Shivering

I took the liberty of putting on my saddlebag as, step after step, I headed out to the outings of Chillowat, my home town. I regretted nothing and I planned not to as with each step my mind was filled with predictions of what may happen if my quest were to take the wrong turn. But deep inside, I knew that this was for the best, and that no matter what would happen, no matter how many times I risked my life, it would be for the most important of causes. And I knew that my friends and family couldn’t say no as my older cousin slowly approached me.

-So, you really weren’t kidding” he said, putting a hoof on my shoulder. “I swear that everybody here is far from careless about your departure, and that I took every mesure possible to see if I could send anyone with you. But, alas, almost everypony was needed to guard the borders, and you were the only candidate to be willing to exit town”

-It had to be done by somepony, might as well do it myself then? You know me, I rarely regret anything”

-Very well, but all I want to say is that I’m proud of you being so brave. And I can tell that there’s a lot of pressure on you, but I’m confident that you’ll know what to do yourself” at those words, I smiled.

-And at all costs, stay on your guard” he warned “I don’t have to remind you about ponies like Shotcaller” at those words, however, I started thinking of the worse. I shook away the thoughts and nodded at my cousin Thick mist.

-My objectif is my top priority” I said, taking a deep breath in.

-Frigid!” called the little pony running up to me. My lips grew into a warm smile as my little sister, Icy call, came running up to me for a long hug which I had to cut short.

-Hey sis” I said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible.

-Frigid,” she started, I expected a decline, that she wanted me to stay, but instead “I understand if you want to go, and give me and everypony else a possible better life, but please, please, remember that promise you made me”

-I’ll stay alive, I promised” I said, smiling and then turning around.

-Bye Frigid, may the blizzard turn to your likings” Said my cousin as I crossed the border. Guards lifted there helmets at me as I left to confront the rest of Equestria.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

You’d think that by all my hours of walking, we would have found some houses by now. Or at least some other ponies, but despite the numerous times I asked Dart to fly up and scout the area, he’d always come back with no news. This time, however, he seemed very rushed.

-Frigid! Frigid!” he called “I found this town up ahead! It seems to have a few houses, 3 markets and a mayor’s office!” he quickly ushered me to look ahead. Although quite relunctant, I kept on moving forward until the town was in site. It wasn’t exactly much, though. Just as Dart had described it, there were three markets, about a dozen houses and a mayor’s office.

-This doesn’t seem like an ideal place, is this town new?” I asked.

-By the looks of it, two months old. You might not attract a lot of attention, but it’s worth a shot.”

I groaned and entered the town. A random mare immediatly shrieked in my presence, followed by 3 policeponies with clubs. After a small talk with Dart we left the town, me being quite embarassed.

-Okay, let’s just put that behind us” said Dart with a pleading smile, I rolled my eyes and nodded in agreement. Forgetting the recent event was definitely for the best.

-Say, how come I sent you to scavage the area so many times, yet you just noticed the town?” I asked. The subject was rather odd. Dart looked back at the village and immediately gasped. I turned around to see and was immediately in shock.

-WWOOOOOOSSSHHHH, crack, crack!

The village was now in ruins, with the markets collapsed, the houses dented everywhere and the top stage of the mayor’s office broken off. We quickly went back inside the wrecked town and got the shock of our lives. The houses were breaking themselves. All the products that were for sale were decomposing, and when we looked at the soil, saplings were growing already. The biggest house in the town, the mayor’s office, was slowly sinking into the ground before our very eyes.

-What the buck is going on!?” we turned around in sign of an attacker, but all the ponies that lived there had somehow vanished. The town was deserted, and the saplings were growing more and more at an unbelievable rate.

In one second, everything disappeared. And we were now standing in a section of the snowfell forest. We stood there for 10 minutes, slackjawed at the phenomenon that happened right there. Dart slowly turned to me, and after that, we were back on our way, trying as hard as possible to explain what had been going on.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __

After so many long hours, 3 days, and a big heap of danger, Canterlot was finally within reach; it’s amazing structure like warm cake to my eyes.

Quickly dropping Dart off my mane, I made a run for the city gates, until I forgot one thing: I wasn’t a normal pony, I was a freak that the guards might consider a threat. Who was I to just stroll into one of the hugest cities in Equestria and tell them you’re an almost extinct race looking for a crowd? No, if I was to enter the city, I would have to do it incognito, much to my greif.

I entered the town as quietly as possible until a stallion with a large frame, white coat and blue hair blocked my path, with a rather cross look on his face which seemed to say “What were you doing?”

I quickly backed away with a sheepish smile, not looking for any trouble, the look on my face read “Now look, I can explain”

But my efforts were met in vain, as the massive pony charged at me. At that moment I felt a spear slice through my corpse. Was this it? I thought to myself, Is this really how I go?

I woke up, panting. Me and Dart had decided, about what seemed half-way through the route, to call it a night. After all, we weren’t rushed and the only thing we had to fear was for somepony like Shotcaller(Here comes that name again, I just can’t seem to get it out of my head) to kill us in our sleep. So we decided to both sleep with one eye open and only for an hour. We had found a cave, and, surprisingly, it was very warm inside, probably because of the entrance suspicously carved so that the chill could not enter.

But that didn’t matter, because the more I thought of my dream, the more I was slowly starting to question the purpose of our goal, for it now seemed fruitless. I sighed and tried to go back to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes I’d always envision myself in front of Canterlot, and then see it turn dark and crumble down. The same way that village did a dozen hours earlier.

As hard as I tried I couldn’t shake the thoughts away. Was Canterlot really worth it? Or would it turn out just like all the other populations I’ve visited? The thoughts stayed with me. And I wanted them to go away. But, soon, out of the ruins of my mind, Thick mist appeared to me, smiling.

• I’m proud of you being so brave. And I can tell that there’s a lot of pressure on you, but I’m confident that you’ll know what to do yourself” He said, a certain glow in his eyes.

-C-cousin?” I called out to the ghost. The image in front of me said nothing, ignoring my question.

-I know you’ll make the right choices along the way, so good luck, Frigid. May the blizzard turn to your likings.” At those words, he faded away, revealing his identity as a figment of my imagination.

But a very convincing one, nonetheless.

And if anything, a figment, a visual image, that I could trust was right.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Author’s note: still snowing, still first person. It all aligns perfectly!

You all might be wondering about this rather short chapter, to which I say I promised it and I gave it. The first scene, as you may have guessed, is before his depart. The second is in-between the first and second scene of chapter n.1, as well as after. And finally, the third scene, as I call it, the “revision” scene, is set quite some time after the battle with Shotcaller.

However, this will be the last of the weirdly thought out stories. The next chapters will be heavily focused on being more, um, psychological-And definitely more serious. Not to mention chapter three is going to be at least more than six thousand words long, Or maybe even longer. But I’ll try to keep it on track despite this ridiculously huge author comment.