I scream, you scream, yaks scream for ice cream...
The sun was radiant, the clouds were gone, and the temperature was sublime. It was another beautiful sunny day in Ponyville, and a far cry from what Yona was accustomed to in the Frozen North.
“Day hot. Fur heavy,” she said. Looking around at the ponies with their cold drinks and ice creams, Yona resolved to find herself a cold treat of her own. Seeing many of the ponies were coming from the market, she headed in that direction.
The stalls were all selling different things – necklaces, fruit, giant hats – but not ice cream, it seemed. She continued walking a short way, getting hotter and hotter and more desperate.
At last – she felt as though she’d just crossed the desert – she found a stall with a ‘Cold Drinks’ sign hanging over it. Her face lit up and she ran over.
“Give yak cold drink!” she ordered. At the back of her mind she remembered something from one of Professor Applejack’s home economics classes about ‘money’, but she cast those thoughts aside. All she could contemplate was the refreshing taste of a cold smoothie slipping down her throat. She smiled broadly at the mare running the stall, who seemed a little taken aback at Yona’s eagerness.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said the mare. “But I’m afraid we sold out of all our cold drinks about an hour ago.” She gestured with her hoof to a ‘cold drinks sold out’ sign hanging just below ‘Cold Drinks’. Yona’s mouth fell open and she started to tear up. At least, she would have done if she had any liquid left in her body to cry with. Trying to defuse the situation, the mare added, “But we still have hot drinks available, if you’d like one of them.” She gave a sheepish smile. “Tea or coffee?”
Yona did not want tea or coffee. Without another word, she turned and ran away, desperate to find something cold. Sure that there was nothing in the market to cool her down, she decided to head into town. There must be some kind of cold foodstuff left somewhere in Ponyville.
A few shops flashed by as Yona walked quickly into the centre of town, but none of them seemed like they sold food, let alone cold food. Eventually, she made it right to the middle of Ponyville, having found nothing. Looking around, she realised she was right outside the School. She wondered if she should go inside and see if there was anything she could find in there, but it was Saturday and so she knew the kitchens would be closed. Most of the students got their lunch in town at the weekends.
“Yak hot!” she yelled to nobody in particular; she just wanted to express her general frustration with the day’s events. She realised that, being outside the school, she was also right next to the small lake that collected in front of it. She was briefly tempted to see if drinking from that gave her any relief, but then she paused. She wasn’t quite sure where that water came from, and she was certain Gallus had said something about the school bathrooms emptying into it. He was probably joking – in fact, knowing him, he was likely joking – but she didn’t want to risk in just in case.
And then she remembered. If she was outside the school, that meant she was also standing under the imposing watch of Twilight’s Castle. She wasn’t quite sure how she could have missed that: its gleaming spire was visible throughout Ponyville. Still, that didn’t matter – Professor Twilight must have some ice cream or something. Yona’s quest to cool down would finally be fulfilled!
She ran inside. The entrance hall was huge, cavernous and empty, and it scared her a little bit. “Hello?” she called. “Yak here for ice cream!” There was no response.
She continued to walk a little way through the castle, until she came to a grand set of stairs. “Hello?” she called again, but all she heard was her echoing voice rattling off the crystal walls. Yona kept calling out as she walked along.
When someone finally did call back, it startled her enough to make her trip. “Hello?” came the voice. “Is anyone there?” Yona leapt back to her hooves, and looked up. It was Professor Twilight. “Oh hey there, Yona,” she said. “You do know there’s no school today, don’t you? What are you doing here?”
“Sorry, professor,” Yona replied. “Yak just very hot under angry sun. Yak seek ice cream.”
“Oh, ice cream?” asked Twilight. “You know, we received a huge shipment of raspberry ice cream just the other day. Spike loves it, you see.” Yona was practically drooling on the floor. “Yeah, normally you’d be more than welcome to have some, but...”
“But?”
“Well, you see, our freezer broke today. Awful luck, given how hot it is.” Twilight was lost in thought, so she didn’t notice Yona’s face fall faster than a lead boulder. “Yeah, I’ve actually had to spend the day clearing out all the spoiled food. There was a whole frozen quiche in there that’s had to go to waste. A whole quiche! And, of course, the ice cream. Oh, Yona-” she turned back to look at her young student, but found she was alone. “Oh... well, that was a bit rude,” she said.
Yona, meanwhile, had run out of there as soon as Twilight had said the ice cream had melted. She didn’t even know what a ‘quiche’ was, anyway. Almost mad with the heat, Yona didn’t know where to go next.
Suddenly it hit her. Professor Pie worked at some kind of sweet shop! Surely that must have ice cream. At the very least, it must have smoothies. Licking her lips in anticipation, she set off in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.
When she arrived, she saw a queue of ponies stretching out the door, as well as several happy customers leaving, licking their ice creams with huge grins on their faces. No! She was so close! These ponies would just have to get out of her way.
“Yak hot!” Yona yelled as she barrelled into the ponies, scattering them like bowling pins and forcing her way in through the door. She bounded like an eager puppy to the front of the shop, where Professor Pie was serving customers.
“Yona!” she called. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
“Yak need ice cream!” Yona was so happy that she would finally be able to taste the treat she had spent the whole day trying to find; nothing that could be could come between her and her ice cream. “Yak need ice cream now!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Yona. We just sold our last ice cream.”
All the joy was suddenly knocked out of her. “What?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. There’s just been such huge demand today. Mrs Cake is making some more, but it might be a while.”
“No, no. There must be ice cream!” Yona yelled. Surely she couldn’t be disappointed here, too.
“Nopie, it’s all gone! You’re welcome to go and look in the freezers and see for yourself, if you want.”
Yona did just that. With a leap, she set off running into the back of the shop. One huge freezer with a flat top sat in the corner of the room, beckoning invitingly at her. She went and stood beside it, and, feeling like Daring Do about to open some centuries-old sarcophagus to recover an ancient treasure hidden inside, gradually pushed open the top.
The freezer was totally empty.
Yona wanted to yell and cry out. What was reality being so unfair? Why did the ice cream gods hate her? Before she could think very much, though, she felt the icy breeze the freezer was exhaling at her. It felt rather inviting. Not only that, but the freezer seemed just large enough to fit a young yak like herself. Although it wouldn’t be quite as refreshing as the ice cream she longed for, she would at least get to cool down.
Lifting herself up and over the edge of the freezer, Yona gently stepped inside. It was tight – she didn’t even have enough excess room to move her legs – but with her snout she managed to slowly close the lid as she sat down. Although there was a glass window on the lid, the cold had frosted it up, so it was difficult to see in or out.
Sitting there in the semi-darkness, Yona relaxed and enjoyed the cold. It reminded her of the long, dark nights back home. In some odd way, she felt strangely comfortable in there. Safe, even. Realising quite how tired she was, she closed her eyes, just to rest them for a moment, but quickly found herself falling asleep.
The partially muted sound of hoofsteps woke her. Yona barely had time to wonder where she was or why she felt so cold, before the freezer lid was opened and bright light flooded in. She suddenly remembered everything very quickly – had she really gone and fallen asleep in Professor Pie’s freezer? Quickly, she jumped up and tried to stammer out an excuse.
“Yak not asleep!” she yelled.
“Oh Celestia!” cried Mrs Cake. Her hoof jumped to her chest as she jumped backwards and fell onto the floor. The bowl she was carrying went flying up in the air; Yona watched, almost in slow motion, as it gradually fell towards the kitchen tiles.
Then it smashed.
Yona stood, still half in the freezer, in silence for a few seconds. Then she realised she should probably get out. “Mrs Cake... okay?” she asked.
“Guuh...” groaned Mrs Cake. At least she hadn’t killed her.
A very sweet, attractive scent then hit Yona’s nostrils. She took a few more deep breaths to try and work out what it was. It smelt like – ice cream. Yes! Ice cream! Yona looked down: she was standing in a puddle of it. The bowl Mrs Cake had dropped had apparently been full of it.
“Yak find ice cream!” Yona yelled happily. She didn’t even care that it was on the floor; she bent down and started lapping it up. After all the events of the day, and all the running around in the sun, it felt so refreshing to finally be able to enjoy some ice cream.
It seemed like everything had turned out well in the end...
Well, except for all the customers who had to wait for Pinkie to make some more ice cream, since the last batch had been dropped on the floor. And also except for Mrs Cake, who needed three days of bed rest to recover from the awful fright she’d received.
But most things turned out well in the end.
Author's Note
A bit of an experiment in discovery writing, and I'm not hugely disappointed with how it ended up. I'm especially glad I've written something again, because it's been too long since I last published a story.
