An ice block fell outside of a narrow cave in the mountain side. The sound of it woke Derpy from her fragile sleep. Her eyes opened and she carefully lifted her wing to check on the purple filly unicorn laying underneath. She was curled up into a little ball with her hoofs clutching onto her mother’s front hoof and her tail folded inwards, tickling the base of Derpy´s hoof.
Sleeping as if she was back in her own bed. She thought as the wing gently returned to cover the little filly. There was a lot of things she admired about her daughter but one thing that always amazed her was Dinky´s ability to always sleep peacefully, even when laying on cold hard rock. Carefully, she pushed the edge of her wing under the filly and tucked her into a bed of grey feathers. The other wing lay spread out over the black rock. She couldn´t fold it. She couldn´t move it. It merely hung from her back.
Derpy gazed towards the narrow entrance of the cave she lay in. The wind screamed outside as curtains of thick snowflakes flew by. Despite the shrieking of the wind and harsh reminder of the cold outside world, she didn´t look away from entrance. It was her soul source of light in the jet black cave and told her that dawn had finally broken.
The little filly tightened her grip on her mother´s hoof and rubbed her soft little cheeks into her leg. Even though she felt to her very bones and her right wing throbbed with pain, a warm sensation started growing inside her chest. For a short moment the outside world grew quiet, the pain and shivers from her wing disappeared and she dreamt of flying. She was up among the clouds with Dinky resting on her back. They drifted in the beams of warm morning sun. The normally white clouds where painted orange by the ascending star.
When the mare opened her eyes again she was back in the cave. The pain and shivers from her wing returned with a jolt. Ignoring the pain, she looked down at her daughter again. The filly had taken one of the feathers from her wings and began sucking on it like a pacifier.
She still does that in her sleep. She smiled and gently kissed the filly on the forehead. Then she noticed something. The wind wasn´t screaming anymore. Looking towards the entrance she saw the wind had slackened and the flakes of snow drifted by slowly, like leaves in the autumn. We can finally go.
“Dinky…” She shook her hoof gently and whispered in her daughter’s ear. “Wake up...” She spoke with a soft tone, as if she was waking her for being late to school.
“M…” The filly struggled with opening her eyes for a moment. “Mommy?”
“Morning, sweetie.” She smiled when she saw Dinky´s golden brown eyes open. “The storm is gone.” She pointed with the hoof the little filly wasn´t holding on to. “It´s time to go.”
“Okay.” Dinky let out a big yawn and the two of them walked out of the small cave.
The white world casted blinding light into the mare’s eyes. Out of reflex she tried to raise her right wing to block out the light but was quickly reminded of its state through a hard wave of pain when she tied to lift it.
“Are you okay, mommy?” Dinky asked when she noticed her mother wincing at the pain.
“Yes, it’s alright.” She gave her daughter a pat on the head for reassurance before looking out at the world in front of them. A desert of white snow spread out over the broad valley with soft, white hills and sharp, black mountains towering above them. A few black rocks broke the smooth layer sticking out like cliffs in the sea. The snow had gathered up on one side of the rocks, facing the direction the wind had carried it in. In the distance she could see the valley coming to a sudden end. In the distance, close to the horizon she could see a green forest. There was not a trace left of the crash she made the night before. It was nothing but a desolate, frozen wasteland.
“Where are we gonna go?” The little filly asked.
The cross eyed mare scanned the landscape, hoping to find some kind of path or road. If there was something like that it was hidden beneath the powdery snow. Something started to come over her, a cold feeling that made the black and white world seem so much larger than her.
We´re lost. She looked down at her little daughter. She remembered how she told her last night that they would find a road and make it down before lunch. They would be back in their house and she would tuck Dinky to bed with her bunny while reading the story about Starswirl the bearded. All of it was a lie.
“I don´t know, Dinky.” The words were more painful than her wing. “I don´t know.”
The little filly leaned on her mother. “It´s okay. We´ll make together won´t we?”
“Aww… my little muffin.” The left wing moved around the little filly and pulled her closer. Dinky´s face turned a little red and her cheeks puffed up when she called her that. I know you don´t like that nickname. She rubbed her cheek against the filly.
When she pulled away to scan the valley a second time a crack appeared between the cloud tipped mountains. She didn´t know where the valley would take them or if it would even take them anywhere at all.
Despite the uncertainty the two of them set of for the crack. From a distance it looked no larger than a pen but up close she saw how it towered over them. Jagged, sharp edges ran along the top of the valley, small tuffs of snow fell of the edge and slammed on the ground with soft thuds. It was more than wide enough for the two of them walk alongside each other but the path quickly turned, blocking her sight forward for more than a few yards.
“Stay close to me, sweetie.”
Dinky obliged and put herself right next to her mother.
She watched the edges cautiously for anything falling. Dinky kept to her mother´s side while they walked on the snow covered ground. The snow beneath their hooves was squashed and the sound jumped on the walls until they sounded like two giants walking. The little filly pressed against the side of her mother.
“It´s okay.” She assured Dinky as they passed the corner. Dinky had always been scared of loud noises, whenever a thunderstorm passed by she would come into her mother´s bedroom and sleep next to her.
On the other side, the valley widened and a massive frozen waterfall, falling from the edge of the left cliff, the frozen water looked like a giant white tower. The waterfalls base reached out and formed a frozen river that covered the valley floor in a pool of frozen water. It stood right in front of them with a mirror flat, snow covered surface.
“Wait here.” Derpy tested the ice by brushing away the thin layer snow with her good wing in order to see how thick it was. The ice was filled with sparkling bubbles, captured by the frost in their ascent to the surface. Derpy tapped the surface with her hoof. The ice responded with silence, only the sound of her tapping echoed between the walls. Encouraged by silence she took a careful step onto the pool.
Still silence.
Forcefully, she put her back leg on the ice and the ice gave no answer. The cold air filled her lungs and dried the inside her throat. She took another step onto the ice and bit her lip.
The ice answered this time with an enormous echo, it sounded like a guitar string snapping, tough muffled.
Derpy stood still on the pool. A few fast, short breaths ran through her mouth. Her eyes searched for cracks in the flat ice, or even worse growing cracks.
“Mommy?” Dinky yelled anxiously behind her.
“Stay there.” Derpy didn´t dare to turn around. She was scared that the ice would break.
Searching the ice for a few moments she found no cracks and decided to put another hoof forward.
The ice was quiet.
Brushing away the snow she could now see white, sparkling bubbles moving underneath what was a thin layer of ice. Her hoof moved at her reluctance, part of her wanted to turn around. A part she silenced by pushing her hooves forward.
About halfway through the ice roared. She instantly stopped. A bright crack had formed beneath her left front hoof. It rushed alongside her and reached out like a thin crocked string. She heard the crack form but when it grew all noises were drowned out by the sound of her heart beating in her ear. Out of reflex she lifted her wings in an unwilling attempt at flying and was harshly reminded of her right wing. With the pain from her wing, trying to keep herself still became a hard challenge.
Don´t move. She told herself while taking cold and ragged breaths. Don´t move.
The throbbing pain soon stopped and when she opened her eyes the crack was the same size. She looked up and saw the shore just about ten yards away.
The crack had stopped growing. It stopped at her left back hoof.
“Dinky?” Her voice was harder than she expected.
“Yes?” To her relief Dinky answered immediately.
“When I get to the other side, walk around were I am standing now, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good. Just stay there for now.” She lifted her hoof of the crack and found a spider web of shimmering, white cracks underneath. One of the threads spread to her back hoof and formed a second, all be it smaller, web.
The following steps were harder to make than any of the others she had made. Before even touching the ice again, she gave it a careful poke to make sure the cracks wouldn´t grow or new ones would be formed. When snow covered the ice she gave I a gentle brush with her wing.
She reached the shore and walked onto the rocks that broke up the flat surface formed by the ice. Looking back a narrow road could be seen in the path she took across the snow covering the ice from where she started brushing with her wing.
What would come next made her heart beating in panic. Dinky would have to walk across herself. She looked at her little filly. Her golden brown eyes were so small they looked almost completely white.
The trail Derpy left soon disappeared as a brisk wind lifted a new layer of snow on top of the blue ice.
“I´m gonna come over now.” Dinky said before Derpy could say anything and took her first step onto the ice. The little filly was a lot smaller than her mother but she was still nervous.
The cracks. She tapped her hoof on the rock. If the cracks grow… she couldn’t finish the thought. Just make it across.
The little filly walked on the ice with great care. With the path Derpy made in the snow gone, she grew concerned. Dinky had no way of knowing where the cracks were. In her mind Derpy tried to make out where she walked but there was no way of telling with the snow.
The wind howled from the end of the valley they came in from. The wind ran through the valley and grabbed the little filly. It pushed her forward has she struggled to stay on her small legs. Her hooves scrapped against the shiny surface without getting ahold.
Derpy´s heart lodged into her throat. The invisible force pulled away the rug of snow and revealed the two webs of cracks. It pushed Dinky towards the two circles. The little filly didn´t notice this, she fell flat on her stomach and ended up facing the waterfall.
“Dinky!” She screamed when her daughter passed over the string holding the two webs together.
Dinky turned her head towards her mother. She had stopped on top of the crack closest to the shore and tried to get back up on her hooves.
“Don´t move!” The ice was quite but a drum beat wildly in her ears.
“What should I do?” Dinky´s face turned pale and small rapid breaths escaped her mouth.
“Don´t make any fast movements.” Derpy tried her best keep her voice calm and reassuring, but she failed to hide her terror. “Try and slide on your stomach until you are away from the crack, okay?”
“Okay.” Dinky face had reddened and she looked ready to start crying. With her stomach pushed to the cold, hard ice she managed to push herself forward by sliding. The ice cracked.
The sound made Derpy tap her hoof furiously. She wanted to jump forward, grab Dinky in her arms and take off to the skies. Just fly away to their home and never let her go. Don´t break. She begged. Please, don´t break.
Once she managed to crawl of the circle Dinky got back her feet. Droops of water dripped from her stomach, she shivered.
“Grab onto me.” Derpy reached out her left wing and a few steps later and Dinky bit onto one of the feathers. The little filly felt light as her mother pulled her in. Has soon as she was on the shore Derpy wrapped her hooves around and pulled her into her chest before Dinky could make any protests. Though it didn´t seem like she was going to make any. Dinky pressed her hooves against her mother and Derpy felt a wet, cold patch growing where she held her daughter. She didn´t care. My sweet little muffin. She kissed Dinky relentlessly and let the water drip down her stomach, waiting for the patch to get warm.
“Mommy.” Dinky pressed away from her mother.
“Yes, sweetie?”
“Can you let me go? It´s hard to breath.”
Embarrassed, Derpy carefully put her daughter back on the ground and the two of them continued down the valley. A small stream ran in the middle of it. The water shimmered in the partially blocked sun. The reflecting beams shinned like small diamonds and smooth round rocks, polished by river for years, pushed the water aside. Dinky kicked the occasional rock into the river with her hoof as they walked alongside it. Derpy was reminded of the shallow stream she and Dinky would build little boats made of bark and leafs, they would set them out and watch them be carried by the swift narrow rivers.
But there a no trees or leafs here. Derpy told herself.
The wind cold wind reached down into the valley, it howled while sweeping through. Light snowflakes marked the path of the wind through the valley, they circled around before being pushed against the black walls.
For hours they walked. The sun seemed to rush on the blue sky, running towards the horizon. Derpy tried to think of reassuring words of stories to tell Dinky but nothing came to her.
The valley they walked in ended. It opened out to a massive snow-covered glacier, growing on a mountain side. The powdered snow covering it looked almost like flour and was easily brushed aside as they walked over it. The ice was coldly blue with black cracks in between the thousand-year-old formation. The ice filled up a gap in the mountains side that reached from the pair to what seemed like another the opening to another valley on the other side.
Dinky stayed at her mother side, facing the looming mountain at their side. Derpy stared towards the edge of the ice. It leaned slowly downwards and reached down into what seemed like a bottomless abyss. Every steep on the ice was measured carefully. She never felt herself slipping, but the fear still hung over her. She made sure that Dinky took every steep with care. After what seemed like another eternity they finally reached the other side and finally had solid ground beneath their hoofs. The path in front of them was leaning slightly downward. This made Derpy smile. We´re going down.
“Mommy?” Dinky asked has they entered the valley.
“Yes?”
“Is it okay if I eat the snow?”
“Are you that thirsty?”
Dinky nodded with a crocked smile.
“Okay, then. But only a small bite.”
Dinky scrapped up a small patch of snow and chewed on it. Derpy could feel her own stomach growling at the sight of Dinky just eating something. She decided to take a scoop of the snow has well. The cold bit into her cheeks and tongue has the flakes melted slowly in her mouth. The water was cold but the feeling of chewing on something and having her thirst quenched took some of the bite out of it.
She didn´t know for how long they walked now, only that they were making their way down. Even though it was spring the sharp peaks hid the sun behind a wall before twilight.
I think it’s close to twilight at least. Derpy was unsure, not just about the time. She wasn´t sure where they were or how far they had come from where they started.
The narrow valley that walked down broadened and changed into an open path.
The wind kicked up again and soon Derpy´s vision was blocked by a thick wall of white snow. She swiftly put her wing around her little filly.
“Can you see anything, mommy?” Dinky asked while putting up her hoof to block the snow.
“No.” The wind started rushing even faster. She moved to place Dinky between her and the wind. The howling air pressed against her right wing and it started aching has the wind tucked and pulled. “Stay close to me.” She turned her eyes away from the blizzard and walked forward with the little filly under her wing until they reached the end of the path. There was no cave this time. She only found a wall growing out of the mountain that blocked the blizzard. The sun sunk down behind the peaks and a black curtain rose over the path.
Dinky pressed against Derpy´s side. She was shaking and flakes of snow started melting between them. Cold water ran down Derpy´s side in thin streams.
“Are you cold?” She asked the little filly.
Dinky nodded in response while pushing her face into her mother´s side.
Derpy pulled her closer and folded the wing around her to guard her from the wind.
The little filly took one of her mother´s hooves and pulled it close to her chest. Derpy pushed away some hair Dinky´s face and petted her. The storm still ravaged hard.
“Mommy?” Dinky asked with a tired tone.
“What is it?” Derpy hid her concern.
“I am tired. Is it okay if I sleep?”
“Of course. I´ll wake you up at dawn.”
The little filly yawned, turned around and pressed her face into the feathers on her mouther wing. She was asleep moments after that.
Where are we? Derpy was scared, not of dying or not making down the mountain but the thought of failing Dinky. I´m not gonna let you die. She pulled her daughter closer, she felt the little filly´s heart beating through her side and heard her small breaths in her ear. When Dinky exhaled, it was marked by white mist under her nose.
The mare rested her head on the hoof her daughter hadn´t taken and closed her eyes. The wind howled loudly and fiercely but she still managed to fall asleep.
In her dreams she flew again. The sky was clear with only a few soft clouds floating beneath her. Dinky sat atop her back, she laughed with joy and looked down on the flat earth with awe. The air was warmed by the summer sun and carried the soft smell of dandelions.
“Higher, Mommy!” Dinky giggled. “Higher!”
Derpy flapped her grey wings and ascended. The wind sang softly in her ears. She looked down and saw green fields and blue lakes resembling patches of grass and puddles more than what they actually were.
She took a deep breath and filled her lungs with the smooth, warm air. When she opened her eyes everything was gone, she was hovering in a jet black space.
“Dinky?!” She looked over her shoulder to find that her daughter was missing. A cold heartbeat pushed a shilling wave through her body. “Dinky?!” She screamed hoping for an answer but the only thing she could hear was her own hasty breaths.
Searching with her crossed eyes she saw a small pink dot shrinking beneath her. She folded her wings in and let herself falling down to catch her daughter. There was no wind shrieking or howling in her ear, she felt nothing rubbing against her cheeks and the dot got no bigger. It only grew smaller.
“NO!” She made a hard stroke with her wings and made herself thinner by pressing her hooves into her sides.
The dot only grew smaller. By now it had been reduced to a point where she could hardly see it.
She woke from the nightmare. If not for the cold air she would have been sweating. A quick look under wing assured her that Dinky was still there. Derpy drew a sigh before kissing Dinky on the head.
The little filly moved in her sleep and took a feather in her mouth.
A giggle escaped Derpy´s mouth. It made her fell a little warm inside.
There was no telling how long into the night they were or how long away dawn was. There was no moon and no stars in the black sky. Only white flakes of snow flew by.
Derpy didn´t dare to sleep. She spent the rest of the night looking out towards the black sky and making sure the wind was blocked from reaching her daughter.
The morning came slowly, Derpy guessed that it had been three hours since she awoke when the sun rose over of the peaks. Beams of warm orange light reached from the yellow circle and lit the white and black world around them.
“Wake up, Sweetie.” She gently shacked the wing Dinky was lying on and she woke up. “Time to go.”
“Okay.” The little filly rose.
The path they walked on only had a thin blanket of powdered snow on it that crunched as their hooves pressed into it. It always tilted slightly downward on the path. When she looked back over her shoulder she could see the black mountain looming over them with the tips reaching into the grey clouds above.
Looking at the horizon she could see the mountains ending and being replaced with green planes and thick forests, and beyond the planes was a town. When she had a moment to adjust her eyes she could see that it was Ponyville. Despite of the view being some distance away and a wall mountains was standing between them she found herself smiling.
“Look, Dinky.” She pointed with one of her hoofs.
“I can see it!” The little filly shrieked with joy. “I can see the forest! I can see ponyville!”
“If we hurry we might make it down before twilight and we could be home by nightfall.”
“Do you think so?”
I hope so. “Yes.”
They proceeded down the mountain for four hours, the air remained calm but the cold and snow still hovered over them and the forest came so slowly closer.
A titanic roar came from behind them.
Derpy looked behind her. A breaching wave of crashing snow was rushing down the mountain. “Dinky.” She put a hoof on her daughter. “We need to hurry.”
Dinky glanced over her shoulder and started galloping alongside her mother.
Derpy´s sight shifted between the roaring avalanche and the little filly. Cold air rushed in and out of her as the two of them trotted down the path.
It got steeper and the snow underneath them felt deeper.
Derpy stopped herself and stopped her daughter with a hoof. The path had ended abruptly in a vertical cliff with the green fields at the bottom of it.
Turning, she saw the avalanche, roaring and rushing like mad beast.
“What do we do, mommy?” Dinky pressed against her mother’s side.
In panic her sight rushed back and forth. We can´t-
Her thought was cut off by a growing crack in front of them. Before she had chance to react the crack grew and ground beneath them fell.
Without regard for the pain in her wing, Derpy took Dinky in her hooves and flapped her wings. She was trying to take flight and carry her daughter. To her surprise they hovered. But only for a moment. She soon started crashing and the pain returned to her wing. For every stroke she made with her right wing she made two with her left one and her balance was constantly being thrown off with every stroke.
“Mommy!” Dinky pointed at something behind her mother.
Something hard and cold landed on her back and pushed her down. The white, steep wall rushed by and a black cliffs came rushing up.
Derpy flapped her wings. This time both her wings throbbed with pain but she managed to move away from the wall.
Balls of hard snow started hitting her on the back, enforcing the pain. The wing refused to move and the ground ran up to her. All of her pain numbed out and everything went black.
“Mommy?”
She heard Dinky´s little voice but the world was still black.
“Mommy?”
Again she heard the voice and felt something pressing against her head. The eyelids felt heavy as she opened them. She saw Dinky standing on in front of her. The little filly had a few bruises on her but was otherwise unharmed. Behind the little filly she could see the forest.
“Dinky…” Her voice was weak.
“Get up, mommy.” Dinky pressed her hooves against her mother´s side.
“I am…” She put one hoof down and felt it shacking and throbbing. “not sure if I can.”
“Yes, you can.” Dinky said stubbornly.
Derpy put another hoof down and both of her legs gave in, she fell down to the ground again. Her body felt heavy and every muscle ached. She looked at Dinky. The little filly was sobbing. “Dear sweet little, Dinky…” She forced herself to lift her hoof and wipe the tears on one cheek away. “Do you remember where Ponyville was?”
“I think so.” Dinky sniffed. “Just get up and we´ll go there.”
“Dinky…” She couldn´t talk anymore.
“Mommy? Mommy!?”
Everything turned dark and everything grew silent.