Author's Note

For those who have a fear of near-drowning experiences, or have an uncomfortable attitude towards it, I suggest caution when reading this story, as it is something of a theme for this fiction, especially in the more... lustful chapters later on. Hey, you're the one who clicked on a Mature fic!

Part 1: Thin Ice

The bright, early summer sun’s rays dance upon the shimmering, blue lake‘s surface. Two figures stand by the water’s edge; a small dragon and a pony. The dragon, flicking through a dusty book, looks upon its pages, then to the lake, then back to the book.

“Why are we doing this again, Twilight?” he asks, pressing his claw down when he finds the right page. A simple freezing spell, coupled with a few advanced sub-spells. Resistance to natural heat and sunlight was such an addition that one simply shouldn‘t forget in these circumstances.

The book floats out of his hand, surrounded by the violet aura. It drifts towards the accompanying unicorn, who memorises the spell’s requirements before placing it gently on the ground.

“Because, Spike, it’s going to be a surprise for Pinkie Pie’s birthday,” she explains, “She loves ice-skating, but since her birthday’s always in summer, she never gets to go on a frozen lake. The only ice rink I can think of is the one in Canterlot, and that always costs a ton of bits for entry and is crammed with other ponies. If I freeze this lake, we could all have a little rink to ourselves! That‘s gonna be my birthday present to her this year.”

“Pinkie’s birthday isn’t for several weeks.” Spike flatly points out.

“I know,” Twilight replies, “But I need to see if I can cast the spell successfully first. Practice makes perfect and all that.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” the dragon takes a step back, allowing his friend to concentrate on her magic. The unicorn’s horn glows its usual violet hue, before flashing a bluish-white, the surrounding magic snaking from her horn and weaving itself into the waters in front of her. The lake itself begins to freeze, starting at the water’s edge closest to the caster, and rippling forth from there. Soon, the entire lake is frozen from one side to the other.

Twilight abruptly halts the spell, letting out a sigh of weariness. She and Spike look over the lake, taking in their results. Every inch of the lake surface is replaced by a pristine sheet of glistening ice. It may have been a difficult spell to cast, but she was more than willing to chalk this up as a success!

With a smug grin, Twilight turns to her dumbstruck assistant. “What do you think?”

“Whoa.” It takes a moment for him to snap out of his astonishment, “It’s stuff like this, Twilight, which is why I think you’re so cool. Geddit?” he chuckles, pointing a claw towards the freshly iced lake, “So cool?”

“Swing and a miss.” she chuckles, cautiously placing a hoof upon the lake’s frozen surface. Then another hoof. Then another. Pushing off from the edge with her hind leg, she slides a few feet across the makeshift ice rink. She wobbles for a moment of two, before regaining her balance. So far so good.

Carefully making her way across the ice, having at least two near-slips, she examines her workmanship across the whole lake. Spike eventually sets foot on the ice too, taking his rarely used stance on all fours to help him keep balance.

“Hmm, I think it needs more work,” Twilight says once she reaches partway to the centre, “While most parts of the lake’s ice are thick and durable, there are thin patches scattered throughout the whole thing. I guess I’ll just have to be more consistent while casting the spell next time-”

“My lake! What the buck do you think you’re doing to my lake?!?”

A stallion’s agitated voice yells behind them. Both Twilight and Spike whip around in shock to find the source of the shouting. Twilight’s legs tangle up on the icy surface. She slips, her back hitting the ice with a heavy CRACK from under her.

A scream.

A splash.

Silence.

“Twilight?” The dragon’s voice raises an octave in alarm. The only thing that remains where she once stood is a cold, watery hole. “Twilight! No!”

*******

What have you done? What did you just do? You were only yelling at them for freezing your property! And now somepony’s just…

You break out into a gallop as quickly as your Earth Pony legs could carry you. Reaching the frozen surface of your lake, you lower yourself into a slide, stopping just short of the bitter hole the unfortunate pony had fallen through.

She still hasn’t surfaced. Thoughts of dread begin to form in your mind. What if she’s..?

You turn sympathetically to the panicking young dragon, who’s fighting back the tears in his eyes. If you hadn’t have shouted like you did, she‘d never have fallen, and…

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

The sound of something hitting ice reaches your ears. It’s coming from nearby. You follow the sound, urgently looking though the frozen surface for any sign of…

Your insides jump in distress at the sight. A pair of purple hooves madly scrabbling at the sheet of ice from below. A pair of violet eyes, hysterical and desperate, looking back at you in terror from under the water.

You do the first thing you can think of, swinging your fore-hooves into the ice at full force in an attempt to break it. Nothing. Another four solid hits later, there’s still no such luck. She’s trapped under an especially thick part of the ice.

She screams in panic; no sound. Nothing to show for it but the flurry of bubbles swarming against the lake‘s unbreakable surface. The beating of her hooves against the ice becomes more frantic than ever as she chokes. But there’s nothing you can do…

“Move it!”

You obey the sudden command of the young dragon, and jump to the side, nearly slipping. With a loud FWOOSH, a torrent of emerald-green fire rushes forth from his mouth, spilling over the ice where you once stood. It’s working; the ice starts to melt, and cracks form where the pony is trying to break though. You jump in to lend a hoof, each swing breaking up more and more of the surface.

Finally, it shatters. A freezing purple foreleg triumphantly breaks though the ice, and into the open air. You rush to grab it.

With a quick, forceful pull, you lift the mare out from her watery grave. She inhales a loud, thankful gasp of air before she collapses onto the ice beside you, coughing out the biting-cold water from her lungs, taking one deep breath after another as she shivers uncontrollably.

“Twilight!” The dragon rushes forward and throws himself into an affectionate hug with her, tensing when he feels how cold she is, “You’re… you’re freezing!”

“I- I… uh- nuh… hm- ah-” Her incoherent mumbles are as tangled as her sopping wet mane. Her violent shivering doesn’t stop, and she seems unable to move properly even if she tried. Looking closer, you notice her lips are blue.

“We’ve got to dry you off before you freeze to death, poor girl!” you say, hoisting the pony onto your back. Geez, she really is cold! “My shack is right over there, it has a fireplace and everything!”

The dragon dutifully follows you back to your home; a minute’s walk away, but that’s a minute too long for the poor purple unicorn. She shivers the whole journey, holding onto you weakly, trying to draw off as much warmth from you as she could get.

*******

Upon arrival, you set the mare down in front of the inactive fireplace, grumbling an apology about the mess and kicking away a few stray bits of scrap that litters the floor of your shack. Throwing a few logs into the soon-to-be fire, you look around for the flint and tinder. Damn, where did you lose them this time?

FWOOSH!

“Fire’s ready,” the dragon says bluntly, puffing out some excess smoke from his nostrils, “Let’s get to drying her. Got any spare towels?”

You make a quick trip to the bathroom, and return with several of your best towels. And by best, you meant ‘least damp’. You toss them to the dragon (you should really ask for that guy’s name), who catches them and immediately starts to work drying his… friend? Boss? Relative of sorts?

Either way, it isn’t your concern right now. The unicorn - did the dragon call her Twilight? - looks as weak as she was when she first surfaced. “We should get a doctor for her. She doesn‘t look so good.” You consider the circumstances for a moment. Surely you’re not stupid enough to leave two complete strangers alone in your house?

“Better yet, I’m gonna run out and fetch the doctor myself. Can I trust you to stay here and keep her warm while I’m gone?”

It turns out you really are that stupid. But what are they gonna do, really? Steal your scrap? The pony’s too weak to even stand upright and the dragon looks way too small to carry anything at all.

“Wait!” You turn back to the dragon who called out for you, “She’s gonna be okay, isn’t she?”

You don’t give him a direct reply; honestly, you don’t know.

“Just keep her warm and dry." you tell him, "I’ll be right back, I promise.”