Frostpony: Of Hounds & Horses

Rini felt exhausted.

Another long shift pulling auto-wagons apart, and fixing up second-paw components certainly takes a toll on you. Especially in a thick parka in minus twenty-degree weather, with enough snow to lose a puppy.

It was a miracle she could even walk at this point.

But it was the kind of labour she loved. Ever since a pup she was the type to pull things apart and put them back together, and the town’s Scrapyard was full of old things she could tinker with.

But it wasn’t because of any of that she felt exhausted.

It was because she was running for her life.

Storm sirens echoed across the town as the wind threw around anything loose. Store signs rattled relentlessly, weather gauges buckled and bent, and frozen branches threatened to snap like toothpicks.

An almighty storm rapidly closed over the horizon as it prepared to devour the town. So cold was its wrath that no instrument could measure it, nor could any common fire protect from it.

The only refuge in the whole town was a shelter, near the outskirts. More comparable to a bunker in function.

But the Diamond Dog wasn’t running in that direction. Where Ponies and other Diamidians fled towards safety, she weaved her way past them trying her best to avoid being hit or knocked down.

Right now, she had to find them, and had to make sure her friends were okay. Others cautioned her not to leave but she wasn’t taking that chance. Not when they were some of the only friends she had left.

That and one of them owed her five bits.

Rini ran across a street towards a house, wooden and worn, before violently knocking on the door and ringing its bell. “Brambles!” She shouted, “Brambles! You'd better not be in this building or…uh…”

She stood for a moment. “Oh right.”

Rini couldn’t have waited more than ten seconds but a simple head turn towards the wave of cold death had her snap, and she began thinking.

“Come on Rini where’d he’d be?...”

An idea came to mind and she dashed to check. Racing around to the back she jumped up, grabbing the fence and peeking over.

There she saw a large, freshly dug hole where a backyard sandpit should’ve been, now a mound of dirt stacked behind it.

And more dirt was still being thrown out.

“Brambles! Get your rock-eating face out of that hole!”

On command, another Daimidian (A Hockston Terrier to be exact) peaked his head out, an unused shovel in his mouth. “Mhm?”

“Good! Now get to the Storm Shelter!”

He looked at her confused for a moment and pulled the shovel out, raising an eye. “Why?”

Just then, a loud thunder crack and flash of light made both of them jump. Brambles now looked past Rini to view what was behind her…

“Oh…that’s why.” He calmly spoke, though sweat was already forming on his brow.

“Get moving ya mutt! I’ve gotta find Gale!”

With little more delay, Rini hopped down and resumed her near frantic pace.

There was a diner a few blocks away, a set of stairs leading to her friend’s home right above it. Gale was nowhere near as oblivious as Brambles, so hopefully all she’d have to do is knock, wait for no reply, then leave knowing he hadn’t slept in again.

But, true to the old saying, it’s never as simple as saying it out loud.

Just over halfway there she ran out of time. The storm came in and the force of its winds threw her to the street. The world around her darkened and snow blocked her sight. Quick to recover, Rini pulled her goggles down and switched on the lamp device, a chest mounted heater and torch.

It didn’t do much, her vision only extended maybe ten hooves, fifteen if she focused, but it was still better than being completely blinded.

If the calm before had rattled the town, now chaos had come to claim it. Loose debris flew freely, threatening to clobber her as she pressed on. The frozen trees were no match for nature’s might, and were torn up from their roots. Those same store signs and weather gauges now bent or snapped completely, unable to hold strong against the brutal arctic winds.

This storm was unlike anything she’d seen before, found only in the fantastical of fiction.

But she couldn’t stop now, if Gale was in trouble or hadn't made it she’d make sure he did, or die trying. Such was the curse of loyalty.

To her relief it didn’t take long to finish the trip and knock on the door, loud enough to wake the dead. When she was met by silence she wasted little time and climbed back down. She could already feel her body protest from the chill, the air cold enough to burn her lungs and ice over her goggles, which she had to wipe. If she didn’t hurry soon, the cold would swallow her like it did everything else.

Thunderous cracks occasionally broke the fog and lit up the street, like a photo flash brightening an otherwise pitch black cave. There was no-creature left and the streets laid barren, hopefully to the safety of the shelter.

During one of those strikes however, she heard a sharp, shrill scream. It was very nearly drowned out by the wind but the flash of a black silhouette against the backdrop showed her the way.

Rini fought her way through, battling against the wind that so badly wanted to topple her.

From the darkness revealed a navy blue pegasus laying prone. A heavy wooden billboard trapping him in place.

“Gale?!” Rini shouted, being met by a shrill cry with a Trottish accent.

“R-Rini? H-Help!”

The Daimidian moved around and lifted, but struggled to shift the broken advertisement. “C-Come on! Come on!”

Gale kicked and twitched, pained groans escaping him as Rini tried. “Y-You can d-do it Rini! I-I know you can!”
She heaved and heaved, taking a deep breath and pulling with all she had. Managing little more than a few inches. But it was enough and Gale crawled away, letting loose a blood curdling scream as he did so.

When Rini turned to see why it was as though his blood had turned cold, icy even, practically freezing over the wound.

Several crimson splinters pried themselves free of the pony’s body, but in doing so had opened a red river of its own. His wing also lay mangled, bent unnaturally as he pushed against the pain.

Once free she moved to assist him, amazingly enough he could still walk, little more than a limp driven by will but walk. “I’ve gotchu Gale! I’ve got you!”

The pegasus leaned heavily on her side. Both of them were hindered by the storm but at least Rini had eye protection. Gale may as well have been blind. At least with so much to focus on, Rini hadn’t the time to be shocked by his injuries. Though her own chilling body gave plenty of concern.

She knew the way towards the Storm Shelter even with her vision impaired. Years growing up alongside the town itself had her remember every street like the back of her paw. Yet things were made no easier as the storm raged on and that was on top of carrying her injured friend.

Objects crashed into nearby buildings, windows shattered and storefront pottery smashed.

Not even entire buildings could be totally safe, as when the two hobbled by the town’s church its bell violently clanged. A literal alarm bell that signalled what was to come.

Perhaps it was the nearby buildings that had prevented the two from being tossed to the wind like so much else, or maybe those more powerful gusts blew just over their heads? Such questions were flung aside when Rini turned to the bell tower, witnessing a lightning strike blow out one of its corners.

“Oh shit.”

“What?” Gale asked, snow clouding his vision. “W-What is it?!”

The tower’s structure began to crumble and crack, unable to withstand the assault.

“MOVE IT!”

Rini began rushing away from the church clutching onto Gale, pushing towards an alleyway on the right. Moving agonisingly slow as the church tower leaned forward and boards flew off in droves. Raining like hail onto the street below.

They were nearly there, almost within some semblance of safety when one of those two by fours pelted Rini’s back, eliciting a shocked howl as the two were struck down.

“No, no, come on!” She rushed to get up, her body too awash with adrenaline to register the pain. Horrible creaking came from the tower as it began to collapse, mere moments away from crushing the two like bugs.

They scrambled to get up and into the alley, nearly throwing themselves forward as the building fell and quickly engulfed the street in darkness. The ground shook and their ears rang as a cloud of dust kicked up and flooded in behind them, having narrowly dodged a crushing death.

There they laid down for a moment, their hearts pounding in their chests.

“What was that?!” Gale yelled, grinding his teeth between words. “W-What the b-buck was that?!”

“Let’s just say the pastor won’t be happy.” Rini giggled, trying to make light of it and again ignore whatever injuries she’d just accumulated.

But the cold didn’t wait and every second her body was relentlessly assailed. Rini could already feel her fingers begin to stiffen from under her gloves, her hind paws were already numb. If they didn’t get to the shelter soon they’d lose the capacity to.

With little time to lose she rose and assisted Gale once more. Trudging through the deepening snow, trying to hinder their progress. Every step grew in challenge, feeling more like walking on stilts than legs. But with dogged determination they pressed on.

Between every street crossed, every flying debris dodged and every blinding lightning flash, they made progress at a slower and slower pace. The duo’s freezing, injured bodies begin to fail them. Rini especially could feel her back protest from the earlier strike, made worse by having to support Gale.

Never did she think the apocalypse would swallow her town like it did now, her included.

Soon the blinking lights of the Storm Shelter came into view. A dome shaped building nested within a public park. It was only a couple stories tall but most of it was underground, built out of an old mine they’d insulated. Right behind it was the town’s Steam Hub. A giant industrial furnace a few stories tall with all manner of piping running through its sides feeding the Shelter all the necessary heat to endure the wintery wrath.

Already it’d been battered by the storm, its solid metal shell having been struck by debris and lightning strikes. Scorch marks and dents pocketed the exterior but it held strong.

And thankfully so, as by now Rini could barely feel her limbs. The feeling under her skin now more akin to wearing one big rubber glove than actual sensation. Her lungs pained from the cold washing around them and her breaths grew dangerously shallow, the air she swallowed feeling like frozen needles.

But as they marched towards the shelter’s door the world began to grow darker, her eyes heavy with exhaustion and doubly so for everything else. Was Gale always this weighted?

She only had maybe a few dozen more lengths to go, and she could see the door was still open…for some reason. Yet the effort required was mountainous and unable to keep wiping her goggles, they froze over.

That was alright, the only direction she had to go was forward.

Only a little more left to go, just a little more…

She’d get there, any moment now…

It was…so cold…so stiff.

It wasn’t enough.

She collapsed.