"Work day is done! Put down your tools and gather up!", Shouted a voice back from the Obelisk, that same voice that could be heard from basically anywhere within the Mountain. That made us raise our heads and look back at the Obelisk in the middle, and then to the sky. Time seemed to have passed rather quickly while we were collecting crates and scraps of tents. We had spent ten hours collecting things without noticing, from morning to late afternoon. Some of us were used to such work shifts - The Earth Ponies grew used to fourteen hours of daily workshifts, tending the crops all day, or striking the earth for Copper and Iron. I was sure that the Pegasi worked for only eight hours a day, altering the weather to the Earth Ponies' needs, while the Unicorns only did four to six hours, as they only had to rise and lower the sun and moon. On this first day, they all seemed to learn the effort us Earth Ponies do every day but the Sundays, the only free day of the week that is universal for all but Unicorns.
With a hungry sigh, everypony in our gathering area returned back to the centre, quickly swaying-by to deposit what we had gathered prior, and ocasionally exchange salutations and good wishes. I managed to stockpile a few crates full of wood and scraps, though shilily behind the many that my Brother hauled back and forth. All in all, we almost filled up the designated area for wood and scraps, and a little look around hinted me that we were almost halfways through with the metallic and mechanical scraps, and we were filled to the brim with Coal. Enough to last well over a week, making campfires to stay warm. But just warmth wouldn't do. We needed food, and my stomach reminded me of that.
Looking at my brother, I asked; "Are you hungry? I think I've got one spare ration on me... Somewhere." With that, I went back to where I left my saddlebags before going off to work, and started to check through them. Thankfully, nothing had been moved from its spot. There was a lingering trust here, enough for us to leave what little we had unobserved while we were doing our job. Plus, we were very few, we could recognize eachother's faces and dressings with ease... And getting labelled 'Thief' here surely wouldn't do any good.
As I was scavenging through my things, he tapped my shoulder and shook his head. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry, yet. And I'd rather not eat anything with sawdust on it." He added, looking up to the Obelisk, admiring its... Strange existance.
Shrugging, I pulled out the half ration that I had left. That tasteless block of packed hay and wooden chips. A pain to swallow, but very, very filling. I started to nibble on it, breaking the cold, hardened exterior, until the Unicorn that woke us up started to speak... Shout, again.
"Listen up, everypony!", he started, his tone lowering to a non-deafening volume after his initial screech; "We have discovered how to activate the Obelisk. But it requires a great effort and copious amounts of Coal to start up. We will need all capable hooves to build up a funnel for the Coal to go through and into the Obelisk. Us Unicorns will aid with the construction effort." He stated, gesturing towards the Stockpile.
Grudgingly, some of us started marching towards the stockpile to grab up some wooden slabs, and whatever tools we would need. Hammers, nails, hinges... Anything that wasn't broken beyond repair. After chomping down the tasteless block of hay, I set myself to work too, pushing my belongings aside to make space for the construct that we needed. Everypony else did the same, depositing their things elsewere.
Quickly, we organized ourselves. Some had worked in carpentry and knew what they were doing, others had built things on their own. Skills that were very usefull today.
Meanwhile, I, as an Engineer that, sadly, didn't finished her course, aided with the logistics and the order of construction. First we started with a strong base for the construct, nailing thick wooden conglomerates into the rock via strong magic, then we made a leveled platform for the construct itself.
After the platform was done, we worked on raising a circular structure made out of whatever wooden scraps we could piece together around the Obelisk, the aid of the Pegasi letting us build it high up, encasing the artifact itself in a protective layer of wood.
Then we went to work with the feeding system, with a series of levers, gears and a set of buckets constantly rolling upwards, onto a ramp that would drop the coal ontop of the Obelisk, as it was specified by the Unicorns that made the raw blueprint for us.
This all took us a grand total of four hours, with the combined effort of thirty Ponies. Looking up to our creation, we felt a sense of proudness and accomplishment. We had built a mildly functional feeding system for our last hope.
Rubbing sweat off from my brow, I smiled and looked around. The others were tired, but we all had a big smile on our lips. Then the Unicorn appeared again, accompanied by other two. They all wore the same garments, a strange purple silk decorated with golden strings covering their heads and backs, like a ceremonial dressing for the old unicornian nobility.
Without a word, they all located themselves in equidistant spots around the obelisk, and stated to chant strange words in a language I didn't understand. Then their horns flared up with a strong violet light with hints of green, to the surprise of us all, and pointed their horns towards the centre.
At the same time, another Pony pushed the lever that made the buckets feed the obelisk, chips and pieced of coal falling into the structure... Making no noise at all, like absorbed into it, and the whole thing started to hum and crack.
Then... A blinding red light emerged from the exposed bits of the feeding system, an uneasy warmth emerging soon after, like a blast of steam emerging from a pipe. So warm that some of us started to panic and quickly remove our leather coverings. I started to sweat, suddently uncomfortable in my own dressings.
I looked away to avoid the light, and noticed how the snow that felt upon us started to melt. A perfect circle of exposed rock and dirt emerged from below us, product of the molten snow, as now water soaked those exposed areas. We had created warmth, enough to make a livable area in the middle of the crater!
Everypony rejoiced after the initial shock. This was perhaps the first good thing to happen to any of us in weeks.
Tears of joy rolled down my cheeks, as I hugged the first pony I could get my hooves on.
And it was the stallion that always said some dumb pun whenever he could. "Hey hey, no need to warm up so quickly, ma'am!", he stated, with a big grin on his face.
Godesses above, I really, really wanted to punch him in the face.