Frigid

by Yuri Petrovitch

Chapter II: Aliens, Magic, and Whole Lot of Hurt.

The pain was unlike anything Damian had felt before; it reached new levels of torture as each wave battered his mind and threatened to crush his will. The closest that he could compare this sensation he felt running along his nerves was to the time he had fallen out of a tree in fifth grade, smashing though multiple branches and landing in a crumpled heap ten meters below. Luckily for Damian his mother had spotted his tumble and had rushed him straight to the hospital. The doctor had been amazed that no internal organs were ruptured or any serious bones had been broken like his spine. The following months were spent in a hospital room recovering from the fall; the tally was several broken ribs, a spiral fracture in his left forearm, and a severe concussion. Taking that amount of excruciating pain and multiplying it by ten or so was what Damian was in now.

It took several minutes of drifting in and out of consciousness for Damian to finally get a grip on reality, each time he woke the pain just shut him down again, and it was almost too much to bare. By strength of will Damian finally managed to gain a foot hold on and stay there without passing out. A searing headache made Damian think that it was being crushed in a vice, like a walnut being cracked open under the pressure.

God I hate today, the thought rung out inside his mind and Damian held onto it like a life raft.

Not long after Damian cracked open one of his eyes, only to find that the world was covered in a red tint. Panic sparked in Damian's mind, Oh gods, I hope I'm not blind; but a few teary blinks later and the blood has vanished from his vision, along with the fear of being crippled. Very few things could be worse that losing your vision when you're stranded in the middle of the wilderness. The dull grey surface of the Aurora's control panel came into focus, the cracked obsidian surface of the GPS sat right next to Damian's head where it lay.

All right, time to do a body check for damage, Damian sent out probes of electricity along his nerves to check his extremities. He felt along his muscles and tendons, working them and making sure that nothing was severed. As the test came to his left arm he found that it had been dislocated, this along with the broken collar bone left that arm useless, though the fingers in his hands still worked. His right femur had somehow snapped, it was actually kind of impressive since the bone was one of the strongest in the body; it must have been from the collision with the hard ground. Quite honestly though Damian got of pretty lucky and he was amazed that he didn't have any more shattered bones than he did. The shocks of electricity when both limbs were moved nearly made Damian black out for a few seconds, yet each time they were moved the pain lost a little bit of its sting. Well, I was always better with my right arm anyways, and I never was into running to begin with, Damian remarked as he came to again.

For several minutes Damian just lay there in his pilots chair, his breathing had started to become more labored as the adrenaline took it's toll and wore off. A gust of cold wind from the shattered windshield blew the last of Damian's warmth out of him and he began to shiver uncontrollably as the cold bored into his bones, Oh that's right, the whole being near the North Pole thing. I need to get warm, and fast, or I'm gonna turn into a meat-popsicle.

With a bit of effort Damian pushed himself up in his chair with his back resting into the leather of the seat, the small bit of exertion left Damian panting and exhausted. Along the way discovery was made that several ribs had broken, most likely from when he was slammed against his harness. The straps must have broken at the force of the impact, Damn I'm lucky my ribs didn't cave in and puncture a lung; otherwise I'd be downing in my own blood right about now. The fun just keeps coming.

Suddenly the world started to turn a red once again as the blood made its way into Damian's eyes. Gingerly Damian wiped his forehead with the back of his right hand, there was a sting when he touched his forehead, when he removed his hand the blood on his glove confirmed that he had a large gash above his brow. There was enough blood pouring out of his tuque that it had created a steady drip. Well that's just perfect, I even managed to smash my head open. Damn I hope I didn't need those brain cells.

As he sat there the scope of the destruction of the Aurora jumped out at Damian; through the empty cockpit window laid one of the Otter's wings. It was half buried in the snow with the upper portion facing the cockpit; its crimson red paint was a deep contrast to whiteness of the surrounding field of snow. Light from several fires danced around the wreckage of the wing, the occasional crackle of a fire hitting something flammable snapped into the still air.

Damian flexed his fingers to make sure that they were still functional; after a satisfying survey he put them to work untangling the mess of the harness that clung to his arctic flight jacket. After a fashion of working out the tangle of belts and Damian was free, though with only one arm and a broken leg he was still stuck there in is seat. Come on, remember those first aid classes you took; because if you don't remember them you'll die here in the middle of god forsaken nowhere. You still have unfinished business in this world, things you haven't tried yet; like popping Jello Shots off of the belly of a smoking hot babe.

Tapping into his inner MacGyver Damian utilized the remains of the buckles and straps into a makeshift tourniquet for the injured leg, hopefully it would allow a few moments of limping until he could sort out a proper cast. The left arm would have to be relocated eventually, but it wasn't vital so it could wait its turn for attention. Further body searching revealed no serious cuts, besides the gash on Damian's forehead. With the emergency first aid was complete for now it was time for action. The pain had started to dull to a more manageable level, a high pain tolerance would have been cool but it was more likely that the numbness was because the flesh was starting to numb and freeze. "And that's a really, really bad thing, so get your ass in gear!" the little voice in Damian's head marshaled.

Hey, where've you been? Damian asked the voice, for a moment there I thought that I'd lost you.

"You know, most people consider talking to your subconscious a little crazy right?" The voice deadpanned, "But I think we have much bigger issues here than your failing sanity, like hypothermia and frostbite."

Oh yeah, I'll get right on that.

In Damian's mind he pictured where the first aid kit was, it was stored in the rear of the cabin in a bright orange container. Inside the kit was the proper stuff he needed; bandages, pain killers, antiseptic lotion, the essentials. If he could get his hands on that bag then Damian's life would take a turn for the better and delightfully less painful. It was also something to keep him preoccupied and his mind off the hopeless reality: no one's coming.

A thought came back to Damian, during his whole battle in the sky with Seabiscuit and his ghost buddies he never actually sent out a distress signal; though he wasn't quite sure what the code was for battling demented evil spirits, maybe it's the siren from the Ecto-1? Damian doubted that the radio would still work, if the impact had enough force to rip his wing off and impale it into the ground it was also likely that all the more delicate equipment was obliterated. His only hope is that the Emergency Locator Transmitter, or ELT for short, was still working and sending a distress signal. Until help could arrive he had to survive as long as possible.

Damian looked out of the shattered windows into the ominous dark forest beyond, "I'm totally screwed," he wheezed. Clenching his teeth Damian hefted his legs over the pilots chair and in the direction of the Aurora's cabin; the movement caused his right leg to spasm with horrendous pain. The pilot let loose a cry of anguish at the top of his lungs, tears had formed and froze to his cheeks. For several long minutes Damian sat there, clutching his leg and trying not to pass out as the electricity shook his nerves from head to toe; the image of the pain meds materialized in his mind becoming his sole desire and objective.

Eventually the pilot made it to his feet, the straps holding the bone together well enough. Holding the chairs to either side of him for support Damian opened the cockpit's hatch and limped through. The space beyond was a mess, several crates had been dislodged and blocked the narrow passageway from the rear of the Aurora to the cockpit. To no surprise the rest of the windows in the back were shattered, allowing a chilling night air to blow through. It was dark back there and only an occasional flicker from some fire and a few emergency lights made anything visible.

That last part made Damian pause in the door way to think, it had been late morning when he had left Prospect Lake, now it was near the dead of night. Ether those ghosts had done this, or he had been knocked out for hours on end. The idea that he had been here for several hours wasn't appealing since it meant that not only had Damian been exposed to the elements for far too long and possibly with frostbite eating him away, but that any rescue attempt at finding his plane was lost until the next day. The longer it took, the less likely he was to survive.

Snow had breached the interior and was starting to invade the confined space with miniature white dunes. With the cargo-crates blocking the path Damian had to haul himself over them and crawl along on his stomach until he reached the other side of the blockage. Each time his injured arm and leg was dragged over the orange metal boxes the pain felt like they were being torn off by a giant. The broken ribs jabbed into his gut as he shuffled on his belly, causing his breath to become ragged and labored. As the last crate was cleared it suddenly gave way and threw Damian to the floor like a bull at a rodeo, luckily the fresh pile of snow made for a relatively soft landing.

At the other side of the obstacle lay the Promised Land, the med kit. Damian snatched it from it's bracket and tore it open. Sifting through the kit revealed only a small container of Paracetamol, but it was enough. Popping the lid Damian downed two of the pills, they don't taste all that great. There wasn't any immediate effect, so Damian laid down with his back to the rear wall.

A gust of cold wind to his left drove the young pilot to look over his shoulder; the rear hatch had been wrenched off and had created a portal to the ground beyond. The field of snow was deathly quiet, the snow banks and divots lay peacefully as the shadows from the fires danced on top of them. The forest wasn't too far off, maybe a few dozen meters, and from what Damian could see it was filled with nothing but pines, they almost reminded him of Christmas trees. It was peaceful, and almost calming.

A twig snapped and it's echo traveled across the field of snow breaking the silence, it was soon followed by a string of high pitched animal chatter. Scanning the tree line Damian soon discovered the source, poking out of a berry bush were the heads of two peculiar creatures. They looked like horses, but their heads were too rounded and their eyes were also too large. One was large than the other with white fur and a long light pink mane, the other was shorter with dark blue fur and a short royal blue mane. Their features reminded Damian of the ghosts that had attacked him, a lead ball formed in the pit of his gut; if these creatures were like those spirits then they might be here to finish the job! The stranded pilot wasn't in any shape to defend himself, he was completely at their mercy where he lay broken on the floor of his crashed plane.

The creatures seemed to notice him laying there and started to approach across the dark field, "G-get away...you freaks..." When the words left Damian's mouth a fit of violent coughing soon shook his body. There was a spray of blood at the final hack with a sharp stabbing pain in his chest like he was being stabbed with a knife. His breath came short and there was a feeling of water filling his lungs; one of the cracked ribs must have punctured a lung. The creatures that had left their shrub were now mere meters away from the wreckage. Damian tired to wave them away but his left arm, but it didn't rise from his side. The corners of his vision eroded into deep shadows and soon Damian fell unconscious on the cold steel floor.

---

"Hurry sis, I think I see something up ahead!" Luna yelled over her shoulder as she dashed through the snow, missing every tree and branch in her gallop.

"H-hold on Lulu, we need to stay together!" A pine branch smacked into Celestia's face, she spat out the snow and needles to continue her pursuit of the filly. Celestia wasn't that much taller than Luna, maybe a full head higher, but that little bit of height meant that she had to dodge the low hanging branches while Luna simply skidded under them.

Celestia's eyes looked back up ahead and sure enough a distant light broke though the forest like a match in the dark. As the pair neared the source of the light a stone formed in Celestia's stomach, the light appeared to be coming from a large fire and that was never good. A fire was something that could easily destroy everything, turning once lush plant life into nothing more than charcoal. Don't worry, even if the fire is large it won't go anywhere; the trees are too soaked from the snow for them to catch alight, Celestia reasoned to herself as she ducked under another low fir branch.

The sisters halted their rush when they came to the source of the light; it was unlike anything they had seen before. In a clearing there lay a cluster of three strange structures; two large blades were dug into the snow like shovels while a gigantic tube like thing lay embedded between them like a field plow in the earth. Each of the objects easily towered over the mare and filly, their looming shapes cast large menacing shadows along the ground. Several fires burned on a few of the objects, though it was odd since they didn't seem to be made of wood or cloth. Whatever this was, it had made quite a mess. Timbers from several uprooted trees laid about the field like they were nothing more than twigs.

"Wow!" Luna's eyes grew in size as she took in the mysterious sight with wonder; amazingly the filly didn't seem scared unlike Celestia who was terrified out of her hooves.

"What do you think it is Tia?"

"I-I don't know," the 'thing' in front of them was unlike anything Celestia had ever seen or heard about before.

Luna looked back up at Celestia with sparking eyes, "I think it's an alien space ship!"

"Don't...Don't be absurd Luna, A-aliens don't exist...This has to be something else."

"Well then, what is it?" Celestia didn't have the answer for that and simply shrugged back.

For awhile the two stayed there at the edge of the clearing, watching the foreign sight from behind a bumble berry bush. After some observation at a distance it soon became obvious that the objects never were alive to begin with; Celestia reasoned that it must be some sort of golem, those blades must have been wings. It was probably somepony's attempt at making an artificial bird. Though why anypony would make such a thing seemed ridiculous to Celestia.

Celestia tapped Luna on her shoulder, "Come on Luna, there's nothing here to rescue, just a large mess."

Luna's smile quickly became downtrodden as the excitement drained out of her, "B-but I was sure that something was in trouble! I was looking forward to being a hero!" Luna's shoulders slumped down and the her lower lip began to quiver. The sadness that Luna felt tugged at Celestia's heart; she wrapped the filly in a tight hug.

"I know. Its better that we went out here to make sure that nopony was injured than to ignore their plight if they really were in trouble. I'm still proud of you Lulu," At that little touching moment a deep blood curdling yell arched across the white field.

The sisters froze in their embrace, paralyzed with fear as the last dying echoes of the outcry drifted into the woods. In the following silence Celestia and Luna sat behind their bush, trying their best not to move a single muscle. After Celestia's heart nearly stopped the drumming in her ears began to thump faster and faster. Inside Celestia's hooves she could feel Luna's body trembling; her normally dark blue coat had turned a sickly pale. Luna looked back up at her sister with terrified eyes; tears had begun to well up in them as she shivered with fright.

Celestia's ears perked at even more sounds coming from the field. Several muffled sounds of something moving about reached her ears; they were followed by a dull thump of something falling. Curiosity got the better of Celestia as she poked her head above the bush to spy on the possible threat to her sister and her, and that's when she saw 'it'.

Laying in an opening of the artificial bird was something Celestia had never seen before. It wasn't a pony, nor did it look like any of the other creatures that she knew of. The upper half of it body was covered in a thick green material while a black material covered its lower half. It had a pair both arms and legs, each limb was long and gangly, yet they didn't seem in any way weak. The two legs meant that it was probably a bipedal like a Minotaur, and even though it was lying against a wall Celestia could tell that it would easily tower over her if it was standing. Its face was warped up in a red scarf and it was wearing an odd red hat that covered most of its head. The thing's eyes were like a bugs, their pitch black sockets showing no emotion at all.

The thing was rummaging through a box on its lap, its hands where surprisingly delicate and maneuverable as it sifted around the contents until it found what it was looking for. It held up a bottle of some kind, and after unscrewing the top it removed its scarf to eat whatever was inside the bottle. Celestia noticed then that it was covered in red blood stains, and that it's left arm never seemed to move from its side.

A twig snapped next to Celestia, it's sound smashing the silence to pieces. Celestia snapped her head to the source of noise and the culprit. Without her knowing Luna had become curious as well and had poked her head through the bush. The filly slowly turned to face Celestia, one of her hooves was standing on a crushed branch.

"Sorry sis, I just wanted a look," Luna apologized as she lifted her hoof from the crushed twig.

"Shhh, we need to be quite or else that thing might hear us!"

Luna frowned, "But it doesn't look like it can do anything to hurt us. The poor thing's hurt, we need to do what we came here for and help it."

"Luna, I know that's what we said that we'd do, but now I'm not so sure," for some reason that creature scared the living Tartarus out of her, "It might attack us! When an animal is hurt and backed into a corner it can become violent!"

For a few seconds Luna glared back up at her sister, she stood there in the snow biting her lower lip. She didn't say anything else but instead jumped out of their cover and started to trot towards the creature. Celestia was taken aback by Luna's defiance and recklessness, but she followed anyways, she knew Luna's was right but she could never forgive herself if something happened to her little sister.

The thing must have heard them because now it was staring right at them as they approached, its beady black eyes locked with Celestia's, sending shivers down her spine. It spoke in its gravely foreign tongue at them, Celestia couldn't make out what it was trying to say, but it almost sounded just as frightened as they were. After the mysterious words left the creature's mouth it started to hack and wheeze, blood started to spray into the air at its final cough. The thing slumped back against the artificial bird and became motionless.

"Hurry Tia, I think its dying!" Luna shouted as she darted for the creature.

There were quite a few spells that Celestia had learned from her book; basic healing was one of them, but resurrection wasn't. Celestia slowed her trot as it started to look like they had been too late.

"Lulu," Celestia spoke softly and with a touch of sadness, "We're too late."

Luna was now right beside the beast; she tilted her head and poked the creatures flank with one of her tiny hooves, it didn't move. She inched a bit closer and laid her head on its chest, her ear pressed against where its heart might be. A second later Luna jumped back and broke her muzzle into wide grin. "He's alive!"

"What?!" Celestia was certain that the creature must have passed on, what with all the blood everywhere.

"Yep, it's faint but there's still a heart beating in there!" Luna beamed.

"...Well, I'm not sure if I can fix it, but I'll give it my best," Celestia brought back the memory of the spell and called forth her magic. Her horn was encased with a lavender aurora as it started to glow; the pink haze then jumped to the creature's body and soon after it was enveloped with a pink mist. A few sickening snaps came from the body as the bones were reset, blood started to thaw and flow like quicksilver back into the wounds as they were sutured back together.

Healing spells where hard and needed a lot of concentration, or else a bone might be reattached the wrong way or even a severed vein being reconnected to the wrong spot. The spell took a lot out Celestia, but soon enough the hardest parts were over. At the end of the healing the creature's chest was rising and falling in a normal rhythm once again, or at least as normal as Celestia knew. By the gods, I hope I didn't mess that up.

Luna plopped next to her big sister, her small body leaning against Celestia's white fur, "Thanks sis."

"Say Luna," Celestia spoke to her sister, "Why do you want to save this creature so badly? We didn't have to do anything, yet you really wanted to save the strange beast."

Luna gave her big sister a look that said do I really have to spell it out? "Well, if I was in this poor guy's hooves I'd want somepony to be there to help me out," The filly gave a sigh as she looked back at the creature, "And he might be just little bit lonely like us."

The mare blinked in surprise, but then she gave a warm smile. Little Luna was growing up, even though she was only a few years old. Celestia leaned down and gave Luna one of her biggest hugs yet, the blue filly giggled and returned the sisterly embrace.

A distant howl of a Timber Wolf forced them back into reality. They broke off and turned their attention back to the odd creature. It seemed to be sleeping now, but after a few jabs with Luna's hoof it became clear that it wouldn't wake up any time soon.

"Well now, I think we'd better get this creature someplace safe," Celestia's horn glowed again as she levitated the creature into the cold air.

"Hey Sis, I'm getting a bit tired of calling the Alien 'it' and 'creature', how about we give him a name. How about we name him Steve?"

---

The splitting headache was the first thing Damian felt when he awoke in land of the dead. Damn, and here I thought that the torture would wait until after I was told my sins. There was something odd though, something didn't feel quite right. It was a feeling that he couldn't wrap his mind around, it took Damian several moments of laying there in the black void for the sensation to manifest into something that he could name. I feel fine, pretty good in fact. Maybe the Devils are just trying to mess with me, give me a little hope that everything's alright. Then when I least expect it, BAM, right into a pit of lava.

Though as Damian waited there in the void for the little red men in tights, to come with their tridents ready to spear him, it soon became clear after about half an hour of waiting that they wouldn't show up. Frustration soon started to build as the minutes flew by. Oh come on! I heard that the afterlife had to have something happening, at least do something!

Out of the endless darkness the noise of something slinking about made it to Damian's ears. Anger and frustration both worked their way into Damian's mouth, he was getting sick of all this bullcrap and he wanted at least something to happen.

"Show yourselves demons! If you're going to do something to me then do it already, I don't have all day to float here in space!" The sudden shouting caused whatever was inside the darkness to suddenly yelp and crash into something. Ha, take that! The crash was soon followed by more yelps and chattering, though the noises sounded somewhat familiar. All of a sudden the floating sensation Damian had been feeling abandoned him, and in its place the all too familiar sensation of gravity returned.

"Woah!" Damian yelped as his body plummeted, his back smashing into the hard rock floor under him. As he lay there cringing at the pain in his back, he heard the high pitched noises return as they began to chatter amongst themselves. Oh, I remember now where I've heard those sounds before. They were from those horse like creatures. Huh, I guess they really were ghosts after all.

Damian pawed at the floor around him, finding that though the floor was indeed cold it wasn't covered in any snow or moisture. Must be under some cover or I'm inside someplace. Then a realization hit Damian like a ton of bricks, he could move his left arm without feeling any pain! A quick survey proved that all his injuries were gone, it was like a miracle! Even the blindness was solved when Damian reached up and pushed up his tuque.

Looking around he found himself inside a small cave. It was sort of dark inside with the only light coming from the entrance of the cave itself. The ceiling was only a meter and a half high, making it impossible for him to stand. The sharp points of several stalactites that hung directly over Damian made him just a tad nervous though.

As Damian's eyes wandered the cave they soon came across the forms of two familiar creatures. They were hiding in the shadows behind a rock with only their white and blue heads exposed as they stared at Damian. They were the exact same animals that Damian had seen back at the crash site... wait, why am I not back there? Instead I'm in a small, dark, confined cave with two unknown creatures... Oh gods! They must have taken me back to their lair to be eaten! Well fuck that noise! And with that Damian spun himself around and onto his stomach. He started to power crawl the heck out of there, he made it to the entrance of the tunnel and straight over the side of a cliff.

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading! Finally things are coming together, though I'm not so sure whats going to happen after that little cliff hanger. Shout out to my friend Nihatclodra who helped my with the edits once again, he's been a huge help. The comments section is open to anyone who wants to use it, feel free to comment on anything you feel like and if you see anything that you think needs to be corrected you can contact me there.

Tot volgende keer my vriende

Comments

[Armadaes]

haha cool

[Yuri Petrovitch]

Thanks!