//------------------------------// // Wyvern Slayer // Story: Wyvern // by PegasusKlondike //------------------------------// Klondike stared himself down in the mirror, gazing into his own hazel eyes with no real intent. With his wingtips he cinched on Fireflash, the sword named after its original bearer. He drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. His heart fluttered with the thought, today was the day. Today he would see his revenge, or send dozens of good ponies to the jaws of oblivion. Pulling the sword from its sheathe, he grounded the tip on the floor and dropped to a knee. With his forehead pressed against the cold steel, he began to speak, "I don't know if you are listening, I don't even know what you are. But if Spin is there with you, tell him..." Klondike swallowed the pain, "Tell him, he did the best he could for me, and that I'm going to redeem him today. He was like the father I never had, and I'm sorry I never told him." Klondike stood from his kneeling, strapping the final piece of his ensemble around his chest, a bandoleer with his whiskey cocktails snugged in tightly. Reaching over to his nightstand he grabbed a box of matches, tucking them into his sword harness. Dragging a hoof through a piece of charcoal, he underscored his eyes and drew on the symbol of the ancient pegasi nations on his chest, the winged head of a pegasus. No armor for him, armor wouldn't help against the wyvern and it would only slow him down. Besides, a weapon by itself doesn't need armor. Opening the door to the library, he stepped out to the gathered crowd of his followers, all aching for revenge against the beast that had taken so many loved ones away. A chill wind rustled his mane, making it billow and flow like the mane of an alicorn.The overcast sky would normally have dampened everypony's spirit, but there was no spirit anymore, just the will to survive. "I am not a pony of many words, and so I will keep this brief. Today we bring the fight to the wyvern, today we tell her that we will not simply lay back and die! Today we announce to all of Equestria and the world that we are not weak, that we are not victims of Snowreach and to its horrors! We are not animals, we are not monsters, we are ponies! And we will slay that great bitch like the sniveling animal that she is!" The assembled masses lifted their weapons and cheered, their hooves beating a cadence into the earth. Their pegasus leader extended his wings, effortlessly freeing himself from the binds of gravity. Hovering a few feet above the ground, he barked orders to his militia ponies. "Arrow, get your boys up on the ramparts and have those crossbows ready! Tweed, take your unicorns and assume your positions in view of the trap. Axle, get those sticks of dynamite in position! In ten minutes I'm lighting the first of the bait piles and drawing her here." There was no guarantee that the wyvern would even show up, nopony had spotted the beast in days. But she would come to her most bizarre of id functions, the need to destroy fire. The pegasus sped off towards the direction of the queen's den, to the first of the bonfire piles which would be in a chain to Windshear. **************************************************** Twenty miles of flight later, he hovered over the first of the bait piles, a massive pile of pine trees, oozing with the pine tar that would make their flame burn bright. Slipping out the first of five of his molotov cocktails, Klondike struck a match from his box and lit the rag. Lobbing the bottle, it struck hard in the center of the pile, shattering into a thousand pieces and leaving a flaring splash of flame. Staying for a second to make sure it took, Klondike banked on his wings and headed to the second pile. Minutes later he hovered over the second beacon, striking a match off his hoof and lighting the bottle. Hurling it at the beacon, he flew off towards Windshear. Beacon number three he did on the fly, hurling the molotov cocktail down at the pile of logs as he flew past. Beacon four was almost a blur beneath him on the ground, lobbing the lit bottle like a bomber. The last woodpile, within sight of Windshear, took to flame as he flew by at nearly full speed, dropping the last of his cocktails. Flying high to the cloud ceiling above Snowreach, he paused in his flight to look back at his work. At the horizon the first beacon burned bright, all the others building in their strength. Down below the crimson pegasus the ponies of Windshear took their positions and finished the final preparations on the trap. "Now, we wait." He folded in his wings and plummeted from the sky. **************************************************** Klondike stood at the top of the ramparts at the gates of Windshear, Aurora at his left, Patsy and Tweed at his right. Looking out over the palisade walls, the pegasus watched the distant flicker of the bonfires on the horizon. Though his companions needed cloaks to keep the chill winds at bay, the pegasus stood with only his fur to keep warm. Every light in the entire town had been doused and the only fire allowed were a few torches stuck into the ground in front of the trap. Those ponies present to help were huddled together, some passing around a mug or two of some hot drink. Aurora shivered next to him, they had all been out here for hours, and though it was perfectly nice for the pegasus, everypony else was freezing. Klondike took a sidelong step closer to his lover, wrapping a wing around her torso as a blanket. The mare's shivering alleviated a little bit, and she nodded to the pegasus. Dusk was nearing, and the cold night would take its toll on everypony soon enough. Tweed Suit pulled his cloak tighter to fight off the chill, "How long are we going to stand out here? Half those ponies down there are on the verge of getting pneumonia." Klondike's gaze never strayed from the flickering speck in the distance, "As long as it takes." Aurora huddled close, "We can't stay out here forever, not all of us feel the cold like you do." The pegasus stallion sighed, "Half of everypony on watch can head back to the saloon to warm up, alternate shifts every half hour. We'll ring the bell if she comes." Tweed nodded, "I'll pass the word along, half of each team can take a thirty minute break." Tweed trotted down to the still waiting and shivering ponies. Klondike turned his head to look at Patsy, the once cockney and boisterous squire had become much more stoic and grim since he returned to turn himself in. "You can take a break if you want, you're no good to us frozen stiff." Patsy gave a curt shake of his head, "Don't really feel it. Back in the order, they teach ya to ignore the elements, to believe that you're only cold if ya think ya are. Besides, I've been in worse." "How much worse could it get?" Patsy licked his lips, pulling out a flask to take a sip. Wiping the top he offered it to the pegasus. "Ya know, actually I haven't been through anything like this. The pony that was me had, but he's dead now. I'm not him anymore." Klondike took the offered flask, "Good to hear. Hey, to new opportunities," He raised the flask and took a sip. Patsy took it back, "To new opportunities," he toasted back. The next two hours went silently, the sun falling down behind the horizon. Klondike's legs had gotten sore, so he sat on his haunches after a while, with Aurora sitting next to him, leaning heavily on the pegasus. Patsy, with his militant discipline and training, stayed standing and alert. Tweed Suit would appear for a few minutes at a time, then disappear to check on the various groups in waiting. Aurora's head lay on his shoulder, part of her cloak draped over him generously. Her rhythmic and slow breathing could only mean she had fallen asleep. Klondike couldn't blame her, and gently patted her hoof with his own. Carefully moving his head so her horn wouldn't poke so much, he relaxed a little. Still staring out at the prominent chain of flickering dots on the horizon, he was reminded of one of the few times his father had actually spent time with him. They'd gone fishing, not that anypony would actually commit the heinous and horrifying act of eating flesh. A simple catch and release day of sport fishing on one of the more placid pools in Snowreach's many rivers and streams. Just like then, he stared intently at an indicator for hours on end, waiting for his quarry to take the bait. His eyes were heavy with reminiscence, remembering one of the few days that he hadn't felt so estranged from his dad. Klondike was close to a waking dream, huddled for warmth with his love, when his nearly closed eyes caught something. The furthest bonfire had flickered out.... Instantly he was on his hooves, scanning the darkness for any sign of their enemy. All three of his companions were by his side in a flash, "What is it? Where is she?" "One of the bonfires went out, she's out there!" Klondike hissed, "Everypony to ambush positions, relight the torches!" Tweed tried to slow down the pegasus. "Hold it, those fires have been going for hours, it could have just gone out on its own." Aurora pointed off in the distance, "Hardly likely, look!" Only three dots flickered on the horizon. "She's coming in fast, get the rest of the militia off their flanks and in position!" Everywhere ponies scrambled to get into position, sheer adrenaline fueling them. The third beacon went out right as the militia finished relighting the final torches as bait. All archers were in position, as well as the hidden demolition ponies. The fourth beacon flickered out as if on cue. Standing on the ramparts, Klondike fought to control the pounding of his own heart. Silent as death, the ponies waited for that beast to continue her need to douse the flames and fall right into their hooves. The last beacon flickered out, the only light in all the darkness being put off by a few torches jammed into the dirt. Each second felt like an hour, but time crept onward with no sign of the wyvern in the clearing. In the forests around Windshear, a lone wolf howled. Tweed's horn glowed with magic, held back and ready. "Are you sure she is out there?" In mid howl the lone wolf suddenly yelped and was silenced. Klondike nodded, "Fairly sure." The night remained silent, the only noise being the whisper of chilled wind through the trees. He expected to hear it at any moment, those massive wings beating like sails in a gale, those sickly yellow eyes glowing in the dark. But nothing came. Spreading his wings, Klondike prepared to jump down to the clearing where the trap lay in front of the gate. Aurora grabbed him with her magic, "Wait," she pulled him back and lay her lips on his, holding him there for a few seconds, "Good luck." The pegasus nodded, then glided down to the trap zone. Klondike stared out into the darkness, the lowly illumination of a few torches granting only a limited circle of light. His wings snapped to razor sharpness as something landed behind him. Spinning around on his hooves, he barely avoided eviscerating Patsy. Holding a hoof to his chest, Klondike struggled to keep his heart from leaping out. "Don't scare me like that." Patsy held a hoof to his own lips, shushing the overly loud amateur. Aiming his crossbow out in the dark, he motioned Klondike forward. The professional monster hunter nodded to one of the torches, Klondike grabbed it out of the ground with his teeth. With Patsy standing back, covering him with the crossbow, Klondike crept forward, torch in mouth. His knees shook and his breathing was shallow. The crackle of the torch in his mouth couldn't drown the fearful pounding of his own heart. He heard a noise, something low, something big. Like breathing, ragged breathing from the dark. Klondike stood back and hurled the torch as far and as hard as he could. It twirled end over end through the air, landing flat in the dirt outside the circle put off by the other torches. A weaker pony might have died from shear terror by what he saw. The wyvern queen, standing more still than a stone, blood dripping from her gore covered mouth, those sickly yellow eyes staring right at him. And she was less than fifty feet away. The fact that such a beast could move so silently and get so close without anypony noticing was terrifying. A special type of hatred and fury dripped from those eyes, not for the fire that she so willingly fought, but for the pegasus that stood so close to her. Still she didn't budge an inch, as if daring the pegasus to make the first move. With a snort from her icy nostrils she put out the annoying torch that sat in front of her face, plunging her entire body back into darkness. Those eyes stayed though, penetrating through both light and dark. Patsy's hoof grabbed Klondike on the shoulder, slowly pulling him back. "Time to go mate," he murmured. As both ponies backed up, the queen mirrored their movements, maintaining the distance between them by creeping forward on her wing joints. Her head dipped into the light of the torches, the queen's maw opening to hiss at both ponies. Behind Klondike he could hear the subtle gasps of ponies seeing this monstrosity so closely for the first time. Patsy and Klondike backed their way all the way to the gate, hoping and praying that somepony would actually open the damn thing before she froze them. "Come on, just a little more..." Klondike muttered. The queen's massive bulk inched forward, her ignorance of the trap working perfectly. The queen opened her jaws and clicked her teeth at the two morsels that backed away from her. Still weak from the fight with Venerax, her vulnerability made it painful to move. Placing one foot in front of the other, she didn't want to waste her attacks on two harmless creatures like this. Taking a step into the light, her wing joint sank into the dirt. She squawked in surprise, recoiling back. Sniffing the hole her wing joint had made, she smelled strange chemicals. Looking back up at the ponies, the queen began to back away into the darkness. "No! Patsy, get back behind the wall." The squire obliged, slipping into the small hole opened by the militia. Klondike flared his wings at the slowly retreating queen. "HEY! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING YOU GREAT PUFFED UP SKINK!" The wyvern stopped her retreat, yellow eyes focused on the annoying red morsel that yelled at her. Turning her head in confusion, she took a step forward. "Yeah, I'm talking to you! You recognize me, don't ya! You want to know what your babies sounded like while I cut off their heads?! MYEH! MYEH!" He shrieked the closest approximation to the sound of baby wyvern in distress. The queen reared her head back, growling at his enraging noise making. She took another step forward. Pulling out his box of matches, he lit the entire box and threw it at her. Landing at her feet, she squawked and stamped it out. Her gaze whipped back to the pegasus, her eyes saying 'Don't you dare do that!' The queen crept forward another step, her whiplash tail hovering over her back. "Or maybe you don't quite understand that!" Klondike reared onto his hind legs and slapped his wings against his chest, indiscriminately screaming at the queen. The wyvern was taken aback, such a pitiful, small creature, challenging her? She reared back on her own legs, slapping her chest and roaring. Dropping back to all fours she began to circle the pegasus, tail waiting for him to move. Klondike vented all of his rage, all of his sorrow and an entire lifetime of rejection to the monster that was less than thirty feet away. Taking a few steps forward, he continued his rant. "You see, what I don't understand is, why you have to come down to MY territory, killing MY friends and somehow you're the one all pissed off at the world! I say, don't START anything, and you won't GET anything." With each shout the wyvern grew a tiny fraction of a percent more afraid of the pony. He was less than fifteen feet from the queen's toothy maw, staring her right in the eyes. He could almost sense her fear of this small creature that had done something nothing else had ever done, "Or maybe it's something about my face that just grinds your gears?" The wyvern's horned head reared back, sucking in a breath. Klondike looked down, her entire bulk was situated over the trap. "Too bad for you." Flaring both his wings he backwinged as fast as he could, hurling himself far away from her. "NOW!" he screamed to the militia. Six horns flashed in the darkness, lighting the wicks to the six sticks of dynamite jammed in between the barrels of flammable material that lay buried mere inches beneath her feet. The wyvern stopped drawing in breath to snap at the fleeing pegasus. Looking down at the hissing noise at her feet, her entire world exploded.The six sticks of dynamite crammed in between the barrels detonated, their force collapsing the barrels and igniting their contents. The queen screamed as she fell into a pit of flame, limbs flailing as liquid fire coated every inch of her body. Dozens of crossbows twanged, hailing the immolated wyvern in a storm of arrows. A boom came from the pair of arbalests, flinging their spear sized bolts at the trapped monster. With their initial arrow storm expended, unicorns dropped their bows and began to fire whatever offensive magic they had at the beast. Most of the bolts and arrows bounced off of her thick scaly hide, the arbalest bolts had better success and drove their barbed heads into her flesh. Screaming in her agony and the pain of this ultimate insult and heat, the queen clawed at the arbalest bolts sticking out of her side, flapping her wings and stamping her feet to desperately quench the lake of fire that consumed her. Klondike grabbed a spear from a pile and flew above the queen, hurling it with every ounce of strength it bounced off of her hard scales. The queen hardly noticed, so consumed with putting herself out. She clawed at the slippery edges of the pit, clambering desperately to pull herself out of this lake of hellfire. Turning her head to the wall, she blasted a beam of hoarfrost, strafing the archers and causing dozens to leap for cover. Extending her great wings, the flaming monster began to flap desperately to escape. Lifting herself out of the pit and causing a firestorm in the process, the queen began to ascend into the sky, a brightly burning flare in the night sky. Klondike stood with his companions, both Tweed and Aurora had used most of their ammo and had fallen back on magic to fight. Klondike flared his wings in anger, "She's getting away!" bunching up his muscles to take off into the sky. Patsy stopped him with a hoof, lifting his specialty crossbow. Drawing a single bolt out of his quiver, he gave it a lucky kiss on the shaft. Taking careful aim, Patsy squeezed the lever, firing the bolt in a beeline for the queen. Spinning through the air, the bolt connected with the tender flesh of the wyvern's shoulder, right at the base of the wing. The queen screamed even louder through her already unbearable pain. Her wing crumpled and folded in to her side. Plummeting from the air, she slammed into the riverfront, throwing a geyser of water into the air and causing waves several feet tall to swamp what few boats sat at the docks. Klondike glanced at the former squire, who tucked the crossbow onto his back. "Lucky arrow," Patsy said as he brushed past the pegasus. Everypony grabbed short range weapons, most of the arrows having been expended. Klondike drew his sword and joined the flood of militia heading down to the dock. The pegasus took the head of the group, stopping them as they reached the water's edge. Looking out over the deep expanse of the river, they searched for any sign of the monster. The roiling water became placid, and everypony began to lower their weapons. One of Tweed's foremen barked a laugh, turning his back to the water, "It's dead! She drowned! Hey everypony she's dead!" Klondike looked past the foreman, and to his horror bubbles started to surface. "GET BACK!" he screamed. The foreman had a confused look on his face as the entire militia scrambled back from the shore. "What are you talking about? Nothing can stay down that long without-" A ripping and tearing noise silenced him, a bloody spear of wyvern tail erupting from his chest. Emerging from the water, the queen hissed at the ponies in front of her, a torrent of icy river water sputtering with the remaining heat of her immolation. Lifting the pony close to her chest, she grabbed him with the claws on her wing joints and spread her wings wide, ripping him in half and tossing his disembowled pieces. The militia fled from the terrifying beast, Klondike standing with his wings flared and sword drawn to face his foe. "DON'T YOU EVER DIE?!?!" he roared. The wyvern stepped out of the river, not hesitating this time to press the offensive. Her venom tipped tail lashed out at the pegasus, Klondike took wing to dodge her flurry of tail whips. Hardening his wing feathers he blocked a wayward strike that would have pierced his heart. The venomous tail and the razor feathers collided with a sound like steel striking stone. The pegasus swerved to the side, hoping to outflank the queen. But as he ducked and rolled, a beam of frost blocked his escape route. With her enemy trapped, the queen continued her relentless assault. He couldn't attack, her offense was too fast, too furious for him to get close and strike. Blocking another well aimed tail strike, he felt himself being pushed back into a corner with the warehouse at his back. While he fought for his life against the deadliest beast in the north, Aurora desperately tried to think of a way to help. She had one arrow left, but there were no places on that damn beast where her armor was thin enough to actually make a difference. Drawing the string on her bow, she took aim. But she let down when no opportunities presented themselves. Cursing her uselessness, she tried to think of a plan, every second the love of her life had to deflect that beast's constant barrage of blows and any one of them could be his last. The queen was facing the warehouse, with Klondike pinned at the warehouse wall, deflecting or dodging her attacks. Aurora tried to think, but the only thought that came into her mind was the memory of those horrible yellow eyes. "Wait, that's it!" Focusing her magic, she teleported to the roof of the warehouse, bow levitated and drawn. "HEY! SHE-DEVIL!" she yelled to the wyvern, letting a bolt of magic fly down and strike the monster on the back of her horned head. The queen let up her attack to focus on the unicorn, shifting her hateful yellow eyes to Aurora. "Nopony touches my stallion," Aurora hissed. Letting the bowstring loose, her last arrow flew through the air, flying with the precision of a master archer and a true warrior to bury itself deep in the queen's left eye. The queen screamed into the night, clawing with her wings at the bloody mess that left her blinded. Rearing back she whipped her tail randomly, shattering the front of the North Enterprise offices and crushing several crates and carts with her blundering feet. Klondike landed in a crouch, panting from the exertion of defending for so long. His wings rasped back to hardness, the metallic sound bringing the queen back to the battle. She reared back on her hind legs, taking in a breath of air. Time seemed to slow for Klondike, the beat of his heart lasting for minutes when it should have been racing to escape his chest. Spin's voice reached him in this heightened state calling to his apprentice the lessons he had taught him on the ways of the warrior. "Lesson one, respect your teacher." "I never stopped respecting you master." Klondike told himself. "Lesson two, know your enemy." She prefers to use her tail. But she's using her breath. Wait, the queen is leaning, leaning to her right. "It's a bluff...." he said as time sped back up. Extending a razor wing, he pulled his attention from the beast to the front to the tail coming in from the side. Ducking down, he swung his wing, just as the tip of the tail grazed the hairs on his back. Like a knife through butter, his feathers severed the tip of the queen's tail, removing a section four feet long. The queen screamed in pain as her main weapon lay flopping on the ground. Klondike rolled to his feet, "Lesson three, expect the unexpected." He threw both wings in front of himself as an icy beam struck them. The blood magic of his feathers fought against the elemental magic of her breath, and the pegasus was pushed back by the shear force of her sudden attack. The queen ran out of breath, stopping her icy attack. The queen reared back her head to blast him again, pulling in a second breath. "And remember, defense and offense." Klondike muttered. Spreading his wings he dashed towards the opening in the wyvern's defenses, her now exposed chest. Tackling the monster in her chest, he knocked the unbalanced wyvern onto her back, with him standing on her chest. Crossing his wings, he sliced an X into the hard scales at the top of her breastbone. Lifting Fireflash, Klondike gave a cry as he plunged it into her chest, a geyser of blood and anti-venom spraying out. The queen screamed a piercing wail as her most protected spot was exposed and destroyed. Klondike twisted the blade deeper, then ripped it out, coated in the blood of the brood queen. The queen flailed, the venom in her blood now beginning to burn her in a pain greater than any she had ever felt. Klondike jumped off the queen as she clawed at her every extremity, screaming and wailing in pain. Struggling back to her feet, the queen's movements became stiff and sluggish as she struggled to stay standing. Klondike threw down his sword, charging in with his wings spread. "This is for Pine!" he yelled as he chopped through a thigh. The queen's back half fell to the ground, only her wing joints keeping her standing. "This is for Spin!" His razor feathers sliced through a wing bone, dropping the monster onto her belly. "For Venerax!" He cut through a neck muscle. "For Aurora!" He flew to the monster's face, throwing his wings like fists against her face. "AND THIS ONE IS FOR ME!" he roared as he jammed his pinion feathers between her eyes. He panted, placing a hoof on her face he ripped out his wing feathers. The queen still breathed, but barely. Her remaining eye shuddered and struggled to stay open. Opening her mouth on last time, the queen let out a sorrowful, moaning cry. A cry of pain, of shame and humiliation. A cry of defeat and submission. Klondike looked at the queen's eye, a once proud and invincible force, slain by her prey. There was no emotion in that eye, no real hatred or fury, it wasn't the eye of a sentient being or of a monster. It was that of an animal. An unthinking, completely neutral animal, struggling to survive. "You're just an animal....." Klondike murmured. The queen's ragged and forced breathing ceased, and her eyelid shut slowly. All around him, ponies emerged from their hiding places to see if was true this time, that he had defeated the beast that had haunted the forests and mountains and brought their lives crashing to the dirt. Aurora slowly approached the pegasus who stood over the great corpse of his enemy. Stopping next to him, she threw her hooves around his neck, pressing her face to his. Klondike grabbed the mare in his hooves and gave a crushing hug, stroking her honey mane with a hoof, "It's over...it's over." he whispered in her ear. The townsponies stood silent, ringing around the monster and its slayer. Somepony raised their voice, "He did it! YEAH!" Soon the whole crowd cheered, some dancing on the spot and throwing their hats into the air. Patsy stood by himself in the crowd, a smile on his face. "Best damn slayer I ever met. Oh, what the hell." Taking off his hat he threw it into the air, grabbing the nearest mare and planting a kiss on her lips. A stunned Ruby Rose slapped him after he let go. Patsy rubbed his cheek, "Sorry about that one dovey, just happy to be alive." Tweed Suit and Pinch Penny walked out from the ecstatic crowds, each patting the pegasus on the shoulder. "You did good kid, sorry about the whole bribery thing. I'll have your bits back, with interest." Pinch took a more fatherly stance. "Son, if Spin could see you now, he'd be proud of the fine warrior you've become. A righteous weapon against the beast that threatened to tear our humble village apart. You're a true Equestrian hero." Klondike removed Pinch's hoof from around his neck, "I can't take any of the credit, you were the ones who made this possible. I couldn't have killed her without everypony I trust at my back. But it wasn't me alone. Aurora, this is your victory over this monster as much as it is mine." The mare nuzzled her stallion, "We make a pretty good team." Klondike returned her affectionate nuzzle, "I owe you everything, you saved my life tonight in more ways than one. My life is yours, but you've always had my heart." Aurora leaned close, closing her eyes, "And you've always had mine. Come on, lets go home." That night, the townsponies of Windshear incinerated the corpse of the wyvern queen, enacting justice through fire for all of the lives stolen from them. Their lives had been returned to them, no longer did they have to live in fear of the beast of the frozen tundras with her breath of frost death. Though most of the alcohol was still burning in a pit in front of town, the townsfolk still partied and celebrated the gift of life that one pegasus had fought for. But two did not choose to live that night, instead washing themselves of their burden and of the blood. They chose to live for one another, wrapped in one another's hooves they rested from this ordeal. Their love unconditional and their strength unfaltering as long as they stood together. Two against the world, united by love.