CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. - Just one month ago, the Chincoteague pony herd welcomed its newest member.
It's a female foal that is just called "Filly"; she won't receive an official name until the Chincoteague Pony Auction this summer.
She is the daughter of two well-known ponies, mother Wildfire and father Riptide.
"[Wildfire is] just a super nice mare. She's always very nice to her foals, a good mother," said Ayden Leonard, a member of the Saltwater Cowboys. "Riptide, on the other hand, Riptide's like the Fabio of Assateague. You know, everyone loves to see him, he's got the long, wavy blonde hair."
Filly is a direct descendent of the legendary Misty of Chincoteague through her mother.
But tragedy struck on Wednesday when "Wildfire" was found unable to use her hind legs because of a sudden, unknown condition.
Saltwater Cowboys found Wildfire during a boat tour, which was the first instance of what they say was divine intervention in Filly's life.
"Believe it or not, I actually had a vet and a vet tech on board with me, which is like, 'What are the odds of that?'", said Hunter Leonard of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, which looks after and cares for the pony herd. "And so they were able to come to assist us and the fire department, when our vet's usually over an hour away."
The veterinarians and Saltwater Cowboys worked for an entire day to try and diagnose and relieve Wildfire's condition, but when nothing worked, she had to be put down, and Filly became an orphan.
But the cowboys say what happened next was another act of divine intervention - Filly was immediately taken in and adopted by another mare named EJ.
"She let the foal nurse immediately," Ayden said. "And you know we didn't even have to try to do anything which was- Hunter and I just threw our hands up and we were like 'Well, doesn't get no better than that', and you know, there's other powers at play here, I think."
Normally it can take a long time coaching an orphaned foal and adoptive mare to accept each other, according to the cowboys.
Filly is thriving with stepmom EJ and her stepbrother Edgar, who is the same age as Filly.
The Saltwater Cowboys said that in Wildfire's last hours, she never gave up caring for Filly, and perhaps Wildfire's spirit is guiding EJ and the new family.
"She was able to give that foal milk for the last 24 hours of her life almost, and no doubt that helped this filly survive and do well and have a lot of energy and be able to function normally," Hunter said.