Frezing away into oblivion

Frozen and wet, two things I felt as I had regained consciousness though the pain was only felt a few seconds later. It was only the second time I've woken up and had been punished for my disobedience.

I felt the cold water drip down from my bare and bloodied chest, bruises could be seen as well. If only I could yell or scream to the man for him to stop.

“Tupoe otrod'e, ti ne dolzhen teryat soznanie! (Stupid brat, you are not supposed to lose consciousness!)” I heard one of them yell as the stomped onto my frail body. I'm only six years old and this man beats me just for me to listen to his orders.

“Otstavit', serzhant! on prosto rebyonok! (Stand down, Sergeant! He is only a child!)” A familiar voice belonging to the only man who had shown me kindness throughout my life in this infernal place.

“Mayor, pri vsem uvazhenii, mi nikogda ne sdelaem iz nego soldata, esli vi vsegda budete s nim dobri. (Major, with all do respect, we'll never make a soldier out of him if you're always kind to him.)” The other man said as I tried to sit up only to fall back onto the cold wet floor.

“Serzhant, ya povtoryat ne stanu. (Sergeant, I will not repeat myself.)” The kind man growled at the other. The latter scoffed before nodding and walking away. Sniffing a bit, I felt fresh tear stream down my cheeks.

“Do not cry little one, it is over.” I felt a hand brush through my hair. I didn't speak, I couldn't speak, never learned and never taught. I felt a pair of hands grab me by my sides before lifting me up. The man then cradled me into his arms as he walked out of the room.

I weakly turned my head towards him, seeing his face. A thirty two year old man that wore soldier clothes. He has been the only nice person I've known, which always makes me wonder, is the world out there as cruel as the men down here.

I let out sickly cough before sniffing a little.

“Let's go see what's making you cough lately.” The man said as he stopped in front of his room door before opening it. The room was bigger than any other room I've been in, a bed, a dresser and a work desk were the key furniture in the room, there were shelves on the walls, filled to the brim with books. He walked up to the bed and placed me down gently before letting my head rest on the soft pillow.

He then walked towards one of the cabinets above a metal sink. He took out a thermometer, a soft sponge, a bottle and a towel. I still felt cold and hurt, so I waited with silent hiccups.

After closing the cabinet, he walked back and pulled the seat near his desk with his foot dragging the seat. He almost trip a couple of times, which caused me to let out a few giggles.

After setting up the seat next to the bed, he sat down and held the thermometer closed to me.

“I'm going to need you to open your mouth.” I shook my head after he spoke.

“I promise this won't hurt you.” He said with a soft tone. I slightly opened my mouth and he placed the thermometer under my tongue.

“Now close it please.” I did as he said and closed my mouth. While he waited for the thermometer, he began to clean the blood from me while checking for any major injuries.

I heard the kind man whisper something before cleaning my wounds with the sponge. Wincing a bit, I felt more tears well up from the pain but I soon felt calm once the kind man spoke.

“Do not cry, little one. I'm only trying to clean you up, so do not be afraid when you feel a little sting.” He said as finished soaking up the blood before placing the sponge on the floor next to him. He then picked up the bottle and the towel. He then opened the bottle before dipping the towel a bit.

“Hold still, little one.” As he said this, I felt a sudden surge of pain from the wound. It lasted for a minute and during that time, the kind man picked up everything before sitting back down next to me and taking the thermometer out of my mouth.

“Let's see.” He said before squinting.

“Poor child, you have a fever.” He said to me. “I'll go get you some medicine and in the meantime you can rest.” He said as he stood up from his chair.

I stared at him as he walked towards the door and out. After the door closed behind him, I began to feel exhausted and with a yawn, I went to sleep with a little smile donning my lips.

I awoke from the sound of the winds and sat up from my area before running my eyes. I then stretched and earned a few satisfying pops from my shoulders.

Standing up, I walked up to the burnt pile of wood before looking out of the cave and seeing the forest outside. It had been a week since my initial arrival and during the week, I had noticed that the blizzards were becoming less frequent by the day until yesterday when it hadn't snow at all and I guess the snow melted during the rest of the day.

I looked over to my bag that hung from a stalagmite on the wall and walked over to it before opening it, hopping that I had at least one last set of clothes but found nothing.

Sighing out loud, I closed the bag after taking out my staff.

“Should've known better.” I muttered to myself as I looked at my current attire. I've been wearing the same pair of clothes since day one. It had accumulated dirt over the course of the week but I was at least thankful that they were still in good condition.

I spun the staff before pressing the button, fully extending it. After spinning it around for a bit of fun, I walked out the cave opening and took in the fresh forest air.

It had taken a bit of time to find this cave after jumping off the mountain, leaving the royals to their businesses but I guess that they didn't take the message because there had been soldiers flying above the forest every now and again.

I stopped walking as I saw the edge of the hilltop, it had a beautiful view of the forest but that's not what I came here for. I looked to my left and saw a flowing river and a large bear trying to catch some salmon.

I walked up to the river, earning a growl from the bear.

“It didn't work the first time, Barry, I doubt it'll ever work.” I said the bear. The bear and I used this river as a food and water source, after a few days of sharing the same river I had named the bear Barry. I also knew that it was the same bear every time just by looking at his eyes, there was a scar over his left eye.

Barry roared silently at my comment before catching a large salmon in his mouth. I spun the staff around again while the blade extending from the tip. In a seconds notice, I jabbed the water as I saw a salmon swim under the water.

Raising the staff from the water, I frowned as I saw nothing. I tried again and like the first attempt, nothing. I've spent almost an hour trying at least catch one but alas it was just not my day.

I felt a poke behind me and turned around, coming face to face with Barry as he stood on all fours. He had another salmon in his mouth but dropped it onto the dirt before pushing it a little more with his nose.

I crouched down and hovered my hand over the salmon. I looked at the large bear in front of me as it nodded and with that I took hold of the salmon and straighten back up.

“Thanks.” I said to the bear before he walked away into the forest like he always does. I crouched down again and began cleaning the dirt and saliva off the fish before sticking it onto the blade of my staff.

Twilight was home, everypony in Ponyville knew that much but what they did not know or noticed is that Twilight sneaks away into the Everfree forest ever since her return. Her friend, Fluttershy caught her red handed only three days later.

Twilight then explained her reason in going into the forest and revealed that Twilight was in search of her rescuer. She had so many questions for the man and she hasn't even thanked him for her rescue.

Fluttershy, being one of Twilight's friends, kept it a secret and even helped Twilight in the search. A day later, they had found a lead on his location but had gotten back to town before night came.

Today, they set off towards the supposed direction they could find him in but only managed to escape the clutches of a large brown bear.

“Twilight, I think we lost it.” Fluttershy said to her friend as they both landed safely on the ground. Twilight landed as well but then collapsed onto the dirt before groaning.

“Umm..Twilight?” Fluttershy said as she crouched down next to her friend. Fluttershy wore an outfit no pomy expected her to have, an adventurer's outfit. She had explained to Twilight that she only wears such clothing when she goes out to see exotic butterflies.

Fluttershy’s ears twitched at the sound of another groan from her friend before she lifted her face off the dirt, revealing that she had mouth full of grass before spitting out.

“Ew ew ew.” Twilight said before quickly springing up to her hooves. She quickly dusted the dirt off herself. Fluttershy had straightened up and waited for her friend to finish.

“It's hopeless!” Twilight exclaimed before picking a twig from her hair, a result from her run in with the bear.

“We'll never find him.” Twilight said in a saddened tone. Fluttershy knew this meant Twilight was giving up.

“Twi, I'm sure we'll find him, it's just going to take time to search let alone in a forest.” Fluttershy said to her friend. Twilight sighed before sitting back down onto the dirt before covering her face with her legs. While Twilight was distracted with the feeling of failure, Fluttershy had caught a familiar scent, the scent of cooked salmon.

Looking at Twilight and seeing that she hasn't moved at all, Fluttershy went ahead and headed towards the source of the smell.

Ponies would usually turn and walk the opposite direction but Fluttershy had dealt with animals that ate meat. She even has a bear friend that would help her around the cottage, so the scent of fish wouldn't disgust her.

After a full six minutes of treking through the forest and going up a hill that led towards a cave, she saw a small campfire and the salmon above it.

Squinting her eyes, she saw that the salmon was being held up by a knife. Following the blade she saw that it wasn't knife, a spear and her eyes landed on the owner of the spear.

Twilight's describing of him was spot on. He was what Twilight called a human, he wore a long black sleeved shirt that had a few dirt patches and a pair of black pants that were almost covered in dirt.

Fluttershy then heard singing, his singing and it sounded like a lullaby but she couldn't be too sure. The human then snapped his head towards her direction, Fluttershy moved her head back before being spotted.

After a minute of silence, Fluttershy sneaked away undetected and headed back to Twilight.

Author's Note

After a week or two of nothing, I made something!