/u/Pinkie_Pi
FrostFire
The desert is nothing more than a dry ocean where wind has replaced the sea. Though simple, it is still full of mystery. The day is hot as coals and the night brings the shudders to the core of her bones. It is the twilight and her parents are gone. Young nameless filly wanders the wastes. Why did they leave their home? She thinks to herself in a young voice, without language, free from the destructive forces of inner monologue. Her thoughts are of pure cause and effect, connected to feeling, to smells, and the height of unspoken truth is in her welling up like the tears in her eyes. Loneliness is a cruel truth. It is the starvation of the mind to be apart from the parental ones. They were her guide until now.
She awakens the next day, on the lap of a large hairless ape. No... he does have some hair. His arms are thick, but gentle. Is he like a parent? A guide? She takes to him kindly. He speaks now. She does not understand his words. They go to a town with more balding apes. They all wear the cotton, leather and coats of the other animals, since they have been afflicted with a terrible deformity. This one sings a gentle song to her and wraps her in a blanket. The others gather and bring her food. Small ones try to pet her and rub her horn. It is not so bad.
Many cycles of the moon pass. It is a good way to judge the passing of time, she thinks, because it is an unchanging pattern. There are patterns in speech as well and the words begin to unfold naturally in her mind. "Crom" is the name of the one who rescued her from the lonely wastes. Corin, his son, is her closest friend. They are as brothers and sisters but many in the town still refer to her as a "pet". But why? She can speak and run and even work.
"FrostFire" is what Crom calls her, "Icy blue with hair red and orange like the flames," he shows her the forge where he makes his tools and his swords, "You are like the riddle of fire and ice, the secret of steel. There are many secrets inside you as well. Your magic is like this sword. It can do much good and much harm and its source of power is yet unknown,"
She does not know what these swords are for yet. She does not have hands, but has found the ability to move many things just by thinking about it. It is because she is a "unicorn" she is told. She moves a shield to her face and her reflection frowns back at her. It makes her sad to think she is different. She tried to wear clothes and play with the children, but they just want to ride on her and see "magic". They do not understand.
Corin knows though. He talks to her like a real friend.
Time passes. Corin is 15 now and the village declares he is a man. He has slain a sand-worm upon which the village feasts. FrostFire does not like to eat meat, but she does because she does not want to make Corin feel bad. But he knows.
"FrostFire," he tells her as the other dance and drink, "I know you want answers to your past. The wizard who passed through here last season gave me a clue. He says there are more like your kind to the south, through the desert. And I am a man now. We can leave together and find your people," None of the others would have called her kind 'people'. How can she say no? How can she go on not knowing? Her eyes flicker with a spark of light. She sheds a tear. It freezes on her cheek and melts away again.
He does not ride her. They take a surplus of food and water on the backs of their camels and walk side by side. But she would let him if he asked. If he really wanted to it would not be so bad because he does not treat her like a beast of burden. They are family... but... not really... something like that but better than friends.
A pure thought, for there is as of yet no word for it. "Corin" she thinks. "Yes. He is my Corin. That word will do,"