I barely slept a wink and was up by dawn, the first rays warming the mist, and I returned to the dock. Only two days passed, and I saw myself lost in dread, frozen regardless of the winter winds and shaking hoof to head. No, the chill I felt now was of my own making. The dancing creeping ice in the veins of my forelegs. I'd spent the hours before bed rereading what I could from the books I'd borrowed. Most of it could have been a different language for all the terms I couldn't recite, much less put to practice. I would be on my own today, and while it would have been nice for somepony like Writ to be here, some things one can only learn through a trial of fire. Well, ice, but the point remains. I focused solely on my breathing, my breath clinging desperately to the air before fading only for another to take its place.
Freya skimmed over the river's water, lazily reclining as she watched me. It was more haunting than a companionship and had been since yesterday. A silence neither one of us had any desire to break. On top of my crash course through magic and learning to use mine. I also still had yet to learn what, if at all, any of this had to do with druids. After my talk with Home Brew, I'd at least learned others dabbled in magic and powers that sat outside the norm. My paranoia had settled at a manageable, but all present tick in the back of my head.
Since Nightmare Moon's fall, the same paranoia seemed to settle over everypony, like that of the sun itself. I'd heard my sire call it a fissure, a tear in the very nature of pony kind. I didn't get it then, and I still don't. Hal made something more apparent, and some were far less so. My desire to learn my cryomancy wasn't the only reason I hadn't slept. My dreams, or memories, Hal's life captured in blurry, noisy snapshots. Each is distinctly important but only loosely connected. If Hal hadn't been in each one, most would have looked entirely unconnected.
The only thing consistent was his voice. The others, those he called friends and family, were afterthoughts, broken up by static and whispers. The chasm between where Glacial Zero and Hal began and ended twisted in on itself the harder I tried to piece them together. I shuddered and blinked away the memories.
"Let there be ice," I muttered. The wood beneath my hooves had already begun to frost over. The more I concentrated on the cold, the easier it became to sculpt. The lines of the icy spiderwebs zigged and zagged like thread. I hadn't noticed I'd spread my wings, yet there they were, flexed wide as the ice danced.
Then, as suddenly as I'd begun, I relaxed, and the frost went still. "I should probably leave the dock alone. Sire would kill me if I broke it."
He'd be awake soon, and I don't think he'd appreciate the first thing he heard was that the dock he'd crafted by hoof crumbling away. I shook my head and turned about, departing the dock and wandering off to the riverbank. It was probably safer, and the gentle current could toss any leftovers away.
"First, freezing and thawing," I said, eyes trailing the river water, which is bubbled and churned. The two things I seemed to do with nothing but willpower. The rules of such magic were simple. A disposition to a fundamental, or what the book said, was an essential element that broke down the world itself. Any such magic was known as a 'mancy', Thus my own being cryomancy. To do, or undo, to make of or mold, the books used many terms to describe it, some I'd never seen of in either life. The simplest it ever got was embody. My hooves were in a state of unending chill, my breath catching in every breeze. I controlled the cold itself by becoming the cold itself. I can only imagine what something like pyromancy must feel like.
I tapped a hoof into the river. The water around my hoof froze almost instantly. I lifted and took in the chunk of ice that encased my hoof. Even then, my hoof felt no colder than it had before. I returned my limb to the water and watched all my work come undone. My hoof rose again, and there wasn't much as a flake left amidst my fur this time. I frowned and dipped my hoof under the moving waters again. This time, I let my desire wash over my entire body, a tingle of something almost warm. No, that wasn't right. It was the opposite. It'd become so cold it'd started to burn. It was a spindly leg of magic that took shape in its own imaginary path, from the tip of my hoof to the sands and stalks at the river bottom. I could feel it inch by inch, crawling deeper. As if the spell was my own leg.
It was midmorning before I'd even noticed the sun above. Father had left some time ago, and I vaguely recall him waving goodbye. I was transfixed by the ice that clung to my fur like paint to paper. I was peppered in flecks of frost and homemade snow flurries. I was damp but barely felt it when I was not actively trying to. I hammered a hoof into the dirty slush beneath me. A stalactite, about half a hoof at its base, rose like a spring in front of me. I tapped it, and the brittle structure cracked and fell to pieces.
I chuckled. 'An Elementary Guide of Elements.' had made it clear that the more surface area the harder it was to make structures durable. It rang true. This had been my fourth such stalactite, and the fourth case where the taller it was, the more quickly it collapsed. "I guess I need to work on density," I said.
The same book also gave a brief essay on how to train one's magic. Of everything in the book, the first set of those instructions might have been the easiest to follow. It broke down into two ideas. The first was so simple that a foal half my age could follow along. Magic was like a muscle; the more you used it, the easier it was to use without tiring you out. The more you used a spell or affinity, the easier that affinity was to use. Thus, my repeated failed attempts at stalactites. The second set of instructions couldn’t have been more complex. One of the first rules established in both books I've been reading is one of the most complex. The use, understanding, and power of Thaums. Though most knew it as mana. The pool of energy one used to control magic. That part I understood it was everything that followed that left me floored.
While 'An Elementary Guide of Elements.' mentioned Thaums often enough, it rarely dove into the mechanics. It simply suggested ways to use them better. Which might have been helpful if I'd been taught this stuff before. That was the price of not being a unicorn. I was expected to pay little attention to magic beyond pushing clouds. I wasn't exactly a typical colt, regardless of my special talent. The voice living in the back of my head, or two, both Freya and Hal, left me wondering if I'd lost it completely. As if reading my mind, which she probably could, Freya tutted in my direction while looking at the sky above. She couldn't even bother looking at me in dejection.
'A Dissection of your Magic Affinities' had no such issue with throwing out elongated torrents of words that left me drooling. "Thaums regulated the flow of neuron networks in one's horn that allowed for, so on and so forth." I could feel my eyes drooping just thinking about it. I scratched my face idly.
"Guess I'll just try by doing. Might have to find a unicorn-to-normal pony translator later. Azure or her Dam could give me a crash course. For now, though."
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and thought back to the stalactite. I released my magic, and then it cracked from base to tip and shattered.
"Oh, come on, what the hay am I doing wrong," I said. I groaned up to the heavens, but the sky never answered.
"You really shouldn't brute force magic; you'll give yourself a migraine," Freya drifted over and swathed the mess I'd made with a wing. "You've only been doing magic for three days. You really should slow down."
"Not if I want to be useful." I leered at Freya. The phantom rolled her eyes and smirked.
"Will getting hurt help your poor sire?"
I could feel an eyelid twitching. Freya motioned for a response. I squinted hard enough that my eyes began to ache. Freya stared back coolly. She floated in a slow backstroke in a circle around me. I slowly twisted in place to continue my glare.
"Exactly, you need practice and time. Something you do have plenty of. So, do the work, learn about your magic, and grow like any other foal."
"Easy for you to say," I huffed.
"It's not much harder for you to say. I bet your sire would agree," Freya said. She chuckled as my twitching eye gave out. I sighed and ran a hoof over my face and down my neck.
"It isn't fair though."
Freya shook her head, hooves and wigs folded as she came to a stop where her rotation around me began. "Nope, sure isn't."
That was that. I turned away and watched the empty path that led to the dock from my cozy, tiny home. A word groove in the earth, one weathered by constant use. My thoughts wandered back to town, to Bogwood, where my friends were working to better their lives and those around them. It wasn't Baltimare, no big city with big city ponies with big city thoughts. My stomach churned just thinking about the crowds and noise.
I kneaded my forehooves into the dirt and relished in my own dread. I had to repress an unfettered laugh. It was supposed to be easy. That was the whole point of a cutie mark. A means to guide you in the dark. But just like when I first used my ice magic, all it did was snuff out the light. The others had been right yesterday. My sire deserved me to do my best. I needed to find a place to repay even a fraction of his effort.
"Glacial, what are you doing?"
I snapped back to reality. Freya hovered above me, face struck between confusion and fear. I blinked and followed her gaze to my hooves. My forelegs up to the knee were encased in a deep blue ice. A color I'd never seen, it was far darker than my coat, too thick to be my fur bleeding through. I slowly lifted one limb to eye level and waved it back and forth. I could barely feel the ice, neither the weight nor the temperature. I lowered it back down gently and repeated my observations with the second hoof. There was more, however. Wherever my hoof touched the ground, the ground itself began to frost over. The grass stood stiff, and the dirt became sludge. I took a deep breath and focused on one leg and the ice that ensnared it.
I focused on warmth, on the blue ice melting away. At first, it tingled. Pins and needles ran up and down the chosen leg. The ice, however, did not budge. My wings twitched as I tried again. I'd melted ice before. It'd be fine. My mouth had run dry, and I couldn't rebuke several shallow breaths. The harder I willed the ice away, the deeper the tingle became. Then, as soon as it came, the tingle was gone, replaced with a searing ache. One that ran from my bones to the tips of my primaries.
"Glacial," Freya whispered. I hadn't noticed her approach. I hadn't watched her pull me into her ghostly hooves as she tried to hug me close. It was like the air itself was holding me close. My hooves were shaking. But as much as it burned, my anger was greater. That was all I could manage. I froze a half dozen trees two days ago, but I let my magic plunge too far from my own grasp, and I all but shut down. I bit my lip, pulling myself back onto shaky hooves.
"No."
"Glacial?"
I turned, tears still fresh on my cheeks, a new spot of blood trickling down my chin. "It won't stop."
Freya shook her head and reached out towards me. "You can't force it, Glacial. You could get hurt or worse."
I turned and growled. I stared back into the water and watched a fuming colt stare back. "I've melted ice before. I know I can do it."
Freya sagged, phasing into the floor as she attempted to sit while already at floor level. My tears had stopped and been replaced with a deep scowl. I didn't have the time to fall to pieces. The conversation I had with my friends yesterday emphasized one thing. I couldn't and wouldn't let Sire carry the weight of him and me in silence anymore. I almost wanted to smile, thinking through Hal's own life. He'd been nearly double my age when he first went to work when he first carried his own future. Step by step. The fire that lit in his eye, through the stinging heat of the auto shop, the grease stains of a diner's kitchen. He worked and worked and worked himself right into the grave. I could taste the copper, the cold sting of steel as it buried itself in Hal's, my chest.
I gasped, shaking back to reality. Freya sat, eyes trained on my own. I couldn't look her in the eye. My head felt raw, full to bursting. I was sweating, I was hot, too damned hot. I gnashed my teeth, choking down my own spit. The river, the sweet relief of its water, freedom from this damned heat. I lifted a hoof. It barely rose to my chest before falling back helplessly.
"Glacial, calm down. You need to calm down," Freya waved a hoof against my face. I barely noticed. It was just too hot. I just needed the water, and everything would be fine. I ran my dry tongue over my equally dry lips. It was hooves away, so close I could feel it.
"Glacial."
I shook my head. So, close. I just needed to cool off a little.
"Glacial."
"Enough." Then everything went white. The world around is distorted, refractions of reflections bouncing off one another. I panted, body tensed as I struggled to make sense of it. The heat faded, my vision swam, and all I could see was me or slivers of my face at every angle. "Ice?" I mused. Frozen spikes spouted from below me, swallowing me in a wall of ice. I was still sweating, even as my body returned to a reasonable state. The chill in my hooves returned. I stepped back, bumping flank first into the nearest barrier. It didn't make sense. What had I just done and why, now?
"I think it's time you took a break," Freya said. She offered a phantom hoof. I smiled and swiped through her offered limb.
"What are you gonna do, carry me back to my room with those ghostly hooves of yours?" I asked.
Freya laughed. "As likely as I am to strangle you with them."
"Then I think I'll stay here."
I nestled my back into the pillar behind me. Freya scoffed and motioned to the wall I'd encircled myself in. The Blue ice looked just like my hooves. I blinked and looked down at said hooves. Even now, they remained frozen over. I sighed. I'd worry about it later.
"In a bed of ice?" Freya asked. My ear flicked, and I cracked an eye open. Freya smiled down like an angel rung in refracted daylight bathed in a pale blue glow.
"Yep, right here, in a bed of ice," I confirmed. I closed my eyes and went slack, wings spread, mind fogged with unmolded questions and concerns for tomorrow. "Right here."
"Glace. Where are you?"
My eyes shot open. I fell forward, ears swiveling as I tried to follow the voice that had just called my name. I'd only managed a few minutes of dreamless slumber before the world rebelled against my peace.
"Who?" I mumbled.
"Who else would come to hunt you down on the day you haven't gone to town this week?" Freya motioned behind me. The light in her eyes returned, and her smile matched in both delight and foreshadowing.
"Glace, are you…" The question was interrupted by a gasp. I flinched and slowly turned in place. A wall of ice between me and my pursuer. "...Is that ice?"
I sighed and pulled myself over the lip of my creation. "Yes, yes, it is."
"There you are. Holy Faust, what did you do?" Azure Brew asked, looking up at me from my vantage. She smiled brightly, swaying in an unseen breeze, a pair of saddle bags full to bursting on her back.
I shrugged. "No idea. It was kind of an accident."
Azure stopped swaying, though her smile grew wider. "Geez, if you keep this up, you'll freeze all of Bogwood solid."
I coughed into a hoof. The very thought sent a chill down my spine. One that was colder than anything I'd made today. If Azure noticed, she didn't say anything. Freya stuck her tongue out at me before drifting down to hover around my dear, oblivious friend.
"A whole new ice age. That is some ambition, Glacial," Freya said.
"I think I'll pass on that, thank you. So, what are you doing here today?" I asked. My teeth ground together as I pointed at Azure.
"Well, Dam was worried about you. She thought those books you borrowed might confuse you, so she wanted me to come by and make sure you didn't hurt yourself."
I had no words. My mind ground to a halt. That, coupled with Freya's howling laughter, left Azure staring up at me as I struggled not to bash my own head in. The ice below my hooves cracked as I gripped them with all my might.
"She wasn't completely wrong. I mean, you have your own personal ice fort. I bet Tally would love this. You could add some clouds and a moat. That'd be amazing."
Azure bound up and started jabbing chunks of the ice wall. I slid back down my perch and groaned. "And why would I need a fort?" I asked.
“Don't know, but it'd be one hay of a statement. I bet it'd even impress Tender Crop. However, if you did it in the summer, you'd completely flood your land. I doubt Mr. Horizon would like that very much."
I could see it now. The piercing teal eyes melt the ice all their own. Not to mention my poor tanned hide. I rubbed my backside in sullen pity. I'd only managed to stand back up before Azure came bounding over the opposite wall.
"Dam, also thought a study buddy might make it easier. You never learn better than with someone to learn with, right?" she asked.
I flicked Azure's nose. "Gee, Azure, it's almost like your mom doesn't trust me."
"What, that's silly. My dam loves you silly, like her own flesh and blood. That's why she worries. Ever since your…" Azure's eyes went wide, and the words died on her tongue. "Since your sire got really busy. She just wants to help."
Azure flinched, and I raised a hoof. A hoof which even now was still coated in blue ice. "I know, your dam is a good pony. I'm not a unicorn, I get it, but I'm not stupid either. And, before you say anything, I was doing great this morning, before well." I motion to our shelter. "I'm not even sure why this happened at all. It certainly had nothing to do with the books, though."
Azure wrapped a hoof around my neck and pulled me into a hug. "Of course, you aren't stupid. Who said you were. If you were dumb, do you think Dam would have let you borrow her magic books?"
That was a very good point. My ears pinned down as I reflected on Azure's words. She was right, of course, but it was all the same. It wasn't exactly typical for a pegasus to need magic books at all. Well, maybe one or two about weather control and protocol, but that was it.
I pulled away from the hug and tapped a frozen hoof to the side of my head. "Yeah, that's fair. Sorry for all that."
Azure rolled her eyes and grabbed my hoof. "So, what is with your hooves?"
"This happened before the fort; they just sort of did it all their own. I started small, got frustrated, and then boom frozen hooves," I said. I threw my hooves up in surrender. "Can't get them to thaw either."
Azure's head cocked. She grabbed hold of my hoof in her magic and waggled it around. "That doesn't make any sense, Glace. We saw you melt your ice before."
I nodded. "You did, but these." I glared daggers at the hoof still in Azure's telekinetic grip. "Traitors, are being almost as stubborn as Crop."
"Want me to get a hammer?"
My eyes widened, and I pulled my hoof away with enough force to stagger Azure. I was against the ice wall, wings wide. I looked up at a nearby cloud and wondered if Azure's magic could reach that high.
"Wow, calm down, you big baby. I was joking," Azure said.
I looked between her and the cloud. "No, you weren't."
She cracked a smile. "No, I wasn't."
"You're a savage, you know that?"
Azure considered it, hoof tapping gently on her chin. "Probably. But, for real. Maybe I can help melt them. If you know your magic isn't working, maybe mine will."
"She's right, you know. It might work," Freya said. The inviable terror phased through my chest and attempted a jab at my head. The feeling of her entering and leaving my form sent my stomach shooting into my hooves. I could feel bile tickle the back of my throat.
"Maybe," I managed past an acidic burp. "Can't hurt to try."
"Sure it can, you silly colt," Freya said. She'd made herself comfortable sitting beside Azure, who shrugged.
"Okay, let's see what we can do."
The following two hours were spent on an evergrowing list of attempts and regrets. The blunt force had resulted in my hoof recoiling from Azure's grip right into my face. If I had a black eye later, I was freezing Azure's bed solid.
After that was the reverse of blunt force, which was well reversed regarding what was gripped. Azure had made a case that, like a squirrel with a nut, we could break the ice with a solid rock bashing. I was speechless when the rock itself broke in half on the ice.
"Well, at least we know your ice is nice and sturdy," Azure said.
I wasn't sure if I was impressed or horrified by that attempt. Almost all other examples of my ice had seemed pretty average as far as the ice went. Though the rest had not been blue ice either. A thought had occurred as I thought that point through.
"I wonder if the ice is blue because of magic or something? Maybe it is full of mana or feeding off it. Well, the hoof ice, that doesn't really work for the walls, does it?"
"I mean, it wouldn't be the strangest thing magic can do. But, if it was just magically enhanced, wouldn't you be able to cut the magic off?" Azure asked.
That left little else to do but try another of Azure's ideas. This time, Azure went straight for the throat. She'd quickly gathered some thatch in her magic and packed said thatch into a ball of fire. With a slight start I had made good on my cloud plan. There, I peered over the edge of my fluffy protector. Azure glared up at me, fire ball still in hoof. "Oh, come on, fire melts ice. It makes sense."
"No amount of logic is getting me anywhere near you and fire, Azure," I yelled back down at her. Azure pouted and extinguished her spell.
"There, the fire's gone. We'll try it as a bonfire. You can melt it at your own pace."
I accepted her compromise and rejoined her on the land of the wingless heathens. As she had suggested, Azure lit a controlled bonfire on a less icy patch of earth. A few things caught us both off guard. One, the fire was working somewhat. It was slow, and even putting my hoof entirely in the fire barely made a difference.
"So, magic ice is fire resistant. That's new," Azure said. She leered at my hooves as they sat, barely dripping in the bonfire.
"Yeah, that's neat and all. But the whole not unfreezing thing is getting a bit annoying." I said, joining my friend in her leering.
"Wait, actually. Are your hooves okay? Does it hurt or anything?" Azure asked.
I shook my head. "Not really, if I wasn't paying attention. I'd barely have noticed they were still frozen at all."
"That's a bit freaky."
I nodded again. "Yeah, I'm glad we're not in town right now. I might give some of the elders a heart attack. Like Mrs. Whimsey, that mean old hag." I hissed in defiance of Mrs. Whimsey and all her stuck-up unicorn ways.
"Yeah, she is a bit mean, but you shouldn't wish ill on anypony, Glace."
"Because, of course, the filly who lives in an apothecary is gonna protect that smelly old nag," I said and crossed my hooves. Which seeing as that meant they were no longer in a fire, I quickly reversed course and uncrossed them.
"Yes, yes, I would."
I sighed as loudly as I could muster and looked into the dreary, cloudy afternoon sky. My hooves dripped away with the seconds. As it went on, I was left with other points to consider. I was glad Azure had come by. She and Tally are the only ponies I know with a mind sharp enough or creative enough to make up for my otherwise dull imagination.
"Do you have any ideas for where I can put weird magic to work? I know we talked about this yesterday, but I'm still trying to figure out where to go. I could go freeze fish or produce. But that's kind of overkill, with the wicked amount of the stuff I seem to create."
I listened to Asure hum to herself, my eyes still trailing the nearest cloud. The one I'd sat on before had poofed away when I'd returned to the ground. My mind wandered to the last time Sire had taken me flying. That'd been right after my eighth birthday. I placed a hoof over my heart. Even through the blue ice, I could feel the slight reverb of my heartbeat.
"You could always try the weather team. I bet they'd love the help during winter, at least. If you got really good at controlling your ice, you could do snowflakes and hail, maybe even cold showers."
I huffed. A seasonal weather pony wasn't unheard of. The ones in Cloudsdale or the new capital had part-time specialists. Tender Crop's aunt worked with them enough that every Crop learned bits and pieces. That still circled back to what we'd thought up yesterday. I closed my eyes and conjured a rough view of Bogwood in front of the skies, the muggy swamp and river that created a natural barrier around our humble home. Even in my head, the town was small. A runoff for Baltimare's larger piers. I didn't know for sure; I hadn't even thought about it before, but the town couldn't have more than a couple hundred people living in it. I liked that about Bogwood; it was quiet, and everypony knew everypony else. That did mean it only had so many jobs and workers to consider.
I gave a dry chuckle and waved a hoof over my head, the half-melted limb tracing the line of the cloud I'd been watching drift about overhead. "I might just hold the weather team for the season if they’ll have me. It'd give me time to think up something better. I bet my father would appreciate the extra bits."
Azure grabbed my wandering hoof with her magic and pulled it back over the fire. "Stop moving; you're only making the melting take longer, you know."
I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, just got caught up in thinking."
A jab to my gut pulled my attention back to my friend, who motioned back to the bonfire. My ears ticked back. I'd pulled my hoof back out of the fire. I slowly returned it to the flames and offered Azure a pitiable smile.
"You're hopeless."
I couldn't argue that point. Azure had been keeping my head on my shoulders for as long as I'd known her. She was loud and proud, but it never stopped her from slapping me upside my head when I deserved it. I smiled, and Azure returned the smile. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift to nothing amongst nothing. My breathing slowed, and a tingle starting from the base of my spine ran up through my nape and down both forelegs. A sudden splash and the sputter of a huffing flame.
"Glace."
I opened my eyes to find three things. One the bonfire had been doused. Two, the dousing had come from my now free and drenched forehooves. The third thing was Azure's face, which made me smile as she stared at my free hooves.
"Um."
"You unfroze them," Azure said.
I nodded. "I guess so."
"How?" Azure leaned forward, her eyes squinting as she got a bit too close.
"I have no idea. I just sort of relaxed, and it happened."
Azure sat back and pointed a hoof at me. "You better not have been faking this whole time."
I held up my dripping hooves waving them feebly. "I promise I wasn't doing anything."
"Stress can do many things to the body. I guess all that panic earlier gave your magic the cold shoulder," Freya said. The wicked phantom smiled, mouth widening beyond that of an average pony. A disturbed gag had me look away. She followed, slowly drifting back into vision. This time, her smile was far more fitting for her size.
"Right, well, that's one problem solved and another at least considered. I could ask Sire to take me by the weather office tomorrow."
"Couldn't hurt. Winter is almost here," Azure said.
"Hey, Azure."
"Yeah, Glace?"
"Thanks for coming by today. I really needed a second opinion."
Freya scoffed. "I'm right here, you know."
"No problem. Dam thought you might need a mare's guiding hoof."
I stuck my tongue out in Azure's direction. "Right, sure."
The day was bleeding away. The afternoon sky foretold the snow and rain that the weather team was no doubt preparing for. If tomorrow goes well, I might be crafting the storms, too, before too long. I couldn't wait to have a bunch of the local farmers yelling at me. If I got lucky, maybe I could get put on Tender Crop's family farm and spend the season driving her mad.
"Every cloud has its silver lining. Magic, talents, jobs. It's all the same, really." I mused. I hadn't even realized I'd said it out loud before Azure grunted in agreement.
"Yeah, even if one of us is a pegasus with weird magic that freezes himself solid for no real reason," Azure replied.
I cracked a smile. "Couldn't have said it better myself."