Snow Warning
Chaos; without order, and unpredictability. Do you think it's crazy now? When I was a small colt, things were 10 times worse as today's petty political troubles. Back then, there was no justice, no order, ponies formed tribes and alliances with other ponies, so it wasn't a stable land yet. Most accepted that there was nothing that could get through that time--nopony could see through the darkness...as well as I could. I urged others to see what I saw, believe what I believed; I found hope, along with me and my friends. It costed me so much, but... to help everypony else, it was worth every action I made. Oh, did you want to hear the whole story? it’s been a while since I told it, forgive me if I sound crazy, I wasn’t always how I am.
To start, my name is Azure Rayne, strange name isn’t it? I never understood it either, til I received my cutie mark on the day that our village was destroyed by those monsters north of Equestria. As you can see, i'm an earth pony and my body is light blue, and though my mane is shorter than it was, it used to be long, wavy, and jet black. Oh, you didn't get to see my cutie mark? Here it is, on my flank, it's a sword called a Zweihänder.
Do you remember that time period from school? The time of Star Swirl the Bearded, you don't? I'm sure Princess Celestia omitted most of the real events from your fancy textbooks. According to Equestria's beginning, friendship and kindness was the shield for protection against the Windigos. Yet, we ponies were not the only race in the world that had that protection from them as we did. For as long as I could remember, me and my brethren protected the land from ferocious beasts that repeatedly came in small packs from the frozen valleys to the north. Nothing could have prepared us for the overwhelming swarms that came unexpectedly. You’ve never heard of anything about northern Equestria,or its beginnings, have you? Well then; let me tell you of my adventure.
~
“Azure! Can you help me with these bags? my saddlebag fell off.” I heard my mother say following a splash of water. Her name was Lavender Blossom, her body, straight mane, smell, and mark were all that, all lavender. We both came from harvesting the fruits and vegetables from our little farm up near the Eqeustrian borderland. (At the time, if you wanted to make any bits at all, a pony had to stay away from the center of Equestria, where political madness ensued.)
I walked over to help her with the fallen bag, covered in the water from the puddle below, “Yeah, mine wasn’t as heavy as yours, I thought we were supposed to do equal work.”
My mother was so nice, “Oh, you need to save your energy more than me, those wolves raided our town a little sooner yesterday. So you need to get all rested up to fight.” Thankfully, our town's guards were here yesterday to stop them from attacking anything.
~
Ha, ever heard of fighting along Equestrian borders? This was also before Princess Celestia completely took over and barricaded our borders. In case you were wondering, the things we fought were not ordinary wolves. Their skin resembled thick armor plates, due to the harsh freezing snow, they also possessed significant speed and power from hunting in the cold. Usually twice a month, a wolf pack would come, steal our food or even our dearest foals... Oh, Celestia, that was the worst part. Everypony knew that they would not return, no matter how many wolves were taken down. *Sniff* I’m sorry, where was I?
~
I knew the answer wouldn‘t be completely said, but I decided to ask anyway, “Mom...when will we be able to live in...peace?”
My mother looked at me, as if I had just asked what the meaning of life was, “I...I don’t think we ever will, i’m sorry, being born in this time must be...must be incredibly unbearable for you.”
“No, it’s just that, well, what do they want?” I urged to get a straight answer.
She took a serious tone this time, “Azure, they don’t want anything, they’re savage beasts that need nothing more than to survive in the cold climate they’re from, that's it!”
~
I thought about it, ‘They‘ve been terrorizing our villages and towns for years...just to survive? That can‘t be right, there has to be more to it’. I helped my mother get all the bags into our small one-roomed shed, our...home, the price we pay to live at all. That little shed has protected us for more than a few times, believe it or not.
~
We set the bags on our tiny table near our so-called 'beds', just a little pile of hay, nothing more, nothing less. In the center of the room, there was a small fire pit that was already lit, yellow, red, and warm. My mother was silent and had a blank stare while taking out the fruit and vegetables from inside the bags, no doubt from trying to ask her questions of those wolves earlier. I decided to not push for any more information, for all I knew, she could've known nothing else.
As she prepared the food for eating, my mother ordered me to do something, "Oh, right, Azure, can you head down to the Mr. Fell's smith shop? I asked him to create a custom order for you."
Weird, we didn't have much to spend, "Wait, please don't tell me you spent some bits on some piece of jewelry or something, we need weapons or better protection for our food."
She looked at me negatively, "You'll just have to go see what it is then, don't you?"
~
I said goodbye to her, and went down the poorly etched pathway to the village near us, proudly named 'Grand Hoof' (Ha!). I stopped halfway to the village to find our cemetery for our village's fallen families, my father included....He was killed by one of those wolves, he was cornered, and his best friend brought his body down from where he was killed to us. Please, don't feel sad for me, or my mother, you won't truly understand unless it happens to you. I was young and didn't really remember it much, my mother told me that he was from central Equestria and was strong, serious, but playful and nice when with me. I was told that he had a rare gene, he was an earth pony with solid white fur. (if you asked me, fur color was unimportant) He came on his own terms to help and protect the ponies living on the borderlands from the attacks. It provided excellent camouflage as my mother told me, and he slayed many wolves, much more than anyone up here had. His name, if I remembered correctly, was Aizen, a pretty peculiar name as well, his mark showed as an icicle (which could barely be seen on that white fur). I wish I had known him more than I did.
~
....I-I continued from the cemetery and entered through Grand Hoof's large carved archway entrance. The carvings depicted ponies and wolves battling for dominance over this land, this archway was made not long ago. Grand Hoof was not a bustling town at all, probably a population of around 150, which makes the town nearly deserted, except for the various handful of shops around. I approached the sign in front of Hammer Fell's blacksmith, it read 'Hammer Fell: The finest weapons and armors made from pure hardened steel!' I admit that the armorpiece and shortsword he made for us was pretty durable, especially when my father wore them last.
"Azure! Come and look! We've found one!" I knew that voice, it was my best friend and son to Hammer Fell, Stone Fell. Stone looked almost in everyway like his father, huge, sturdy, and the color of earth.
I looked at him like he was crazy, in hindsight, I shouldn't have, "What, what? No I can't go anywhere now, I have to get something my mother ordered from your father."
"No, we'll get that later, you need to come now!" Stone became increasingly irritated. He started pushing me past the blacksmith's workshop, and I hit the tree branches as he pushed me towards the forest. "Ow, mmmphh, stop-it!" I said.
"I'm sorry, Azure, but you really need to see this." He stepped back and walked beside me, 'What could be so important? Stone has never acted this way before' I thought.
~
It must have been at least 20 minutes now, Stone told me that it was just around the corner. "Stone, you said it would be around this corner, where are you leading me to?"
"SSSHHH!" I heard somepony say.
It was my other friend, Faenix, the nicest pony anypony could be friends with! Rare was it up north to find a unicorn such as himself, and a quiet and nice one at that. Just like my father, Faenix had white fur, and the top of his mane was spiked.
I started to speak, "Sorry, but what are we looking fo-" A low growl drowned out my question. I looked to next to where Faenix was standing, there it was...a wolf, blood dripping from its mouth and onto the ground, it was definitely wounded. I don't think it could do anything about us, even if it wanted to. Something else caught my eye, It had a shining blueish amulet tied around its paw...I took it off and looked at it, the amulet had the initials Æ...with an icicle etched on it.
The air got colder...
