The days passed slowly for the Flutter Ponies, having stocked on food to last for a year with the then current population of three hundred, we were safe, sheltered and warm. There was plenty of food and water, we were in relatively high spirits, sure we lost our homes but we were alive, and we would be for as long as we had food.
The supply of food would last us until the eruptions stopped, or at least we thought so, what we forgot to consider was pregnant mares who would give birth soon, we had a severe oversight in our prediction of a years worth of food. Eight months in the food was running short, we had only a month left of food, my mother had sent scouts to the surface to see if we could escape to Equestria, when they returned they said that the volcanoes were still spewing lava and the entrance was blocked by a lava flow.
My mother was shocked, never had an event like this occurred, the three volcanoes had been thought to be minor in threat but apparently they were much more than we imagined. Reports from Equestria at the time called it "the worst natural disaster in recorded history!", the volcanoes had been continuously spewing lava for nearly a year!
At the time my mother had received this sad news of being imprisoned in a cave, I was playing with the younger children(they were starting to show signs of malnutrition as mother had started to ration the food when she found we only had three months left of food) and a couple of the older fillies, we played tag and kick the ball(it was made of twine and fabric) we couldn't play hide and seek as the island was to flat, so instead we played made up games that would get increasingly silly as time went on.
A week after the news came, we received news from a sentry by the caves entrance, the lava flow that was blocking us from leaving had stopped. When we got to the entrance all was silent as we ascended into a fiery orange light, when we reached the mouth of the cave what we saw I will never forget, the palace was ruined, the city was in flames, Flutter Valley was gone...
In it's place was a fiery hell of lava fields, the sky was black as night, filled with falling ash and rising embers, my mother ordered us all back immediately, when we arrived at the island she broke down into tears, seeing their queen sad made her subjects sad, but it was me who cried the most seeing my mother, who had always been calm under pressure and strong when all else were weak was crying, our home was gone and so was our hope of getting out alive, the ashes would suffocate us if we stayed to long outside.
We could not fly because the embers would burn our delicate wings and the ash would make it harder to use them, which would exhaust us and slow our speed, we were officially trapped, we couldn't send for help as we had no magic, my mother cried for ten days, I cried right beside her, when we recovered, I went and sat next to the fire, as I did whenever something was troubling me, this time when i sat down, the fire crackled as if it was speaking.
That was impossible, fires couldn't talk! I put it off as my sleep deprived mind playing tricks on me. I laid down and was just about to fall asleep when I heard it again.
" Do you want to survive this unfortunate turn of events?" The Emerald Flame asked.
" What!?" I mutter in my addled state, "who's there?" I say getting to my hooves.
" Do you wish to survive this ordeal, along with your people?" It asked in a demanding crackle.
" Who's there!" I ask looking around but seeing no one, I start to panic, as I'm about to run, the flame asks its question once more.
" Do you wish for you and your people to survive?" It said in its demanding tone.
Realizing that the Fire is speaking I turn around and see that it has two large silver eyes trained on me, I cower at the sight as I slowly regain the position I had left.
" Did you just ask me if I wanted my people to be saved?" I said to the fire, not really believing what I heard.
" Yes" it spoke with clarity.