Title:           Eternal Winter Pt. 1-Allezeite Flashfire-One of Them
Author:          IRFxNightFire
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/n287QRXf
First Edit:      Wednesday 5th of September 2012 04:47:24 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Wednesday 5th of September 2012 04:47:24 PM CDT

Flashfire relaxed in her office, seemingly stricken with something as she read. The Equestrian Stock Market had crashed just four days ago. According to Canterlot Weekly, it had done so because of a snow. A snow unlike the previous cycle of winter, followed by the sacred wrapping up of it, as this snow had covered Canterlot in a minimum two feet of snow. As everyone learned how much the wrap-up would cost, they pulled out stock, but were too late. It was worth nothing. Flashfire's lips widened into a smile, knowing stock in her Flash ovens remained acceptable.
 
Thinking about the possibilities made her heart race, to a point where she began hyperventilating. As she continued this, she uncorked a bottle of wine, using her magic to pour it into a stemmed glass. The pouring began to calm her somewhat. Upon reaching an optimum level she hastily recorked the bottle and stowed it. Flashfire raised the glass to her lips, taking in the red wine's distinctive smell before starting to drink.
 
She stopped drinking every few seconds, savoring this new bottle of red she bought the day before. After one sip, she'd burped, dripping a tiny bit on her newspaper. She stared down at the wasted drop as it bled through the paper, revealing the words there, although somewhat soggy. Flash Ovens, Co. was on the decline. Again.
 
She started to hyperventilate. She'd planned to check the stock when they close, but Canterlot Weekly always prints before that. Flashfire comforted herself, "W-well, maybe the stock's up again. It can't go d-down, it just can't. I don't want to be one of them."
She finished her glass, just about angry at everything, with winter, with Canterlot, Manehattan, and herself as well. She was about to pick up the bottle to pour a second glass when there was a knock at the door, and a nervous voice on the other side of it.
"Uh..Miss Flashfire?" it said. It was a male voice. She hoped it was Cable.
"What ever do you need, dear?" she called back. "Well, uh, somepony is here to see you, and he said your full name. It's probably serious, you should go check it out."
 
Unwillingly she got up, getting her purse and going to the door. She turned the knob, and upon opening it. The first thing she noticed was Cable's dark blue coat, which was more pronounced than her own, grayish-blue color.
"Cable, it's so good to see you. What's going on, who's at the door?" she questioned him rapidly, her eyes darting around. She was obviously nervous.
"I don't know, miss Flashfire. It may be vagrant ponies?" She could see he was becoming nervous as well.
 
"Give them no quarter! This is a place of business," Flashfire retorted, "Not some place for wanderers." Flashfire heard another knock. This one came from the back door.
"Vagrant!" she shouted, going to the door. "You can't come in! Away with you!" The pony who the knockin hoof belong to spoke, unwavering, and completely serious.
 
"Allezeite Flashfire, open the door. Equestrian Revenue Service." her heart almost skipped hearing this, but she opened it nonetheless. The pony at the door was legitimate, a stallion clad in all black, EQRS on his lapel.
 
"C-come in," she said sheepishly. "What might be wrong?" The government stallion gestured for her to come into her office. She closed the door behind her. "Miss Flashfire, due to the recent pulling of stock over the last few days, money is becoming increasingly less valuable. To make this short, the government is taking possession of this facility, and the company."
 
Flashfire simply stared, now in denial. "What? Why?" she nearly screamed at him.
"You don't have enough money to own the company anymore. We're seizing the company."
She started to sob, each one of his words like bullets. "Oh my.. Can I have some time alone, then?" The stallion nodded and left the room. Quickly, Flashfire gathered her things.
 
Among the items she got was the patent to her Flash ovens. She kept her wine and heated some food. When it was done she wrapped it and put it in her purse. Flashfire wiped her face of tears and stepped into the main factory floor. She hit a red button, shutting down the production lines and prepared to explain herself.
 
"You're all fired." she clearly announced, without a hint of sadness in her voice. They were all pretty much silent, until one worker dared to speak.
"Miss Flash," the female worker asked, "You can't be serious."
"Oh, but I am, my dear. The government's seizing the company. So, all of you, leave. Don't come back."
 
Without even waiting, she left the factory floor, and got her coat on. "Good day to you," she addressed Cable, and promptly left the building.
She was still in denial; she realized what just happened but couldn't accept it.
Wandering around for a good thirty minutes, eventually Flashfire went into an alley, sat down and began to sob loudly. She felt like doing absolutely nothing, like dying. She didn't want to be one of them.
 
It then occured to Flashfire she had nothing to protect herself. She had a derringer in the factory but she couldn't go back there. "Oh, Celestia.." she wailed. "I'm going to get raped and die out here..." This continued for a while before she got up, wiped her face and left, wandering a bit before seeing a pony in an alley. From here it looked like a mare, so she decided to sit with her, seeing she was warming up by a fire.
Flashfire sniffled once and sat down with the other mare.
"Hello," Flashfire greeted her.
"Hey," the mare said back. Flashfire started to warm up by the fire as ell. Offhandedly, she said, "My name's Allezeite Flashfire."
The mare answered back, "Roamer. My name's Roamer."