Under the Ice

Yeah. This requires some context. Here, have a story that got a bit too long ><

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He knew that he was being chased. He knew what it was that was chasing him. But not who. No. It may have had the body of his little brother. But it most definitely did not have his mind. Not in the slightest. And that terrified the young unicorn, he couldn't fight his brother, he couldn't hurt his best friend, even if it wasn't really him, it still looked like him, and somehow, that just made it worse.

Martyn galloped down the hill at full pelt, not daring to slow down. His autumn forms slight night vision coming in handy in the gloomy darkness, helping to avoid protruding tree roots and other obstacles, though he still stumbled on occasion as his hooves clipped something in his path. He could hear the leaping bounds of what was following him, and when he glanced behind him he could see the piercing white glow of their eyes. The stallion had no idea where he was, no idea where he was headed - they'd long since left the gravel path's that littered the forest behind - he was disoriented with fear, his lungs burned and he could barely breath from all the running. His legs screamed at him to stop, to rest, but he couldn't, not whilst he knew he was still being chased by the demon in his brother's body.

His ears perked forward as he started to hear the roar of the river that ran through the forest, he had to make a split second decision; risk stopping to catch his breath, turn and run along side the water, or take a chance and try to jump it. If he stopped, he'd be caught. That was a certainty. If he ran along side, he wouldn't be putting much distance between him and his pursuer, if anything, he'd be shortening the space between them, and there was always a risk he'd slip and fall down the river bank into the water anyway. He knew that he probably wouldn't be able to jump it. The river was long and varied from being incredibly narrow to nearly a mile wide at its broadest point. Martyn only knew one pony who knew the river well enough to keep track of all the variations, and he was either lurking about in the deep waters or hundreds of miles away in the jungle. It was usually one or the other. The unicorn on the other hoof had no idea if the gap would be five metres or fifty, and the trees and undergrowth were so thick he couldn't see the water. But yet, some part of him decided that jumping was the only way, he was a strong swimmer, so even if he couldn't make the gap the chance of drowning was slim. Despite the fact that he could hardly breath in his current state, he was hoping the adrenaline of the chase that kept him moving would last long enough to get him across.

Martyn burst through the last line of bushes, spotting in an instant that the river wasn't too wide at this point, maybe only ten feet, and despite the sound the water was surprisingly calm. Landing at the bottom of the bank before leaping again, diving into the cool water. Breaking the surface seconds later to inhale as much oxygen as his lungs would allow, gasping for air as he turned around to face the way he'd come. Over the sound of the water he heard the hoof steps that had followed him, and a figure appearing in the shadows at the top of the steep river bank. He took a deep breath as he delved back under the surface, moving carefully towards the other side, away from his hunter, hoping he wouldn't be noticed, and that he'd been lost.

But no such luck.
There was a strange flash of white light,  and the already cool water was suddenly covered in a layer of thick ice, sending the temperature plummeting. A sharp pain shot through Martyn's already aching chest, almost making him gasp in shock, though he held it back as what he always dreaded began to happen, and painfully too. His fur very quickly changed from a dark grey to a pale blue, his mossy green hair following suit. His red eyes flickered away and were replaced with a glistening yet icy teal. The last few strands of energy the unicorn had left were sapped by the sudden cold, and as he fought back the rising urge to take a breath, he found himself trapped. He'd fallen through ice before, sure. But he had never in all his years been trapped underneath it.

With dwindling strength he managed to kick and scrape at the ice above him, tiny sparks of magic sprang from his horn, but did less than his futile attempts at breaking the ice with his hooves. Small cracks had formed, but not from his efforts. They had been caused by the relatively small yet dangerous creature stood over him. Walking out onto the ice, almost as if to taunt the struggling stallion. Martyn could make out a fanged grin on their face, and a strange white glow, like nothing he'd ever seen on an earth pony, swirling around their forehooves. He couldn't believe that was his brother, even if he wasn't aware of what he was doing, it was still his little brother, it was still Toby, somewhere in there, wasn't it..? But then.. why was he doing this...?

The Sapling King's winter form had its strengths, but breaking through ice when his body was already deprived of oxygen and exhausted from a sudden and painful transformation, not to mention a hard sprint through the forest, was not one of those strengths. His winter forms resistance to cold meant he wouldn't die of hypothermia, so that was something. But he could slowly feel himself drowning. Tunnel vision crept in as the sound of his pounding heart in his ears started to fade, just as the ice started to give of all times.. Was this the end for the royal unicorn?

Drowned by his little brother - No. No it wasn't his little brother. It wasn't Toby. It was a demon. The devil himself, it was Herobrine. Martyn couldn't deny that anymore.. He had always thought the existence of such a being was impossible, and nothing but twisted myth or legend, a fairy tale, a story to scare little kids.. But he'd clearly been wrong.. Dark magic was powerful, unpredictable, and most importantly, dangerous. To everyone, even the one who carried it if they couldn't control it. But why would someone like Toby have such power running through his veins..?

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So. I was listening to Area 11's track Override (A) from their new (ish) EP, Underline. For some reason whenever I listen to this song I imagine someone being tormented or chased, just for whoever it is that is doing it too them to regain their senses and realise what they were doing is wrong at the end of the song. I'm not really sure what the song is actually about, but that's how my strange mind interprets it. I then went and put Martyn and Toby in the places of these two characters. The first line of the song is 'Under the ice'. And then this happened.

Music inspires me to draw all the time, but I've never taken the lyrics and worked around them before o.o

It could be considered a follow up of this picture >> fav.me/d8tqh8t << But the characters wounds and such are in different places and Martyn's lost his belt and sword. So maybe not. I dunno.

I need to stop drawing Martyn trying to fight off a possessed Toby. Why do I keep drawing them like this?
'Cos for some strange reason it's oddly satisfying to draw ponies that are scared, and since all these pictures take place at night I get to add funky glowly effects to them.. ><

When it comes to the ponies themselves I really like how this looks. Though I don't really know what's going on with their eyebrows >< I played around with transparency and ended up with a really neat effect on Martyn's eyes. The background could be better. It certainly did look better in my head. Oh well. Overall, it's not too bad. The riverbed looks out of place but whatever ><

If I have the time and the motivation, I may continue this, working my way through the song, not a picture for every lyric, but maybe which ever ones I can draw something for to create a story. Hm. We'll see. In the mean time, I'll leave it up to your imagination. Here's the song for anyone interested.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9ir5v…

Now. This description was already too long the moment I put that story bit here, so I'll stop now before I think of anything else.

Commission and request work is in progress. I've done the sketches and they're at the top of my pile for my next batch of work, which, all be it, is rather large in itself. There are a couple other pieces in my current batch, but they shouldn't take too long. I'm really sorry that they're taking so long, I'm making my way through as fast as I can but I fear it may not be fast enough

Anyway, I hope you like and please fav and comment

Martyn Littlewood and Toby Cottrell belong to themselves.
My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro
Art belongs to and was made by me.