4. Back to Work
It was a cold Fall morning and Ice had awaken early, for it was finally time for work. After just one day of nothing, it had nearly killed him. He dragged himself out of his blankets and slowly made his way to the door. He still felt sore, but he already knew he wasn't staying here any longer then he had to. He opened the door, and looked to the counter to see Storm was doing dishes, his head lifting when Ice came out of the back room.
Ice walked to the counter, it was just to say good-bye before he left, even though he wanted to go out into the cold now and do some scouting.
"Well Storm, I have to go, bye." Ice said as he turned.
"Wait," Storm spoke up and put something on the counter, "You will need this."
Ice turned to see a new cloak on the counter and walked over, putting the new dark brown cloak on. It hid his cutie mark and his eyes. He felt gleeful for the fact that he finally free and he was hidden from the eyes of others. It was time to go into the shadows and find out something this time.
However it all seemed different for him, Juniper was a sly mare while he was well known if his face was revealed perhaps, but it was still different. Ponies knew he had alliances, and some wanted to be in alliance with him. The world seemed more complex now a days, ponies lied and some used the power of deception to get what they want and sometimes hate. He opened the door and felt the cold nip of Fall hit his face. The fresh air felt great to breathe, even after one day he now felt free.
He walked down the dirt road, looking at the few buildings that were remade from the rubble of others. The design looked like a three-year-old had glued a bunch of dark colors together. Ice kept himself standing, trying to look tall and as though his wounds did not exist, it was the only way to live. Gangs wanted to get on top of others and some, had been completely whipped out from the fighting, sometimes even from cross-hairs.
Ice could see the steam of his breathe swirl up and fade into the dawn. The light was still quite dim from the clouds and the slowly raising sun. He went down the hill into the cold, even if this was believed to be Appleloosa, it still got quite cold. However the landscape all looked the same and it seemed impossible to know now, all was bland. There was almost no color, only shades that made all grim.
Ice walked slowly, looking behind him to see the slight outline of the toppled over buildings that were in the distance. He was leaving for the next weak of work, Juniper snitched, Storm made the money while he just scouted. He knew almost every turn, some of course he had forgotten, he had no eidetic memory and the capacity per day seemed small. His attention span was short considering he often saw the same thing over and over and came back a grump from not seeing a single thing new.
Brown brambles caught on his hooves, making him struggled briefly until he pulled free and fell over onto his right side. He could feel a slight pain from his injures, but Ice was tougher then that. He got back up, slightly wobbly, but he was still able to move his limbs. For a few seconds he thought to turn back, but knew that he would rather be out there and suffer from wounds, then stay in that room much longer. Ice sighed and moved through the brown grass.
The air was cold and stung his throat and he hated the fact that he was exposed. If there were any other ponies they would kill him, and it would be easy. He swiftly galloped towards the forest area, then hide in the high skeleton trees. It wasn't the best protection, but in this area it was the only protection really. Ice walked slow, how he somewhat wished he could fly like Juniper. If he could fly he would be faster, but no magic, he just sighed and continued on his way. He knew his full route may not be achieved due to his injures.
They weren't assigned anything really, but they had to accomplish something, they couldn't just stand around somewhere, or the pony who did so would get into trouble. Ice yawned for it was still quite early in the morning, the sun was raising, creating slight heat. He kept his hood up, so the morning frost wouldn't nip at his ears. Each step stung with slight frost bite from the frozen ground. The soil was hard and the grass was what gave him slight frost bite. His sore shoulders slumped, and he groaned in slight pain, momentarily letting himself look weak, but soon lifted his head and tried not to look that way.
The world was hard, everypony had to look tough, and even if they had something like a broken leg, they had to look as though they didn't or just lie low for a little. He walked at a good pace, but then he heard something and his ears pricked. The noise stopped as soon as he did, he looked around to check if someone was there, but saw nothing. For a second he thought he was loosing his sanity until a pony who was also cloaked came out of the trees. Ice couldn't see his face, but he could see the pony of course.
"Hey there, want to spar?" The stallion asked.
Ice knew that spar meant fight, but he had no time, but couldn't risk being attacked in the future, so he sighed.
"Sure." He answer, and as soon as the word left his mouth the pony lunged at him.
Ice dodged the attack, but was almost hit and it had hurt a lot to move like that. His teeth clenched so he didn't groan or make any other sounds that would make a weakness. However in second he kicked the stallion and the pony fell, and the fight felt hopeless, every movement had caused a deal of pain. He turned to see the stallion had gotten up fast and son he hit Ice's left shoulder, it nearly caused him to fall, but he stood strong. Ice was about to do something when the stallion hit his side and caused him to tumble down the hill.
Ice got up and saw the stallion was about to lung and he dodged it and the stallion landed where he was. Ice was breathing heavily well the stallion look fine and Ice could tell there was a smile under that hood. However Ice knew he couldn't play offense, he had to play defense. The stallion lunged again, but Ice dodged and the pony hit a tree. Soon Ice talked him and knew he had the death shot, which meant he won.
"I win." He huffed, and soon walked away.
However the pony followed, taking off something and putting it in his settle bag, then flipped down his hood and Ice was stunned. It wasn't a stallion, it was a mare. Her fur was dark grey, her right ear was torn and her mane was black with purple highlights, her muzzle and hooves were dark purple like her highlights.
"Your pretty good. The name is Comet Fire, so who are you?" She asked, smiling.
"Thanks, and I am Ice." He replied, still quite stunned.
"So what are you doing out here and injured Ice? I could tell by how easily tired you got, and don't deny it. I saw it all." Comet asked with a smile.
"Its work, and none of your business." Ice snapped and continued to move.
"Well I am tagging along, Besides I have no gang, I need one, so what about yours?" Comet asked.
"No, my teammates don't trust easily and neither do I." Ice answered, he was starting to get annoyed.
Then Comet was silent, but yet she still followed Ice, even though he had reclined the offer for a new teammate. Then he saw something, shadowy figures, Shadows.
"Get down." He said in a hushed whisper as he knelled, and Comet did the same.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Shadows, creatures that can put voices in ponies head, sometimes they listen, mostly if they don't have a strong mind." Ice explained.