Hearth's Warming Eve

by uyoiou

Chapter 1

Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia, and before ponies discovered our beautiful land in Equestria, ponies did not know Harmony.

It was a strange and dark time, a time when ponies were torn apart, by hatred.

During this frightful age, each of the three tribes, the pegasi, the unicorns, and the earth ponies, cared not for what befell the other tribes, but only for their own welfare.

In those troubled times, as now, the pegasi were the stewards of the weather, but, they demanded something in return, food that could only be grown by the earth ponies.
The unicorns demanded the same, in return for magically bringing forth day, and night.

And so this trust between the tribes festered, until one fateful day, it came to a boil, and what prompted the ponies to clash?

Twas a mysterious blizzard, that overtook the land, and toppled the tribes precarious peace.

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A long wood cabin, cold and dimly lit with a few dripping candles that melted into a long table, several bodies crowded around the table, all clothed in rags, looking tired with bags under each eye, A large stallion, grey in mane with white streaks running through, and a beige, ruffled coat approached the table, setting down a scroll and a quill from his mouth.

“What be the total for the months harvest.” he lifted the quill into his mouth and onto the scroll.

“Fifty three sacks of grain from the west fields.” said a voice coming out from the crowd of faces.

“Forty seven barrels of apples from the east fields.” a mare said standing next to the large stallion.

“Twenty six sacks of potatoes in the north fields.” an old colt cough from the edge of the other end of the table.

The stallion was writing down the results on the scroll, he paused and waited.
Placing the quill back into the inkwell, he looked up to the crowd.

“South fields...” he said, the other ponies turned to see a young mare, no older than about twelve.

“E-eighteen sacks of c-carrots...south fields.” she said looking up from the floor.

“Anna, where is your father?” ask the head stallion.
“Papa s’ feeling... sick from working the fields in all that snow, he wanted me to come instead.”

The stallion started collecting the information down onto the scroll, tallying the amounts of the harvest.

“...not even half of last month...” he said under his breath

They were all hungry, going on few days with only cup of stew, some had even passed on with help from working in the cold. Cold winter had a terrible affect on the earth ponies crops, making just barely enough to feed each family, but the food collections from the Pegasi and Unicorns only made things worse, the demand was getting bigger and bigger each month, leaving almost nothing for the labourers of the harvest.

“Tribute...” they called it, trying to justify their outright theft of good ponyfolks hard labour, and at worse, earth pony lives.

“We’ll have to lessen our rations even more then if we have to, gather the...tribute into the cellar, they will be here by tomorrow to collect, I suggest you all go rest, you’ve all done well.”

The crowd all started to move towards the door, they stopped right in front of it, bracing for the cold air they were about to enter, a colt reached for the handle
*SWOOSH*
They all went back to their fields houses, leaving the long wood cabin and the stallion.

The cellar was dark, all the food was in the main barns cellar, stacks of barrels covered the walls, filled with all kinds of fruit and vegetables, sacks filled with grains mounded over each other on the floor, enough to last the earth ponies several winters in comfort, all going straight to the Pegasi and Unicorns.

The silence of the room was suddenly broken by the sound of laches being undone, then a red light emanating from the stairwell became larger, hoofsteps clopped through the stone cellar.

A young colt, holding a lit torch in his maw, wearing a black, snow covered cloak, walked up to one of the grain piles, he gently placed the torch down on the cobblestone floor, and took out a knife from his saddlebag along with a small bag.

He slashed one of the sacks of grain and began to pour the contents into his small bag.

A thump, He froze, dropping the grain sack from his mouth, voices were heard from the floor above, muffled but quickly getting louder and more clear.

“...told you...saw someone...into the...get him...”
Before the colt could think, three other earth ponies were standing at the cellar stairway, two were common farmers, but the third large one was the gray maned stallion, they all looked at the colt.

“See, told you this would happen.” said one of the farmer ponies.
“What should we do with him...” the other asked

The colt found himself stuck down there with the three.
“Please, I only wanted enough for my sister and me, I didn’t even take a whole sack full, I...”
“Tie him up in the snow!” shouted the first farmer, “Leave him for the timberwolves!”

The colt laid down on the cold floor, covering his head with his hooves in fear.
The large stallion started to walk up to the young colt, he stared down at the frightened pony, the young colt looked up at the stallion and slowly got up from the floor.

Staring at eachother for a while, the stallion suddenly struck the colt in the face with his large hoof, the young colt on the floor with a bleeding nose, the stallion stood over the young colt anf began beating him on the ground, stomping on his chest.
Blood spat out of the colts mouth, and he began to tear up.

A little filly was sitting at a table looking into a small lit candle when suddenly the door to the hut was thrown open.

“Big brothe...” she stopped as a young colt was thrown inside the house, covered in blood with bruises all over his face and body, he curled up in pain.
The stallion was standing outside looking down at the colt, then to the filly, he took something out of the saddlebag he was carrying, a small little bag of grain, and threw it in front of the colt on the grounds face, then closed the door.