“It’s very cold...” Lustrous muttered as he stared out at the howling winds and blasting snow that fell all around them.
The Frozen North was aptly named. Even at this low elevation it was colder and snowier than the mountain they had climbed had been. The ground was a pure white snowscape but above that was utter blackness as the dark mountains and low light created an eerie juxtaposition. The wind as well destroyed visibility, none of them were able to see more than a few feet in front of them. Not that there was much to see but the threat of getting lost here was a great one.
“You’ve got snowshoes on, what are you complaining about?” Trail Blazer’s muffled voice said back to him.
The three were wrapped head to hoof in heavy clothing, their eyes the only visible parts of their bodies as thick woolen scarves were wrapped around their faces. But even all that only did enough to get them to be cold instead of popsicles.
Lustrous frowned and looked out across the barren wasteland of snow again. “You know I don’t think we really needed to come here.”
“Well we did so you’re just gonna have to live with it,” Trail Blazer told him and began walking forward, taking them through the deep snow.
A rope tied around her waist that led back to Lustrous grew taut and forced him to follow her. The rope also tied around his own waist and then went back to Steel Wing, who was bringing up the rear. This was the formation they walked in through the snow so they could keep together and not get separated. Simple but effective. A mantra Lustrous had come to learn was very imperative when traveling through the wilderness.
“It’s not like I really want to complain you know? I like traveling now. It’s just this place is so… drab. What’s there to talk about? What’s there to look at? I can’t write poetry about a place like this,” Lustrous droned on and on.
“I don’t think it’s that bad. Yet,” Steel Wing said. “But it’s already dark out even though it isn’t night. Trail Blazer, do you have any idea what it will be like out here when nightfall actually comes?”
“Bad,” Was the simple response from the map mare leading them.
“Perhaps we should leave ourselves plenty of time to set up the tent?” Lustrous suggested.
He was pretty sure he saw Trail Blazer nod ahead of him. It was difficult to tell for certain cause of the low visibility even with how close they were and all the clothes.
Lustrous wasn’t sure what their leader might have been looking at but she was clearly paying attention to her surroundings with each step they took. They chugged along through that heavy snow for hours more and although the scenery around them didn’t change in the slightest Trail Blazer didn’t let up. The earth pony was still taking everything in, lacking as it was. Whatever she saw around for her map that Lustrous didn’t it was apparently enough for them to keep going through this cold and inhospitable northern land. The top of Equestria, so different from the bottom.
They had to close their eyes and stand still every now and then when the wind got particularly bad or started blowing directly in their faces. And still they marched on, Trail Blazer determined to scout every inch of snow up here in case there was something else they needed to see.
“Do you think ponies are going to want to live up here?” Lustrous shouted ahead to the pony in front.
“Conserve your energy, Lustrous!” She yelled back at him, probably just wanting to get him to stop bothering her.
“Conserve my energy she says…” He grumbled under his breath. Grumbled. Not whined.
Of all three of them Steel Wing was having the easiest time, his body dealing with the cold the best. The pegasus keeping up the rear kept his eyes on his two friends to make sure they kept to a straight path and didn’t start to accidentally stray. Like this he could also tell if they were starting to get tired or if the cold was negatively affecting them in other ways. But so far so good. Right now it was just cold and unpleasant but not truly dangerous with the gear they had on.
That would change the longer they were here though.
Trail Blazer at the time wasn’t really having a better time than Lustrous or anything. She knew there likely wasn’t anything up here and she hadn’t seen anything worth taking notes on so far. It seemed like the only point of their trip through here would be to map out the size and exact perimeters of the northern border of Equestria. At least they weren’t climbing any mountains while they were up here.
She hoped there weren’t any unseen crevices or sudden drops in the snow. That could end their journey real quick. Lustrous was right about giving themselves plenty of time to set up the tent, but her internal clock was telling her they still had plenty of time before they needed to do that. She just wished there was something more out here while they walked besides the snow, the wind, and the dark mountains in the distance.
Equestria wasn’t lacking for a variety of climates and biomes. That was one absolute truth she would write in her notes.
She wanted to look back and ask if the others were doing alright. Anything to break the monotony. But Lustrous would probably smirk and say something dumb back to her about conserving their energy. She wasn’t going to let him have that pleasure.
This snowscape was possibly even bigger than the plains they had traveled through in the south and Trail Blazer knew they could never explore the entirety of it. Not with the supplies they had, to tackle a huge place like this would require a larger and dedicated party. For the three of them it was too dangerous and too much of a time drain.
A blast of wind and all the snow it was carrying with it came right into Trail Blazer’s face. She grunted in annoyance and shook the frost off of her.
“I’d take too hot over too cold...” She grumbled in the same manner as Lustrous.
A few hours more of that weather and the endless snow and the three of them were ready to turn in and stop for the day. Trail Blazer set up her tent and the three shivering ponies huddled inside it for warmth. No cards were played tonight and nothing was really said. Even with all three of them together like this it was just too cold. All of them hoped that it would only be another day at most that they were out here, and then they could head back home.
It was difficult with the howling wind outside and their tent violently flapping and shaking but exhaustion eventually won out and the three tightly wrapped ponies fell asleep together.
And with nothing else to do, as soon as they woke up they were back on their hooves traveling through the snow again.
“Do you think maybe this wind and snowfall will let up at all?” Lustrous asked as they started journeying out again early in the morning.
“Can’t say, I’m not an expert on this place. But probably not,” Trail Blazer replied, forgoing conserving energy for the pattern breaker of conversation.
“The weather team has no plans to come up here. They’re going to be busy getting the rest of Equestria set up. The areas that ponies are actually settling in,” Steel Wing said to them.
“So the north will be left on its own?” Lustrous looked back at him.
Steel Wing nodded. “Yes. It will snow and snow like this as it always has.”
It aroused a bit of fear in Lustrous to hear that. He looked around at this barren world of snow and to think that it would possibly be like this for ages? With no ponies living here or even attempting to homestead, it would just hang over Equestria like a big frozen dark spot. Maybe in the future something would come of this cold landscape. He hoped there would be.
“I think we’ll be just about done here pretty soon,” Trail Blazer called from ahead. “Then we can make our way back a little southeast and head home.”
“Sounds like a great plan to me!” Lustrous yelled back. As ever the wind still drowned out anything quieter.
None of them would miss this place. Maybe it was smart of Trail Blazer to save the worst for last so all of them were looking forward to finishing up their journey and getting home. With so little for them to see or think about the endless rolling snow was even more featureless than the desert and wasn’t even a place ponies might travel through to get somewhere else in Equestria. No more than the northern border between Equestria and the even colder world of mountains beyond. That’s all it was.
The following is an excerpt from Trail Blazer’s notebook:
Almost done. After spending a bunch of relatively pointless days surrounded by nothing but snow I’m happy to say we’ve emerged back into a more hospitable part of Equestria. Whatever, I did a good job of figuring out the size and shape of the frozen north so it all turned out well enough in the end. There’s really nothing more to say about it, it’s not fit for ponies to live in and there’s no reason for anyone to go there unless they want to see what things were like back before the windigos were defeated.
Cold. Cold, cold, and cold.
I’m glad to finally get somewhere where I can actually see green again. And running water.
The map is coming together nicely. I’m going to have to compile everything when we get back and that’s gonna take a while but oh well. It’s my Cutie Mark for a reason. Been a long trip, seen a lot, had a lot to do. Lots of annoying things and a couple annoying ponies who are now apparently my best friends have been with me the whole way through it.
I’ll miss it.