In the far forgotten, Frozen North of Equestria. Hardly any ponies lived, the tundra proving too difficult for the average equestrian. The few that could were hearty and resourceful. Living off the meager food the land provided, and supplementing it with gifts from the sea. Sea urchin, cod, and kelp washed onto the pebbled shore and provided the ponies with the staple of their diets. Perhaps another magic influence of Equestria providing for its inhabitants.
It was peaceful living. Most ponies only concerned themselves with storing and preserving food for the long harsh winters. They didn’t have monster problems as ponyville had occasionally, and bears weren’t an issue. Families were tight-knit, and the community was strongly bonded. Ponies looked out for each other, even co-raising foals. No mother was left alone to tend to their young. Instead, parental duties and food collection were a village affair. Their motto: ‘do it together or fail alone.’
On one such night, when all the fillies and colts had been tucked in, and their parents headed to bed. The silence of the peaceful night was shattered. The sky rained fire down on the village of Razaran.
The small community of at most a hundred ponies was scattered in seconds. Tightly sewn animal hide huts were filled with the scent of burning hair. The wood the ponies used to construct their homes made the growing fire surge and lap hungrily for more. Fueling the flames and adding to the already unstoppable inferno.
Amidst the chaos, a mare stood. Reflected in her wide and surprised eyes, was the glow of the flames that destroyed her home, family, and life.
Coming to her senses, she rushed forward, shoveling the fire with hoof-fulls of snow to hinder its progress. But it was already too late, the fire was a raging machine, devouring all in its path. "Mother! Father!" She screamed, trying to be heard over the roaring and crackling all around her. Tears blurred her vision as she tried to process what had happened.
She'd lived her whole life here, in this village. Sure, they had fires every once in a long while during the brief summers, but they were never of this magnitude. This was completely different. They were at greater risk of glaciers melting and flooding the town than fires. Yet here the latter lay waste to the town with snow piled all around. The heat of the flames melting puddles near everything that caught. She kept trying to douse the blaze, but it was just a waste of energy.
Stepping back to avoid the heat searing her coat, she evaluated the scene. There was no way on earth her family had survived this. There was absolutely no way. Neither did the neighbors she grew up with. Or many others in the village. It was a tragedy.
The flames kissed the sky nearly thirty feet up. Catching some more lumber, the heat became unbearable and she was driven further back.
She felt hot near the fire, and it kept her from focusing on anything other than the friends that had burned. But as she moved away, the clawing cold began to sink into her skin. She didn't have her winter coat. It was likely ash by now.
She looked around at the barren pines, weighed down by freshly fallen snow from the previous day.The moon was new, so only a sliver showed. The sky was lit by thousands of tiny stars, shimmering and joyfully glittering above, despite her situation. It kept the landscape in a gray soft light.
The fire’s ominous glow cast long, jumping shadows all around her. They bounced off the trees and flew over the ground. Her own shadow acting equally as devilish. It all made the area seem haunted and evil. If she hadn't grown up here, she'd have thought it was bewitched with dark magic or evil creatures. Nothing dangerous lived up here, thankfully. Hares and foxes were some of the few creatures that could live this far north and in the frozen tundra.
She watched her life burn away from some distance. Smoke pillaring up into the sky and blocking out its beauty. She couldn’t even see Luna’s landscape in the sky. The fire had robbed her of everything. She was angry, sad and scared. Her luck in surviving quickly soured her mood. Why had she been the survivor? Why did her family have to perish in such a way?
Sad that she'd lost everything she loved. Frightened by its quick and merciless onset.
What was she to do? The next village was a day’s walk south.
Could she make it with no coat?
She huddled closer to the fire, seeking the warmth. She was chattering her teeth, shivering violently already in response to the cold. Throughout the night she kept creeping forward, always keeping herself in the fire’s glow. Such a twist. That which had killed her family now kept her alive. It was a sickening thought.
Her home was nothing but charred coals by the morning, hardly able to keep her warm anymore.
What usually was a beautiful sight of pristine snow banks, bare, generations-old trees, and the occasional hare, today was a desolate blackened wasteland. The ash had dirtied the surrounding snow, beneath the coals was solid ground. Blizzard could hardly remember a time in her life she had seen the ground.
She blinked hazily, her eyes were swollen and bloodshot, she had cried in her sleep, the nightmares of reality chasing even her sleeping hours. It looked like the world had ended, and she was the sole survivor.
Getting to her hooves she surveyed the area more thoroughly. She could see where the huts used to stand, now lay piles of ashy dust. A few signs of ponies who’d laid in bed when this destruction came knocking could be seen. Hooves and charred bones. Strewn around and spaced out between the fires lay corpses already charred and unrecognizable. They didn’t fit the body types of the ponies around here. Perhaps they fell out of the sky along with the fire.
She gulped, having known these ponies. She’d known all of them. She backed away and averted her gaze.
In between the piles of ash were blackened metal pieces, definitely not part of her village. She wasn’t used to seeing metal like this. It was massive, bigger than she was tall. Gulping again to clear her throat of the ashy taste. She crept closer to see what it could be. Was this what caused her village’s extermination? It didn’t prevent it, she knew that much.
Approaching it carefully, and avoiding the still hot patches of coal. She touched it, cold metal didn’t yield to her hoof. Blizzard shivered. She was barely keeping warm as it was. This chilly contact brought her back to reality.
She ran through what happened in her head. Her village was gone, her family gone. She couldn’t worry about that now, or it would keep her from pushing forward, to what needed to be done. Instead, she had to worry about her survival. All the village’s food was burned up like everything else, just ash. She needed a plan.
The nearest village to theirs was a day’s trot south. She couldn’t make it without a coat, food, or supplies. She was a goner…
She quickly glanced around one last time, mentally saying her goodbyes and began galloping south, Blizzard had to at least try. The sun was as warm as it was going to ever get, she had to make as much progress as she could. Her hooves were becoming numb, the snow chilling her further.
She halted after a half hour to catch her breath. Her upper body was no longer cold, she’d run enough to warm herself. Her breath misted as she looked for shelter. She wouldn’t find any for miles, but she didn’t see it as wasted energy to hope. Her eyes cast down to watch her hooves caked with wet snow. Her eyes widened when she noticed hoof-prints ahead just a few yards away from where she stood. They were fresh and slightly larger than hers were. A stallion?
She trotted up to the beginning of the trail he left to examine them. The stallion had a limp, apparent in the staggering of the steps. Perhaps injured or old?
She looked up at the horizon in the direction of the stallions prints. They were going south too.
Maybe she could find a traveling buddy, he might be able to help. Or maybe meeting him was more dangerous than it was worth, especially after that huge fire. This caused her to pause. It probably wasn’t smart to just gallop after a stranger, however, his limp looked pretty bad. She was confident she could take him if it came to it. It was probably smarter to seek possible protection in numbers than it was to run away and finalize her demise.
Author's Note
And here it is! The first chapter of Bonded, it is my deepest hope that you enjoy it
Thank you to PcInvisable, Everfreepony and Intrepid Charm for being editors, co-writers and proof-readers! You've been wonderful, see you next chapter!