Warm Hearts

by Twisted Gears

Awakening

I had barely waken up, when a Stallion started shouting at us. It was a deep gravy voice, like that of an older Pony. Peeking over after having troubles with opening my eyes, after that really, really needed sleep I saw that it was an Unicorn. "Wake up everpony! There's work to do!", emerged from the top of his lungs.

Groaning, I rolled over, holding my Diary tight to my chest. Reluctanctly I got up, my back sore from sleeping on the cold stone below. I was glad to not have frozen to death during my sleep, the several layers of leather and cloth above me keeping my body warm for the time being, alongside with the snuggling up to my brother. Brushing off the snow that had fallen on us through the night, I looked to my side, towards my Brother. He was in the same boat I was -I could hear him curse under his breath. Eventually he got up, and slid his leather covers off from his head, revealing his charcoal-black mane, messy and wild, and pushed it away to reveal his Amber eyes, wich contrasted heavily with his light blue coat. He got those eyes from Mother... And the unkept beard that slowly grew on his chin like if that of a goat was something he got from Father.

Stretching my back and legs out, and removing my own leather cover from my head, I looked back at the Monolith that acted as the central structure of the camp we joined yesterday night. Its Onyx-black, perfectly flat reflective surface gave me a good reflection of myself, and how messy my looks were. Those bags under my Amber eyes were still there, making my Yellow coat look... Well, less yellow-y and more pale. I looked up in the reflection to notice that my curly amber mane was even worse than before, flattened in one side, and stretched out in the other, to the point that one could easily think I was struck with some disease. Just if I could take warm bathes again, I'd be a happier, healthier mare. But no, not with all this ice and snow... And lack of actual housing. Running a hoof around my mane would do for now.

However, something felt off. The Obelisk towered well over six times our height, but its diamater was roughly of that of the lenght of a Stallion. Too thin to offer a strong support against the wind. Looking down, I noticed that it was wedged into the soil beneath, but not as if it was excavated into it. It was like... If the whole construct rooted into the ground itself, like a tree made out of obsidian. It also gave a strange sensation, like when I saw my little sister, trying to snatch the cookier jar while it was out of her reach. That sense of watching desperation and anger, compacted in a tiny frame. However, my thoughts scrambled as I heard hoofsteps behind me, so I turned around, to face the Unicorn that woke us up.

He was tall. Very, very tall, but not slender at all. He was built like a watchtower; strong hooves kept his head high from the ground, his horn pointing at the sky from under his brown leather cloak. The bits that I could see of him told me that he had a gray, short moustache pointing at the 9 and the 3, and blueish pelt. His eyes were hidden under the shadow that his dressings casted. "A Leader has been appointed overnight. You all shall refer to him as the Captain from from now on." He stated, with a stern voice. "Today we will start assigning everypony who joined us this last night some tasks. If we want to survive the Frost, we must activate this Obelisk of Warmth. From now on, we will follow the commands and orders from the Captain, and we will follow his laws. If you do not like it, you are free to walk off from this mountain and wonder the frostland until you perish. Is that clear?" He stated in a louder, even more stern tone, walking around us, his voice sounding through the strong winds above us. It was like a shout, but he wasn't actually shouting. It was... Magic.

Grudgingly, we all nodded. "Yes, yes." I said, rubbing my ears to stop them from ringing so loudly, looking out and off from the few tents we had. Some of the Earth Ponies set off to collect the remains of crates, branches, scraps of wood and discarded tents. Others went off to grab bits and pieces from broken machinery, and others went to snatch some bits of exposed coal, mining away with rocks and half-broken pickaxes, leaving behind a trail in the blinding white snow. We didn't even have sleds, nothing to make the task of collecting whatever we could find any easier, so we would be hauling everything with out bare backs.

"You." The Unicorn stated, pointing at my face with a hoof. Blinking a couple of times in surprise, he had taken all of my attention.

"M-Me?" I replied, caught off-guard, my heart suddently picking up on its pace, much like when I get caught distracted during Math classes. I'd gladly take those over this.

"You look strong. You will help collect wooden crates. Grab a saddlebag and accompany the others." He stated in an authoritative, less louder tone, before moving over to my brother, giving him a look. "You too."

Squinting at him, my Brother shrugged. "I don't take orders from an Unicorn." He bluntly stated back at the Unicorn, with a deep frown on his face, as he collected his belongings from the floor. This caught me off-guard -he never said this kind of thing, making me stare at him wide-eyed.

The Unicorn stepped closer to him, towering a head or so above him, looking down at my brother's amber eyes. "Unless you want to spend the rest of your, miserable life wondering the snow until you die, you will take orders from me. Now go, Dirt."

That hurt. Not only him, but me too.

That's a therm most of the Unicorn 'loyalty' used to refer to us Earth Ponies, more specifically the ones that tended the fields and worked directly under them, cleaning things and maintaining houses. That brought a deeper frown to me and my brother, and I could see him raise his hoof and clench his teeth. I could even feel the desire from him to break the other's jaw, but he eventually lowered it, frustration mounting on his face and eyes. "Fine. I'll do it." He said, before looking away. "Horned buck." He added under his breath, before walking off right past me, to a little structure nearby of hapzardy located planks and stones, wich we labelled 'The stockpile'.

I was heartbroken, but this was a harsh time. Holding back my tears, I gave the Unicorn my bad eye, and quickly went to drop off my things, and then I ran off to get a pair of empty saddlebags to help out on recovering as much wood as we could. Not only because it was my designated task, but rather because I didn't want to see that Unicorn again. I took this opportunity to finally approach my brother, after that outburst in frustration.

"You... You okay, Cold?" I asked, as we finally reached a pile of discarded and half-broken wooden boxes, a fair distance away from the camp, almost by the edge of the crater. Some were still filled with tools we could still use, but many others were simply empty. I guessed that they would be repurposed to build things, or perhaps as fuel.

"No, I'm not." He bluntly stated, looking back at me with a face that hinted his frustrations; "I became an Engineer to avoid this. And now we're stuck in a hole with that... Horned tailhole, working with our bare hooves. And our family is possibly dead!" He said, a tear rolling down his cheek, as he tossed his half-filled bag back to the snowy ground, with a 'Plomph'. "I'm freezing, my everything hurts and this bucking cold will eventually kills us! I can't hold this anymore!"

Blinking, I dropped my saddlebags too, and without thinking, I went on and enveloped his chest with my hooves, hugging him tightly, digging my face onto his neck. That's something I used to do whenever he was upset or sad -We shared warmth this way, and... He really, really needed one of those. I could feel it. "I'm... I'm sorry. I know that these are hard times, but we must try. We must hold and last, we'll make it." I said, looking up at his eyes, as he looked down at mines. His tears had frozen on his cheeks. "For Father and Mother. And little Temperate."

He sniffed, and rubbed the ice away. "For Temperate..." He repeated, shaking his head. "Fine... I'll- I'll try, but I don't promise holding myself if I see that Unicorn again." Then he rose his hooves and hugged me back, gently patting my back as I held onto him, squishing him a bit on that embace. I nodded onto him, nuzzling his chest one last time before finally releasing him, bits of snow falling from us.

Then we got back to work, picking up our saddlebags again -And giving nervous smiles at the other Ponies that glanced at us with curious and confused looks, after the scene we made back then. Thankfully they minded their own business, though some attempted a bit of small talk, which I was glad to provide, though one made terrible, terrible puns about the cold through the whole day. "Tis' a cool day, eh?", "More work like this and I'll drop dead cold!", "Don't give me that cold eye!", and so on.

I really wanted to hit him. That would be a good way to warm myself up.