Author's Note
Fluff, fluff, and fluff.
Cold Currents
“No.”
“Please?”
The minotaur sighed. “No means no.” Crimson Silver halted mid-gait as he turned to face the incessant mare. “I’ve said it more than once, and I’ll say it again,” he leant closer until he was face-to-muzzle with her. "No ponies on my icebreaker.” The red-furred minotaur gave a curt nod before he straightened up and continued on his mission.
The light-blue earth pony galloped ahead to trot by the minotaur’s side. “But what about that Saddle Arabian you’re bringing with you?”
Silver did not look at the mare as he spoke. “The affairs of a horse are unaffiliated with that of a pony.”
The mare eyed the minotaur up and down, her ears twitching left and right as the sounds of the busy port’s streets passed her. “Miss Aatika says otherwise.”
Crimson Silver twitched.
“She says that this expedition is for finding suitable areas for ice mining so that the dwindling Minotaur ice stockpiles are replenished as to continue trade with Equestria.” She smiled up at the minotaur as he returned a glare. “And the reason that she’s there is to make sure that the area the operation you set up in is safe for long-term conditions.”
The minotaur rolled his eyes at the mare’s wide grin and returned to walking. “Still doesn’t mean any ponies are getting on my icebreaker.”
“Please?”
“No.”
The mare huffed. “Why do you have to be so difficult, Mister Silver?”
The minotaur’s next reply was cut off as the mare slammed into a wood post. Groaning, she took the hoof the minotaur offered her and was quickly back on her hooves. Blinking blearily, she looked up to thank the minotaur, but paused as she found herself staring up into the hazel orbs of a Saddle Arabian.
“It’d do you good to try not to slam your head into the dock posts, Miss Currant.”
“Right,” Currant groaned, rubbing her temple. “Thanks.”
“And you, Mister Crimson, It’d do you some good to let Miss Currant join us. She simply wants to converse with the locals and do a little research into their culture.”
“The penguins?” Crimson shook his head. “That’s besides the point; she’ll just be another mouth to feed.”
Aatika snorted, stomping a hoof as Currant groggily struggled to regain her bearings. “Must you be so stalwart on your stance towards ponies? They are stronger than you believe them to be, and you are already working upon a job that deals quite closely with them. The least you could do is to act like you care a little.”
“And I can pay for my own supplies!” Currant piped up, jumping right in between the two glaring figures.
Aatika blinked out the fury in her eyes and smiled down at the small pony. “That may also help in convincing Mister Crimson.”
Crimson crossed his arms, frowning between the two smiling mares. Smoke seemed to flare from his nostrils as he eventually threw his arms up into the air. “Fine!” He crossed his arms again then huffed, looking off to the side. “Your pony friend can come.”
“Yay!” Currant cheered. She wrapped her forehooves around the minotaur’s legs, causing Crimson to freeze up. “Thank you sooo much!” Crimson, unaware of what to do, looked to Aatika for help.
“Go on,” Aatika mouthed, tittering quietly behind a dainty hoof.
Grumbling to himself about annoying ponies, Crimson pat the mare on the head once. The squee that erupted from the small mare wrapped around his legs caused the minotaur to sigh.
“Ponies,” Crimson grumbled as the mare hugged him tighter. “Too clingy for my tastes.”
“Get used to it!” Currant squealed.
The Southern Ridge was less of an icebreaker and more of a ship strengthened for icy waters. The oak planks and steel bands that protected the outermost parts of the ship were barely affected by any ice floes that came to pass the sailship, allowing a calm, three-day journey from Haybinger Port to the nearest yet ever-remote penguin settlement; the Ice Narrows.
Aatika hummed quietly to herself as she dangled her forelegs over the side of ship, staring at the small glaciers which, according to the crew, had started appearing about eight hours prior. The quietness of the journey was a great change of pace for her, especially after the recent inspection of a diamond mine in the Minotaur homeland, and another prior trip to a salt mine back in her own homeland of Saddle Arabia. She shook away the headache that threatened to build up as she recalled each of the stressful managers’ policies.
“Land ho!”
Aatika shot backwards, stumbling over the deck for a moment at the abrupt cry. There was a long, ear-piercingly loud string of unravelling of metal chains, followed by a large splash. The ship slamming to a stop sent the minotaur crew scrambling over the place. A couple of minotaurs stood off towards the stern of the ship, yelling at a pair of minotaurs for what Aatika heard accusations of apparently dropping the anchor too early.
“What in the name of—” Aatika’s outburst was cut short as Currant slammed into her, sending the pony into a spin and the horse into a daze.
“Woooah!” Currant slid to a stop as she slammed into the beam of one of the sails. “Ow.”
Aatika shook her head and stood. She stepped over to the dazed mare, watching as Crimson quickly brought the mare back to her hooves in one strong heave.
Currant giggled, flailing around for a moment. “Spinny!” Crimson held her in place with his two hands. When Currant’s eyes refocused, she found herself staring into the eyes of a glaring minotaur. “You glare a lot.” Crimson ignored the comment, letting the mare go.
“Care to explain?” He pointed over to the pair of minotaurs that were still being scolded, but now by what seemed to be the entire crew of the ship. “You put Keg and Bucket on edge.”
“I saw the Ice Narrows!” Currant grinned as she pointed towards the bow of the ship. “Take a look for yourself!” Crimson let go of the mare and stomped over to the bow of the ship. He stared over the edge, mouth agape.
There, not even five-hundred hooves away, sat the coastline, and just a little further, the towering ice spires of the Ice Narrows.
“Everyone!” Crimson roared, turning to face the crew who were all still piled around Keg and Bucket. The crew hurried to the bow of the ship to stand before their captain. “I want our rowboats prepared; we’re going to be setting up base camp earlier than expected.” His eyes scanned over the moderately sized crowd. “If the rowboats aren’t prepared in the next five minutes, you’ll all be breaking off ice samples with nothing but toothpicks!” He leant back, hands curling up behind his back. “Understood?” A chorus of ‘ayes’ waved through the crowd as the minotaurs hurried to avoid any punishment. Walking back over to Currant and Aatika, Crimson offered an apologetic smile to the smaller mare.
“Thank you.” He bowed his head.
“Oh! You’re welcome.” Currant gave a broad smile in return. “Somepony’s gotta make sure we don’t sink!”
“Apparently my crew has been getting too used to sailing in the iceless waters of the north,” Crimson murmured. He looked up at the minotaur who was snoring in the crow’s nest. A swift kick to the support beam shook the slacker awake with a yelp.
Shaken from her reverie, Aatika's eyes honed in on the minor splotches that inked the landscape. “It appears our welcoming party is here."
Behind a ridge in the distance, a group of penguins emerged. They bumped into one another as their leader stopped before a slope, sending them all sliding down the snowy slope and towards the ship and the ice. Crimson sighed, rubbing his face with a hand, Aatika giggled as the penguins spun back and forth during their descent, and Currant looked about ready to jump overboard and swim to the group.
“They’re so cute!" she screamed, practically dancing on her hooves. "What are we waiting for?”
Crimson rolled his eyes at the excited pony and motioned for the two mares to follow him to the rowboat that had been prepared in record time.
Crimson was more than impressed with which the speed the earth pony had assembled her tent. Whilst his own crew were each still struggling with their first tent, Currant had moved on to helping Aatika assemble her large tent. Crimson stepped forward to input his thoughts on the matter.
“I can’t help but notice that your tent is… quite…” Crimson Silver’s sentence petered off at the end as the tent suddenly sprung into a two story mass of canvas. “... large.”
“It is the equipment,” Aatika explained, pulling open a flap to reveal a towering piece of metal inside her tent; one of the new computational machines that had been brought about in recent history. From how quickly Aatika had moved it, the machine must've been lighter than it looked; it was that, or the idea that the horse was unbelievably strong.
“And the bed?” Crimson asked, staring in awe at the king-size bed inside.
“And the bed,” Aatika affirmed. Crimson scratched at his goatee, deciding that he’d rather not attempt to figure out how the furniture and machines placed perfectly around were already inside. He turned back to his own tent, a modest little green triangle that snugly fit in his hiking kit and sleeping bag. Crimson sighed, wishing he’d spoilt himself more.
“Maybe after this last job,” he mumbled half-heartedly, knowing that he was far from retirement.
“What was that?”
“Gah!” The minotaur stumbled backwards at the sudden appearance of Currant. He regained his composure quickly, groaning. “Nothing to mind yourself with.” There was an indignant squawk from nearby, drawing the attention of the two researchers and the captain.
“Oh great,” Crimson grumbled, watching as the emperor penguin, introduced to them as the leader of the penguin village, went to town on his first mate; Keg.
“I don’t know what you’re saying!” Keg shrank back at the intensifying anger of the bird. “I’m sorry for knocking you over!”
Currant stepped forward, shooting a grin back at her two compatriots. “I got this.” With a pep in her step, she strode over to where the two entrenched opponents sat and cleared her throat.
“Excuse me?” The minotaur stepped back, immediately understanding and anticipating the mare's next move. The penguin, however, continued to throw insults at the minotaur. Currant cleared her throat again. “Gabh mo leithscéal?”
“Cad?” The penguin swung his gaze from the minotaur to Currant.
“Excuse mo chara, chiallaigh sé rud ar bith aige.”
The penguin sighed, shifting its wings about. "Ceart go leor,” he nodded, looking up from the ground. “Ach tá súil agam a fháil ar roinnt iasc sa tuairisceán.”
“Is féidir é a dhéanamh.”
Nodding once more, the penguin returned to the penguins behind him, leaving the camp in their waddling stride.
“Adorable,” Currant breathed.
“How?” Crimson blurted. He cleared his throat when Currant’s eyes landed on him. “I mean, how do you speak Penguin?”
“I don’t,” Currant replied, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she faked confusion. “I was speaking Puffin.”
Crimson turned to the Saddle Arabian, clearly enjoying the confusion of the minotaur. “These are penguins, are they not, Miss Aatika?”
“Yes.” She grinned at him, offering no further reply.
“They don’t call me Currant Colloquy because I just grew up growing grapes, Mister Crimson.” She turned away, prepared to go back to her tent. She threw one last glance back and winked. “And I certainly didn’t come here for a vacation.” With that, the mare left, the crowd of minotaurs parting like a sea as they all watched her go.
“I love that mare,” Aatika giggled.
“I still don’t get it.” Crimson scratched his head, a look of pure bewilderment on his face. “If these are penguins, then why don’t they speak—” a thin, brown hoof was placed against his lips.
“Hush, Mister Silver. We don’t want to be insensitive, now do we?” She lowered the ice covered hoof, giggling as Crimson smacked the snow away from his lips. “If you’re so curious, then why do you not ask the expert?” she suggested, pointing a hoof in Currant’s direction.
“I… I suppose.” He shrugged his shoulders and began to walk after the mare. He paused, looking at the crew watching him. “Well?” Crimson chuckled as the crew snapped hastily formed salutes and returned to constructing their tents.
“Miss Colloquy?” Crimson asked, easily catching up to the mare. She turned, looking up at him questioningly.
“Is ea?”
“Erm…”
The mare laughed. “It means yes.”
“How do you know so much about their language?” Currant snorted, flicking her tail.
“I don’t know why you believe that I am just a simple pony, Mister Crimson. I am well versed in several languages, from Germane, to the Yakistani language of the north.” She rubbed a hoof against her chin. “Though, I do suppose that is hard for one to notice by looks and name alone.” Currant trotted into her tent, ducking down beneath the flap. Crimson peeked in as she continued speaking.
“I grew up in a vineyard,” she began. She turned to Crimson, smiling warmly. “Come in,” she patted the camping chair beside her. He was careful to avoid tearing a hole in the short tent, and eventually found a comfortable enough spot in the chair. Currant returned to searching through a pair of light pink saddlebags.
“My family’s in charge of exporting currants all around the world,” she continued, pulling out a portfolio. She gave a cheeky grin to the minotaur. “That’s where my first name comes from, of course.” She snapped open the portfolio with one hoof without looking and pulled out a paper. “We had a lot of visitors, looking to make some deals with my mom and dad. They had their hooves full with managing the farm, so I took on the job of speaking with the customers.” Currant straightened out the paper with a flick of her hoof, gave it a quick once over, and then hoofed it to Crimson. “This is last year’s list of customers.” She winked again as the minotaur took the paper. “It’s confidential stuff, but I trust you to not tell any of our competitors who we’re selling to.”
Crimson’s eyes skimmed over the paper, noticing a variety of different names spaced throughout. He slowed down, rereading the paper, beginning to take notice the many different nationalities that were listed; Yaks, cows, moose, pigs, Arabians, ponies, griffons, donkeys, and even a few diamond dogs.
“And you talked to all of them in their native languages?”
“Yep, and that’s not even the best year I had.” She sighed, leaning back, a blissful smile on her face.
“That’s amazing!”
She blushed. "It’s not really that great…”
“No, don’t put yourself down!” Crimson handed her back the paper, staring at her in awe. “That is absolutely insane!” He shook his head, a wide grin dominating his features. “I know I would never be able to learn all of those languages.” He leant back in the chair. “You are truly gifted, Miss Currant.”
“Colli is fine,” she mumbled, face reddening.
“And speaking languages such as Puffin?”
“It’s actually called Ice Speak,” she piped up, voice growing with excitement. “I got into learning languages outside of the ones our customers spoke and went to college to get a linguistics degree. After that, I started travelling further from Equestria to offer our business to the ponies themselves.” She cleared her throat. “People, rather.”
“College, eh?” He smiled, leaning back. “I’m sure your parents are proud of you, Colli.”
The earth pony sighed wistfully. “They are.”
“So It’s safe?”
“It appears so,” Aatika replied to Crimson, looking over the readout from her machine. “The permafrost surrounding the glacier is holding it in place, and the volumetrics of the ice suggest that it will take about four years to mine out the minimum amount of ice required in breaching the estimated safe limits.” She pushed up her brass bifocals with a hoof. “Though, there is a high risk of glacial melt during the summer, so we will have to wait until next season passes to run an inspection on the glacier to see if it is advisable to halt mining during the warm weather.” Aatika sniffed, folding her bifocals up and placing them on her desk along with the readout. She smiled warmly at Crimson. “All in all, it seems we are lucky enough to only require a second journey here.”
“Thank Minos,” Crimson grumbled, rubbing his forehead. “This place is way too cold for my tastes.”
“Agreed,” the Saddle Arabian muttered, shivering.
“Um, excuse me?” The two turned to Currant as she peeked in through the flaps of the tent. “Miss Aatika, do you mind If I borrow Mister Crimson for a bit?”
“Of course, we’re just finishing up.” Shooing Crimson away with a hoof, Aatika went to clean up the melting ice and equipment lying on her desk. Crimson bid her adieu and followed Currant outside into the cold.
“Whaddya need?” he queried as he followed the mare down to the coast. Currant smiled sheepishly at the minotaur.
“I kind of had to make a bargain with Aralt…”
“The emperor?” She nodded. “What did he want?”
“Well…” Currant pointed a hoof at a pair of fishing poles sitting by the edge of the water. “He wanted fish.” The minotaur seemed a little surprised.
“You want to fish with me?” He shook his head, grinning. “Then you came to the right minotaur.”
“Thank Celestia,” Currant breathed. She held a hoof up to her lips, suppressing a gasp. “Sorry!” She squeaked. “I just meant… um… I...” Her cheeks became a rosy red. The minotaur smiled warmly at her.
“No, no,” Crimson chuckled, waving her off. “I understand.” He clasped his hands together, looking around. “So! Got any bait?”
“Haha, yeah…” She awkwardly kicked at some snow on the ground. She looked back up at Crimson. “What’s bait?”
“I… just wait here.” Crimson returned a few minutes later with a large bucket of krill and an empty bucket. Crimson taught her how to properly use the rod, and after another few minutes, the two had settled down into some chairs that Currant had brought.
“So… what’s your story?”
“Hm?” Crimson pulled back with his rod and threw it forward, sending the hook far off into the distance. “Whaddya mean, Currant?”
“Like…” Currant paused, making a good attempt at throwing her line out into the sea, reaching half of Crimson’s own distance. “How did you end up with the Southern Ridge, going out on expeditions across the world?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say across the world,” he said, scratching at the front of his neck. “I mostly just travel with my crew to the colder regions. She is an icebreaker, after all.” He sighed, leaning back in his green chair. “Well, I actually used to be a miner in Taurus. My father worked at the diamond mine in our town, and when I was old enough, I started mining there with him. Eventually, the mine went dry, so lots of us had to look elsewhere for jobs.”
“One day, this Equestrian came into town. We were a major exporter of ice since we lived on the fringe of the Crystal Plains.” He glanced over at Currant. “This is before the Crystal Empire returned, mind you.” He settled back down. “Anyway, we would mine from this glacier that had slid near our town’s location centuries before,” he paused, attempting to remember the name. He snapped his fingers, finally remembering. “The Brown Ice Glacier.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about that!” Currant giggled. “The ice would come out brown because of all the dirt that it had picked up. We called it the Coffee Ice Glacier.” She tilted her head. “Wait, so you were from the Horntown?”
“Yep, before it was demolished by the glacier.” He shook his head sadly. “I miss that town.” He shook his head again. “But yeah, this Equestrian came into town, knowing that our glacier was going to be unfit for mining soon. He also knew that most of us were out of a job, so he was looking for minotaurs willing to work for Equestria in ice mining.” Crimson frowned, testing his line momentarily. “Of course, he managed to get a good majority of us to sign a contract that really cut down on the pay we were supposed to be getting. It made matters worse that we all had to move to some random place in the crystal plains.” He paused thinking for a moment before he continued, but a squeak from Currant cut him off.
“Woah!” The mare pulled back on the rod as a fish tugged on the line. Crimson went to help her, but she waved him off. “I got this!” Pulling hard on the rope, the mare began to slowly reel in the line. With one hard pull, she brought the fish out of the water and down onto the ice in front of them. She seemed in awe as she watched it flop around.
“I did it!”
Crimson chuckled, plucking the fish from the ground to unhook it. He tossed it into the second bucket.
“After that contract finished, I knew that I had ice mining in my blood. I was just the best at finding the perfect places to strike the ice and break it into the most chunks. So I signed on with an icebreaker.”
“The Southern Ridge?”
“You guessed it,” he grinned. He jabbed a thumb back at the ship bobbing in the water over the ridge behind them. “I’ve been sailing with that ship for the past ten years, and five years ago I was made captain.”
“And ever since then you’ve been working for the Equestrians?”
"Not quite, we’re actually more of a freelance crew. Most of us are actually from Horntown, as I convinced a few of my old friends to join up after I became captain, like Keg and Bucket. Various governments usually hire us on jobs to lead ships through icy waters, but we also do stuff like right now where we sail to different glacial zones and look for places to mine ice.”
“And Aatika?”
“She comes on every now and then,” Crimson shrugged. “We don’t talk all that much, but from what she’s told me, she also has a history of dealing with mines. She’s our safety expert for glacial ice mining, but she also comes along for the peace and quiet.” He leaned close to Currant, whispering conspiratorially. “Though if you ask me, I think she comes along for Keg; she likes the fact that he’s the same height as her.” Currant giggled.
“So, do you like your life this way?” Crimson thought about it for a moment, leaning back in his chair. After a time, a grin graced his lips.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“... fifty,” Crimson finished. “That good enough for ya?”
“Wow, um…” Currant shook her head, looking away from the massive pile of fish. She looked over at the emperor penguin, who seemed just as slack-jawed. “An é seo go maith ar do shon?”
“Is ea… is ea!” Aralt let out a mad penguin’s cackle as he slid forward, tossing a fish into the air. He swallowed it whole, humming contentedly. Shooing them away with a flipper, he dug greedily into the pile, ignoring the penguins behind him watching with what Crimson assumed to be jealousy.
“Thank you so much!” the mare squeed, once they had gotten further enough away. She reached up to hug his chest, and this time Crimson willingly accepted it, even picking her up by her midsection. “I didn’t think I would be able to get that fish for him!”
“It’s all good,” Crimson smiled. His stomach rumbled, alerting the two of them to each of their own needs. “Now, how about we get our own food?”
“Yes!” Currant squirmed in his grip, blushing. “But, um, can you put me down?” Blushing himself, Crimson set the mare down, dusting her off. He cleared his throat.
“Yes, let’s…” His eyes flicked around the open area, where Aatika and a couple of minotaurs stood watching them. Aatika waved at him, making him turn even more red. “... let’s go do that.” An idea popped into the minotaur’s mind as he walked alongside Currant towards the Southern Ridge. “You wanna try some fish?” He licked his lips. “Haven’t had some myself in quite a while.”
Currant seemed a little hesitant. “Um…” She saw the pleading look in the minotaur’s eyes. She sighed. “... okay.”
“Oh my gosh this is so good!” She swallowed another bite of fish. “What did you put in this, Crimson?”
“Nothing, Colli.” The minotaur seemed a little worried as he watched the mare spear her fourth cod. “You sure you’re not overdoing it, though?”
“Oh, I’m sure I’m going to regret this later, but…” She jammed a bite into her mouth, chewing happily. “Oh, that’s good…”
Never before had Crimson felt such horror at cooking for another.
A week later, when the Southern Ridge pulled back into Haybinger Port, Crimson said his goodbyes to Aatika.
"Yes, well, you know how it is.” Aatika flicked a lock of her mane away, sighing. “A salt mine I previously inspected sent me a letter saying that my skills were required once again. Apparently they do not believe that I did it properly.” The mare peeked around Crimson. “I do believe that your marefriend is coming.” Crimson spun around to see Currant walking up to them. He turned back, a blush on his face.
“She is not—” Aatika lunged forward, hugging him with a foreleg. He returned it awkwardly, patting her on the back of her neck.
“I will see you another time, Silver.” She pulled away, a smile on her face. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have done enough to make your friend jealous.” She winked and stepped away. Crimson watched her trot above the crowd of ponies as she made her way to the train station. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around.
Currant smiled sadly. “Hi, Silver.”
Crimson smiled back. “Hello, Colli.”
“So this is goodbye then?”
“I suppose it is,” Crimson sighed, before a broad grin spread across his lips. “Or…”
“Or?” Currant stood straighter.
“If you’re in town in the next three days, we’ll be heading over to the Moosecow coast to help lead a fleet through the northern Arctic waters.” Currant gasped.
“You mean…?”
“You’re free to come along, if you want.”
“If I want?” Currant squealed, jumping upwards and into Crimson’s accepting arms. “Yes! A thousand times yes!” Crimson hugged the mare tightly, swinging around in a circle. “I haven’t practiced my Meadowlands in ages!” Crimson mocked a hurt look on his face, stopping.
“Really? You’re not happy because I’ll be here?” She slugged him on the shoulder, grinning.
“You know what I mean!” Chuckling, Crimson let her drop to the cobblestones.
“I’ll drop by tomorrow to start teaching you some phrases before we go!” Crimson smiled down at the beaming mare. Her happiness was infectious it seemed, but Crimson didn’t seem to mind at all.
“You know, I'd like that.”
