mare was going to use her skills she accumulated over the years to make her own warmth. This wretched unicorn, displaying her purple headpiece and cloak with the entire splendor she will muster, was going to make her own blaze.
The Great and Powerful Trixie was going to create a fire for the masses!
Feelings of barren uselessness stormed through the filly’s head as she paced within her bedroom. Several weeks have passed since her life of pampering and adoration transformed into a daily routine of gut-wrenching anxiety. Attempts to warn her father were made about the blood-thirsty guest housed within their estate, but the curse placed within her mind adjusted her words to prevent exposure of his diabolical scheme.
Knowledge of beret-wearing unicorn’s sham had laid havoc within the little filly’s mind. Oh how he enjoys manipulating the noble family to thinking he was a distant relative lost from war. Oh how he takes pleasure in boasting to the noble child of how he was sabotaging the family from the inside. Oh how he savors the irony of the silence of the filly that could ruin him if she could. As much as he humiliated the blue filly, he wasn’t the one who bestowed a collection of bruises hidden by her cerulean coat.
“Darling! Come in this room, now!” The voice of the rosy mare wasn’t the kind to rattle a house, but it did rattle the unicorn youth’s essence. The sound of leather smacking a table from the nursery advertised a clear message that patience was not on the menu this afternoon. Primal instincts filled the filly’s subconscious telling her race into a gilded toy chest and sit silently till all danger was gone. She accomplished this just before the door burst open for a deranged nanny to pass in.
She could have been a statue hiding in the trunk as the crimson-maned mare did a breakdown of the room. Shivers of fear coursed up the trapped child’s body whenever the sound of a cupboard opening or nearby shuffling of hooves hit her cold-stiff ears. Common sense said that an attempt at hiding was worse than succumbing to the punishment, but instinct shoved common sense into a dark corner in favor of the current tactic.
Time seemed to freeze when the hoof steps stopped right in front of the dark shelter. The air reeked of a malevolent hush delicately placed by the hand of fate. Several dry seconds passed on longer than sparse arid hours. But the hair-raising moments of futile evading were spent in vain when a barely audible whimper floated out of the young captive’s lips. All gates of hope closed on the cue of a heinous inflection. “I found you, darling.” Light blinded the noble child as the trunk lid flew above her head on its hinges. The snap of a leather strip snapped the filly into a world of dread. “Didn’t your mother teach you to come when called?” The hide tongue swayed from the pink snout with a rancor swing as the maroon-maned mare readied a lash of malady.
The azure-maned prey could only snivel in anticipation. “No. Please no. No. NOOO!”
The irony of the situation hit Trixie as she fixed upon her metal cargo with soulless eyes. A thin sheet of snow slid off the top as the cast-iron cage violently shuddered from the bailing captive inside. She found the humor of how she, a sublime creature who used to be in a similar situation with predators lurking around each corner, had now become the warden of a majestic soul of the heavens. Her mystic appearances up on the stage put her in a prideful mood similar to the one she was currently basking in. Even when the cosmos conveyed calamity, she could always put on a palatial performance for the promiscuous populace.
Especially when she wanted to pass on a message to a particular league of theatergoer.
“Sweetie, your ribs are making an impression on your stomach. Are you eating well” The angelic voice was afflicted with worry towards the snowy mare’s daughter. For five months the filly’s arcane infirmity severed her connection with the maternal shield that protected her from all the horrors of the world since her birth. It corrected her speech to conform to the desires of the grim intruder of her life. What should’ve been a confession that would’ve erupted a mother’s rage morphed into an unsought response that continued to tease the magically plagued youth. “I’m fine, Mama. I’ve just been picky with my food again.”
Vexed skepticism was evident as the motherly mare closed the tome they had buried themselves into and laid it on top of the night stand. “Sweetie, I can see something isn’t right. Nopony would be picky enough to become that thin. Can you tell me what’s wrong?” She ran a comforting hoof through the azure mane of the child, but a wince couldn’t have been suppressed as it went over a series of blemishes hidden by the sea-blue coat. With a little ruffling of the mane the physical marks were caught in the inescapable perception of the mare’s sympathetic eyes. “Are those… bruises?” The words were tainted with significant distress.
“I… I can’t…” Time barely allowed the words to stammer out before the doors to the bedroom door whirled open as the purple-maned deceiver passed on a notice of urgency. “Milady, your spouse requires you in the court room. It is of the upmost dire importance that you arrive there with the alicorns’ speed!” Little time was wasted as the noblemare placed a kiss on her daughter’s forehead and careered out of the room, heeding the false servant’s directions.
The filly managed to slip into her hiding crevice of the toy chest with muffled movements as the beret wearing unicorn signaled his pink accomplice to enter the room. With a click of the door bolt, the noble child’s hope of escape was sealed away. “Search for the brat!” the grey stallion boomed with authority. “Sharp Point is taking care of the parents. When you find the little runt, dispose of her immediately. With luck Mr. Sparkle’s bidding will be finished before midnight.”
Adrenaline coursed through burdened veins as the young equine lived through the lasts moments of her life. Her cardiac oscillation surged as the polar grasp of the death horse of the apocalyptic four wrapped its solitary tendrils through her mind. But stealing the filly’s vitality for its own collection was not on its itinerary. Instead, a glacial gust flowed out of the unicorn youth’s horn, crystalizing the beads of sweat under her coat into winter gems.
Pink hooves of enmity lifted the trunk lid, only to halt in place as a fabric of frost weaved up the rosy limbs. A reaction could not be made between the pair of malice before a penetrating winter gush poured throughout the room, leaving behind a cloak of frozen white tundra. Death was satisfied with the tradeoff of two souls whose corrupted cores were pierced with spikes of the artic strike of the filly. The noblechild sat in a stunned lull as she attempted to comprehend what had just occurred.
Sheets of delicate diamond frost coated both of the full grown ponies, turning them into bleak, pale statues of their former selves. Their ghostly pupils bore the petrified gaze of their end of time. A considerable amount of time passed before the filly discerned that the miniature blizzard ceased to continue streaming out of her horn. The timeframe for pondering upon the situation closed when the bedroom door opened for a frantic unicorn butler. “Ms. Luster! Ms. Luster! We need to get you out of here and… I see these two are taken care of. But ignore that! You must get to safety!” The youth feared that her presumptions about her paternal figures. “My mother and father… Are they…?”
A hesitation blocked the hectic butler’s answer in a failing but time-consuming effort. “Unfortunately yes. They are both dead.”
A metallic ring spread out among the winter forest. A screech flared from the occupant of the cast-iron cage as two more ocean-blue limbs bucked the side in furious resentment. Trixie was the only one who knew of the impending doom of her family. The grey stallion’s enchantment had made her feel useless in front of her mother and wasteful near her father. The beret-wearing unicorn’s icy demise wasn’t satisfactory for Trixie’s vengeful pallet. Those in the afterlife could not be brought back to face justice. Her only lead for a gratifying retribution was a colt named Mr. Sparkle.
He forced her into hiding without even meeting her. He made her change herself to protect her from his omnipotent hunters. The only thing she had left to hang on to her past was the color of her mane and coat. Her old name didn’t receive such a lucky treatment, as it was abolished in favor of her current title.
A long time passed since the last time Trixie remembered what she was called. It had only been since the mysterious being of Mr. Sparkle called off the hunt had she remembered the last piece of her once honorary appellation. Luster, it was. But that was the family title. What was hers? Diamond Luster? Pearl Luster? Luster Mane? All those words seemed so close yet so far away.
But Trixie didn’t need an old name for her plan. All she needed was for a certain angry captive to cooperate in the right place at any time. She made the conclusion of where the area should be from a botched performance from a few months back. It was after that show that the search for her was revived, forcing her to be more wary of where she traveled. And when a certain purple unicorn alienated her from her audience with her own concocted illusion did she begin to see a weak point in the unseen armor of Mr. Sparkle.
A melody from a not-too-far chorus drew the attention of the unicorn mare to her place of interest. Justice was less than a mile away, yet a powdered wonderland still formed a barrier she had to get trek through. With newfound determination, she yanked on the line and the metal prison continued plowing through the snow. Trixie’s fears were going to get a large smack of the cheek.
A gust of hard wind pummeled the blue unicorn’s face with an army of snowflakes. Her cloak did little to shield against the fierce blasts of winter mountain air. The virtue of patience never did find its way into Trixie’s life style. Patience only hindered a quick leave when one was always on the move. This was one of those times. The atmosphere lost its heat as the sun finished its downward path for the day. Its dying light casted a tangerine glow upon the castle wall.
“What’s-s taking him s-s-so lo-o-ong?” the show mare shivered out as her deadline marched towards her. Chariots of all sorts have been arriving from distant cities throughout the afternoon to drop off their noble passengers. The annual show was the dear tradition of all Equestrians to attend, aside from a lonesome unicorn by the alabaster fortifications.
But tonight, she would be joining in on one town’s tradition by bringing in a show of her own. It would be her coup de grâce that all of Equestria would be abuzz for years on end. That is, it will be if she didn’t turn into a standing ponysicle crudely crafted by the harsh winds before her cargo could be picked up.
Before she could file any more mental complaints, a large metal box launched a sizable agglomeration of frozen water as it made impact to the ground next to the startled and now colder unicorn. Trixie’s forte retort caught the attention of many of those who recently passed on. “HEY! Watch where you drop that oversized luggage, you piece of” – it was mostly her collection of colorful choice words that demanded the awareness of the souls in the other life, more so than the volume – “with your halfwit brother’s fiancé!”
“Watch your mouth, missy! You should know that’s it’s considered quite rude to accuse any colt of doing even an eighth of those acts with his sister! Especially the one who went through all that trouble to capture you that!” The golden helmed stallion at the top of the battlements gave a hypocritically uncouth gesture in retaliation to the undeserved rebuke. The enthrallment enchantment placed on him was wearing off at a faster pace than Trixie could be comfortable with.
As the bewitched guard left, Trixie began to work with the rope attached to the cage. The thought of the journey came into perspective as each tug decreased the distance to the destination by a meter each. “Don’t worry Trixie,” she began as she started a self-colloquy. “It’s only a several-mile journey down a mountain side and through a track of woods. You have time to spare.” And thus, she warmed herself against the breezing gusts through her trying drudgery of prisoner transport.
The lunar body was nearly at the halfway mark of its nightly journey. The last lyrics of a seasonal carol reverberated throughout the woodland at a high clarity. The grandstand unicorn could feel the nigh conclusion of the night approaching at an accelerating rate. A wide smirk had flourished on her face when the final notes of the hymn died down to make way for the following rising melody.
The echoing harmonies where disrupted by the pandemonium of clanging as the cast-iron box violently quivered under the force of the prisoner assaulting the sides of its cage. Trixie wondered how sturdy the nincompoop of a guard’s prison choice was. Her worries were ratified as an abhorrent shot of cracking steel rang out as the holiday ballad entered into its lyrics.
“The fire of friendship lives in our hearts…”
Dismay filled the unicorn’s heart as a flavescent flame flowed from the fracture of the cage. Molten chips flew off as the damage broadened across the metal face. She broke out into a panic driven sprint as the danger of the searing receptacle flared a charring light off through the forest.
“… As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart…”
The intensity of the rising blaze was too much for the cage. Molten pieces of iron dripped to the winter floor, dissolving the fallen icy crystals into a misty vapor. A scorching sun took the place of the now liquid prison.
“… Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few…”
Seething wings unfurled with a broiling blast of pyre, combusting the wooden structures of the timberland. An apical beak reared up with a screech for the heavens. But it did not take the notice of the populace of the village who were too deep in glorious celebration to take care of the horrors of the universe.
“… Laughter and singing will see us through…”
The once cold world had now taken a new life as the mythical hawk of the stars flew towards the distant city of the Alicorn Sisters. Smoldering projectiles plunged from the conflagrant trail of freedom followed the homebound bird of paradise, creating an Earth rendition of Purgatory from the haunting wilderness. Smoke bellowed out into the ebony sky, shading the moonlight from the planet below.
“… We are a circle of pony friends…”
A lutescent light covered the flowing purple cape as the speeding mare dashed away if an effort to preserve her life. The profane inferno consumed the towering timber in an incandescent thunder. The engrossing cacophony made a small crevice covered by snow to be impossible to discern from the surrounding area. The world was in too much of a fray for Trixie to even comprehend that such a thing existed, though she soon became a believer as her right forehoof caught the slipped into the chink. The ocean blue mass keeled over as a crippled leg gave way for the ground.
“… A circle of friends we’ll be to the very end!”
And thus the age old hymn came to an end. Trixie could feel that Death’s patience had followed in suit with the chorus. The lurking fiend had grown tired of the pony who had evaded him for so long with her cheap escape antics. The unicorn had run out of those for the first time in her life, and as she saw it, the last time.
Her head laid on top of a pillow of frozen precipitation. A stream of tingling droplets from her eyes glistened from the surrounding bonfire. Shattered osseous material filled the appendage, incapacitating an escape from the fallen equine. She couldn’t rescue herself from her impending doom. She couldn’t slip away from the cold hands of death. She couldn’t run. She could only utter a final word before a blanket of parching sparks brought through the barrier of life.
“Mama…”
The End
