My Little Pony: Forever Stranger

When I was a student, I entertained the idea that I was just a little bit brighter and more diligent than my peers. So yes, maybe I was a little vain, but the results spoke for themselves. I was barely out of school when I began my experiments with royal support...

Deep down I knew: there was a thread that connected the worlds of science and magic, which we believed for so long to be separate. And I'd be the one to find it...

My boyish ego quickly dissolved once my research required travel. The griffins, the dragons, whoever else was out there- knowing how they used it would be imperative to my work. And I'd never been anywhere more exotic than Apple Loosa...

When I left Equestria for the first time, alone, I knew I would come back a different stallion. I was right. By the time of my second expedition, when I had company, I made a second discovery: it is the rare pony who leaves home for the darkness of the unknown, beyond where anyone can help them.

Ivory Slate, The Scientific Mind

It was his first morning on a boat. Unlike the bright afternoon, the sea was misty and listless in the half-light of dawn. He had set two of his days set adrift in its foamy palms, with only sun and stars as his company. The sailors didn't count; they were thugs, glassy-eyed privateers who passed the hours fondling the shiny bits sent by 'Canterlot.' Their vessel, equally impressive, was a full-rigged, barnacled piece of driftwood which floated mostly on the water's pity. Rather than yawn, Gale swore as he sat up. Maybe this mission wasn't so important after all.

Princess Twilight wasn't kidding about Slate. If his theoretical works were any proof, the old stallion clearly possessed a keen understanding of nature and magic. His views on being a scientist bordered on the romantic, though that was hardly a failure of character. Gale was getting to know Slate the past few days, but the books offered nothing on what Slate was doing here, in the middle of nowhere.

Ice spat in his face as he stepped outside. Overnight the clouds had decayed into the kind of slush that's been stepped on all day. They smothered the sky to the horizon while fog choked the teal saltwater. Gale groaned, bracing for insults from the crew. But the deck was silent, and aside from one sailor tying a rope, everypony was draped over the sides like sick dogs.

The captain, a beefy and stubbled pegasus, was at the aftward helm. He had one hoof on the wheel and the other in a pouch of bits around his neck as Gale approached.

"How much longer, Captain?"

The mariner's eyes darted between the bag and the wheel. "Don' know."

"You don't know, or can't be bothered to say?"

"Mind yer manners, boy."

"How long?"

"Ah, yer business mus' be urgent then-"

"It's none of your business. How long?"

"Can't be too important if the royals sent a colt-"

The badge led his chest to butt against the captain's.

"This is your ship, but it's my mission, Captain. One more answer, and it better be the one I want."

The captain finally looked him in the eye, then flared his nostrils. "...Two or three more hours, 'Sir.' We should reach our destination by noon."

Gale stepped back. His muzzle billowed out frosty steam, silent against the ship's moaning hull as the captain studied him.

"Do ya even know why yer here?"

"I'm on a mission."

"Save it for the fillies, boy."

"I'm looking for something."

"What?"

"The Abominable Snowpony."

"Come on, boy!" He threw up his hooves. "Throw me a bone!" He fumbled into his pouch. "How 'bout a couple bits to satisfy this old sailor's...er...misguided curiosity?"

"Save it for a new crew. This one's seasick. Bad news for working on a boat."

"They're lookin' for ice, ya posh! My girl here's not some fancy steamer! If my stallions don't keep an eye out, we'll all be swimmin' home." His voice lowered. "So you'd best be watchin' who ya throw rocks at." Gale rolled his eyes as he turned away from the helm.

The captain scratched his stubble. "Don' you worry none, boy. I've seen it plenty of times. Aye, yer some fancy Canterlot guard. Aye, yer better than the lot of us. But out here? Gonna find yerself alone real quick, lookin' down on other ponies."

"I'm already alone," Gale muttered, and the captain finally let him be.

***

Gale near celebrated when he heard a crew member call from port side, "Captain! We've ice dead ahead!"

"Slack the main and cast off the heads!" the captain growled, twisting the wheel. "All hands, brace for impact!"

Gale clutched one of the masts as the ship lurched to the right, rotating in the water so the port side faced the boat's previous course. The fog had cleared. Beyond it stood a wall of ice that broke the surface by no more than a horn, but stretched below until it turned black in the water's shade. The blue-white monolith had abolished the sea from the horizon, cutting it clean off in every direction. Thirty seconds later, it bit the ship in a breath of snow, ice, and splinters.

A shout, then grinding teeth filled his ears as the glacier's rim chewed on the passing ship. It grew bored of its wooden toy however, and allowed its crew to drop anchor.

Across the deck the captain thundered, "Any of you care to tell me why y'all didn't notice a block of ice sittin' on our noses?! We coulda torn the hull if I hadn't..!"

"Was the fog, suh," one replied. "And that wan't no ordinary iceberg, neither. Ice just...showed up, like we reached the end of the world."

"Can we get outta here, sir?" cried another. "We're gonna freeze if-"

"If y'all are so keen to leave, then check the hull and get ready to hoist anchor!" The captain faced Gale. "Well, boy, either yer out here, or comin' back with us now."

This wasn't part of the plan. He was miles from shore. Snow had already descended on the deck. "I don't have time to cross this, Captain. We need to find entry into the mountains."

"Not gonna happen, boy. The job was take ya to the coast." He flung his hoof at the glacier. "There's yer coast."

Gale's jaw clenched. Though he didn't realize it, he was in the captain's face. "I'm on royal business. This isn't a request."

The crew all turned their heads. One sailor had a hoof on his cutlass, but the captain waved him off.

"Aye, boy. Yer on royal business. Which means it ain't 'none of mine,' eh?" He shoved Gale with one hoof. "So you either get back to yer cabin n' books, or get off my ship."

Gale's face was a fist aimed straight at the captain, but even then he knew his options. He had three days to find the source of the message and return to the coast, where a royal guard vessel would- hopefully- find and pick him up. What if he took too long? Got held up? Was he prepared to just turn around, waste three more days on the ship, and face the princesses empty-hoofed?

Gale shoved his supply sled overboard before jumping. The floor of ice ignored him, didn't even budge when he landed hard on its dusty cover. As he strapped the sled to himself, he heard the captain's voice one last time.

"Ya got more guts than brains, boy, tho I still get the feelin' I'm never gonna see ya again." Some sendoff, Gale spat in his mind. He didn't bother to answer, or watch the ship slip back into the returning fog.

With hood up, mask on and horn aglow, Gale began his march against the frozen coastline. Snow gradually piled into an edged crest some two hundred meters out, so the surface curved up smoothly like a plate. Anything further was just so much grey fog except for the mountains, who held themselves above it all. They leaned over the land like feasting giants, with heads and hands concealed.