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 Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:00 am
 This winter was harsh. It had been a long time since Dendro had seen a winter such as this one. It had hit hard and fast but thanks to all the preparations that he and Prism had made the burden or finding food was lessened. They had taken several weeks to create stock piles of food throughout the area around the small clearing. The grasses, leaves and apples they had tucked away were certainly old and not the most nutritious or tasty but it kept them going. Plus with minimal grass under the snow in the clearing they had no other choice in the matter. They were returning from once such trip to gather a bundle of food. The trip had taken so much longer than expect as the deep snow made travel harder for the smaller stallion. He had to rely on Prism creating a path in the snow so that he could walk.
Now with the precious bundles of food they were coming back to the clearing. Dendro was exhausted, trudging through that deep snow even with Prism's help was taxing. He was looking forward to a nice relaxing dip inthe pond and likely a mid afternoon nap. Of course that plan was shattered when he looked upon the pond. "Damnit!" He dropped the bundle he had been carrying. "The pond froze." Bloody cold day froze the pond since the had left. "We need to break the ice before it gets any thicker." That pond was both a drinking source and a place for Dendro to get extra moisture and nutrition during the winter.
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Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:34 am
 Prism was ready for a nap a very long nap. No, better idea, two very long naps. This winter had been nothing like he had expected. He had thought that bunking down in a nice sheltered clearing they would be alright. But this winter had other ideas, their sheltered home was full of snow, the cold ate through them as if they were in the open meadow. This is why Prism disliked winter, even with the the preparations they had made and the shelter of the clearing had done nothing to lesson mother natures blow. And winter was only about half over, there was several more months of cold and snow to endure. If he could Prism would just move to someplace warm, a place that didn't get winter. But that was a long journey and to make that kind of a journey mid winter would be suicide.
Of course all these thoughts of a warm place were interrupted by Dendro's voice. The pond had froze? This day just kept getting worse. Letting out a groan Prism set down his bundle of food and glanced towards the pond. It was indeed frozen. How long had they been gone? A few hours probably, but it was darn cold today so it wasn't surprising the water had froze without Dendro there to constantly stir the surface. He didn't want to do anymore work, but without the water they would be forced to eat snow to slack their thirst. Letting out a sigh Prism walked to the edge and began to bang on the surface with his hoof. His muscles ached but they had to do it now.
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Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:42 am
The groan from the larger stallion was exactly what Dendro expected to hear. Honestly even he didn't want to do this right now. But if they lett he ice get any thicker they would not be able to break it later. He was tired, and certainly prism was too, but seeing the larger stallion start to work on the ice gave Dendro that push he needed to help as well. His small hooves would likely do little against the ice, but that little bit would get them to the end of the job faster.
After several long minutes of pounding on the ice they had broken it apart enough for Dendro to slip in. The water instantly chilled him, but they needed to get the ice out before it froze again. "I will push these chunks to the edge, you need to take them out and get them away from the water." They would have to work quickly in these temperatures. Dendro began oto swim about using his nose and body to push the chunks of ice towards the edge, once they were either taken by Prism or propped up on the edge so they wouldn't float back in he would go back for another. Though the pond was relatively small it was a lot of work, the ice was thicker than they had expected it to be in some places, but at least they were making progress. Once they were done Dendro would need to eat to gain their strength backa nd they would have definitely need a good long rest.
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Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:49 am
His hooves slammed against the ice time and time again. For the first little bit he just slid about more than anything else, but slowly as the surface began to give to the beating the ice started to crack here and there. The cracks grew with each hoof fall until finally the ice was floating in multiple chunks. At this point Dendro entered the water and Prism cringed at the thought of swimming in such cold water. Dendro was tougher than he looked. Prism would never ever get into water in the winter. It was bad enough drinking the cold liquid some days. Now of course Dendro was asking more of him. Lowering his head Prism used his antlers to push the ice away from the water then returned for more.
His legs were shaking and breathing was labored but Prism kept going. This was probably the most he had done in one day in a very long time. A life of laziness was catching up to him. While he preferred that life style it did have it's disadvantages and today was one of those times. Time and time again Dendro would push ice to the edge, Prism would hoist it further onto land and then push it towards the trees. With a heavy sigh Prism eyed the final piece of ice as it sat perched on the edge. "I..can't..." His sides heaved heavily as he struggled to keep his breath. Finally he leg his legs buckle underneath him. Never mind that he was laying in deep snow, he needed the rest and he needed it now.
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