The Frost Chronicles: Book 1: Veil of Night

by steelwingx

Chapter 5: Leaving Home

Author's Note:

well, as i said before, more chapters will come along presently, so i hope you enjoy this chapter.

CHAPTER 5
Leaving Home

The night came as any other, after my strange encounter with the mysterious Midnight Star, I found myself thinking about what he said, his words echoing through my mind, all the way through dinner, to which I had remained mostly silent through.

After we had finished dinner, I did as I always did and helped my sister with the dishes’, and then immediately moved upstairs to pack my things, which in truth was not much. Luckily for my sister and I, our mother believed in a realistic sense of the world, she didn't feel it was necessary to sugar-coat the harshness that we lived in, by promising to but us new clothes, I had learned to live with the extremely limited supply of clothes.

Through the night, I found myself lacking in sleep, but much to my surprise, it wasn't about my impending leave to work in the mines, but my thoughts were directed more to Midnight Star, and what he had said about the medallion, what could he have meant about me finding out in the future? And what did he mean about a coming storm? All those questions floated around in my mind, forbidding my mind to be floated off to the land of dreams once again.
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The next morning came with an unusual surprise for me. As I was up in our room, packing the rest of my belonging’s, I distinctly heard a knock on our front door, and immediately my heart beat faster, in fear of it being the soldiers to pick me up, and that fear was only heightened when my mother called up to me. “Frost? Come down please? There’s somepony who would like to speak to you” she yelled up, I took a deep shaky breath, slinging the bag over my back, I made my way downstairs.

Just as I made my way to the top of the stairs, I came into full view of the entry room of our house, and much to my surprise, there was a older blue unicorn stallion standing there talking to my mother, I instantly recognized him as the mayor of our town. He looked up at me with a somber expression, my mother followed his gaze and smiled up at me, “Frost, come down and say hello” she said in a calm and orderly fashion, my muscle’s tensed as I came down, placing my pack on the stairs, and standing in front of him.

Immediately the mayor turned to my mother and calmly smiled, “excuse me miss, but I wonder if I might have a word with Frost in private?” he asked her, she smiled and nodded, before making her way back into the kitchen, with that the mayor turned to face me, and he could see the clear discomfort in my eyes, and he gave a heavy sigh. “Frost listen, I know you and I have never been on the best of terms, but I want you to kno-“ he tried saying before I cut him off, “best of terms? Well, that’s probably because you always tried to keep River and I apart, whenever you could, as if I wasn't good enough to be her friend” I said, and he cringed slightly, but he nodded, knowing full well how much I despised him.

He sighed again, “Yes I know, I wanted to come and apologize for that as well, I know my actions in the past were uncalled for, but I know you and my daughter are great friends, and that’s not matter what I did, you still remained friends. I’m also here to apologize for anything harsh she might have said to you the other day, she’s been very distraught lately, and she may have acted reckless” he said, I cringed myself, remembering what she had said to me, and my mind drifted back to the burning sensation on my cheek, but I looked back at him with a calmness. “I know how much it must hurt to see your friends be taken away, but you must understand, as a father I do whatever I can to protect my children. I came here to tell you, that we are all grateful of your sacrifice for this town, I know it couldn't have been easy” he said as he stopped, after he finished talking, I could feel my expression softening, and I looked down. We both remained silent, until I raised my head, “thank you sir, my family means a lot to me, just as yours does to you, maybe you don’t think I’m good enough for your daughter, but the fact remains, she’s my friend, and nothing you can do can change that” I said in a proud tone.

Much to my surprise, he looked at me and smiled, which was strange, most ponies would have taken that as a challenge, “I know, and I’m sorry for what I did in the past” he said, just as my mother walked back in, “I so sorry Mr. Mayor, but would like some tea or coffee?” she asked in a kindly tone, the mayor smiled and turned to her, “no thanks miss, I must be going, I have…other business to attend to, and thanks you Frost” he said, as he closed the door behind him, leaving us alone in the main room, my mother quickly turned to me with a confused expression. “What was that all about?” she asked, I just turned to her and smiled, “nothing really, he just wanted to thank me. Come on, we should be in town square by noon” I said as I ran upstairs one last time.

Walking into our room, I reached under my pillow, and pulled out the wrapped medallion, just as I was about to unwrap it, I reeled my hoof back and sighed, not knowing if it was the smart choice or not, I quickly put the medallion in the inside of my coat, as to make it harder to find if they searched me. With that, I made my way downstairs’, placing the pack on my back again, I opened the door and made my way outside.
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As we made our way down the street, we found it hard not to notice the other ponies all making their way to the town square, some of which I recognized from the line of ‘volunteers’ that were picked out. Many of them had been walking with their parents or siblings, hoping to spend as much time with them as possible, before they would be shipped off to work in the crystal mines.

Despite the walk seeming longer than usual, we eventually found ourselves, standing in town square, where many other ponies had gathered around, saying goodbye to their friends and loved ones one last time. I also noticed the two large motor vehicles that many of the soldiers were all standing around, I took a deep, shaky breath as I watched the ponies who had been called out, were slowly loaded into the back of one of the vehicles.

I quickly turned to my mother and immediately saw that she was starting t tear up, despite my efforts to remain strong, I could slowly feel my eyes mist up. “Mom…It’s going to be okay, I’ll be fine, I promise I’ll write to you as soon as I get there, I will come back” I said as I pulled her into a strong hug, one she gladly returned. A few seconds later, we separated and I moved to kneel down to my younger sister, as she too had looked on the verge of tears, only she wasn't as good at hiding it.

I took a deep breath and made eye contact with her, “Misty…everything’s going to be fine, I promise, I will return, just…promise me you’ll stay out of trouble, and take care of mom, and I’ll be sure to tell you all about it, when I get back, and then I’ll take you and pick you up from school every day, deal?” I said, trying my best to give her as confident a smile as I could bring up. She didn't say anything, but merely nodded, as tears spilled down her eyes, I quickly wrapped my hooves around her, and pulled her in for a hug, something she usually tried to avoid, in fear of me embarrassing her in front of her friends, but this time she welcomed it.

After what seemed like a few minutes, we separated and I turned away, I scanned the crowd of ponies, and much to my surprise, I saw Vapor talking with her father, judging from the distance, I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I could tell from their facial expressions, that it was emotional. I decided my best bet was to go talk with her, and I made my way over, trying my best to look confident, as I walked up to her, she turned away from her father, and smiled at me.

“Hey Frost, you ready?” she asked, her usual cheery smile never failing to brighten somepony’s day, but even I could see there was a hint of sadness and concern mixed into it. I sighed and chuckled lightly, “well, as ready as I’ll ever be, come on, let’s go report in” I said gesturing for her to lead, she nodded and we slowly made our way to the large vehicles, and the soldier who was checking off those who had already showed up. As we walked, I continued to look around, there was one pony I didn't see, “hey Vapor, have you seen River, I thought she would be here” I said as I looked around, Vapor chuckled at me, “River really? I heard she was still at her house, some ponies said that she didn't want to come, can’t say I blame her, but…you know” she said, as she slowly walked along. I immediately felt my heart sink, I thought she would have been here to at least say goodbye, but then the memories of the day before came back, the way she acted towards me, I looked away sadly for a moment, but looked ahead again as we approached the soldier.

“Names please” he said as we walked up, we stopped in front of him and stood firm, trying not to look intimidated by him. “Frost Fall and Vapor Cloud” I said with a strong tone, he looked up and studied our faces, and then crossed off something on the clipboard and then looked back at us. “very well then, you two will be put in the last truck, lucky you, you’ll get it all to yourselves” he said and motioned for us to go through, we turned and watched as the other soldier opened the back up, and with a slight hesitation, we climbed inside and took our seats at the far end.

The interior of the vehicle was made of wood and a metal top, only adding to the boring and dull situation, not to mention the seats being annoyingly uncomfortable, we sat down and turned to look out. Much to my surprise, I saw my mother and sister standing on the other side of the square, and with that the soldier closed the door, nothing but the small window in the back for us to look out of. After a few minutes of sitting there in silence, we heard a loud roar, as the engine came to life, unfortunately, neither of us had even been in a motor vehicle, so the sudden roar made us jump slightly. And with a quick jerk, the vehicle, surged forward and moved away, through the window I watched as the town square slowly moved away from my view. But strangely, as the vehicle pulled away, I could have sworn I saw my sister begin to run after me, but was quickly pulled back by my mother, I slowly looked away, letting a single tear roll down my cheek, fully aware that it would be a long time before I would return here.