The sunlight barely permeated through the think wooden walls of the boxcar Pipsqueak was riding in. He sat in the corner with his head down. Slowly his head lifted as did his hoof. Pip pressed his shoe against the wall and added another tally, completing that set of five. Now the set looked like the seven other complete sets engraved in the wall that counted the days spent in the confined little boxcar. Day forty had come and, turning to examine the rest of the car, so had the inevitable dead that had either froze to death or starved over the course if the last night. Not startled by the amount deceased anymore, Pip helped the other colts move the lifeless corpses to the large wooden door. When the train had left Canterlot forty days ago, Pip's car was was packed wall to wall with the condemned. Pip was unsure of how many colts and mares started out the journey in his car but he had heard the guard say the number ninety-six. The number of survivors was far less as of late, only about high thirties low forties. Sitting down with a sigh, Pip closed his eyes. The young colt was still new to the world, and was already forced into work for a time equal to the time he'd been alive. Thinking hard, Pip changed his last assumption. His sentence was less than half the time he'd been alive. The train had left on March sixteenth and forty days had passed, making today April 25. April 25 was Pip's birthday. Pip had been waiting for this day for the longest time. He'd told his mother what he wanted. He was going to have a big party thrown by Pinkie and he'd blow out the sixteen candles on his cake. Instead he's on this train surrounded by the dead and dying, tring not to pass on himself. Pip let out a chuckle. As if he had control over that. Drifting back off to sleep, Pipsqueak dreamed about the days before his deportation.
It was a warm day in Ponyville. Warm for March that is. The snow had melted, signaling that spring was on its way. The weather team had done a good job. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Pip was walking down the street when he saw a familiar face.
"Hey Ms.Fluttershy," The young colt shouted out to the cream colored mare.
"EEEP!" The mare screamed as she reared back, almost dropping he bags of food, fresh from the market.
"Oh my gosh, I didn't mean to scare you Ms.Fluttershy."
"Oh, it's only you Pip. It's alright. No need to worry."
"I still feel bad miss. Let me help you with those bags to make it up to you."
"Oh my. Than you Pipsqueak!"
Taking a bag in his mouth, Pip said "No problem at all."
After a bit of walking, Pip noticed the changing of the guards. A zebra solider stood on every corner of Ponyville. That had been case for a few years now since the takeover. The zebra juggernauts had been taking over the dragon lands to the South of Equestria and had attacked Equestria once finished with the fore mentioned conquest. They advanced to Canterlot and, once the city was taken, the princesses were executed and the prince exiled. One guard was changing his post and almost ran into Fluttershy, causing her to drop her bag and causing the food to roll everywhere. Without stopping the guard took his place on the corner. Disgusted by how someone could almost run into a lady and not help her collect her dropped items, Pip shot the guard a dirty look.
"Hey you little shit," the guard boomed, "what the hell do you think you're lookin' at?"
"Nothing sir," Pip said, with hint of defiance in his voice.
"Take that damn bag outta your mouth when your talking to me boy!" The guard said, striking Pip in the face with the butt of his gun. Staggered, Pip fell, food flying everywhere. By now a crowd had started to gather and Fluttershy had backed away into the crowd.
"I'm sorry sir, but you should have helped her gather the food YOU made her drop," Pip said, getting up.
At that the guard picked up Pip and put him in hoofcuffs.
The rest was a blur until Pip was shoved into a train car in Canterlot after his sentencing. He remembered the initial confusion when the big wooden doors slid shut and locked for the first time. The mares cried for help. The colts beat on the door. I was as if Discord had taken over the inside of the car. The crying and beating went on late into the night, until everyone was tired out. Sleeping though was damn near impossible. Everyone had to lay down the same way and everyone had to turn at the same time if one pony wanted to. The last thing Pip remembered was a small filly, maybe six or seven, huddling up to his mother in the far corner from were he sat sleeping now. He remembered the filly, because on the seventh day of the journey, Pip saw the same sight. The filly curled up under his mother's arm. The only difference this time, was that they, both the mare and the filly, were dead.
Pipsqueak was awoken by the sound of the screeching train brakes. The sudden stop caused Pip's head to slam into the side of the car, giving him a massive headache.The giant wooden doors slid open. In the middle of the doors stood a zebra guard , giving the usual orders.
"Throw out the dead. Gather wood from the trucks! Get snow for water!"
Doing as told, the colts started removing the dead. Their bodies were catatonic and, because of the cold, curled up into balls. This made life a lot easier for the body dumpers, as all they need to do was roll the bodies out of the car. Pip took a body and rolled it out of the train. With a thud the body hit the dirt n rolled down the embankment into a ditch. Pip hated removing the bodies. Not because the ponies were dead, but because the dead lay in ditches, without proper burial. Pip made himself a promise just then: He wouldn't die up here. After the mares came back with wood for the little stove in their car and snow for water, the food came around. The meal was the same as always, Potatoes. Cold raw potatoes for breakfast and dinner. Pip ate his ration, drank some water and sat in the corner waiting for the train to resume its course. As the sun set, the wooden doors closed. Pip knew that for some, that would be the last time they saw the sun. That thought with the thought of his mother in Ponyville and the filly and mare who were long since dead made Pip want to break down and cry, but he didn't. Because Pipsqueak new that this far North, it was to cold for tears.
The days seemed to pass a lot faster now for Pip. Everything on the train felt routine. The train would stop, the dead would fall out, the wood and snow would be gathered, and the potatoes were delivered. Pip looked at the wall he had been marking the days on. It had been 53 days now since this convoy of death left Canterlot, and the trip seemed not close to an end. The train car was more empty than the last time Pip took notice. He looked around and counted the number of ponies still breathing: about 23. The frost on the walls had grown thicker and thicker. Freezing, Pip joined the group of ponies huddled together in the far corner. As he joined the ponies the train came to a stop once again. The wooden doors slid open, like the times before, but this time the dead were rolled out and potato rations were delivered with frozen water. It looked as though the trucks carrying the wood had gotten to the point where they could no longer continue, a testament to how inhospitable the environment really was. Behind the guards, Pip saw something in the distance. It was a town, with houses covered in snow and smoke from fire places rising up through the chimneys. Pip thought to himself 'what foolish ponies would live out here voluntarily?' Eager to find an answer to this conundrum, he consulted a pegasus with a map for a cutiemark. The pegasus responded by saying the town was most likely Ponyarny but there was no way to be certain because of the lack of landmarks on the frozen tundra. Just then the zebra guards issued a command new to the ponies on the train.
"Everyone out of the train! Form up in rows of 5! Now!"
Doing as he was told Pipsqueak stepped out of the train car and into the knee deep snow. The wind was fierce. It lifted the light snow off the top of the ground cover and blew it into the faces of the prisoners, who had nothing to keep them warm. The wind turned the light snow into what felt like tiny little razor blades flying at speeds that dwarfed the wonderbolts best. Forming up into fives the ponies waited for the guards to take roll of the survivors. Once finished, the guards herded the condemned across the tracks and out into the snow covered wasteland. The Prisoners walked and walked and walked some more until the sun went down. Only then did the guards let the prisoners rest. Pip looked around. He saw that maybe about half of the people who started the frozen trek had frozen to death. The only burial those ponies would get would be by the ever moving snow of this frozen hell. Many colts and mares sat down to rest. A few lay down in the snow, determined to end their frozen journey.
The night was cold. Colder than any Pipsqueak had ever know or most likely, he thought, ever will know again. Then, out of the corner of Pip's eye, he saw something that he would never forget. A mare was talking to a colt lying in the snow. The mare said to the colt, "Brother, brother you need to get up, you'll freeze if you don't."
"Leave me alone sister, I cant go on. Go away. Let me die in peace." the colt said to his loving sister. The colt was pale. His face had lost all color and his breathing was shallow. His lips and hooves blue with frostbite.
"No brother! You can't give up!" The mare started to cry. "Think about me! I need you to help keep me strong!"
"What good will a weak pony do to keep another strong..."
"What about momma! What am I gonna tell her!" The mare said, tears streaming from her eyes.
"No sis...forget about momma. If the cold doesn't kill you...the work will and if the work doesn't kill you...the guards...they will. Even if we live through our sentence we'll be old...to old to go home. Don't you see sis...we're never going home...never...never...nev..." the colt said with his last breath.
The mare cried over her dead brother. With the passing of her only support in this most evil of hells, she had given up just as her brother did. The mare would have suffered the same fate by the next morning.
The next day the column snaked across the frozen wasteland that is the northern territory. Pipsqueak thought about the events from the night before. He thought about the two dead ponies. He thought about how he wanted to see his mother. He thought then about the last words spoken by the dying colt: "we're never going home...never." He played that visual over and over again in his mind. Pip thought to himself 'I will go home. I will." Those words spurred Pipsqueak's mind into thinking about his escape plan. They made him more determined than ever. Those words had another side effect also. Pip was even more enraged by the sight of the zebra guards than back during the events leading up to his arrest. Lost in thought, Pip didn't see the the small group of buildings that now surrounded him. All the houses were made of wood and, with the sun setting, Pipsqueak wondered which hut would act as the prisoner barracks. The zebras took another tally of survivors, making the enslaved ponies stand once more in the unprotected night. Once roll was finished, the zebras led the ponies into a cave. The cave was massive but despite that, Pipsqueak felt as though the walls were closing in on him. The column turned into a side cave of the main cavern, the opening being so small the ponies had to fit through one at a time. Once all the colts and mares where inside, a guard hung a lantern from the roof of the cave, and said "Go to sleep. Rest up for work starts tomorrow." Pip was awestruck. The set up was brilliant! One or two guards for each side cave and the prisoners would be close to their work site. Pip took an inspection of his surroundings next. No pillows, no hay to sleep on like on the train, nothing. The ponies would have to sleep on the floor. Needless to say Pip wasn't enthralled by the idea of sleeping on solid rock, but there was one consolation. The cave was warm.
The next morning the new workers were fed breakfast. Water, stew, and bread was the meal. It wasn't much but it was enough. After eating the next step was work. Hard, grueling physical labor was the name of the game in this fresh new hell. After work was back to sleep. That was how Pipsqueak's life went for weeks. Wake up, breakfast, work, then sleep. Once a week, if the prisoners were lucky enough, they got to go to the surface for fresh air.The only thought that ran through Pip's mind while working was not to die in this hole in the ground. "This is not my grave. This is not where I'm gonna die," Pip repeated over and over to himself. Bu night Pipsqueak dreamed of escape. He dreamed of rising up against the zebras and taking back Equestria. These thoughts were the only things that kept Pipsqueak working. Otherwise he would end up like the Stallion and the Mare, dead and buried beneath the snow and ice.
