Chapter One
A colt
Through the little village of Ferndorf ran a number of young schoolponies as they were released from class for the day. The little town hall's bell had just begun it's paean for the noon hour as the colts and fillies bounded down the steps of the schoolhouse and rushed passed Old Miss Wadenbaker and left the poor widow-mare in a tumble.
The little ones ran their way to the little general store in town, hoping to be the first in line for their allowances worth of candy for the week. With their end goal being sugar, sweets, and other such things, these foals paid no notice to the farmers as they ambled into town for their lunch. from the south side of the village.
Across the main-street from the gaggle of schoolponies were the town mares, the ones who were the seamstresses, hairdressers, and home-centric gardeners in the town. They would be off to one house or another for their luncheon and tea, along with a game of cards and a good gossip. These mares were the ones who knew what was going on, where what happened, and who was involved with whatever it was that had them excited. All the little fillies and colts knew to behave around these mares, because each of them would be quick to inform their parents.
There was a loud bang down the street which got every adult to give a look, just as the kids entered Gants' General Store. They children had no attention to spare for this anomalous noise, too focused they were on that glittering case before them. Filled with crystal apothecary jars and sugar-coated licorice and hard candies galore. Outside of their sweet and colorful world, others were watching events down the street.
It was just after noon, of course, which meant that the local tavern was just opening. Many of the farmers liked to get a small glass of whiskey or hard cider before, or after, lunch. It helped take some of the stress off of their daily routine and stoked their humors a bit while wetting their whistles. However, in every town there are those who show that too much of a good thing, isn't so good.
And so it goes that, as it did almost every day, the 'town drunk', Lee Shoemaker, was being kicked out of the pub. As was often the course of things, she had shown up a bit too tipsy to order a round. This led to the bartender Long Draught to ask the mare to leave. And, as had happened every time he had done so, she put up a bit of a fight. When Ms. Shoemaker had a bit too much, she became a very stubborn mare.
Escalating from a brief verbal altercation, their quarrel soon led to a mare sprawled out in the street and a door slamming behind her. She lay there a moment, her mind taking a few seconds to realize what had occurred, and then picked herself up. Looking around and catching prying eyes, Lee ducked her head and scurried into the little alley by the tavern, headed for her home and whatever comforts she had there.
The rest of the townsfolk seemed to give a collective shake of their heads, routine as usual. The farmer folk headed for the cafe, a few of the harder ones heading right for the tavern for a round and a chat with Long. The gossip crowd huffed on their way to their luncheon and leaned in close to say their collective two cents on Lee. While these ponies headed off in their ways, Greene Fields the school teacher had just gotten Miss. Wadenbaker on her hooves again.
It was around then that the energetic herd of fillies and colts launched from the General Store, now with candy anywhere they had pockets to put it. The first and fastest were the kids who had either a few more bits in their weekly allowances than the rest, or who had saved up for a few weeks to get a bigger haul. They split off between heading home, or heading to another's home for a play date. Next came the kids who just had a decent amount to spend, but nothing spectacular. They had a half dozen pieces or so each, and headed right home to do their chores and maintain what they could already get. Lastly came the few who didn't have much at all, and split what they did have between them.
Among this group were the children of the hired stallions and mares, and a couple of orphans from the local church. The five of them got along well, between them they could afford six pieces of candy this week, and they gave the extra piece to the little pony who didn't get one last week. A colt named Asper.
Asper and his friends were quite happy with what little they had. While they didn't have much in terms of candy, or nice, warm, clothes for Hearth's Warming, they were rich with the fun they had, and the time they spent together.
Asper, Clyde Stark, Golden Chamomile, Lee Tailor, and Radiant Candor left the General Store nearly as happy as the other kids, but with a lot less haste. These little ponies had an afternoon much their own to enjoy. Heading East toward the quarry, tucking through an alley between the tavern and a small post office.
These foals had their own fun, they liked to explore and see what some of the adults were up to around their little town. They also knew the quarry had a good view of the Lake and a certain little path that led down to it. On their way by they would pick up a few stones of the skipping variety, and see just how far they could throw them across the Deepwater Lake. Maybe once they got there they could see the monster that supposedly dwelled in the depthless waters of that crystal clear lake.
They wandered their way toward the edge of town, then the quarry, and finally along the steep path down to the lake, hardly noticing the beauty of the land around them. Ferndorf was nestled in a small valley between the mountains in the southern range of the Unexplored Wests of Equestria. The lowest point of the valley was the lake itself, all of the meltwater from the surrounding peaks flowed down to it throughout the year. The only time rainwater fed this fresh glacier pond was during the turbulent month of May. That is when winds blew in just the right direction to push large storms from the North Luna Ocean through the only mountain gap in their valley large enough for weather to get through.
These storms lasted throughout the month, and often flooded the entire valley floor. this made passage to the rest of the world even more impossible than when the Eastern Pass, the only land route with a low enough slope to pull wagons through, would be filled with snow up to twenty ponies high. A small troop of ponies could trek through that Icy Terror, but the floods had features that made them impossible to navigate.
Firstly were the brilliant and green forests. These trees were resilient enough to survive the cold of winter, and then just make it through the floods of May, and their tops were at times just over the muckish water that filled the valley. Combine this with the reason the valley wasn't just a huge lake, and you had a trap that would sink any vessel attempting to navigate it.
The floods, just like the lake, drained into a large cavern system on the North side of the Deepwater. Nopony knew where this collection of labyrinthine tunnels and passageways went, or what exactly had caused them. A large portion of the system defied traditional geology and seemed to have been carved from the mountains' base. Though there had been no record of any previous civilization discovered in this part of Equus, and the Diamond Dogs were native to another area, further north and more centrally located in Equestria. But this cave system did not just steadily drain the flooding waters. It was much more, interesting.
Some years were worse than others, but the majority featured the valley filling up nearly to the top of the ridge on which the village had been structured. Just before reaching the point of spilling into the ponies' homes, there would be a slight rumble, and the water would start to recede. The waters would start to swirl with their decent, sucking anything caught in their terrible pull down into the caverns, never to be seen again. Of course, this was terrifying for any pony who got caught outside the city if the flooding started early.
Should they have survived the start of the flooding, somehow, and perhaps found some debris to hold out on, they would be sucked into this maw of the Earth which seemed to have no greater joy than devouring what the waters brought it. Of course, in the vortex formed closest to the cave, the pony would drown in the turbulent waters before they had the luxury of being crushed by the rocks, or being swallowed into the ground and stuck somewhere, dark, with water lapping around them.
After the floods receded, it was time to start for the next year. Temporary farming shacks would be thrown up around the now very wet land where the generation prior had cleared the forest to make way for tilled earth. Then the folk who could handle the plows the best, generally Earth Ponies, would work as fast as they could to plant seeds before their narrow window for a crop would close.
While the farmers did their bid, the other industries started back up again as well. The mills on the southern edge of the valley would typically survive the floods, being situated higher up than any set of structures other than the village itself. These workers would process logs brought in by lumberjacks and, another mill would be quickly put to use grinding any grain left over from the long winter to make flour for trade with the merchants who would soon arrive.
The townsfolk had a few goods to give these profiteers of wares, notably metals from their small mine, some harder stone from their quarry, lumber from the mills, and the frontier pony's fashion, of course. These merchants would sell medicines, spices, cloth, and whatever else the ponies would need.
The town, mostly Earth ponies, with a few Pegasi here and there, would often be awed by traveling magic acts as they worked their way to the West-most fringes of Equestrian Civilization to gather bits. All of the littlest ponies looked forward to these shows, which featured fireworks and tall tales, feats of magical strength and cunning, even strange new inventions which seemed to be more arcane than the magic used to run them.
Of course though, this was out of sight and out of mind at the moment. For these little ponies, the spired, heaven-scraping mountains, tipped with snow and dotted with falls from the Summer melt; the luscious trees, green and laden with leaves and taller than any building the town had to offer, even the pristine rivers, with their rock bottoms and silty shores, didn't mean much to the foals. They were off to skip rocks and frolic while the day was still young.
And so they would, they reached the shore of the lake, Clyde, being more than a capable swimmer, lead the way into a shallow near the beach, where even little Radiant could play with the rest of the group. Lee, being the most devious and prankish of the group, was busy trying to splash anypony who looked unguarded, and on the side kept daring Asper to swim out a further, betting he couldn't go more than twenty feet beyond their normal shallow.
Golden, being slightly fearful of the water, despite her brother's proficiency with the aquatic arts, protested this idea whenever Lee brought it around. Even more so when Lee tried to convince Clyde to go for it. While none doubted his ability, Clyde wouldn't help distress his sister.
Asper was mostly busy teaching Radiant a bit more, helping her swim in a slightly deeper spot than she was used to, and carefully keeping her within a quick step and a helping hoof's distance. Golden had taken to lecturing Lee until he splashed her mid-breath and soaked her.
Lee, giggling like a loose hyena, was suddenly dunked by the large Clyde, who had just previously been swimming around quite tranquilly. After Lee broke the surface again, and coughed up a bit of lake, he turned toward Clyde, who towered over the small Lee, and between coughs gave him a light punch in the chest. Clyde just grinned slightly lopsidedly, and the whole troop shared a laugh.
Of course, their day would end before their fun was done, but they had to get home to their families. So the children headed back to town, prancing along the warm stone path in the dimming twilight. Provided they made it home before dark, no one would mind their day of some fun.
As these foals headed back to town, the adults were doing much the same. Farmers returning from a hard day's work, the seamstress' closing their shops for the night, the barber cleaning his blades for putting away, and the home-working ponies finishing up dinner for their loved ones.
The little tavern was getting ready for the late crowd, this included bachelor and bachelorettes, some of the travelers whose business' were done for the day, perhaps looking for a room, and even a slightly strange late comer to town. Granted, the tavern did attract a stranger crowd after dark.
And so each and all went into the night, heading back to where they belonged, whether they belonged there by wish, or by familial lot, or by good or bad luck. The town bell was tolling approaching darkness, and the bell ringer shivered a little, despite the warmth of the night. All the while a colt and his friends headed home.