The memory of the ghostly beast haunted us for the rest of our way as we urgently tried to make it back to our clan. But ever since that last storm, the wintery landscape seemed hell-bent on slowing our progress. The previous cold had now transformed into a freezing low, forcing us into several breaks every day. For this, we each now carried small torches crafted from thin sticks and dried-up moss Honeydew found half-buried under a snow bank. With those, we were able to light a new fire much quicker. But the cold wasn’t the only thing that got in our way. More than once, Honeydew was forced to call for a halt in order to orientate, as the storm had broken some of the landmarks he apparently relied on. As a backup, he would look at the base of older trees, sometimes digging through the snow in order to reveal some kind of special moss, which he said only grew on the side facing the star that made up the eye of the sign of the prophet… or something like that.
If those frequent breaks weren’t already enough, the wind was now in an uproar, sometimes forcing us to the ground for several hours out of fear of being blown away. Over one night, our hideout, another alcove, became completely buried in snow. We had to extinguish our fire in order to save on air while we buried ourselves out in the resulting darkness. This way, three days of travel turned into six. Supplies became scarce. The crumbly cream stuff was abhorrent as we shared it around to calm our wailing stomachs. I almost spat it out when I first tried it. “W-What is this stuff?” I’d pressed out between hacking coughs.
“Bone marrow.” Honeydew had informed me. “It is good for travel, and nothing else.”
I hadn’t asked what kind of creature it was from. I didn’t want to know. Even just considering the possibilities caused revulsion to creep up my throat. And yet, I still ate it. And though I hated to admit, it was effective at keeping us going. Until we ran out of it.
The exhaustion, coupled with the hunger was taking a toll on all of us. As soon as we rested for the night, we would drop to sleep the moment the fire was lit, except for the poor soul whose turn it was to watch it. Even our speculation about what the ghostly voice was had soon ceased as we simply focused on taking another step… catching the next breeze… all the while trying to ignore our increasingly weakening bodies.
Still, I wouldn’t complain, at least not since Kalypso blew up at me last night. I shot a jealous look at Honeydew’s back, who, although exhausted, still managed to trudge on without complaint. If only I had his fortitude, I wished not for the first time this last week. I supposed it was part of his job, but he’d never voiced a complaint, somehow managing to keep going while watching our surroundings, encouraging us to keep going and calling for a halt when we needed it… this truly was his area of expertise.
Kalypso had rarely voiced a complaint either. In fact, she hadn’t spoken much at all, though I often heard her mumble in distress when it was my turn to keep watch at night. Her dreams weren’t getting any better, it seemed.
I think I would have turned back to a pony that morning, if Kalypso didn’t repeatedly assure us that we were almost there. She had to hide a cough to say those words, her voice trembling, as if she wanted to convince us as much as herself, but I still gave in. I was frankly not sure if I could recast the transformation spell in my current condition, and the food requirement of my pony form would assure my certain starvation…
It still took us hours, seemingly an eternity, to slog the final stretch, once again unable to fly due to the unpredictable winds. It’d once again begun to snow…
I’d soon fallen in such a trance that I didn’t even notice when Honeydew stopped. Even as he spoke up, the first words uttered in hours, they didn’t reach my brain. Not until I walked right into him. He let out a surprised yelp as he staggered back, then shot me an irritated look. “Can’t you watch in front of you?”
“S-sorry, sorry!” I muttered, watching his angry glance dissipate. Those last few days had left us all with a short temper, but none of us had the strength left to stay angry for long. One of the perks of being utterly worn out, I guess…
“Well, what I was saying before you ran into me,” he said, his features slowly adopting a tired smile. “We’re here!”
My head snapped up as Kalypso shouted: “Home!”, her voice full of relief and elation. But I could only glance around in confusion. Sure, I hadn’t been paying attention to our surroundings, but there was only the usual carpet of snow between trees, nothing out of the ordinary- except for a slightly larger snowpile at the base of the tree, one I’d never have noticed if I weren’t specifically looking for it.
“A-are we really there?” I gasped, nearly dropping to the frozen ground from sheer relief.
“Yes!” Honeydew shouted, exhilarated at the prospect.
“Sizzlegrass…” Kalypso flicked a snowflake off her feeler before coughing into her hoof.
I could only agree, as a shiver worked it's way from my muzzle all the way down to my fetlocks. My entire coat was numb, half of my face feeling like it was either being tormented with impossibly sharp icicles or about to fall off. And I honestly couldn't tell if my hooves hurt more from the cold or from how sore they were! But we’d be warm, able to rest, to eat! My stomach howled, like a wolf at the bottom of a deep, empty chasm. I pressed my hoof onto my belly, groaning as I tried to ignore the painful squeezing of my organ, as it once more tried to detect something, anything inside. To no avail, of course. There it went again- no wait. I turned around to Honeydew, a smirk growing on my face. He simply let out a sigh in response.
“Don’t get your hopes up.” he muttered darkly. “Unless a miracle happened, we will be rationing.”
Well, half-portions are better than no portions! My brain shouted in defiance, not going to let anything ruin the exhilaration. Warm, rest, food! I repeated like a mantra as we slowly approached the heap of snow covering the village.
Warm, rest, food!
As we got closer, we started to make out several holes in the snow, just large enough for two breezies to pass side by side. The arcways of straw I’d watched the clan build up when I first arrived were now reinforced with wood. The tunnel walls were made of snow, densely packed and seemingly frozen over, like the interior of an igloo. I briefly wondered how those tunnels came to be, but I couldn't focus on that as I dropped into the tunnel, my legs buckling the moment the freezing wind no longer lashed against my face. Was it just my imagination, or did the snow I was lying on actually feel cozy? I heard voices from deeper within, but couldn't spare the effort to try and understand what they were saying.
Honeydew dropped to my side, quickly followed by Kalypso, as we all leaned back, allowing those aching limbs a minute to rest. Oh, Celestia, my hooves were throbbing with pain like an open wound…
“Y-you might want to get your face out of the snow, Twilight.” Honeydew chuckled weakly, groaning as he moved his hoof to brush over my mane.
“Never movin’ again.” came my muffled reply as I lazily shook off the bags of sizzlegrass. My back was nearly as bad as my hooves were!
“No moving, no food.” He replied, but even this temptation couldn't move us this moment, as we all allowed the pain to slowly subside. “WE’RE BACK!” he shouted into the tunnel, his voice echoing off of the enclosed walls.
Me and Kalypso didn’t bother getting up as clan-mates rushed toward us, almost blinding us with the collective light emitting from their feelers “You all made it!” A dark-green stallion that seemed vaguely familiar exclaimed. “We were so worried when the storm hit!”
“Of course we made it, Marsh.” Honeydew grinned weakly, groaning as he exchanged a hug with the breezie. “I never get lost, you know that.”
“I wasn’t afraid of you getting lost, but how did you fight the cold? I mean- You even brought the sizzlegrass?” he seemed utterly dumbfounded as he regarded Honeydew again. “How did you not use it up?”
“Let’s just say that Twilight here is full of surprises.” Honeydew snickered, pulling me onto my hooves despite my protests- my knees felt like they were on fire!
Marsh gave me a curious glance, opening his mouth, no doubt to ask what he meant, but he was cut off by a squeaky shout.
“Big brother!” A swift blur knocked into Honeydew, throwing his back against the wall as Harpy squeezed his midsection. “Never go away again!” She demanded, somehow both crying and laughing at the same time.
“I-I’m fine!” The dazed Honeydew muttered, gently stroking the fillies mane, seeming a bit lost at the situation. “We made it just fine.”
“C-Charybdis said you wouldn’t come back, c-cuz you were taking so long!”
“Well, she was being a butt, like always.” he assured her, though he adopted a deep frown. “But I’ll be talking with her about the dumb things she tells you.” With that, he lifted the filly off his chest (with some effort). “We’ll talk tomorrow, alright? We all need to get some food and sleep, plus I’ll have to talk to the elder, you understand?”
“Yes, I do…” she muttered, pawing at the ground.
“I’ll be with you the moment I can.” he assured her before turning to Marsh. “Can you take our bags to the storage, I think Twilight would drop dead if she had to carry them another step.”
“Harhar.” I drily commented, briefly entertaining the idea of carrying it instead of Marsh, just to prove a point… but on the other hoof, my back was killing me. Mercilessly.
------
Alone, I stumbled into Honeydew’s small home, content to just drop to the ground and not move another inch. I was given a single stalk of sizzlegrass, which I cracked open, putting it at the back where it quickly spread warmth to the clay walls. With a deep, relaxing breath, I spread out over the hay floor. Honeydew had insisted he needed to speak with the elder before he could rest, and so we’d parted ways when we reached the tunnel to his hut. Kalypso had been picked up by Windchime, the older breezie giving her a worried look as a coughing fit shook her body. Hopefully he’d be able to treat her cold. Greenfly had said that our clan was picking up a lot of medicinal herbs, right?
A knock came from the carved piece of wood that acted as a door, interrupting my train of thoughts. I first scrambled to get up, but let out a shout as my limbs complained with searing pain.
“Twilight?” Marsh Grass’s voice came from the entrance, as he pushed the ‘door’ aside. “Are you okay?”
“Im fine!” I blurted out, grimacing as I at least managed to sit up. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, uh, Honeydew’s coming soon. He’s still discussing things with the elder.”
“Uhuh.” I muttered, hoping that my annoyance wasn’t showing on my face. He wasn’t telling me anything I wouldn’t have known anyway, and worse, courtesy demanded I remain sitting up! Which used muscles that would not comply without complaint!
But then, Marsh reached behind him, bringing out the most wonderful sight of this entire week. A small bowl, filled with pieces of nut and berry, it's sweet smell coercing my nose into deep breaths and opening the watergates of my mouth. Oh, he was so forgiven!
“He thought you’d be starving about now, so he asked me to bring over your rations for today.”
If I didn’t have a stallionfriend, I would have kissed him right then and there. Instead, I simply chomped down on a piece of walnut, completely forgetting about his presence as I obliterated the bowl in a matter of minutes. He must have left shortly after I began, because when I finished licking the last droplets of berry juice, I was alone. True to Honeydew’s words, it wasn’t quite the filling meal I’d hoped for, as a hint of hunger remained, though it was merely a small annoyance instead of the previous suffering. Yes, it was a bit sparse, and I probably should’ve saved some for later, assuming that it was supposed to be for the whole day, but I couldn't bring myself to care, relishing in the feeling of, well, nearly fullness.
Stretching myself out over the hay floor, I fought against the tiredness threatening to sweep over my consciousness. Honeydew would be coming back any moment now, and I wanted to be there for him… or maybe my mind just stubbornly insisted that he was my pillow and refused to go to sleep without him, I wasn’t sure. Maybe he wouldn’t be too exhausted for a kiss, even.
Despite my conviction, I was pulled out of a brief slumber as the door once again opened and I felt a warm body rest beside mine. A smile on my lips, I turned around, facing Honeydew. He wasn’t smiling. Instead, he was looking around, as if searching for something.
“Was Marsh Grass here?” he slurred, one hoof pressed tightly to his stomach as he grimaced. “He should’ve come here to bring our food.” Then his eyes fell on the thoroughly clean-licked bowl and his gaze slowly shifted to me. “W-where’s the rest?”