Slowly, you begin to rise out of bed. Dawn has not yet arrived... not that you would even see it through the blizzard that's raging outside. The wind tears through your tent like an invading army, pillaging what little warmth you had managed to gather. You pull your parka a little tighter around your shoulders, teeth chattering rapidly. Somewhere in the distance, you can hear the slow and steady pounding of artillery, echoing like rolling thunder in the hills. Making slow progress against the wind, you step outside your tent into the bellowing snow. You can hear more clearly now, your ears picking up the crackling of rifle fire and shouting of soldiers above the roaring winds. You can hardly make out anything in the snow, the burned-out ruins of an office building barely even visible.
This has been your life for the past three months, as a corporal in the Royal Equestrian Army. After the Winter Campaign, King Sombra struck the Royal Army a terrible blow, sending them sprawling back to the south. Your division has been caught up in the Siege of Manehattan, trapped hopelessly in the urban battlefield. Unless reinforcements show up soon, your brigade will be pushed back into the frigid sea.
"C-C-Curse King Sombra." you mutter through chattering teeth, "I w-wish he was in T-Tartarus."
"I don’t," says a voice to your left, "if he was, Dash would probably follow him there and fight him with our brigade in front!"
You smile wryly at Private Pinkamena's quip. The pink pony, standing on sentry duty, giggles. Sergeant Rainbow Dash, your commanding officer, is certainly not one for caution. Speaking of which...
"Hey P-Pinkie," you say, "I'm g-g-gonna go see how the s-sarge is doing."
"No problem, sir!" she replies cheerily. "Just make sure you remember the password 'Valor' when you get back. Have to make sure you're not a spy and all that."
You nod curtly and give her a half-salute, before setting off into the snow. The cold fights you like a Crystal Warrior, making every step seem like five. Your heavy Parka seems like a light windbreaker in the face of this northern weather. "The North is no place for an Appleloosan aid-de-camp like me." you think bitterly. "I wish Celestia would fall back to Baltimare just so things can get warmer."
The clouds and snow render you virtually blind, but you can still see distant flashes of light every few minutes, marking the artillery batteries near Bronco Heights. Slowly, you make your way through the burnt-out streets, saluting occasional sentries along the way. At last, after your frigid journey, you see the lights of a mostly-intact office building. Pushing forward, you make your way to the door.
"I...I'm here t-to speak to s-s-sergeant D-dash" you say through chattering teeth. The sentry, a stoic unicorn, nods and opens the door as you step inside.
The room is filled with dozens of cots, where the wounded and injured sleep peacefully. Careful not to wake them, you slowly walk to the end of the room. Several worn oak doors mark the rooms where they keep the officers.
Sergeant Rainbow Dash been laid up in this hospital ever since she injured her wing in the counter-assault near Krajov Park.
The room she's staying in is incredibly small, just a cot and a side-table. The walls are a dingy grey. A small pot of flowers sits on the bedside table, probably placed by a nurse to help cheer the room. A single flickering bulb hangs from the ceiling, flooding the room with a soft light. You walk inside and close the wooden door behind you.
Dash is curled up into a tiny ball. Her wing is folded tightly against her side, bandages stained with crimson. She appears to be sleeping lightly, but as soon as you approach, her eyes fly open.
"Corporal." she says cordially. Her teeth are clenched, but it seems to be from the cold and not from pain.
"Hey, sarge." you say, giving the customary salute. "You okay? You don't look so good."
"They took away my frickin' parka during the surgery." spits Dash, "They won't give it back to me. They say wearing it might interfere with the healing of my wing or something."
You sigh, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Well, this ain't exactly Las Pegasus in terms of warmth." you reply, "shame about the parka though. Don't they give you a blanket or something?"
"They ran out. They said they'll get another shipment in from Sector 3 in an hour or two, but that doesn't really help me now." Dash curls up even tighter. Suddenly, as if realizing she'd been showing weakness, she stretches out. "Not that, er, things are that bad." she says uneasily, "I'll be fine. Really. You should go get some sleep, corporal. That's an order."
You stand quietly for a moment, looking over your injured commanding officer. Maybe you shouldn't leave just yet.
"I gave you an order," she says, glaring like she could drag you back to camp herself.
"Pardon me, sir. I'm just a little slow in carrying it out." you say with a smile. You've known Dash for long enough that you don't fear her wrath anymore. "With all due respect, I'm staying here until I'm positive you're alright."
Dash sighs in resignation. Slowly, she begins rolling to the left side of the cot.
"Sir...?"
Dash, never one to be shy, pats the spot beside her; she made just enough room for you to lie down. "Well, if you're going to wait, you might as well be comfortable."
"Sir... I mean, I appreciate it, but..." An especially strong gust of wind makes its way through the cracks in the closed window, chilling the entire room. "Er... on second thought..."
Slowly, careful to avoid her injured wing, you stretch out on the cot beside her. You feel the warmth of her body on your left side, a shield against the cold. You fight the urge to roll over and bury your face in the warmth of her coat.
"Hey, corporal..." says Dash uneasily, "you know I was reading the infantry manual the other day, and it had some interesting stuff about cold-weather survival."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it said that the best way to fight the cold, is to, ah, er," Dash stammers and blushes slightly, completely uncharacteristic. "Is to, ah, share body heat."
Your eyebrows leap upward. "You mean cuddling?"
Dash visibly flinches. "Darn it, corporal! I was trying to make it sound not as... lame."
You burst out in laughter at the sergeant's embarrassment. "Well, if it makes you feel better, it's flipping freezing in here. I want to, ah, share body heat too."
"Really?!" exclaims Dash with a grin. Realizing herself, she coughs loudly. "I mean... okay. Cool, man."
With caution so you don't bump her cast, you wrap your right foreleg around her stomach. Your left foreleg wraps around her shoulders, drawing her into an unbelievably warm embrace. With a happy sigh, Dash wraps her forelegs around you, as your head is buried in the warm, fluffy fur of her neck. You are overwhelmed by Dash's scent of metal and sweat, but as another cold breeze whirls in from the doors, you really don't care. For a long while you lie still, simply enjoying her warmth and softness.
"If I had known cuddling was this amazing, I would have done it years ago." mutters Dash into your shoulder.
"I thought this was 'sharing body heat'?" you ask with a grin.
"Shut up." she mutters, pulling you closer. Her body is now snug against yours, your chin resting on her head. A few stray hairs from her mane find their way into your face, causing your muzzle to crinkle. That tickles. You try to brush it away, only to find that both of your forelegs are pinned down by Rainbow Dash.
"Erg... Dash, could you get this hair out of my face?"
"I would have to release your neck to do that. We would loose so much cuddling progress. That's not an acceptable loss. As your commanding officer, I just can't allow it."
"Seriously, Dash, this tickles."
"Request denied."
You can feel a sneeze coming on. "Uh-o-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHO!"
Dash takes a second to register what just happened. "Did you just sneeze into my shoulder? That's disgusting!"
"I tried to warn you!" you counter. "What, the mare that single-hoofedly defeated King Sombra's 8th Cohort can't take a little sneezing now and then?"
"I'm going to find someone else to cuddle with." she growls, but you know she's just joking around.
"Here, hold on a second." you say, wiggling out of her grasp. You stand, and before Dash can say anything, you move to the other side of the bed. "My leg was falling asleep. Let’s try something new." you say, lying down. Now pressed against her back, you carefully wrap your forelegs around her stomach. She groans contentedly, sinking into your embrace. You rest your chin on her soft shoulder, running your hooves up and down the warm, softness of her tummy. For a while you stay like this, protecting one another from the cold. Finally, your forelegs begin to get tired, and Rainbow Dash seems to be nodding off.
"Thanks... corporal." she says with a yawn. "I really mean it. This is fantastic."
"Hey, just sharing body heat in the line of duty." you reply with a smile. Nuzzling her neck, you close your eyes and allow sleep to wash over you.
Peace. You are completely and totally at peace. It's like when you were a foal, and you used to climb into your mother's bed after you had a nightmare. Somehow, feeling the steady rhythm of Dash's heartbeat against your chest, you feel as though nothing in the world can harm you. Tomorrow, you will wake up. You will have to face the cold and the guns and the steel.
But right now, none of that matters. Rainbow Dash is the only thing in the entire world.
You are lulled to sleep by the warmth of her fur, and the lullaby of her steady breath. And for the first time since the War began, you sleep with a smile on your face.