> Frostpony
>  by The Original Gaston
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - Rainbow Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chug. Chug. Chug.

Progress over the arctic ice was slow.

Chug. Chug. Chug.

The Steam Lorry was an impressive piece of machinery, powered by the arcane technology of the Steam Core, and fueled by a boiling heart of coal-heated steam.

Chug. Chug. Chug.

But with all of its might, it could only move at a lumbering 4 miles an hour.

Chug. Chug. Chug.

Unlike the trains Rainbow used to take back before the Frost descended, the Steam Lorry had to displace its weight across lengthy, wide treads as to not just carve furrows into the ice and snow and become stranded.

Chug. Chug. Chug.

And said treads were so wide and long, that the massive wheels required to turn them required an amount of horsepower that was unreasonable to demand of even the most massive boiler.

Chug. Chug. Chug.

And thus, the Steam Lorry lumbered along at its low, low speed.

Rainbow sighed, tiredly giving a flap of her wings as another gust came in from the easterly front she could sense in the distance, turning away from the massive steam lorry as it carved its way through the snowdrifts. She supposed the lumbering machine did grant some advantages. At the very least, she wasn't also focusing on keeping up with the locomotive as well as struggling against the prevailing winds.

Even with her proud pegasus heritage, made to withstand the freezing temperatures of the stratosphere, Rainbow nudged her woolen collar a bit further up her neck towards her muzzle. The wind blew again, disturbing the thick hood that obscured her rainbow mane and draped slightly over the wide goggles that protected her eyes from the freezing air. She flew forward a bit, leading the procession of the ten or so other pegasi that flew in an arrow formation in front of the Lorry. As she flew ahead, she dragged a long, thin wooden pole through the snow. 

Behind her and the other pegasi, long furrows made by the poles were made in the snow in front of the Steam Lorry's steel hull. They probed for unstable ground, specifically for crevasses, the icy openings that, if not detected beneath a thin blanket of frozen snow, could bring the Steam Lorry to a sudden, catastrophic stop with its front end crashed into a gap in the ice.

It had happened before. Lorry 5, the one that used to lead the convoy, fell prey to a gap in the polar ice. No matter how hard the earth ponies tugged, there was no recovering the giant wreck. The passengers... no, the survivors aboard had to be painstakingly rescued over an entire week of a complete standstill, and now crowded the already cramped quarters aboard the lorries they had left.

Yes, the ones they had left. Out of the 8 they started with, only 4 now remained in the lumbering line of survivors that carved its way across the endless Frostlands.

Lorry 3, capsized when it accidentally drove up the steep side of a hill, and its weight brought it rolling down a slope where it crashed, killing almost all of its passengers.

Lorry 8, destroyed when its engineers overloaded its boiler while trying to keep up with the convoy during a storm. We could see its remains in the distance, with its boiler blown completely open and only its heating rods left, splayed out like tentacles forever reaching out for its next trolley full of souls to claim. We moved on, knowing the superheated steam within scalded all of its passengers and crew to death.

Finally, Lorry 1, simply stalled during a mountainside climb. Even with all of its engineer's coaxing and begging, it could not be restarted. While its survivors crowded the remaining lorries, the supplies it was towing did not.

Rainbow was brought from her musings by a shout from one of the scouts to her right. His probe had plunged right through the snow. Already, many of the other scouts went to check it out as one of them flew a red flag, signaling to the pilot of the lorry to put on the brakes.

As expected, the Lorry 4, the new leader of the convoy, came to a slow, screeching stop as its rhythmic chugging came to an end. Following the leader's example, the three other vehicles also chugged to a halt right behind it, steam hissing out of their releases and quickly being carried away by the wind.

Sighing, Rainbow already knew what to do. She began to fly forward, sweeping her pole left and right in front of her, searching to see if the crevasse the others had detected extended all the way to her. Despite her temptation to land and walk, giving her wings a rest after an entire day of hovering, she knew that she could easily walk forward and accidentally disturb a snow shelf, casting her down into a dark pit that she might not be able to just fly out of.





The sun was beginning to fall in the distance, the incredibly long arctic night beginning soon. On Rainbow's chest, a bright lamp shone with arcane fury, lighting her way as she continued to probe her way outwards away from the steam lorry convoy, which in the last light of day she could still see was parked idly in front of the crevasse they had detected earlier.

Now that the scouting party had discovered what they assumed to be a large canyon between two major ice sheets, they now had to sweep outwards to find the nearest place where the crevasse ended or, at the very least, the nearest solid bridge over the ice that wouldn't just give way underneath the tremendous weight of the Lorries. Then, once they found that, the Lorries would begin the painful process of lumbering their way over to that area, cross the canyon, and then steam back towards their original course.

Rainbow's pole followed the crack in the ice, which at this point was so wide that the snow did not fully cover its cavernous maw. At this point, the cold had bit down so far into her fur that all four of her legs were numb. She feared the one that curled around the handle of her stick might be literally frozen solid around its knotted top. 

She stopped for a moment, switching the pole around in her hooves, and experimentally flexed the one that had been dragging through the snow up to now. She honestly couldn't tell if the leg was frostbitten, or if it was so sore from the exertion of ploughing snow all day that it was immobile. She did her best to move the limp leg deep inside her coat, keeping it close to her warm chest  so that it could try and warm up, and continued probing the snow with her other foreleg.





Night truly fell soon after. There were no stars out that night, most likely all blotted out by clouds as the wind picked up, and snowflakes blustered in front of the light of her lamp. How long had Rainbow been probing the ever-widening canyon? 3 hours? 4? 5? 8? Rainbow honestly couldn't remember. Many times she wanted to simply sit down and rest, but every time she thought back to the families packed into the Steam Lorries, and kept going.

It was up to her and the other Scouts to get the convoy to its destination before it was too late, and she wasn't going to let them down any time soon. Besides, for as much as she was suffering, the other Scouts were too. She was a star flyer before the Frost, the very best in the world. If she was tired, how tired must the other pegasi be, with their inglorious careers of weather control and sky mail delivery. 

Her ear twitched. 

Was that a sound in the distance, peaking over the sound of the howling wind?

Rainbow blinked, before raising up the foreleg carrying the pole and wiping her goggles clean of snowflakes, before putting it straight back down into the snow to continue searching for the cavern's end. It was most likely nothing. It wasn't the first time she thought she heard an oddity in the endless grim ambience of the Frostlands.

Between gusts of wind, she continued hearing the noise. She continued to think nothing of it, her thoughts blank to keep the exhaustion out, with only the furrow in the snow beside the canyon in her mind.

Thoughts came flooding back in, however, as a strong hoof gripped her shoulder and shook her about midair.

"Miss Dash! Are you okay? Can you hear me?" 

Dash's pole came out from the snow with a "pop" as she gasped and turned around. Before her was Summer Winds, a scout she recognized from the second shift.

He looked her over, before tapping her cheek a little bit with a forehoof. A wooden stick, much alike the one Dash was currently gripping, was strapped to his back as well, "Can you talk to me? I thought for sure you had gotten yourself killed!"

"I-" Words came slowly to Dash as she brought out her right foreleg, which had been tucked in her coat for hours now, and wiped her goggles clean again, "Yeah.. I'm okay."

"...Well thank Celestia. The other scouts have already been dismissed for the night, and we found you much farther down the line than them. So far ahead in fact I almost stopped looking for you before I found your furrow still dug into the snow," He pointed to the long line in the snow left behind Dash.

Rainbow only swallowed, lost for words, before looking behind the pegasus stallion. Without her even noticing, the Convoy had dissappeared in the darkness behind her.

Behind his own set of goggles, Summer Winds just blinked, before shaking his head, "Come on, Dash. Get on your way back to the convoy. They're probably worrying about you. And get warmed up. I could swear by touching you, you're already as cold as a corpse!" He pushed Dash back down the trail towards the convoy to accentuate his point.

Rainbow looked behind her, a weak "thank you" halfway up her throat. However, she couldn't find the energy to say it as Summer Wind stuck his own stick into the trail she left behind, and continued her work. Wordlessly, Rainbow made her way back home to the convoy.





The hulking steel hulls of the Steam Lorries towered over Rainbow as she finally landed, her cramped wings simply hanging to her sides, splayed out. She tossed her pole on a pile of others laid down by the scouts on her shift several hours before, before heading towards the large hatch that laid open, providing a ramp up into the interior of the steam lorry.

She squeaked open the bulkhead that separated the loading ramp from the interior of the Lorry, letting in a blast of wind that caused the ponies on the immediate other side to grunt in anger and annoyance. 

Rainbow muttered a short apology as she closed the bulkhead behind her. Ponies of all ages, tribe, and color crowded the corridors of the lorry. Many of them were still wrapped up in heavy cloaks, even though the interior of the lorry was heated it was not enough to keep most of the ponies here comfortable.

After the accidents with the other lorries, the quarters that were already tight with passengers became completely full. Many survivors needed to crowd into the hallways, huddled in corners, and sleeping on either side of the walkways, on top of the cold steel grates that floored the entirety of the Steam Lorry. Dim lanterns were hung from the ceiling, giving Rainbow barely enough illumination to step over the stray legs, tails, and even entire bodies of ponies sleeping on the floors of the hallway as she made her way to her quarters.

She passed by the diminutive Mess Hall of the steam lorry, which was long closed, the food rations packed away. Rainbow's stomach rumbled as she glanced into the hall, but she simply swallowed the regret of staying out too late and missing dinnertime and carried on. She just had to hope that the cook would be kind enough to give her a ration come the morning, even though said rations would be specifically for the night crew coming in to rest.

After mumbling her fifteenth "Sorry" as she accidentally brushed the muzzle of some sleeping elderly pony, Rainbow ducked down under the doorframe of her bunk room. Either out of special privilege, or to simply allow the scouts to rest more so they could work more out in the Frostland, Rainbow was part of the few given an actual bunk rather than being on the floor.

She sighed, however, as she saw that somepony was already in her bunk. Most likely some random pony who had been opportunistic enough to snatch up the empty bunk when its rightful owner didn't show up in time. She approached it, eyes studying the pony under the sheet.

Wait... was that...?

"SURPRISE!!!" Shouted a pink blur as it erupted from the sheets. 

The entire room erupted into moans and groans at the sudden noise, but Pinkie Pie cared not as she latched onto Rainbow Dash's frame, giving a long "Squeeeeeeeee" as she snuggled the tired, cyan scout pegasus.

Rainbow sighed, before returning the embrace properly, "Hey Pinkie, how you doing..."

Pinkie finally quieted down slightly, bringing her voice to a whisper, "I'm okay. Just waited up to give you this," Pinkie reached around, digging in her coat pocket for a small satchel. She handed it to Rainbow, before finally releasing her embrace and falling down to the floor with a clang, causing another painful groan from a nearby sleeping body.

Rainbow took it, opening it to find a set of biscuits and a slice of bread. She looked up, tears welling in her eyes, and gave Pinkie another hug.

"My Pinkie senses told me you were going hungry, so once I was done cooking on Lorry 4 I grabbed some rations and came over here. Except Rarity said that you weren't here yet, and it was about to be bedtime so I decided to keep your bunk warm for you!" Pinkie patted Rainbow on the shoulder, before once again disengaging from the hug.

Quietly, Rainbow stepped over another sleeping form to shuffle onto her bunk, taking out a biscuit from the satchel and stuffing it in her salivating mouth.

"...I... I just don't know how to thank you, Pinkie," Rainbow said between crunches.

"Don't!" Pinkie answered simply, "Just be happy! You, Rarity, Applejack... you've all been so sad recently," Pinkie sighed, "And... I know we've all lost a whole lot, but whatever we do, we can't lose our smiles."

"You're right as usual," Rainbow pulled out the slice of bread from the ration bag. It was stale, and only tasted worse and worse the more she chewed it, but it was food.

Pinkie sat down on the floor, tail brushing a snoozing muzzle, causing its owner to sneeze shortly after. Shushing passed through the room, and Pinkie glanced nervously around until the cabin was at rest once again.

"...Sooooooo..." Pinkie continued to whisper to Rainbow, "How's the scouting stuff going?"

Dash sighed, "Another gap in the ice sheet. We're looking for a place to cross still."

"Well, we'll find it eventually. Then we'll get safely to the Generator, and we'll finally be able to walk around without these, big, goofy coats!" Pinkie adjusted the oversized sleeves around her forelegs with frustration.

"...You remember when I called Twilight crazy for going all the way up north to build those things?" Rainbow finished scarfing down the last contents of her ration, before tossing the bag towards Pinkie and lying down on her bunk.

Pinkie fell silent, her bright blue eyes staring at Rainbow, "...No."

Rainbow winced, before quickly apologizing, "Sorry- sorry, Pinkie I... I shouldn't have-"

"It's okay," Pinkie cringed away from Rainbow, "I'm sure... I'm sure she's alright."

Rainbow nodded slowly, "Yeah. Yeah she is. She's smart. She's out there somewhere. And when this is all over, we'll see her again."

Pinkie managed a faint smile, before nodding.

"You should probably get back to your lorry. I'm sure the night scouts will miss your biscuits if you're not over there by the morning," Rainbow smiled.

Pinkie slowly got up, "Yeah. Goodnight Dashie, sweet dreams!"

Rainbow nodded in response, "Same to you."

Drawing the covers as far up as she could, Rainbow huddled down underneath her bunks in relative warmth and comfort, drifting to sleep in a matter of seconds.












Rainbow was awoken by a loud whistle, and the sudden rumbling of the compartment as her center of gravity shifted in bed. Her muscles ached, her legs hardly wanted to move to prop herself up out of bed. Voices echoed from the hall, and the lanterns hung on the ceiling swayed heavily from side to side.

Rainbow could only assume the lorry had begun moving, which she supposed was great, considering that meant the night scouts had finally found a way around the canyon that had blocked their progress for an entire day now.

Getting up, Rainbow checked herself over. None of her limbs had fallen off during the night, even her right forehoof was full of life once again. She had slept in her full winter coat, and the fur boots covering her legs had nearly slipped off during her tossing and turning, but they were still hanging on.

The ponies littering the floor had finally gotten up. Some were still in the bunkroom, crowding the corners and muttering among each other. She ignored them as she finally rolled over onto her hooves, walking away from her bunk out into the rumbling corridor.

Resecuring her hood, Rainbow reached out for the bulkhead to the outside, undoing the seal before dragging it open on its stiff hinges. Rainbow was braced for a blast of wind from the outside, but the absolute gale that washed in from the outer deck actually flung Rainbow into the air. 

Dash's skull painfully thunked along the steel ceiling of the airlock, causing her to shout in pain before she fell to the ground with a smack. Grunting and groaning, Rainbow slowly got back up despite the wind blasting through the bulkhead, before walking through. 

Her hood was blown open, and her mane blew free in the wind. An absolute whiteout surrounded the lorry on both sides, with the only shelter being this deck where wind blew in snowflakes from the open sides to her left and right. Rainbow hurriedly closed the bulkhead behind her, preserving the heat within the lorry. A few ponies made their way hurriedly across the outside deck, making their way to the ladders leading up to other sections, most likely to tie down loose supplies and maintain the steam machinery.

Rainbow's eyes searched for a specific pony among the crowd, and soon her form was visible through the flakes. A pony with a coat as white as snow, wearing a distinguished, high class fur coat that had been mended and repaired countless times after being dragged across the Frostlands since the journey's start.

"Rarity!!" Rainbow shouted over the howling wind, stumbling over to Rarity as she struggled to keep her hood over her head.

Rarity looked away from another pony she was talking to, before raising up her clipboard in her telekinesis to try and shield her face and mane from the wind, "Rainbow Dash! You're awake! That eastern front you were talking about yesterday took a sharp turn and overtook us. The night shift barely managed to find an ice bridge across the canyon during the whiteout! We're underway now but we need you and the rest of the day scouts to relieve them so we can move forward!"

"Right! I'm on it!" Rainbow shouted, fixing her goggles over her eyes.

"Most of your comrades are up by Lorry Four! Get going! Good luck!" Rarity waved her clipboard in the general direction of the front of the lorry, before turning away to deal with the rest of her no doubt numerous problems.

Rainbow Dash checked her gear again, before grabbing a pole from the wood stack sitting on the deck. She knew not where the original one she had before was taken since she left it outside the lorry, but she cared not.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a group of pegasus ponies carrying somepony. They lowered him onto the deck, before screaming out for help. She watched as a group of ponies pried the goggles from his face, showing the familiar visage of a sunny orange night scout, with a cold dead stare, and eyeballs frozen over by a thin layer of ice.

Swallowing her fear, Rainbow Dash took off into the snow, and didn't look back. 





It was too windy to risk hovering in front of the convoy, lest the scouts simply tire themselves out struggling against the storm. Rainbow, like the other scouts, opted to trudge through the snow on the ground, probing the snow ahead of them with their pikes. To their left, red flags marked out the edge of the canyon for the steam lorries. Through the whiteout of the storm, Rainbow could barely see shifting, grey shapes of the convoy behind her. 

Knee-high in snow, Rainbow kept pushing on through the storm the best she could. The already weak arctic sun was even dimmer through the clouds and the snowflakes, making it an almost eternal dusk. Her Lamp still guided her way forward, its orange light illuminating the flakes in front of her as they hurtled towards the ground.

Suddenly, a bright, red light flashed behind them. She immediately came to a stop with a sigh half consisting of relief, half consisting of concern. She turned towards the Convoy as it flashed its red light. In its pattern, it meant that the Convoy had stopped, and the scouts should stop as well.

She saw one of the other scouts break formation and fly over to her, landing again once she was close enough to walk to not risk getting blown away.

"Dash!" Blossomforth shouted at her over the wind.

"Why's the convoy stopped?" Rainbow shouted back, pulling up the cloth that covered her face to fit better.

"I dunno! Somepony should go back and ask! You're the strongest flier here, so..." Blossomforth came close enough so that she didn't need to shout herself hoarse to be heard.

Rainbow looked back at the convoy as it stopped flashing its light. The grey shapes in the distance did not grow any closer, feeding her growing fear, "It better damn not be another breakdown! We can't afford to stop. Not now..."

Rainbow handed her stick to Blossomforth, who held it by her side and nodded, "Yeah. Celestia-damned better!"

Dash took to the air. The wind was blasting towards the convoy, so she turned against it and slowed her flight with flaps of her wings in the opposite direction, keeping her flight path steady until she came to the upper deck of Lorry Four.

Walking across the wooden decking of the lorry, she peered up to the smokestack that crowned the vehicle. A clear plume of black smog bellowed from the top of the stack, showing that the boiler was still working. Why wasn't the lorry moving, then...?

Concerned, she walked over to a hatch in the ground, knocking on the window with a hoof.

Nothing.

Impatiently, she knocked again, only to step back a little in shock as the locking wheel began to turn, and the hatch was pushed open by a haggard-looking unicorn in a light coat.

"What's going on in there? Why've we stopped?" Rainbow yelled at the engineer.

The engineer looked down as somepony shouted at him from below, before looking back up towards Rainbow, "We think the sodding steam core has seized up! The engine isn't producing enough horsepower to turn the drive shaft!"

"Have you told the Captain!?" Rainbow asked.

"Yeah! Now buck off, we gotta sort this out!" The engineer yelled at Rainbow, before motioning her away from the hatch as he pulled it closed.

Rainbow turned around, before idly walking towards the railing of the deck. She looked down at the treads far below her, resting idle in the snow. She could see small puddles forming around them, signs of the heat of the boiler radiating off of the hull of the lorry. Wiping the frost off of her goggles, Rainbow steeled herself once again, before flying back to the scout group.





The storm only seemed to pick up more and more, and as Rainbow finally struggled towards a landing, she saw a small campfire lit in a pit in the snow, where the rest of the scouts were gathered around, trying to keep the frostbite away. Rainbow trudged over to them, feeling half frostbitten herself.

Blossomforth waved her over from the fire side as the fire flickered fearfully under the assault of the polar winds.

Finally, coming to rest beside the pitiful fire made out of tinder packed in each scout's napsack, Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief, shaking off her snow covered hooves to warm them by the fire.

"What's the situation?" Thunderlane asked with an almost jolly tone, pulling his hood farther down over his head as he looked to his old acquaintance.

Rainbow sighed, "Seems like Lorry Four broke down."

"Again!?" "Seriously?" "Celestia damnit!" were the responses muttered between the gathered pegasi.

"Let's hope they can fix it this time," Blossomforth sighed, stretching out a wing to hopefully shield the fire from some of the storm's onslaught.

"Doesn't sound like it," Rainbow said gloomily, "It's the steam core that's seizing up. I'm no egghead, but I know enough to know that that's like... a really, really important part of the lorry.

"If the convoy isn't gonna move for now, why do we have to sit in this Celestia-damned freezing cold?" Cloud Chaser hissed, rubbing his forelegs together in a vain attempt to bring warmth back into them.

"We gotta stay out until they signal us back," Rainbow mumbled, looking towards the place where she could've barely seen the convoy before, if the storm had not picked up and completely blotted it out by now.

"Buck this," Cloud Chaser grumbled, deciding to curl his forelegs beneath his coat for now.





Naught but an hour later, a light pierced the darkness of the setting sun. Five yellow flashes, causing the scout team to look up. 

So far, they had been exercising by walking in circles around their dying fire, lest they become too idle and succumb to the hypothermia. Now, though, even though they hoped to see the light signal for them to come back to the warmth of the convoy, they only saw the yellow flashes signalling that the convoy would begin moving again soon.

Fortunately for them, though, the absolute whiteout of the storm had begun to fade, and now only the wind and bitter cold remained. They could now barely see the lights of the convoy stretching out besides the red flags marking the edge of the canyon.

Shortly after the yellow flashing stopped, a single, prolonged green flash illuminated the gathered scouts.

Rainbow sighed, picking up her pole and turning away from the convoy, "Well. I guess I'll see you all later. Try not to freeze out there."

The rest of the scouts gave her and each other a short wave, before endeavoring out into the cold to return to their formations.

Rainbow plunged her pole into the ground once again, searching once again for hazards. However, the ground began to shake. Rainbow could hear ice crackling and snapping beneath her, and she instinctively took flight as the ground shifted. The ground beneath her began to cave in, snapping and fracturing, sending snow flying up towards her. 

Panicked, Rainbow lost control of her flight, but managed to steer herself towards a snowdrift on stable ground before crashing. Pulling herself from the powder, Rainbow's heart thundered as she watched an entire shelf of ice give way in front of her, plummeting down into an endless abyss below. 

Instinctively, Rainbow reached for her Lamp, turning it to a bright red color and holding it above her head as she looked towards the convoy to signal the pilots to bring the lorries to an emergency stop.

To her horror, though, she saw the caved in ice shelf was not just isolated to her and the scout team. It stretched all the way back to the convoy, where she saw Lorry Four tip to its side, before it plummeted down the cave in, as the rest of the convoy teetered on the edge...
> Chapter 2 - The Captain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The head offices of the Equestrian Exploration Company was a rather unassuming, regular stone building on the corner of Lovelock and Burgundy lanes in Canterlot. It was three stories tall, set in with the other buildings pressed up against it on either side. A courtyard in front of the building held a fountain in the middle, that was currently sitting idle, with its bowl empty and its spouts dry. The courtyard itself was surrounded by a steel fence, broken up by a gate that was currently left open.

The Captain clutched a letter in his telekinesis, taking one look down at it, before stuffing it in the pocket of his coat. A few, singular snowflakes descended on him from the heavens as he walked forward causing him to pull his overcoat closer. Under his coat, he wore a white uniform, with his various medals and commendations visible on his chest. Over his mane, an officer's cap was pulled down smartly, with the brim shielding his eyes from the pale sun far overhead.

Breathing out a puff of frozen air, the Captain gripped the handle of the office front doors, opening them and curiously looking around inside.

A wood-panelled waiting room awaited him, along with the dry heat of a nearby humming vent. With a sigh of relief, the Captain pulled the door closed behind him, before taking off his overcoat and placing it on a nearby hangar, along with a few other coats hung on the public rack. 

The Captain brushed a silvering strand of his mane away from his eye and tucked it under his cap, before looking around for somepony to ask about the letter he kept in his pocket. As he entered the waiting room proper, he saw a pair of comfortable-looking couches surrounding a coffee table, a window looking back out into the courtyard, as well as a window to what looked like a reception desk. 

At the reception desk, the Captain saw something most curious.

Gripping a fountain pen between his sharp claws, a dragon was hunched over at the chair. His scales were purple, and he had several green fins lining the top of his head. On his snout rested a pair of spectacles, giving vision to a pair of slitted pupils. He seemed to be busy at work with a stack of papers on his desk, and a brass nameplate in front of him read "Best Secretary - Spike"

The Captain wasn't sure if "Best Secretary" was a real position somepony (or somedragon in this case) could actually hold, but he decided to disregard his misgivings and walk towards the reception desk.

The dragon - Spike, looked up at him as he approached, temporarily stopping his writing to look the Captain up and down.

The Captain swallowed, not having made a habit out of talking to dragons all that much, "I am... Err, I mean, I have a letter summoning me to a meeting of some kind from Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

The draconic secretary seemed to sigh, before extending a claw, "May I have the letter, please?"

The Captain obliged, taking out the folded paper from his pocket and handing it across the desk. The dragon took it, scanning the page quickly. Naught three seconds after taking it, he handed back the letter before simply pointing towards the couches and saying, "Please wait. Twilight will be with you shortly."

The Captain quirked an eyebrow, taking the letter back, "You are on a first name basis with Her Majesty?"

The secretary looked back up from his paperwork, giving him an analytical stare, before grunting, "Yes, sir."

The Captain opened his mouth to speak, but after a moment of thought he just shut it, and walked over calmly to the couch to slump onto it with a sigh. 

The waiting room was quiet. Nothing but the scratching of Spike's pen and the distant ticking of a grandfather clock disturbed the serene atmosphere of the lounge. Idle with his thoughts, the Captain began to examine the room's finer details as he waited.

Positioned above the set of couches he rested on was a painting of a tree. The mighty oak he saw was not just any tree, however. Within its trunk and branches appeared to be built an old-fashioned home, with windows peering out between twists and turns of the wood, and a balcony resting atop the branches of the great tree.

The Captain was aware that the Zebras had learned how to engineer tree growth in such a manner to accommodate homes, buildings, and occasionally places of worship, but considering that in the margins of the picture the Captain could see many traditional Pony houses, he doubted the painting was based off of any savage's dwelling. 

To his right, he could see a shelf full of trinkets. They all seemed fairly meaningless. A necklace that appeared to have been made by a child, a small photograph of a group of ponies he couldn't quite make out, a model boat, and a woven ensign that didn't seem to belong to any division he knew about.

Behind him, The Captain heard hoofsteps on the floorboards, and turned his head to look in their direction.

In a doorway stood next to the reception desk stood a lavendar-colored Alicorn. Despite not being as tall as the Royal Sisters, or the Crystal Empress, she still stood a good head or so higher than the Captain's aging frame. She wore very plain clothing for a royal Princess, with the EEC logo stitched on her collar and her mane done up in a bun.

The Captain got up from the couch as quickly as he could, and snapped into a formal salute, "Your highness!"

In return, Princess Sparkle gave a short salute back, "Captain. It's good of you to make it. Especially with all that's going on out there," she gave a chuckle.

The Captain lowered his hoof to the floor, still trying to keep a professional stance before royalty, "Aye, ma'am. Fortunately by the time I got here, the rioters had mostly moved on."

From behind Twilight emerged the secretarial dragon, ducking under the doorframe that was a good foot too short for him. He simply stood, with his claws wrapped behind his back, giving the Captain a passive stare.

"Well! We should stop standing around awkwardly. Please, follow me to my office so we may discuss the purpose of our meeting..." Princess Twilight's amicable tone calmed the Captain's heart, and he relaxed from his ramrod straight posture to follow her as she began to walk down the halls deeper into the building.

After a few turns, and a walk up two flights of stairs, the two of them eventually made it to a door with a frosted window, with letters painted on reading: "Director Twilight Sparkle".

Turning the knob, the Princess opened the door, holding it for the Captain to walk through.

Taking a quick look around, the Captain assessed his environment. Despite the office being physically spacious, the sheer amount of busyness the decor sent out made it feel cramped. Every piece of spare wall space was taken up by bookshelves, loaded with a great many well-kept and organized tomes. In a corner, a pile of books appeared to be arranged in the shape of some sort of fort. Finally, dominating the middle of the room was a luxurious, large oaken desk, with a velvet cushioned office chair sitting right behind it.

The Princess motioned the Captain towards a chair seated on the other side of the desk, before sitting down in her own chair herself.

"You have a lovely office, Princess," The Captain complimented, adjusting his chair as it creaked beneath him.

Princess Twilight smiled, "Thank you, Captain. Would you like some tea?" Twilight motioned towards a platter, with a porcelain tea set sitting atop it. A thin stream of steam still spilled from the top of the kettle.

"I would very much like that, Your Majesty," the Captain nodded gratefully.

Twilight gave him an unimpressed look, before grabbing the kettle in her magic, "You can stop calling me that. I much prefer being called by my name, and that is Twilight Sparkle, or just Twilight."

"Aye, sorry ma'am but it is..." the Captain paused, "...It is part of my duty to show you and the other Royalty of our great empire the utmost respect."

"And you have," Twilight smiled as she poured the kettle into a teacup, before levitating the cup and its saucer over to the Captain, "Now, I would like you to continue that respect by calling what I wish to be called."

The Captain chuckled, taking the cup with a grin, "Thank you, Twilight."

"You are very welcome, Captain," Twilight nodded, before taking the kettle and pouring herself her own cup.

The Captain sighed contently as he took a sip of tea, "Ma'am, I must say. It's hard to get a good cup of tea nowadays, and I'm glad I've been able to have some here."

"Tell me about it," Twilight giggled, "With the bad crop this year, the plantations haven't been able to produce, and then the ice disrupting the shipping... It's been a nightmare, not for just the Company, but also for the political side of my career."

"I can imagine!" the Captain took another sip of tea.

The room hung in silence for a few moments as the light snowfall began to turn more heavy outside the window of Twilight's office. The mare's brilliant purple eyes glanced from the window, then back to the Captain, before the alicorn gave a long sigh, "...Captain. I'm afraid we are short on time, however. We should get to business."

The Captain pursed his lips, before nodding, "I suppose so. You're probably very busy."

"...More than you know," Twilight said wistfully, before placing her forehooves up on the desk and locking the Captain's gaze with an intense stare, "Captain. The science is undeniable. Us both sitting here know that the cold isn't going to get any better. Next year's harvest will feed even fewer, and soon our summers will disappear completely."

The Captain, slightly shocked by the sudden change in tone, only nodded soberly.

"Are you aware of the EEC's most recent project?" Twilight asked, "Does the name "Generator" ring any bells to you?"

"...I'm afraid not," The Captain knew the EEC had been working on something recently. The increase in shipping, and thusly protection of that shipping from piracy and foreign interdiction, going up north, where there were no colonies to feed or soldiers to arm, was an obvious sign of such. However, the Captain knew nothing of what exactly this top secret project was exactly.

"The Generators... are a liferaft," Twilight steepled her forehooves, "They are gigantic furnaces, built atop aquifer networks. They use cutting edge technology to create giant zones of heat, which can house large numbers of people and protect them from extreme cold."

There was a pause, before she reached back and brushed her mane nervously, "...Like say the extreme cold from an apocalyptic, eternal winter."

"...I see," Was all the Captain could say.

Twilight reached for a stack of papers to her right, where she unfolded a large piece of parchment, with a map of what the Captain could make out was the Arctic Circle. Twilight used a pen to make a circle on the coast of a random island deep in the Far North, "This is Site 154. There is a Generator located here, inside of a valley shielded from the wind."

She looked back up at the Captain, locking his gaze down once again, "You are an experienced navy captain. Your service record is impeccable. Tours in the Aquilean Revolution, lead an expeditionary force in Yakyakistan, and made five arctic and antarctic expeditions in your lifetime."

"Record for farthest north travelled in 7 BL, yes," The Captain mumbled.

"Indeed. You are the perfect pick to lead an expedition of about 300 ponies, made up of civilians and trained engineers..." Twilight began to draw with the pen a course from the northern coast of Equestria, all the way up through the arctic to the circled site, "First on a steamboat, then on a set of Steam Lorries across the ice, to the Generator."

The Captain analyzed the napkin-estimate route with his nautical experience. He found it relatively sound, but he knew that the travel across the ice would take weeks, if not months to traverse with that big of an expedition crew, "...So, we get there... and then what?" He looked back up towards Twilight.

Twilight frowned, "...Captain. The only thing left to do up there... is to survive."

The Captain blinked.

"Captain. As I said, this is the end of the world. This Generator... this will become your home, your last piece of the Empire. The people you guide on the expedition there, they will become your little ponies. By the time you get there... civilization will have fallen. You might be... everypony.

Twilight began to levitate her kettle up to pour another cup of tea for herself, but as it lifted up off the table, Twilight suddenly hissed in pain for reasons the Captain could not see, and her magic quickly fizzled in an electronic zap as the fragile porcelain kettle began its journey towards the desk.

Quickly, the Captain reached out with his own magic, catching it with just a bit of tea spilling out onto the map parchment. Delicately, he poured his host her cup of tea, before placing it back on the platter.

"Are you... quite alright?" He asked cautiously.

"I'm fine. Sorry, I've just been... stressed," Twilight had a hoof to her forehead, seeming to massage away a headache. After a moment of silence, she continued, "Captain... this is a one way trip. There won't be any escape plans, no turning back, no rescue missions..."

The Captain's gaze drifted back down to the map, "...Am I really the right pick for this?"

"You are. You're one of the few experienced arctic expeditioneers in our naval corps. You are literally unmatched when it comes to exploring the poles," Twilight removed her hoof from her forehead, returning them to her desk as she picked up a kettle with a forehoof rather than her magic.

"...Aye but..." the cogs turned in the Captain's brain, "Ma'am- Twilight, you said this was Site 153. If I understand that number correctly, that's a lot of Generators. There are... not that many arctic explorers in the world, let alone in the service of the Empire..."

Twilight's gaze averted, and she breathed heavily, "...This Generator, specifically the ponies within its crew, mean a lot to me. Their survival is of great importance to me."

The Captain narrowed his eyes, "And what about you? Will you be with this expedition?"

Twilight looked up at the Captain, before swallowing, "...No. I have other plans when it comes to me. You... shouldn't worry about them."

"I... see," The Captain looked down at his quickly cooling cup of tea,  before taking another thoughtful sip.

"Captain. Time is of the essence. I need your word now. Will you do it?" Twilight's forehoof reached out to cover the Captain's free hoof.

The Captain looked first at Twilight's hoof, and then up at her eyes. He was an old stallion, nearly about to retire from Imperial service altogether. Then again... with the incoming apocalypse, there wasn't going to be a happy retirement for him to go to...

The room hung silent with a pregnant pause, and Twilight's eyes only bored deeper and deeper into the Captain. He could see them quiver, wet with what appeared to be incoming tears. Despite her professional demeanor, the Captain could hear what her soul was begging of him.

Steeling his courage, the Captain's lips drew firm.

"Yes. I'll do it."





The Captain awoke with a start as a bang shook his cabin.

He was back in Lorry Two, back in the middle of the Frostlands of the Far North. Before he could register what was happening, a rumble shook the Lorry, before he felt his center of gravity change as the entire room tilted slightly to its side. A globe sitting on the dresser across from his bed tipped over and rolled across the floor under his bed. The window that showed the darkness that consumed the arctic outside now showed a bright red glare from the emergency lights of the Lorry.

Lorry One, the one that stalled and needed to be left behind, had had an actual captain's cabin built into its design, as it was meant to be the original leader of the convoy. Lorry Two, which the Captain had moved to after Lorry One's abandonment, only had a few cabins made for the head engineers. One was gracious enough to make room for the Captain, and now the relatively small, but at least private room was now the makeshift residence of the expedition's leader.

Panicked, the Captain climbed out of his bed, wrestling his sheets all the way. He quickly grabbed his coat, a thick fur winter overcoat with a red sash across the left fore sleeve, and pulled it on, before heading towards the door separating the makeshift Captain's Cabin from the rest of the lorry.

Outside, he heard a bell rapidly ringing down the hall, signalling an emergency. The crowds of ponies sleeping in the hallway were now standing about, murmuring and muttering among themselves. However, in the chaos, the Captain saw a unicorn quickly carving through the crowd to get to him. He recognized the mare, despite being dressed in a winter coat that had obviously recently been exposed to the flurry of snow on the outer deck. Her name was Amethyst Star, one of the administrators sent to help lead the Expedition alongside him.

"Sir! Sir!" Amethyst shouted as she locked eyes with him, pushing past yet another cluster of worried ponies.

"At ease, Amethyst," The Captain raised a hoof towards her as he buttoned up the front of his coat, "What's happened?"

"Captain, something horrible happened! We have no idea why, but the ice shelf underneath us collapsed suddenly and we've lost Lorries Four and Seven. Lorry Two is barely hanging onto solid ground, and the workers are going to try and use winches drilled into the ice to bring it back onto stable ground, but for now we need to take you and all essential personnel to Lorry Six for safety!"

A posh, Canterlotion accent rang out from behind Amethyst, "It's those damn boilers! Even while we were stopped, they kept running them on full heat! They melted the ice and caused a fault that caused this damn collapse! I told them! I told them to not do it but what do they do?"

The Captain's eyes went behind Amethyst to a brown earth pony, wearing a coat and thick cap. Doctor Hooves, the head engineer. A bowtie that he seemed to take a lot of pride in was still pinned above his coat, and a watch was barely visible beneath the thick sleeves of his jacket.

"Both Lorries Four and Seven!?" The Captain replied incredulously, "Are there survivors? How bad is the damage?"

"We don't know, but please let's get you off of this Lorry too before it meets a similar fate!" Amethyst tugged on the Captain's sleeve, but he stayed put in place.

"Calm yourselves, ponies," His eyes passed between Amethyst and Hooves, "Are we literally teetering on the edge right now?"

"No sir," Hooves replied, "A side fracture from the main fracture has buried Lorry Two's left tread in a large field of splintered ice. We are immobile, but we are a good fifty yards from the fault line."

"Good. Then I will remain here. I'm not going to abandon ship, especially not first," The Captain sneered," Get the passengers off the Lorry first. And get those winches set up, Hooves."

Hooves nodded, before turning and walking back down the corridor and taking a flight of stairs down out of sight.

"Amethyst. Signal the scouts. Get them back here at once. Wake the night scouts, they will go down to the lorries and assess the situation with the Lorry immediately. Once the day scouts are back, they will help with the rescue efforts. Get your most able-bodied ponies to be ready to assist them, too."






An hour later the Captain grimaced as he watched the scout pegasi fly around the wreck of Lorry Four, which had ended up face down down the icy slope. The Lorry engine, and the compartment it was towing along, were now twisted up in a painful position at the bottom of the crevasse, with the nose of its boiler wedged in a point where the canyon narrowed enough to not let it slip any further. 

Farther behind Lorry Two, was the trapped form of Lorry Seven. Instead of rolling all the way down the slope exposed by the fracture, Lorry Seven had managed to fall on its treads, and was simply stranded in the cavern without any way of being able to recover it. 

The first reports were positive. Most of the ponies aboard had survived. Many of them were injured, but they were thankful to be alive. However, despite this glimmer of hope, the Captain's heart was troubled. This bad stroke of luck had meant that he had lost two more haulers. He was unsure if the ones they had left would be able to ferry all of the remaining ponies to their destination. Even worse, even if they recovered the cargo of the two haulers, there also was no space to haul the cargo through the final leg of the journey. 

A lose - lose scenario if he had ever seen one.

The sounds of hurried hoofbeats behind him heralded the arrival of Amethyst Star back on the top deck of Lorry Two, "Hooves told me to tell you that we managed to tug Two out of the rut. We can move again."

"Good. Tell the pilot to get this lorry as far away from the danger zone as quickly as possible. What of Four and Seven?" The Captain asked.

Amethyst cringed away from the question, a gust of wind blowing her purple bangs out from under her hood, "...Four is very badly done in. There's no recovering it. We have about an 80% survival rate on its passengers. The rest are trapped in the crumpled up sections that were wrecked in the crash. Seven is alright, if a bit shaken up, but without a huge operation there's no way we can try and recover it from where it's fallen to. We'll need to abandon Seven if we want to move on within the next week."

The Captain nodded, "That's what I was afraid of."

There was a pause, as the howl of winter whipped across the top deck of Two once again, causing the winter coats of the two ponies to flap and the fur lining to quaver.

"...What are your best predictions for the capacity of Two and Six? How much more can we admit aboard them?" The Captain asked, beckoning Amethyst to follow as he began to walk back down towards the hatch leading into the Lorry.

"We could squeeze in only a hoof full more, Captain. Any more and the environment would just become insufferable. There would be nowhere for their belongings, nowhere for them to sleep-"

Amethyst was cut off by the Captain, "Screw their belongings. Screw their sleep. How many more could fit standing up aboard these Lorries?"

Amethyst gulped, before staring down at her hooves and tapping her right foreleg against the steel floor, which was what she always did when thinking, "...We could probably double what we have squeezed in in excess right now. So... about fifty more."

The Captain bit his lip, "That leaves about eighty behind, Amethyst. That's not good enough."

Amethyst grunted, "What else do you want me to do, Captain? Fill the outer decks with ponies? They'll freeze come nightfall!"

The breaths of the two ponies were misting up, even while inside of the Lorry. Upon Hooves's behest, the engineers had shut down its boiler while the Lorry was stationary, so that it did not aggravate the weakened ice any further.

"What about our supplies? Our wood and steel, and the coal we don't need for the rest of the journey. We could make space in the cargo bays," The Captain suggested, approaching a stairwell leading down towards the level containing the lorry's control room.

"Throw away our supplies? Captain, you're crazy! I-" Amethyst followed the Captain with an incredulous look, "... I can't believe I'm saying something that seems so obvious: but we need those!"

The Captain opened his mouth to retort to his assistant, but shut it again. She was speaking the truth, even if he didn't want to hear it...

"...You're right," The Captain sighed.

Amethyst choked on the response she was about to give to what she thought would be angry words from her Captain, and instead remained silent.

Stopping at the bottom of the staircase, the Captain turned to Amethyst, "How many foals are aboard Four and Seven?"

Amethyst brought out a clipboard that she had been levitating by her side. Flipping through a few pages, she eventually found the entry she was looking for, "...Thirty.Thirty foals, and about a hundred adults."

He sighed, "Okay. Once the rescue teams are done getting everypony off of Four and Seven, we'll get the foals first, and then we'll get any engineers from the passengers. We'll tell them to set up camp here, and try and stock them as best as we can with anything we can spare, and then we set off," The Captain took a deep breath, "...And we'll be back for them."

"...Yes, sir," Amethyst nodded, soberly.

The Lorry shook as it began to move again, moving away from the edge of the collapse back towards safety. The ventilation began spewing warm air again, making Amethyst and the Captain both sigh in relief.

"Go on. I'll be in the control room should you or Hooves need me," The Captain waved a hoof at Amethyst dismissively, before walking down the steel corridor towards the control room of Lorry Two.

With a short, sloppy salute, Amethyst ran around a corner and out of sight.
> Chapter 3 - Rainbow Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"PINKIE! PINKIE!"

Rainbow's voice echoed against the steel corridors of Lorry Four. 

The howling of the winds and the worried murmurs of ponies hurriedly evacuating to the outer decks from the wrecked lorry was replaced by empty, hollow creaking of bent steel and the distant clanking of broken machinery. Rainbow's lamp, as she hoisted it above her head, reflected off of the dead lanterns, broken pipes, and off of the ice already beginning to form on the pipes meant to carry hot air through the great vehicle's ventilation system.

In the distance, Rainbow could hear the calls of the rest of her scout team, calling out for other stranded ponies either injured or trapped in the twisted hull of the crashed lorry. 

Scootaloo and her friends had, Celestia bless their young souls, been eating their rations by the bulkhead out of the lorry, and thus had been some of the first to escape the wreckage and been lifted by the earth ponies back out of the canyon collapse. However, Pinkie Pie, one of the few friends she had left on this blasted expedition, had not been among the survivors gathered outside.

"PINKIE! ANSWER ME!" Rainbow cautiously stepped over a piece of twisted steel that used to make up the grated floor of the hallway. By memory, Rainbow navigated the maze of internal corridors and maintenance passageways to get to the lorry's Mess Hall, where she had been told Pinkie had been serving dinner rations when the collapse happened.

A valve nearby her suddenly blew, showering her in steam. Panicked, Rainbow lurched upwards and away from the scalding steam that scorched her face. Something cut a hot gash in her face as she stumbled midair, and she fell to the ground clutching her cheek. Her Lamp clattered to the ground as Dash swore under her breath, removing her forehoof to see glistening red blood smothered over her snow covered boot.

Dash picked up her Lamp, before pushing onwards. She had been through worse, and still pushed on. She was sure the cut wouldn't be serious... at least not as serious as any injuries her pink friend may have sustained during the crash.

The light from her Lamp scanned the doorways leading into nearby cabins, where belongings lay abandoned and bunks lay messy and unmade. Lanterns hanging from the ceiling dangled at a 50 degree angle, unlit without the constant supply of electricity needed from the Lorry's engine.

The hull suddenly groaned as the lorry shifted, and Rainbow's heart leapt as the Lorry rolled slightly, making her nearly lose her footing. After a few moments, it stopped, adding a few degrees to the lantern's hanging, and making the sloped descent into the fore area of the wreckage even more hazardous.

Slowly, though, Rainbow pushed on, spreading her wings to keep balance as she tried to keep from straight up sliding forward down the passageway. The wreckage continued to become more and more twisted as she moved on. Certain elements of the walls were collapsed in on each other, leaving nothing but popped open panelling, exposed piping, and twisted steel supports that lay outstretched towards Rainbow as she shuffled by.

Progress was excruciatingly slow, and took the better part of an hour for Rainbow to move slowly through the middle of the lorry. She knew for a fact the engine room had been completely destroyed as the Lorry collided with a packed ice outcropping that had ultimately stopped it from falling all the way into the canyon, but she could only hope the ponies in the compartments just behind it were still alive.

Rainbow's Lamp passed over something that mismatched with the grey and black coloring of the steel prison that surrounded her. A singular hoof, outstretched from a collapsed ceiling. It wasn't pink, it was instead a mint green color. She could barely see the edge of a sleeve poking out from the metal.

"Hello? Are you okay in there!?" Rainbow inquired, looking down at her hooves as she carefully maneuvered herself to stand on a safe place to inspect the hoof.

There was no answer, not even a twitch.

Rainbow scrunched up her nose, reaching out to touch the hoof.

It was dead cold. Not exactly an uncommon thing out in the Frostlands, but it did not give Rainbow much hope.

Putting all of her strength into her hooves, Rainbow attempted to lift one of the steel beams that trapped the hoof underneath the wreckage. The metal squeaked, not giving fully, but showing enough for Rainbow to see the state of the leg up to the ankle.

The bone was completely crushed, and the blood leaking from the wound had already turned to ice, frosting the coat of the unknown pony.

Rainbow didn't give a reaction. She just dropped the beam back down, and then grabbed her Lamp once again, moving on. There wasn't anything she could do for them now. 

As Rainbow continued on, she kept finding more and more traces of death. The only corpses she could see were the ones half-buried by debris that had come from the warping and destruction of Lorry Four's hull. For every dessicated body Rainbow found, the more her heart dropped. It appeared the forward compartments had no survivors, and the ones who did survive were the ones who ran.

Rainbow eventually lost all sense of direction. She had taken several diversions from the usual path to the Mess Hall by going around collapsed hallways and debris blockages. Now, she felt she was just wandering the dead halls of the fore sections with no real sense of direction, just continually heading in the general direction of "down".

The temperature of the internal hallways continued to drop. Rainbow had always heard that cold air goes down, and with Four's boiler offline, she guessed it only made sense that the air around her was getting frigid. 

Then, she saw it. For a moment, her Lamp passed over a familiar doorway.

She would recognize the double-wide doorframe leading into the Mess Hall anywhere. Usually, this place was a place of relief for her whenever her shift ended, but now it's cold, icy frame was a promise of resolution.

"PINKIE!" Rainbow screamed, taking wing and hovering down to the entrance of the mess hall.

Rainbow's Lamp illuminated the interior of the room. It was quite large, with a ceiling that one did not need to constantly duck under. The wooden tables were bolted to the floor, but were barren of their chairs which would have slid away when the Lorry tilted. A window lead to a meager kitchen, where a cooker and a pantry would create food rations for the satiation of starving, cold ponies.

However, now, the Mess Hall had its tall ceiling collapsed, with a large, high-capacity water pipe having fallen through the ceiling and created a veritable crater in the floor. Ceiling panels were everywhere, and electrical wiring from the large lights on the ceiling was draped down like strands of hair.

Rainbow's eyes locked onto a singular light other than her own that illuminated the room. She gasped as she saw Pinkie Pie,  the owner of the Lamp, trapped under a pile of debris. 

"Pinkie! Pinkie!" Rainbow repeated as she flew down to her.

She inspected the rubble. It was nothing heavy enough to truly crush her (she hoped), but it was still serious all the same. She reached a hoof to the pony's face, and took a sharp inhale as she could steel feel warmth and a pulse underneath the cook's heavy coat. 

"Pinkie? Pinkie, talk to me..." Rainbow asked, desperation leaking into her voice as she begun the process of lifting the ceiling panels off of the earth pony's back.

Rainbow heaved, letting out a hiss as she hoisted a metallic beam up, and with it a bunch of broken grates and scrap. More and more of the pink pony's body became visible underneath the collapse. Eventually, Rainbow worked up the courage to wrap her forelegs around Pinkie's, and drag her out from under the remaining metal.

A jagged piece of metal dug through her coat, leaving behind a red streak that made Rainbow's heart beat in her ears as she finally pulled her friend free. Now free of the rubble, she inspected Pinkie Pie's injuries.

She was scraped up and bruised badly all over by the crushing debris. However, the most concerning injury Rainbow could see was her back left leg. 

It was twisted at a horrible angle. It was bent at 50 degrees to the left, splayed out at an angle concerning even for the seemingly elastic pink pony. Cautiously, Rainbow touched it, only for the leg to move limply around, the joint at the ankle completely dislocated.

Rainbow looked around the compartment for any other survivors. It seemed that Pinkie was the only lucky one. Anypony else in the mess hall seems to have been thrown around, concussed before being brutally crushed. After she went around, checking pulses, Rainbow went back to Pinkie's side.

She took out coils of ropes from her knapsack, her frozen hooves numbly fumbling the rope ends to tie knots into a makeshift harness. She began to secure Pinkie's body, before looping the ends of the rope harness around her own forelegs.

With a grunt, she hoisted the heavy pony into the air, beginning the process to fly her back to the surface.





Pinkie had always been a chubby pony. However, even though the rationing hadn't done many favors to her well filled frame, she was still a great burden on Rainbow's exhausted forelegs and wings.

However, slowly, Rainbow could hear noises indicating life drawing closer. With another shaking, heaving grunt, Rainbow pulled the straps of the rope harness tighter as she continued her upwards flight up the nearly perpendicular steel corridor.

A Lamp's spotlight shone down on her from above as she reached the open bulkhead leading out to Four's deck. Still distant voices shouted about a survivor, and Rainbow's goggled eyes peered up into the light, squinting against the bright contrast from the darkness she had been flying around in for the past several hours.

Another pegasus suddenly flew down, and she felt their hooves grab around her midsection, and her own weight growing less cumbersome as the other mare grabbing her also began to fly up.

"Rainbow? Are you okay?" She heard the familiar voice of Blossomforth speak into her ear.

Absolutely exhausted, Rainbow could only nod, her wings finally losing their adrenaline and beginning to fail, giving slow tired pumps as the other pegasus redoubled her efforts to raise the two of them up to the surface.

Rainbow gazed around at the gathered survivors and rescue teams as she unceremoniously dumped herself and Pinkie down onto the deck. She numbly began to undo the harness, her wings cramped in an outstretched position as she only had the energy to lie on the freezing metallic wall that made up the floor of the upended steam lorry.

"We need a doctor!" Blossomforth shouted as soon as she made sure the two of them were safely rested on the deck, "Where's the doctor!?"

Rainbow weakly lifted another forehoof as soon as she kicked off the rope loops connected to Pinkie's harness. With the hoof, she wrapped it around Pinkie's neck once again, checking her pulse.

It was weak, but it was there, making Rainbow give out a sigh.

An engineer, wearing a thick brown cloak and with a pair of spectacles resting on his snow-spotted muzzle, walked over to the two of them. He asked with a calm, detached voice, "Is she alive?"

Rainbow nodded, licking her lips to try and get some moisture into them so she could speak.

"...Are you sure?" The doctor asked, raising an eyebrow as he cast a doubtful look at Pinkie.

Rainbow nodded again, this time more strongly.

The bespectacled doctor sighed, crouching down and taking Pinkie's pulse. He examined the leg, the scratches, and the scrape along her other, healthy leg.

"I will take her to one of the active lorries, and hopefully one of the surgeons there can help," the engineer said to Rainbow, giving her a small but comforting nod.

Two earth ponies came to either side of Rainbow, lifting Pinkie up with a grunt to take her away. Rainbow finally let her go, her forehooves flopping onto the deck. She didn't have any energy to do anything but lie still, staring off into the distance as the snow fell harder and harder and the winds only continued to howl louder.

Breathing slowly, Rainbow's heavy eyelids closed, staring out into the snow as she passed out on the spot.





A pounding headache split Rainbow's head in two as reality came back to her.

Her eyelids creaked open as light pierced her eyeballs and stabbed yet another knife through into her brain, and she quickly slammed her eyes closed again as she grunted.

Her mouth was so dry that she couldn't even move her tongue, and her throat burned like the inferno of a coal furnace. Her  stomach felt very empty, but that was hardly her biggest concern.  She felt like an animal as she simply made noises, trying to lift her hoof to her face, only to be met with an extra shot of agony being shot through her well-worn muscles. 

It was not long, however, before a wet cloth touched her forehead, calming her headache as a soothing voice spoke to her "Hey, hey, you're alright, darling..."

Rainbow dared to open her eyes again. The light agonized her head once again, but she could finally make out a shape against the blurry lights of the room she was in. It was the familiar, drawn, snow white face of Rarity.

"Are you quite feeling alright? You've been out for a good while..." The blurry figure of Rarity reached for something outside of Rainbow's limited vision.

Rainbow tried to swallow once again, croaking, "Thirsty..."

"I got you..." Rarity soothed, keeping a forehoof on Rainbow's head as she took out a canteen, pressing it up to Rainbow's lips.

Rainbow greedily suckled from the canteen, the lukewarm water spilling down her chin as the rest of it finally washed over her parched tissues. The life saving liquid spilled down her throat, finally giving relief and dulling the thudding pain in her head slightly.

Rarity retracted the canteen quickly, saying, "I'm sorry, I can't give you too much or you might throw up," She said, taking the cloth off of Rainbow's head to re-plug the lid of the canteen.

Rainbow took a moment, breathing, washing her mouth with saliva, and blinking to readjust her vision.

After a moment, Rarity felt Rainbow's forehead again, "You were mixed up with the rest of the injured survivors on the deck. You were one of the last to be taken back up to the convoy on the pulleys. By the time you got up here, you were all hypothermic."

Rainbow blinked again, eyes focusing on her friend.

Rarity leaned in closer, with a worried frown, "You could've lost a limb, Rainbow."

"Mmh.." Rainbow grunted, looking down at the canteen now attached to Rarity's hip with lust.

She frowned, "Don't worry. You'll get some more water with your soup," She grunted, opening a satchel to bring out a small, sealed can. 

Using a can opener, Rarity gave Rainbow a reassuring frown before grabbing a spoon to dip into the contents and extend out to Dash's muzzle.

Gratefully, Rainbow slurped up the cold soup from Rarity's spoon. Mouthful by mouthful, the entire can was emptied, calming Dash's stomach, giving extra hydration, and finally calming the thudding in her head.

Rainbow lay still for a few more moments after Rarity packed up the empty can and spoon. She finally licked her lips one more time, before croaking out, "Is Pinkie okay?"

Rarity nodded slowly, "The doctors said she would live."

"Where is she?" Rainbow shifted in her bunk, causing Rarity to press her forehoof down on her to keep her still.

"She was... left behind," Rarity said placing another hoof on Rainbow's chest to keep her still.

"...W-What...?" Rainbow's ear twitched. She must've misheard her! What did she mean "left behind"? Why would she just be left behind? Who was cruel enough to do such a thing?

"No! No don't panic, you don't understand-" Rarity began.

Rainbow raised her strength, smacking away one of Rarity's hooves to hoist herself up to sit up in bed, "Why? I didn't save her for nothing, Celestia-damnit!"

Rarity sucked a breath in, "The Captain couldn't bring everyone, or they'd overload the Lorries we have left. They left her and a bunch of the other passengers behind with tents and firewood. He said we'd be back for them, and that they had plenty of rations and resources salvaged from the crashed lorries to weather it out until we got to the Generator and could afford to come back for them!"

Rainbow stared at her friend, agape, "But... why her... she... she was so badly done by... how will she..." She trailed off as tears began to well in her eyes and her voice choked in her throat.

Rarity's eyes turned somber, "The Captain said they could stay at the camp or they could walk alongside the lorries. Pinkie... needed to have an amputation done... so-"

The rest of Rarity's words fell deaf on Rainbow's ears, replaced by a tinny ringing as the blood froze in her veins. A forehoof reflexively went to her mouth, and the tears came on for real. They rolled down her cheeks, dripping down onto her scarf. She began to shake as she choked out incoherent babble.

Rarity grunted as Rainbow fell over into her hooves, the white unicorn being the only thing Rainbow could safely collapse into. Whatever she was saying faded on her tongue, and she remained quiet as she wrapped her hooves around Rainbow's head. Eventually, she began to share her tears, the sobs filling the cabin as the distant chugging of the lorry's engine continued on.
> Chapter 4 - Octavia Melody
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The wind howled through the group of ponies standing safely at the edge of the large collapse that had doomed Lorries Four and Seven. 

Octavia mumbled apologies as she trotted briskly past the bulky earth ponies lugging wood, steel, and coal up from the cargo bays of the stranded Lorry Seven. They were in the process of setting up tents and lighting campfires. 

In the distance, a foal's cry was audible. Ponies murmured among themselves, some mourned. Rumors were being passed around that something was holding up the convoy. After all, why did the Captain order the workers to set up tents and a medical post if they were going to be underway in just a few hours?

A whistle was blowing, though, and a voice called out through the intense winds that swept through the Frostlands. "Attention! Attention!" Cried a stallion's voice over winter's screech.

Octavia weaved between two tents to see a large group of ponies gathered around a campfire, with an amethyst purple unicorn she only vaguely recognized from somewhere in Ponyville standing on a makeshift podium made up of wooden crates in front of them.

"Can I have your attention please!?" The pony called once more as more ponies from around the camp moved in to crowd around behind Octavia. All eyes were up on the unicorn on the podium.

The pony looked around, her lips pursed and her legs rocking back and forth nervously as her telekinesis clutched a clipboard. Once she seemed satisfied, she continued her speech, "Attention everypony! If you are below the age of fifteen, or are an educated Engineer, please step forward!"

Several foals left their mothers and fathers to stand forward next to the campfire. A few other adults stepped forward, looking upwards curiously towards the unicorn.

The speaker looked around nervously, looking down at her clipboard, "We are missing some... Are there any more Engineers among this group!?" She shouted, looking around at the crowd.

Murmurs surrounded Octavia, and ponies looked around at each other. Octavia's mind whirred as she looked around at the camp being hastily erected around them.

"Why the call for engineers? Do they need doctors to treat the survivor's injuries?" She thought, "...No, that wouldn't make any sense at all. Why would they call for foals too?"

One more pony stepped forward, prompting the speaker to shout into the crowd, "There is one more Engineer here! Please do not be afraid to um... don't be afraid to step forward, please!"

Octavia didn't know what she was doing, but her hooves walked forward by instinct. As she was halfway through pressing through the crowd, she raised a forehoof high above the heads of the ponies.

"Me! I am!" She shouted in her proud, Canterlotian accent.

The pony furrowed her eyebrows, looking down at her clipboard, "What is your name!?"

Octavia shivered as another blast of wind tore through the camp, causing the tents to flap aggressively and the ropes holding them down to whip and strain, "O-Octavia! Octavia Melody!"

"What am I doing!?" Octavia demanded of herself.

The pony looked down at her clipboard again, "...Where did you get your doctorate!?" She asked, looking back up at Octavia with questioning eyes.

Doctorate? Octavia had naught but a music degree. Still, she had her suspicions. She believed the rest of the survivors were about to pack up and leave them behind, with only freezing tents to keep them alive. Perhaps there would be empty promises that they'd be back for them... but in this case... all Octavia wanted to do was survive.

"I... I went to the Velvet Academy!" Octavia responded shakily, cutting out the "Music" from "Velvet Music Academy".

The unicorn studied her for a few more moments, before seeming to just shake her head dismissively, "Very well."

Uncertain relief washed over Octavia. The administrator pony seemed to believe her... for now...

"For everypony else! Due to overcrowding aboard Lorries Two and Six, we will be unable to take you all the way to your destination...!" The pony began, but was interrupted by angry and fearful shouts from the crowd.

"What!? What about my dear Spool? He can't live without his mother!"

"You can't do this to us, the Generator was meant to be for all of us!"

"How are we meant to survive in this cold!?"

"We can't have come all the way out here just to be stranded here like this!"

The speaker cringed away from the crowd, seeming fearful. However, she finally rallied herself, leaning forward and shouting herself hoarse over the wind and the crowd, "Calm down! Calm down! We will be back for you! You just need to weather it out for a few days for us to reach the city and activate the Generator. We will prepare an expedition immediately to reach you! You WILL NOT be left behind!"

The crowd's angry shouts only grew louder. They pushed up once again, forcing Octavia to run forward to escape them. They mobbed the podium, only for the speaker unicorn to teleport away in a flash of purple light.

An earth pony that had been waiting nearby gestured at her, shouting "Come on! Come with me! The rest of the foals and engineers too!" 

Octavia gladly followed him, breaking off from the now stranded crowd along with the rest of the group of educated and young. She spared a final look behind her, torn between guilt and relief. She was relieved to not be among them, but she was guilty...

Was it really every mare for herself at this point?

Other ponies of all tribes came to try and contain the riot as a whistle blasted from Lorry Six, signalling the departure of the convoy. 

The wind blasted once again, kicking up Octavia's scarf and causing her to reach up and hold her beanie down over her disheveled mane. The temperature was continuing to drop, and she believed that perhaps the calm a few hours earlier before the collapse was just the eye of the storm. She trudged through the snow, enduring as the pony lead her to the open hatch of Lorry Six up ahead.

Climbing in, they were finally safe from the wind and cold, the inviting warmth of the boiler flooding out towards her frostbitten cheeks as the pony lugged the bulkhead open.

The other adults looked around nervously, and the foals looked back towards the camp quietly. Near the beginning of the journey, the foals were rambunctious, running around and getting themselves into danger. However, the frostlands were cruel, and by now they followed the head pony without a word, even as their family were left behind in the camp.

"What's... what's going to happen to us?" Octavia enquired as the earth pony lead them through the suffocatingly crowded halls of the lorry.

"You Engineers are going to be put up healing the sick and shovelling coal. The foals are gonna need to try and find a place to sleep," The pony gruffly explained, "Name's Star, by the way."

"But.. I'm a doctor of mechanical engineering, not a medical doctor!" A mare to Octavia's right complained.

"Then you'll be working on the furnace," Star grunted, ducking underneath a low-hanging valve.

The Lorry finally began moving, the chugging of the steam engine sounding off in the distance. The lanterns hung from the ceiling swayed, and Octavia and the other ponies in her group lost their footing as the lorry began to move forward slowly but surely.

Octavia scratched at her collar nervously, remaining quiet as she looked around the crowded cabins. The smell was horrendous, not that it wasn't back aboard her previous lorry, but she could only imagine how much worse it could get with even more ponies being packed into the corridors. She looked at the floor, knowing she wouldn't get a bunk to sleep in, and gulped hard as she considered the prospects of sleeping on the cold, hard steel. She had been one of the original passengers aboard Lorry Seven, meaning she had a bunk. Now she was sleeping on the floor like the rest of them...

She slapped herself mentally. It was better than sleeping on the freezing ground in some tent, only barely protected from the wind, while you watched your comrades steam away from you, most likely to never return...

The pony pointed them towards a larger room: this lorry's Mess Hall, "You wait here. Somepony will be back to collect the engineers and send you to your posts. You kids..." He paused, "Try and get comfortable, will you?"

Everypony looked at him silently, without a word. He simply walked away down a hall out of eyeshot, leaving them in a room packed full with ponies sleeping on the benches, tables, and all across the floor.

Octavia tried to find a place to sit down comfortably, her black tail curling up underneath her as she nestled between two sleeping ponies. She herself was tired, but she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to fall asleep just yet. After all, the pony would be back soon, wouldn't he?

One of the other Engineers grunted as he sat down, leaning up against the steel wall beside her. He looked over her, causing Octavia to shift uncomfortably.

"What's your name?" He grunted.

"Octavia. Octavia Melody..." Octavia mumbled awkwardly.

He smiled, extending a forehoof, "Sorry, was just wondering. My name's Steam, Steam Scalpel."

Octavia nodded, giving a weak but appreciative smile and shaking his forehoof, "Nice to meet you."

Steam Scalpel was an aging stallion. A brown coat and silvering hair adorned his frame. His collar was pulled up close to his chin, and a thick scarf covered his neck. A cloth cap was pulled over his ears, and snow still specked the fringe of his mane.

"What did you study?" He asked, retracting his foreleg to rub it together with his other one, stimulating warmth. 

"Uhh..." Octavia weighed her words carefully, "I studied..." She remembered the words of Star, and how he said that non-medical doctors would be sent to shovel coal, "...I studied medicine."

Steam cracked an uncertain grin, "Strange... it's usually not that hard to remember your specialty."

Octavia shrugged nervously, "Sorry.. I'm just all over the place."

Steam didn't seem to pay her lie much mind, and continued on his own, "I'm a surgeon, myself. When I was young, I treated wounded soldiers on the battlefield. Honestly, not that much less... distasteful... than our current situation."

She nodded slowly, "I uhh... I see. I never really got to... practice that much..." She coughed, "Outside of just my," She wracked her brain for a medical doctor position she knew about, "...My General Practitioner job, that is."

Steam grunted, "Huh. I see," He looked away, staying silent for a moment, before looking back over to Octavia, "...You know, Octavia really doesn't sound a lot like a doctor's name. Sounds more like a musician's," He observed, nodding towards her slightly.

Octavia blinked, blood rushing to her head and flushing her cheeks as she scrambled for the best lie she could think of, "Uhhm... Yeah..." She looked away for a moment, ordering her brain to think, lest the friendly stallion grow suspicious, "...yeah, it's kinda weird. I guess... my parents wanted me to go into classical music..."

She gulped, looking up towards Steam hoping it was a convincing enough lie.

Steam locked her gaze, staying silent for a moment, before sighing and looking away, "I suppose so. Though, you didn't change your name when your cutie mark came through?"

Octavia gulped, looking down to her flank. Her coat covered her mark fully, and she realized that the stallion must've not seen her treble-clef cutie mark yet. Looking up, she only nodded, "...I uh. I liked the name. It sounded... harmonic. Kinda like the harmony of machines," She mentally praised herself. Finally, she said something convincing with a confident voice!

Steam raised an eyebrow, "...But you're a medical doctor, not a mechanist, right?"

Octavia's pupils shrinked, "...Um..." She once again looked away, wracking her brain for an excuse, "...Y-Yes. But... as you know, machines play a big part in even medical science!"

Scalpel shuffled away from her, mumbling, "I suppose so..."

Octavia wilted under the stallion's aura, praying to Celestia that he would eventually forget her half-baked lies. Awkwardly, she tugged at her coat, and tried to look around at anything to distract her.

She saw a group of three foals, one white, one yellow, and one orange, all gathered around a tiny circle of open floor. They chatted actively, and their faces were full of life. Octavia was sure she recognized them from somewhere, but couldn't quite place where. Most likely Ponyville, back before the final autumn ended...

Goddesses, she didn't even remember those times well enough...

When Ponyville was full of life and greenery. When she was roomates with Vinyl and the only trivialities she had to worry about was her musical career not quite giving enough money to make ends meet. That, and Vinyl leaving the dishes to pile up, and chips all over the floor...

If she could only go back, and give her just one more hug... if she wasn't so afraid...

She was brought back to reality by the words of Steam once again.

"Do you have family?" Steam asked, placing a forehoof on Octavia's shoulder.

Octavia looked up at his crooked, smiling face, "...N-Not my own family, no. Just my parents living in Canterlot..."

"I don't see why not. You're a lovely young mare. Surely some colt loved you..." He retracted his forehoof to fold with his other to preserve warmth as he gazed over her curiously.

"Well... no. Well..." She sighed, "There might've been... but the cold took her away."

"Oh..." He grunted, "...I'm sorry."

"I'm past it now," Octavia quickly dismissed, "It's just about survival now."

Stream nodded, "Aye, I suppose that's the only way her memory survives, no?"

Octavia looked over at him, swallowing as her heart twisted. She only nodded slowly, unable to find words.










It was several hours until another pony entered the mess hall. It was a brown earth pony, with a darker brown mane. He wore a thick coat, with a bowtie pinning down his undercoat just below his scarf.

He looked around as a bunch of ponies, Octavia included, stood up. Questioningly, he asked, "Are you all the engineers recovered from the Lorries Four and Seven?"

General affirmatives were muttered among the gathered ponies. Octavia stayed silent, looking towards Steam Scalpel as he gave a curt nod.

"Good. Raise your hooves if you are medically trained, please," The pony asked, glancing between the engineers.

Octavia hesitantly raised a hoof. Steam, and 3 others all raised their hooves as well.

"Okay. You five will come with me. The rest of you will follow Star here..." The pony stepped aside to gesture to the same pony that had lead them aboard the lorry standing behind him, "...To the boiler room to help manage the engines of the lorry."

Murmurs of discontent went through the crowd, mostly from the mechanical engineers now being told to go and shovel coal into boiling hot furnaces, but the gathered ponies followed along anyway.

Octavia stayed behind with the doctors, considering the technicalities of the situation she had gotten herself into. She had lied about being a medical doctor in order to save herself from what she believed was certain death by abandonment, and now she was expected to perform medical duties. What would they do to her if she found out she was a liar? Punish her? Take away her rations? Beat her? Or... just simply toss her off the back of the lorry, to suffer a slow death in the endless snow plains...?

Octavia swallowed. She sincerely hoped whatever she was expected to do could be done by any pony with a good education... or was at least simple enough that she could guess her way through. From there, maybe she could do a crash course in the methods she needed to use in her new job?

"I am Doctor Hooves," The bespectacled earth pony said, lowering his head in a short bow as the rest of the ponies followed Star out of the room, "We've recovered several sick and injured from the crashed Lorries, and while we haven't been able to take them all, our Captain has tried to make as much space as he could for them. What you surgeons will be doing is tending to their injuries and diseases as best you can."

The Doctor cleared his throat, "Some of them have bad infections. Many are badly concussed, and suffer from blunt force trauma from slamming around during the crash. I don't expect you to be able to save all of them, but..." there was silence for a moment, "...Save who you can, please," Hooves finished with a curt nod.

Octavia looked nervously around at the other doctors, and they seemed to exchange similar looks of uncertainty.

"If you'll follow me," Hooves gestured to them, before turning to walk out the door.

The trip down to what Octavia assumed was Lorry Six's medbay was an expedition of cautiously stepping over piles of ponies and pushing past others trying to navigate the packed halls of the steam vehicle. 

While on the way, Doctor Hooves continued explaining, "The Lorries have no dedicated medbays, so we turned one of the quarters into a place to nurse those who've fallen unwell during our journey. Currently, we have around twenty patients who are going without treatment. I understand that you have been unable to bring your tools along since you evacuated from your crashed lorries, so the doctors already here will be expected to share their tools with you..."

Octavia glanced at the back of the brown earth pony, a frown deepening on her face. It sounded like it was all hooves on deck when it came to medical emergencies. She didn't know how she was going to be even a vaguely convincing doctor.

As her eyes nervously glanced towards the aged frame of Steam Scalpel, she got an idea.

Tapping him on the back, she whispered to him, "Sorry, sir, but I have a confession to make..."

Scalpel looked towards her with an eyebrow raised.

Trying to put on a convincing, innocent, nervous grin on her face, Octavia continued, "I only studied pharmaceuticals in college. I'm not sure how good I'll be at directly treating the ill..."

He grunted, "I thought you worked a general practitioner job?"

Octavia slapped herself again. How could she forget about her own lie like that? She scrambled to weave another string in her web, before giving a stuttering retort, "W-Well ye-" she coughed, "Well no. I erm, I might've lied about that. I was just a technician, you see, and I thought it might..." She paused, thinking of her next move, but continued before she (hopefully) aroused suspicion from the kindly doctor, "I thought it might impress you..."

"Uhh..." He gave a confused stare, before shaking his head, "It's okay, I'm sure you'll do okay..."

"It's just... I don't want them to think I can't do my job. I don't want to be..." Octavia bit her tongue, "...I don't want to seem useless, after all."

"Right," The stallion gave a warming smile, "I'll try and work with you and help you, but it sounds like it'll be pretty hectic in there..."

Octavia returned the smile gratefully, "Thank you. I really needed that."

The group ducked under one more low-hanging pipe before taking a turn to the left, opening up in a refurbished cabin, lined with bunks full of injured, unconscious, and coughing ponies. The air hung with a certain stink that stung different from the general stench of the unwashed crowds in the other compartments. It was the iron smell of blood, mixed with the stench of necrotic flesh and the menial amounts of antiseptic to counter it.

Coughing, Octavia followed the group inside, looking around curiously at the other doctors who already walked from bed to bed, like worker bees in a beehive.

"This is the head doctor, Doctor Horse, a good friend of mine. He will direct you from here on out," Doctor Hooves nodded towards a caramel unicorn stallion, who was currently hovering over a patient taking a pulse.

He turned towards the crowd, "Good, we're swamped with patients. Can I have everypony's names!?" He asked, urgency lacing his voice.

"Steam Scalpel," The doctor next to Octavia wasted no time in asking.

"Star Strider," A unicorn mare said.

"Healthy Hearts," A pegasus mare chirped.

"Newton Cradle!" An earth pony stallion nodded.

Doctor Horse's eyes landed on Octavia last, and she gulped.

"Octavia Melody!" Octavia forced out, giving what she hoped was a confident nod afterwards.

"Octavia?" Dr Horse's tired-looking eyes squinted from behind the thick glasses resting on his muzzle, "...Do I know you? Are you from Ponyville?"

Octavia blanched as she too began to recognize the doctor's face. He must've worked at Ponyville General, a place where Vinyl had no shortage of visits to...

"...No, no I'm from Canterlot," Octavia said, hoping her accent would convince him.

Horse looked down to his clipboard, "Very well..." He then pointed backwards to the racks of ponies resting behind him, "We have about twenty-five piled here. Some ponies are resting on the same bunk right next to each other. I already have one of my nurses running tools and medicine to everypony, so I expect you to start from that side," He indicated the far row of sick ponies resting near the left corner of the room, "And diagnose them and give them the quickest recovery plan. I'm not looking for bedside manners here, ponies. Just do your work quickly."

Steam Scalpel gave a glance towards Octavia, who simply sighed. The crowd began to disperse, moving towards the ponies resting on the far bunks. Octavia reluctantly followed, watching the other doctor's move to examine the ill, most of whom looked more dead than alive.

While most proceeded to look over ponies farther to the left, Octavia simply went to a random bed that nopony had taken yet. She eyeballed the pony lying there, trying to appraise their condition the best she could while trying to remain professional-looking.

The pony... her Patient, appeared to be badly burnt. Fur hung off in clumps while deep, red, angry tissue seemed to constantly bleed. The burns extended across their face and neck, and a bit down their shoulder until it disappeared under their coat. Octavia swallowed, trying to not vomit at the sight of blood as she leaned in closer.

The patient herself was purple as a grape, with a clove of said grapes as her cutie mark. Whatever her eye color was, it was obscured behind her eyelids, which were currently shut. A bushy mane hung over her forehead, and many hairs on her tail seemed to be singed or straight up burned off.

Octavia's eyes travelled down to a clipboard sitting on the small ridge dividing the bunk's mattress from the frame. She picked it up, scanning over it.

"Berryshine. Injured by steam explosion during Lorry Four crash." was all it said.

Octavia looked up from the clipboard, before looking around with worry. The other doctors seemed very preoccupied, even the head doctor tending to his own patient. She swallowed once again, hoping that none of them would notice how unconfident she was in her work.

"I suppose you should always start by taking their pulse...?" Octavia thought, cautiously reaching a hoof up to feel for Berryshine's throat.

Holding down her forehoof, she could vaguely hear the beating of a heart through her neck artery. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least the patient wasn't dead... yet...

Octavia hesitated. She looked the patient over from head to tail once again. The burns were severe... or at least they were from what she could tell from an untrained eye. This pony could legitimately die if she wasn't careful.

Dear Celestia... what if she had a family?

After a few minutes, Octavia pressed her hoof to the patient's neck once again, reassuring herself that the mare hadn't passed away yet, before steeling her courage and trying her best to make do with the situation. 

Her mind raced as she simply stood there, her forehoof against the mare's neck, trying to figure out her next move. The other doctors had already moved on actually treating their patients, and the singular nurse in the medbay ran back and forth hurriedly from a table full of tools and medicine, ferrying supplies to the busy ponies. 

She eventually figured that her first move should be to fully inspect the wound.

Cautiously, trying to avoid touching the burns, Octavia began undoing the buttons that held the earth pony's coat together. There were burn marks on the leather padding, but the coat still hung on to its owner defiantly. Eventually, though, it pulled away. Not before long, her undercoat pulled away, then the shirt beneath that. All that was left was Berryshine's bare form, where Octavia could assess the damage in full.

The burn did not go much farther down than the neck, which made sense in hindsight considering the coat probably protected the poor mare from most of the "Steam explosion" that had injured her. 

Octavia vaguely remembered something about there being three degrees of burn, and that each different one required different treatment. Biting her lip, she leaned in closer to try and wrack her brain for details on what classification the burns were.

The burns were deep red, and the flesh beneath the burnt-off fur was blistered. Uneven discoloration and white skin was also visible, making Octavia even more uncertain in her diagnosis.

Swallowing, she turned around to try and catch the attention of the nurse. Fortunately, it seemed the nurse caught her gaze, and walked over, her gaunt appearance reminding Octavia of the very patients they treated.

"What do you need?" She asked weakly, staring Octavia down with judging eyes.

Octavia cringed away, "Uhh... I could... use some bandages..."

"Just bandages?" The nurse asked, blinking her pair of tired, sunken eyes.

"...Yes... Yes I think so," Octavia nodded.

The nurse rolled her eyes, walking away to the table, before coming back and depositing a roll of clean bandages right next to Octavia, before running off to deal with another request for help.

Grimacing, Octavia reached down and picked up the roll in her mouth. With a free forehoof, she sought out the free layer of the bandage, before pulling a length free. She held it over the burn marks, before looking down at her occupied forehoof with a sudden realization.

The length of bandage wasn't going to cover up the burn effectively. Surely she didn't have to  basically bandage half of this mare's face with fifteen lengths just to cover her burnt cheek, would she?

Her thoughts were broken by a hoof on her shoulder. She jumped with a slight gasp, dropping the roll to the floor, where the bandages continued to unravel from the roll as it bounced along the floor.

She looked towards her assailant, only to meet the grey eyes of Steam Scalpel, "Are you okay, Dr. Melody?"

Octavia nodded her head in relief, leaning down to collect the rogue bandage roll, "I was just about to bandage her burns..."

"With no scissors to cut the bandages evenly?" Steam Scalpel raised an eyebrow, "Or any gauze to cover the wound itself?" 

Octavia blinked, "...Right... those. Of course."

She looked at the roll of bandages, beating herself up once again, "Stupid! These are only meant to secure those patches of spongy stuff to the wound!"

"Tell me if you need help..." Scalpel grunted, before moving on to the untreated patient lying to Octavia's right.

Octavia sighed, before turning around, only to find the nurse standing behind her, a deep frown on her face, with a pair of scissors and several wads of gauze already in hoof.

Octavia cut several lengths of bandage, before wrapping them as delicately as she could around the earth pony's head and neck. Underneath them, she secured the thin, white material to properly cover the wound from infection. After she was done, Octavia had to smile a bit. The pony rested comfortably on the bunk, with the nasty burns covered up by a web of grey bandages and fluffy white gauze.

As a final step, Octavia lifted up the coat she had taken off of her earlier, carefully spreading it over the unconscious mare. She gave the mare's forehead a pat, before looking around for another patient to take care of.

Yet, as she walked away, she couldn't help but feel she missed something...
> Chapter 5 - Applejack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack's warm breath reflected back into her snout as she huffed and puffed, the thick scarf covering her face stopping her own breath from truly escaping. 

Around her hips and neck were the yoke and ropes of one of the many cargo carts made to haul coal and other materials from the packed cargo bays of Steam Lorry Two. The wooden wheels and bin of the cart squeaked and rumbled as she made her way across the walkways of the bay, heading towards the doors leading to the Engine Room in a journey she had repeated millions of times. 

The poorly oiled axles, choked with coal dust and grime, constantly squealed and grinded together in rebellion, making Applejack practically drag the cart with her. Even though she tried to take care in her work, maintaining the cart's components whenever she ended her shift, it always got itself gummed up once again mere hours into her shift. Regardless, there was no time to stop and fix it now, the boilers continued to demand coal from the cargo bay; and if not coal, then it was steel for repairs, or wood for spare structural profiles. 

Applejack didn't protest to the working conditions, or to the sweat drenching her fur, or to the long extended hours in order to cover for the 24 exodus of the Lorry. She could deal with all of that. After all, if somepony didn't put their noses to the grindstone and push for the good of everypony, nothing would ever get done, and the expedition would be lost to the ice and snow.

And, from day one, that somepony was her. Even if she had to say goodbye to her farm, her plants, her trees, her home, and most of her family... 

She could deal with all of that.

As she reached the doorway, she did remind herself of something to be thankful for as her toned muscles continued to strain against her yoke. The physical exertion, combined with her direct proximity to the lorry's Boiler, meant that she could shed the heavy cloak that most others were now forced to wear 24/7. All she wore was her hat, crooked on her head after many hours of toil, and a scarf that hung limply from her neck.

She pulled alongside the boilers, slowly taking off her harness as she reached her forehoof up to soothe the irritated lines on her neck that marked the places where it chafed against her.

Before her sat a gigantic boiler. Towering from the floor below her and the ceiling two stories above her, the boiler constantly glowed with heat, making the air in the engine room almost scorching. An oppressive relief from the cold, if there ever was one.

Behind the giant boiler, pressurized steam pipes lead to a core, where Applejack knew that the fancy tech the Engineers called a "Steam Core" lay, doing magical doohickeys to the steam making it propell the giant drive shaft of the lorry. Said shaft was below them, creating the constant rumbling and vibrations that signified life on the move in the Steam Lorry.

Wordlessly, an Engineer who had been manning one of the shovels to place more coal into the boiler's fuel chutes, abandoned his work temporarily to walk over to Applejack.

Applejack didn't pay him any mind, and simply braced against the right side of the cart as the engineer took the left side. They heaved together, upending the pile of coal on the cart, dumping it down below them into a large bin, refilling its coal pile back to full. 

As soon as the cart was empty, it was carefully lowered back to the floor. The Engineer promptly left Applejack alone as he walked back to his shovel, picking it up to begin feeding the never-ending hunger of the giant machine before him.

Wordlessly once again, Applejack picked up her harness, adjust her hat in the process, and turned around, taking the cart back with her towards the cargo bays once again.

She coughed as she once again entered the cargo bays, the thick coal dust in the air once again choking her lungs. She did her best to ignore it, moving on towards yet another pile, where other earth ponies were waiting with shovels to fill her burden once again.

Back and forth, this process dragged on. From the early hours of the morning, to the deep darkness of the Arctic night, she continued. It was not like Applejack could tell the time, anyway. It wasn't like she had a window, nor a watch. She had no lunch break to signal the arrival of Noon. The only breaks she had at all were two toilet breaks, and even they were timed.

At first, she used how exhausted she was to try and gauge time. At first, she was truly exhausted by the end of her shift. However, every day following that, she spent all her energy just a few minutes earlier than before. A few minutes grew into an hour. Then an hour turned into two...

And now, Applejack was on complete autopilot, dragging her hooves, plodding one step in front of the other, dragging an ever increasing weight across the steel tiling. She was incredibly thirsty, but she wasn't keen on going to the water barrel, which had been exposed to the saliva of every working pony in the bay, and refilled without being cleaned so many times that it was no cleaner than the stuff she used to give to her pigs. She was hungry, but she knew not when her shift would be up and she'd be able to collapse her way to the mess hall.

Yet, she continued to push on. Even though sometimes it felt she could've towed the entire population of Ponyville by her cart from the landing of the Dreadnought all the way to the Generator, even though simply collapsing seemed like the better option, even though her heart kept telling her she couldn't go on... she continued hauling the coal. Step by step. Breath by breath. 

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

A shrill whistle blew throughout the cargo bays, a sound that made Applejack nearly collapse on the spot. 

"End of shift!" Cried a voice that was only vaguely familiar to Applejack's muddled mind, "Stow your tools for the next shift and clean yourselves! Proceed to the mess hall in exactly one hour for your rations!"

Applejack ignored the voice, and continued on. She still had a full load of coal, and she wasn't going to just abandon it in the middle of the bay any time soon! After all, what was one more journey to the engine room?

However, she had to admit, as she finally approached the post where she would usually unload her coal, the temptation to just collapse finally grew too much. Her legs gave out, and she thudded to the floor, harness and all, the cart sliding slightly to bump into her flank as she laid splayed out on the floor, her chest constantly puffing in and out with exhausted gasps and her eyes slammed shut.

She probably would've drifted to sleep right there and then if it weren't for the sheer discomfort of the boiling heat of the generator, and of the sounds of hooves approaching from behind her.

"Darling, Applejack, you really haven't changed, have you?" Came the voice of Rarity as the tingly feeling of telekinesis grabbed her midsection, trying to help her up.

Applejack grunted a response from her scrambled mind as her cramped-up legs flailed, trying to find purchase on the ground as she was restored to a standing position.

She opened her eyes, looking over to the concerned face of Rarity, still wearing her winter coat and cap despite the blazing heat of the boiler. Her lips moved, "Oh dear... let me help you out of here... you have some ponies waiting for you, but I couldn't have them walking around in some place so dangerous..."

With that, Rarity kept her grip on Applejack, lightening her own weight so that the earth pony could hopefully make the walk back out of the engine room and cargo bays a bit easier.

"Thanks, Rarity..." Applejack managed to say, limping her way across the walkway around the boiler to the doors leading into the cargo bay.

"Oh, hush now. I couldn't have you lying there and boiling yourself by that damn engine, could I?" Rarity said, only giving a passing glance to the ponies that rushed into the compartment to fill the next shift.

"Sorry..." Applejack managed. She knew that most of the other ponies quit a few moments before the Overseer came through to officially end the shift, just out of pure exhaustion, and that the crew was beginning to plan for this by working downtimes in the boiler's heat into their schedule. However, Applejack hadn't been raised by no quitters...

"And your scarf, darling? Why didn't you have your scarf pulled up over your mouth? The coal dust in here is veritably choking darling!" To emphasize her point, Rarity tugged at her own scarf, coughing a little as the two of them reentered the cargo bay, "You could get black lung and die, for goodness sake!"

"It was... too hot..." Applejack complained, trying to lick her lips to stimulate saliva in her parched mouth.

"Too hot my left flank!" Rarity lashed out, giving Applejack an angry eye. After a moment, though, she softened, "...Sorry for my Prench. Darling, you're going to work yourself to death!"

Applejack remained silent, weathering her old friend's remarks as the two of them came to the door leading back out to the labyrinthine hallways of the passenger section of the lorry. Several hangers were set up, with most of them being empty of their owner's coats. One remained, a worn coat burned deep into the farmpony's memory.

She left Rarity's support, hobbling over to don her coat. Back on the farm, now would've been time for stretches to make sure her muscles didn't tangle, but at this point she was so far beyond exhausted that she could not muster the strength to care about such trivial practices. Instead, she simply put on her coat, flattening her sweat-drenched fur underneath its suffocating embrace, and buttoned up the front.

As she did so, several tiny hooves sounded from outside the cramped locker room. Applejack's rapidly thumping heart skipped a beat in joy as her green eyes looked up to see three fillies, her little sister Apple Bloom among them.

"Heya big sis! You look right beat!" Apple Bloom said, entering the room, flanked by her two friends: Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

Applejack took off her hat, airing her sweat-drenched mane a little bit with it before placing it back firmly on top of her head, "Ah sure am... and ah'm really lookin' forward to a good meal with mah favorite lil' sister and her friends," She smiled, reaching out a forehoof to pat the tiny yellow filly on her head.

"Hi!" Sweetie Belle said, pushing up against her big sister, Rarity's, legs, "How was work?"

"Oh, I'm doing quite alright. Nowhere as poorly as Applejack though," Rarity smiled as well, brushing Sweetie's mane with a forehoof.

"Why? Is Applejack sick or something?" Scootaloo asked, looking up at Applejack's dishevelled form.

Applejack opened her mouth to answer, but Rarity cut her off, "No, dear, but she seems determined to work herself to death!"

"Aw, shucks Rarity! Big sis is so strong, I'm sure she didn't even break a sweat today!" Apple Bloom retorted, looking up at Applejack with a hopeful stare.

"That's right," Applejack nodded weakly, "Ah could do this all day and night if it meant y'all would stay warm on our way to that darn Generator."

"Rainbow said we were getting close! She said if we stood on the top deck we could see the mountains around the Generator!" Scootaloo chirped excitedly, hovering a few inches off the ground as her tiny wings fluttered rapidly, only to clunk back to the ground a few moments later.

"She didn't say that last part, silly!" Sweetie retorted.

"No. But she did say that it was less than a day away! That means it's gotta be close!" Scootaloo tapped Sweetie lightly in the chest, the latter of whom just rolled her eyes.

Rarity smiled, "That's good news. If we reach there tomorrow, we'll be able to move out of this terribly cramped and smelly place, and then maybe Applejack can stop breaking her back fueling that boiler!" 

Applejack looked down to Apple Bloom, who was busy digging for something in her napsack. The filly eventually managed to yank it out, revealing a length of red silk, which reminded Applejack starkly of the sashes the Captain and the Administrators wore across their chests. On it was sewn a familiar symbol, even if it was messily stitched: the mark of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Still going with that dang club of yours?" Applejack asked, kneeling down to Bloom's level to  inspect the silken cape.

"Of course! I mean, we thought we might've needed to break up for a while when we were put on seperate Lorries, but now that we were all put on the same one again... and now that we're all so close to the city..." Sweetie chimed in, walking up next to Apple Bloom and pulling out her own, similarly-sewn cape from a pocket. Scootaloo also revealed her own cape.

"Whadd'ya think?" Apple Bloom asked excitedly, bouncing a little.

Applejack chortled, petting the little yellow filly on the head, "I think that's darn sweet."

Rarity, however, looked concernedly between the three fillies, "Darlings...? Where did you get these materials? These aren't publicly available..."

"We got them..." Applebloom looked nervously between her two friends.

"Completely legitimately!" Scootaloo finished, giving the biggest, most strained grin Applejack had ever seen.

Applejack quirked an eyebrow, "Ah see..." she sighed, standing up again, "Well, ah sure do hope whoever you legitimately obtained these here capes from doesn't mind too much when you start flaunting them around the place."

"Eh. Probably not," Sweetie shrugged.

"Well girls, you should run along. We wouldn't want to miss our rations, would we?" Rarity adjusted her woolen cap, and ran a hoof through her mane.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, reunited once again, ran out the door from the locker room, giggling and chatting the whole way, leaving the two adults alone to walk to the mess hall.

"So. We're finally almost there, huh?" Applejack grunted, following alongside Rarity as the two of them made their way down the corridor.

"Yes, finally. Maybe there we can find some... normalcy.." Rarity shivered, "And maybe a break from this damn cold! The heater in this place does nearly nothing!"

"Ah'll be looking forward to getting full rations once we can get to growin' our own food," Applejack chortled.

"-And I'll be looking forward to a bathouse and a house of my own, even if I have to share it!" Rarity added, stepping over yet another pony sleeping in the middle of the hallway.

There was silence for a while as the two ponies dreamed about the promised land of the Generator.

"Rarity... Ah'm not sure ah'll be workin' in those Hothouses the engineers dreamed up," Applejack sighed as they continued on.

It was Rarity's turn to quirk an eyebrow and look over to Applejack, "Why not, darling? You're a skilled farmer."

"Yeah, but ah think ah've proven mahself a good coal hauler now..." Applejack wiped stray moisture from her brow, "And there's no way that darn skyscrapin' Generator isn't gonna need more coal than the boiler."

Rarity frowned, "No, I'm sure there has to be a better way. Twilight built these things, after all. Do you really think she wouldn't have thought up some fancy machinery or magical teleportation system to fuel the Generator?"

"If she had, wouldn't she have put it in th' darn Lorries?" Applejack pointed out, looking over to Rarity and locking her gaze.

"...well, maybe she didn't have the time for those. B-But the Generator was meant to be a city, darling, and she had plenty of time to build it! That mare probably thought of everything! It's just in her nature," Rarity dimissed, shaking her head as the two of them continued to press forward.

Applejack gave a sideways frown, but conceded, "Well, if'n ya say so, Rares..."

The welcoming warmth of the Mess Hall embraced the two of them as they walked inside, many of the day's workshift already crowding the tables. After a quick look around, the two of them quickly realized that every last seat in the hall was already taken.

"Well... looks like we're eating standing up," Rarity grunted, before walking to join the ration line.

The pony at the counter once the two approached the end of the line only looked dead ahead with empty eyes, and placed two biscuits and a slice of bread on a tray, giving it to Rarity, before repeating the process for Applejack. The two looked at the disappointing portion on their plates, before simply continuing on in silence to a vacant corner of the room where they could stand and eat.

The two of them bit of chunks of their biscuits and bread, hungry, but still savoring every bite. Gone were the days of worrying about overeating, in were the days of worrying about starvation. The two had been growing increasingly thin, and some ponies aboard the lorry had been showing their ribs through their coat. However, they still held the hope that by the powerful heat of the Generator, it would all be better.

Suddenly, Rarity shed a tear, and her chewing stopped as she reached up a hoof to wipe it away. 

Applejack's heart moved. There was plenty to cry about in their situation, so she reached out and laid a tired, cracked forehoof on the unicorn's shoulder, "There, there, Rares. What's wrong?"

"It's just-" She sniffled, "I miss everything, and I feel like I lose more every passing day... First it was Twilight when she went overseas... then it was my boutique... then it was my parents, and now Twilight's gone, Fluttershy's off somewhere else, and now even Pinkie's been left behind..." More tears wiggled their way out from Rarity's eyes, and she slammed her eyelids shut as she began to sob, "What if- what if someday I lose all of you too? Sweetie belle, oh dear Sweetie Belle... what if it doesn't work out..."

Applejack delicately placed her tray of food on the ground, trying to ignore the danger of some opportunistic stranger simply grabbing spare rations from it while it was unattended, and wrapped her forehooves around Rarity's neck. She brought the other unicorn into a hug, shedding a few tears of her own.

"Ah know how it feels. Ah've thought the same thing since Big Mac left the farm to work on Twilight's project up north..." Applejack patted Rarity on the back, feeling the warm tears of her friend dropping onto the leather lining of her coat.

"When I saw you on the ground, I really thought-" Rarity sniffed, before opening her mouth again to say something else. However, whatever it was was choked by another fit of sobs.

Applejack remained silent, simply squeezing Rarity tighter. 

"Tell me you'll never leave, Applejack..." Rarity's breath hitched, "Tell me I won't lose you too..."

Applejack paused, eyes diverting away from the marshmallow-colored unicorn in front of her, "...Ah can't guarantee that, Rarity. That'd be a lie."

Rarity's lips turned into a frown, before she pulled away from the hug, "...Sorry. It's just..." Rarity tried to give out a laugh, swatting at her tears with her telekinesis, "It's just... it's been hard. You should've seen the state Rainbow was brought back in. It was... scary..."

Applejack picked up her tray again, trying to eat while she still had the time, "Hopefully it ain't so hard soon," she gave her friend another pat, "Ah'm sure the Captain knows what he's doing. Rainbow'll lead her scouts back, we'll get Pinkie and the others back, and we'll be safe by that darn Generator until the winter ends."

"Mhmm..." Rarity sniffled, wiping her tears once again, "You know..." She laughed between two sobs, "Once upon a time I'd be worried about my mascara running from all this crying."

"You still look good without yer silly beauty products," Applejack assured, crunching another biscuit.

"...Thanks," Rarity said halfheartedly, taking a bite out of her bread, "Well. I'm definitely slim enough for the runway, that's for sure!"

The two girls shared a laugh as they swallowed the last pieces of their rations. Applejack's muscles once again ached to be given a proper rest, and she didn't feel like ignoring them for much longer.

"Sorry Rarity, but ah really should get to bed. Ah'm tuckered," Applejack lifted her hat.

Rarity nodded, "You get some rest. I'll find our sisters and make sure they get to bed and don't hurt themselves.

Applejack wandered the halls for a good half an hour, until she finally found a vaguely vacant spot on the floor in a hallway. There, she curled up, and despite the grated floor digging into her body and cold steel, she drifted to sleep in mere seconds...





The boiler roared as the Engineers lined up by the coal chutes continued to shovel the black, life-giving stones into the furnaces. 

Applejack dragged her cart once again, muscles complaining and bones creaking all the way. For once, the temperature in the engine room wasn't blazing hot anymore. The greatest storm the convoy had seen so far made the outer plating of the hull shudder, and the temperature of the air in the cargo bays and engine room had dropped significantly.

Applejack didn't mind. She was plenty warm enough from the sheer exertion of her work. Yet, she did worry for the others who were not situated directly next to the boiler. For Rarity, for Apple Bloom...

And very much so for Rainbow Dash. She was the one who had to be outside during all of this. Nothing but the warming heat of her Lamp and several layers of winter coat to resist what rumor said was the -70 degrees centigrade that reigned outside.

She guessed that she was only halfway through her shift by now. However, by now, it was really hard to tell just how long. She hadn't exactly been counting her trips between the coal piles and the boilers. And, once again, she had no watch or windows to tell the time of day.

However, as she approached the boiler, a sudden noise caused her heart to leap and her cart to rattle as she jumped back. 

The sounds of the steam releases blowing open, and the unearthly shrill screech of the superheated steam from the engines blasting out of them, made her hair stand on end. The constant rumbling of the drive shaft was absent, and the boiler's glowing heat was already beginning to die down. Ahead of her, she saw the engineers drop their shovels, and wipe the coal dust from their goggles.

At the top walkway of the Engine Room, she saw one of the Pilots walk out from the control room, giving a cheering shout, "WE'RE HERE!"

The engine room erupted into cheers and applause, and Applejack's heart soared as she joined in with the hollering. 

They were here! They had finally made it! Their journey was over! Their toil had ended!

Applejack hurriedly tossed off her harness, abandoning her cart. She was almost giddy to say goodbye to the thing. As long as she didn't need to be there, she was absolutely fine with saying goodbye to her work. As she rushed out of the engine room, she already saw the familiar form of Rarity standing by the door to the locker door.

Rarity gave a long blow on her whistle, before shouting, "Shift's over early, ladies and gentlecolts! Go to the outer decks! Come see our new home!" Was her joyous announcement.

Applejack practically bounced across the floor, and just as Rarity turned to her, she brought the unicorn into a hug. 

"We're finally here? What does it look like?" Applejack asked hurriedly, joining the crowd walking to the locker room to retrieve their coats.

"I don't know! But I was there to see Rainbow and the other Scouts signalling us to stop, and for the signal from the Captain's lorry to say we should park... permanently!" Rarity returned Applejack's excitement, a giant grin spread across her face.

"Well, what're we all doin' now?" Applejack asked, supposing that a work overseer would know.

Rarity smiled, "Well. The Captain told us all to go and see the Generator in all its glory. If I was to guess, though, you and the other earth ponies are going to go and begin retrieving whatever remains of our supplies and bring them down to the city. There's most likely some scaffolding needing to be done too. They said there were resources there prepared to erect housing for us to finally rest too."

Crowds of ponies, both from the workspaces and from the cabins, flooded through the halls to get to the bulkheads leading to the outer decks. Rarity and Applejack deigned to stay by the door, waiting for the majority of them to get through lest they get trampled in the crowd.

"Haven't seen more ponies hurryin' around since we rode that airship once!" Applejack laughed, watching as the passengers escaped from the confines of the lorry with all the energy of the superheated steam still venting from the engines.

Rarity chortled, "I hope Sweetie and the rest don't wander too far from the Lorry before we get there..."

Eventually the crowd cleared up enough for Rarity and Applejack to begin their own disembarking process. The corridors were starkly different without ponies packed inside. It seemed so long ago when they left the Dreadnought for the first time, and this was the norm. Now, it seemed like the Lorry was turning into a ghost of its former self.

As they approached the decks leading to the outside, the air became more and more bitter. Applejack knew there was a storm outside, but her theoretical knowledge was realized as the wind truly began to blast in from the open bulkhead leading to the outer deck. Snow flurried in through the entrance, and the silhouette of a good 100 ponies crowding the deck outside was visible.

Applejack and Rarity pushed through the crowd as it disembarked from the deck onto the snow below. The cold was already making the two of them shiver, but they were able to simply ignore the temperature from the hope of finally finding shelter.

There was the sound of flapping wings above them, before suddenly a pegasus wrapped completely in layers of coats, scarves, and goggles landed beside the two of them. 

"Rarity! Applejack!" Came the faint voice of Rainbow Dash from behind the cloth.

"Rainbow! Are you okay? This cold is dreadful!" Rarity shouted over the wind, pulling closer to Rainbow.

"I'm.. okay. Lost all feeling in my hooves, but it'll be fine! You should see how it feels down by the Generator! Even with the thing offline, the valley it's in is sheltered from the wind and it's like ten times warmer!" Rainbow reached up a hoof, caked in snow and ice, and pulled down her scarf a little bit in order to reveal her mouth and be heard more clearly.

Surrounding the two, now parked, Steam Lorries were two large cliffs, extending up beyond the point where they could see.  They formed a pass through what looked like an extensive mountain range. It was impossible to see what lay ahead of Lorry Two due to the whiteout of the storm.

"Have y'all seen Apple Bloom, Sweetie, and Scoots?" Applejack shouted at Rainbow.

"Nope! I'll go look for them though! If they haven't strayed off, they're most likely still with the crowd! I'll find 'em if they've strayed though!" Rainbow assured, before taking wing and ascending up above them, braving the thrashing winds that propelled the swirling flurry that whipped through the pass.

"Oh dear. I do hope they haven't gotten lost..." Rarity muttered, before continuing to walk forward, wading through the knee-high snow slathered on the rocky ground.

"Ah'm sure Rainbow'll find them," Applejack said, trying to comfort worry as she followed behind her friend.

Her Lamp's glow didn't do much to resist the cold, and by the time they had passed the nose of Lorry Two, Applejack was already shaking like a leaf. She'd need to borrow some extra coats if she was going to be doing any work on hauling the Lorry's remaining cargo to the generator.

Another half a mile of trudging, and Applejack was sure there was a sheet of ice forming on any part of her that wasn't covered by her winter insulation. However, eventually, she saw the crowd ahead stopping, and the mountains on either side of them ending.

Pushing through the crowd, Rarity and Applejack made their way forward, until they finally saw it...

The pass suddenly ended in a cliff, where a nearly horizontal slope dropped directly down to a valley below. In the middle of the valley, it stood. A giant, steel pillar. In the middle, a spherical heart. Surrounding it, thermal hulls and risers. The entire thing reminded Applejack of a giant steel hourglass. A steel frame surrounding a spherical core, with pillars of pipes and support frames surrounding it.

"Where are all the buildings?"

"How are we supposed to get down there?"

"Whoah... that thing is taller than Canterlot Castle..."

"How are we meant to power something that massive?"

"Is this it?"

"Dear Celestia... we're finally safe."

"Well, what're we waiting for?"

The murmurs in the crowd were intense. However, all Applejack could do was stare in awe.

After a few minutes, Rarity tapped Applejack on the shoulder, "Darling, look!" She pointed.

Applejack turned her head, realizing that most of the crowd had turned their attention away from the valley to some point to their right. She narrowed her eyes, raising a hoof to shield her eyes from the snow to look.

Several ponies with red sashes had assembled a stack of wooden crates from the Lorries for a single figure to stand on, silhouetted by the Lamps of two administrators.

The pony raised a megaphone, and his voice boomed across the crowd over the howling winds, "This is your Captain speaking!"

The crowd fell silent.

"After many weeks of sacrifice, toil, and travel, we have finally made it!" The Captain announced, "This is the place where we will make our home! Where we will be safe! Where our foals will prosper, and our grandfoals shall be born!"

There were cheers in the crowd, with hooves stomping into the snow. Applejack joined in, her own freezing legs stamping down into the packed snow below her.

"However!" Came the retort that quieted the crowd's cheers, "I have heard that some rumors have been passed between us! That we have been made to believe that the Generator will have a developed city built around it waiting for us!"

A pause.

"As we can clearly see, this is not the case! This was never the case! You have been told lies! However, I am not saying that there is no hope!" The Captain shouted as the crowd murmured discontently, "There are plenty of resources scattered around the valley! Over the next few days, we will pick them up and use them to construct our own homes! They will be tents for now, protected by the warm of the Generator, but eventually they will be houses, and we ourselves will erect the mighty city that we have hoped for!"

The crowd was silent. The disappointment was palpable, but nopony spoke up about it.

"Soon, workers from the Lorries will bring forth a pulley and cart system to lower us down in groups to the safety of the valley away from this storm! You will form orderly lines, with the elderly and ill going first, followed by foals, then able adults!" The Captain ordered, with the crowd nodding along.

"Now! Without further ado...!"

The Captain reared up, projecting his voice triumphantly.

"WELCOME TO NEW PONYVILLE!"
> Chapter 6 - The Captain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Is this really it?" The Captain whispered to Amethyst, staring out over the Generator site.

Amethyst nodded, "I'm seeing the same thing you are, sir."

The coals in the furnace they stood next to crackled, radiating enough heat to warm frozen hooves and defrost the bones of the short circle of Administrators, the Captain included, standing around it. All across the mountain pass sat similar furnaces, burning constantly as steel campfires to warm the earth ponies and unicorns waiting in line to be taken down by pulley to the valley below.

"Did you honestly think there would be a city waiting for you here, Captain?" Asked Doctor Hooves, who looked up from his position seated on the snow, warming his hooves.

The Captain gave the engineer a sidelong glance, "...Yes. Yes I did. Was a few bunkhouses, a medical post, and a cookhouse too much to ask for?"

"We built these on very short notice," Hooves grunted, shuffling to orbit around the fire a bit closer to the Captain, "Well... I wasn't actually there, but I know that our schedules were extremely tight. The workers were being shipped out as the ice closed around them... and in some cases we needed to send icebreakers to rescue them from the frost."

"Then what about the buildings used to construct them? Surely those should be standing?" The Captain questioned, continuing to stare down the engineer.

Doctor Hooves shrugged, "Disassembled. Buried under the snow. Maybe swept away during the storms! I have no idea, Captain. I just know they aren't here. At the very least, the Workshops should be standing above the snow, but-" The doctor paused, before eventually just shrugging, "I have no idea."

The Captain remained silent, looking away from Doctor Hooves to stare out at the dark pillar of the Generator, dark against the starless night sky above.

Eventually, the Captain shuffled as he drew his coat flaps closer, "Amethyst, do you have a final count of ponies who've made it?" 

The dutiful unicorn immediately went to work looking through the notes scribbled down on her trusty clipboard. Eventually, she ran a hoof over a line on her papers, reading something out to herself, before turning to the Captain to respond, "One hundred and ninety five poneis, sir. Fifty foals, one hundred and forty able adults, five incapacitated being given palliative care."

The Captain opened his mouth to ask another question, but was cut off as Amethyst continued to speak.

"-And before you ask, there were eighty left behind near the crash site," Amethyst pulled back her clipboard to her chest, giving the Captain a warm smile.

The Captain nodded slowly, giving Amethyst a grateful smile, "Very well."

There was silence for a moment, with only the muted murmurs of the crowd around them, and the never ending shrill screech of winter thundering through the wind tunnel created by the mountain pass.

"We started this expedition with four hundred," The Captain remarked, reaching down for a poker with his magic, before bringing up the long metal rod to stoke the coals in the furnace, stimulating a bit more warmth from the small steel contraption.

"Yes. Yes we did," Doctor Hooves sighed.

"They knew the cost of their journey, Captain," Amethyst said, eyes following yet another group of ponies being carried down from the cliffside to the valley.

"And they payed the price, a hundred and twenty five times," The Captain finished, shaking his head, "I only wish there was more I could do."

"There wasn't, Captain. Logically, you did everything you could. We suffered through bad luck and poor planning on the part of the EEC," Hooves reasoned, being the one to now give the Captain a stare.

"He's right, Sir," Amethyst agreed, "What really matters is what happens now. This is our home now. We gotta make it safe."

"Aye, I suppose you're right," The Captain nodded, "Well. I suppose the obvious question to ask is: What is our supply status?"

"We loaded heavily on Coal, dumping some of our material supplies for it. We don't have much Wood or Steel left, but I suppose we have about... 50 or so tons of Coal remaining?" Amethyst twirled a pencil, before stopping to bite at the end of it as she thought.

"Is that enough to start the Generator with?" The Captain asked, turning his head back towards Hooves.

Doctor hooves nodded, "Yes. It'll keep it running for a few nights."

A loose panel on the furnace rattled at the wind blew harder, and the Captain shrugged his coat on a bit tighter, "I suppose while we're on the subject, isn't now a good a time as ever to brief me on the operation of the Generator?"

"Did you not read the manual we were given?" Doctor Hooves frowned, crossing his forehooves.

The Captain shrugged, "I did, but your expertise is currently unmatched among our expedition. I'd rather you explain it in detail."

Doctor Hooves sighed, looking out to the Generator, before looking back, "Well, I don't have any diagrams or plans to show you. Those are all still stowed aboard the Lorry. But, I will still try my best..."

The Captain nodded, and Amethyst turned around to both face the furnace and listen to what their head engineer had to say.

"The Generator is a large thermal tower," He began, drawing a sketch in the snow, "What you see here is actually a very small portion of it. Most of the construction is below ground in this inner ring," He drew a large pit below the Generator, "This hole was dug once the EEC found an appropriate place to tap the aquifer network below this valley. Down here are heavy support structures, along with the Tower Pumps, which draw water from the aquifer and pump them at high speeds directly up into the Core of the Generator..."

Hooves drew a large, spherical shape in the middle of the generator tower to indicate the core, "Here, Steam Cores combined with the most advanced tech Equestria had would take the water, and if given sufficient heat from 3 giant furnaces located on the south, northwest, and northeast sides of the generator, the Core would superheat the water into steam at an unimaginably high rate."

"How high?" Amethyst asked, curious.

"Ma'am, the Generator is fully capable of turning thousands of gallons of water into steam per second," Hooves gave a faint smile, "The top of the Generator here are the Thermal Hulls and Risers, which also surround a turbine. The superheated steam from the core rises up to these thermal hulls, which powers a steam turbine capable of powering pretty much any electrical device we want even once the city is fully constructed. The Thermal Hulls take any excess heat generated by the core and turbine and radiate it into the air, warming up the air in the valley as much as possible. The steam run through the engine here is then taken through pipes here..." Hooves drew several lines coming down from the top of the Generator to the ground, "And then distributed to buildings around the city for warmth."

The brown earth pony adjusted his glasses, "We will need to lay those pipes below our streets ourselves. Also, the farther away those pipes get from the Generator, the less pressure they will sustain and the more they will cool. Right now, the Generator can only barely produce enough steam to heat a zone large enough to squeeze everypony we have here inside. That's not much of a problem right now, as the valley itself provides enough protection that nopony will freeze to death from sleeping in cold tents, but later on..."

The Captain narrowed his eyes, "Hang on... did you just tell me the Generator can't actually house us all?"

"No, no no!" Doctor Hooves shook his head, "That's not it at all."

"Then?" The Captain quirked an eyebrow.

"Twilight Sparkle wanted the Generator to be as modular as possible. She said that it made no sense to build it to only fit one size if it was supposed to last for millenia. So, as you can see here..." Hooves drew several indentations on the sides of the Generator tower, "These are places where extra furnaces are to be installed. Once we install them, we can provide more heat to the Core, which thanks to its design directly results in more pressure and heat. This will increase the range of the Generator, as well as the amount of Heat it may produce to warm homes and businesses."

"There are also the matters of Hubs," He said, "Notes say that while a tech like this was never directly developed, it was heavily theorized and could be very possible. The theory is that we could place backup furnaces around the city outskirts where the Generator couldn't possibly extend to heat on its own. These furnaces would take cooled steam from the central rings and reheat them, creating extra potential and heat nearby buildings... sort of like a satellite generator."

"...I see. Is there anything else?" The Captain asked, leaning forward a little bit to look at the crude sketch as its lines flickered by the coals of the furnace.

"Yes, one final thing in fact," Hooves coughed, "It's something called the Overdrive. There is a bottleneck between the turbine and the Core, where a steam vent is usually held open to relieve strain on the system. However, if we so wish, we can close this vent. It's unsustainable for not more than a day, but while active it can temporarily increase the heat produced by the tower. However, if it stays on too long, the internal heat buildup can damage certain components, and eventually..."

There was a pause, before Amethyst piped up, "...Eventually...?"

"Eventually the Generator will explode with a force that could flatten everything in a mile's radius. And even if you survive that... your only source of heat is gone..." Hooves shrugged, "You can extrapolate that scenario on your own, if you so wish."

"So just don't over stress the Generator for too long," The Captain sighed, "Seems easy enough..." He then turned towards Amethyst, "Amethyst. How many days of food do we have?"

"Everything remaining in our stores is raw. We can do a lot better by building a cookhouse and turning them into rations," Amethyst explained, once again unlimbering her clipboard to flip through its pages, "When cooked, I think... about three days before ponies start getting very hungry. They will be working constantly, I assume...?"

"Indeed," The Captain grunted, "What food sources do we have out here?"

"Absolutely none," Doctor Hooves shook his head, "No foraging, and nowhere to plant. If we want to eat, we'll need to grow vegetables and fruit from the seeds we have in the Lorries inside of a Hothouse."

"And what's that?" The Captain asked, turning back towards Hooves.

"Well..." Hooves chuckled, "It's a house that's hot."

The Captain quirked an eyebrow.

"...Ahem," The doctor cleared his throat, "Well. The ground is frozen too solid to grow plants out in the open, and it'd be too risky to do that anyway. The only way to grow crops would be to establish a sheltered building with a method of distributing enchanted steam to warm the ground and air enough to sustain plant life."

"We'd do best with a mixture of beans, kale, cabbage, and berries. They would supply all the vitamins our ponies require in their diets," Amethyst noted, continuing to chew on the back of her pencil.

"We also possess some herbs useful in the manufacturing of alchemical remedies, as well as mundane medicine," Hooves added, "Importantly, we must also eventually scout for some place where we can mine salt ice or access ocean water. Salt is integral to a healthy diet, and we had no space to stock it amongst our rations on the way here."

"Our supply of Steam Cores is also to note, Sir," Amethyst flipped her clipboard around, showing the Captain a few numbers on its front page, "We had managed to salvage a Steam Core from Lorry One all the way back when it stalled. We have two more on the surviving Lorries that we can salvage as soon as we have tied them down permanently and unloaded their cargo. As I am sure Doctor Hooves could tell you, Steam Cores are extremely important in establishing any technologically advanced industry out here."

Doctor Hooves nodded, "The most relevant of those technologies, in my opinion, would be coal mines. The spots we've selected for Generator construction were specially chosen for their abundance of Coal. I believe, according to the plans for this site, the southern and eastern walls of the valley can be mined for coal deposits detected during the survey," Hooves pointed a hoof to indicate the valley walls he spoke of, "There are also deposits of Iron Ore scattered around the place that we may mine and turn into Steel for our constructions. The positioning of this Generator was very carefully selected, you see."

"It seems so," The Captain grunted,"As for trying to find salt water- I distinctly remember exploring Sequin Bay a few miles south of here back during my arctic expeditionary days. It was deep enough to park our ships in, so most likely we can drill for salt water there."

"You explored this area before the Frost?" Amethyst asked, curious.

"Yes. Indeed. I'm unsure if I visited this alley in particular, but I made one of my most famous expeditions through these plains about twenty years ago," The Captain breathed out an icy puff of air, "Record for farthest north travelled. It's what made me the ideal pick for this expedition."

"...Was it always this cold?" Amethyst asked, shivering as another blast of wind thundered through the pass.

The Captain chuckled, "Actually. No. But, we did go through it without any of the fancy steam tech we have now. No, not even a Lamp," The Captain raised a forehoof to adjust the Lamp attached to his chest, "Even though it only ever got as low as -30 centigrade... it felt nearly as bad as it is now."

There was only the sound of the wind for a moment, only broken up by the distant shouts of the ponies working the pulleys as they sent yet another load of hopeful citizens down to the valley. Slowly but surely, the crowd was beginning to dissipate around them. It would not be much longer until it was their turn.

"Captain, if I may ask..." Doctor Hooves started the conversation up again, "You seem to be... extremely qualified for this mission... so... why were you selected for this expedition in particular? I know personally of other sites that would've been much harder to navigate to..."

The Captain's eyes searched the crowd, before they landed on a single figure sitting next to a furnace. A white unicorn with a purple mane, and a thick fur coat.

He pointed towards her, leaning in towards Doctor Hooves, "See that pony over there?"

"Yes, sir?" Hooves nodded as his eyes followed the Captain's.

"That is Rarity Belle. She, along with three other refugees on our expedition were close friends of Twilight Sparkle," The Captain explained.

Hooves quirked an eyebrow, "You mean to say... this expedition has been shown nepotism?"

"I believe so, yes," The Captain nodded, "At least, that's how I interpreted it. It's not like Her Majesty told me directly that this was the reason I led this expedition. But... she did give me this..." The Captain reached into his coat pocket, bringing out an envelope sealed with a wax imprint of the Princess of Friendship's cutie mark.

"A letter?" Amethyst chimed in, looking over the Captain's shoulder at the piece of paper.

The Captain nodded again, "She told me to give it to them, but only when they were 'Bereft of the magic that brought them together'."

"Cryptic," Hooves mumbled, stoking the coals in the furnace once again as the cold nipped at his muzzle and at his ears.

"Very much so," the Captain stuffed the letter back in his pocket, "I suppose only time will tell..."

Out of the corner of his eye, the Captain spied a pony walking up to the small circle that the administrators had formed. Snow caked her heavy cloak, and she peered out at them between a small gap between her scarf and a Stetson hat.

"Sir!" the earth pony gave an untrained salute, causing the Captain to automatically return with his own salute, "It's time for y'all to be lowered down to that there Generator! Ponies are already waiting to see it being turned on!"

The Captain stood up from his seat in the snow, his bones creaking as he sighed, "I'm afraid they'll be waiting a while for that."

"Well, whatever you say Captain," The country pony shrugged, "Ah'm excited either way to get out of this wind!"

The three leaders followed her back to the platforms at the base of the pulley, where a metallic cart was suspended by four ropes to the pulley system. There was nowhere to hold on, and the cart shook unconvincingly as the three ponies piled inside.

"Better hang on, and don't try and shake around too much! We have a few foals that we'll squeeze in with ya, if you don't mind!" The pegasus stallion manning the pulley crank shouted.

"Very well!" The Captain shouted, nervously adjusting his wait as he sat in the cart. 

Amethyst and Hooves also both piled in around him, the cart swaying from side to side as they did. Amethyst nervously looked up at the ropes that held them up, before simply gulping and staring down to study her forehooves as she shivered.

A pegasus walked forth from the storm, herding along three foals towards the pulley. With a bit of help from the adults, the three wrapped up foals descended into the cart, squeezing in around the legs of the three adults.

The Captain narrowed his eyes as he noticed something off about the three foals', who he could now see were all fillies, winter clothing. An odd accessory was pinned over their heavy cloaks. A red cape, made of a familiar red silk, which was only meant to be given to repair the sashes that the distinguished members of the city's administration wore.

The pulley began to creak as the cart began its descent to the valley below, causing the Captain's stomach to lurch. 

Amethyst squeezed her eyes closed as she began to whisper, "Don'tlookdowndon'tlookdowndon'tlookdown..."

Hooves grumbled, "Dear science... we need an elevator."

Eventually, though, the cart quit swaying, becoming more stable. The ponies aboard became less nervous as well, a large inhale coming from Amethyst signalling the end of her hyperventilation as she deigned to simply plaster her forehooves over her eyes.

The Captain, after taking a quick look at the ground, still so far below them, turned his head towards the three fillies, "Say, little ones, where'd you get that fabric from?"

The three of them unanimously stared at him sheepishly. One of them, the small orange pegasus, grinned nervously, "...Through completely legitimate means?"

"If you stole it, I won't be mad," The Captain gave a small smile, drawing his coat a bit closer to his chest.

"Well... we didn't not steal it," The white unicorn filly mumbled.

Hooves sneered and leaned forwards towards the three foals, causing them to shy away in fear, "That's expensive stuff! We only have so much of that material you-"

Amethyst plugged Hooves's mouth with a forehoof, "Aww... I'm sure nopony will miss a little bit of silk. Will they?" Her eyes turned back towards the Captain.

The Captain, however, just rolled his eyes, avoiding Amethyst's gaze and looking at the fillies instead, "You know stealing is a very serious crime, right?"

"...Yes siree..." The bright yellow earth pony filly's gaze looked down, "...But me and mah friends just wanted to remember the good old days. And we had these capes and they were just the right color... and it didn't look like nopony would mind..."

"Hmph, well," The Captain crossed his forehooves, smiling slyly, "I'll let it slip... for now. But, I can't just let known criminals run around free, can I?"

The foals blinked, and Doctor Hooves rolled his eyes as Amethyst slowly removed her forehoof from his mouth.

"Every morning, at exactly 7:30, I want you to report to my tent so that I may personally search you, punish you with a cup of hot cocoa, and watch over you so you don't get to any mischief!" The Captain ordered sternly, "Am I understood?"

The pegasus filly beamed, "Whoah! That sounds like a great deal!"

"Yeah! You got it, mister!" The earth pony nodded fervently.

"Very well! Please, give me your names!" The Captain leaned in, smile beaming wide as he kept his forehooves crossed.

The pegasus spoke up first, "Scootaloo!"

"Apple Bloom!" The earth pony said next.

"Sweetie Belle," The unicorn finished.

"Very good," The Captain nodded, his smile persisting, "I want you at my place by 7:30 tomorrow morning. No tardiness, understood?"

"Yessir!" Sweetie nodded.

Suddenly, the cart rumbled to a stop, and its passengers finally realized just how much closer the ground had gotten. They were now on the floor of the valley, and already they could feel the change in temperature.

Without the wind, the air was almost balmy. Doctor Hooves took out a device from his pocket, looking at it with fascination, "A mere -20 degrees! Fantastic!"

The Captain wordlessly adjusted his cap, standing up and beginning to disembark from the cart. Another pegasus pony, standing by the bottom end of the pulley, helped the foals get out over the high sides of the metal bin. Once everypony was off, the pegasus tugged the rope twice, signalling the pony at the top to begin retrieving the cart.

From down in the valley, the Generator's size was truly immense. The Captain's neck strained to truly look up to the top of the massive steel tower. The massive steam machine was currently idle, and now he could only imagine what it would look like when active. 

He looked around at the supplies left scattered in the snow. There was steel wreckage, wooden boxes, and piles of coal smattered around the valley seemingly at random. Snow fell slowly from the sky above onto them, with the world being so paradoxically calm when compared to the chaos outside of the sanctuary of the valley.

The three fillies ran out ahead of the Captain and his entourage, running towards the Generator with their giggles and laughter disappearing into the night. By now, it was only a few more hours until sunrise. Even though the sun would still be dim through the storm clouds, it would still shine on a new day for Ponykind. A day hopefully safe from the eternal winter, where perhaps they could rebuild what they lost to the frost. 

The three began their slow trudge through the snow towards the Generator, the small twinkling lights of the citizenry's Lamps sparkling under the Generator.





Huge, gaping bins stared up into the sky, yawning for coal to be inserted into them. The only premade building in sight sat right next to the huge tower: a set of what looked like warehouses to stockpile resources in. From what the Captain could see as he walked around the Generator's inner ring, inspecting the machine and the situation, the stockpiles were completely empty for now. Regardless, he felt thankful that there was at least some place to put the resources they would salvage from the Lorries and gather from the surrounding piles.

"Captain, look," Amethyst tapped the Captain on his shoulder, turning his attention away from the stockpiles to stare up towards the Generator.

Amethyst's hoof pointed up towards a huge placard mounted on the face of the Generator. The Equestrian Exploration Company's familiar logo was imprinted on its top, and engraved below it was:

SITE 132 - NEW PONYVILLE.

THIS GENERATOR OWES ITS EXISTENCE TO THE BRAVE SACRIFICES OF NEARLY 200 PONIES, WORKING TIRELESSLY TO SEE ITS COMPLETION. HOLD THEIR MEMORY IN YOUR HEARTS, THOSE WHO COME LATER, FOR THEY ARE THE ONES WHO YOU TRULY OWE YOUR LIVES.

SIGNED, DIRECTOR TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"200..." The Captain whispered, nearly breathless, "How is that possible..."

Amethyst gulped, "I... I guess this Generator has a lot of stories to tell."

"I'm sure it does," Chimed in Doctor Hooves, also staring up at the engraving.

There was a moment more of silence, where the three continued to appreciate the lack of noise, be it from the storm or from the endless rumble of a Steam Lorry's engine. 

Eventually, the Captain broke the silence with a sharp exhale, blowing out a frosty cloud from his nostrils, "I suppose we'd better get to work, then. We can't have ponies sleeping on the floor, and the faster we can begin fueling this thing, the better..."

Amethyst Star reached into her pack, bringing out the megaphone with a smile and floating it over to the Captain.

The Captain nodded, taking it in his own magic as he raised it to his mouth and turned to face the crowd.

"Attention! Everypony!" His voice boomed across the crowds of gathered, idle ponies, causing them to turn towards him and fall silent.

"We have arrived at our new home! Yet there is still much to do!" The Captain's voice held years of experience in leadership, and his booming voice commanded authority over the crowd, "We must gather the resources left for us, as well as decouple the remaining cargo from the Steam Lorries!"

He gestured towards the row of Administrators standing next to him, which included Amethyst and Hooves, "My ponies will divide you into two groups! Group one will be given extra layers to bundle up with, and will be sent to the Steam Lorries to ferry supplies from their cargo bays and to the pulleys! The second group will be split into groups of thirty, and will head out to stockpile coal, wood, and steel from the nearby piles!"

"You will be off shift by 6 o' clock this evening, where hopefully we may erect tents, activate the Generator, and build a place to prepare food and eat! Remember this, though: Every plank, steel panel, and lump of coal you collect today will directly dictate if you sleep under a tent or in the open, if the Generator stays dead or hums with warmth, and if you will eat a full meal come tomorrow!"

There was silence from the crowd, but the Captain was sure in himself that they got his message.

"Now, there is no time to waste! Get to work!" The Captain cried.

And so, as the administrators began to divide the workforce up, the Captain lowered the megaphone with pride puffing in his chest. There was Hope, hope of a brighter future. They just needed to work for it. For now, everypony had the same mind, the same goal. 

He just hoped he could keep it that way.
> Chapter 7 - Rarity Belle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity Belle remembered that day well.

Green grass grew on the knolls and bluffs surrounding Ponyville Train Station, and while the wind was a bit more nippy than it usually was that autumn, nothing was out of place in the world.

Tears were being exchanged on the train platform as six friends gathered around a pile of luggage and a duffel full of books, packed so full that the zip on top had broken. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie all gathered around Twilight Sparkle and Spike, still bound in a group hug.

Twilight Sparkle was the first to break the hug, "Aww... girls I'm not going to be gone for that long, just a few months."

"But we hardly ever ever get to see you anymore, Twilight!" Complained Pinkie, mane slightly deflated and eyes wet with tears, "You spend all that time up with that company in Canterlot, and now you're going overseas for an entire three months! And how am I supposed to fit my sixteen packs of Super Loopa Cupcakes in a telegram, Twilight? A telegram!?"

Twilight sighed, "Sorry, Pinkie, it's just... really important that this project has my direct oversight. I promise though, I'll be back in Ponyville in time for Hearth's Warming," she gave a weak, assuring smile.

"You sure you don't want our help?" Rainbow asked, hovering next to the group with crossed forehooves, "I'm sure whatever it is you're doing, it'd go a lot better with the most awesome pegasus in Equestria by your side!" she finished her sentence by striking a pose, complimented by a toothy grin.

"You all have jobs, and many of you have family here. I couldn't ask you to abandon all that just for this," Twilight shook her head.

"Well, some of mah family is going, Twi," Applejack cut in, "Big Mac's already signed on to your expedition."

"All the more reason you need to stay," Twilight assured, "Granny Smith definitely can't run the farm all by herself. Especially not with her recent health issues."

Applejack frowned, but stepped back, ceding the point. Granny Smith, despite going for more than a century at this point, had developed a case of tuberculosis that the doctors couldn't treat.

"Well... make sure you bundle up, darlings," Rarity insisted, "Especially you, Spikey-wikey," she acknowledged the young dragon, "Just because you're a dragon doesn't mean you won't need a nice wooly coat when you're all the way up north."

"Yeah... I'll make sure to bring you back something for Hearth's Warming," Spike nodded, smiling deeply at Rarity's affections.

Rainbow snorted, "As long as he doesn't eat it on the way back like he did with your last gift."

The gathered ponies shared a laugh as Spike mumbled something. The rails by the platform began to shake as a locomotive began steaming down towards the platform, its whistle blowing as its wheels screeched to a halt, stopping just ahead of the platform.

Ponies began flooding from its passenger cars, and a conductor stepped out to monitor those who left and got back on to the Ponyville Express.

"Well. It's time," Twilight turned back away from the train, lowering her head, "....I'll... I'll miss all of you."

"We'll all miss you, Twilight," Rarity said, backed up by general affirmatives from the rest of her friends.

"If you-," Fluttershy's voice was choked by a sob, "...see any penguins up there, try and get some pictures for me... if that's okay and it doesn't mess with your schedule," Fluttershy asked, lip quivering as she approached for another hug on Twilight.

"I will," Twilight patted her on the back.

"Don't overwork yerself, Twi," Applejack joined in on the hug.

"I won't," Twilight's voice was punctuated with a sniffle.

"Keep bundled up, it's going to be a cold winter this year," Rarity also joined.

"I will," Twilight repeated, nodding slightly as a fresh set of tears wetted the necks and muzzles of the ponies pressed up against her.

"I'll make sure to write you when the new Daring Do book comes out," Rainbow promised, piling onto the embrace.

"That s-sounds good..." Twilight whispered.

There was a pause for a moment, before Twilight spoke up once again.

"Listen... girls.. I need you to know," She opened her eyes, flooded with tears, "I promise you... that no matter what happens. I'm doing this for you. And I'll be there for you, no matter what, okay?"

The girls didn't even have the time to truly comprehend what their friend was saying, before the moment was interrupted by a pink blur.

"Cannonball!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing up high into the sky, only to come down on top of the group hug, flattening everypony there as she wrapped herself around Twilight's face, letting out a 'squee'.

Another round of laughter was shared as the hug broke up, and everypony recollected themselves after Pinkie Pie's bombardment. Only a few moments later, there was a shrill whistle from the train.

"All aboard!" The conductor cried, waving at the waiting passengers.

"Okay.." Twilight sniffled, hurriedly wiping the tears from her eyes as she got up from the floor, "I really gotta go now... heh..." she levitated her bags up into the air, the ones she didn't being picked up by Spike moments later.

"Bye!"

"Byeeee!"

"Later, Twilight!"

"See you Hearth's Warming!"

"Don't forget to wriiiiiiiiiite!"

The shouts rang over the platform as Twilight gave one final wave, before entering the door to the first class passenger car. The girls stayed on the platform, continuing to wave as Twilight stuck her head out of one of the windows shortly after. They saw her disappear over the horizon as the train pulled away from the station, eventually disappearing from sight...







Rarity Belle stood still, looking up at the Generator. Her eyes went over the plaque on the front, again and again. 

"...Why..." she whispered within her own mind. 

Why did Twilight Sparkle have to go, and never come back? Why was all this sacrifice necessary for them? Why wasn't she here, leading the expedition with the rest of the Administrators? Why did she lock herself away from her own friends?

The reason she had left was to build this Generator, the thing that would be the salvation of them. That much was clear. But why... why did they have to live without here? What had she herself done to drive Twilight away? Why not even Spike? Why, out of everything the winter had taken from her... why did it need to take a friend so close to her?

Ever since she had seen that plaque, she had been completely lost in her own thoughts. She could stand losing her belongings, losing her looks, losing her dignity... but she couldn't stand losing her friends. She could hold out hope that Pinkie was alive, and that they were going back for her. She knew Fluttershy would be safe in her project to take care of seedlings in another city. But now... now despite her holding out hope against the odds...

Now she knew Twilight was gone.

A flap of wings landing beside her broke her out of her musings.

"You okay, Rarity?" Came Rainbow Dash's scratchy voice.

Rarity looked down at the snow around her forehooves, eyes sullen, "...I'm..." Her voice trailed off, lost for words.

Rainbow Dash's hoof landed on Rarity's shoulder, "It's about Twilight, isn't it?"

Rarity leaned into Rainbow's foreleg, eyes still aimed downwards, "I... I really thought..." Her usually refined accent was decreased to a hoarse whisper, "I really thought she might be here. That she'd be waiting for us. Somehow, against all the odds... I still hoped..."

There was silence, only punctuated by the cries of the worker ponies as they dragged in the scattered materials from the snow, as others erected tents and other structures. As Rarity continued to look down, she noticed her own tears falling from her eyes onto the snow below.

"Well... she did leave though. I don't know why she came back... that's just her fault, I guess," Rainbow shrugged, as she lay a hoof on Rarity's shoulder "We just need to deal with what's left over."

Rarity looked at Rainbow, crestfallen at the lack of comfort, but simply just shrugged and wiped her tears.

"Have you any word if the Captain will form a search party to go back for Pinkie and the rest?" Rarity asked, shrugging off Rainbow's forehoof as she tried to pry her eyes off of the plaque and focus them on Rainbow.

"I uh, I actually came to ask you about that," Rainbow scratched the back of her head, which was finally not fully covered in multiple layers of scarves due to the much warmer climate of the valley, "Me and a lot of the rest of the Scouts are desperate to get back out there."

"Of course you are," Rarity sighed, using her magic to adjust the fuzzy collar of her coat, "It seems all of my remaining friends are desperate to get themselves killed..."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "Applejack again?"

Rarity nodded, "Yes," a sigh, "The poor mare... the Captain effected a 24 hour shift on the wood piles, and she was the first to volunteer. 'Anything to keep us warm', she said," Rarity shivered, "Poor darling is going to be working in the snow all day and night."

Rainbow just frowned, "Welp," she flew up into a hover, "I guess if you don't know when the Captain is gonna mount that rescue.. is there any work around here for me to do?"

Rarity nodded, "Plenty. I have no idea how the Captain expects us to both haul those resources in and build all of those tents all in one day," She fretted, sparing a glance back towards the wooden frames of the tents that made a circle around the Generator tower, "If you go to Administrator Amethyst Star, who's just over there..." Rarity pointed in the vague direction of one of the construction sites, "I'm sure she can find a place for a pegasus to help with the buildings."

Rarity watched as Rainbow flew off to go and help. Turning away from the cyan pegasus, Rarity looked up at the Generator once more.

The giant, idle machine stared back. 

Rarity's eyes traced the details of the tower, of the care taken in its machinery, of its piping, the thermal hulls, and the internal workings. The entire ten stories of the machine was a marvel of pony engineering. Yet, despite its size, every single component had been installed carefully and with affection.

Wordless, and thoughtless, Rarity walked up to the Generator's base, placing a hoof on the cold plating surrounding its core.

"Thank you," she whispered.







With another heave, Rarity combined the strength in her forelegs with the magic from her horn to lug the wide-headed shovel full of coal around to dump into a nearby cart. Ever since her moment to pause that morning, Rarity had dug in with the rest of the work crew. Even if she had been appointed as an overseer, that didn't mean she was going to just stand idle in the snow and watch everypony else work.

As soon as the cart she stood next to was full, she lay down her shovel and reached up her now free foreleg to brush the sweat off from her brow. The earth pony next to her stopped his shovelling too, hitching up with the cart to drag it back through the snow towards the resource depot by the Generator.

"We really need sleds of some kind..." Rarity thought to herself as she watched the heavy cart rumble and dig furrows into the deep snow that caked the valley floor.

She reached into her coat pocket, taking out a pocket watch on a golden chain. It was incredibly hard to tell the time out here, especially with the sun rising so late and setting so early, so Rarity was glad that of all of her possessions, she managed to keep her watch. 

"One more hour to the end of the shift," Rarity mumbled to herself, her voice obscured by the scarf she kept tightly wrapped around her face. She didn't care that the scarf now stank of her own sweat, or that the expensive material was now ruined with dirt and grime. She wasn't going to develop some lung disease from breathing in the toxic dust that hung around the piles of coal.

Her heart ached for the dignity she had lost. Her stylish winter boots had gotten so worn that the amount of patches she had done to them had left them as mottled, brown leather wrappings that had none of the beauty they once did. Her coat, while still intact, was now stained with dirt and grime from all of her nights of sleeping on the floor of the Lorries. Her hat was falling apart, having been constantly caked with snow which melted and drenched the poor fur cap whenever she went inside.

Her mane, the pride and joy of her entire life, had suffered the most. The perfectly cut, dressed, and curled mane had been reduced to a mob of hair that simply dangled haphazardly out from under her cap. The strands still held some of the dark purple life they used to, but without their delicate form they seemed to have nothing left to stand for.

Rarity could not even brush her mane anymore. Her comb had been but one of the possessions lost during the journey. And now, she could only hope the residents of this new city could find time to make such luxury items as combs.

Her eyes turned up as a commotion stirred from across the coal pile. A small, grape-colored filly seemed to be arguing with one of the other workers over something. Rarity abandoned her shovel temporarily, walking over to the filly and the adult with a quirked eyebrow.

"Overseer!" Shouted the worker as Rarity approached, "Can you tell this damn filly to go back to the Generator, where it's safe?"

Rarity looked down at the filly, who looked up to her and said, "But I'm supposed to be here to shovel coal!" The young unicorn stomped a hoof in the snow, "If not, the doctor said my mommy's gonna be cold tonight!"

"What's your name, little one?" Rarity asked, her expression invisible behind her scarf.

"Berry Shine," she answered, "And my mommy's very sick, and the doctor told me I need to come out here and pull my own weight!"

"Oh, dear. You can't do that," Rarity shook her head, "This is grown up work, Berry Shine, you need to go back to the Generator with the other foals..."

Berry Shine pouted, looking down at the snow.

Suddenly, another stallion on the pile piped up, "Hey! The kid wants to work. Why not?"

"Yeah. This stuff's heavy, ma'am, even tiny hooves can make a big difference!" Somepony said from behind Rarity.

Rarity frowned, "We do not endorse child labor, ponies. Berry Shine, you need to go back to the Generator now, or I will pick you up and take you there myself," She said firmly, locking the foal with a hard stare.

Berry Shine looked around at the other workers, who also remained silent. Her pout morphed into a frown, and she eventually turned and ran off through the snow back towards the generator tower.

Picking her shovel back up, Rarity shook her head, before continuing with her work.





Rarity's lips drew around the mouthpiece of the whistle as she blew long and hard into it, with a certain passion that could only come from the signal of the end of the shift.

"Alright! We're done for the day!" She shouted after finishing her whistle, "Let's get back to the Generator to see the fruits of our labour!"

Rarity and the rest of the workers carried their tools with them back towards the stockpiles. The pegasi that weren't working on the construction of the tents had been flying materials from the Steam Lorries and back all day. And, it seemed, at the end of the day that quite a good stockpile of coal had been acquired.

Wood was unsurprisingly absent, as most of it was used to construct tents and buildings. Steel, however, was piled haphazardly underneath the cloth roof of the stockpile building to quite a decent degree.

Already, Rarity could see the red sash and familiar face of the Captain standing atop one of the platforms attached to the side of the Generator tower. He had his megaphone raised, and her ears perked up automatically to hear his message.

"Listen, everypony! I thank you for your toil this day! However, we have not garnered the resources and salvage necessary to construct the Cookhouse! You will not get your rations until tomorrow! However, I trust in our hardiness to tighten our belts for a single day!"

The crowd groaned, Rarity included. Everypony was ravenous after the wait to be lowered into the valley and then the full day of work. To hear that there wasn't even supper prepared for them was upsetting.

"However! Due to the dutiful and expedient work of our construction crews, we will all have a place to sleep tonight!" A pause, "And yes, by a place to sleep, I mean that even though the tents have dirt floors, everypony has a bunk or hammock to sleep in!"

The previous gloom was turned into a cheer. More than half of the ponies there had spent the entire month of their journey sleeping on a cold, hard floor. Their sore backs and blistered hides would be thankful for even a cloth sack to sleep on.

"Shortly, we will activate the Generator! Please, feel free to stay and watch!" The Captain lowered his megaphone, before turning to a purple unicorn that Rarity knew was Administrator Amethyst Star.

Some of the reserve workers took carts and shovels, taking coal from the stockpiles towards three huge bins feeding into the sides of the Generator. While Rarity waited with baited breath, a nagging thought hung in the back of her mind.

"That has to be a full time job to keep those bins full... She bit her lip.

About ten minutes passed. The distinct sound of furnaces being set alight was heard, before suddenly a large, resounding rumble began to shake the ground.

The gathered citizenry murmured nervously as the earthquake continued, and Rarity's heart skipped a few beats as the Generator's plating began to shake threateningly. The rumbling became deafening, and in the distance Rarity could hear loose objects falling in the construction site. 

For a few moments, Rarity honestly thought the tower was about to explode.

However, just when some of the crowd began to run away from the Generator Tower, the earthquake came to its climax. 

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM"

The sound resounded through the valley, making even the ponies on the 24/7 shift in the distance stop and turn to look. The rumbling faded, but still persisted slightly as the Generator suddenly started to work. The idle machinery and pumps began to start at a frighteningly fast pace, and the spherical core of the tower began to glow red. Steam valves hissed all the way up the tower, and with a huge bang, a puff of smog drifted away from the top of the tower, before being followed shortly by a steady stream of dark black smoke.

The snow suddenly began to leak bursts of hot, balmy air. The snow around the Generator began to quickly melt, draining away into grates that suddenly became visible under the quickly dissolving white blanket. The random spouts of hot air turned out to be intentionally installed vents.

One right next to Rarity began to sputter, before eventually releasing a steady stream of hot air. She reached up to take off her cap in sheer awe, her coat suddenly feeling warm on her body.

Finally, the thermal hulls on top of the Generator began to radiate heat, the air around it distorting like the air around sand dunes in a desert. A merry whistle blew from the top of the tower, which seemed to signal the end of its booting up process.

Above the still deafening rumble of the Generator's machinery rose the thunderous applause and cheering of the citizens of New Ponyville.

Rarity could not be helped but swept up into the fervour as ponies stomped, danced, and shouted praises towards the giant beacon of hope that towered above them. Sanctuary from the cold had been achieved, and the Generator burned with a mighty fury, just as Hope now did in the hearts of the ponies.

Through the crowd, a pony came up to Rarity, tapping her on the shoulder. Rarity looked down, before meeting eyes with those of Amethyst Star.

"Overseer Rarity, right?" Amethyst said, eyes diverted towards her clipboard as she struggled against the buffeting of the cheering crowd.

Rarity nodded, "That's me, yes."

"I need you to go out to the 24 hour shifters at the wood pile and call for volunteers to haul coal from the stockpile to the generator bins overnight," Amethyst requested, finally looking up to meet Rarity's eyes, "We will have an actual night shift for this soon, but we currently do not."

Rarity sighed, "Yes ma'am."

Amethyst only nodded, before turning back to push through the crowd.





Rarity grew distant from the Generator's warmth, and firmly secured her cap on her head once again as her Lamp guided her path into the snow. Only the silhouettes of the workers on the wood pile were visible by their Lamps, cutting through the darkness. 

As she came close enough to see her faces, she could see that they were all dead tired. Yet, they still continued to work. 

"Hello! Attention?" Rarity shouted, coming to a stop a few meters away from the pile.

The workers stopped and turned towards Rarity.

"The Captain is calling for 10 volunteers to use the nighttime part of your 24 hour shift to instead haul Coal to the bins fueling the generator! It should be a lot warmer there, and you'll be closer to your beds come the end of your shift!" Rarity's voice, usually soft and refined, had developed a hard tone when making her announcements.

"Ah'll do it, Rares," A familiar orange farmpony said, "As soon as ah bring this here cart back to the stockpiles."

The others were hesitant to raise their hooves. Coal was much heavier than wood, and it got into your lungs. Furthermore, nopony wanted to work in a repeat of the morbid conditions of the Lorry engine rooms. 

Yet, despite this, nine other hesitant hooves were raised.

Rarity nodded, "Finish your work, stow your tools, and report to Administrator Amethyst Star for instructions."

Applejack immediately began to haul her full cart of wood back to the Generator, but was quickly intercepted by Rarity, who began to walk alongside her.

"AJ, darling-" Rarity began.

"Ah don't care that it's heavier, ah don't care if I get sick from it," Applejack said firmly, continuing to drag her wood cart with her.

"You've already done so much..." Rarity shook her head, "And if you take this job, they'll probably put you on this shift forever..."

"And ah guess ah'll deal with it, Rares," Applejack huffed, voice still firm, "If'n it means keeping us all warm, then somepony's gotta do it."

"Yes, but-" Rarity began.

"No buts, not anymore. Ah'm tired of promises, Rarity. Ah'm gonna make sure this here Generator stays alive, even if it kills me!" Applejack hurried her pace, dragging the cart along with her.

Rarity, unable to argue any further, simply stood, wordless in the snow as Applejack trotted away from her. 

She simply looked up at the endless plume of smoke drifting up from the top of the Generator, and sighed.
> Chapter 8 - Rainbow Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Generator was loud.

Its constant rumbling, screeching, and whirring made Rainbow Dash's ears constantly flatten against her skull as she finally took off her extra scarves and coats, feeling warm underneath the surplus layers of cloth. The noise of the Generator, combined with the constant flapping of the tent cloth, the muttering of the crowds of ponies around the Generator and inside the tents, and the noises of work that still persisted.

Rainbow just tried to ignore the constant racket of her new home, navigating the streets between the tents stockpiles, eyes peeled for a specific tent standing out among the crowd.

She eventually found it, her eyes coming across a tent standing a bit taller than the rest, built in a hexagonal shape with an Equestrian flag hanging on one of its outer walls. Taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash walked out into the opening before the Captain's tent. Lowering her head, she ducked through the flap that made up the tent's doorway, before looking around at the scenery within.

The most prominent feature of the room was one of the Generator's vents, mounted firmly in the floor. The tent was filled with hot air coming directly from the giant furnace their home was built around, making it almost feel like a hot summer's day within the tent's canvas walls. A few bookcases lined the walls, with what looked like manuals and some old texts neatly ordered within them. A globe sat on top of one of the shelves, showing the world of Equus mapped out on its wooden surface. 

An electric lantern from the Lorries hung from the ceiling, bathing the room in a dull, orange glow. Just below the lantern was a wooden desk, although the desk was entirely absent of a chair to sit at. On top of the desk were several stacks of paper, along with a typewriter and a bottle of ink.

Two ponies were already inside of the room as Rainbow entered. The first was the ever recognizable face of the expedition's Captain: a unicorn stallion who currently wore a simple brown leather jacket, his coat shed and lying in a corner of the room due to the tent's comfortable warmth. Next to him was a bespectacled earth pony stallion, his winter coat laid folded on his back. The two of them seemed to be discussing a blueprint of some kind laid out on the desk.

"And this will be the Bath House. Many of us have gone too long without a chance to clean ourselves, and not to mention we cannot allow ourselves to simply dump our manure in some random snowdrift somewhere. These are just approximate measurements, but I believe this is enough space to house both a proper latrine and a space for us to collect condensated steam from the Generator in warm public baths. Not only will the baths be able to provide our ponies relief and comfort, but they will also promote cleanliness and health," The bespectacled earth pony explained, his hoof running over the blueprint.

Neither of the ponies seemed to notice Rainbow Dash, who for now decided to stand still and wait for them to be finished talking.

"And what of cleaning solutions?" The Captain asked, his gravelly, "inside voice" sounding a lot different than the voice he used to order the ponies of New Ponyville around.

"We can use charcoal derivatives. If we ever get the luxury in the future, we can use plant oil and sodium to create real soap, however I doubt that is a priority for us at the moment," The earth pony, who Rainbow now reasoned could only be one of the Engineers, moved his hoof to indicate a different part of the blueprint, "The latrines will have no plumbing, of course, so the crew of the bath house will need to clean those out daily too. We can use the waste in a composting chamber elsewhere to create fertilizer for the Hothouses."

It was at this moment that Rainbow decided to raise a forehoof to her muzzle and cough respectfully, causing the two ponies to look up from their work.

After a small pause, the Captain responded, "May I help you, miss...?"

"Dash. Rainbow Dash," Rainbow gave a salute, "I wanted to ask a... question, sir."

The Captain tapped a hoof on the desk, "Yes? What is it?"

"When are we going to send out scouting parties to find the ponies we left behind by the canyon?" Rainbow asked, her voice firm and eyes locked onto the Captain's gaze, "We left one of my best friends behind. She was gravely wounded, and I can't stand to have her waiting out there in the cold while we sit comfortable next to the generator!"

The Captain stared deep into Rainbow's magenta eyes, before eventually breaking her gaze. Turning back towards the engineer pony, he took a breath to speak.

"I suppose while we are on the subject, Doctor-" The Captain began.

Rainbow, gritting her teeth angrily, "Captain! Just gimme an answer, please!"

The Captain spared a stern look towards Rainbow, before continuing, "-While we are on the subject. Why don't you present me with the concepts for the Beacon we need to construct before we dare throw impatient, hotheaded pegasi out into the Frostlands without any way to navigate or communicate with us."

Rainbow wilted slightly at the Captain's words, before deciding to keep her mouth shut.

Blinking a few times, the engineer eventually reached into a knapsack full of scrolls, before rolling one out onto the table for the view of both the Captain and Rainbow.

"This is the Beacon," He began, adjusting his glasses once again, "Due to the fact that the pole's magnetic field makes compass navigation impossible, and that oftentimes it is too overcast to depend on astral navigation, we have come to realize that we need to have some kind of landmark in order to dependably navigate the Frostlands."

"Don't we have the Generator?" Rainbow mumbled, walking forward a bit to stand right next to the desk.

The engineer sighed, "Yes. However, the valley walls are too high and obscure the generator tower itself. That, and the smoke of the Generator may not be visible at times due to whiteout and visibility issues. So, I devised this solution..."

He tapped the blueprint. It appeared to be a giant hot air balloon, attached by cables and pipes to a base anchored into the ground. At the base of the balloon itself, a set of two huge lenses seemed to be mounted on a swivel, like a lighthouse.

"The Beacon will be a hot air balloon, made to fly higher than the walls of the valley. We will salvage the two high voltage lamps from the front of our two Steam Lorries to be uses as the beacon's lights. The lanterns on the lorries are specially enchanted with Piercing Light, and the light from them will be able to pierce ice and snow particles in the air... and even solid matter, for that case," The engineer gave a short cough, "They will spin, giving a constant signal of our location."

His hoof moved to the top of the hot air balloon, where Rainbow vaguely saw what looked like a balcony mounted on top, "Up here, there is a pegasi-accessible balcony. We will post lookouts here both to monitor changes in the weather, and to track our scouting parties while they are on the move. The Scouting Parties, using a combination of their Lamps and a spyglass lens, may use Mares Code to communicate to the lookouts on top of the Beacon, and vice versa. In this way, we can keep a constant track of those exploring out in the wild, and make preparations accordingly."

"If I am to understand correctly, Doctor Hooves," the Captain finally referred to the engineer by name, "This Beacon, an absolute necessity to safe exploration of the Frostlands, will be constructed over the following few days, correct?"

"Yes. We need to finalize the designs on the Beacon, and then actually construct the special parts for it in the Workshop that is currently under construction," Hooves rolled up the beacon's blueprint, "Then we will be ready. 

"Well. There you have it," The Captain nodded slowly, turning back to Rainbow Dash, "Are there any further questions?"

Rainbow looked down at her hooves, "No, I guess not..."

"Then perhaps you should get some rest. There will be plenty of work to do tomorrow," The Captain made a shooing gesture with his forehoof.

Rainbow silently made her way back out to the tent flap, before stopping and turning her head to look back at the desk one more time.

"Please, hurry," Was all she said, before she disappeared through the doorframe.







Rainbow Dash ducked through the flap of her assigned tent with exhaustion. All day, she had been moving ponies from the Lorries down to the surface, then helping to construct tents and the base of that damn Workshop the engineers wanted to badly (although, she supposed now that if that workshop meant they could build that Beacon faster, then she was all for its construction). While her energy was great, she was never known for her stamina. Even on her long hauls out in front of the Convoy in the Frostlands, her stamina quickly dissipated.

She supposed it was more her pegasus blood, made for quick metabolism and short bursts of power, that she owed to for that. 

While the air inside of the tent wasn't as warm as the stuff inside the Captain's tent, it was still decently warm, being in close proximity to one of the vents that sat outside in the alley. It was definitely warmer than the subzero temperatures of the Frostlands, and a lot less crowded and suffocating than the interior corridors of the Steam Lorries.

There were three hammocks hanging from the wooden beams that supported the canvas walls. Each one had a burlap sack for a pillow, and a cloth blanket messily tossed alongside it. The third one, on the far left side of the room, was currently occupied by a sleeping form that Rainbow couldn't quite make out. 

A few bedframes, lined with a thin mattress of cloth, also pressed against one of the walls. An electric lantern was sat in a corner, giving a small glow to the corner of the dirt floored-room. A single, thin wire snaked from the top of the lantern then out under the tent wall.

Other than that, there was only a few footlockers for the resident's meager possessions, and a wooden bucket in the corner that currently had a bunch of clothes tossed in them.

In the back right corner of the tent, she saw Rarity sitting with a book facing three familiar fillies, all of whom turned around as soon as they heard the sound of the tent flap rustling.

"Oh! Hey! Rainbow!" Scootaloo got up, zipping to Rainbow's side in a blur of orange and purple, "You won't believe the crazy day we've had!"

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow kneeled down, brushing the little pegasus's mane with a smile, "Must've been pretty awesome, huh?"

"Totally!" Scootaloo nodded emphatically, "When we got lowered down, we got lowered down with the Captain and his friends- though you already kinda knew that since you were there to help us onto the cart! But what you didn't know is that he told us to come and visit him at 7:00 every morning to have hot chocolate with him! And after that we went and explored the entire Generator in one day! The adults didn't even yell at us for it, it was so cool! We looked down into the big hole for the smokestack and I hovered over it for an entire fifteen seconds!."

Rainbow Dash's smile deepened. Despite all the two of them had been through since abandoning their home, Scootaloo still managed to keep the innocent, child-like spirit like the rest of the fillies. She brushed through Scootaloo's mane once again, "And did we all get the same tent too?"

"That was big sis's doing," Sweetie said from the corner, pointing up at Rarity.

"Really?" Rainbow stood up from her kneel, "Well that's.. probably the best thing that's happened today."

Rarity closed her book, giving a faint smile, "Family are assigned to the same tents, even if they are adoptive. And... well, I told them that young Scootaloo was your own," Rarity coughed sheepishly, "We couldn't have the poor darling crowded into the orphan's tent, could we?"

"Especially 'cause she ain't an orphan!" Apple Bloom added.

Rainbow quieted. She remembered that day at the docks of Manehatten, where everypony loaded onto the Dreadnought. Where a hundred royal guards held crowds of desperate ponies at bay while the few departed to safety in the north. How she had to wrap her hoof tight around Scootaloo as the guard brought down a baton on her parents, them having no reservation aboard the ship. The little one couldn't see what happened. As far as she knew, her adventuring parents were far away, safe by another Generator.

She couldn't know. Not yet.

"Is AJ already asleep?" Rainbow asked, trying to move on from the subject as she gave a glance towards the pony sleeping in the third hammock.

Rarity shook her head, "That's not her. Don't you remember? Applejack's out on a 24 hour shift putting coal in the furnaces. This is another random pony who's staying with us."

"...Oh," Rainbow scratched her head, "...Right."

Poor Applejack, the hardworking country pony had been slaving away to keep the boilers of the Steam Lorry running, and now she had to keep the massive Generator alive too? If the boilers on the lorry were insufferable, how much worse would a boiler the size of the Generator be?

"Apple Bloom will be staying with us for the night," Rarity explained, "I'm sure her and her friends don't mind sharing the bed."

"It'll be warmer, anyway," Sweetie Belle shrugged, and the other fillies muttered general affirmatives.

Rainbow sighed, before walking over to the same corner as the rest, Scootaloo following closely behind. She took off her coat, before tossing it in the bucket along with the rest of the winter gear. The air was still nippy, biting through her fur, but when compared to the slog through the snow at -70, the temperature of the tent was comfortable.

With a relieved exhale, she sat down next to everypony else, leaning against one of the beams of the tent for support. 

"Did you manage to talk to anypony about the rescue mission?" Rarity asked, looking towards Rainbow inquisitively.

Rainbow nodded, "I just walked straight up into the Captain's tent and asked."

"What did he say? What's holding us up?" Scootaloo inquired, sitting down by Rainbow's side, leaning into her wing.

"They said the eggheads up in that Workshop we were building need to build a Beacon of some kind so that we don't get lost out in the wilderness," Rainbow grunted, annoyed, "I personally think we should've just used the maps we used to get here and just retrace our steps, but then again the other scouts don't think it's a good idea to go out there without a way to get back... and I can't rescue them all myself."

"Nah, you totally could," Scootaloo poked Rainbow in the barrel, "You were the bestest Wonderbolt Equestria had ever seen, Dash! You could go out there and then show them the way back, easy peasy, I'm sure."

"Yes, I'm sure she could, darling. But, have you thought about those who can't walk? How about the supplies they have?" Rarity asked of the foal, "And what if a blizzard hits and Rainbow can't retrace her steps? They could just end up more lost than they were already."

"Ah just can't stand the thought of Pinkie Pie being stranded out there for a moment longer," Apple Bloom frowned, eyes averting from everypony else.

"None of us can," Rainbow shook her head, before closing her eyes and reaching up a forehoof to rub them.

"Is it true that there's other cities out there?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking between Rainbow and Rarity.

Rainbow nodded, "Yeah. That's priority number two once we find Pinkie, apparently. We're going to try and scout out to find the others."

"Of course there are other cities. Twilight built hundreds of Generators, it was just this one that she had a more... direct hoof in planning," Rarity added, crossing her forehooves, "But now, it's getting rather late, and the adults would rather be getting to sleep after a hard day's work. Let's get you all tucked in..."

Rarity got up in order to herd the foals over to the beds on the far end of the room. Rainbow gave Scootaloo one last brush through her mane before wishing her good night, deciding herself to relax in the corner for just a bit longer before going to bed.

She thought of what the future held for her. Up until they arrived at New Ponyville, her mind had been solely focused on forging a path before the convoy, with the promise of being able to return to some form of regularity upon arrival at the Generator. But now, it was starting to become more apparent that New Ponyville was no promised land, and that their toil had only just begun. 

She was sure that she wanted to go out and rescue Pinkie Pie and the rest of their lost expedition, but after that? Did she really want to spend her life endlessly searching the Frostlands? Was there even any real hope of her being able to do what she wanted to do in life? Sure, she had lost everything meaningful to her... her home, two of her best friends, her dream career in the Wonderbolts... but was it really worth pushing through a life of endless suffering through the cold and toiling to her work?

"My friends are counting on me, though," Rainbow reminded herself, looking down to her forehooves as they crossed over her chest as she sat.

Before the frost had split up the Element Bearers, Rainbow had been a solid bearer of Loyalty. She had never been one to chicken out when it was her friends' lives on the line. However, in this extreme circumstance, she found her faith in loyalty being tested continuously. It was easy to make the decision between her own life and the lives of her friends once, but when she was asked to make it ten thousand more times? Day by day? For the rest of her life?

She wasn't sure if she could really stand up and make that sacrifice.

For a moment more, Rainbow held her eyes closed, her ears faintly picking up Rarity tucking the foals into bed beneath their thin blanket. The ever flickering flame of Hope in her heart stirred once more, though, and she continued her determination.

"I'll keep pushing on. Every day might be hard, but it'll be worth it. If I can die for my friends, I'll die happy," She chanted the words in her mind like an incantation, or almost a prayer. It wasn't the first time she had done this, either. She had found herself questioning her own motives many times since they left the harbors of Manehatten. Every time, it came back to this. A sermon to herself, a prayer to her own faith.

A few minutes passed, before the sound of the dirt floor rustling sounded out from Rainbow's left. She cracked open an eye to see Rarity had sat down next to her.

"Tired?" Rarity asked, reaching her magic down to the tent's lantern to turn down its light until there was only barely enough for the two of them to see.

"Not really..." Rainbow sighed, "Just..."

There was an awkward silence as Rainbow's words failed to make it past her lips. Eventually, she shut her mouth, giving a slight shrug. She just wasn't in the mood to do any soul-pouring at the moment... nor had she been every other time this had happened.

Rarity quirked an eyebrow, but moved on, "Are you excited for a full meal tomorrow?"

Rainbow Dash snorted, "You really think it's gonna be a full meal?"

"Well, I surely hope so! After all, I think we only deserve it after being left hungry for an entire night!" Rarity huffed, "Honestly, is not having a proper place to eat really an excuse to not feed us? Surely we could've been given some raw food to cook over the campfire and distributed among ourselves. This is supposed to be a civilized city, do we really need bread lines?"

A grin spread across Rainbow's face, "I never thought I'd hear Rarity openly asking for more food to fatten herself up," She punched the unicorn on the shoulder.

Rarity gave Rainbow a glare, before eventually softening her gaze and rolling her eyes, "I suppose not."

"Tell me something, Rares," Rainbow continued her jovial tone, "If you could make all the frost go away and just be back in Ponyville like nothing had happened, but be the fattest pony the world has ever seen, would you do it?"

Chuckling, Rarity shook her head, "If it all really could go back to normal, you know I'd do it in a heartbeat, darling," Rarity's stomach growled openly, making her look down at her painfully thin barrel, "Even if it did mean giving up the most effective diet I've ever been on."

The two sat in silence for a moment longer. Rainbow was secretly looking forward to having a stable food supply. Earth Ponies were geniuses, they could find how to grow, even in this climate. There might not be nearly as much food as there was back before the Frost, but at least they wouldn't be constantly cutting ration portions in half like they were on the Lorries.

"Rainbow, darling," Rarity eventually spoke up, breaking the silence. She turned her head to look towards Rainbow sincerely, "What do you think we'd be doing right now if none of this happened?"

Rainbow mulled the question over, tracing her tongue over her teeth inside her mouth as she thought, "Well... that depends. What time is it now?"

Rarity silently fished her pocket watch out of her coat, "It is around 10:00 PM."

"Well..." Rainbow shifted her position slightly, "It'd be autumn, so I'd probably be seeing Tank go into hibernation pretty soon. I think it's Saturday too, so you know Pinkie'd probably be throwing a party of some kind. And we'd all be there, even if it was one of the smaller parties she threw just for a few ponies..."

"I'd probably still be hard at work at the Boutique. I'd be getting the winter dress lineup ready, but I'd like to think I'd always have enough time to spare to go to one of Pinkie's gatherings," Rarity smiled faintly, eyes averted and gazing off into a distant reality.

"Twilight would be there. She'd probably have read a book on punch or something, I don't know," Rainbow chuckled, "Fluttershy would come into Sugarcube Corner all like," Rainbow did her best to imitate Fluttershy's timid voice, "O-Oh, I'm so so sorry for being late, everypony. I needed to feed my deadly snake and wish the birds goodnight before coming over. I really hope I didn't inconvenience you or anything..."

"And then Pinkie Pie would appear from behind the refrigerator somehow and yell 'surprise' at the top of her lungs," Rarity chortled, "And then, she would have a big cake, made with sugar and real baking ingredients..."

"And it'd probably actually have yeast in it too," Rainbow nodded, "And there might have actually been fruits there too. And maybe soda, or maybe even cider..."

Rainbow trailed off as both of the ponies' stomachs growled at the same time. With a shiver, Rainbow stopped her food-fueled train of thought, and Rarity looked away.

"...When Pinkie Pie gets back," Rarity muttered, "She absolutely must throw a party for us- for the entire city. I don't care if it interrupts the work shift. I don't care if just for once we burn through more food than usual..."

"I think we could all use a bit more of Pinkie's spirit right now," Rainbow's face turned even more somber, "Even though we're safe from the cold, things are as dark as ever."

Rarity didn't respond, instead she audibly stifled a yawn. Shaking her head, she looked apologetically at Rainbow, "Sorry, darling, I've really tired myself out today. I'm rather excited to get into my own bed, so I'll take my leave now..." Brushing herself off from the dirt floor, she got up.

"Fair enough. I should probably get rest too. There'll be a lot of work to be done tomorrow, I'm sure," Rainbow also got up.

"Goodnight, Rainbow," said Rarity.

"Goodnight, Rarity," answered Rainbow.






TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

Rainbow woke up in a startle, wings unfurling before slamming against the heavy canvas walls of her hammock. Twisting and turning, the pegasus eventually stood up, eyes still burning to sleep.

Rarity also stirred in the neighboring hammock, the unicorn mare not looking too pretty without a full night's sleep. She reached her forehooves up to plug her ears before plunging back down into her hammock to ignore the shrill cry of the steam whistle.

Yet, just as Rainbow considered doing the same, the same noise pierced the tent's thin walls.

TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

"ATTENTION EVERYPONY!" Cried a voice through a megaphone outside, causing everypony in the tent to groan in frustration, "RISE AND SHINE! THE WORK SHIFTS FOR TODAY BEGIN! EVERYPONY PLEASE REPORT TO THE FOOT OF THE GENERATOR FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!"

Rainbow Dash gave a frustrated snort, before turning over in her hammock, slowly making her way out. Rarity also shuffled in her bunk, rolling out of it onto the floor with a yawn.

"Dear Celestia, can't a lady get her beauty sleep?" Rarity rubbed a bloodshot eye, and swatted away stray strands of her stringy mane away from her eyes.

Rainbow grunted, before her eyes were caught by the cutie mark crusaders jumping up out of their bed. They ran out the door, chattering about being late for something. For the life of her, Rainbow couldn't remember what they could be late for, considering they weren't the ones working.

The third pony stood up in her bunk. A mint green unicorn with a frazzled mane and yellow eyes. She wore an undercoat that looked befitting to the Engineers, with a tiny silver chain near the collar. She looked between the other two ponies with wide eyes, before standing up out of her hammock as well.

Not paying the stranger much mind, Rainbow followed Rarity out of their tent into the cold, morning air.





The Generator still steamed away as the crowd gathered before the podium set up on top of the balcony attached to the Generator's tower. The Captain stood at the top of the balcony, overlooking the gathering crowd, flanked by two administrators. One of the administrators Rainbow recognized as Doctor Hooves, the engineer that had discussed the plans for the beacon yesterday.

"Attention! Everypony!" The Captain's voice projected over the crowd, followed by the slight electronic whine of his megaphone's feedback.

"As we make our home in this city, we must adopt a more formal governance!" He continued, "From now on, we will have an official collection of laws that our city will run by! These may be publicly reviewed from the Administrators, and will be distributed to the Overseers as they come in!"

Rainbow quirked an eyebrow. New laws? She supposed Equestria no longer existed, so it wasn't like they could reasonably follow Celestia's old order... but still... something made her uneasy about the entire situation.

"There is a new law in the city!" The Captain continued, before looking down to a yellow piece of paper floating in his magic, "We will now extend shifts in certain areas from a 8-6:00 shift, to a 6:00-10:00 shift! For now, these shifts will apply only for the Overseers, whose attention is needed for longer periods of time during the day!"

Rainbow looked to Rarity, who simply bit her lip.

"The Workshop will also be working a 24 hour shift!" The Captain added, causing a ripple of discontented murmurs to go through the crowd.

"Are you trying to work us all to death?" Cried somepony from the crowd, "First those workers on the wood piles, now us engineers?"

"...In better news," The Captain continued, ignoring the crowd, "The completion of the Cookhouse is scheduled for tonight! Full meals will be served after the shift is over."

The faces of ponies didn't change, the appeasement in the Captain's words being obvious to everypony. 

"Disperse to your workplaces. There is plenty to be done if we want to see a better tomorrow," The Captain ordered, before beginning his own descent down the stairs of the balcony.

Rainbow gave another snort. She knew they needed to work hard to survive, but at this point the Captain was doing nothing but confirming that she'd be living the life she feared.
> Chapter 9 - Doctor Hooves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doctor Hooves scratched the end of his pen across the parchment, the tip of the implement riding against the ruler he held steady with the opposite forehoof. His mind, consumed in his work, ticked along steadily with the rhythm of the clock that sat on his desk.

A cold wind blew in through the nearby window, which hung open, causing the engineer to twitch. The thought to reach up and close the window floated around in the back of his brain for but a moment, before being pulled under and drowning amidst an ocean of calculations, dimensions, and specifications.

On the collar of his shirt lay a small pin, stamped in gold, with "Equestrian Exploration Company" imprinted on the front. His signature bowtie brought together his undershirt, and his overcoat lay draped over a nearby chair. His sleeves were rolled back, as to not get in the way of his delicate designing, and his spectacles lay low on his muzzle as his tired eyes constantly stared through their lenses, examining his work for flaws.

Before him lay the blueprints to a miniature internal mechanism for a heavy duty steel coupling. On the surface, the collection of springs, gears, and pins seemed irrelevant, but the engineer knew that eventually the tiny piece he designed would eventually become part of a greater whole, meant to hitch together gigantic loads for large locomotives.

Why they would need such a large coupling for a train? Hooves couldn't know. It would be impractical, in his opinion, to make Equestria's locomotives any larger than they already were. The designs he was a part of were for something much larger than even the artillery trains used in the war, and those were already oversized by modern standards. What was there to gain from spending so many more resources to make a single, large, overengineered locomotive rather than just making twelve normal sized ones?

He shook his head. The Company had been working on some, big secret project for a long time now. First, there was the Hope Project earlier, where plans for gargantuan furnace parts were commissioned... and now there were plans for a huge train of some kind...

It wasn't his place to question.

Hooves reached out for his cup of coffee, putting down his pen and ruler for just one moment. He took a sip, only to taste the bitter drops of coffee that only collected at the bottom of an empty cup. With a snarl, he withdrew the cup from his lips, turning the top towards him to inspect the inside. It was like he suspected: Empty.

Sighing, he got up, his chair creaking as he stood. He gently took his cup from his hooves to his mouth, before turning and walking towards his window, where cold air seeped into his warm room.

Maybe at some other time, Hooves would've been more inquisitive of the motives of his employers. But right now, Hooves was only concerned with keeping his well-paying desk job, safe in EEC's Manehatten branch office.

Even now, as he gazed out the windows, he could see another light snow falling from the heavens. Even despite the best efforts of the weather team, the cold in the atmosphere had caused the water to crystalize in the clouds on their own. That, combined with the increasing wildness of the frequencies of the weather magic, meant that even without the ponies doing their winter ramp up... snow was beginning to fall all across the country.

The harvest had wilted overnight. The situation was apparently no better in Equestria's colonies, either. New Mareland apparently had it even worse than Equestria did, despite them being close to the equator...

Now there were bread lines forming everywhere. Riots on the streets, ponies storming stockpiles to secure winter clothing for themselves. The price of a good meal had skyrocketed, along with the price of firewood and coal.

So, as Hooves brought the windows closed, latching them shut, he tried to count his blessings. He was still employed, with a good paying wage, and he still had his cushy job of sitting at a desk doing what he loved. 

"Furthermore..." He thought to himself as he looked down into the cup he had secured between his teeth, "There's still free coffee."

Coming out from his office to the common area, the distant sounds of typewriters clattering, employees murmuring, and hoofsteps tracing between offices all flooded his ears. He held his gaze to the floor, avoiding contact with the other engineers and EEC employees who walked past him. He was in no mood for socializing.

In the break room, a kettle was already simmering above a stove, with an opened pack of coffee grounds sitting on the counter nearby. In the sink, approximately thirty-two dirty cups sat on a dish rack, waiting for one of the office assistants to come along and wash them. 

A few others sat around at nearby tables, passing around a few words of conversation. Hooves initially tried to ignore them as he began to prepare a fresh cup of coffee.

"They say the world's gonna freeze over, and that it's all the Princess's fault," Said one, making Hooves's ear rotate towards them

A grunt from his companion followed, "Why would it be their fault?"

"My friend, he works up in the Canterlot office, he's saying that the Princess's magic is failing," This time, Doctor Hooves turned his head slightly to look at the pony talking.

"You've got it all wrong. It's those damn Griffons. Whatever they have that affects their weather to go all crazy over there, they've spread it to us. It's a ploy, to weaken the Empire y'see?" Another voice in the break room chimed in.

"Nonsense. They're in just as bad a shape as us," Another, more skeptical voice called from the back of the break room.

"Wouldn't put it past the squawkers to hurt themselves trying to get back at us. Proper enemies of real civilized peoples, you know!"

Hooves, stirring his cup of coffee with a spoon, turned around with the cup firmly mounted in his forehoof, "You're all incorrect."

Every eye in the break room turned towards him.

"Emissions from volcanoes, along with recent pollution from factories has compounded with some natural cooling effect. That's all it is. if we're lucky, it passes in a few years," Hooves said dismissively, before taking up the cup in his mouth again and beginning to walk out of the room.

"Emissions my left flank," Hooves heard from behind him as he left the room, "Bloody ash doesn't dim the sun!"

He tried to put the thoughts of the cooling behind him as he made his way back through the halls of the office building back to his own space. He tried to gear his thoughts back towards his work, and slowly his vision was taken up by images of equations, cogs, pressure valves, and force calculations...

Thump

Hooves's head suddenly smacked against something soft and furry, causing his cup of coffee to spill, with some of it going straight up his nose, and some audibly splattering on the floor. Shaken from his thoughts, he looked up, beginning to apologize.

"Sorry, I didn't meant to-" His eyes froze as he saw who he bumped into.

The purple alicorn stood a few inches taller than him, with a slightly upset look on her face. She was rather different from the pictures Hooves had seen of her. Namely, she was missing her tiara, which was replaced by a cloth cap, pulled down over her ears. Instead of a regal dress, she wore a simple jacket, with its collars pulled up to protect her neck from the cold. A knapsack hung near her hip, currently packed with unseen objects.

Under her jacket, she wore a simple vest and shirt, with the logo of the EEC sewn over the right vest pocket. A very recently-acquired coffee stain also made a large, brown blotch on the left breast of the vest.

Cheeks burning red, Hooves bowed his head, "I- Uh, Erm. Your majesty, I am- I sincerely apologize, I was just- I didn't-"

Twilight Sparkle's annoyed face eventually softened into a smile, "It's okay. I have spares. I can understand being a little distracted, especially in our line of work."

Hooves gulped, but eventually mustered the courage to just nod, eyes still glued to the floor.

After a moment, Twilight's hoof pressed against Hooves's chin, lifting up his face to look at her properly, "You don't happen to be a Dr. Hooves, do you?"

Hooves nodded shakily, looking up into her eyes, "Yes, ma'am- erm, Your Highness. Doctor Hooves, doctorate in applied mechanical engineering."

"Well, I suppose it's fortuitous that we..." She adjusted her ruffled jacket, "Bumped into one another. Can we meet in your office? There is something important I must share with you."

Hooves nodded once again, before meekly walking past Twilight on his course back to his office. The alicorn followed his every step, the clack of her hooves against the floorboards sounding loudly in Hooves's ears.

"What in damnation does the Director of the EEC want with me? Did I do something reprehensible? Were my designs insufficient?" Hooves's hearts thundered in his ears as he clutched his now empty cup of coffee harder in his teeth.

Finally, the two of them reached the doors to his office. He reached out a hoof, twisting the door handle and creaking the door open to reveal his office. Not knowing what to do, Hooves simply stood beside the door and waited for Twilight Sparkle to enter.

The door, being held open by Hooves, was suddenly forced closed by Twilight after she walked inside. She stood beside his desk, before gesturing to him, "Go ahead. Sit down."

Hooves blanched as the door clicked shut, before slowly beginning to walk over to his chair to sit down. As he did so, he looked up at the royal mare, a droplet of sweat running down his brow, "...Am I in trouble?"

Twilight gave another light smile, "No. Should you be?"

Hooves laid down his coffee cup, before tapping his forehooves together, "...I don't believe so... no..."

"Well that's good to hear," She smiled, making the poor doctor only more nervous, "Tell me something: you worked on the Hope Project, right?"

"I... suppose I did," Hooves nodded slowly, "I made a singular part... an emergency overload release valve..."

"I see," Twilight reached towards her knapsack, opening the top to withdraw a blueprint, "Are you at all familiar with the greater meaning behind the Hope Project?"

Hooves's eyes traced the blueprint as she levitated it slowly out of her pack, "I know it was a design for a large furnace of some kind..."

Twilight Sparkle nodded, before rolling out the blueprint and laying it on his desk. Before Hooves, sat a huge design template for a massive machine.

The design seemed to start underground, with a huge pump system designed to force water up high capacity pipes. A gargantuan spherical boiler in the center made a core, with huge heating rods feeding into it from a multitude of furnace modules. A system of risers, pipes, turbines, and pumps in the head of the system seemed to be made to circulate steam at extremely high pressures. Finally, a huge, over-engineered steel composite hull capped the entire thing off.

Doctor Hooves blanched as he saw the scale of the design printed on the margins of the blueprint. The entire thing was over a hundred meters tall, with the above-ground portion of it being nearly forty meters. The machine would dwarf a single pony- would dwarf even the spires of Canterlot Castle.

"If I am correct..." Twilight Sparkle asked, reaching out a hoof to indicate a small area near the top of the boiler, "This is the part you designed?"

Hooves's eyes focused in. A tiny valve connected to a vent. He had designed it to blow if steam pressure around it grew too high, thus hopefully avoiding an explosion when the main boiler was under stress. If it hadn't been indicated to him, though, he would have missed the tiny little component among the gargantuan inner workings of the machine.

"Yes... I did," He nodded slowly, "I... couldn't have imagined it would be used in something so large, though..."

Twilight tapped her hoof over the component thoughtfully, "I reviewed the design myself. Don't undersell it, for such a tiny component, it's very important overall. It was designed well, too."

"...Thank you," Was all Hooves could think to say.

"Doctor, I must ask you to not repeat what I'm about to say to anypony else outside of this room. Not even your own local superiors," Twilight Sparkle retracted her hoof from the blueprint, her face growing grim.

Hooves blinked, before nodding dumbly.

"The world is ending, Doctor," Twilight said bluntly, "The reasons why are irrelevant, but the fact that our world is about to fall into another Ice Age is inarguable."

Hooves nodded again.

"The Hope Project was a project to construct several large scale furnaces, dubbed Generators, across several sites in the arctic circle. Your design is present in all of them," Twilight continued, "Eventually, life here is going to become unbearable, and it's only going to get worse. The EEC is planning expeditions to take ponies from every city in Equestria to these Generators, which are powerful enough to resist the freezing cold temperatures of the new ice age."

The doctor mulled over Twilight's words. Looking down at the Generator blueprint, he found validity in the Princess's claims. The furnace was obviously built to be large enough to heat an entire city, and could most definitely powerful enough to resist most subzero temperatures...

"Why the arctic circle? Certainly the equator would be a better pick?" Hooves inquired, tapping his forehooves together once again.

"Soon enough, the equator will be just as bad as the rest of the world," Twilight dismissed, "The reason we have chosen the arctic circle is because the distribution of coal deposits, required for fueling the Generators, as well as large aquifer networks have made them more ideal spots to place the furnaces."

Hooves pushed his spectacles up his muzzle, inspecting the marvelous design of the Generator closer, "...And... how can I help?"

"You are able bodied and young, Doctor," Twilight placed her hoof over his, stopping his forehoof from tapping against the other one nervously.

"I am 32 years old..." He muttered.

"-Much younger than other engineers who worked on this project, Doctor. You will need all the strength you can muster should you choose to accept this assignment. You have an innate knowledge of the technology the EEC uses, and you have had your part in designing the Generator, even if you were unaware of it," Twilight pulled in a bit closer, "I want you to sign on as an Administrator on the New Ponyville expedition. You will be educated on the full operation and maintenance of the Generator, and the other technology you will employ. Not only will you lead them when it comes to engineering knowledge, but you'll also preserve the knowledge of the Generator and steam tech for future generations."

"...Future generations..." Hooves said, voice hoarse as he processed the information.

"This is a one way trip, Doctor. You, and the rest of the survivors will be expected to live there on a permanent basis... or until the ice age ends," Twilight intoned.

The wind rattled against the window behind Hooves, making him turn away as he saw the snowfall outside intensifying. With drawn lips, the engineer turned back towards Twilight and the Generator blueprint.

"Yes. I'll do it."







Doctor Hooves stared down at the paper before him. His drafting pencil was idle, stopped in the middle of a line outlining a pipe layout system for the Hothouse basin.

"Every harvest... providing only a few tonnes of gross product..." He tapped the butt of his pencil on the paper nervously, "That barely leaves a margin for error in case we have a bad crop, which is very likely with the unpredictability of the weather..."

His new office space in the Workshop was cramped, ugly, and didn't even have a window. He lived in a glorified attic, with a single desk and a crudely crafted chair made out of a stack of manuals. A tiny lightbulb dangled from the ceiling, providing constantly shifting light for his designs. Hung around his desk were blueprints for the Hothouse, designs commissioned only a few hours ago by the Captain.

It was a fairly easy job, considering the designs for the Hothouse were already theorized by the EEC prior to his departure from Manehatten, but in the engineering world, "easy" meant an entire three shifts of work. This was the reason he asked the Captain to declare a 24 hour shift at the workshop, even if it meant he himself would need to stay up, without rest, for the entire night pouring over his designs.

Yet, as he reviewed the compilation of designs and specifications that he and the other Engineers had drawn up, he was beginning to realize something.

They just weren't big enough.

Another engineer on his crew, a botanist, had warned of the amount of square footage the plants needed to put down their roots without choking each other. Yet, at the same time, Hooves found that, even through multiple redesigns and the entire day's shift working together, there was no way to make a single Steam Core cover a large enough area to meet the harvest demands of the city.

Even with two seperate Hothouses working together, it only barely met the needs of a single full meal a day. The fact that the plants had to be tended to with earth pony magic, heated with enchanted steam, and even then would only harvest every other week...

They couldn't survive on just the food grown in Hothouses alone. Not until they built at least five.

There was the possibility that they could create a more industrialized version, with plants stacked on top of each other and a more reinforced structure giving more vertical growing space, but that wouldn't necessarily solve the problem. Besides, with their resources, they currently didn't possess the means to really put anything of that caliber together. All they had were primitive tools, nails, duct tape, and drawing boards.

Taking off his spectacles for a moment, Hooves rubbed his eyes. He hated to admit that he couldn't solve the problem, but in these circumstances...

The door to his office squeaked open, the hoof-crafted door swinging on rope hinges as a small purple-colored unicorn peeked through. She held a lunch tray, with a cold pot of vegetable stew and baked potatoes sitting on top of it.

"Amethyst," Doctor Hooves sighed as the unicorn came inside.

Amethyst gave Hooves a faint smile, "How's it going, Doctor?"

Looking down slightly, Hooves examined Amethyst's boots. They were caked with snow, that was now slowly melting in the slightly warmer environment of the workshop.

Amethyst followed his gaze, before giving a shrug, "Snow had already recollected on the path to this place by the time dinner was over. Wasn't much of a bother, though," She levitated the dinner plate over to Hooves's desk, placing it on an empty space of wooden planking next to his blueprints.

"Are you feeling warm enough?" She asked, looking around the cramped office, "You're out of range of the Generator out here."

Hooves nodded, "I'm quite alright. We're quite well insulated," He eagerly reached out to take a fork from the plate, stuffing a potato in his mouth and savoring the bland taste. Like the rest of the new citizens of New Ponyville, he hadn't eaten in over an entire day. He wasn't quite starving, but he was definitely feeling hard hunger pangs, especially after being on half rations in the Lorries for so long.

"It'll probably get a lot colder at night. Haven't you got a fireplace or something?" Amethyst wondered, drawing her coat closer at the thought.

"This place was not built with central heating in mind, Miss Star.  We light a fire here and it warms a single room..." Hooves paused for another bite out of his dinner, "...Well, that is, until the entire place burns down because it's made entirely out of wood."

The two sat in silence for several minutes, with only the sound of Hooves chewing on his potatoes and taking sips of his stew to accompany their ears. Eventually, Hooves reached the dregs of his stew, his gnawing hunger, for once, entirely absent.

"How is the situation of the ill and injured? I heard we finished the medical post today," Hooves asked, taking a hoofkerchief out of his pocket to dab at the crumbs and broth still clinging to his lips. 

Amethyst shook her head, "The ill from our journey are lining up in droves. We've run completely out of beds for them, and the doctors not working in the post are doing house visits for the rest... and even then we still have so many needing attention."

"The medical post is filled completely to capacity?" Hooves raised an eyebrow.

"Every bed is full, yes. There were a lot of sick transferred from the medbays of the Lorries," Amethyst nodded.

Hooves huffed, "Every bed. Why aren't we putting them on the floor?"

"We aren't going to treat our ill like that," Amethyst frowned.

The doctor shook his head, "If they're at least in the posts, they can get their needs checked. We shouldn't be squeamish about these kinds of things."

Amethyst went silent for a while, before eventually looking down at his blueprint, "Are those designs for those garden buildings?"

"Hothouses, yes," Hooves nodded, "I wanted to ask your advice about that, actually."

"I'm... not a botanist," Amethyst mumbled.

"No, but you're a logistics expert," He tapped the blueprint with his pencil, "How many more days of food do we have in reserve?"

"Five days. We were hoping you'd have the Hothouses open by then," Amethyst raised an eyebrow, "I mean... these blueprints look almost complete anyway, right?"

"That's not the problem, Amethyst," Hooves shook his head, "Forcing all of our earth pony magic into the soil, using fertilizer from our own manure, and using the enchanted steam core heating solutions... all of it only makes the Kale mature in a week. And even then, it's a forced maturity, it's not going to taste good or even be that healthy."

"The solution is clear," Hooves continued, "We need to cut our rations in half again. And even once the Hothouses are open, that's not going to get any better, not until we have a lot more Steam Cores and a lot more heating space from the Generator."

"Half rations? Hooves, that's no way to live," Amethyst shook her head, "This is a city, we're meant to be living actual lives, not just trying to survive for the sake of surviving."

"Do you suggest survival is not a valid reason to endure?" Hooves asked, raising his pencil to chew on the end.

"Well... yeah, but at the same time, you're a smart pony. There has to be a way for you to figure it out. Isn't there any other way to get food?" Amethyst insisted, leaning up on the desk to stand above Hooves.

With a frown, he shook his head, "Nothing out there to forage. Ground's too hard to plant in, even if it's in the Generator's range..."

A  thought popped into his head, and he blinked, before waggling the end of his pencil towards Amethyst, "There is actually something we could do, but it's not pretty."

Amethyst gave a frustrated moan, "Well? You literally said there wasn't any other way, it sounds like you're talking about an alternative option."

"There are animals out in the Frostlands. Polar bears, seals, penguins, the like..." Hooves gave Amethyst a grim frown.

Amethyst's coat turned green as she suppressed a gag, "Meat?"

"...And blubber, and coats, both of which we can use for other purposes. But yes, meat," Hooves nodded.

"Isn't that bad for us?" Amethyst backed away slightly from his desk.

"If we eat it alone, yes. However, we can grind it up and use it as a food additive. They will pad out our meals, and they do provide... some nutrition. The famous arctic explorer, Ice Cap, survived off of seal meat and potatoes for months," Hooves noted.

"Didn't he end up dying, though?" Amethyst furrowed her eyebrows.

"Well... yes... but from completely unrelated causes," He shook his head dismissively.

Amethyst suppressed another gag, "We may as well just eat half rations instead of... that."

"That's what I'm saying, though," Hooves finally laid down his pencil, "We can turn half rations into full rations with food additives. It would taste off, but we would get used to it eventually. The health risks would be minimal as long as the meat is properly prepared, and aside from maybe a few health problems after repeated use..."

"I don't think so," Amethyst shook her head again, "Nope, nope nope nope."

"I don't think it's your decision either," Hooves picked up his pencil, trying to focus his mind again as he continued to draw, "That's for the Captain to decide."





The dawn of the next day revealed a promising sight. 

As Doctor Hooves slowly walked out the door of the Workshop, sleep deprived and sore, he stared upwards to see the sun shining down over the City.

"The blizzard has lifted," He noted, watching the light snow drift down from the sky. 

A blanket of icy snow had already covered the street leading back towards the Generator hub. The engineer waded through the snow, shivering as his breath came out in icy puffs. Even though the Workshop was well insulated, there was no shortage of numb hooves and shivering spells without a proper heating system. Now, as Hooves came back to the inviting warmth of the Generator, he knew his incessant shivering was a clear sign he was becoming hypothermic.

It didn't matter much to him. The safety of the Generator's heat was only a bit farther now.

The air slowly turned warmer as the snow turned to wooden streets again as Hooves grew closer to the Generator. Giving another shiver, the engineer appreciated the life-giving warmth of the giant furnace once again as he tried to comfort his freezing body that it would only be a bit longer before he was fully warmed up.

Most of the tents were deserted, with ponies having been long gone out to work on collecting more resources, building more buildings, and salvaging the last dregs of the Steam Lorries' cargo bays. Last time he had checked, the huge locomotives that had carried them this far were turning into steel skeletons, with most of their internals ripped up and cabins salvaged.

The only ones that scampered around were the foals, finding ways to occupy themselves with games of pretend and hide and seek. Hooves bit his lip, looking up to the Generator. He hoped none of the children, foolish in their young age, would try and tamper with the furnace. He knew just how dangerous fiddling around with the components of the giant machine could be, especially to the untrained and uneducated.

He frowned as he made his way to the Captain's tent to deliver his report, "The foals should be working, instead of standing around and watching the snow fall all day."

The Equestrian flag lay limp on the western wall of the Captain's tent. Despite its journey, the Sun and Moon was still shining bright on the turquoise field of the flag, giving penance to rulers and a nation long dead. Ducking inside the low bearing frame of the front door, Hooves made his way inside.



What met his eyes inside made the doctor pause. Gathered around the Captain's desk were three fillies, ones that he could've sworn he recognized from somewhere. The Captain was expressively regaling them with a story of some kind, and was currently holding a service rifle as a demonstration of some kind.

"And I had that damn polar bear locked down in my sights, and it couldn't even see my cloaked in the snow-" the Captain reached up to pull the bolt back on his rifle, before he noticed Doctor Hooves's entry into the tent.

Hooves suddenly remembered where the three fillies were from, "It's those thieves that stole the valuable silk for their capes."

With a booming, jovial voice, the Captain gave a toothy grin towards the engineer, "Hooves! You came just in time to hear about my daring polar bear hunt!"

Unimpressed, Doctor Hooves just frowned at his Captain, "...Is this really the most important use of your time?"

The Captain was quick to respond, "Yes! Yes it was... for as long as you were holed up in your office, anyway. I assume you've come to talk about something important?"

Hooves opened his mouth to speak, but just as he did, he felt a bump on his flank as somepony else pushed through the tent flap behind him. He heard a female squeak, before he clambered to get out of the way. There was a clatter of porcelain, before eventually the dazed head of Amethyst poked out through the tent flap. Floating behind her in her telekinesis was a silver platter with a tea set upon it, with a kettle steaming steadily.

Amethyst regarded the room for a moment, before noticing Doctor Hooves and immediately dropping into a frown. Trying to ignore him, she turned towards the Captain and said, "I've brought your hot wat-  errr, Your hot cocoa, Captain."

The Captain delicately laid his rifle down against a wall behind his desk, before nodding towards Amethyst, "Well, lay it down by our guests. If you wouldn't mind staying and watching them for a moment, Amethyst, I've got to have a talk outside with the good Doctor."

"Alright..." Amethyst mumbled, laying down the tea set by the foals before going to sit down by the desk herself.

Beckoning to Doctor Hooves, the Captain began to walk through the flap of his tent. Sparing one final look towards the three fillies and Amethyst, Hooves followed the Captain out silently.

"This doesn't look like hot cocoa..." He heard one of the fillies say from behind him as he left.

"Oh... it's white chocolate. That's why it's clear," Amethyst made the excuse just as Hooves exited the tent.



Now back out in the cold air outside, the Captain turned to Hooves, "So, what's our progress? Do we have our food solution yet?"

Settling down into the comfort of talking business, Hooves relaxed, "First of all: The Beacon has recently completed construction. We're making sure it's installed to specifications, and then we're going to launch it this afternoon. There's already volunteers lining up outside the Beacon to go on the rescue mission to the citizens we left behind."

"That's good news. We needed a win," The Captain sighed, "And about the Hothouses? I heard from Amethyst that you said we might need to cut our rations in half again?"

"...That was one of the solutions, yes. With our current supply of Steam Cores, we cannot build enough Hothouses to properly feed everypony a singular full meal a day," Hooves nodded, "...But I suppose she may have failed to mention the alternative."

"An alternative?" The Captain shook his head, "She didn't, no. What is the alternative? I'd rather not cut our rations again, our ponies are becoming tired of their long hours and toil, I don't need to add starvation back onto that list again."

Hooves nodded, "Agreed. Captain, on your expeditions, have you ever been forced to eat meat?"

The Captain paused, adjusting his coat collar idly, "...Yes. Polar animals are sometimes the only thing edible. We lack the capabilities to digest meat, though, so it tends to just make you sick the more you eat it. Or, Celestia forbid, you get a true taste for it..."

"Well, the suggestion I made to Amethyst that she despised enough to not even bring it up to you is that we hunt seals and polar bears. We process their meat into thin strips, remove the fat, and mince the strips. Then, we serve it disguised within soups and with other normal mealtime elements. Even though our citizens will know what they're eating, hopefully not just serving it up front will serve to stop any disgust. If we strip it and then grind it, it may counter most of the digestive side effects of consuming meat. In the end, there are proteins we can derive from it that makes it a valid component of our meals. There might be some that get ill from eating it... but once we solve our food issues we can stop adding meat into our diets and just hunt animals for their skins and blubber," Hooves proposed.

The Captain frowned, "...While I do agree that it may be more efficient, for our ponies this may be a worse option than giving them half rations."

Hooves shook his head, before reaching up a hoof to adjust his glasses, "For some it may be bad, but for many others they won't taste the difference. Eventually, some might find it as a preferable part of their diet."

The Captain's lips curled as he gave a wince, "It is not at all preferable that ponies get a taste for meat, Doctor."

"Perhaps traditionally, no," Hooves disagreed, "It is a myth that consuming animal meat automatically leads into ponies becoming cannibals. Again, aside from a few medical side effects that can be easily treated, there is nothing wrong with extended consumption of meat."

"...I suppose, like you said, that the coats and blubber would be useful in crafting winter clothing and using chemically..." The Captain sighed.

"Indeed," Doctor Hooves nodded.

After a moment, the Captain gave a grim chuckle, "What a state. Proud Equestrians considering living like savages with real fur coats and eating meat."

Hooves remained silent, simply staring up at the Captain and waiting. Secretly, he wondered just what kind of pony the Captain was, and if he had the stomach to make difficult decisions.

Eventually, though, the Captain made his choice, "You're right, though," A sigh, "Alright. But: I want to know, when can we solve our crop situation and give ponies full, normal meals?"

Doctor Hooves responded automatically with his calculations from the prior night, "We solve it when we find more steam cores. We'll need around four hothouses to barely eek out the food we need for our full expedition. There's one steam core per hothouse... so..."

"Is there any way to produce them here?" The Captain quirked an eyebrow.

With a firm shake of his head, Doctor Hooves responded, "No. Not without a dragon. Dragonfire is an extremely important component of the Steam Core. For now, we'll have to make do with salvaging all we can."

A slow nod followed, "Alright. I will announce the law change to allow meat food additives tonight. For now, you may go back to your studies."

The Doctor nodded as he watched the Captain duck back into his tent, with the sounds of the foals within cheering his arrival emanating from within. Looking up, Doctor Hooves watched the black smog of the Generator's smokestack drift forever on into the sky.

Reaching up, he adjusted his cap, sighed, and walked away.
> Chapter 10 - Octavia Melody
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia Melody counted her blessings.

She had her place in the city, she lived near the warmth of the Generator, she was given preferential treatment as a medical doctor, and she wasn't as bitterly alone as she was even when she first left Ponyville. Steam Scalpel had been kind to her, and even though she was actually clueless about the job she was meant to be educated for, he had seemingly ignored it and given her instructions every single time she turned up confused.

She tucked the medical manual she had been gifted away in her saddlebag. Day and night, she'd been studying up on anatomy, medical language, and some simple illnesses that sounded like they might be common in their situation. Of course, this did not make her anywhere near skilled enough to actually be a doctor, but so far knowing some basic vocabulary and which pills made what pains feel better had proven useful in at least helping her to pretend.

The medical post, a slightly more insulated version of the tents everypony lived in, stood before her. A small crowd of ponies sat outside its door, all of them sick and openly injured, waiting for a space to open up within the medical facility. A pony with a red sash stood outside the door of the medical post, and looked at Octavia with scrutinizing eyes.

"Hey, stop, get to the back of the line. Medical post's full, wait your turn," The gruff administrator snarled at Octavia, putting a hoof up to stop her from entering.

Octavia blinked, before giving a dignified cough, "I'm afraid you have it wrong. I'm a doctor, sir."

Behind her concerned facade, she smirked. She had to admit, it didn't feel all that bad to be treated as a treasure in this new reality. She was an impostor doctor, sure, but she had figured out how to act the part very well by now. First in line at the cookhouse, and always having normal shifts at the medical post was rather cushy when compared to the conditions the others worked in: hauling coal, carrying freezing wood out of the snow, and plucking the Steam Lorries clean of steel in the bitter winds outside of their valley.

The administrator stepped aside, and Octavia gave a quiet "thank you" as she stepped past him and through the tent flaps of the Medical Post.

The now familiar stench of infected wounds, antiseptic, filthy bed dressings, and overworked staff hit Octavia's nose as she walked into the medical post's interior. 10 beds were lined up within the post's walls, all of them occupied. 

She frowned. Yesterday, there were only a hoof full more sick and injured sitting outside. Now, there were about ten to fifteen extra sitting outside, and all the beds were still full. Soon enough, those outside waiting for treatment might end up as corpses on the street.

She'd hate to be one of them.

A familiar voice came from the back of the medical post, "Octavia. Good to see you up bright and early."

Octavia automatically went to a pot of water on the back of the medical post. She reared up onto the edges of the pot, reaching down into it to wash her hooves. Once she had picked the dirt off of her hooves, she went to a tray next to the water basin, wrapping a layer of sanitized cloth around her forehooves.

"How are you doing, Scalpel?" Octavia asked.

"Exhausted, and we haven't even started our shift yet," Scalpel sighed, "I can see that sleep did not come to you easily either."

Octavia blinked, before giving a sheepish smile and rubbing her baggy eyes, "Yeah... our new quarters aren't exactly what I was used to before the frost."

"Indeed. Though, in our conditions, I feel that sometimes I am too exhausted to sleep," Scalpel turned around, walking towards one of the beds, picking up the clipboard attached to its foot and studying it closely.

Octavia, finishing up her sanitization,went to tend one of the sick ponies who had arrived overnight. It was an orange earth pony, with a freckled face. A cowpony hat lay at the foot of the bed, and the mare had her foreleg in a cast. She was currently asleep, with her eyes closed under a strained facial expression. Coal dust smeared the patient's face, along with flecks of burnt fur running down her neck and chest.

Chewing on her lip, Octavia read the checklist.

Applejack: Generator coal hauler. Passed out from exhaustion and fell off of the Generator bin, receiving a hairline fracture in her left foreleg. Minor burns from Generator furnaces sustained during her job. Corrected breakage in the leg, applied a cast, and administered painkillers. Patient should be given a single 5 mg dose of morphine every 12 hours, as per Doctor Horse's painkiller rationing protocol.

Octavia looked back up at "Applejack", before dismissively placing her clipboard back down at the foot of the bed. After a quick check of the patient's pulse, she moved on to the next bed. There was nothing she needed to do for the poor worker right now.

The next bed contained a familiar unicorn mare. It was Berryshine, the pony she had bandaged up on her "First day on the job". She disregarded her checklist, considering Octavia herself was the one to write it, and went to check the patient's status.

Even now, three days after finishing their journey, the pony was still suffering "complications". She was running a high fever, couldn't seem to hold down a meal, or even water...

Despite her deplorable state, she still seemed to muster a brave face whenever her daughter came in to talk to her. Even sitting up in bed despite her burns and wracking sickness. Octavia admired the steadfastness, and in a way... she hoped she could make her better.

"If I could've known that I would take such pride in this work... maybe I would have actually become a doctor," Octavia thought silently, before reaching up a hoof to measure the mare's fever.

Right now, the patient was drifting in and out of consciousness. Her forehead was baking hot, and caked with sweat. An unpleasant smell wafted from her, and Octavia wondered if the nurse was yet to change her bedpan. She also noted that the bandages were dirty again, making her grimace.

"Nurse!" She shouted, "I need bandages, gauze, and some disinfectant here!"

Her voice seemed to attract the attention of the sick mare, and Berryshine's bloodshot eyes slowly opened to focus hazily on Octavia's face.

"...Water..." She whispered, pleadingly.

The familiar shadow of the nurse came up behind Octavia, as well as a hoof bearing a tray containing the medical supplies she wanted. As Octavia took the tray, she looked behind her at Nurse Redheart, smiling and saying, "And a cup of fresh water, please."

The permanently-disgruntled nurse nodded with a grunt, before walking away as one of the other medical staff shouted for something.

Octavia made the process of taking off the dirty bandages and reapplying the clean ones. The bloodied, dirtied pieces of cloth she removed with scissors and her forehooves would eventually join a pile of dirty bandages, that would be summarily dunked in a pot of boiling water to be cleaned and reused. Good cloth was not a thing the ponies of New Ponyville could just waste.

A lot of the burned skin was beginning to flake off on its own, which made Octavia hopeful that her recovery would follow soon after. She applied the bottle of disinfectant to a cotton ball, before beginning to dab at the red, blistered skin that was only slowly beginning to heal. She knew how the first time she had forgone this measure, and that after being told off, she had begun applying disinfectant before bandaging any wound.

At the time, she hadn't even thought about removing germs from the wound. Back in the day when she cut herself slicing vegetables or while walking around in the wild, she'd had just applied a band-aid to the cut and forgotten about it. 

After finishing applying the new disinfectant, she began wrapping the burns once again with clean cloth. Eventually, the shivering, feverish mare was all patched up once again. 

She left the patient on the bed, before moving on to the next patient.

Cheerilee: Construction worker. Suffered hypothermia while clearing space through the snow for a street....

There was a slight commotion behind Octavia, making her glance over at the door momentarily.

A light purple unicorn filly with a hay yellow mane bounded through the tent flaps, with the forehoof of the Administrator outside scrabbling to grab her. The filly ran past Octavia before reaching up to lean beside Berryshine's bed.

It was Pinch, the patient's daughter. She came every day, as soon as the visitation hours began. It seemed though, that she was just a bit early for visitation.

Yet, it didn't seem like the administrator wanted to bother chasing the filly indoors, and none of the other doctors seemed to have the heart or time to fuss about working around the little intruder. Octavia didn't mind either, and simply went back to reading the checklist.

"How are you doing today?" Octavia looked up at Cheerilee, who was currently awake and staring at Octavia as she did her work.

Cheerilee shrugged, "I'm fine, after some rest."

"Then we'll start looking to get you discharged," Octavia mumbled, "We're short on beds right now," she began going through the general checklist of checking if the patient was indeed okay for discharge. Hypothermia was an extremely common ailment out in these temperatures, so Octavia knew what she was doing in advance.

"Short on beds? You're packed full," Cheerilee chuckled, before sitting up in bed and letting Octavia begin checking her, "I'm surprised you aren't putting ponies on the floor yet."

"We aren't allowed to by law yet," Octavia took out a thermometer to check the mare's body temperature.

"Rubbish," Cheerilee let the thermometer go under her tongue, "You poneesh chould be helin mor with the spache you haf."

Octavia just shrugged, not in the mood for conversation with the mare's sunny personality.


A few minutes later, Octavia finally finished her checks, "Alright. You're alright. Get up and make your own way out."

She ignored Cheerilee's thanks as the mare got up and left the tent. Octavia began to walk back towards Applejack to make sure the mare wasn't awake yet, before she noticed a commotion coming from Berryshine's bed.

"Mom? Wake up! Wake up!" came a small voice over the general hubbub of the Medical Post.

Octavia paused as she went to see Berry Pinch shaking her mother's limp hoof. She stopped in place, mind going blank as she stared at the patient's bed. 

The nurse was already walking over to the patient's bed, a tray with a tin cup of water already on her back, but she quickened her pace and brushed by Octavia as she came to the patient's bedside.

After a moment, Octavia saw the nurse reach up to feel Berryshine's neck. As the nurse's eyes froze in fear, so did Octavia.

"...We have a dead one," Nurse Redheart mumbled bluntly, removing her hoof from the patient's neck.

"What!? Dead!?" The filly exclaimed, clinging to her mother's hoof as she stared up at the nurse.

The entire medical post stood still, looking out towards the nurse and the filly. Octavia herself stood in shock, heart thundering in her ears. 

"Oh Goddesses... what did I do wrong? What will they think of me? I thought she was fine!" Octavia's mind raced for anything she could've missed in her short perusal of the basic medical manual. Her stomach churned, and fear gripped her heart.

The dull orange body of Doctor Horse walked past Octavia, the head doctor locking eyes with Berry Pinch and saying, "Little miss, you should leave now..."

The filly looked between Doctor Horse and Redheart, tears quickly welling up in her eyes. She seemed to want to make a retort, but her voice was quickly drowned out by a chain of sobs and hiccups as she buried her muzzle in the forehoof of her mother.

"Nurse. Escort her outside," Doctor Horse ordered, before reaching out with his magic to grab the checklist at the base of the bed.

Nurse Redheart wordlessly wrapped a firm hoof around the filly's midsection, before prying her away from the corpse. She began to drag the filly away as she fought viciously  to get back to her mother's bedside.

"NO! NO, NO, NO!" The filly howled, beating against the larger adult's leg as she was dragged across the wooden floor of the tent. As Nurse Redheart and her prisoner exited the medical post, the entire staff could still hear the child's ragged screams disappearing into the cacophony of the Generator's machine noises.

The entire medical post remained silent as Doctor Horse read the checklist. Berryshine was the first pony to die in New Ponyville. Nopony was even sure where to take her corpse. Back on the Steam Lorries, they just tossed the bodies off the back of the lorries to be buried under the snow. But here... that hadn't even been thought about yet.

Octavia's soul froze over once again as Doctor Horse began to unwrap the bandages of the corpse, inspecting the burns. He gagged as he inspected the wounds closely.

Turning to the room, "Dear Celestia. This mare has suffered third degree burns. What madpony didn't remove the burned flesh? It's rotted right on her! She went septic and died! Goddess's sake!"

Octavia stayed completely silent, "Dear Celestia... I didn't know..."

Doctor Horse levitated the clipboard in front of him, "Dr. Melody!"

Octavia wanted to run, but her legs felt frozen to the floor.

"You wrote this report, yes?" Dr. Horse affixed her with a judgemental stare.

Octavia gulped, before nodding slowly.

Dr. Horse frowned, "...Were you the one to initially treat her?"

Octavia's lips drew into a thin line as she quivered. Did he already know? Was he just testing her?

She pounded her fear into check, knowing her body was attempting to betray her lies, "...No, sir. I did not. I was hoofed the case once we arrived here in New Ponyville," She hoped her voice firm, because Doctor Horse's stare was definitely firmer.

After a few terrifying moments, Doctor Horse's eyes returned back to the corpse, "...I see. Does anypony else know the doctor that first treated her?"

There was a general shaking of heads around the medical post. The steam lorry's medbays had been chaos that night. Nopony else noticed Octavia's lie, not even the nurse who had most likely been too busy rushing supplies around.

Scalpel, however, fixed Octavia with a different stare. She wilted as he gave a grim look towards her, knowingly. Eventually, though, he turned back towards Doctor Horse and shook his head.

Doctor Horse's face turned into a snarl, "Celestia damnit. I know none of you want to admit it, and if we weren't so pressed for doctors and time, I'd have everypony here investigated. I just hope whoever it is, you know you just murdered somepony. I hope Celestia will show you mercy, because I sure as hell know I wouldn't."

Octavia kept her face firm, but behind her mask she battled with her emotions. 

It wasn't her this time. She was alive. That was all that mattered.







The Cookhouse was a much more... unpleasant experience than even the Steam Lorry mess halls. Even though there was much more space inside than the absolutely packed cafeteria of the overcrowded lorries, the Cookhouse was built outside of the range of the Generator, with the inner circle packed with tents made for sleeping. This made the air inside much more chilly than the comfortable wraps of their homes, and generally made most ponies just scarf down their meals and leave in a hurry.

The cookhouse was made out of a large seating area, large enough for 200 or so ponies to come in and eat at once at huge, lengthy wooden tables bordered by benches. Several windows looked out to the streets outside, and to the Generator as it chugged away past the tents. An electric chandelier hung over the entire mess hall, illuminating the tables and seats with a dim light. On the far left side of the cookhouse, a kitchen sat in a wall. Ponies with their manes done up in hair nets dished out stew and mashed potatoes for the hungry workers and engineers coming to retrieve their dinner rations.

Plunging her spoon into her vegetable stew, Octavia silently ate alone at a table. 

Her silence was soon interrupted as Steam Scalpel thudded down on the seat opposite to her, his dinner tray clattering onto the table along with him. He fixed her with a hard stare, and a scowl.

Octavia lowered the spoon from her mouth, "...Is this about today..."

"What else would it be about, Melody?" Scalpel grumbled, taking a spoonful of mash and shoving it in his mouth,  "You heard Doctor Horse, you're a murderer!"

Octavia remained silent, taking another sip of her stew as her emotions ran amuck once again.

"The only reason I didn't say anything is because I was complicit, you rat!" He poked Octavia in the chest with his spoon.

Octavia's face fell, and she dropped her spoon into her soup, "I didn't know. I'm a pharmacist not a surgeon. There wasn't anything I could've done."

Scalpel blinked, "...What. You-" He stuttered, "Somepony died because of you. She had a child, and you were-"

"What do you want me to say?" Octavia picked up her spoon again, giving Scalpel a dark look, "That I'm sorry that she's dead? I am. But that won't bring her back, will it?"

Scalpel stayed silent as Octavia continued to hungrily eat her meal. The clatter of plates, murmur of distant conversations, and constant hoofbeats of ponies moving in and out of the hall all punctuated Scalpel's gobsmacked silence.

"I am... shocked by your apathy," The aged stallion eventually said.

Octavia swallowed another mouthful of her stew, "I've gone through a lot. Enough said."

Scalpel stayed silent, before looking down into his stew blankly.

Octavia picked up her bowl, before tipping the rest of the stew's broth down her throat. The warmth and fullness of a full meal filled her stomach, making her feel comfortable for once.

"...Octavia... I can't let you continue to practice like that," Scalpel shook his head, ignoring his food, "We are sworn to heal ponies, not hurt them."

"We only have ten doctors for a city of two hundred ponies," Octavia muttered, "I won't make the same mistake twice, and I'll learn more field medicine from your manuals. Isn't that enough?"

"You are infuriating, Octavia!" Scalpel angrily slammed a hoof against the table, drawing stares from some nearby patrons, "Somepony died on your watch, you've made an orphan, and you haven't even shed a tear!" 

Octavia chewed on another scoop of her mashed potatoes, looking up at Scalpel's watering eyes. All around them, ponies stared curiously. Eventually, Scalpel noticed the attention he was drawing, and tried to calm himself and sit back down.

"You've put me in no mood to eat," Scalpel grunted, crossing his hooves and looking away from his meal.

Octavia reached out, placing a hoof on the edge of his tray, "Well, if you're not going to finish it-"

Scalpel swatted away her hoof, causing Octavia to cringe away with a slight stinging pain, "I'll finish it in due time, young lady!"

Octavia shrugged, before continuing to scrape the last remnants of mash potatoes off of her plate.

Deep within, she was very much upset over what had happened. Somewhere, someplace, she still held her equinity, and it cried out for her situation. Yet, the more grief she felt over her action, the more her own apathy rose up to suppress it. She couldn't give in to her emotions, not now... not after so long.

"There's rumors the Captain will be building a cemetery soon. You'd better be there to bury that poor mare with your own hooves," Scalpel spat in Octavia direction, before standing up and levitating his dinner plate with him to go and sit somewhere else.

Alone with her thoughts, Octavia licked her lips and stared at her empty plate. Alone, both in her mind, and in the world...





"Attention everypony! Today we have regrettably experienced our first death! Miss Berryshine, a valued member of our community, has passed away from complications of burns from an accident on our journey!" Shouted the Captain's silhouette from atop the roaring Generator. 

Octavia watched from the crowd as snow flakes fluttered from the heavens, mixed in with the tiny embers floating down from the smokestack of the Generator.

"For now, her corpse is being stored at the Medical Post. Tonight, our construction crews will erect a Cemetary where we will bury our current and future dead with respect!" The Captain announced, causing murmurs to arc through the crowd once again.

"Ashes to ashes... dust to dust..." A stranger said from beside Octavia.

"She deserves no less. A good mare, if a bit of a drunk..." Another voice said.

The announcement continued, "I am also proud to announce that the Beacon has finished construction! As you can see behind you, its enchanted light pierces the snowstorm and can be used as a navigational marker for our budding city for miles around!"

Indeed, as Octavia and much of the crowd had already noticed before they gathered, a hot air balloon towered over them, even taller than the Generator tower. Two lenses, salvaged from the fronts of the Steam Lorries, continually spun around, causing a sweeping lighthouse-like beam of light to beam out into the Frostlands for miles. Atop it, Octavia could vaguely see several pegasi acting as lookouts (or, at the very least, that's what she believed they were).

"Using the navigation and telegraph communications from this Beacon, we will be sending out a Scout Team from our city to finally rescue those we left behind at the crevasse!" The Captain said proudly, causing a cheer to make a wave through the crowd.

Octavia stayed silent. They were going back for the survivors. Was her lie really worth it? Maybe she could have stayed with the others legitimately...

She shook her head. No. It had been too risky. Without the protection of the Generator, and without being able to access either of the Lorries with their close proximity to a drop to their deaths...

She didn't have much hope for the camp of survivors.

"You are dismissed! Go to your quarters and rest, everypony!" The Captain began the descent as the crowd began to disperse.

Octavia turned back towards the roads leading out to her tent, following them with her head low and coat drawn close. She ignored the others as they chatted with each other, heading out to their tents. 


As she approached her own home of canvas and wood, she noticed a crowd of ponies standing around a single mare posed on top of a wooden crate. She held her Lamp up high, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Repent, my ponies! We must not stray from the Goddesses and their guiding light! Princess Twilight Sparkle, the omniscient Princess of knowledge, constructed this Generator to replace the lights that our Goddesses gave to us!" The preacher shouted with fervor.

Octavia, curious, joined the crowd as they looked up in awe at the pegasus in a woolen coat.

"We must not stray! We must worship this wondrous machine like we once worshipped our Princesses! It alone has been left as our guide to eternal life among this horrific cold, as a mighty stopgap until the Goddesses return and repel the frost! Bow and worship! Give your prayers to the Generator and you shall be answered!" The preacher insisted, pointing a hoof firmly at the Generator

Almost by providence, the Generator roared as its core received a fresh dump of coal, the risers around it grinding harder as another wave of warm heat blasted through the campsite.

A few of those around Octavia bowed, whispering indistinctly.

"Are you kidding? The Goddesses abandoned us here. The Company gave us a Captain for a reason, we didn't come here to be guided by some damn hunk of steel!" Somepony said from the crowd, causing heads to turn back away from the Generator tower.

"It matters not what you think! Faith has guided us through worse times, and it will guide us through these!" The preacher turned back to the crowd, "Take hope, ponies! There is a greater power at work here! Our suffering will not be meaningless!"

Perhaps, if Octavia had any hope left in the first place, the preacher's message would not have fallen on deaf ears. Regardless, the grey earth pony stepped away, sleep driving her steps back to her lodgings.


Octavia reached her tent. There were other ponies there, but she had not even bothered to learn their names or even acknowledge their appearances.

A vague greeting came from them as they chatted in a corner, which fell on deaf ears as Octavia reached and climbed into her hammock. Rolling up into a ball, Octavia dimmed the light on her Lamp, before pulling out the heavy medical manual that had been taking up its place in her knapsack.

Opening up back to her dog-eared page, she began to read herself to sleep once again.

For a moment, she thought she heard the screams of a filly being dragged away from her mother, and her eyes drifted away from her textbook. 

"I must survive. It's the only way she does too..." Octavia whispered, before blocking out herself and huddling down under her cloth blanket, eyes endlessly scanning her manual.
> Chapter 11 - Lieutenant Rainbow Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash slowly picked up her pen, staring down at the telegram slip that sat on her desk up in her cloud home.

For some reason, the recent telegram from Twilight Sparkle they usually got every week simply hadn't arrived. All of their response letters from the week prior had been returned from the post office with a simple "Unable to be sent" stamped on it, with absolutely no further explanation.

They had petitioned the Princesses for answers countless times. They wanted comfort, assurance that their friend would be alright. Yet, as the days dragged on by, the ponies who knew Twilight at the EEC, and the Princesses themselves either had no idea what had happened to Twilight, or refused to comment (the Princesses being in the latter category).

It took poor Pinkie Pie to have a nightmare of Twilight's frozen corpse being sent back in a casket for her to get a visit from Luna and finally get some answers.

"Weather problems" she had said. She claimed the seas were "Too hazardous" for the usual shipping to close enough to the construction site in order to receive telegrams. Luna claimed that she was fine, and that they promised that Twilight would keep her promise and be back for Hearth's Warming.

Just like she promised.

But it had been a lie. It had all been a lie. She wasn't there at Pinkie Pie's hearth's warming party. 

The poor pink pony had been putting it off, day after day, still keeping the party favors in store and the banners reading "WELCOME HOME TWILIGHT" hung around the town. That afternoon, with a defeated face, Pinkie had finally taken down the decorations for the earth-rocking party she had planned for their friend's return.

Applejack had turned up for the wait on Hearth's Warming itself, but had soon returned to her empty home, with only Apple Bloom left within Sweet Apple Acre's cold halls. With Big Macintosh... gone, and with Granny in a permanent bed in the hospital, the farm had lost nearly all of its cheer, and with it... the cheer of it's last adult resident.

Rarity hid her disappointment, promptly booking a ticket to Manehatten to attend to her business closing down one of the branches of the Boutique in Manehatten. Her fashion company was always successful, but its owner was never one for saving. Now, with starvation setting in from the two bad crop years in a row, finances were going away from such frivolous things as fancy dresses.

Fluttershy frequented town, and tried to keep everypony together, but by now the fellow pegasus was swamped with work. Not only was she now occupied writing her thesis on her biology doctorate, but she was also working double shifts at Ponyville's soup kitchen and also at the animal rescue...

Rainbow gritted her teeth as she clutched her pen.

She felt like bursting out into tears right there and then. Everything had gone wrong all at once, and her anger could only find one pony to blame: Twilight Sparkle herself.

She felt... betrayed by her. It was her fault that everypony was so sad. How could some damn building be more important than her friends? She had abandoned them all here... and now she had broken all of their hearts. 

After everything Rainbow had done for that stupid alicorn, she had just decided to leave them. To disappear, without a trace. It had to be intentional. Others had come back from Twilight's expedition already! She had to be lying to them, had to be cutting them off on purpose! 

So, the element of loyalty vented her rage on paper...

"Dear Twilight Sparkle.

"I am extremely disappointed that you couldn't find it in yourself to come home to your friends. I bet instead you're just out there somewhere reading some damn book, or finding new rich friends in that stupid company you love so so much! I cannot believe you could be so heartless. I trusted you that you'd come home, and I know your back on the mainland. You're just ghosting us on purpose!"

"I hate you. I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE-"

After the tenth "I hate you", Rainbow began to incoherently scream in rage. She pounded her desk pen still in hoof as hot tears began to spill forth from her eyes. The pen's tip broke, and ink gushed out, blotting out her writing, staining her hoof and splashing up onto her chest.

She threw the pen as hard as she could, shattering a hole in the window above her desk. Sobbing, weeping, and with her breath hitching, Rainbow shied away from the cold blast of air that shot through the pane. 

Blubbering, she unsteadily got up, before spreading her wings and shooting off through an open door towards her bed, picking up a pillow and crying into it.

Outside, the snow continued to fall.







The Generator roared in the distance as Rainbow looked behind her.

Her own tracks lead through the snow back through towards the gigantic steel tower. In the distance, she could still see the whirry mechanical parts that she couldn't figure out pumping steam through the pipes into the city, and the hot glowing steel surrounding the Core as it continued to boil water into dry steam. Silhouetted against it was the plaque that the survivors had found attached onto the Generator when they arrived.

A final message from Twilight Sparkle. Pah. What a racket.

"You could have just told us, Twi..." Rainbow sighed bitterly, turning back away from the Generator as she stomped through the snow, "...So why didn't you..."

She had never truly revealed to her friends how angry she was at Twilight - Never revealed how much anger she still held deep within her heart. Before, it had been easy to forget about the her, and her betrayal... but now that they were here, at the Generator she had spent so long to build... it had forced her to think about her again.

She just looked up, towards the amazing night sky, and towards the colors of the northern lights that danced between the stars. She couldn't be bothered to think about dead mares now. She supposed that she could simply just give Twilight Sparkle her thanks that, in her betrayal, she had given them a new home.

Even if it did mean losing her...

The Beacon towered above her. Long, thick cables stretched upwards from a steel structure, which was anchored into the ground. The cables stretched upwards to a hot air balloon, where a huge rotating light beamed a spotlight into the darkness surrounding the edges of New Ponyville. She could see the vague silhouettes of weather lookout pegasi stationed on top of the Beacon, looking out into the Frostlands in search of activity and, more importantly, for incoming weather fronts.

At the base of the Beacon, which was also nearby the pulley system to raise and lower cargo from the valley edge high above, was a single pony sitting next to a small wood fire.

Rainbow caught his silhouette and recognized him instantly: it was the Captain.

"Miss Dash, I presume?" The Captain looked over to her as she approached.

Rainbow nodded silently, looking the old stallion up and down.

The light of the fire danced across the Captain's face as he pointed to a spot in the snow next to him, "Go ahead, sit down and warm yourself. It's a miserable walk through the snow here from the Generator, isn't it?"

Rainbow silently sat, folding her forehooves together as she tried to appreciate the warmth.

"Tell me something, Miss Dash," The Captain pulled out a clipboard of some kind, examining the front page, "What did you do before the Great Frost?"

"I was a Wonderbolt, sir," Rainbow said, curious, "Before that I was a weather control pegasus for Ponyville."

The Captain smiled, "Yes, that's right. Mainland division too. Must have taken a lot of training and commitment to get there."

Rainbow chuckled, "Yeah... it was my life dream. Didn't really pan out once Cloudsdale was broken up by the storms..."

Placing his clipboard back inside his coat, the Captain nodded his head towards a nearby wooden cabin that sat behind the Beacon's skeletal anchor, "In there is the rest of the ponies who volunteered to be part of the rescue party, and thus part of Scout Unit No. 1."

"Are they the scouts that lead the Lorries too, just like I am?" Rainbow asked as the Captain paused.

The Captain nodded, "...Aye. And now, Rainbow Dash, they're going to need somepony to lead them."

Rainbow had opened her mouth to ask another question, but slammed it shut at the Captain's words in shock.

"You're a highly skilled individual, Miss Dash. We don't have anypony else with your service record in New Ponyville, and we need somepony with enough experience and strength to lead them through tough situations," The Captain explained.

Rainbow snorted, "Captain, sir. I'm... not a leader. I wasn't the captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire was. I was the hotheaded new recruit who couldn't do anything right- I..."

The Captain sighed, and cut her off, "Miss Dash, you have to understand something. Nopony in that cabin over there has any experience above busting a few clouds. Leadership comes naturally with experience, and currently all these ponies need is somepony who lknows what they're doing."

Rainbow squeaked out the beginning of a half formed argument, before eventually just diverting her eyes towards the fire, shutting her mouth firmly.

"If I could lead them myself, I would. But, unfortunately, I'm needed here much more. We'll have packed manuals on arctic exploration and the like, some of which I wrote myself. I assume you can read...?" The Captain looked towards Rainbow from the corner of her vision.

Rainbow nodded, "...Yeah, I'm not stupid."

"You would be surprised," The Captain shuffled closer to Rainbow, to look deep into her eyes, "Miss Dash. I'm not saying the Scouts need charisma, or years of leadership experience. I'm saying they need somepony strong, somepony brave. I know how hard it is to step up. I was a year to retirement before agreeing to lead this expedition. I was a navy captain, not a mayor. But I'm here, because I need to be, not because there's somepony else more qualified than me."

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, staring up towards the edge of the cliff face that surrounded New Ponyville. She was not so afraid of the stress of leadership, or of the fear of the extreme conditions of the Frostlands, in fact: The danger had a strange sense of excitement to it. Instead, she was afraid of getting truly locked into a commitment like this.

If she lead the Scouts, it wasn't like after the rescue expedition for the stranded convoy she could just return home and forget about the experience. She would be committed, committed to eternally plunging out into the frostlands further and further, surveying and exploring. At most, she could imagine only being able to be back in the city she and the others had strived to reach for only a few days at a time. 

And if she truly committed, it would be this way until the day she died. She wouldn't grow old and retire, no that was an absolutely silly thought. She would be out there until finally something horrible befell her, and her corpse would remain frozen, buried under several feet of snow as, Celestia-willing, the rest of the scouts left her behind to save themselves.

She wouldn't be able to see Scootaloo grow up, or finally be able to fly. Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity... they'd all be strangers whenever she came home. And, as she thought before, they wouldn't even get to see her die.

But what was it all for? The Captain was right, she was probably the only pony in the City able to competently lead the Scouts. She's also be paving the way for the future, finding resources and locations for future generations to survive and grow in defiance of the Frost. Her participance could and would mean the difference between life and death for her friends.

The difference between life and death... in exchange for abandoning her friends.

Rainbow's face fell, and a cold wind blew between the two ponies. The campfire flickered, and Rainbow's thoughts turned into a disorderly swamp of emotions as the Generator roared in the distance.

The Captain reached out, placing a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, "Miss Dash... the others are waiting. You must make a decision."

Rainbow fixed the Captain with cold eyes, hiding her emotions. Drawing her lips into a thin line, finally she spoke, "...I'll do it, sir."







The Captain and Rainbow Dash walked towards the cabin's front door. Rainbow felt a slight tug around her neck as the Captain's telekinesis fastened a red sash around it.

"I know it's not much of a ceremony, but you've officially been hired and expressly promoted to the rank of Lieutenant," The Captain chuckled, "Carry that authority as you will."

Rainbow, still feeling mixed up inside, just nodded curtly, "Alright..."

The Captain gave her a reassuring smile as she reached out for the latch on the cabin door, "I'm sure you'll do just fine, Leftenant."

Voices came from inside the cabin, that hushed as soon as the Captain and Rainbow Dash walked in together. A single lantern hung from the ceiling, with a candle suspended within that gave the room some minimal lighting. A fireplace was made out of rocks, and had a small, contained fire burning within. Four other ponies sat around the fireplace, all heavily clothed in multiple layers of winter garb. 

"Everypony, this is Leftenant Rainbow Dash," The Captain introduced her to the group, "She's the leader of your unit. Out there, she gives the orders that you take."

All eyes in the room turned to Rainbow Dash, and in response she puffed up her chest and attempted to look brave. Pushing her thoughts out of her head, she attempted to focus on the task at hoof.

"Leftenant," The Captain said, walking over to one of the ponies in the group, "This is Ways Rite. He was our expert navigator on our way to New Ponyville, and now he will help you navigate your way across the Frostland."

Ways Rite was a short pegasus pony, just like the rest of the Scout Team. He constantly chewed on his lip as he stared at Rainbow vacantly. His coat matched the charcoal building up in the fireplace next to him, and his mane was a crusty orange and white.

"This is Blossomforth, one of the scouts you may remember from our journey here," The Captain prodded at the cream colored pegasus.

The pegasus mare seemed chipper, even though the air in the cabin was cold and the light was dim. Her eyes held a certain glimmer that filled Rainbow with confidence and brightened up the room despite the flickering candlelight's best efforts.

"This is Cold Front," The Captain tapped a random stallion, who gave a sloppy salute to Rainbow, "A strong flier, he'll be working with the team to haul your supply sled and weather harsh winds."

Cold Front's slimy grin came with an orange coat, freckles, and a red mane. He almost reminded Rainbow of Applejack, if not a bit bulkier and.... well... male.

"And this.." The Captain went to the last pony in the room, who had since been staring at Rainbow from underneath her hood while sitting in a dark corner, "This is Lightning Dust. She was-"

Rainbow frowned, "I know who Lightning Dust is."

Lightning Dust, the turquoise pegasus with a yellow mane, gave Rainbow a scowl in return, "Been a while, Rainbow Crash."

The Captain stood back, a little shocked, "You two knew each other?"

"Rainbow here had me run out of the academy way back before the Frost. I lost everything because she had friends in high places," Lightning sneered.

"Hey! You broke every regulation in the book and nearly got my friends killed! Don't come here acting the victim, you lying sack of-" Rainbow was interrupted by a shout from the Captain.

"That's enough!" The Captain stomped a hoof, "Whatever happened before the Frost is over. What matters now is the survival of what's left, is that understood?"

"But-" Lightning and Rainbow blurted out.

"Our ponies are dying out there, and I will not have you two bickering out there. I am certain there will be plenty more for you to worry about out in the Frostlands other than a dispute long buried under fifteen feet of ice and snow," The Captain's iron gaze flashed between the two ponies.

Rainbow Dash shot Lightning a final, angry look, before saluting the Captain, "Yes sir."

As the Captain looked away, Lightning made a mocking face towards Rainbow, before looking away again and crossing her forelegs.

"In a moment, our head engineer, Doctor Hooves, will come in and brief you on what to expect while you're out there in the Frostlands," The Captain gave a hard look towards Rainbow, "I have to go receive our nightly report on the city's status, but I will be back to see you all off when you finally leave."

With that, the Captain left, the cabin door creaking closed behind him.


Rainbow watched the Captain until he left out the door, before sighing and reluctantly sitting down with the rest of the Scouts. Her eyes locked onto Lightning Dust, who returned her stare momentarily only to turn away and look at the wall instead.

The room sat in silence as they waited. Somepony coughed, and the fire sputtered for a moment as the lantern above swung from side to side slowly.

"...So... who has family?" Blossomforth broke the silence, looking around the room.

Rainbow remained silent, but the others seemed willing to speak.

"I have a brother. He's an earth pony working to fuel the Generator," Said Cold Front, idly swinging his snow goggles around his forehoof as he waited.

"I have a son..." Ways Rite shuffled a bit away from the group, his back brushing against the wall right next to the fireplace.

There was silence for a moment as eyes switched between Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust.

Eventually, Lightning Dust grunted as she continued to look away from the rest of the group, "I have a mom. She got left behind with the rest of the convoy because she has a chronic illness. The doctors just labelled her as gravely ill when she coughed a bunch and expelled her from the lorries."

"Sob story," Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs, "Just a manipulative piece of-" Rainbow Dash's stewing anger was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

A familiar brown earth pony engineer came through, shivering from the cold outside, "I do say," His teeth chattered, "The temperature's dropping fast out there."

Rainbow distracted herself from her thoughts, standing up and facing the earth pony with some posture of authority, "You Doctor Hooves?"

Doctor Hooves nodded, "That I am," He gave a final shiver as the door latched behind him, "I'll brief you on your mission and your equipment now. Attention is paramount, we don't want you confused as to what your kit does while you're already several miles away from help."

Rainbow Dash sat down as the rest of the Scouts turned to pay attention. Doctor Hooves walked towards a locker, before opening it and pulling out a heavy set of saddlebags and a chestbelt full of tools. The scouts marvelled as the weighty tools clanked to the floor, and Doctor Hooves breathed a sigh of exertion from carrying it only for a few seconds.

"This is your standard kit. Weighs a good half of your body weight, and you'll be wearing it every second you're moving," Doctor Hooves kicked the bag with a hoof, "In these saddlebags you have copies of the maps that Ways Rite already has, as well as basic writing implements. You are expected to fill in your maps with survey notes and adjustments as you move through the area. Safe routes, landmarks, everything."

"If you are concerned about proper cartography, I am sure Ways can show you how," Hooves nodded towards the shy navigator pegasus, "Otherwise, packed into your saddlebags are your food rations, dried apricot, canned corn, and preserved beetroot. You have some basic medical supplies for emergency first aid. There are also cooking utensils to heat and serve your rations, as well as to melt snow to drink."

"On the subject of melting drinking water: You must bring the water to boil for no less than one minute before using it. The snow could contain harmful germs that can make you ill, and boiling the water before drinking it will kill any harmful microorganisms in the water. Is this clear to everypony here?" Doctor Hooves asked, only to be met with nods from the Scout team.

"Continuing on, then," He opened the top of the saddlebag, revealing a bunch of wooden sticks with a bundle of red clock wrapped around the top that stuck up above the lip of the bag, "These sticks are perimeter flags. The terrain out there can be very uneven and dangerous. There is avalanche territory, crevasses obscured by snow, and sometimes sudden drops can be hard to see in the monochrome plans of snow. When you are camping, you should scout a perimeter around your tents and then plant these flags around you to mark what is safe and what is unexplored. These flags can also be left behind as waypoints, or again be used to mark dangerous territory along trails. When travelling, you can also use the wood to probe for holes in the snow, as you did when guiding the Lorries before coming here."

Doctor Hooves reached into the saddlebag and pulled out a huge spool of rope, "You are all Pegasi, so you shouldn't need to do a lot of mountain climbing. However, around 5 meters of rope has been provided to you, along with anchors and safety gear should you need them. You will also be bringing along a sled, which may require you set up a makeshift pulley to  haul it up a steep incline. You may also have injured or have dangerous conditions that prohibit some of you from flying. Regardless, even though you can all fly, don't be afraid to study the manuals you've packed with you to set up ropes to climb instead."

A hoof was raised by Cold Front.

Doctor Hooves quirked an eyebrow, "...Yes?"

Cold Front spoke, "My pa used to mountain climb. That rope is way too thick for it, though."

"It's all we could spare. We didn't have to 2-3mm climbing cord, only the standard woven rope," Doctor Hooves dismissed, "You'll have to make do."

Cold Front grunted, before leaning back and crossing his forelegs.

"Moving on..." Doctor Hooves stowed the rope once again, before pulling out a long, slender rifle, "Many of you have not handled a gun before. Maybe some of you have been lucky enough to not see one at all. Regardless, we were forewarned by the Company before we set out to the arctic that many polar animals may be starving and looking for any source of food possible. We suggest you not be afraid to defend yourself while you're out there, even if before the Frost we used to be very friendly with animals."

Hooves reared up with the rifle, "I'll show you how to operate the gun. This is a Lavender-Metford rifle, it is a bolt-operated rifle that has been proven with use within the Equestrian military. It's the only type of firearm we were given on our expedition. To load it, you first open the bolt..." Hooves grabbed a handle on the side of the rifle, slowly opening a metal pin to show an empty hole leading down into the rifle's magazine, "Then you take bullets from your chestbelt..." He reached down to the belt that laid on the ground, "And load them one by one into the chamber," He pressed the bullet down, depressing a spring, "Once you have loaded 8 rounds into the magazine... you will secure the magazine latch like so..." He clicked a small latch in place over the topmost bullet, holding it in place against the spring, "Then you load one more bullet on top of it, and push the bolt forward to close the chamber. Back here," He gestured towards a small lever mounted on the back of the rifle's bolt, "There's a safety. Keep this lever down until you're sure you want to shoot at something. Then, pull the lever up.." There was a click as Hooves demonstrated releasing the safety, "And then aim," He raised the weapon until it was level with his face, "And fire by squeezing the trigger down here."

He didn't pull the trigger, of course, and instead opened the bolt and unloaded the bullets one by one, placing them back onto the belt, "When you're not using it, and when it's packed away in your saddlebags, please leave it unloaded. Bullets are volatile, and there's a chance it could go off in your packs and hurt somepony. Any questions?"

There was silence in the room.

"Very well," Doctor hooves placed the unloaded rifle back in its bag, before picking up the chestbelt, "This contains a lot of tools that'll be very useful to you, therefore it's imperative that you constantly check your belt and ensure everything is securely fastened and that nothing is missing."

Hooves took out what looked like a pickaxe, instead much smaller, "This is an iceaxe. Not only can it be used to make anchor points in the ice, but its sharp end can cut through most of anything as well as chop wood. You do have a dedicated wood axe that will be packed in your sled, but this can be used in lieu of it."

He re-hitched the axe, before bringing out a folded spyglass, "A hoof-carried telescope. I assume everypony here already knows what a telescope does."

After being met with general affirmatives, Doctor Hooves stowed the telescope and brought out a large canteen, "For carrying water. It has a screw cap, and carries around a liter of water. You won't be sweating that much, but make sure to drink constantly. You should be going through two full canteens a day."

Placing the canteen back down, Hooves brought out a small gemstone, "A dragonfire gem. Those who were lucky enough to use these before the Frost should be well aware of its use, but I'll fill you in anyway. Attach this to any object made out of a flammable substance, and then strike the gem with any blunt object. Your iceaxe would be best, but your hoof would do, or even a stray rock. The object will burn and be sent to a companion gemstone in the Captain's office. The gemstone will be consumed in the process. Make sure the object you're sending is small enough to burn in a few seconds, or else it may only send a part of it," Hooves swallowed to wet his mouth, "This is to be used in a a crisis situation only. If you are separated from your unit, or if you irreversibly lose contact with the Beacon and can't come home safely. Otherwise, do not in any circumstances use it."

Rainbow Dash nodded firmly. She remembered back in the day, when Twilight Sparkle had Spike to personally provide dragonfire messaging. Some, as an alternative to waiting for the postal system, bought expensive dragonfire gemstones for especially important messages. Rainbow never found a reason to spend such exorbitant amounts of money on them, but she knew they existed.

"Otherwise, you have a small portion of your belt as a bandolier, containing exactly 18 bullets for your weapon. Use them wisely. And, here you have a firestarter to ignite kindling with," Hooves finally dropped the chestbelt, "You also have a sled loaded with spare supplies and tools. Shovels, axes, tents, and parts for your furnace are all loaded there. Are there any questions?"

Blossomforth raised a curious hoof.

"Yes, Miss Blossomforth?" Hooves asked.

Blossomforth cleared her throat, before answering in her squeaky voice, "What is our mission exactly?"

"Retrace our convoy's path back to where we assume the camp of survivors are. If you don't find them there, search the crevasse and nearby area for them. Once you find them, you will need to give those who can walk directions back to New Ponyville. You will also salvage any materials left behind at the campsite, and get volunteers from the survivors to help haul those who cannot walk back to New Ponyville on sleds. After all that is sorted, you'll escort them back along your secured route," Hooves said.

"And what about the corpses?" Rainbow elected to ask as soon as Hooves finished.

Hooves nodded, "You can decide what to do with them based on the situation. Although, we should hope there are few enough of them that we can haul them here for a proper burial."

Lightning Dust huffed in her corner, but as eyes turned towards her, she remained silent.

"Also," Hooves continued, ignoring Lightning, "You will be required to search Steam Lorry Seven and see if you can extract its Steam Core. We were in too much of a hurry to get off the unstable ice shelf before, and Amethyst wants to see if we can recover the priceless technology. You have been provided with a blueprint of the steam lorry to assist you with the salvage."

The room was silent for a few minutes, before Hooves finally finished, "...If there are no more questions, then I suppose there is not a moment to spare."

He gestured towards the lockers, "Take your gear. One locker each. You are to give a report via Mares Code to the Beacon lookouts every hour on the hour. Make sure you always do this, so that we don't lose track of you. Somepony should be posted to always look at the Beacon and make sure you are in a constant line of communication, as well as use its relative position to update your coordinates on the map. The Captain and the others are waiting outside to see you off. Best not to keep them waiting."

Rainbow Dash was the first to stand up, before walking up and taking the gear that Hooves had been using to demonstrate and slowly shrugging it on. It was indeed extremely heavy, and Rainbow Dash, already feeling awkward under her layers of winter clothing, now felt like a Yak with the added weight.

Taking her example, the rest of the Scouts got up and donned their gear. Complaints were muttered under breaths and grunts bounced off the thin walls of the cabin as the other four slowly donned their gear, put on their snow goggles, and pulled up their face coverings. A moment was also taken to fasten wing coverings over the pegasi's feathers, protecting them from the cold.

Rainbow Dash did the same, taking before finally giving a sigh as she was buried under her inches of scarves and sealed off behind her goggles.

Hooves lead the way out of the cabin, and the rest of Scout Unit No. 1 followed.







"Ladies and Gentlecolts, I know many if not all of us grieved the fact an accident in our journey necessitated us leaving behind many of our comrades and family members," Rainbow Dash exited the cabin to see the Captain standing on top of a wooden crate in front of a small crowd of ponies, "However, now that a reliable point of navigation has been built and expedition supplies have been prepared, we are finally ready to send out a rescue team for our stranded loved ones!"

The crowd cheered as they looked and saw the five Scouts coming out of the cabin. Beneath her scarf, Rainbow smiled at the appreciation.

Rainbow's eyes were quick to pick up the white unicorn mare who stood among the crowd, flanked by three fillies. As Rainbow looked between the Captain and Rarity, she began to deviate her path from the Scouts to go towards her friend.

"Pray that they may find fortune on their journey, and that Celestia may preserve them from the frost and the winter. Congratulate their bravery and loyalty to our burgeoning city, that they may forge forward into the unknown to build us a better tomorrow!" The Captain boomed over the cheers of the crowd.

Rainbow Dash approached Rarity as the Captain continued to speak, his words fading into the background noise. She smiled, before pulling down her scarf slightly, "Hey, Rarity."

Rarity blinked in surprise at Rainbow, before eventually smiling, "Oh, hello darling. I didn't recognize you at all!" She looked her up and down, before noticing Rainbow's new red sash, "...You've been promoted?"

"Yeah. The Scouts needed a leader, and the Captain thought I was the best pick," Rainbow chuckled nervously, fiddling with the red silk idly.

"Well he's very right, then," Rarity patted Rainbow on the shoulder, "Nopony here knows flying better than you do."

Putting on a brave face, Rainbow gave a salute, "Damn straight!"

Scootaloo pushed forward, looking up to Rainbow and asking, "You're gonna go find Pinkie Pie now, arent'cha?"

Rainbow nodded, "Yeah. Hopefully."

"When're ya gonna be back?" Apple Bloom asked.

Rainbow shrugged, "We're not gonna rush it. Hopefully within a week though."

"A week!?" Scootaloo gasped, "A week of being out there? It's really, really cold out there!"

"It's really cold here too, Scootaloo," Sweetie Grumbled from the back.

"We got a lot of layers, and we got plenty of supplies," Rainbow ruffled Scootaloo's mane, "We'll be fine," She looked up to Rarity again, "...How's uh... How's Applejack doing?"

Rarity sighed, "The doctors said it's just a minor fracture and she'll be fine. She wanted to come and see you off, but they didn't let her get out of bed. She told you to keep yourself safe out there," She chuckled, "She should take her own advice."

A call came through the crowd, belonging to Doctor Hooves, "Scouts! Get yourselves moving!"

Rainbow turned away from the voice and pulled back up her scarf, "That's me. Keep AJ alive while I'm gone, alright?"

"I will," Rarity promised.

With a confident smile, obscured by her scarf, Rainbow took to the air. Although sluggish with her gear, she did her best to show no difficulty and zoomed up to the top of the valley, the rest of the Scouts following along...
> Bonus Chapter: Designs of Early New Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below are attached several crude designs that were drawn and produced in the early days of New Ponyville. All notes appear to have been penned by Dr. Hooves, the head engineer of the city.


The Cookhouse
Ms. Amethyst Star initially proposed that we have a bill system to distribute our Raw Food to groups of tents positioned around the Generator for them to cook for themselves. While I do agree that's how it may have been done before the Frost, with ponies cooking their own meals, I believe I side with the Captain's idea of establishing a centralized mess area for ponies to come and eat. We cannot waste our citizen's time with cooking their own meals when every minute of coal mining, transportation, and construction could mean the difference between life and death. We also have no self-regulating economy (eg: Currency, businesses, etc.) to naturally dictate the flow of food, and biases may come up in manually assigning food staples.

The most logical idea, that even the strong-headed Amethyst agreed with, was to establish a large mess hall, capable of seating at least 150 ponies at a time. An attached kitchen will cook massive amounts of stew, large preparation counters will chop vegetables and mince meat according to the Food Additives law. One of our volunteer Overseers will be appointed to ensure that food is prepared to exact mathematical standards, so that we do not waste a single scrap. Any leftovers from the preparation process, or if any of our residents happen to not eat their entire meal (which I doubt), will be taken to the composting bins at the Hothouses.






The Beacon
Initially, we all believed the Generator would be tall enough to be seen from miles around. However, that has turned out to not be so. This is not from a lack of enormity on the Generator's part, but rather that we were not briefed on how deep the valley it is resting in is. This, combined with the undependability of our compasses and the constant lack of a clear view of the night sky, means that sending any of our ponies out of the City is a sure death sentence due to their inability to navigate back

I devised a system by which we could elevate a lighthouse-like beacon higher than the valley walls. A hot air balloon will elevate a lightweight wooden frame in which an electric motor and a gyro will be mounted. Using two enchanted lenses from the fronts of the surviving Steam Lorries, the Beacon will begin to spin and shine a light that will be able to pierce ice particles in the air. Around the balloon itself will be a steel scaffold, where a group of pegasi can fly up and monitor the horizon for incoming weather fronts, as well as receive Navy-formatted Mares Code light signals from scouting expeditions. 

Unfortunately, it will be extremely cold up on top of the Beacon. Not only is it above the wind shears of the valley, and far away from the warmth of the Generator, but there is no way I can find to heat it safely. My initial design had the weatherwatch platform next to the burner that kept the balloon alight, but no matter the configuration, I feared that proximity to the burner would be more likely to set watchmares on fire than warm them.




There is no attached blueprint with the following note, as it appears the Tents had no standardized design.

Tents
In lieu of the resources or time to plan and construct properly insulated buildings for our citizens to sleep in, we have instead elected to simply pitching tents to stop snow from falling on our ponies while they sleep, as well as give them some relative privacy. The wooden frames do require a bit of assembly, especially since these tents are meant to stand up for more than just a few days. We were given miles of canvas with our expedition, so the canvas to cover the tent frames is a non-problem unless we wish to house over a thousand in mere tents.

According to Ms. Amethyst's calculations, each tent should sleep about three ponies and their children, as well as provide a place for them to keep their belongings. I've tried to make these specifications as compact as possible, and in the end we just agreed to squeeze tents wherever we could in a general rectangular or sometimes square shape.




Hothouse
Two things everypony needs to survive: Water and Food.

Water is well covered in our city. The Source below our Generator provides plentiful water, even if it's polluted by toxic minerals. Although, through the process of turning the water into steam in the Core, most of these toxicants are filtered off and eventually ejected by the Core through an ingenious outflow system. The dry steam, after coursing through our city, comes back to a large cistern buried next to the Stockpiles as lukewarm water. Some of this we will take and reheat in the Bath House, but the rest is good for consumption by the regular pony. We do recycle some of the water in this cistern back into the Generator, but by the Captain's orders we always keep a certain level of reserve water to fight any fires that may occur.

Food, however, is much more scarce in our situation. The recently signed law allowing us to add heavily processed meat into our meals can only go so far, considering new age recipes still need an 80 percent herbivorous content. The ground is way too hard to plant here naturally, and earth pony scientists who studied plant growth in the Arctic before the Frost observed growth stunting due to a lack of some natural magical property in the soil. They did devise a solution to this stunting via an arcanomechanical matrice, but to distribute this matrice and soften the soil: we need a dedicated Steam Core. 

My first designs of the Hothouse have the singular goal of warming up as much ground as possible to allow for plant growing, as well as shielding that portion of ground from snow and wind. I am afraid that even with the best I can do with a single steam cores, and even multiple steam cores in multiple Hothouses working in tandem, AND with the meat additives... we will still be constantly short on food.

I can see maybe employing some old emergency ground enchantments that old Earth Ponies used in times of hardship to grow unhealthy but more bushy crops... but for that we'd need more Steam Cores to distribute the enchanted steam...

What we have will have to do, I suppose.





Coal Depot
The Generator requires a lot of Coal to function. It does not require an intimate knowledge of steam-powered machinery to know this.

So, to feed this insatiable machine, we are stockpiling massive amounts of Coal, and carting full bins of Coal to the furnace inlets every 30 minutes. However, it is a well known fact that coal, exposed to the open air, can cause terrible illness and disease to those handling it and living nearby. To counteract this, we have dedicated one of the stockpile buildings specifically for storing coal, although as we continue we will definitely require additional coal stockpiles to provide a better buffer.

Large wooden carts are wheeled up next to this coal stockpile, where a specially designed hatch opens and funnels the slanted stockpile room down into an awaiting cart. Then, a single pony tows this cart to the Generator bins and dumps them in. For each bin, we require 3 cartloads of Coal every 30 minutes. We currently have 3 bins. Bless the ponies who do the backbreaking labor to tow those loads to the bins to keep us alive, and pray to Celestia I may eventually find a way to automate this process.




Bath House
Hygiene is an absolute necessity in our new city. Ever since we left Manehatten, we've resorted to bucket baths and dumping our waste out the back of our Dreadnought and then our Lorries. Not only is this an extremely depressing way to live, but it's also rather unhealthy. We've no way to remove harmful germs and wash ourselves clean, and we need a way to dispose of manure without a sewage system.

The Bath House has been designed as both a latrine and a place for our unwashed masses to get clean. The Bath House consists of two portions: A large bathing area, and a secondary block of lavatories. 

The bathing area has six tubs, with half divided laterally on each side of the room. Half of the tubs are for males, and half are for females. We take water from the purified cisterns the Generator outflows into and reheat them using a furnace mounted at the back of the bath house building. A circulator system keeps fresh water flowing in, and polluted water flowing out. Polluted water is inserted back into the Generator to be turned into steam and purified. We employ charcoal cleaning products as a crude soap. Currently, we just recycle charcoal from various wood fires around the city, however for a constant supply of charcoal in the future we may need to create a dedicated Charcoal Kiln. Each bathing tub can hold about 10 ponies, meaning the Bath House can service, ideally, 30 males and 30 females at a time. That means to clean our current population, we will need about 4 different "shifts" of hygiene breaks for our workers.

The latrines might be distasteful to the faint of heart among us, yet it's the best we can afford currently. The latrines are split into two rooms, one for males and one for females. Each one is identical, with rows of seats suspended above a shared trough that will collect waste and prevent it from leaking down and polluting our water table. No privacy can be afforded for those taking a bathroom break here, but it's just something we'll need to get used to. A filter separates excrement from urine, with solids being added to our composting piles at Hothouses to fertilize the soil. Urine will be fed into the Generator, where pollutants in the water will be filtered out just like the minerals in the Source water. A simple washbasin and charcoal soap is allowed for ponies to wash their hooves on the way out.

We yet are to figure out a solution to cleaning clothing items, as that will be an increasingly pertinent issue as wearing heavy clothing becomes more and more normalized in our new culture.


> Chapter 12 - Applejack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a knock on the door.

Applejack looked up from the ledger that weighed down the farmhouse's dining table. For the past week, Applejack had nothing to do. Yet another snowfall had come months early, and even though it was harvest season, there was not a single apple to be plucked from the withering orchard. She had occupied herself with sweeping, dusting, and polishing every surface in the farmhouse, before starting over and cleaning it all out again.

Today, though, she had elected to pour through Sweet Apple Acres' finances. Of course, it wasn't good. It was never good. Two years of near complete harvest failures meant the future of the farm was grim. After last year's early frost, the farm had to mortgaged to make ends meet. Now, with snowflakes coating the ground outside, there wasn't much hope that those debts would be paid off.

Then, one day Granny got so sick that she needed to go into a care home, leaving Applejack alone with Apple Bloom to manage the entire farm on her own...

Applejack placed a bookmark on her place in the middle of the ledger, before snapping the giant book shut. Swallowing her emotions, she put on a smile and went to the door, "Who is it?" She called.

Not giving the pony on the other side a chance to response, Applejack peeked open the door to an influx of cold air. Her brows furrowed as she saw the two ponies, a stallion and a mare, dressed in winter coats. What perturbed her the most about the two was the labels pinned to their collars:

"EEC - EQUESTRIAN EXPLORATION COMPANY"

"Are you Miss Applejack?" The stallion said, his face grim and apathetic as he stared blankly at her.

Applejack's heart fell, and she nodded slowly. What could the two representatives want? Was it something about her brother...? About Twilight?

Her fears came to light as the EEC mare cleared her throat, "Miss Applejack, it is Company policy to repatriate the bodies of those unfortunate enough to die on our overseas projects. In our most recent shipment was a casket containing your brother's corpse..."

The world slowed, and Applejack's ears froze as a slow, tinny whining muted the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees and the farmhouse's walls creaking. Her heart thundered, and her lip began to quiver. She felt weak, and her legs could scarce hold herself up as she slumped against the frame of the farmhouse door.

"With it was a letter from Director Twilight Sparkle," The representative continued, looking away as Applejack turned to jelly, "It was addressed to you. It was also made clear in a recent telegram that in your brother's particular case: funeral costs will be covered by the EEC."

The mare held out a letter towards Applejack, sealed with the six pointed star of Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark.

"We're sorry for your loss," The stallion mumbled, before shifting his weight to turn to leave, waiting for Applejack to take the letter.

Speechless, Applejack took the letter, the burning feeling of tears welling up around her sore, sleep deprived eyes mixing with the painful coils twisting around her heart.

The representatives wasted no time in turning and leaving, letting Applejack slam the front door shut. As soon as she was alone once again in the farmhouses foyer, she collapsed to the ground with a painful thud. A nearby vase was rocked off a shelf and shattered to the floor...

...Almost entirely muted by the wails of a farmpony now hopelessly alone in a still, cold world...





"Dear Applejack.

Today, a fire broke out in the Core. It was my fault. I should have planned it better. I should have been safer. I shouldn't have made the workers go out there that day. I should have taken the time to install some sort of suppression system...

There... wasn't much of him left. I am so, so sorry. 

Everypony blames me, and so should you. I am entirely at fault. I understand if you don't want to call me friend anymore.

But please, understand. I did it for you. I did it for all of you. I have sacrificed myself, I have sacrificed so many... all of it for you. If there was any other way to do it, any other way this could all happen... I would have done it in a heartbeat.

Signed, Twilight Sparkle."







Exhaustion had its own timetable in New Ponyville's workshift.

First, there was the deadness Applejack felt as she pulled herself from her hammock. The stiffness of her muscles, the gnawing, empty pit that was her stomach, and the frostbite gnawing at her extremities. There was the absolutely dreadful thought that she needed to work today, and that the day after that she'd need to work again, and the same would happen the day after that...

Second, there was the mantra that her mind went through to coax her creaking, overworked body into plodding her way to the coal depot to begin her shift. Her pride was the first to stand centre stage in her mind, making fantastical speeches about how her ancestors did harder things in order to survive, and that they looked down on her with disgust as she complained about hauling a few chunks of coal. The friends and family she had left came second, with Apple Bloom's slumbering form tucked away in bed still, warmed by the Generator she helped fuel, and with the rest of her friends depending on a warm home to come back to.

Thirdly, there was the beginning of the shift. Back-breaking labor as she poured, towed, dumped, and repeated the process of hauling fuel 3 times every 30 minute. It was painful. She went from the blistering cold that existed near the coal depot, far away from the center of the Generator, to the sweltering heat that existed right next to the giant furnace's bins. She could never be comfortable with any level of clothing, and eventually she elected to just have a singular layer on. Not only did it not slow her down, but she didn't become a ball of sweat every time she neared the Generator.

Fourthly, there was the pain. Every muscle revolting, every tendon snapping and twisting. The intense discomfort of trembling with hypothermia out by the coal depots, all the way to the scalding heat of the Core. Even worse, with such a high demand for coal in the Generator, every moment she stumbled, every moment she stopped to take a breath, meant a rushed gallop to dump another cart in before the bin emptied itself fully and the furnace shut down.

Finally, there was complete apathy. Eventually, the brain just blocked out the suffering of the body. The world became a grey, dusty blurr. Breaths became haggard and short. Motor function went on autopilot as all the oxygen in her lungs went solely to trying to keep her muscles alive. She was a zombie by halfway through the shift, hauling carts of coal to the hungry guts of the Generator. Her heart beat slow and hard, and her ears rang constantly from the lack of bloodflow.

Then, there was the whistle...

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

"Shift's over! Stow your tools!" The voice of an Overseer shouted over the cacophony of the Generator, "The Captain has announced that the Cookhouse is  too cold to-"

The Overseer's announcement became distant mumbles to Applejack as she collapsed, the empty cart she had been wheeling back to the depot falling to the ground behind her. She wheezed out painful breaths as she felt her heart beating erratically, and her muscles locked up once again as she lay there, helpless.

She didn't know how long she lay there, wavering on a line between dead and dying. Eventually, though, she felt a hoof wrap around her midsection as she was suddenly lifted to her hooves. She took a sharp, painful breath as her throat was assaulted with lingering coal dust particles.

Squeezing open her eyes, she saw a yellow earth pony, with a face just as stained and mottled with coal dust, blisters, and ears just as frost-nipped as her own. Hefting Applejack up, the mare shouted something barely audible to Applejack's whining ears, "You alright? Hey! Talk to me!"

Applejack nodded weakly, before wincing in pain as she felt herself being sloppily dragged along by the worker. She took the opportunity to keep squeezing lungfuls of air into her lungs, each breath being a struggle as her heart was beset by a vice-grip pain. 

She passed in and out of consciousness, each time she woke up she felt the painful sensation of being dragged across the gravelly soil of New Ponyville's basin. Eventually, though, she felt the dragging sensations stop, and the world slowly refocused around a bowl of water sitting in the middle of a flapping canvas tent.

Despite how much she willed her body to move, her legs simply would not move from their curled up resting place beside her. Moving her neck made her feel dizzy and weak, and currently only her frustratingly bleary eyes could dart around the tent she had been placed in.

It was much like her own, with three hammocks hanging from the ceiling, a small cot in a corner for children, and an electric lantern to give light. Except, instead of triangular like her own, this one was built in a rectangular shape instead. She felt a rag pillow beneath her head, and a burlap cloth was draped over on top of her single layered coat as a pitiful blanket.

Frost covered the floor of the tent, and even though Applejack could tell the Generator was definitely still online, it felt as cold as it was outside of its range.

She heard hoofsteps plod on the dirt behind her, "Sorry. I tried to bring you to the doctors, but they were out of space."

As Applejack opened her mouth, she instantly realized just how cold she already was as her teeth chattered together, "D-Damn. A-Ah guess I got lucky to have m-mah leg fixed earlier th-then..." Her own voice was weak, and constantly out of breath.

"I don't know where you lived, so I couldn't go grab extra coats for you. You must be freezing," The voice said, beginning to walk around above Applejack's head to get into her vision.

"W-Why isn't... Isn't t-th' generator workin'?" Applejack stuttered out, trying to crane her neck to look at the voice.

It was the same yellow earth pony as before, except a bit more cleaned up. She wore a padded leather coat, just like many others in the city, had her scarf pulled up above her nose, and her hood pulled up over her ears. A tuft of orange mane stuck out from under her hood, encrusted in frost. 

"It is. Big, angry weather pulled up and dropped the temperature a clear 20 degrees. Generator can't keep up. Made it too cold to cook food in the Cookhouse, even if there was any raw food left to cook. And even though they're buildin' a place to grow stuff, it's apparently gonna be too cold there to work too. Didn't you hear it in the morning announcement?" She leaned down, procuring a bowl of water before holding it out to Applejack's mouth.

Applejack greedily slurped down on the tin bowl's lip. The bowl of water was not dissimilar for the water she'd have put out for old Winona, yet she'd never have imagined drinking from a doggy bowl... until now.

The water itself, aside from drenching her parched mouth, was nothing special. In fact, it was freezing cold, and Applejack could see flakes of ice drifting around in it as her vision continued to clear. The freezing water did nothing to help warm her already freezing insides, and even as it gave her a brain freeze she continued drinking until the bowl was empty.

As soon as it was empty, her caretaker lifted the bowl away, causing Applejack to cough and hack as water accidentally went down her airway as she tried to gasp for air.

"...Sorry..." the other mare winced as she saw Applejack engage in a coughing fit.

"Ah'm... fine..." Applejack spat out along with a glob of water as her lungs emptied themselves of the impromptu water. Mixed in with her spit was some black, gooey substance that she didn't exactly like the look of.

"Hold on..." The mare took off one of her coats, leaving her with only a singular layer on, one that didn't include a hood. She then took off Applejack's meager blanket, before wrapping an extra layer around the farmpony, "...There."

Applejack coughed one final time, before looking up at the pony gratefully, "...Ah d-didn't catch yer name..."

She sat down next to Applejack, taking off a snow-covered boot before laying her warm hoof over Applejack's freezing head, "Carrot Top. And yours?"

"A-Applejack," Applejack shivered once again, beginning to feel feverish as Carrot Top felt her down.

"Applejack, you're... really cold, you need a doctor," Carrot Top bit her lip, before tugging Applejack's coat tighter.

Applejack couldn't complain, simply nodding as another fit of shivers overtook her. Despite knowing she was freezing, she could feel herself becoming hot and feverish. The coats felt suffocating on her body, and blood flushed to her head.

Carrot Top's hooves curled around Applejack's midsection once again, and she hefted Applejack up, before placing her on her back, where she lay limp and helpless. Every jostle that Carrot Top made was painful as a headache began to thunder in Applejack's skull, and she began to feel a numbness all around her coat.

"W-Where..." Was all Applejack could say before a jostle in Carrot Top's step forced Applejack's breath out of her lungs.

"We're going to the Captain, he'll figure something out," Carrot Top said, also giving a shiver as a blast of cold wind completely overrode the lukewarm breeze emanating from the Generator tower.

Applejack continued to shiver as snowflakes tumbled through the air and wind, falling towards the two of them as they walked through New Ponyville's makeshift streets. Eventually, though, she felt herself being set down on an icy, wooden roadside.

Her eyelids felt heavy, but she resisted, trying to stay awake as she was placed facing the side of the Captain's tent. Her breath slowed, and her heart was finally beating at a slow pace after nearly a month of being overtaxed and overworked in the Steam Lorries and Coal Depots.

Her eyes focused as a familiar stallion stepped out from the tent flaps of the large, hexagonal tent in front of her. There were multiple voices shouting at the Captain as he looked around.

Applejack struggled to crane her neck, trying to keep occupied from the impending darkness hypothermia was beating into her. Many other ponies surrounded the Captain's tent, some carrying sick, some being very obviously sick themselves. All of them were encrusted in frost and covered in snow, freezing as cold wind continued to whip through the city.

The Captain stared around in shock, before being suddenly grabbed by the familiar orange figure of Carrot Top, "Captain! You've got to help us. She collapsed trying to fuel that damn generator, and now she's freezing to death out here!"

"Captain!" Another voice called from behind Applejack's cone of vision, "Captain! My poor little Dinky went playing in the snow yesterday, and now her legs are all purple! The doctors won't treat her!"

"I'm sick, Cap! I'm coughing up my lungs every mornin, and it's not gettin' any better! They keep turning me away from the medical post 'cause they think I just have a flu!" Yet another one chimed into the mob.

"We need a real hospital!" Somepony screamed.

"You wouldn't know, you lucky bastard! Your ass sits on a vent all day! You tell us to work long hours in that freezing cold workshop and now we're literally freezing our arses off!" 

The crowd of the sick and their families pressed in around the Captain's tent, until finally the stallion nodded. Raising his voice, he shouted over the protestors, "Okay! Okay! Do not panic, ponies! Nopony's going to die if I can help it!"

Applejack's hearing became tinny again as she tried to resist the beckoning of rest. Fortunately, there was a rivet protruding from a nearby pipe, which she shifted herself onto, giving a piercing pain right through her side. Through the pain, she squeezed her eyes open once again.

"Bring all the ill into my tent. It's warmer in there. I will call doctors over to treat them!" The Captain shouted, causing the crowd's anger to quell slightly.

Somepony else in the back continued the protest, though, "We need more medical posts, though!"

"We need our tents to not be freezing, Captain!" Somepony else added.

"We need food! We were already starving, and even missing a day's worth of food... we're chewing on our own hair because we're so hungry!" Somepony else stomped a hoof close to Applejack's head.

The Captain nodded understandingly, "I will solve the heating problem! I will build a new medical post! We will find food soon and heat the Cookhouse enough to make it! You understand? Something this small will not undo us! We must endure!"

Applejack suddenly felt Carrot Top's hooves wrapping around her barrel once again. With a heave, the other worker began to pull her along once again. Applejack's vision bounced around as she was dragged across the street towards the entrance to the Captain's tent. She vaguely saw the authoritative stallion's silhouette above her as she passed by, being the first one to be dragged into the tent.

It was, indeed, warmer inside the Captain's tent than it was anywhere else. A steam vent in the middle of the room constantly gushed warm air directly from the heart of the Generator. Extra thick canvas was layered onto the walls, just like in the medical posts. 

Applejack couldn't remember much more than the blurred visage of the Captain's tent. The warm air and the promise of safety all shaved away the last remnants of her endurance. Before she could really comprehend it, the world simply faded to black as her brain failed to keep up the fight against sleep any longer.







Applejack slowly regained consciousness to the snout of a brown earth pony staring at her, with the blinding gleam of some kind of electrical light shining directly into her eyes.

She blinked, before noticing that the pony had his hooves around her muzzle, holding it open as he studied the inside of her mouth. He was wearing a cloth face mask, glasses, and had white cloth wrapped around his forehooves.

The numbness in her extremities had been replaced with white hot muscular pain. Her legs felt stiff, and as she tried to move them, all they did was twitch and give hard, aching resistance against the movement. Her chest ached, and as the pony held her mouth open, she felt a coughing fit building deep in her lungs.

"Alright. Put the lantern down. You're blinding the poor mare, Octavia," The stallion said, finally releasing his hold on Applejack's muzzle.

Applejack responded with a fit of painful coughs, her lungs feeling like they were being constantly scraped by sharp, serrated knives. Eventually, she coughed up phlegm, spitting it out onto the dirt floor as she panted, trying to replace the air she had lost through coughing.

"She's been inhaling coal dust a lot. If she doesn't already have black lung, she will soon," The doctor took his eyes off of Applejack and turned to somepony out of her eyesight, "...You said her heart was beating erratically when you picked her up?"

"Yes," The familiar accent of Carrot Top caught Applejack's ear, "It was really bad."

"She might've had an arrhythmia and that's why she collapsed. As far as I can tell her heart's beating fine again now, but that might not hold up," The doctor stood up, "She should stop working such long shifts. 12 hours on the job in those conditions? It's preposterous!"

"It's bad for all of us. I'm... in a lot of pain too, doc," Carrot Top sighed, "And I only started that shift yesterday."

There was a long pause. Applejack tried to talk, to cry out, but the only thing that came out was a hoarse whisper. She was too weak. She felt... helpless.

Burning self-hatred began to stir in her. She felt like an animal, lying on the dirt, depending on others for support, and trapped under her own exhausted body. 

Only three years ago, she felt like she had everything. Five good friends, a loving family, the farm was doing well, and Ponyville was as tranquil as ever. Life was a usual grind of hard, trusty work. Get up at sunrise. Do a walk around of the orchard. Eat breakfast. Repair fences, feed pigs, do whatever it was that was important to do... then knock off at sunset to go do things with friends, or go out for a walk through the untouched countryside. Feel the breeze on your coat, feel the dirt under your hooves. Look up to the sunny blue sky and count the clouds.

The first thing that was taken from her was her farm. An early frost came that year, and half the harvest was ruined as the orchard was blanketed in snow. It was no big deal, of course. There was enough squirreled away in the Apple Family's coffers to feed everypony and buy the supplies for next year. 

But then the next year, the snow only melted for a few months, despite the ponies' repeated attempts to wrap up winter. Snowstorms kept blowing in despite the Pegasi's best efforts, lakes kept freezing over, and animals refused to leave their dens. When things finally thawed, the Apples planted once again. Yet, the growing season only lasted a few months, before another blanket of hungering frost wiped out their crop once again.

The next thing she lost was her brother. Big Macintosh, wanting to make ends meet, signed up for Twilight Sparkle's expedition to the frozen north as food prices soared and the winter buried their homes in snow. Instead of returning with money for winter, he instead... returned in a casket.

The next thing Applejack lost was her friend. Twilight Sparkle, vanishing as her expedition returned from the north, despite other members of her entourage having returned unharmed. She did not even write them a letter. Not that it mattered, Applejack was too busy grieving to care, and when Hearth's Warming came and went without the Princess of Friendship, it was already too late to repair a broken heart.

Then, Applejack lost Granny Smith. She passed away peacefully in the hospital, her many years finally catching up to her. Applejack didn't even get the chance to be by her side when she passed, but at the very least, she thought, Granny didn't have to see the world end.

Finally, Applejack lost the farm. Despite the bank threatening foreclosure, and the pantry constantly hanging barren, it was instead the cold that forced her from the last thing she held dear. A promise from Raven Inkwell, one of the Royal representatives working with the EEC, weaving tales of a safe haven in the far north that would shelter them and their children. 

Applejack worked hard. She told herself it was for Apple Bloom, for the friends she had left, and for the hope of ponykind's survival. But now, as she lay on the floor, helpless as she was poked and prodded by a doctor that clearly had more important things to do than tend to a waste of space and food, she knew what she was doing it for.

She was doing it for herself.

To selfishly squirrel away any bit of remaining ego, to tell herself that she had something to cling onto still. She worked to numb the pain, to forget the cold that nipped at her heart, and the loneliness that swallowed it whole...

"Regardless. Short shifts for her, if she wants to live. Don't know if we can afford to do that, though..." The doctor grunted, before standing up, "Tell me if her condition seems to worsen," the shadow of the medic turned towards somepony out of Applejack's field of view, "Octavia. Let's move on."

She secretly wished that she had been left on the floor next to the Generator, and that she could've gone in peace. Maybe then she could be with her family again. Maybe then the pain would stop.







Over the next several hours, the pain slowly subsided away from Applejack's legs and chest. 

Applejack had been unable to get sleep since she was inspected by the doctor. Instead, she had been suspended in an uncomfortable stasis. Between the constant twinges in her chest, and the tight feeling she felt whenever she breathed, to the hard dirt of the tent's floor and the stabbing pain in her muscles as blood slowly worked its way back into them.

She blinked another speck of dirt out of her eyes, before taking another labored gasp as she shifted from her point on the ground to look around. Carrot Top was fast asleep in a corner of the tent, along with a few other concerned parents and sickly patients. The two doctors were still inspecting the ill that piled up in droves around the Captain's desk. The Captain himself sat at his desk, talking with another administrator in a hushed, secretive tone that Applejack couldn't quite catch from her position on the floor.

Applejack grimaced as she saw the state of the ill and injured. Foals, adults, elderly, all were lying on the ground sprawled in various, uncomfortable positions, with nary a burlap sack to rest their heads on. A few volunteers, stained with dirt and grime, walked around to give the ill water and check up on their needs. The foals were the worst off, with many of them seeming to be running high fevers, with frostbite staining their delicate coats and dark mucus spilling from their noses.

It only drove home the self-loathing deeper into Applejack's heart, seeing foals lying ill right next to her. Could they be treated any faster if she wasn't there, wasting space and time? Would a stronger pony be better at protecting them from the cold?

There was a sudden commotion that cut through the general murmur of the tent as a grey pegasus mare suddenly burst through the flaps of the tent, carrying a bundled-up foal in her hooves, "Help! Help! Somepony help me, oh Celestia please-"

The two doctors, the Captain, and the administrator mare he was talking to, looked up from their duties as she entered. A chilling breeze blew in through the entrance, and a few flakes of snow drifted through. A few by the door shivered, before grunting as they got stepped over by the panicked mother.

"What's going on?" The male doctor grunted, standing up and adjusting his facemask as the pegasus came up right next to him.

"It's my poor, poor Ditzy! She went playing in the snow while I wasn't looking, and she's gone all blue!" The mare held out the foal to the pair of medics.

The grey earth pony mare put a hoof to her mouth as she inspected the foal, "Dear Celestia... she's-"

The stallion gave his comrade a stern look, before reaching out to take the foal, "She's badly frostbitten, ma'am."

The pegasus didn't fully let go of her daughter as the doctor laid a hoof on her, "C-Can you... can you fix her...?"

Applejack huffed, pulling one of her legs under her to prop herself up to look. It felt like knives were stabbing through her shoulder and muscles, but she managed to pull herself up to somewhere between lying down and sitting up, propping herself up with her leg. Many of the other sick who were conscious turned to look, and the room fell silent.

The male doctor, looked between the grey pegasus and the Captain, "...She must've been up to her barrel in snow. The ice soaked into her coat and has frostbitten her to the bone. Her legs are already gone, if I don't amputate they'll rot right off her and kill her."

"Goddesses..." The purple Administrator the Captain had been talking to whispered.

Applejack's face fell as her ears flattened themselves. Images of Apple Bloom wandering off with her friends into the snow, outside of the protective aura of the Generator, bit at the back of her mind. Her stomach turned as old concern came back to her once again, and she hoped dearly that her little sister had a straight enough head to think better than to make that mistake.

The pegasus mare fell silent, her breath freezing in her throat as she raised a forehoof to clench down on her muzzle. The Administrator shook her head, "Captain. She'll never walk again-"

The doctor grunted, "That's an understatement, Captain."

Catching the Captain's gaze, the Administrator put a hoof on his shoulder, "Captain. We have methods to keep ponies like this alive. We can treat deep frostbite in an Infirmary once we build one! Not only that, but-" the Administrator gave an exasperated huff, "Not only that... but it was straight up illegal to do something so cruel! We would have your license for even suggesting such a thing!

"Please..." The mother choked out before her yellow eyes flooded with tears and her breath began to hitch.

"Captain," The doctor demanded, stomping a hoof, "In any other case, I'd agree with Administrator Amethyst. But if we were to try those methods... we'd need a unicorn doctor to keep up a variety of spells and enchantments, and they'd simply remain untreatable and unfit for work. If you let us amputate, we can save more lives."

"It's..." Amethyst scowled, "...Medieval."

"It's what we need to do, Captain," The doctor didn't take his eyes off of the Captain, his frown deepening, "Some of the ponies here, and those at home, are only going to get worse. How are we supposed to save lives if we are stuck casting Sustain Life on necrotic limbs all day?"

The Captain, who up until this point had been switching his gaze between Amethyst and the doctor, eventually adjusted his stance to a more authoritative pose. Looking at the doctor, he nodded, "Do it, save who you can."

"...Thank you..." The doctor nodded, before looking to the female medic next to him.

With a gulp, the grey earth pony mare took the foal out of her mother's hooves, before laying her on the floor next to the surgical bag...

The mother broke out into wails, falling to the ground on her knees as the tent was filled with the eerie screams of yet another stricken with grief. Amethyst stared at the Captain for a moment longer, before going to place a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder. The mother, in turn, responded by reaching out and grabbing Amethyst and drawing her in close, her tears quickly staining the Administrator's red sash.

Applejack, defeated, fell back to the ground as her leg gave in once again. Many of the other patients on the floor of the Captain's tent also returned to their foetal positions, labored breaths and coughing continuing throughout the tent. 

She supposed the doctor was logical enough, but that didn't make it any less cruel. Another stare down to her legs made her bite her lips. Was this what the world plan on taking from her next? First her friends, then her family, then her farm, and now maybe a limb?

A shuffle from the Captain's desk made Applejack's attention turn away from herself. The Captain, sitting back down, looked away from his ponies, shutting his eyes and whispering, "...The city must survive..."





Applejack wasn't sure how much time had passed, having slipped into unconsciousness from pure exhaustion multiple times. But, considering she heard the whistle of the ending shift for the dayshift coal gatherers, and the fact that she had awoken once to find Carrot Top gone from her position against the wall, she believed she had managed to drift between states of consciousness for the entire day. 

Her aching pains persisted, and although she believed she could most likely stand, after the events of last night she was stricken with apathy. Besides, it wasn't like anypony would care if she didn't show up to work. She was sick, and even though a past version would have pushed past it, in the present she couldn't bring herself to.

Applejack's stomach once again rumbled, and she decided to look around once again.

The Captain was gone from his position at the desk, and the ill still lay in circles around said desk. A few had seemingly recovered and left, although a good twenty or so still remained. Applejack's eyes curiously scanned the crowd of fillies and colts grouped together against one wall. They landed on one filly in particular, gripped in the forelegs of a sleeping pegasus. Just as she feared, the young unicorn's legs had been replaced with bandaged stumps.

Applejack's hunger ravenously beat against her stomach, and wishful images of delicacies from the old world drifted through her mind. She would kill for a good apple pie, or scratch that- just a normal, juicy apple would be amazing at this point...

Applejack empty stomach was almost making her think on instinct, and she secretly wondered just how bad dirt would taste if it would fill the empty pit in her midsection...

A booted hoof came down on the ground next to Applejack's face.

She looked up to meet the familiar eyes of Rarity, who stared at her with a concerned face, "My Celestia, Applejack... I'm so sorry... I- I was stuck with a 24 hour shift last night, and when you didn't show up this morning I was so afraid..."

Applejack licked her parched lips, "...hey rares..." she croaked, twitching one of her forelegs to life to try and prop herself up.

Most of the stabbing pain in her muscles was gone, replaced by stiffness and intense resistance to any change from her resting position on the ground.

"The doctors told me you had a heart attack, are you okay?" Rarity crouched down, using her magic to take off her boot to lay a bare hoof onto Applejack's forehead.

Applejack sighed, pushing herself up with a leg with a loud, groaning sigh, "...Ah'm.. fine. Fine now, anyway," Desperately wanting to change the subject, Applejack pressed on, "...How are... how are the fillies doing?"

"Scootaloo, the poor darling, she got herself a case of hypothermia..." Rarity bit her lip, "I'm hoping she can recover by herself, because there's no places in the medical post and..." Rarity looked around, "This place looks dreadful."

"Ah..." Applejack sighed, "...Ah see that..."

Rarity reached out a hoof to Applejack, "...Can you walk? We need to get you to a real bed. You're only going to get more sick if you stay on this filthy floor."

Applejack didn't respond, instead gritting her teeth as she attempted to pull herself up. After a few painful, stiff seconds, she managed to do so, hissing with pain as she finally straightened up. She nearly toppled over, but was held up by the steadying grip of Rarity's magic.

Rarity gave her friend a concerned grimace, before helping Applejack adjust her coat once again.

The two of them struck out into the cold outside of the Captain's tent once again, the night sky clouded by angry stormclouds mixing with the black trail of smog drifting from the Generator Tower.





"Are there... are there any rations... Rarity?" Applejack huffed, limping along next to her friend.

Rarity shook her head grimly, "Ever since this cold front moved in, the cookhouse has been too cold to cook food in. The Engineers have apparently installed a heater to keep it warm enough for now, but we're all starving, and the raw food from the new Hothouse has been very tempting. The other Overseers are afraid ponies will start stealing it before it can be cooked and rationed out properly."

Applejack gave a disappointed sigh, followed by another painful twist in her stomach, "...What's... what's this 'Hothouse', then?"

"A sheltered garden for a few plants. I was going to try and ask for you to be moved to that place, since you have a natural talent for farming..." Rarity sighed, "...But I couldn't find you... and after I heard what happened the positions were already filled. I'll ask again soon, though, and I'm sure they'll take you and you can get out of that dreadful coal shoveling job."

Applejack frowned, "...I don't wanna. Ah'm sure there's plenty of other good earth ponies who can grow better than ah can..."

Rarity stopped, turning to Applejack with an incredulous look, "...What are you talking about, AJ? You're..." Rarity blinked and shook her head, "You're one of the few farmers we do have. And nothing's more important than growing food nowadays! Anypony can pull coal, darling. It'll get you out of that nasty, toxic coal depot anyway!"

"Any earth pony can do what ah do, Rares," Applejack looked away, avoiding her friend's look, "And if you try'n beg for me to be put in with the plants, it just means some other poor sap needs to do mah job..."

"...Applejack, I-" Rarity gave a sharp exhale, "...I don't know what-"

Applejack shrugged off her friend's grip, with a snarl "Ah need to go this way to get to mah tent anyway. I can make it on my own," She hobbled a bit unsteadily, but eventually got into a rhythm, working against her stiff joints, to walk down the street.

Rarity didn't attempt to grab Applejack again, instead just staring as her friend disappeared around a corner. 





Applejack found herself standing in front of the Generator, the boiling heat of the Core feeling insignificant and distant against the constant snowfall and wind, even when up close.

Twilight Sparkle's plaque glowed brightly as the giant machine blasted water into steam behind its sturdy, steel composite plates. The gigantic pressure gauge mounted on the front of the tower stood steady at capacity, and occasionally blasts of steam escaped from the overpressure valves mounted on the sides of the tower.

She didn't know why she was here, instead of at home resting in her bed. When she had escaped Rarity's grasp, wanting to be anywhere except near her friends, she had simply continued walking, past her tent, and all the way to the inner ring. To the point where there was a gap between the tents and the Generator to avoid stray coals from the tower setting any of the tent canvas alight.

The nightshift coal haulers walked past her, too exhausted and overworked to care. Above her, a bunch of engineers toiled away at some sort of maintenance panel on the side of the Generator, stained with sweat and grime as their fancy coats were soiled. And behind her, most of the city slept in their tents, stomachs empty and hearts stricken of hope.

Applejack struggled with her thoughts.She wondered once again if there was a point to her struggle. She wondered how much more loss she would take before she decided enough was enough. She wondered just how much anypony would miss her if she was gone...


A hoof landed on her back.


Applejack sneered. She didn't want to talk to Rarity right now. She didn't know how hard it was. That prissy little Canterlot mare had been living a life of luxury all her life. Sure, she lost her family, but who here hadn't? Now, she was given a cushy little job telling other ponies what to do. She got to call in favors, got to eat first in line, got to-

"Ma'am?" An unfamiliar voice came from right behind Applejack. It was soft, soothing, almost motherly. 

Applejack's shoulders relaxed as she slowly turned around, meeting the eyes of a cerulean earth pony mare, with a pair of purple eyes and a dark brown mane, messily done underneath a snow-capped hood. She wore a purple, hoof-knitted scarf, which was currently pulled down to reveal a genuine, concerned muzzle.

"...Ah don't want to talk to nopony..." Applejack sighed, defeat in her voice as she turned away back to the Generator.

The hoof retreated from her back, "...That's alright," The voice said, "You don't need to talk to me. It's just... me and my friends over here..."

Applejack turned once again to see the mare pointing a hoof at a group of other random citizens gathered behind her.

"...We're currently going around having prayers, and we noticed you here... and we wanted to ask if it would be alright if we could pray for you," She smiled, "You don't have to say anything, we'll just be here for you."

Applejack narrowed her eyes, "Who are y'all praying to? Princesses are dead. If there's any other goddess out there, she don't care about us no more..."

The mare shook her head, but her smile remained, "Miss, there is indeed a goddess out there looking out for us. Princess Twilight Sparkle, in her infinite wisdom, built for us this Generator, which has been the only thing keeping us alive in this harsh, unforgiving reality we find ourselves in."

Applejack rolled her eyes, "Ah knew Twilight. She weren't no Goddess, that's for sure."

"Maybe. But she was an alicorn, and she wielded the powers of Celestia and Luna at one point, did she not?" The mare asked. After hearing no response from Applejack, she continued, "Are we not alive solely to her efforts? How else would you define a Goddess, miss?"

"Ah'd define a Goddess as somepony still alive, ma'am," Applejack grunted bitterly.

"Her legacy lives on. The Generator gives us life," The mare's warm smile persisted, "...Please, miss, I can tell you're downtrodden. Let us pray for you."

With a sigh, Applejack looked away back to the Generator, "...Ah guess it couldn't hurt."


The mare's entourage had grouped up behind her, and upon hearing Applejack's words, they bowed their heads. The mare began to speak, laying a comforting hoof on Applejack's back, "Twilight Sparkle, whose name rests among the heavens, and your legacy in the center of our lives, I would pray for this downtrodden stranger before us..."

Applejack wondered why the priest's words were having such an effect on her. Was she enchanting her with some sort of fancy unicorn spell? No... that would be pretty hard to do considering she was an earth pony. Was Applejack really just that desperate?

"Oh Great Generator, whose great structure watches over us every day. Whose boiling heart makes away for us to survive despite the apocalypse that has descended upon us. Please, warm our hearts and provide us light for the future. Provide us hope to continue moving forward, and a reason to push on every day in this fragile world..."

Applejack frowned as she stared at Twilight Sparkle's plaque, its letters glowing through with heat from the Generator. Was it bad that she wanted the priest to be right? That she wanted Twilight to actually be looking down on her from the afterlife? I mean, it was probably possible. With all the magic the alicorns had, there had to be some sort of way for them to preserve themselves after death. They were immortal... right?

"For this stranger here, I pray that you may lift the great burden that is on her shoulders. That you may illuminate her path and ease her struggles..."

Applejack noticed that the crowd of ponies had gathered closer around her, with their eyes locked on her. While she found it slightly creepy that as they gathered around like a herd, she sensed genuine looks of concern on their faces and whispering echoes of the priestly leader's prayer for her.

"That for whatever she may be troubled with, that she will find solace and community, and warmth around your blessed design. In your name, and in the name of your fellow Goddesses, I pray this to you..." The priest swallowed, seeming to be about to finish her intercession.


BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM


Applejack jumped as the sound of the Generator's horn blasted through the air. The priest's prayer was interrupted as her entourage jumped back, looking up at the Generator tower with wide eyes and agape mouths.

Up on the balcony, by the maintenance panel, the Engineers appeared to cheer, although any noise they made was drowned out by the sound of the Generator, as they looked up the side of the tower. Applejack would not wonder about their joy for very long, as a wave of heat suddenly raged forth from the Generator's hull. The steam vents on the sides of the tower stopped hissing, and the panels of the hull glowed a brighter shade of red as the Generator's rumbling grew louder.

The large gauge on the front of the tower inched a few ticks closer to the red line, but eventually stopped just shy of it. Applejack's ice-nipped coat warmed with the blast of heat, and the snowstorm felt just that bit less severe as the Generator grew in power.

"Ah'll be damned..." Applejack wondered, a tiny smile breaking on her lips.

"If this isn't a sign! I don't know what is!" One of the members of the crowd shouted with joy.

"Aye! It's a miracle!" A stallion exclaimed, "The Goddess herself blessed the Generator with more strength! We're saved!"

The priest shook her head, "Don't get too excited, my friends. Our faithful engineering team simply engaged the Great Generator's overdrive system," She looked down to Applejack and gave that same, warm smile, "But it's timing... that is the miracle you should seek."

Applejack stared back at the priest, her frazzled mane flapping in the wind. No matter how ridiculous the religious mare's dogma sounded, the elements of truth to her story, the improbable timing of the engineer's action, and the undeniable fact that, ultimately, Applejack wanted the priest to be right, made her words give a spike of hope in her heart.

Taking off her hat and holding it near her chest, Applejack's smile swelled, "...Ah'm... pretty tired. But... if you wouldn't mind letting me hobble along, would ya mind if ah joined y'all?"

The priest nodded, "Of course not. Everypony needs a bit of hope, especially in these times..."

Applejack simply nodded, before following along behind the group as they departed from the Generator's side. 

Meanwhile, the Generator's glow pierced the snow around it, giving an almost heavenly halo that pierced into the sky above New Ponyville's valley...
> Chapter 13 - Lieutenant Rainbow Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crunch, crunch, crunch, creak...

Once again, Rainbow Dash found herself surrounded by fields of snow and ice.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, creak...

They had been at it all night, and into the next day. Even as a cold front bitterly descended upon them (and most likely upon New Ponyville), she hadn't let them rest for a moment.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, creak...

Not to be misconstrued: Rainbow Dash did not coldly order them to continue their march through the snow and ice...

Crunch, crunch, crunch, creak...

But when Blossomforth asked, panting and half covered in snow, "When are we going to stop for the night?", everypony could only bring themselves to stare, before leaning forward and pushing on further into the snow.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, creak...

"We will rest soon" was the thought that continued to echo through Rainbow Dash's head, repeating every hour as she continued her march along with her new comrades.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, creak...

But just like with Blossomforth's timid question, all that thought was answered with was silence from her own mind, and the sound of hooves padding through the snow and the howl of the wind as it ripped across the snow plains.

"I-If we... or, ah, er... once we crest this hill..." Came a voice over the sound of the storm, "We-We should be able to see the crash site!"

Rainbow took a moment to realize who was speaking. Their navigator, Ways Rite, had been the one to speak the least during the expedition so far. While the others, at some point, had raised their voice over the sound of the winter to shout some question or small talk out, Ways had only spoken up when it became his turn to pull the sled.

Speaking of the sled, the large lifeboat-turned-cargo sled continued to rumble and creak behind them as they continued their march through the wind and snow. A canvas top covered the hard angles of several boxes and crates, full of the supplies they would require to sustain themselves while out here.

However, Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she glanced back at the wobbling set of crates on the sled, she once again realized that there was nothing their supplies could do if the survivors were in a bad state.

"If Pinkie was in a bad state..." Rainbow Dash choked back the thought, before looking away and back to the top of the snow dune they were slowly climbing.

It'd be okay. They'd make it.

"Have we really been..." Cold Front's voice cracked as he grunted suddenly, his strength buckling against the harness of the sled he dragged behind him, "Have we really been walking for over a day now...?"

This time, Rainbow Dash honored the question with a response, "Yeah... yeah we have. We can rest once we get to their campsite, though. I'm sure they'll be glad to see us."

"What if she's been neglected? I mean, we didn't leave any of our valuable medical doctors behind to take care of the wounded we pulled from the lorry wreck. How can I be so sure that somepony had the heart to take care of a poor mare with a broken leg as everypony else fought off the cold?"

Rainbow gulped, her mind and body most definitely having something to say about the question as a grip more icy than anything the Frost could throw her way was tangled around her heart.

"You okay, boss?" Blossomforth asked from her left, "You look really sad..."

Rainbow sighed, "...I mean, don't you- err..."

Her words died in her throat as she looked over at Blossomforth, who simply raised an eyebrow, "...Don't I what?"

After a moment, Rainbow shook her head and simply looked down to study the snow beneath her hooves, "...Nothing. I'll be fine."

Blossomforth grunted, before seeming to want to let the situation go, however she was interrupted by another, relatively low voice from the back of the group.

Lightning Dust, the second of the two ponies pulling the sled, muttered through muted pants and huffs as she exerted herself on the sled's ropes, "She's asking if you have anypony special over there."

"Oh..." Blossomforth frowned at Lightning's tone, before continuing to stay silent.

Rainbow spared Lightning a single look over her shoulder, before rolling her eyes and continuing to look forward into the white expanse of snow. It was eerie, thinking about how one day, in the not too distant past, she had been right out here staking a path through the snow for the Convoys. How she had come back in, frostnipped and too numb to even know she was shivering. How many times she had considered giving up, only to forge back out into the ice plains once again with the promise of finding the Generator.

And now she was back, trudging the same path. Her tracks had been covered by the snow already; the ice, uncaring, had not even bothered to remember her trail. Not even the trail of the Steam Lorries had ultimately been remembered, despite how deep their furrows and how mighty their engines had been.

"Not that much further now. Too late to give up now," Rainbow told herself, clenching her teeth as the wind blasted again, nearly causing her to stumble.

Slowly, the crest of the hill crept towards the party of weary scouts. The tip of the snow dune, illuminated in the warm orange glow of Rainbow's Lamp, billowed out a steady stream of snowflakes as the wind washed over and above the dune. The wind thrashed at their backs as they came above the windshear of the snow dunes, and Rainbow's scarf and red sash flapped wildly against her coat and protection as she took the final few steps to the top of the hill.

Although the day was dark and stormy, she could still see it vaguely illuminated through the smallest glowing of the sun that pierced the clouded skies...

A large, open scar in the ice, extending for miles in both directions. Snow had caked back over the collapsed areas around the crevasse, and the ground on the other side was just as stable-looking as it had been on the day when the steam lorries had parked.

And, there, on the other side, was a sprawling campsite.

The dark forms of several tents were slumped against the snow, but as much as Rainbow's eyes scanned the darkness, not a single fire was seen.

"Sweet Celestia... eighty ponies and not a single fire... please don't let it be true..." Rainbow froze, staring out across the snow.

The sounds of the Scout's hooves shuffling through the snow and the creaking of the makeshift sled came to a halt behind her. Rainbow turned her head, eyes involuntarily squeezing shut as prevailing wind blasted directly into her face and goggles. Once she opened them again, she saw the eyes of her comrades staring out past her at the campsite too.

Nopony could bring themselves to move for the following minute. The wind continued to blow as nature presented the scouts with the skeletal remains of the survivor campsite.

"...Where is everypony...?" Blossomforth whispered, her shrill voice carried by the wind into Rainbow's ears.

Rainbow choked, looking away as fast as she could as tears suddenly welled up in her eyes. It couldn't be true! There had to be some other explanation! The ponies they had left behind had a week's worth of firewood from the lorry's cargo. Why weren't they burning it? Why had they let their tents begin to sag underneath the snow?

For a moment, Rainbow took her goggles off and reached a gloved, snow-caked forehoof to wipe her eyes. The freezing sleet on her hoof did wonders to counteract the hot tears welling up in her eyes, and she pulled down her goggles again and blinked, trying to calm herself.

What was she even doing? She was Rainbow Dash, the awesomest pegasus to ever bless the Equestrian skies! And here she was, blubbering...

It wasn't all about her, she realized as she turned back to the other Scouts. Ways Rite continued to stare off at the campsite, muttering something she couldn't hear. Blossomforth's expression was unreadable behind her scarf and goggles, but her posture sagged and she seemed to stare listlessly at the top of the snow dune. Cold Front hung his head, foggy breath billowing out unsteadily through his scarf.

"We were too late..." Cold Front muttered.

"I-it's her fault!" Ways Rite jabbed his hoof towards Blossomforth, drawing a frown from Rainbow Dash, "S-She kept slowing u-us d-d-down. We were a-all tired! B-But she couldn't just shut u-up!"

Blossomforth furrowed her brows, bringing her head up and turning to snap back at Rite, but was interrupted by a stomp from Lightning Dust's hooves as she said, exasperated, "It's all that damn Captain's fault. He's the one that left them behind, and he's the one who dragged his Celestia-damned hooves to get us all back here! We could've been out here days ago by now if he hadn't insisted on waiting for his big hot air balloon!"

Rainbow gritted her teeth. As much as she hated to admit it, Lightning was being the most logical out of any of them. However, as the rest of her ponies continued to yell at each other, she realized they weren't doing a whole lot of practical business.

Rainbow reached up for her scarf and drew it down, taking a deep inhale of icy, frost-filled air before shouting over the wind, "QUIET! QUIET EVERYPONY!"

Blossomforth had begun to raise her voice over Lightning Dust in order to snap back at Ways Rite, but seemed to snap her jaw shut as she turned a glare over to Rainbow.

"Hey! Listen! It doesn't matter how we got here or who's to blame, but we're here now, okay?" Rainbow's brain raced for things to say. Spitfire had always been the leader, and even though it was planned for Rainbow to take the captaincy after she stepped down, that had been interrupted by the Frost.

Rainbow gulped as the ice stung at her throat, before steeling herself and continuing, "Uh... but you see-" Rainbow blinked, before stomping her hoof in frustration and shouting, "You're all just arguing! I'm not seeing a lot of useful solutions! Just because the camp seems abandoned doesn't mean that there might not be survivors, and you're all wasting precious seconds they might not have! Okay!?"

Rainbow's desperate, wild look must have gotten through to the rest of the Scouts, because, at the very least, they seemed to steel their resolve. Blossomforth lost the angry look in her eyes, and seemed to come back to her usual, timid persona.

"So... how about we pick ourselves up and get our flanks over there as quick as we can, huh? We can't afford to circum- circumnav-" Rainbow mentally slapped herself as Ways Rite visibly looked disappointed behind his snow gear, "Uh- We can't go around the crevasse, alright? So, we gotta pick the sled up and fly it across! The winds are with us going that way. We'll have to hoof it back around across the bridge the Lorries took, along with any survivors we find, alright!?"

Cold Front frowned, "Flying? In this weather? I mean- don't get me wrong, I contributed a lot of wingpower to storm breaking back in my heyday... but this stuff is something else! We could wipe out on the other side. The sled could slip and drag us down into the crevasse... I'd rather not die like that!"

"I-I agree," Ways nodded, "It's insanity."

Blossomforth remained silent for a moment, but her ears flattened as she looked away from Rainbow and she finally opened her mouth, "...What's the point in risking ourselves if they're all probably already dead?"

Rainbow's lips drew into a line, and she couldn't bring herself to move, not even to pull her scarf back up over her muzzle as she wracked her brain for something to say.

Her ears would perk up, however, as one last unexpected voice came through the maelstrom.

"Rainbow's right," Came the voice of Lightning Dust.

Shocked, Rainbow glanced up towards Lightning Dust. Lightning locked eyes with her for a moment, before turning and looking at the rest of the Scouts, "What if something was wrong with the wood we left them? What if they were attacked? What if the last few of them are over there, hoping and praying for rescue to come. What if they see our lamps and are too powerless to signal to us, but pray to Celestia that we come as quick as possible? It'll take a good day for us to go all the way around. Do we really take the chance that they're all already gone?"

Rainbow stared at Lightning in disbelief, before blushing in embarrassment slightly as she finally replaced her scarf. 

"I-If Lightning's right..." Ways Rite muttered, "I-It'll take us about t-two days f-for us to circumvent t-the crevasse. I-If they lost their campfires r-recently..."

"They don't have that long," Cold Front finished, "Well damn. I guess we're going with the Lieutenant's plan, then?"

Rainbow, still trying to process Lightning's intervention, eventually nodded, "...We'll all harness ourselves to the sled and start flying across. We'll use the top of this snow dune to give us elevation and a wind-assisted take off. We'll have to be careful, though, I'm guessing there'll be nasty currents going in and out and around above the crevasse. We'll uh, we'll have to hang on tight, and make sure we get to the other side in one piece, alright?"

Lightning nodded, "We should all keep our eyes on the campsite. It might be easy for one of us to get separated if the ropes slip or if something happens to the sled."

"Right," Rainbow nodded back, before turning to the rest of the Scouts, "Let's get a move on, then! Get the ropes around the sled before the wind changes!"

Finally spurred back into action, the five pegasi got to work, unloading the coils of braided rope from the sled and beginning to wrap it around the sled, tying knots and hurriedly making harnesses. Above them, the clouds loomed, the dark storm continuing to belt out millions of snowflakes across the icy plains, the winds and frost swirling around the waning lamplight of the little ponies...







A sudden blast of crosswind suddenly shoved Rainbow against the wooden hull of the sled, causing her wings to flail wildly as she tried to straighten out her flight once again. 

She had been right about the air conditions above the crevasse. Icy crack or rocky canyon, they both had the same thermal conditions required to completely screw over any pegasi flying down close enough to be effected by them. Without enough wingpower, the most the Scouts would've been able to do is fly in circles, slowly losing altitude until they became exhausted or crashed.

However, the Captain had picked his scouts well. There was no shortage of skilled and strong fliers on the team. Even as the sled tipped dangerously, the supplies aboard threatening to upend themselves off into the dark abyss below, the five pegasi surrounding it did their best to pull it back upright. 

Rainbow Dash was shouting at them which way to fly, but her orders were likely not being heard over the howl of the wind and over the scout's own labored breaths. The flyers were going on pure instinct, and staring solely at their objective on the other side of the canyon.

Exhaustion was setting in, however. On any sunny day, Rainbow could've flown in these conditions without breaking a sweat. However, a good few months of surviving on half rations, and then a day of walking without rest already had her heart thundering and her breath dry and rapid.

Rainbow quickly jabbed her forehoof up to drag her scarf down beneath her chin, opening up her airway for relieving breaths of chilly, but unrestrained air. As much as her lungs hurt scarfing down the frost-filled air, she felt like her mask was literally choking her with her exhaustion.

"We're about halfway now..." Rainbow tried to swallow, only to come out panting and gasping even harder on the other side.

Sweat beaded on her forehead, just above her goggles and below the fringe of her mane, and almost instantly began to freeze. Even keeping her legs pulled up underneath her to reduce drag was getting labor intensive as her body slowly ran out of breath.

Blossomforth seemed to be ready to drop dead, but determinedly pushed on, her wingbeats inconsistent as the team pushed past the two thirds mark. Ways Rite had been right once again, she was the weakest flier out of all of them. Yet, Rainbow still admired her determination. Even she wouldn't know herself if she'd be able to muscle on if her training and conditioning hadn't made it easier for her.

Cold Front had started out the flight confidently, but was beginning to falter now at about the same rate as Rainbow. He simply stared straight ahead, though, legs dangling beneath him as he brute-forced his way forward towards the end of their troubled air sprint.

Ways Rite flew at the back of the sled, keeping the hind end upright while providing additional lift. He appeared to be holding up only a few fractions better than Blossomforth. The diminutive stallion was the smallest of the group, so despite his physical fitness Rainbow Dash didn't blame him for giving slack. Still, when the sled slipped and Rainbow looked back to see him struggling to lift it back up again, she worried.

Lightning Dust flew right by Rainbow. Although Rainbow had expected Lightning to be motivated just to outdo the others around her, just like she had been back when they knew each other before the Frost. However, the pegasus flew forward, perpetually huffing and gasping, with her eyes solely set on the other side of the crevasse.

Rainbow mentally chastised herself for her aggression against Lightning Dust. It had been a long time since they met before the Frost. She had clearly just changed, and for the better. It would be prudent of her to abandon her prejudice against the mare.

So why did she still feel so... bad?

The ice walls of the crevasse rose up below them. Not much farther now. The campsite was closer than before. Somewhere, down in the darkness, Rainbow thought she saw the wreckage of Lorry Four... or now that she thought of it, was it Lorry Seven? She thought Lorry Four was a bit farther down, and Lorry Seven wasn't a wreckage the last time she checked...

Rainbow shook it out of her mind, and focused on pulling the sled the last few yards to safety. Below them, the snow reformed, and the crevasse was just behind them. She knew better than to land, though. Ahead were the old stakes of wood that had marked where actual solid ground was, marked out by herself and the other Scouts that guided the lorries. Only there could they make a landing and not fear of immediately being dragged down into the dark by a collapsing snow shelf.

The snow below them did, however, block the wind. The prevailing wind behind them sped up the sled quickly, and Rainbow felt a short-lived shot of panic grow in her as a lot of resistance fell away from her. 

Finally, the Scouts began to glide downwards, landing steadily behind the row of wooden poles, still stuck above the snow line. As the sled landed back on its treads, creaking and wobbling as it came firmly upright and dug itself back down into the snow under its weight, the harnesses went slack and the scouts collapsed, exhausted.

Rainbow's wings gave out as she went tumbling into a snowdrift, her lamp bouncing around on her chest as she fell on her side in the icy snow. She coughed from the exhaustion, taking several deep breaths as she heard her heart thunder in her ears. Despite everything, though, a smile parted her lips. They had made it.

Eventually, Rainbow sat up from the snow, pulling her scarf back up over her muzzle as she looked around the landing site. The rest of the Scouts were slowly picking themselves back up, taking off their harnesses. Blossomforth stood slowly, but still stumbled as it looked like she was about to pass out on the spot. Ways Rite had avoided being trapped underneath the sled as it landed, and still sat, back propped up against the back of the sled as he panted. Cold Front did the same, on the other side, eyes staring up at the sky as he tried to slow his breathing.

Finally, Lightning Dust lay belly-down in the snow, eyes staring forward at the edge of the campsite just ahead of her. She slowly got up, snow falling off in chunks from the bottom of her coat and scarf.

"Now..." Blossomforth heaved a mighty breath through her scarf, "...Now can we go and... pant... rest?"

Rainbow steadied her breathing enough to answer, "...Yeah... let's just, unhitch and walk to the camp... try and light a fire. Get warm. I can't feel my... can't feel my legs," she tried to chuckle at that last part, wiggling her forehooves as she slowly turned over to stand up.

"I can't feel my anything," Cold Front complained, giving a weak chuckle as he reached up to undo his harness.

Ways Rite mumbled something once again, looking in the direction of Blossomforth, but got up from his seat and undid his harness, "L-Lamps are running out of steam. W-We should get the furnace and light i-it once w-w-we're in the camp... o-or we'll straight up freeze."

Rainbow nodded, "It's heavy. We'll all take one piece. I'll..." She sighed, "I'll take the biggest one..."

The Scouts spared Rainbow a glance, but didn't question her as they unpacked the furnace and the coal from the sled, before abandoning it to be recovered later as they marched off towards the camp.





The first thing that caught Rainbow's eye was the sight of the Equestrian flag billowing above the camp. The same flag was draped over the western and eastern sides of the Generator back in New Ponyville, and its blue star-studded image of the Royal Sisters orbiting their celestial bodies still inspired a bit of hope within Rainbow. The flag, although representative of a nation and patriotic pride that didn't exist anymore, still promised that maybe, one day, the future might be like it was before the Frost.


However, the campsite surrounding the flagpole did anything but inspire the same confidence in Rainbow Dash.


The tents slouched under the weight of the snow. Some had been completely torn down, their canvas and wooden supports completely cannibalized, most likely for fuel. Nopony had been out to greet the scouts as they entered the camp's perimeter, and while they hadn't found any corpses among the wrecked tents, the lack thereof was no more comforting.

Most confusing of all to Rainbow was the presence of bundled wood piles still stacked next to the abandoned tents. There was still plenty of wood the survivors could've turned into firewood, just like they had expected. Firepits had been dug, and ash still existed within them, as well as scorched pieces of wood and charcoal.

The Scouts put down their furnace parts somewhere next to the flagpole, mutually deciding to split up and search the camp individually and meet back to warm up, eat, and refuel and assess the situation together.

Rainbow struck out towards the north... or what she assumed was north at least. Compasses didn't work properly this close to the poles, and thus she hadn't brought one. The only pony that could know the real compass directions was Ways Rite, using the position of New Ponyville's beacon as a reference point.

As much as a warm furnace and a refueling of their flickering and waning Lamps sounded amazing, Rainbow couldn't rest with a good conscience if there were still survivors somewhere in the camp.

She poked her head into every tent, searching for signs of life. She found a few abandoned belongings. A teddy bear here, a half-buried purse with jewelry in it, an abandoned undercoat there... but no ponies. Not even corpses.

Had they tried to find their own way back? Rainbow gritted her teeth in fear of that possibility. They might've missed New Ponyville's beacon, or not known the safe way around the crevasses and cliffs to get home safely. Even worse, some of them were injured and weakened, and might've not been able to make the trip...

"Like Pinkie..."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. Not the time. Keep looking. If they left, they might've known somepony would come looking for them sooner or later. They would've left a note... a sign... something.

Rainbow's lamp flickered, and she swore under her breath as she began to fiddle with it. The light, and heat, within it began to wane as the Lamp worked through the last dregs of its reserves. Frustrated, Rainbow applied the only solution she had for complicated engineer and mechanical pieces:

She slapped it.

The Lamp waned fearfully as her hoof struck the side of the casing, before finally brightening up once again and casting a cone of light in front of her once again. However, as Rainbow lowered her hoof from the lamp, she heard a gasp from straight ahead from her.

Eyes darting up, they met a pale green pegasus stallion, standing in the snow ahead of her, hooves wrapped around a shovel and a bucket at his side. He did not wear the full cold protection that Rainbow did, and what was exposed to the air was frostbitten, blackened, and losing its fur. He lifted one shaky hoof and pointed towards Rainbow.

"...Y-You..." He whispered, voice hoarse.

"What happened here?" Rainbow demanded, heart fluttering with adrenaline as she rushed through the snow to the stallion's side.

His eyes darted around, looking Rainbow up and down, "You're... real..."

Rainbow looked into his eyes, and slowly nodded, "Yeah. Yeah I am. My name's Rainbow Dash. We were sent here to lead you to the city."

"...We thought you'd be back in a manner of days... it's been more than a week..." He said, his frostbitten muzzle frozen cold, "...Where... were you?"

Rainbow bit her lip, "...The Captain told us to stay. We wanted to leave, but he wanted to build a Beacon so that we could navigate safely. We thought you had enough firewood to last out..."

The stallion looked down towards the snow, "...I see... you should..." He hesitated, "Did you find any of us on your way here? Did any make it?"

Rainbow's fears clenched down on her. Some of them had indeed tried to make it back on their own. Swallowing her uncertainty she shook her head, "No."

"I told them, I told them it was a bad idea," Behind the stallion's goggles, Rainbow thought she saw tears, "C-Come... to the tent. There's others."

Obliging, Rainbow allowed the stallion to lean on her as he abandoned his equipment, limping back to one, slightly larger, tent near the outskirts of the camp.

From within the tent, a small fire crackled. Its light was so small, and its smoke so easily blown away by the wind, it was no wonder to Rainbow that they couldn't see it from afar. Rainbow at least felt vindicated in her risky push to cross the crevasse by wing, if the stallion's condition was anything to be spoken of, the survivors wouldn't have lasted much longer.

Rainbow followed behind the stallion as he wiggled his body through the front flap of the tent. A female voice from inside said, "You got back here in a hurry. Where's the bucket..?"

Rainbow poked her head in behind the stallion, looking around the inside of the tent as she came inside as well. The fire crackling in the middle of the tent was surrounded by about twenty or so ponies, sleeping and resting in a circle around its warming light. Canned food was stacked up in a corner. Some of it was opened, most of it was still tinned. A kitchen knife had been used liberally to cut open the tin seals around the food.

Most of the ponies around the fire were in terrible states. Many of them were bandaged heavily, the cloth being soiled, bloodied, and browned from dirt. Some ponies were missing limbs. All of them were frostbitten in some sense. 

There was a mare in the corner (assumedly the one who had spoken to the stallion just before Rainbow came inside), who suddenly stood up as she spotted Rainbow Dash, hope flooding her tired, blue eyes. However, Rainbow's attention was immediately grabbed away by one of the ponies lying around the fire.

A pink earth pony, vibrant colors faded by injury and blood loss, with a bandaged stump in place of her back left leg. Her back right leg was a mess too, but at the very least wasn't completely missing. Most remarkable, however, was her cutie mark: Three balloons, two blue and one yellow. 

Rainbow approached Pinkie in a daze, staring at her smashed up body. Her chest rose and fell steadily. She was alive. Dear Celestia she was alive!

"This pegasus here is part of a rescue party!" Rainbow heard the stallion exclaim.

"Oh thank the Goddesses!" The mare said, coming to Rainbow's side, "What was holding you up? We thought you'd be here days ago..."

Rainbow finally tore her eyes off of her friend, "...We were held up. Needed to build a beacon or else we'd get lost. Trust me, if we could've come sooner... we would've done it in a heartbeat."

"They shouldn't have left, but after they lost so many in the damn Steam Lorry..." The mare stomped her hoof in frustration at the news, "We've been barely able to go outside to salvage wood and canvas for the fire from the tents without losing limbs from the cold. Storm Catcher here has already been frostbitten to all Tartarus... dear Celestia..." the mare moaned.

Rainbow's brows furrowed, "There was firewood outside. Why didn't you use it? Where did they all go?"

"We-" The mare sighed, "That wood out there? That was the majority of what we were left with from the cargo of Lorry Seven. It's good old Equestrian construction wood," She sneered, "...Enchanted to be fire resistant. That stuff wouldn't burn if you threw it in a volcano! We had to use the wood that we were supposed to be building with to burn. That didn't leave much room to reinforce our tents and build wind stoppers. We were exposed to arctic weather for the past week, and it's only gotten worse in the past few days!"

"You mentioned losing ponies in the lorry? What do you mean?" Rainbow queried next.

"They tried to take the remainder of our tent building supplies to Lorry Seven and stoke the boiler," The stallion, who Rainbow now knew as Storm Catcher, rasped, "Damn idiots. Didn't they know the boiler radiating was what caused the ice shelf to collapse the first time?"

"A day after they started burning fuel in the lorry, it fell down further into the crevasse and crashed. They didn't come back up," The mare explained, voice bitter.

Rainbow frowned. She guessed the Captain would be disappointed by the loss of the Steam Core. If he complained, though, she planned on telling him exactly where he could stick his Steam Cores.

"The other healthy ones... the ones that could still walk... they went off to try and make their way to the Generator themselves," Storm Catcher murmured, "Since you said you didn't find them... and they didn't arrive in the city.."

"Damnit," The mare murmured.

Rainbow looked around the room, considering her options. It was at least a 3 day trip back to New Ponyville, as she definitely wasn't skipping the 2 day trip to circumvani- circum- go around the crevasse. There was no way they'd be able to wing 20 or so survivors back across. The sled they had also couldn't house all the survivors to be pulled along, and there was no way these ponies would be able to walk.

They'd need to find a way to make another sled large enough for them to be piled on, and pulled by the few remaining able bodied ponies and Scouts all the way back to the city. 

A pit formed in Rainbow Dash's stomach. The Scouts were woefully under equipped to physically rescue these ponies. They at most could lead them back, but to help drag them back...?

Rainbow looked back up at the mare and Storm Chaser, "...Stay here for a moment. I'm gonna go and meet up with the rest of my ponies, then they're gonna bring their furnace up here and give you some extra heat and figure out a way to get you all to safety back in New Ponyville."

The mare nodded, before her face scrunched up in thought, "...Ma'am?"

Rainbow paused at the door, "Yes?"

"Is the Generator... good? Will we be warm there?" She asked.

Rainbow could only bring herself to give the mare a pained look as she slowly exited the tent.







"H-How exactly do we plan on getting all these cripples back h-home?" Ways Rite whispered to Rainbow now that they were safely out of earshot of the survivors inside the tent.

Rainbow frowned, looking around at the small semicircle of gathered Scouts, "...Not sure. But we gotta figure out a way. No way I'm leaving them behind out here," her Lamp glowed brightly again, refueled by the steam let off by the furnace. The survivors had indeed been grateful for the focused heat of the coal-powered furnace. Some had even perked up enough to wake up and ask questions. Most of them consisted of "When are we going home?" or "When can I see a doctor?". Pinkie Pie was still completely unresponsive, however.

"We could make makeshift sleds out of these tents. Between our sled, then maybe two made out of canvas and wood sliding along the snow, we could get all twenty of them back home," Cold Front suggested.

Lightning Dust sighed, "Yeah, but that'd require all of us pull at once, and that none of us would be able to rest on the sled. Even the kind souls that stayed behind to take care of them would be required to tug those things. They don't even have snow shoes."

"Rainbow is right, though. We can't leave them behind!" Blossomforth insisted, "...We're not actually considering leaving any of them behind, right?"

Ways Rite opened his mouth, but Rainbow Dash immediately silenced him with a stomp of her hoof, "No. Nopety nopety no. That's an order from your superior officer, too. We'll carry them out of here on our backs if we have to."

Ways Rite closed his mouth, and nodded, "...R-Right... well i-if my estimations a-are correct. I-it'll take us f-four days at best to g-get home."

"Didn't it only take us one day to get here?" Cold Front raised an eyebrow.

Ways Rite fidgeted slightly, "...W-Well yes, but we took n-no b-b-breaks. W-We pulled the sled in sh-shifts. W-we would all be pulling at o-once. S-So it'd take l-longer because we'd have to stop to c-catch our breaths. And w-we'd need to camp, for the s-sakes of the survivors."

Lightning Dust grimaced, "They'll die if we don't give them a chance to recuperate by a fire."

Rainbow shook her head, "Damn... is there really no better way?"

Lightning shook her head, "Rotten deal. It's the deal though."

Rainbow's eyes went to Ways Rite, and he nodded too. Cold Front and Blossomforth averted their gazes, only for the latter to shrug and say, "Guess we'd better rest up by the furnace. We got a long four days ahead of us, huh?"

"Yeah..." Rainbow frowned, "...Well. Ways, if you'd like to signal to New Ponyville the situation, and tell them we're going to try and get the survivors back within the next 4 days, that'd be nice."

Ways Rite nodded, before re-entering the tent, most likely looking for his magnifying lens that'd make a flash bright enough for the lookouts on the Beacon to see.

Lightning Dust, Blossomforth, and Cold Front made moves to follow him, but Rainbow put up her hoof to pause them, "...Uh, could I talk to you out here for a moment longer, Lightning Dust?"

Lightning didn't nod, but stayed still outside while the rest of the Scouts re-entered the tent. A moment later, Ways Rite pushed out past her with his equipment, trekking off to the far side of the camp in order to start signalling back home.

Rainbow tried to put on a genuine smile, "...Hey... Lightning, I just wanted to say- uh," Rainbow reached up a snow-caked hoof, rubbing the back of her scarf, "...Thanks for helping. You might've saved these ponies by convincing the others to listen to me. You're really not as rotten as when I met you all those years ago, and I'm sorry for being nasty back in front of the Captain."

Lightning Dust stared at Rainbow for a moment longer before finally sighing. Her eyes eventually travelled away from Rainbow to look at the tent, "...Tell me something, Lieutenant."

Rainbow frowned at the use of her new title, but eventually said "...Yeah?"

"There weren't any other survivors in the camp. You're sure these are all of them?" Lightning looked at Rainbow, her eyes sad but unreadable.

"I'm pretty sure, why?" Rainbow asked, before her eyes widened in realization, "...Oh... Oh I'm-"

Lightning gritted her teeth and looked away again.

Rainbow bit her lip. If Lightning's mother had been well enough to walk, she might've left with the steam lorry ponies or the ones trying to trek home alone, "I'm... I'm so sorry..."

The other mare eventually just shook her head, "Whatever," she said, before walking away back through the tent flap.

With a sigh, Rainbow stared up towards the stormy clouds one more time, before entering the tent after her.





Several of the tents had been unfolded and layered on top of each other to make a wide, canvas base. Then, the wooden beams from within said tents had been made into makeshift skis. Together, these made two, flat, inflexible, heavy sleds with a wide, open top that couldn't even shield occupants from prevailing winds unlike the interior of the Scout's lifeboat sled could. However, stacked with as many blankets as they could find, the cripples were piled on top of the sleds, and ropes were attached to the two able bodied ponies and the rest of the Scouts. Only Ways Rite did not currently pull a sled, as he was busy making final arithmetic checks on the party's course back to New Ponyville. However, soon enough he'd swap out with whoever was the most tired. It wouldn't be much relief, but it'd be something.

The two able bodied ponies had been dressed up as well as the Scouts could. Blankets had been wrapped around them, and then secured with belts and ropes as a form of makeshift full weather protection. However it was loose in some places, and slipped in others, and Rainbow was still glad to have the extra heavy coats afforded to the scouts, even if it didn't do that much more to protect from the cold.

The furnace had been decompiled and placed back in the bed of the lifeboat sled, fitted around the comatose body of Pinkie Pie and a few other of the most injured ponies deserving the most shelter from the wind. According to Ways, they'd be camping four times overnight along the way. Their coal supplies would last, even though they wouldn't be burning any roaring fires. It was more the exposure to the wind the scouts were worried about for the poor cripples. Even with a tent, the open Frostlands were more exposed than the crash site camp. There was no real telling if they'd survive.

Rainbow secured her harness as she looked back at her sleeping friend, securely placed down in the lifeboat sled. Her legs and wings still ached from yesterday's trek, and from a night on the floor with only canned food to fill her stomach, but what rest she had gotten would have to do. She could rest fully for a few days once they were back in New Ponyville.

Lightning Dust pulled one of the makeshift sleds, along with Storm Catcher (who had had his frostbite bandaged as best as he could). She caught her looking at Rainbow with an almost jealous look in her eyes, before she quickly continued to stare down at the snow once again.

With a sigh, Rainbow braced herself against her harness, before sucking in a breath and fixing her eyes on the field ahead.

"Forward, ponies!"
> Chapter 14 - Overseer Rarity Belle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity had thought that Coal would have been the backbone of the resource game in New Ponyville.

Yes, while fuel for the Generator was of course incredibly important, as they sort of required it to not freeze to death in their sleep. However, currently, there was not exactly a shortage of coal. Indeed, New Ponyville technically had enough coal to last about 4 days at this point if every last coal worker except the ones fueling the furnaces directly were to quit their jobs. Not that this was an excuse to stop trying to gather coal, of course. The more fuel the merrier, in Rarity's opinion...

But no, currently Coal was not the first and foremost on the Captain's (and thus the Administrator's and Overseer's) mind. Currently, it was Wood.

They had left behind a sizable amount of wood cargo when they abandoned Lorry Seven. In fact, the only wood they really had from the start was from recycled wooden crates that they had been using to store other, important things aboard the surviving Lorries.

Coal did not build tents. Coal did not put together the resources required for research. Coal did not build the Cookhouse. Coal did not construct the Gathering Posts that made consolidating the expedition's old cargo much more efficient. Coal did not construct streets. Coal did not build the workshops.

Coal, ultimately, wasn't going to get ponies anywhere if they couldn't also do any of the above. Wood was going to do the above.

So, Rarity, trussed up in her winter coat, walked and waded through the snow, teeth chattering as snow continued to fall in sheets from the angry clouds above. In the distance, far away from the warmth of the Generator, was a row of the city's buildings that were far away from the Generator either by choice, or by necessity.

The Sawmill was one of the latter of those.

The short, stocky building stood next to a canvas-covered Hunter's Hut, and lay a short walk down from the Beacon. The Sawmill was dedicated to cutting down and processing the frozen trees that lined the outer edge of New Ponyville's valley, the city's currently only source of natural wood.

Rarity instinctively grabbed at her clothing as she came towards the door of the Sawmill. She straightened her woolen cap, and grabbed at a button near her neck. She frowned as the button came loose, the thread holding it on having worn down and snapped in two. For a moment, she looked down to appreciate the tears, rips, and stains her once beautiful coat had sustained.

A past Rarity may have cried at such a travesty, but the current Rarity could only bite back tears and try and straighten up her coat as best she could. One day, she'd get thread and needle and go to work repairing her coat once again. Right now... well, she was required to do things other than being a seamstress.


The door opened with her magical touch, and the sounds and smells of a sweaty, grim, dusty workplace assaulted her nose and ears. The interior of the building was lit with pale lamplight, and the floor was covered in a thin layer of sawdust. Wind whistled through glassless windows, and in some places the light of the city simply shone through the gaps in the walls. The only thing that made the temperature livable in there was the Heater.

Heaters were a new design cooked up by New Ponyville's engineers. They were modified mobile furnaces, the same things the Scouts used, that were hooked into the pipeline system that lead in towards the Generator. Even though the Generator wasn't powerful enough to get hot steam all the way out to the outskirts of the valley, the Heaters could re-heat the cold, wet steam somewhat and provide cheap central heating more powerful than a simple wood fire.

The sounds of sawing, murmurs, panting, and slow, steady hoofsteps echoed through the cramped, ill-insulated workplace. Several of the workers already were sat down against a wall, hooves cracked, clothing torn, and dust and grime staining their coats and faces. A few brave few still continued to saw away at the logs laying on a shallow groove, creating planks of wood that were being slowly carried away to be added to a stockpile.

Rarity raised her whistle to her lips, and blew long and hard, the shrill screech of the metal instrument causing the resting workers to turn their eyes to her immediately, and the workers on the sawmill to sigh and let go of their long, specialized tools.

They looked at her expectantly, their eyes pleading for permission to finally go home and rest. To go and warm up close to the Generator and to try and shake off the saw dust caking their bruised and scuffed coats. 

Alas, Rarity could not provide that solace as she raised her voice for the room to hear, "I have a message from the Captain!" her blue magic grasped a folded note in her coat pocket, unwrapping it as her eyes turned down to read it, "Sawmill workers, an Emergency Shift has been declared-"

The room instantly erupted in shouts, hoof stomps, and groans of outrage. Rarity grimaced, but continued anyway, "You will work for the next 24 hours. You will be allowed an hour break to report to the Cookhouse for your rations, starting at the second horn after this message ends," fortunately for Rarity, the discontent in the room was silenced slightly by the promise of rations. With Heaters installed in the Cookhouse just like they had been installed in the Sawmill, the cooks were finally able to cook food again. Tonight was going to be the first night where the ponies of New Ponyville were going to be able to eat again.

"As you will have missed the nightly announcements by now, they will be repeated for you once again," Rarity cleared her throat and took a breath, "A new law has been passed. Citizens of New Ponyville will now be allowed to bathe at the newly-opened Bathhouse. You are required to do so by your city, as the lack of bathing could cause plague and sickness. A latrine is also installed at this Bathhouse, and now in the future you will be required to do your business there, both to prevent contamination and to allow our ponies to reuse your refuse for the purpose of fertilization-"

A worker spoke up, "Eh? What? You mean we're gon' have to walk all the way back to the damn Generator to take a piss?"

Rarity looked up from her note and frowned, "...Err... I suppose so..."

"Buck that right up the tail," Another pony sneered, "This damn mill is hard enough work without needing to walk a quarter mile just to drop a road apple."

"What are you minute-takers going to do if we don't, anyway?" Somepony else pointed out, bringing mutters of general agreement from the workers.

Rarity gulped, reaching up with a hoof to nervously brush one of her stray purple locks to the side, "Well.. I'm not sure. I'm just... I'm just a messenger, you see? I really don't make the rules."

The same pony snorted, crossing his hooves, "We deserve better."

Rarity frowned. It wasn't the Overseer's job to enforce the rules. In fact, now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure who exactly she'd call if the workers just straight up refused to do what the Captain said. Currently, the only motivator the workers had for the extreme conditions they were being faced with was that, without them, the city would die and their foals would die with it. And, while that was a powerful motivator for most, Rarity could understand many thinking their workloads were unfair.

Even as an Overseer, an objectively easier job than most of the grueling ground-level work the populace faced, Rarity felt the weight of her hours. She spent most of the day running from place to place, starting and ending shifts, overseeing resource distribution, and passing messages between workforces. She barely had the time to eat before she had to find what rest she could back at home. The concept of free time was completely gone from her mind, and even the concept of getting off to see her little sister was crushed down under endless work hours.

What Rarity wouldn't give for a day off.

Biting her lip, Rarity sighed, "...I know. I've been on my hooves all day as well, and when some of the other Overseers took ill I've had to work emergency shifts for them too. But we need that wood in our stockpiles. If we don't get it, we cannot build the facilities we need to farm, we cannot build the workshop expansions needed to upgrade the Generator to heat our homes, and we cannot build sturdier homes out of hopes and dreams. I know this all requires a lot of sacrifice," Rarity grimaced, "...But the city must survive."

The sawmill was silent for a minute, and Rarity felt herself shrink away as the exhausted stallions and mares around the room fixed her with judgemental stares. She was secretly glad the workers were already so tired, as some of the burlier stallions looked like the unkindly types that made her shy away from dockyards and factories back before the Frost.

Rarity was saved, however, as one of the stallions finally shifted from his seat in a corner and walked back towards the log groove. Grabbing one end of the sawblade resting halfway through a frozen log, he gave a glance around the room, "...You heard the pretty lady. Are ya gonna be part'cularly upset 'bout yer aching bones when yer skeleton is under fifteen feet o' snow?"

He was met with grumbles from around the room. However, eventually a mare got up and worked her frame up to the top of the groove and set herself up on the opposite end of the saw. With the two's muscles flexing, the saw began to continue its work of chewing through bark and wood, sawdust flying off the groove and onto the ground once again.

It had only taken two, because soon after that the rest of the workplace got back to their job. Another log was loaded onto another groove, and another saw began to work through it. Planks were planed, then tossed onto the stack. Then, others began to work to tie the stack together with the provided cables.

Rarity looked at the stallion who had stood up first. He noticed her look, and paused for a moment to return her glance. 

Smiling, Rarity mouthed a "thank you" to him.

He only managed to return a neutral look and a shrug. Rarity supposed it was the best she could hope for, and eventually readjusted her coat, folded up her paper once more, and turned tail back towards the door.

BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM

The Generator's horn rumbled through the valley, signalling the end of an hour. Without it, those ponies without a watch wouldn't be able to tell the time. With the storm clouds looming over the city, it was impossible to judge the time through the passage of the sun and the moon...

Rarity fussed with her mane for a bit, now standing outside the sawmill, before sighing and setting her sights back on the road that lead towards the city and the Generator. The horn had signalled the end of her shift, and every minute she spent out there was a minute of rest wasted.

Her mouth watered as she was once again bombarded with the concept of rations being served at the cookhouse once again, and her hooves hurried despite their tiredness to carry her back to the city...





The Generator had stopped glowing as brightly as it had been the night before. According to the engineers, the extra warmth was only granted by a test-run of the Generator's Overdrive system, and it had to be shut off again lest the Generator be stressed enough to damage itself. 

Rumors were still circulating that those crazy ponies that spent their free time praying rather than sleeping had something to do with it. Rarity had simply brushed them off as what they were; Rumors. While she could understand the quaintness of the Generator being some sort of motherly figure, trying to protect the citizens of New Ponyville of its own mind, she knew the Generator was just a machine. An amazing machine, surely, but a machine nonetheless. It was going to be the ponies of New Ponyville that would save themselves, not some ghost in an oversized space heater.

The Cookhouse was barely more habitable than the Sawmill had been, with its thin, uninsulated walls doing no favors to fight back the cold outside. However, the introduction of the Heater inside helped recycle the Generator's steam, so the lukewarm glow of the Generator outside wasn't the only thing to help keep the temperature livable.

Little blessings. Small favors. That's all anypony could hope for.

Rarity subconsciously adjusted her red sash as she approached the counter where the meals were being served. She grabbed a tin plate and a spoon from the tray at the beginning of the long line in front of the servers. 

Her eyes wandered to the entrance of the Cookhouse. "Where have those little rascals gotten off to, they were meant to be here by the start of the horn..." Rarity bit her lip, shuffling forward as the line moved.

With Rainbow Dash out of the city looking for Pinkie Pie and Applejack barely having enough time in the day to come home and fall into bed, Rarity had been left as the defacto caretaker of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo (as well as her own little sister of course). They would usually spend the day running out and about around the city, and sometimes the Captain himself would spend some time with them. 

Bless their souls. The little ones were safe from the horrid reality the adults needed to slog through.

Rarity's turn in line came up. Placing her plate on the counter, she watched as the cook mare placed a knife in the middle of her plate. She then took a ladle, dipping it into a strange-smelling stew and filling the plate until one side of the knife was filled. Then, with a nudge of her hoof, the cook pushed the plate back towards Rarity.

Rarity sniffed the scent coming off the stew, and instantly her stomach turned in a knot. She was far past being a Canterlot gourmet, but there was definitely something more offputting about tonight's rations than the usual slop served ever since they left Manehatten.

Rarity looked up at the cook and raised an eyebrow. The cook met her gaze and rolled her eyes, before grunting, "Right. Overseer. What-buckin'-ever," she groaned before dipping her ladle in the stew and giving an extra spoonful onto Rarity's plate.

Blinking, Rarity shook her head, "Er- no, dear. What's- Excuse my manners, but what is in this stuff!?"

The cook frowned even deeper, "Meat. From some arctic avian flock that was taking shelter in a nearby cave I think."

Rarity's pale coat turned even paler, "...M-Meat?"

Behind her, the rest of the line muttered and murmured, and some other eyes turned to the cook and the "food" on Rarity's plate.

The cook sighed, "Remember? Captain said we'd have some meat in our diets to supplement our limited supply of vegetables?"

"But- I thought he said it was only a little bit mixed into our usual meals?" A teenaged colt in line right behind Rarity commented, and general affirmatives were muttered from behind him.

The cook shrugged, "We don't have any vegetables until that Hothouse gets built and starts harvesting. Listen- do you want to eat or not?"

Rarity held back a gag, "B-But... won't we get sick?"

"I've tried it myself. It's not that bad if you hold your nose," The cook gave Rarity a hard look, "Listen. This is just my job. I can guarantee you it's much better than starving."

Rarity looked down at the stew, and her lips quivered. The bits and bobs floating around in the murky, muddy broth were crushed down and grinded, but now that she studied them closely, they were clearly picked pieces of an animal's carcass. An almost guilty feeling washed over her as she realized she was still ravenous for food after laying eyes on the rations.

The cook tapped the counter impatiently, "Listen, Minutes. Either take your plate and eat it or leave it for somepony who actually wants a full belly tonight. Don't just stand their gawking, some of these ponies are only here on a limited break and you know it."

Cursing herself mentally, Rarity floated the plate away from the counter towards her chest. Her manners suggested she say "thank you", but between the taste of rising bile and the knot of hunger in her stomach, she couldn't bring herself to even mouth the words.

As she went to find a free space at a table to eat at, dodging through the crowds of ponies going to and fro, she heard a familiar voice from behind her.

"Hey! Big Sis! You won't guess what happened today!" Sweetie Belle squeaked from behind Rarity, her warm body bumping up against her hind leg.

Shuffling onto a nearby bench, one bordering an only half-filled table, Rarity put on her best smile and turned towards the three fillies that had somehow managed to sneak their way behind her, "Oh? I'm sure I cannot."

Scootaloo hopped up on the bench next to Rarity, "The Captain came to see us again! He said we couldn't come into his tent for some reason, but he let Apple Bloom shoot a gun!"

Rarity choked slightly, having not even managed to consider actually trying to eat her rations as she turned a side eye towards Apple Bloom, "She did what!?"

"Yessum!" Apple Bloom nodded from behind Rarity, "He took us out near them rocks by the valley edge and let me shoot some tin cans!"

Rarity smiled weakly, "...I'm glad you had fun, why don't you run off and get your rations now before they're all gone?"

Scootaloo scarpered off the bench, leading off into the crowd as the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders disbanded.

Rarity was left to ponder her rations. The stew hadn't gotten any more appetising as it got colder in front of her, and she sure wasn't salivating at the idea of trying to choke down cold meat. A few years ago, she would have considered it a crime to consume meat in any form.  Now, though...

Ugh, how bad could it really be?

Rarity bit the bullet, dipping her spoon into the broth and shakily raising it to her muzzle. She caught a whiff of the horrid scent wafting off of the brew, and she gave a long, dry heave, her magic quivering as she doubled over and causing some of the broth to drip onto the table.

After her heave ended in coughs, Rarity gave the spoon a wary look as it floated in her magic. Taking the cook's advice, Rarity pinched her nose closed with her magic before opening her mouth and hesitatingly pushed the spoon towards her tongue.

Her muzzle closed around the tip of the spoon as she finally tasted the brew. The meat within was a gummy, too-soft texture that stuck to her teeth. The broth tasted like it stank, and caused her to shiver in disgust. She decided very quickly to swallow as soon as possible, for the longer she had it in her mouth the closer she was to involuntarily spitting it back out.

Taking the spoon out of her mouth, she let it fall back into the stew as she felt her stomach twist painfully at its new contents. She clamped a forehoof over her mouth, trying to suppress vomit. After all, what was the point of eating if you just threw it all back up?

From a nearby table, Rarity heard somepony else fail to keep their dinner down as the sound of them spitting a fresh mouthful out, followed by the sound of vomit hitting the floor assaulted her ears. All around the cookhouse, ponies were turning from their normal palate of bright, pastel colors to various shades of green as they tried to stomach the new rations.

Shaking her head, Rarity tried to muster the courage to raise another spoonful to her lips. Eventually, she managed to clamp her mouth around another spoonful, choking it down with an audible slurp and gag.

Trying not to think of it, she plunged her spoon back into the soup and brought it back up rapidly to suck it down, before repeating the process before her brain could process the strips of squishy, gummy flesh suspended in the broth.

About halfway through the bowl, Rarity regretted her position accidentally getting herself an extra spoonful as she was forced to stop to gag once again. Bile rose through her throat and into her mouth, but fortunately (or unfortunately - she couldn't quite decide at this point) she managed to swallow before she was forced to spit. 

She considered waiting to let her stomach calm down, but a sudden cramp through her midsection made her realize that she wasn't going to be getting better any time soon. It would probably be better to try and muscle through with a full stomach than to throw up half of it and forcing herself to eat another half.

Her eyes watering, nose sore from being clamped shut, and her stomach churning and making concerning noises, Rarity slurped what remained of her meal before finally releasing her nose and doubling over empty plate. Forehooves clamped over her muzzle, she went through the process of waning between vomiting, burping, and coughing as her body tried everything to reject the foreign food source.

"Rarity, yer lookin' greener than Applejack did that one time Granny mixed up her cold medication fer applesauce," came an accented voice from behind her.

Rarity removed her forehooves from her face for a moment, just to see her own saliva and tears staining her hooves. In disgust, she removed a hoofkerchief from her pocket to wipe them off, only to realize the piece of cloth was more filthy than her hooves could be. Unwilling to simply wipe them off on her coat, she simply laid her hooves down on the table as she tried to regulate her breathing, focusing on calming the turmoil in her gut.

"Wow. The food smelled bad, but I didn't know it was 'I bought my sister hokey pokey instead of mint cream by accident' bad..." Sweetie Belle said as she hopped up to sit down next to her.

Her little sister made Rarity crack a smile, only for it to be ruined by a rotten-feeling hiccup to suddenly wrack her body, "...I... I'd suggest you darlings cover your noses while you eat..." she managed to say as she tried to take a deep breath of stale, -20C air to calm her innards.

Scootaloo, who sat down the farthest from Rarity, with Apple Bloom being in the middle and Sweetie Belle being the closest,  shrugged as she put her spoon in the soup and took a sip. Her young friends watched her reaction closely, and Scootaloo gave a nervous look over to them as her face scrunched up in disgust.

"...Ew..." Scootaloo grunted, "...What's in this stuff!?"

Rarity raised her forehooves again, the muck on them having fortunately dried, and placed them back up to support her head, "...It's just a bit of processed meat. The Captain says we're going to have to get used to it if we don't want to starve."

"Didn't yer parents have to eat a whole crocodile once, Scoots?" Apple Bloom asked, turning her head towards Scootaloo as she put her spoon in the soup.

"Ugh..." Scootaloo stuck out her tongue, wringing it out with her hooves, "Yeah but... but that didn't mean they didn't hate doing it! Yuck!"

Apple Bloom gagged, before spitting out her spoonful, "Urk! I thought Granny's cold medicine pie was bad!"

Sweetie Belle didn't even manage to get one into her mouth, she only sniffed it before slamming her spoon down back into her soup as she gagged.

Rarity lowered her hooves to clamp around her stomach, trying to give her gut pain some sort of relief, "Please, children..." she started, "...You... you need to eat."

"Eat meat though?" Sweetie Belle looked at her big sister pleadingly, "Shouldn't you be really against this, sis? You thought french fries were a crime against hay! We're eating animals now!"

Scootaloo tried to bring another spoonful to her lips, before shaking her head and placing her spoon back down and pushing the plate away.

Rarity sighed, "...Sweetie, darling, we all would do anything for french fries now. And if it means I have enough food to be able to walk and do my work, I can eat the remains of some dumb, uncouth animal, okay? Try and eat, it's a lot better if you close your nose."

Sweetie Belle looked down at the stew again, before back up at Rarity with eyes that screamed for an alternative. 

Rarity reached out a hoof to brush Sweetie Belle's delicate, if not slightly overgrown, mane, "Listen, dear. If you eat now, you'll have enough food in your belly to last you until the Captain builds the hothouses and harvests real vegetables for us to eat. We won't eat meat forever, but we have to eat it for now, okay?"

Sweetie Belle eye's fell back to the stew, where tiny bits and bobs of carcass floated in the broth. She still frowned, and her eyes watered as she sniffed again and gagged.

Scootaloo nosed at the soup again, before shaking her head vigorously and pushing the plate even farther away. 

Apple Bloom, however, took a look at Rarity, before turning her eyes left and right to her friends, "Listen, girls. It may not be that appetisin', but we're tough, right? We can get it down. Just think about th' future: Applejack will be able to get to workin' in them gardens the Captain's building. She'll grow real apples, and it'll be just like back in Ponyville. Heck, if we're lucky, we might be gettin' apple pie. Isn't that worth somethin'?"

Apple Bloom turned to Scootaloo, "And Scoots, y'all ate an earthworm from the playground one time just to show you'd eat just about anythin'. Y'all saying some stew is too much fer ya?" Then, to Sweetie Belle, "At least try an' eat some of it, Sweetie. If ya can't eat it all, maybe we can take it to some of the lumberjacks out in the rim. They'll be grateful for some extra supper!"

Scootaloo scrunched up her nose at Apple Bloom's words, but slowly and surely she nudged her plate back towards herself and took another sip. She made a face again, but eventually she took another spoonfull.

Sweetie Belle looked between Apple Bloom and Rarity, but eventually gave a short shrug and dipped her spoon back into her plate and tried to take a taste. 

Apple Bloom seemed to want to one-up them both, and raised her plate to start guzzling down a gulp of the stew all at once. Rarity could see the shock in her eyes as the taste hit her palate, and after one swallow she slammed the plate back down and made a sound ranging between a cough and a heave.

The other two fillies couldn't help but giggle as Apple Bloom made a variety of noises, and the gloom in their eyes lifted slightly as they tried to go about working their way through their meals.

Rarity smiled and gave Apple Bloom a grateful look.

Apple Bloom gave a sickened hiccup, but managed a smile back.





"So you'll be in charge of instructing the ponies throughout the first bathroom shift today," Amethyst Star said in her usual, hurried tone as she lead a very tired Rarity through the darkened halls of the newly-opened Bath House.

Rarity had been awoken an hour early, and thusly had only gotten a grand total of 3 hours the night previous, having spent a good few hours of the night thrashing and feeling feverish in bed as her body tried to digest her dinner. Of course, Rarity had been to sleep deprivation and done it. However, after about two weeks of only managing 6 hours of sleep a night, getting that amount halved for one night was doing a number on her faculties.

The already existent bags under her eyes had grown deeper, and under her cap her mane had only gotten more and more frayed and frazzled. She felt like falling asleep on her hooves right next to her superior, and actively fought to stay conscious every second. She tried to pay attention to the Administrator's words as she lethargically nodded whenever a question was asked.

"You will explain that they have 15 minutes each to undress, and submerge themselves in the water. Tell them to use the charcoal derivatives by the side of the pond to scrub themselves with. It'll leave stains, but it'll clean them. If you see one of the pools getting too polluted by dust and grime, you'll go and call an Engineer immediately because that means there's a malfunction in the plumbing," Amethyst continued, her checklist held out in front of her as she went through each item in order, "Their 15 minutes includes going to the latrines."

The two of them reached a slightly raised platform in the middle of the room, "This is where you'll stand. When they undress, order them to place their clothes near your hooves. Make sure nopony steals anypony else's winter clothes, okay?"

Rarity nodded dumbly, a thought passing through her head asking what she'd do to try and stop a thief before said thought fizzled out under a stream of sleep-deprived static.

"Your own bathtime will be at the end of your shift. You get the same amount of time as everypony else, alright?" Amethyst finished, placing her pencil in the holder at the top of the clipboard and turning towards Rarity, "Any questions?"

Rarity tried to think, but all she could do was let out a yawn as her brain fuzzed over once again, "...ergh... no, I don't think so, madame."

Amethyst ignored her yawn, and put her clipboard back in a pocket within her coat, "You'll do it 4 times for 4 different groups until the end of the hour. Don't let ponies stay in the pools for longer than their allotted time. Once you're done, report to the Captain's tent, the Captain wants to speak with you."

Rarity's brain, although it felt like it was running through molasses, did manage to make her raise an eyebrow at that, "...Personally?"

"Apparently," Amethyst nodded, before briskly turning on hoof and walking towards the door, "Good luck. Try not to fall asleep on duty."

Rarity grunted, as she rubbed her eyes. She went to sit down next to the platform. Maybe just a short rest was in order...

Her eyes had barely closed before she suddenly startled back awake as the door opened.

A crowd of ponies were slowly filtering into the bath house in front of her. Stumbling to her hooves, Rarity coughed and blinked rapidly, trying to stimulate her dry eyes. 

One of the ponies, clearly a coal worker, looked at her with disdain, "Damn Minutes can't even do their job without dozing off."

Trying to ignore the crowd, Rarity tried to remember what Amethyst had said. Then, taking out her stopwatch, she focused her frazzled magic to set the timer on it to 15 minutes.

"Erm... uh. Females go to this side, and males go to the other side," She indicated left from right with her forehoof, "Undress before you enter the water and leave your dressings on the platform behind me, and I'll uh..." she blinked again, rubbing an eye, "...Right. I'll make sure nopony steals them."

The workers, about 8 males and 8 females, stared at her untrustingly. 

With a short cough, Rarity continued, "Use the charcoal derivative lumps by the edges of the pool like soap and scrub your coats. It will stain, but it'll get the germs and dirt off of you."

"Your coat doesn't look that stained," One of the mares said, "Where you keeping the real soap?"

Rarity frowned, "I erm- haven't gotten the chance to bathe yet."

She was met with mutters and grumbles. But, she cleared her throat and continued anyway, "You have 15 minutes to bathe, scrub down, and wash yourselves off as well as go to the latrines and do your business. It's not private, but it's what we'll all have to deal with. Plumbing and private bathrooms are, decidedly, a thing of the past!"

She raised her stopwatch before the crowd and gave it an authoritative click as it started its countdown. Any complaints the crowd would have had were dispersed as they hurried off to the pools, undressing and throwing their garments towards Rarity.

Rarity tried her best to organize the clothes into their sets as her watch clicked and ticked away on the chain attached to her chest. There were some shouts of concern as the patrons of the new Bath House realized, suddenly, that the water was decidedly not very warm. However she ignored them as she placed the clothes in rows on top of the platform.

Some got out, looking around for a few moments before realizing there was no towels to be had to dry themselves off, and walked their sopping wet selves through the doors to the latrines. Only a few remained in the pools by the time Rarity's stopwatch went off.

She had only just finished throwing the last set of clothes in an organized heap as she climbed up on top of the platform and raised her whistle to give it a long, clear blast, "That's enough! Get back to work!"

"Seriously? I work for so long and I get thrown into a ponypiled excuse for a pool and I don't even get to relax before I'm told to go run back to work?" A mare shouted.

Rarity winced, sympathizing with the mare. She'd hoped the bath house would be at least somewhat like a spa she could rest in.

With a sympathetic frown to the mare who shouted, she shrugged, "Sorry, I don't make the rules. Get moving!"

The wet, still slightly dirty ponies climbed out of the tubs as the wiser, faster ponies came out from the latrines to collect their clothing. Rarity, unable to tell who owned which coats, simply watched as the citizens in front of her grabbed one set of clothes each and left.

With a sigh, Rarity sat down with her back against the platform as she took a breath. However, before she could get a break, she noticed another crowd of sixteen ponies begin to push into the Bath House, making their way around those leaving...

No rest for the wicked, Rarity supposed.





Rarity trudged through the snow outside the bath house, eyes wandering around the surroundings as she walked down the now familiar roads towards the Captain's tent. The Generator continued its steady chug, whistle, and cranking noises as it radiated its soothing warmth.

Despite the downright freezing weather, the Generator's constant rattle and rumbling reminded Rarity that it could be so much worse. The valley shielded them from the wind, and the Generator kept the snow from piling up, as well as warming the air. 

Little blessings, small favors...

Rarity's eyes travelled down towards the base of the Generator, where ponies continued to labor to haul cartloads of coal towards the furnace bins. She could see Applejack among them, the hardy earth pony still dragging her cartloads hour after hour. Her teeth clenched in worry as she was reminded of the mare's brush with death, and brought back memories of her laying on the ground, coughing up black phlegm and being wholly unable to stand.

Rarity adjusted her coat. She'd have to take this opportunity for a face-to-face with the Captain to vouch for her friend. That mare was going to get taken off of the coal depot, if she wanted to or not. The Captain would understand. Applejack was the best farmer in Ponyville, and she'd know what was best for his gardens in New Ponyville.

"That's settles it, then," Rarity affirmed as she adjusted her cap again, heading towards the final turnoff towards the Captain's tent.

What met her, however, was not the usual clearing in the New Ponyvillian's tent clusters, making way for a circular command tent with an Equestrian flag on it. Instead, what she was met with was the skeletal structure of a wooden house. Several ponies, ponies she recognized from the construction team, trotted and flew around the half-built structure, hauling wooden beams and steel bracers up and hammering them into place. Piles of shingles, made out of folded bark, were laid off to one side, and bricks were being placed for a foundation on the hard, frozen ground.

The familiar form of the Captain stood out in front of the structure, flanked by the head engineer, Doctor Hooves. Both of them looked rather unweathered, unlike the rest of New Ponyville. The dust and grime that stained even Rarity's coat and fur was nearly completely gone from the Captain and the Doctor's clothing.

As she approached, Rarity's ears perked up as she caught their conversation.

"-iron deposits here, and here. Combined with carbon from coal, we can make steel foundries here. Also, we can use those foundries to process silica sand into more glass so we aren't just depending on what we salvaged from the lorries," Doctor Hooves said.

"This all sounds like a grand idea, Hooves, but where are we planning on getting those workers from?" The Captain responded as Rarity slowed her pace, walking slowly up to the duo, "We're spread fairly thin as is."

"Well we won't need ponies in the gathering posts salvaging our cargo for much longer now that we're running out of stored supplies. That along with the rest of the eighty from the expedition camp would make this more than doable," Doctor Hooves reached up to adjust his bowtie.

The Captain shook his head, "We won't be getting eighty from the expedition camp, Hooves. We're lucky if we get twenty."

Rarity and Doctor Hooves's eyes widened in shock at the same time, but ultimately it was Doctor Hooves who asked, "...Sir?"

"Well-" The Captain's eyes turned towards Rarity, "...Well I think it's rather rude to sneak up on ponies like that, Miss...?"

"Rarity," Rarity gave the Captain a hard look, "What do you mean twenty ponies, Captain?"

The Captain coughed nervously, "I'm not sure myself. Scout Unit 1 told us they were coming back with 'about 20 survivors in tow', and that they were 'uncertain if all of them can survive the trip'."

Rarity bit her lip. Oh dear Celestia, what if Pinkie Pie hadn't made it? The thought of another one of her friends being ripped from her drove a sharp barb through her heart. She couldn't lose her. Twilight Sparkle was hard enough, and even Fluttershy had been a tearful departure... and the latter of the two was at least still out there somewhere!

"How can that be?" Hooves furrowed his brow, "We left them with more than enough firewood, and their provisions should have lasted with proper rationing!"

"Maybe an accident happened, maybe the weather is worse out there than it is here despite the weather pegasi telling me that's impossible- I simply don't know," The Captain shook his head, "It is what it is. What matters is what we do now. And- well, speaking of the here and now, would you mind giving us some privacy, Hooves?"

Hooves obliged, turning tail and walking back towards the construction site.

Rarity watched Hooves go, before looking over to the Captain with worried, curious eyes, "...What's going on over there, Captain?"

The Captain looked back at the construction site, "Oh, there? They're building a proper house for me. The Engineers have rolled out a design for architecture that should hopefully be able to make the most of the Generator's steam pressure while resisting the weather," Rarity frowned, and the Captain seemed to take notice of her displeasure, "Don't worry. As soon as mine is completed, they're going to move on to make bunkhouses for everypony else. It should solve the issue of ponies getting sick in their homes, as the insulation will be far superior to any little tent."

Rarity nodded slowly, it made sense, she supposed, for the Captain to get the better lodgings first. As long as it eventually rolled on to include everypony else, there was no reason to complain.

"Well, that's good news, I suppose..." Rarity's thoughts went back to Pinkie Pie, and she fought to try and not be overcome with emotion, "...I-I don't suppose... I don't suppose you know who any of the survivors were that the Scouts recovered... do you?"

The Captain grimaced, "No. I do not. I'm sorry, Miss Rarity, but our time is short. If I remember right, Amethyst told you to report to me? You're an Overseer, right? Your full name is Rarity Belle?"

Rarity shook her head, "..Well... no. It's just Rarity."

The Captain quirked an eyebrow, "Forgive me. That's what I remember it saying on our manifest..."

"I know- when the time came to leave, I needed to bring my little sister along. She depended on me. Her last name was Belle, but she wasn't listed as my dependent and I didn't have her birth certificate, and as you know you weren't meant to bring non-dependents with you on the Dreadnought. So I had the Company Officer list my last name as "Belle" to make it more believable that we were in the same family."

"Sweetie Belle is your sister?" The Captain smiled, and Rarity responded with a nod, "...Well I suppose that explains that. Don't worry, we're far beyond being angry at ponies for little lies like that. Well, Rarity, I've called up all the Overseers personally to give them some news."

"Oh?" She brushed one of her strands of mane aside.

"Overseers have been a vital part of keeping our city together so far. And, as it stands, we're going to have to have more and more organization in our labor force in order to keep ourselves alive. So, while before Overseers were picked randomly and were just messengers, we're making them more official now. You have a certain level of authority now. You can adjust breaks, end shifts early when quotas are met, issue citations for unruly laborers, and award bonuses."

Rarity's eyes traced around the area, before settling back on the Captain nervously, "...Citations? Bonuses?"

The Captain noded, "Citations if workers are intentionally violating the rules. I'd suggest doing it if you catch them soiling the environment outside the designated latrines, or if they're intentionally slacking off or causing fights. It means they get less rations, so it should be a good motivator to behave. As for bonuses, if you see workers doing exceedingly well, or purposefully putting in hard work, you can recognize them and give them double rations through a bonus. Just don't be too generous with the bonuses part, or else it might come at the cost of your own meal," The Captain chuckled.

Rarity frowned. "Bonuses", "Citations", it all sounded suspiciously like the cruel methods the factory managers and dockyard supervisors would use to force their minimum wage workers to work themselves to death. She remembered news articles about ponies being whipped, or tied up in workplace stocks just because they failed to shovel coal fast enough. 

The Captain must have noticed the look on her face, because his voice took on a much more sympathetic tone as he continued, "...Listen, Miss Rarity. I know how you feel. I can assure you, though. I don't want tyranny. You are to treat those ponies underneath you like every other equine. If I see you, or any other Overseer using their authority unjustly, I'll have you or them stripped of your sashes and authority before you can say 'Pecan Pie'."

Rarity hesitated a moment, "...Then why give the authority to do so at all? What is so wrong with the current system?"

"Because I can't be everywhere at once, and because our survival might depend on it," The Captain said grimly, his eyes locking with Rarity's, "Overseers are necessary to make sure jobs are done, on time. If Overseers can't take the fair measures necessary to make sure ponies don't slack off, and that the right ponies are rewarded, we won't be able to get the job done. And I don't believe I need to tell you what happens if we do not get the job done?"

Rarity sighed, and nodded, "...I understand, Captain."

"Good," The Captain smiled, before extending a forehoof for a shake. Rarity took it and felt the Captain's strong, firm shake, "There's a few more things you'll need first, though..."

The Captain dug through his pockets, before first revealing a long, black baton, "A standard police baton. Place it in your belt at your side. I don't want to see workers coming home with bruises on them - it's purely for self defense, understood?"

Rarity gulped, but took the nightstick in her magic, turning it over a few times as she examined the painted, wooden baton. She had to admit, it was slightly comforting knowing she had something she could put between herself and a rowdy worker, like one of the ones from the sawmill yesterday.

"You'll also get one of these," The Captain brought out a small, metallic pin. On it read "EEC" in block letters, "Technically, this means you're now an employee of the Equestrian Exploration Company, if that means anything to you."

It didn't mean anything to Rarity, but she took it anyway and pinned it through her sash, "...Thank you, Captain."

"You've done good work so far, Miss Rarity," He gave a smile, "Now, why don't you go back to your tent and take a nap. You look like you're about to fall asleep on your hooves."

Was it really that bad? Rarity's hoof instinctually reached up towards her eye, and she suddenly became aware of just how sore (and probably bloodshot) her eyes were, and how baggy the skin beneath them had grown. A yawn wracked her just as she remembered something...

"...Captain?" Rarity asked, coming out of the yawn.

The Captain turned and blinked, "...Yes?"

"I... I have a request," Rarity gulped.

The Captain raised an eyebrow once again, but stayed silent.

"I have a friend, her name is Applejack," she looked back towards the Generator, "She works in the coal driver team at the Generator. She is... determined to work herself to death. The doctors said she suffered a heart attack and lived through it the other day, and if she continues to work her job with her hours, she's going to die..." Rarity trailed off, feeling her eyes water.

The Captain sighed, "...Yes? And what do you want me to do about it?"

"...I've heard you are finally opening the Hothouses soon. To grow crops. Applejack was a farmer before the Frost. She ran an entire farm on her own: Sweet Apple Acres. You might have had their apples before? They were known for having the greatest quality in the heartlands...?" Rarity said, hope dripping through her voice.

The Captain pursed his lips, "If I take her off of coal duty, she will just be replaced by somepony else. Nopony wants to work the coal driving job. It's dangerous for everypony."

Rarity gave an exasperated sigh, "I know! But- oh, dear Celestia please, she's going to die over there. Can you at least make her shifts shorter? Do something? She's not just any other farmer, she's an expert!"

"We're only going to need more ponies on coal driving soon enough. We must expand the Generator's range and power if we want to survive future weather changes. The scientists believe it's going to steadily get colder and cold-" The Captain's voice was interrupted by Rarity stomping her hoof, tossing up snowy powder.

"I don't give a damn about your scientists!" A previous Rarity would have fainted at her use of unladylike language, "Applejack is my friend, dammit all! I'm not going to let her kill herself out there!"

The Captain raised a hoof, "...Calm down. You're not getting yourself anywhere just getting mad at me," The Captain frowned and turned his head away, clearly thinking.

Rarity opened her mouth to continue, but eventually clamped her jaw shut. He was right, she wasn't being very diplomatic at all. She wanted to facehoof. She must've made herself sound like a lunatic...

"Every passing day we just need more and more labor. More hooves to build. More hooves to chop wood. More hooves to fuel the Generator. More hooves to run the mines..." The Captain sighed, "...I'm sorry, Rarity. I cannot promise anything, but... I'll try and look into it. Maybe a kind soul will volunteer to take her place, but you have to understand that I can't bend the rules just for you," The Captain locked Rarity with sincere eyes.

Rarity's heart fell, but she eventually nodded, "...I understand, Captain. I'm sorry for my outburst. It was most unladylike..."

"We're all stressed. I know I would be upset if it was my friend on the line," The Captain nodded, "You should get some rest. Somepony will cover for you. You have no business being on your hooves while this sleep-deprived."

Rarity surrendered the point, and simply nodded and turned around. As she walked away from the Captain's half-built house, she adjusted her sash and felt her new nightstick bounce against her flank. 

For some reason, she just felt inexplicably... heavier...
> Chapter 15 - The Captain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first constructed Bunkhouses of New Ponyville had resource efficiency and utility at the forefront of their designs, sacrificing not an inch of insulation or plank of wood for architecture or style. Tents were torn down, and the designs incorporated the materials from the old tents directly in the construction of the new Bunkhouses that were built directly overtop them.

Salvaged portholes and windows were mounted inside a few windowsills, along with shutters to insulate the glass from some of the freezing wind when needed. The walls, while thin by the standards of any old Equestrian buildings, were still much more insulating than the canvas of a tent. The roof tiles were made out of wood-fired clay from the soil near the base of the valley walls. Vents and radiator pipes ran up from the ground and through the buildings, providing central heating directly from the Generator. What insulation the Bunkhouse did have was made out of sawdust from the mill, which helped temper the escape of heat from the building into the -30 degree air around it.

While slight, the sight of the Captain's house and the first public Bunkhouses being raised seemed to strike a spark of hope into the ponies of New Ponyville as they woke up from rest or came back from their shifts. The sights of "proper buildings" finally giving structure and meaning to the streets and pathways of the city rather than the clusters of disorganized tents seemed to restore some faith in the future. 

It wasn't all good news, though. In the old system of canvas-topped tents, families got to stay together as a nuclear unit while different tents separated them in terms of privacy. The new block design of the Bunkhouses requested that 10 ponies bunk with each other in tightly packed barracks, with little natural light air circulation due to the fact that windows needed to remain closed to prevent heat loss and internal ventilation was nonexistent.

Regardless, the Captain ordered them to be built, and the citizens of New Ponyville would welcome any extra warmth they could gain in their homes. 

"Construction is coming along swimmingly, Captain!" Amethyst Star shouted towards the Captain over the sounds of the wind and the Generator, as she walked away from one of the construction sites towards him, "We hope that in two days, all of our tents may be converted to the new designs!"

The Captain nodded, turning towards his chief engineer, "I've noticed it's warmer today, Miss Star!"

"Yes, sir!" the dutiful logistician nodded, finally coming right up next to the stallion and talking at a normal volume, "The weather is letting up! It's negative thirty degrees now. Ten below what it was when we arrived here. If Hooves's projections are right, it's going to get colder again soon, sir!"

Any trace of a smile faded from the Captain's lips, "...Right. Well, we'll have to work on the Generator again soon."

Amethyst made a face, "Our sick are piling up again, sir. Efficiency is down thirty percent on the Sawmill and at the gathering posts. Wouldn't it be a good idea to invest some of the good doctor's time into researching a better way to treat our ill?"

The Captain groaned, "Yes, Miss Star, it would be a good idea. But, a good idea would also be to not allow our ponies to get ill in the first place. The technological questions we should be asking is whether or not it is a good idea to focus on upgrading the Generator or on sinking coal mines now that our stockpiles are getting low."

The Captain and Amethyst began to stroll, walking through the streets of New Ponyville as the sounds of construction grew distant behind them. Taking a breath of freezing air, the Captain sighed, "Once we secure our fuel source and ensure the Generator is tempered enough to take on the next storm, then we can think about medicine."

"How are we so sure we can get the resources to do all of those things if everypony loses their limbs to frostbite or if a plague spreads, Captain?" Amethyst gave the Captain a sidelong glare, "As much as Hooves believes I'm just softhearted, I'm trying to think of the greater good just as much as the next mare. We're trying to run a city, and the ponies of that city are its heart and soul. The city cannot live without its heart, Captain."

The Captain adjusted his winter cloak with his magic, giving a passing glance towards the crowds of ponies working the coal depot and fueling the Generator, "I'm afraid that sickness is a what-if, Miss Star. The Generator is dependable. Dependable as in if we don't get it its fuel, we all die anyway. No amount of medicine will keep us warm."

The purple administrator followed his gaze towards the ponies around the Generator, "...I understand, sir," she looked away, biting her lip as the two continued to walk back to the Captain's home, "Sir, I have another concern- it's about the engineers. They currently work standard 10 hour shifts, yes?"

The Captain nodded, his eyes drifting to the roofs of the Workshops poking their heads just above the tops of the tents, "Indeed. Why?"

"Could we consider using extended shifts in the Workshop? We clearly need the extra research time. Why should the Engineers be allowed to work shorter shifts in a well insulated, heated workspace when ponies in the Sawmill work themselves to the bone in freezing conditions?" Amethyst asked, tapping her hoof on her trusty, but now rather worn clipboard.

The Captain paused, "The Engineers are part of the administrative team as well. They need to be treated well..." from the tone of the Captain's voice, he didn't seem so certain about his own statement.

Amethyst frowned, pushing the subject, "We're all working hard, Captain. It's only fair they do too. Until we get more ponies with technical expertise or train some of our general population, we need to squeeze every moment of innovation we can get out of the workshops."

"Desperation, the mother of invention," the Captain cracked a thin smile, "Very well. You're right, this is why I have advisors. I'm not entirely sure why I assumed they would deserve better treatment. Go ahead and announce a shift extension for tomorrow, alright?"

Amethyst nodded, "I will do that, sir."

The Captain considered for a moment as he looked back away from the workshops towards the Generator, remembering something, "...Miss Star. For the Hothouses, do we have our work rosters filled already?"

"Yes, sir. We have earth ponies cobbled together from the work teams that worked on salvaging the Lorries, sir," Amethyst said, "Why?"

"I need to transfer one of the ponies from the coal hauling shift to the Hothouses," the Captain muttered, "Is that possible?"

Amethyst blinked, jaw working back and forth as she considered, "...Absolutely not, sir! Nopony in their right minds would volunteer to switch with the coal haulers. We'd have to force somepony to take their place at the Generator, which is liable to end up killing or maiming them."

"She's gotten a weak heart. The doctors said she had a heart attack while on shift, and recommended a less intense job lest she die," the Captain turned to look at Amethyst, "You're a good logistician. I'm sure you could shift around the staff 

Amethyst bites her lip and followed the Captain's gaze, "Many of the coal hauler workers are already fighting with illness and deadly conditions. What makes her so special, Captain?" she gave him an analytical glance, trying to gauge the Captain's emotions.

Trying to keep his face neutral, the Captain straightened his cap, "An Overseer requested special treatment. I wanted to keep her loyal."

Amethyst's left eyebrow shot up and her ear flicked in annoyance, "...We're showing favoritism now? If that's what we're doing, then-"

"You've heard of the talk of many of the workers wanting to strike, yes?" the Captain retorted, interrupting the purple Administrator. Without letting her answer, he continued, "Do you think it's logical for the workers to strike in our situation? Answer me honestly," He fixed her with a stare.

Amethyst blinked, her nose scrunching up as she thought for a moment before responding, "...No. No I don't. The problems we're facing are inevitable in an apocalyptic situation. The problems they complain about can only be solved by their own hard work. It's just pony nature to want to rebel and take the easy way out."

The Captain nodded, "Who are the ponies staying on the ground, working long shifts with them, making sure they meet their quotas and understand the situation?"

Amethyst bit her lip, "The Overseers, sir."

"And if push comes to shove, who do we want them to side with? Us, who can make sure the city stays stable and productive? Or the workers, who will cause anarchy and set themselves up as leaders to hoard the resources to themselves?" the Captain asked, narrowing his eyes.

Amethyst stayed silent. 

The Generator whistled in the distance as a burst of excess steam was vented into the atmosphere. A gust of wind picked up and moved through the city, causing the two ponies to flinch as snow threatened to get in their eyes. The long, heavy cables attached on the sides of the Generator swayed slightly, anchored tightly into the ground.

The Captain breathed a long sigh of foggy air, "Get that mare a new shift in the Hothouses. As far as I know, she was a great farmer before the Frost. Understood?"

Amethyst looked up, lips drawn thin, before nodding slowly, "...Yes, sir."

She bowed her head slightly, before turning away from the Captain, weathering another gust of wind as she raised her clipboard to shield her eyes. Her hooves clicking on the wooden planks making up the streets, she stalked off past the unupgraded tents and half-constructed bunkhouses towards the Workshops.

The Captain sucked in a breath of chilly air, before reaching out with his magic to wrap his scarf around his muzzle. His mind wandered as his eyes travelled firmly to the streets below him. He wondered if they'd be able to strike coal veins in time before the Generator started to run out of fuel. He wondered if the bunkhouses would be finished before the next patch of bad weather came up. He wondered if the Hothouses would produce enough to allow vegetables back into his citizen's diets. 

Most of all, he wondered exactly what he'd need to do to fill the labor deficit.





The Captain's appeared distant at first, but grew in size as he grew near to its wooden walls. In terms of beauty, his home was no more splendid than the surrounding half-finished bunkhouses. The only decoration it had to set it apart from its surroundings was the banner of Equestria, which still shone as it flapped and drifted in the wind.

The Captain reached his doorway, reaching into a coat pocket for a key to the padlock securing the door latch shut. The door itself was flimsy enough that a sufficiently powerful earth pony buck could tear it down, but there was no sense in allowing anypony to simply walk in and rifle through his belongings.

He inserted the key into the lock, beginning to twist it before a voice behind him shocked him out of his thoughtful stupor, "Hey! Cap'n!" A young, filly's voice said from behind him.

The Captain turned around, his key half turned in the padlock, for his eyes to alight on the three fillies standing behind him, "Ah. My junior crew. I'm sorry, is it already time for our meeting?" he fished around in his pocket for his stopwatch, which indeed read thirty minutes past the hour already.

"We've been waiting around for forever," Sweetie Belle groaned, "Where were you?"

"Yeah, we're freezing our flanks off out here. Are you sure the Generator is working?" Scootaloo asked, a slight shiver in her voice.

The Captain grunted as he twisted his key the rest of the way, popping the heavy padlock off and unlatching his door, "Sorry, children. I was overseeing the construction of our new houses."

"Ah saw those! When do we get to live in them? Back in Equestria, ah'd have taken any opportunity to have fun in the mud, but after two weeks livin' in those tents, all the snow meltin' and turning the dirt into slop really gets on mah nerves."

"Dr. Hooves believes we shall finish the last of the bunkhouses by the end of the week. I'm not sure when exactly the construction crews will get around to your own sectors, though," The door into his home creaked open, "Come in, come in. I'll put some tea on."

The foyer of his home was nothing like his old family Canterlot estate. It combined the functions of a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. Of course, the kitchen was just a wood-fired stove to heat water on, as well as a few shelves for storing rations on (the Captain was one of the few residents of New Ponyville who had his rations delivered to his home as he worked). The bathroom also lacked plumbing, of course, and a tightly-sealed chamber pot was the highest luxury it could afford.

A small, electric lightbulb fed off of the Generator's turbine, illuminating the space with a pale orange glow. Like his old tent, the house got a generous share of steam from the Generator, meaning that soothing warmed air circulated around the ponies as the door was closed and latched behind them.

Stairs lead upwards to a second floor, where the Captain knew his bedroom and office was. He didn't take the fillies up there, of course, and simply went to his kitchen and tossed a few pieces of firewood into the stove before using a simple flame spell to light the stove. A kettle was placed on top of the stove, filled with snow.

"Soon we'll have a few real leaves to make real tea with, you know that?" The Captain said conversationally, shedding some of his demeanour and giving a smile towards the fillies.

"So not just hot water?" Sweetie Belle asked, hopping up on one of the Captain's sofas (brought with them all the way from Manehatten), her face lighting up, "...Can we get cherry tea?"

The Captain shook his head, "I'm afraid we don't have any cherries. But we do have blackcurrant, and I've heard it can make good tea."

The rest of the precocious fillies piled onto the couch as the Captain walked over to his armchair, actually feeling comfortable shedding his outer winter cloak and relaxing in a single layer of clothing. For a moment, they rested and relaxed as the Captain's clock ticked slowly on the wall, the sounds of the Generator and the hustle and bustle of the winter city fading into the background.

"Captain? Can ah ask you something?" Apple Bloom leaned forward in her seat.

The Captain nodded, feeling soothed as the aches and tiredness from his old bones slowly seeped away in the clutches of his seat.

"It's about muh sister..." Apple Bloom trailed off.

Sweetie Belle picked up for the earth pony filly, "Rarity said you were gonna help her out."

"Yeah. We wanted to try and help her ourselves, but the overseer kept shooing us away. Applejack didn't even seem to notice we were there!" Scootaloo crossed her hooves.

The Captain's eyes flicked towards the fillies, and he placed a forehoof on his chin as he thought. After a moment, he took a breath and said, "You don't need to worry about your sister, Miss Bloom. Miss Star is going to make sure she gets a standard ten hour shift in the new Hothouse growing our crops. But, it does bring something else I've been meaning to talk to you about..."

The faces of the fillies all lit up at once at the news of Applejack's transferral, and Apple Bloom grinned as she said, "Applejack won't let'cha down, Cap! She's a good, strong farmer and she'll grow the tastiest meals for us! Much better than that meat stew!"

"Yeah! She made the best apples in all of Equestria. I can witness it myself!" Sweetie Belle added.

After a moment, Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, "...What does witness mean?"

The Captain raised a hoof to temper the fillies' rambling, "It means to attest or vouch for something, and Miss Belle is using it wrong. And I wanted to ask you all a question..."

The fillies quieted down, only shuffling around a bit as Scootaloo gave Sweetie a soft nudge.

"We're short on working hooves. Applejack's position at the Generator is going to need to be filled by another pony from somewhere else. Soon, to get enough fuel for the Generator, we're going to need to start mining into the edges of the valley for coal. Even then, the need for hooves fueling the Generator will double as we upgrade its capacity," the Captain's voice grew slightly grim, and the cheer from seeing the children faded from his face, "How would you all feel if I told you and all the rest of the foals that you needed to go to work too?"

There was a pause around the living room, the silence punctuated only by the rhythmic ticking of the clock. The Captain's heart welled with anxiety as the fillies seemed shocked by his proposal, only for it to be overridden as Scootaloo raised her forehooves about her head and exclaimed, "Hell yeah!"

"Scoots! Language!" Sweetie Belle complained, swatting the orange filly with a hoof.

Apple Bloom crossed her forehooves, "Are ya kidding, cap? We've been bored out of our minds. As long as we're doin' somethin' useful and still get time to play-"

"-And if you don't make us go back to school-" Scootaloo added.

"-Then we'd be happy to do whatever we can to help the grownups," Sweetie Belle finished.

The Captain frowned, not completely happy with their response, "You understand that the work might be dangerous? You'd be out in the cold, and you'd work until you were really tired."

Scootaloo shrugged, "I don't care. I mean, Rainbow Dash is out risking feather and flank for us, Applejack looks like she's about to straight up die from dragging those carts around, and Rarity is constantly running from place to place to make sure everypony's doing okay. 

"Ah feel straight up lazy just playing all day," Apple Bloom grumbled.

"I mean, no school was nice until we didn't have it for a whole year and then we started freezing our hinies off," Sweetie Belle agreed, "Now we just wanna be useful. I think everypony else in the city would agree. Even Tiara, and she's probably the laziest out of everypony."

The Captain sat up in his seat, eyes trailing away from the crusaders and towards the window, "But what of your education? You're eventually going to need to grow up to replace your parents and guardians, and if you never go to school..."

"Then make us learn when we're older. We already know, like, basic maths and stuff," Sweetie Belle argued back, before pausing and mumbling under her breath, "Except maybe Scootaloo..."

"What was that?" Scootaloo gave Sweetie a look.

Apple Bloom stepped off of the sofa, before going to rear up and place her forehooves on the lip of the Captain's seat, "Ah know yer trying to keep us innocent and stuff, Cap. A lot of the grownups want us tryin'ta "have a future" and stuff. But, Cap, no matter what- we're gonna be really messed up, ain't we? Berry Pinch lost her momma, and many of the rest lost their moms and pops already. How're we gon' have a future if we can't get coal for Twilight's Generator?"

The other two fillies remained silent, and Scootaloo eventually spoke up, "It's sad, but it's true, Cap. We're not doing anything useful by sitting around in the snow, and we might not get the chance to become cool grownups if we all freeze or starve."

The Captain returned his gaze back towards the fillies, and he smiled once again. Reaching down, he ruffled Apple Bloom's mane, "You're all very smart. Smarter than me, perhaps. Maybe you should have my job, and I should get the chance to play in the snow! Wouldn't that be a good idea?"

"Bleh! No way!" Sweetie Belle stuck her tongue out.

A shrill whistle filled the room, and the Captain's ears rotated along with his head towards the kettle on the stove, "Ah, good timing!" he said, rising from his seat. Walking towards the stove, he levitated the kettle off, before taking a few cups and pouring the boiling hot water into them. 

On a china plate, he took a few pieces of stale bread left over from the stores, before levitating the cups, kettle, and plate back over to the coffee table in the lounge, "Now, let's have some tea and let me think of a story for you all, eh?"

"Did you ever meet Daring Do, Cap? You were an explorer too, right!?" Scootaloo asked eagerly, eyes pouncing between the plate of bread crumbs and the "tea". While boiled water and crumbs was no imported tea and crumpets, it was a luxury in the Frostlands.

"I can't say I did meet Daring Do, Scootaloo," the Captain chuckled, thinking of the ridiculous image of himself printed alongside the titular protagonist on the cover of one of those fictional novels, "But I was indeed an explorer. I had a short stint mapping out the Rain Isles, if you would like to hear about that?"

Apple Bloom was about to open her mouth, but a rapid series of knocks broke the flow of conversation. The Captain looked over to the door, raising an eyebrow, "What now!?" he exclaimed loud enough for the knocker to hear.

"Captain! The scouts have returned!" came the voice of Doctor Hooves.

The Captain immediately stood up, going to the door to unlatch it. Behind him, Scootaloo jumped in circles around the coffee table, tiny wings fluttering as she chanted "Rainbow'sbackRainbow'sbackRainbow'sbackRainbow'sback!"

The Captain threw open the door, only sparing Doctor Hooves a passing glance before looking up towards the cliffs on the eastern side of the valley. The sights of ponies flying to and from the valley floor filled the Captain's heart with hope.

"They bring with them 22 ill and wounded, Captain sir," Doctor Hooves reported, "Seems like their transmission about having 20 wounded was literal, sir," Hooves said grimly, "As in that was all they had."

His face fell, the color draining from it as he heard the number, "What about the eighty others? Where did they go?" The Captain demanded to know.

Hooves frowned, "You should ask Lieutenant Dash about that yourself."

A hoof was felt on the Captain's hind leg, and Apple Bloom's voice met his ear, "Can we come too?"

Hooves looked at the filly, before swallowing and looking back up at the Captain, "The wounded are in a bad way, sir."

Nodding, the Captain pointed towards the trio of fillies, "Hooves. Stay with them, okay? I'm sure you have lots of exciting news about the way our Generator works, yes?"

Hooves swallowed. The Captain knew full well the stallion was not at all suited as a caretaker, but despite his reservations the earth pony slowly nodded, "...Y-Yes sir."

Sparing one more look towards the fillies, the Captain donned his winter coat again and stepped back out his door, cantering to make his way towards the Beacon.





"Medic! Medic!" 

"We need a stretcher over here!"

"Goddesses! Set up a tent! We need triage!"

The sound of chatter emanating from the Beacon did not instill the Captain with confidence as he approached the loitering crowd surrounding the base of the rope elevator leading to the top of the valley.

Ponies parted at the sight of the Captain's face, red sash, and washed body. A snow caked sled sat next to several other makeshift sleds made out of canvas and wooden planks. The Scouts, recognizable to the Captain, pulled several bodies onto a spread out tarpaulin as chatter waved through the crowd.

The Captain's eyes alighted on Rainbow Dash, who was busy tending to a pink earth pony mare laid down on one of the canvas mats. Raising his voice, he shouted in an authoritative tone, "Lieutenant Dash! Come to the Scout cabin and make your report!"

Rainbow Dash looked up from the pink mare, before taking off her outer cloak and laying it down on the pink earth pony, "No sir. I'm not leaving Pinkie until a doctor comes to take care of her."

Frowning, the Captain looked over as a pair of doctors parted the crowd, "You, there! Come, start by tending this mare!" he pointed towards the pink pony."

The doctor, the chief surgeon of New Ponyville, looked to his companion, "Dr. Melody. Go ahead and triage her."

Rainbow Dash stepped back as a grey earth pony mare walked up, nervousness present in her body language as she glanced anxiously at the Captain. Trying to keep her eyes from staring at the Captain for too long, Dr. Melody crouched down next to the pink mare and began to unbutton her cloak to check her vitals.

The Captain gave the doctor a lingering gaze, but eventually shrugged and looked up to Rainbow, "Well, Lieutenant?"

Dash nodded, before walking over towards the cabin, pushing past her fellow scouts and the gathered crowd of onlookers. The Captain followed her silently, watching as her Lamp glowed dully against the walls of the cabin as dusk approached.

As the door shut and latched behind them, locking out the murmuring of the crowd, Rainbow Dash turned around with a grim, defeated look on her face, "Captain. The camp was mostly abandoned when we got there. A majority of the healthy ponies tried to reactivate the Lorry Seven boiler and weakened the ice shelf. The lorry and its steam core, as well as around fifty of the ponies you abandoned are at the bottom of the crevasse. The rest took off when they discovered the remaining 'firewood' was enchanted to be fireproof. The only ones left were the wounded and ill who couldn't walk on their own. They had a pair of doctors with them, but they passed out halfway through the trips and we had to drag them all slowly back home."

The Captain stood, dumbfounded. Construction wood? Unless the stores of Lorry Seven had been unintentionally replaced with enchanted wood and the manifest hadn't been updated, that was impossible. Giving a hard swallow, he soberly whispered, "...You did good, Lieutenant. It must have been no easy task to get those ponies home..."

Rainbow Dash shoved the Captain back a few steps, "You're lucky Pinkie was one of the few to survive. If I was Lightning, I'd be beating your ass and throwing you into the hot end of the Generator by now. If we'd been there a few days earlier. If you'd let us go out sooner, they'd all be fine!"

The Captain blinked, shocked by his lieutenant, "You wouldn't have been able to navigate back."

"We would've figured out a way!" Rainbow snapped, stomping a hoof, "Or you could've finished it once we were already out there! I don't know! What's important is that we were all twiddling our hooves here while those ponies were dying in negative fifty degrees!"

Placing a hoof against his forehead, the unicorn tried to calm himself, "Listen, Lieutenant, there might still be something to be done. Did you record where the ponies fled to in search of the Generator? There's a few ice caves to the north of the campsite, if they had gone there they might've taken shelter from the wind..."

Rainbow Dash shook her head, "...Listen, Cap, I'm done for now. Talk to me about throwing us out back into the wild tomorrow. I want to stay by my friend's bedside until the morning and see AJ and Rares. Am I dismissed?" the sarcasm dripping off of the end of her sentence hit the Captain in the face.

"...Yes, Lieutenant. You can go and rest. There's a filly back at my home who wishes to see you," the Captain frowned, and narrowed his eyes as he examined his lieutenant's face. Her nose was beginning to turn a deeper shade of blue than the rest of her coat, and her lips were doing the same. Her voice was also thinner and raspier than before she went out, "..Are you okay, Lieutenant? You seem frostbitten."

Rainbow Dash, who was already heading towards the door, huffed, "...I'll be fine. It's no worse than any other pony here."

The door shut behind the cyan pegasus as the Captain was left in the dark, the oil lantern meant for lighting up the cabin having stayed unlit through their conversation. Alone in the cabin, the Captain was left with his thoughts once again.





The medical post was crowded.

Ponies lay around the Captain's hooves as he pushed inside the tent, the electric lanterns dangling from the ceiling lighting up the interior of the medical tent as night fell outside. Barely recovered ponies had been evicted from their places on the beds and floors of the medical post to make way for the newly arrived gravely ill from the rescue mission. The overworked, haggard medical personnel moved around the tent, checking vitals and writing reports.

The Captain walked his way over to a beige unicorn with huge bags under his eyes as he stood over an unconscious patient, whispering to himself as he measured a heart rate

The Captain coughed, "Doctor Horse?"

Doctor Horse opened his eyes, bloodshot and thin as they were, "...Yes, Captain?"

"You look like hell, Doctor," the Captain frowned.

Doctor Horse closed his eyes again, "Thanks."

With a dry chuckle, the Captain looked over the patients in the tent, trying to get over the stench of dirty bandages and dying ponies, "...What's the situation?"

Doctor Horse stifled a yawn, "22 patients. 2 of them are doctors, and they perked up once we fed them and cured their hypothermia. They began self-tending and will pitch in to help with the rest soon. 

The doctor indicated towards the pegasus sleeping in the bed in front of him, "This one is named Derpy Hooves. Suffered a wing fracture and broken ribs when Lorry Seven crashed. She's conscious, and wants to see her daughter. We don't think she'll ever fly again, but otherwise it seems she can work."

He moved further down the line, beckoning the Captain to follow, "This one is a 'Spoiled Rich'. Shattered tailbone, and several spine compressions. She's caught pneumonia from the cold."

The mare lying in the bed gave a series of wracking coughs, and looked at the Captain for a few seconds with an unreadable stare.

"This one is Petunia Petals. Severe concussion seems to have knocked them into a coma. We're afraid she's going to be taking up a lot of time in our beds until we can coax her into consciousness."

Another one, "Night Glider. Two crushed forehooves. We're going to need to amputate to save her life."

Another one, "Bluenote. Shattered horn, crushed larynx. Some speedy intervention from the two doctors kept him alive and barely conscious, but he's going to be mute for the rest of his life."

Another one, "Cloud Chaser. Another flightless pegasus due to a compound fracture in the wing and a pulled tendon. Fractured skull, and some severe frostbite. We think brain damage and a life in bandages."

Another one, "Radiant Dawn. This one's an engineer, so we've been trying our best with her. She got severe steam burns while trying to save her infant Luster Dawn from a leaking gauge assembly during the crash."

Another one, "Double Diamond. Broke his back under a falling beam. He's never going to walk again. Contracted pneumonia while waiting for rescue."

Another one, "Mountain Haze. Cut himself on a broken window and steel debris while trying to escape the wreckage alone. He was left behind, but his wounds became infected and he fell ill. We're not sure if he'll make it."

Doctor Horse came to one final patient, lying on the ground at the back of the medical post. The Captain recognized the mare as the same earth pony that Rainbow Dash insisted on being treated, "Pinkamena Diane Pie. Crushed leg, broken ribs, concussion. We've amputated her hind, left leg, and we're going to need to amputate her front right due to an infected cut sustained during her rescue. She'll live."

The doctor turned towards the Captain, adjusting his glasses, "The rest are in the second post, and you should ask Doctor Scalpel about them. But first, there's a concern I need to bring up to you, Captain."

The Captain nodded, "Of course. Go ahead."

"A lot of these patients are going to need long-term care. I can't keep them here forever. I had to discharge patients who weren't healed to take care of them, and the lines are getting longer outside every passing day. The two extra staff will help, but it's not enough to expand our facilities any further. We're already stressed to the point of insanity here," Doctor Horse brushed a stray strand of his mane away, "We need a Care House. A place for long-term palliative care of the gravely ill and amputees."

The Captain pursed his lips, "...It wouldn't be too hard to build a few dedicated bunkhouses for the occasion. Who would staff it?"

Doctor Horse grunted, "...Well, volunteers, I think. Doctors would stop by to give regular treatments and medicine, and workers would clean chamber pots and distribute meals. It'd free up beds here, and we could monitor their rationing."

The Captain nodded, "I'll have the policy passed by tonight and I'll tell Doctor Hooves to get us a few quick blueprints."

Doctor Horse inhaled a sigh of relief, "...Thank you, sir. That's a relief. There's one more thing, though."

The Captain nodded once more, "Yes?

"As for the amputees... I remember back in Equestria, we could use enchantments to create operational prosthetic limbs. It might be a hard ask to produce those out here, but with the amount of frostbite cases I have both here and waiting outside..." Doctor Horse pursed his lips, "...At least consider it. Already the amputees we have are despondent over the thought of what they've lost. Even if the solution is far away, promising it might go a long way for morale."

The Captain looked down to the floor. Indeed, the engineer's jobs would already be complicated enough researching the vital industries to keep the city running, but Horse was being pragmatic about it - He really only needed to promise he'd do it, not make it a priority.

"I'll definitely consider it, Doctor," the Captain nodded, "Is there anything else?"

Doctor Horse shook his head, "No sir. That's all."

The Captain pulled his cap over his ears, before bidding Horse a "Farewell". With that, he stalked off into the night, trying his best to ignore the teeming crowd of sick gathering close together outside of the walls of the medical post...