"Dad, we're out of ice!", Caliban said, closing the door as he entered the tent.
Ciemny sighed, muttering something to himself as he wrapped a scarf around his neck. "Great... Just great."
"I'll get some, father", Alastor said, sitting next to Shining as he pulled on his boots.
Shining himself let out a loud yawn, stretching his hooves above his head until he heard a satisfying crack. With that, he lowered them, the tension in his back easing. The mats that had been laid out on the floor of the tent provided a decent amount of padding, while the fur blankets were incredibly soft. That being said, they were far from the mattress he had back home.
"Alright, take Caliban and Sable", Ciemny said. "Your mother and I will take the Herd out. Ciaran."
"Yes?", Ciaran said.
Ciemny pointed to the central stove, then to one of the wooden barrels along the wall. "Wash the laundry, then prepare lunch for when we all get back."
"Of course", she said, already rummaging through a wooden chest.
Shining, finally breaking through his stupor and fully awake, began to pull on his loaned jacket. He asked, "What do you want me to do?"
Ciemny studied him, before shrugging. "Help Alastor and the young ones with the Ice", he decided. "Don't worry; he'll help you."
Alastor looked over at Shining, his look betraying his lack of enthusiasm for the idea. Still, he shrugged, grappling a broad-bladed spear. "Get the Sled, Sable", he said. "Caliban, saw, axe, and pliers. Shining... Just get dressed."
~+~+~~|~~+~+~
The task of gathering ice led Shining, Alasotor, and the younger foals outside of the encampment. Ciemny and his wife, as well as a large black dog, joined them for the first leg of the journey, leading their herd of goats out to graze. As they got clear of the trees and were greeted with the wide, open landscape of the frozen north, the two groups split off.
"So, why are we getting ice?", Shining asked, trailing behind Alastor with the younger foals.
Sable said, "To melt for water."
"Yeah", Caliban affirmed. "How do you get water?"
"We have... A system of pipes, linked up to a central reservoir", he said. "It just comes out of the tap."
"We can't do that in most places", Alastor said, adjusting the strap to the sled he dragged behind him. "We move too frequently. Plus, the ground is too cold in most places."
"Yeah", Sable said. "That's why all the big farms are at the Keeps. They have more space, and can soften up the ground to grow crops."
"So, if you can't farm...", Shining said. "Do you get all of your food from the Goats?"
"That, and hunting, fishing, or foraging", Alastor replied, once again adjusting the strap. "That's what Shroud and Ciaran were doing when they found you and Sombra, by the way."
"H-hunting?", Shining asked.
Alastor looked back at him. Even though Umbrum lacked eyebrows, he could almost see one being quirked. "Don't tell me you don't hunt."
Shining rubbed the back of his head, gritting his fangs as he recalled an old incident. "Well... there was this one time chased a squirrel around our backyard. Ended up... biting its head off before my parents found out." He lowered his hoof, averting his gaze from the others. "I... was really sad about it for weeks afterward."
"Why?", Sable asked. "It's just instincts."
"Yeah, but... In Equestria, animals are a lot more friendly and... I guess close to Ponies", he said. "It was... A bigger deal."
Alastor snorted, stepping around a rock before sighing. "Alright, we're here."
Looking around the large Umbrum, Shining felt his own metaphorical eyebrow raise. Ahead of them stood a stretch of flat ground, piled high with snow. While unusual in that it was completely flat, as opposed to the rough and rocky ground of most of the Frozen North, it was still simply another stretch of ground.
"I'm confused. Where is here?", Shining asked.
Alastor sighed, before pulling the spear out of the sled and continuing to walk. With the foals right on his hooves, Shining was left with no choice but to follow after them. As they walked, the ground here somehow felt... different. Less solid, a bit flexible; he couldn't quite put his hoof on it.
Alastor once again came to a stop a decent way into the flat ground. Alastor looked around, before nodding. "Alright. Here's good. Let's clear the snow out."
Using their horns, they began to throw clumps of snow away from a decent-sized patch of ground. Shining joined them, scooping up clumps of snow with his magic and throwing it away. Soon, they had uncovered a patch of solid ice, into which Alastor began to poke holes with the spear.
"This is a lake", Alastor said, cutting Shining off before he could even ask the question. "We get the ice from here."
"Gotcha", Shining said.
After Alastor made several holes, he threw the spear to Shining. He caught it with practiced ease, placing it into the snow next to him. Alastor took the axe from the sled, beginning to cut into the ice.
As he did so, Sable asked, "So, can you really get water whenever you want?"
"Yeah", Shining said. "Pretty much. We can even get hot water."
"Hot water?", Caliban asked. "Whenever you want?"
"Uh-huh", Shining said.
Alastor paused briefly from his work, commenting, "That does sound nice."
He resumed, working fast. Shining began to feel a chill working its way through his heavy coat, running across his spine and deep into his bones. Before it could grow to the point of shivering, Alastor finished, tossing the axe back into the sled and taking the Spear from Shining. "Alright, let's get started", he said. "Shining, help me get the blocks free. Caliban, Sable; you two get them into the sled."
Alastor used the spear, hooking them into the gaps between the cut-out blocks of ice. After a bit of prompting from Alastor, Shining lit up his magic. As Alastor created a wedge between the blocks of ice, Shining would use his magic and hooves to pull it free from a thin layer of ice still on the bottom. It broke free from the others, before the foals would pull it out and place it next to the sled.
They continued like that for what felt like hours. The cycle of movement helped to warm him up, but he was still cold enough to be distracted. Evidently, the others felt it too. He could hear a bit of shivering and chattering of fangs from the foals, and even Alastor seemed to be slowing down.
"Alright", Alastor said suddenly. "Let's take a break."
Shining looked at him, dazed for a moment, before he caught up with what he had said. He produced a thermos and a hunk of meat from a satchel, laying them out on one of the blocks of ice. Drawing a small knife, he began to cut out strips of the meat, passing them to his younger siblings.
"Here", he said, handing him a piece of the meat.
Shining said, "It's raw."
"It's also frozen", Alastor said. "Just eat it."
Shining took it, examining it. He couldn't tell what kind of meat, though he had never had to identify any kind of meat before. It was sliced thin, with a small cap of frozen fat at the top. Tentatively, Shining placed it in his mouth, beginning to chew.
It was... odd. The fact it was frozen gave the meat an odd bit of crunch, with the raw meat itself having a taste he wasn't used to. Still, he found that he didn't really hate it. "Interesting."
Sable held up a simple clay mug filled with steaming tea, which Shining gladly took. "It's important to take breaks and eat", Alastor said. "Helps you warm up. Plus, working on an empty stomach is always a pain."
"I hope Ciaran makes noodles for lunch", Caliban said, drawing agreement from his sister.
"Me too", Alastor said, before turning back to Shining. "Alright. Let's get back to it. I want to be back at our tent before Ciaran has a chance to drink all of the tea."