Arctic Winds
They say the coldest wind blows when an outcast enters these frigid wastes. It bites at the unprotected coat, nipping at their hooves, noses, and destroy their peace of mind. Any sentiment you wish to find from this unholy creature is futile, it only wants your suffering, your life, your sanity. I know this much, though I am now outcast, the stories of this land are true. The winds circle around you like an arctic hound, stalking you, waiting for that final effort. It's a daunting realization knowing what you feared most in your little society has happened to you, with nothing but your wits and own gall to pull you through.
I was walking through this unforgiving land, leaving a swiftly removed hoof print in the sheet of snow behind me. "Keep moving, ke-keep moving!" I told myself. The blood shot to the surface of my skin giving me a small hint of warmth, but it was a high stakes technique. I would stay warm but if I went to fast I would sweat, the sweat would cool my body, and hypothermia would grasp me.
I continued at a slight canter through the snow, trudging vigorously through the deep banks. The snow made a soft crunch with every heated step I made, and the snow melted enough to speckle my legs with cool droplets of melted snow. My sight was slightly blurred do to the heavy winter winds. My lungs were forced to endure each agonizing breath, and with every breath the air crystallized before my eyes: although it was a pleasant sight, it only hurried the freezing process on my cheeks. The frost slowly settling into my fur clasped down on my sanity, it spoke without speaking, saying you will die in a dull tone. But I refused to listen and trudged on through the snow.
Although I felt warm my body was lying. My limbs were slowly freezing from the water droplets that settled onto my coat. I knew I had to find some sort of divot, trench, something for Celestia's sake to help me combat this damned wind!
I traversed the snow covered land a while longer, possibly hours or maybe just a few minutes, before finding refuge next to some decrepit shrubbery. It may not of been such a god forsaken walk through these lands if I wasn't burdened by my own body. Hell the fact that I found some place to hide from the wind was a miracle in itself. Trees, shrubbery, grass, even small furry animals will not be found out here. Not anymore that is, it's a sad but all to real fact that these lands weren't always barren. It thrived many years back during the reign of the two princesses, but when Luna left, well, there was nothing holding back the Hyperborean Steads.
They were freed from their harmonized cell and this place and quickly sent it's beauty into a unforgiving, arctic wasteland. Celestia came only a year after they had attacked, far too late if you ask me, for they had already had their way with this land. The scars of it's old beauty still show threw in few forms such as this shrub, the place that I will call home for a night.
I wobbled closer to the shrubbery, some branches had fallen around the shrub and they seem to have dried out in the cool wind. I gathered the remnants of the fallen branches and piled them next to the shrub. Thinking about it the best course of action was to dig a small divot. then line the sides with branches to prevent as much water as possible from reaching the fire. After placing a few small twigs into the center of the divot I clacked my hooves together. One benefit of working in a mine your whole life is that, at a young age, some of the minerals fuse with you hooves. For most it caused green hoof but for me it was very beneficial.
You see working in a mine meant long days, tedious work, and pain staking nights. It seems that was my life for the longest time. Wake up, eat, work, sleep, and repeat. It was almost instinctive when I was younger to want to work even though most that do, as I stated before, develop green hoof. I, however, benefited from the mines. The metal dust and flint specs that lined the ground had infused with my hooves. Making them stronger and allowed me to create sparks.
I continued to clack my hooves over the kindling until the twigs had caught fire. I smiled with unbound glee as the small flame sparked hope. I slowly went to push some twigs into the fire, but instead I accidentally sent a heap of snow into the newly kindled flare. "Dammit," I whispered to myself.
My hooves were to numb to feel anything and my sanity was slowly losing feeling along with them. I tried again, carefully scraping the snow out of the makeshift pit. Once it was clean again I dug another hole to the left of me in hopes of finding dried grass under the snow. Eventually a few sparse scraps left over from seasons long past began to show. Reaching into the hole I realized my hooves were too numb to properly function. None the less they managed to hold onto the hunks of dried grass and allowed me to place them into the pile. I let out a distressed sigh as the harsh winds knocked the air right out of me. "God damned wind," I whispered to myself.
I wheezed a little as the wind continued to clamp down on my lungs. Fighting for each breath of air, for each cooled, thin breath. Under my current condition I arduously I rose my legs above the tinder and clacked my hooves once again. the dried grass was like wool, immediately lighting from just a few undermined sparks.
"Ha ha, ok, no screw ups this time!" I said happily. I looked over to the twig pile and gently nudged them in with my nose. The fire attacked my unprotected face each time I decided to feed it. It left black streaks across my nuzzle and parts of my face. The scorching was both a welcome and unwanted feeling for it warmed my face for short periods of time, but it also charred it. The only reason I continued this action was because it was a life or death matter, and it wasn't so bad given the situation.
The fire was finally strong enough to produce a gentle heat. My face was still tingling from the burn marks left on it earlier, but fire didn't have as strong of an effect on me as other ponies. Working in the mine, metal dust had settled into my coat, giving my a slight resistance to charring. It was a nice benefit in situations like this. I laid on my side around the fire, allowing my slowly freezing legs to gain feeling once again. Once the feeling was fully back and I was warm enough I decided to build a wind break.
I didn't want to leave the fire and it's warm embrace, but without a break it would surely be blown out. I decided to take a simple, yet chilling, approach to my situation. Wandering around the shrub I noticed that the snow had been piling up around it, already creating a wind break. So I decided to further this natural action by adding snow to the break.
Spending nearly and hour trying to build the break by both building and taking short periods of time to heat my hooves, I had finally finished the break. It was a crude, roughly edged structure but viable in this situation. I seated myself onto the cool break and aloud my body to take the rest it had longed for. All my ached joints began to relax, slowly warming and readjusting in this state. It was grueling, but a worth while process.
As I relaxed I finally noticed that the sun had escaped the sky and allowed to moon to take it's place. This realization had caused me to become even more weary. Time seemed to be distant as I fought for life, but now I wasn't fighting, and it had caught up to me. My eyes drooped and my body numbed. Slowly, but surly, the sand mare held me in her arms, and I drifted away into a deep slumber.