//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: As Far As My Hooves Will Carry Me // by Red Glare //------------------------------// The days seemed to pass a lot faster now for Pip. Everything on the train felt routine. The train would stop, the dead would fall out, the wood and snow would be gathered, and the potatoes were delivered. Pip looked at the wall he had been marking the days on. It had been 53 days now since this convoy of death left Canterlot, and the trip seemed not close to an end. The train car was more empty than the last time Pip took notice. He looked around and counted the number of ponies still breathing: about 23. The frost on the walls had grown thicker and thicker. Freezing, Pip joined the group of ponies huddled together in the far corner. As he joined the ponies the train came to a stop once again. The wooden doors slid open, like the times before, but this time the dead were rolled out and potato rations were delivered with frozen water. It looked as though the trucks carrying the wood had gotten to the point where they could no longer continue, a testament to how inhospitable the environment really was. Behind the guards, Pip saw something in the distance. It was a town, with houses covered in snow and smoke from fire places rising up through the chimneys. Pip thought to himself 'what foolish ponies would live out here voluntarily?' Eager to find an answer to this conundrum, he consulted a pegasus with a map for a cutiemark. The pegasus responded by saying the town was most likely Ponyarny but there was no way to be certain because of the lack of landmarks on the frozen tundra. Just then the zebra guards issued a command new to the ponies on the train. "Everyone out of the train! Form up in rows of 5! Now!" Doing as he was told Pipsqueak stepped out of the train car and into the knee deep snow. The wind was fierce. It lifted the light snow off the top of the ground cover and blew it into the faces of the prisoners, who had nothing to keep them warm. The wind turned the light snow into what felt like tiny little razor blades flying at speeds that dwarfed the wonderbolts best. Forming up into fives the ponies waited for the guards to take roll of the survivors. Once finished, the guards herded the condemned across the tracks and out into the snow covered wasteland. The Prisoners walked and walked and walked some more until the sun went down. Only then did the guards let the prisoners rest. Pip looked around. He saw that maybe about half of the people who started the frozen trek had frozen to death. The only burial those ponies would get would be by the ever moving snow of this frozen hell. Many colts and mares sat down to rest. A few lay down in the snow, determined to end their frozen journey. The night was cold. Colder than any Pipsqueak had ever know or most likely, he thought, ever will know again. Then, out of the corner of Pip's eye, he saw something that he would never forget. A mare was talking to a colt lying in the snow. The mare said to the colt, "Brother, brother you need to get up, you'll freeze if you don't." "Leave me alone sister, I cant go on. Go away. Let me die in peace." the colt said to his loving sister. The colt was pale. His face had lost all color and his breathing was shallow. His lips and hooves blue with frostbite. "No brother! You can't give up!" The mare started to cry. "Think about me! I need you to help keep me strong!" "What good will a weak pony do to keep another strong..." "What about momma! What am I gonna tell her!" The mare said, tears streaming from her eyes. "No sis...forget about momma. If the cold doesn't kill you...the work will and if the work doesn't kill you...the guards...they will. Even if we live through our sentence we'll be old...to old to go home. Don't you see sis...we're never going home...never...never...nev..." the colt said with his last breath. The mare cried over her dead brother. With the passing of her only support in this most evil of hells, she had given up just as her brother did. The mare would have suffered the same fate by the next morning. ------------------------------ The next day the column snaked across the frozen wasteland that is the northern territory. Pipsqueak thought about the events from the night before. He thought about the two dead ponies. He thought about how he wanted to see his mother. He thought then about the last words spoken by the dying colt: "we're never going home...never." He played that visual over and over again in his mind. Pip thought to himself 'I will go home. I will." Those words spurred Pipsqueak's mind into thinking about his escape plan. They made him more determined than ever. Those words had another side effect also. Pip was even more enraged by the sight of the zebra guards than back during the events leading up to his arrest. Lost in thought, Pip didn't see the the small group of buildings that now surrounded him. All the houses were made of wood and, with the sun setting, Pipsqueak wondered which hut would act as the prisoner barracks. The zebras took another tally of survivors, making the enslaved ponies stand once more in the unprotected night. Once roll was finished, the zebras led the ponies into a cave. The cave was massive but despite that, Pipsqueak felt as though the walls were closing in on him. The column turned into a side cave of the main cavern, the opening being so small the ponies had to fit through one at a time. Once all the colts and mares where inside, a guard hung a lantern from the roof of the cave, and said "Go to sleep. Rest up for work starts tomorrow." Pip was awestruck. The set up was brilliant! One or two guards for each side cave and the prisoners would be close to their work site. Pip took an inspection of his surroundings next. No pillows, no hay to sleep on like on the train, nothing. The ponies would have to sleep on the floor. Needless to say Pip wasn't enthralled by the idea of sleeping on solid rock, but there was one consolation. The cave was warm. The next morning the new workers were fed breakfast. Water, stew, and bread was the meal. It wasn't much but it was enough. After eating the next step was work. Hard, grueling physical labor was the name of the game in this fresh new hell. After work was back to sleep. That was how Pipsqueak's life went for weeks. Wake up, breakfast, work, then sleep. Once a week, if the prisoners were lucky enough, they got to go to the surface for fresh air.The only thought that ran through Pip's mind while working was not to die in this hole in the ground. "This is not my grave. This is not where I'm gonna die," Pip repeated over and over to himself. Bu night Pipsqueak dreamed of escape. He dreamed of rising up against the zebras and taking back Equestria. These thoughts were the only things that kept Pipsqueak working. Otherwise he would end up like the Stallion and the Mare, dead and buried beneath the snow and ice.