Kristall Snö

by Kawat3ngusan

Den förstörda byn

Den förstörda byn

The devastated village

The next day Kristall went to see the dragons in the big cave to be able to talk to Sven, she was thrilled to be able to tell him the good news.

When she got to the cave she saw that Sven was with his mother sculpting the cave with ice, he had a small stalactite in his hand to be able to sculpt.

-“Hello Kristall”-

-“Hello Sven”-,

as always when they said goodbye they hugged each other, normally Kristall was older than Sven in age, but he was bigger in height, so he always lifted her off the ground.

After placing her on the snow he spoke to her,

-“What are you doing here? What is the reason for your visit?”

-“I need to talk to you, it's very important, you have to follow me”-

-"Okay, I was modeling the cave with mom, but now I'm going with you"-.

Kristall took Sven to a grove on the mountain.

-"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"-

-"Don't forget, what I'll show you mustn't tell anyone, it's very important"-

-"What is it about?"-

-“Now I'll show you, I just have to choose a tree”-.

Kristall flew close to the trees in the grove to see if there were any animals, but she found nothing, so she picked one at random after checking it.

-“Now go and see Sven”-,

Kristall took the ax and swung it high,

-“ Bärsärk (Berserk)”-, the runes appeared on the snow and the blue and white light followed one another, Kristall immediately started hitting the tree, and this time it took only four hits to make it fall, after which Kristall planted the ax on the ground and created a shock wave.

-"What do you think?"-,

Sven was incredulous, he knew that Kristall Snö had never handled an ax, but he had never even seen her cut a tree.

-"Wait, I still have some time"-, Kristall punched a tree and the snow all fell from the branches, then punched the ground creating a chasm and making the ground tremble and took a not too big boulder and threw him down the mountain.

-"Here is the energy, I think it is running out now, so what do you think?"-.

It was the right time for Sven to ask for the right explanations.

-“B-but….how did you do it? Where do you get so much strength from? How is all this possible?”

-"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, but you have to make sure that only you and I know it"-.

So Kristall explained everything she had done and left no details, such as the stone in the village, her attempt to use the spell, as well as knowing how to translate the runes, and she also showed him that he could materialize the instructions starting from a blue flame from his right hoof and Kristall was happy to be able to tell all this to Sven, but he didn't look happy.

-"No, no, no, it's all wrong, this shouldn't have happened, it's not like this"-

-"Why? What's wrong with that?"

-“And you ask me? Only crystal unicorns and dragons, as well as gods can do magic, you are a pegasus, you cannot do magic”-

-"It was all thanks to that crystal skull, I think it gave me powers, but right now I can only absorb spells thanks to the written runes, I can cast two spells, but so far I've only tried one"-

-“And you also wanted me to keep the secret? Any pony or dragon would notice the runes appearing, and the light around you, do you think anyone is stupid enough not to notice it's not a spell?”

-“Why are you so agitated? Your father and Flail wanted me to be strong, without anyone defending me”-

-"But I had to defend you, or my mother, I didn't care that you were defenseless, you didn't have to take the ax in your hoof"-

-"I admit that I have to use the bow better, but I like the ax, maybe it's the best weapon for me"-

-“No, no, no, if dad finds out about this he will kill me, no dragon has ever reacted to that skull, no dragon has had powers or anything like that, and now that I accidentally made you wear that skull you you have received powers, what have I done?”-

-“Please calm down”-

-“How do I calm down? Now you've become violent like the other ponies"-

-“Hey, in what sense like the other ponies? You mean like my father?”

-"No, for heaven's sake, but you didn't have to deal with these things, dad will take it out on me, and then on you, because if he learns that you have a spell that makes you stronger he will get furious, he could even think of not letting you come here anymore”-

-“But what was I supposed to do? You couldn't always defend me forever, your father doesn't even want you to come alone to my village”-

-“But I could have done anything once I became the boss, and you would have become my advisor”-

-“Do you really think the other dragons would have accepted me? Jag är inte en drake, jag är en ponny (I am not a dragon, I am a pony)”-

-"I thought you didn't care about the opinion of the other dragons, I know, they laughed at you last time, but forget them, I don't care about them, you're the one that really matters to me, even if we're races

different you are a sister to me, the sister I never had"-

-“Lava and Lapillus look fine compared to their sibling Flail”-

-"Yes, the two of them are good fire dragons, it's Flail who's an idiot, but he's one of those dragons who hates ponies, in fact he hates elves too, don't mind, I'm his friend because dad wants me to make me allies among the fire dragons”-

-“However, the fact remains that they will never accept my requests for peace between the races”-

-“If Vikings won't kill dragons anymore, maybe then we could do something, but I don't think fire dragons will accept these conditions, do you really think other races would be willing to live with us?”-

-“If we don't try, we'll never know”-

-"And what do you plan to do?"-

-“If some of you dragons could get in contact with the inhabitants of my village then we might already know, we could create a village with ponies, griffins and dragons, that would be something”-

-"It's not a bad idea, I think we could already talk about it with mom, I don't think dad would agree"-

-“Then let me talk to my father first”-.

Kristall Snö said goodbye to Sven and returned to his village, she immediately ran to his house to talk to Tømmer, it was absolutely necessary to prepare for the project that Kristall had in mind, the dragons had to come to the village, and the inhabitants had to welcome them.

Tømmer however was not happy with the thing,

-“Kristall, listen, what you're asking for is impossible”-

- “Why are you saying that dad? Mum would definitely have wanted to do that.”

-"It's true your mother would have liked to, but she is no longer here, she surely would have talked to Regn, but we have to accept the fact that Lumi is no longer here, and Regn I don't think he would do this project"-

-“Look, Regn would do anything to honor mom's memory, and then how can you say these things, have you perhaps forgotten everything you promised mom when she died? Do you remember what you promised?”-

Tømmer remembered well what he had a promised Lumi on his deathbed, so he couldn't lie,

-"Of course I remember Kristall, but for such a project it takes time, we can accept some ice dragons, but here we are also talking about fire dragons, and we don't know them and who knows how dangerous they can be" -

-"I know it will be difficult, but I can't think that dragons and ponies can be enemies, nor can I bear that dragons live in caves when instead they can live in wooden houses, I know, some of them are big, but it would be enough to think to another floor, for example digging a cave at the base of the mountain near our village, this way the dragons will be closer to us, we could also feed them”-

-“They are also carnivores”-

-"What's the problem? We can hunt animals for them, most of us are herbivores, so it means more meat for them, and then there's always mountain fish, and then we can share beer with them, right?”

-“Kristall, listen, take off your dragon skin and come eat, and then we'll think about it tomorrow”-,

Kristall didn't part with the ice skin that Regn gave her, but sometimes when she was at home she took it off, like when it was time to eat.

Kristall put the bowls for the broth, and the wooden spoons and then sat down, the father took the bowl for the pine cone and cheese soup and poured the contents into the bowls, father and daughter did not speak to each other, but then Tømmer noticed one thing.

-“B-but…Kristall, what do you have on your side?”-,

Kristall looked at her side and was amazed he had the cutie mark, she didn't know when he had appeared, she hadn't noticed, since he always wore the dragon skin and therefore his side was always covered.

The cutie mark was a letter F with the lines pointing down, Kristall knew that was a rune, so he thought that cutie mark could have appeared when he read the runes, or when he absorbed them or when he used the technique.

-“What kind of cutie mark is that? They just look like lines ”-

-“It is……it is…..it is the Ansuz rune”-

-“The Ansuz rune? And what meaning could it possibly have?”

Kristall certainly didn't want to tell her father the truth, but he couldn't hide anything since by now his cutie mark was just a rune, furthermore he had to explain what it was, he was stronger than her,

-“Here…..it is the rune that represents the sound, that is communication, and knowledge, it has the meaning of honesty, messages, meetings, and success in a test, but if it is turned upside down its meaning changes becoming a symbol of bad guys advice, falsehood, deceit and prudence towards others”-

-“But…..how do you know all these things?”-.

Now that he was in that condition Kristall couldn't keep the secret any longer, so he told the whole truth to his father, who didn't take it well.

-“No, it's not possible, this thing shouldn't have happened again, my daughter who is able to read runes no, I can't accept it"-

-"Wait dad, what do you mean by again?"-

-“Kristall, daddy's love, you see……when once your mother was younger and already knew Regn, she found the skeleton of a crystal dragon in the snow, the crystals she gave to Regn, but then she took in the hooves the skull and something happened she told me, she was practically wrapped in a light and then she passed out, Regn brought her back here to the village, but much later when she visited villages, she was able to read the runes, not only that, she had entered contact with a spell that evoked the fog, then a Viking warrior wanted to invite her to stay in his village in order to have access to that spell, and to make sure that she used her power of divination, because the future can also be predicted with the runes, and now, now the same thing happened to you, Regn couldn't explain why it happened to your mother, and even now I can't explain it to myself, the fact is that to prevent that Viking from spying on his colleagues, Regn she froze it and threw it into Niflheimr, furthermore your mother was also able to invoke the Bifrost, but to do so she had to keep the skull on her head, and in this way she could communicate with beings who spoke an ancient language, she also told me she was able to speak even with the Jormungandr himself”-

-“What is the Jormungandr?”-

-“The Jormungandr also called Midgardsormr is a giant snake lives here in Midgard, it is said that it is as long as the whole world that it can also bite its own tail, it is a kind of deity, mom even managed to calm it down with her voice once that he had woken up because of some Viking warriors who wanted to kill him, your mother was able to be able to communicate with animals only with her eyes, or more often with her hooves"-

-“But….how come I didn't know anything? Why didn't you ever tell me any of this? Why didn't anyone in the village ever tell me about it?”

-“Because no one knew but Regn, Flod, me, your grandfather and grandmother, and we all kept it a secret, mother hoped to tell you one day when she grew up, but then decided during her pregnancy never to tell you anything, and he made Regn and Flod promise it too, but I don't think Flod ever told you anything because maybe he was scared of the thought of a mare who couldn't use magic but could."

-"All this time, all this long time I didn't know anything about mom and you kept it from me"-

“Believe me, if I knew that dragons had the skull of a crystal dragon, I would have told you to stay away from it, but even if I knew that, how could I predict that it would happen to you too? I thought it wouldn't happen again”-

-"But what's wrong with that? I am able to read runes and if I can predict things that is a good thing”-

-“But have you thought what would happen if it became known that in this village there is a filly capable of using runic magic? Soon all the viking villages of Noreinway and Horsweden would come here and they might keep you in their village, and maybe another village would attack your place of imprisonment and there would be a war to have you, believe me this is not a gift but a curse , as well as the fact that you possess those powers”-

-"Dad, I promise to make good use of them, or to use them only in case of need, and only with monsters, it would be enough that…."-

-"Nothing, you don't use those powers, can you imagine if the villagers saw you?"-

-“They're all trusty ponies and griffons they wouldn't tell anyone”-

-“But for them you would be dangerous, they would think of you as a witch, and they could even kill you precisely because you are a pegasus who does magic”-

-“Are you doubting your friend Vinge? And also his mother? The same griffin that gave birth to me?”-

-"You have no idea what a pony or a griffin could do when he's scared, I've been there myself when your mother died"-

-"I bet if mom had used the mist spell she might still be alive"-

-"DON'T TALK ABOUT YOUR MOTHER LIKE THIS, she gave her life for you"-

-"But she also wanted me not to give up at the first difficulties, that I had grown strong, I can also decide how to be strong in my own way"-

-"Not by magic, and now I'd rather we didn't talk about this anymore, miss"-,

scolded by her father, Kristall bowed her head and nodded

-"Alright dad, as you want"-

-"I know I'm strict, but I don't want anything to happen to you Kristall, you're the only thing I have left of your mother, and I want to protect you"-.

Kristall Snö was thoughtful that evening, it seemed strange to her that her father had kept that secret about her mother for so long, and she couldn't accept having to hide that talent, she certainly didn't want to be kidnapped by some Viking, but she didn't want to keep everything either inside, so when it got dark and her father was sleeping she put on her dragon skin and went out of the house, but first she took her bow and arrows.

It was dangerous to leave the village at night, but she had to see one thing, she had to try the second spell.

So she went to the grove near the village and concentrated.

She walked for a while, then she stood in the middle of the woods and chose a tree as a target.

She summoned the runes of the spell from the hoof, and reread the instructions for casting it.

He flew an inch above the snow so while flying he could hold the weapons with his front hooves, he tended his bow and positioned the arrow, he tried to aim perfectly at the trunk of the tree, she still wasn't good at shooting arrows, but she had to try the spell.

-“So, I'm ready, let's try, concentration, recall the runes and then I use the Sant skott.

Behold, three runes appeared in the snow around Kristall, and they gave off white light,

-“Here we are, now….SANT SKOTT(Real shot)”-, a light passed through Kristall Snö's body and poured onto the bow and arrow, from the tip of the arrow some light appeared like white sparks from the arch and ending at the tip.

Kristall released the arrow, the trajectory of the shot created a strong breeze, then the arrow hit the tree, the shot created another breeze, this time it was felt throughout the woods, then Kristall noticed the tree and saw that the arrow it had made a cut, and it went all the way to the top and the tree had split in half to where the arrow was.

-"There is no doubt, this spell is very powerful but it only works with bow and arrows as the stone says, and apparently every time I use a spell three runes appear around me, evidently for the magic to work the procedure must be like this , but now……”-, he couldn't finish the sentence when he heard a growl in the middle of the woods, luckily the moon was shining a lot so he turned in the direction of the verse and saw an ugly brown wolf with a big mouth, he also had scars on the skin.

-“Oh no, it's a Warg”-, Kristall had already seen such beasts around Wargs were dangerous ravenous wolves that bit their prey and clawed it, they were very tough wolves, only three ponies together managed to kill one, but Kristall was alone.

She absolutely had to go to the village by running or flying, but she decided to do something else, she wanted to try the spell again.

It was risky, for the Warg began to approach with quicker steps, so she immediately took her bow and arrow and aimed at the Warg, but the beast was getting closer and she had to hurry to cast the spell if she was to save herself.

-“Come on rune, don't fail me right now …… SANT SKOTT (Real shot)”-, she shot the arrow and managed to hit the Warg, who fell to the ground in the snow.

Kristall also fell,

-“I forgot, this attack takes its own energy to work, so it shouldn't be used often”-,

Kristall however wanted to see if he had really hit the Warg, so he approached the animal's body, touched it with his bow, but the animal did not react, Kristall then turned the body with his bow and saw that he had hit the Warg right in the head, then cracked the skull and hit the brain directly, she single-handedly beat a Warg,

-"I did it, I did it, the spell works, but now it's better that I get away from here, the Wargs never hunt alone"-.

Kristall Snö immediately ran to her village and immediately closed the wooden doors to prevent any Warg from entering, then returned to her house and without waking her father, put her bow and arrows back and then slowly returned to bed .

She couldn't believe she'd shot down a Warg herself, she wanted to tell someone, but she couldn't tell her father that she'd gone out at night and been hunted by a Warg to boot, and surely Regn would react badly too, and then she had to tell her about the runes, he wondered if by any chance Sven would keep that secret too.

The next day Kristall wanted to go to the dragons, took his ax and headed towards their cave.

She found several dragons talking in front of the cave including Regn and Sven.

Kristall greeted them,

-"Hello dear dragons, how are you?"-,

The dragons stopped talking, and Regn approached Kristall Snö worriedly,

-“Kristall Sno? You have to come inside, we need to talk”-

-"What happen? Is that why I said last time? Look, I know it can be difficult for dragons and ponies to coexist, but if we tried then….”-

-“That's not what I wanted to talk about but about what you've learned recently, come inside”-.

Regn ushered Kristall into the cave, sat her on a rock bench and next to her were Flod and Flamma as well.

The filly did not understand what was happening,

-"What happens? Is it for something I did?”

Flod spoke first,

-“It's not just for something you did, but it's for something Sven did”-

-“What do you mean Flod?”-

-“Don't play dumb, I'm talking about the crystal dragon skull, the fact that you can use magical runes and that you can use the axe, not to mention that you can increase your strength”-

Kristall looked at Sven,

-“Sven? It had to be a secret, you promised ”-, the young dragon felt a little guilty, but he had the justifications of him,

-“Sorry Kristall, but I had to tell mom, I was worried about you, in case something happened to you”-

-"Something? But if I managed to beat a Warg all by myself last night, and with one shot of an arrow,

Regn was frightened,

-“Have you faced a Warg all alone?”-

-"Nothing happened to me, I managed to hit him on the head and he immediately died"-

-“And what would have happened if I had missed it? Your father knew you faced a Warg”-

-“ Nej(No), I went out at night, I wanted to try the second spell, and I did, but then a Warg came, but I managed to kill him”-

-“Did you go out without your father knowing? Are you perhaps crazy? What would have happened to you if some wild beast had been there, Wargs never walk alone”-

-“Regn, nothing happened to me”-

-“Even though the stockade of your village the Mutants entered and killed your mother, I don't want to lose you too”-

-"Oh please, it's the same thing dad told me last night, and then you too said that I have to take care of it myself, right?"-,

Flod nodded, but then replied,

-"It's true, we said it, but I didn't think you did it using runes, but only with your physical strength"-

-“But it would have taken time to build up the right muscles for that, while now…….”-

-“NOW YOU ARE DANGEROUS”-, a gloomy voice said that phrase, it was Flail,

-"Think about it, now that she knows the runes and especially the magical ones, this filly could kill us all, we have to hunt her down, she is a danger to our species"-,

Sven chimed in,

-“Oh stop it Flail, Kristall would never hurt a dragon, she's my sister, I know her very well”-

-"Disgusting, she's not your sister, she's just a pony"-

-"But I trust her, she would never hurt any of us"-,

Flod approached Sven,

-"This is only your fault Sven, how dare you make Kristall wear the skull?"-

-“But……I don't know, I just did it by chance, I didn't think anything was going to happen”-

-"It's a treasure reserved only for dragons and you showed it to a pony, and you made Kristall learn the runes"-

-“But I only knew that the skull would react to a chosen dragon, I didn't know it would affect a pony”-, Regn stopped her son and her husband, and then turned to Kristall,

-“Kristall? There is one thing I should tell you about your mother”-

But Kristall already knew everything,

-"What? That she could communicate with animals? That she could summon the Bifrost? That she could predict the future? Or that she was able to summon the mist?”

Regn was amazed,

-"So…did your father tell you about it?"-

-"When he saw my cutie mark he looked like someone else, and he told me what you and my mother did in your youth and above all that you kept the secret with me all this time"-

-"Look, we didn't tell you anything to protect you, we didn't want you to know this side of your mother, otherwise I would have told Sven never to let you see our treasure, but he still couldn't have known that it would happen to you too, though …..did you say cutie mark?”-

Kristall stood up and showed her cutie mark to Regn, who recognized it was a rune,

-“So we can't do anything now, your talent is linked to the runes”-, but Flod replied

-“What talent? if she no longer uses the runes we will all be safer”-

-“Flod, you don't know cutie marks, dragons don't have any, but if a rune appeared on Kristall's side; it means that her talent is forever linked to the runes, so we can't do anything, she now knows how to use the magical runes, so she must necessarily study and perfect them ”-

-"I'm not interested in these cutie mark rules, the fact is that Kristall is now dangerous for her people and for us, she can't stay in this cave"-

-"Wait, we can test her, there's that rock with runes that we have here in the cave, she can read it for us"-.

Regn took Kristall Snö to a rock with runes written on it, just like the one in her village,

-“Can you read it, Kristall?”-

-“Yes, I can do it……. This is the Helande sång, the song of healing, whoever will use this spell will heal himself and his companions, just raise the weapon to the sky to heal himself, and to heal the companions just point the weapon at them, by doing so, however, you share your energy with others, to avoid running out of energy it is advisable to have a thread with a green magical crystal around your neck, in this way the energy of the crystal will heal anyone without having to use your own energy "-,

-"Only an elder dragon was able to read it, and you were more precise than him, there is no doubt that you are perfectly able to read the runes like your mother, but will you also be able to learn it?"-,

Kristall Snö placed her hoof on the stone and all the runes lit up, after which the blue light entered her, she had learned a new spell.

-“No dragon was able to do that, no one in our pack has ever been able to learn spells, unless it was a crystal dragon, yet Kristall Snö being only a pony was able to do this, just like her mother”- , Regn's words lifted the spirits of many dragons, they knew that only a chosen dragon could read runes through a crystal dragon skull, yet after many trying a pegasus succeeded, perhaps Kristall Snö was a special pegasus , but Flod and Flamma didn't agree, for them a pony who knew those spells was a danger, meanwhile Regn gave a green crystal to Kristall Snö.

-"What is this?"-

-“This my dear Kristall Snö is a crystal dragon energy crystal, in the description we were talking about a green magic crystal, right? If you use this, you will be able to heal your companions without using your energy”-

-“So this is an energy crystal?”-

-“Even for us ice dragons the origin of the crystal dragons is mysterious, we only know that they are the only ones able to do magic, it is thought that they have conquered so many treasures that they have merged with them, however even after their dead parts of their body have magic, like this crystal, put it to good use”-

-"I'll make a necklace of it, I'll keep it, but why do you care so much about this spell?"-

-"Because it's as if your mother left you an inheritance, but also because this spell is a healing spell, so it can be useful for us to have someone who knows it, indeed why don't you try it?"-,

Regn pointed to a fire whelp with wounds, Kristall then took the ax and concentrated on the words she had read, memorized better this time.

-“Let's see ………”-, with his ax he pointed to the wounded dragon,

-“ Helande sång (Song of Healing)”-, three runes of green color appeared around the filly, and a green spiral rose from under her hooves, at that moment Kristall closed her eyes and sang a song that calmed not only the little dragon but also the nearby dragons, then the spiral enveloped the little dragon, after which it disappeared and the little dragon no longer had any wounds.

Kristall was happy,

-“It worked, it worked”-, Regn hugged Kristall Snö,

"Oh my daughter, you did well, maybe it's not a bad thing at all that you know rune magic, I'll have to talk to your father about it," but Flod replied,

-"You can't allow such a thing, Kristall is only a filly, and then he also knows the other spells"-

-“Listen Flod, maybe it's not a coincidence that we met her mother and then her, did we want a chosen one thanks to our treasure? Well we have it, she is not a dragon but a pegasus, for me Kristall is as precious as any dragon, and I will always love her,

-“But we can't…..”-

-"And shut up, Kristall will have these powers and that's it, when a dragon is injured we will go to her, I share her dream that dragons and ponies can live together, just like Lumi wanted, and I don't want to hear replies, understand?" -

-"Yes, it's fine darling, as you want"-, Sven took Kristall and hugged her,

-“And it's all thanks to me, thanks to me you discovered these powers”-

-“Thank you very much Sven, and now, who has a wound? I can heal him”-, all the dragons who were against it before did

a choir,

-“Viva Kristall Snö, Viva Kristall Snö!”-.

Kristall had managed to get the support of all the dragons, but not everyone agreed, in fact Flod, Flamma and

Flail came out of the cave and sat down by a cliff looking at the view, Flail was with her arms crossed, then Flamma started talking to Flod.

-"It seems that now your dragons and mine too have the support of that filly"-

-"I couldn't expect it to happen again, another Pegasus with powers, it's unheard of, and the best part is that my son wants me to be his advisor when he takes my place"-

-"For that, the oldest of the elder dragons of Niflheim must first die, he was the last descendant of that dragon who ate the fruit, only when he dies we can organize the trial by fire, but the beauty is that the tree could appear in any kingdom, and we cannot know where it will be, for this we only have the test of fire, that day my son and Sven will compete for who will take the scepter of dragons”-

-"But the problem is that filly, she talks about peace between dragons and ponies, but it's only a utopia, there will never be such a peace, but I can't say anything, because my wife would immediately defend that filly, if only that there wasn't that village nearby”-

-“So….would you like that village to disappear?”-

-“What do you want to say?”-

-“Let's see, it would be enough for that village to catch fire during the night, all the houses would burn, and so the inhabitants would be forced to move to another part, perhaps far from here, but without knowing what caused that fire”-

-“What would you like to say, Flamma? Do you intend to burn the village of Kristall Snö?”-

-"Look, either let's do this, or that filly will forever ruin the relationships between our clans, and you'll find yourself forever with a sweet and sensitive Pegasus daughter, who maybe will ruin your son with talks of peace between peoples, and maybe who knows what will happen in the future, who knows how you will be remembered in the future, perhaps as the dragon who allowed his son to form relationships with ponies”-

-“NEY(NO), I can't allow it, I've always reigned like this, as well as my father and grandfather, I can't allow a filly to ruin my way of being the boss, that filly must go”-

-"Then it's done, I'll do everything in secret, you won't have to say a word to anyone"-

-"Don't hurt anyone, especially Kristall"-

-"You have my word, no one will get hurt, but to carry out such a plan you will need to find an opportune moment, better to wait a couple of days, and my son Flail will help me"-

-“What am I doing? But I cannot allow my kingdom to be ridiculed by talk of peace” -,

Flail reassured Flod

-"Don't worry Flod, I certainly won't allow a filly to ridicule his way of reigning, and then I care about my friendship towards Sven, that filly will simply have to go away, so she won't have to worry about anything anymore, not even his wife will be able to say anything”-

-“I wonder if I'm doing the right thing, if Regn knew the truth he would kill me, or even worse, he would never speak to me again, but if Kristall continues like this, maybe Sven won't have any dragons that will respect him, because he will have a filly as an advisor, I'm sorry Kristall, but it's time for you to get out of here”-.

It didn't look like a good time for our protagonist, but unfortunately she couldn't have been aware of it.

In those two days that passed, Kristall Snö always visited the dragons, and some dragons went to the village, at the beginning there didn't seem to be any problems, and in fact there really weren't, the villagers accepted the visit of the dragons, and Kristall acted as a guide, she also spoke to her father about her new power, which was able to heal wounds and damage to warriors, Tømmer was wary that his daughter would show the village her powers, however all the inhabitants and dragons they wouldn't mention it to anyone, as long as Kristall healed any wounds and she was the only one who knew the spell.

Tømmer thought that maybe he was wrong about her daughter, and that maybe having a magical pegasus in the village would be useful, especially for the old griffin of the village who was the only one who had to heal the sick and wounded ones.

In the following days the dragons went to visit the villagers much more often, and for Kristall Snö that was already a starting point for a new coexistence, as time went by the filly practiced her three spells, attacked with a I wire the green crystal around her neck so she always has it with her that way she was always ready to do some healing magic.

Some dragons were also welcomed in some houses, and the inhabitants went hunting especially for them, it can be said that Kristall, thanks to the runes that he had learned, created the right conditions for a beautiful period of peace.

Regn also gave her permission to take the crystal skull to be able to use it, but on the condition that she ask her or Sven for it, but it wasn't many times she used it, except for one time, when she got off the side opposite the village and found a valley, she had never been in those parts since she stayed in the village or went to find the dragons, but she made a good discovery, in that valley buried in the snow she found two columns of stones.

One day, in the company of Sven, by means of the crystal skull she wanted to use the power of the runes to restore those columns, so she wore the skull, and touched one of the columns and they lit up, then thanks to the skull she said some words and dragon cries came out so she could call the Bifrost and in the middle of the columns a portal opened and Kristall discovered that depending on the stones she touched she could travel to the other realms, Niflheimr, Múspellsheimr, Jǫtunheimr, Vanaheimr, Álfheimr, Ásaheimr, Svartálfaheimr, Helheimr, she could go to the realms she wanted, but she couldn't go there alone, she needed a dragon to accompany her, and in fact she couldn't even go where she wanted.

The dragons didn't know well the other kingdoms where they hadn't been, but the little information they had they had overheard from the Vikings, who knew more about the legends and tales of Scandineighvia-

Helheimr was the realm of the dead, where the souls of the dead roamed in a cold place, there ended up those who had died of disease, accident or old age, but also traitors and criminals, Kristall thought that maybe he could see his mother again , but Sven told her that he would have wandered too long looking for her and that she couldn't remember what she looked like.

Svartálfaheimr, was the realm of the dark elves and therefore dangerous for her, while Álfheimr was safe as it was the home of the light elves therefore a nice place to visit.

The Ásaheimr was the abode of Asgard and the Vanaheimr was the other divine realm, so both were realms where the gods lived, and dragons couldn't enter them, and neither was she who was a mortal, it's not known how they would have welcomed her, but the gods know how to recognize a mortal, so she would have been hunted or punished for having crossed the threshold of one of the two kingdoms.

So in addition to Álfheimr there were only three kingdoms where Kristall could go but always in the company of dragons, and those kingdoms were: The Jǫtunheimr, the old abode of the giants, the Múspellsheimr, the kingdom of fire and the Niflheimr, the kingdom of ice as well as the birthplace of Flod and Regn.

Kristall wished she knew more about the other realms, and also about the various gods like Odin and Thor, but both the dragons and her father knew little about these matters, even though she had heard a lot from them.

A couple of days later Regn absolutely wanted to see the Bifrost summoned by Kristall, and was happy to see that he was able to do it like her mother, but Kristall didn't know which kingdom to choose so she let Regn choose, and the dragon chose the Niflheimr , so Kristall walked over the Bifrost, it was a rainbow bridge made of light, but to the touch it felt like she was stepping on solid snow, but even if it fell it could still fly.

Accompanying the filly were Regn, Flod, Sven, and a few other ice dragons, while the only fire dragons that came were Lapillus and Lava.

When they walked on the bridge of light, Kristall was going at a brisk pace, but it seemed to her that the landscape was moving faster, also a light appeared every now and then and the land of Midgardr seemed miles away, Regn told her that was normal, the power of the Bifrost allowed to go faster, and also to cut pieces of the road in order to get to another realm sooner.

Furthermore, while they were walking above the Bifrost, Kristall could see from afar the tree of Yggdrasill, it was beautiful, an ash tree of titanic dimensions, with its roots it held the nine kingdoms together while with its branches it held up the celestial vault, he had never seen a tree of such beauty nor of that size, it was not for nothing that it was the tree of the world.

At one point there was a path that divided into nine parts and in the center was a square of white light.

The nine paths had stone pillars as entrances and above them was an inscription in runes indicating the name of the realm she entered.

But Kristall noticed something else, in the center of that square of light was a large brown pony with a beard and wearing a helmet with ram's horns.

Kristall recoiled, but Regn consoled her,

-“You needn't be afraid Kristall, he is not our enemy”-

-"But who is that big pony?"-

-"His name is Heimdallr, he is the god who watches over the Bifrost, his main task is to watch over the two divine realms, but he is not bad, on the contrary he is a friend of dragons and sometimes he has a chat with the dragons, moreover has the ability to warn if there is danger in a realm”-

-“And how does he do it?”-

-"He possesses the Gjallarhorn, a horn that he uses to warn of a possible danger, also his hearing is very portentous, he is able to hear a noise miles away, and when he dies the last dragon of the dragon's heart will be him to give us the bad news, his is a job that requires a lot of responsibility” -.

So they went on, and Kristall took a look at all the pillars, in fact the big pony seemed to be standing right next to the entrances of the two divine realms, while it didn't seem to matter if Kristall was standing near the entrance to Niflheimr.

Regn wanted a moment to speak to the pony,

-“Hello, Heimdallr, it's been a long time since we've seen each other, hasn't it? I am Regn”-

-“Regn? May Thor strike me, I haven't seen you for years, you were a little dragon like this when you passed here the last time, indeed perhaps you were more grown up when you came with Lumi"-

-“I have a lot to tell you, this filly here is Lumi's daughter, her name is Kristall Snö and she too can use runic magic and the Bifrost”-

-“Like mother, like daughter, it seems incredible to me, after all it is rare to see ponies come here, and how is Lumi?”-

-“Unfortunately she is dead, she was killed by Ice Mutants many years ago”-

-“A pity, she was a special filly, she had something magical even if she was only a pegasus, she was really special, I'm sorry she died, if she kept improving her rune power she would have done great things, but maybe… ..maybe your daughter can do the same thing too, I perceive a magical force like in her mother”-

-"Are you serious? Then Kristall is destined to do great things”-

-“Wait though, lately some Mutants have crossed the bridge trying to come to Midgardr, so be careful”-

-"How is it possible? Husks cannot summon the Bifrost, even when transformed into dragons” –

-"They must have found someone who will have opened a portal for them, maybe one of the ones that hasn't been used for some time, some of them sneaked in here, but I rejected them right away, since I can't run after them and as you know I can't leave the my place"-

-“Were there many?”-

-“Not many, but it's always better to be careful when crossing the Bifrost”-

-“Don't worry, we are all strong dragons, and Kristall knows how to handle an axe”-

-“It's just as well, and as for you Kristall Snö, I'm sorry about your mother, I am a god, I know who is special and who is not, and you seem to me just the kind of pony who will surely do great things with her Force"-

Kristall answered a little hesitantly,

-"B-but I…..I can't fight without magic, I'm not that good with an axe"-

-"I'm sure you will learn, slowly you will do without the magic, and you will learn to use the tea ax itself"-

-“Thank you Mr. Heimdallr”-.

Having greeted the god, the dragons and Kristall resumed their journey and entered the portal that led to Niflheimr.

It didn't take them long, in fact the weather in the Bifrost is different from real time, so they immediately arrived at the ice kingdom, and Kristall was amazed to see it, it was a beautiful landscape, there were snow-capped mountains everywhere, and glaciers as far as the eye could see , ice stalactites and stalagmites grew everywhere, also in many parts of the kingdom there was a beautiful fog, and it seemed to be colder than in Midgardr.

Kristall looked around and saw trees made of ice, with no leaves, but they had round fruit made of ice, and many lakes were frozen.

-“So…..this is the Niflheimr?”-,

Regn answered her,

-“Yes, Kristall, this is my home, my homeland”-.

The whole group started walking to see the landscape, even if Lapillus and Lava weren't happy with all that cold, Kristall had no problems since he always wore his ice dragon skin.

Walking for quite a distance, Kristall noticed a very strange mountain, all covered in snow, but the rock seemed strange to the touch.

Intrigued, she followed the path that led to the other side of the mountain, and when she got to the top she was surprised.

It wasn't a mountain, but a gigantic dragon skeleton, she realized it by seeing the enormous skull that she found at the beginning, it was perfectly intact, without skin or organs, only bones, with even the fangs attached.

Regn approached the filly,

-“What's up Kristall?”-

-"It's one......it's a giant dragon skeleton"-

-"To be precise, it's a giant ice dragon skeleton"-

-“So….he is a giant, or rather he was a giant”-

-“The giant ice dragons or Hrímthursar as we called them lived a long time ago, but the gods and giant ponies fought them, which is a pity, because we are their descendants”-

-"So...there aren't any more?"-

-"I can't tell you this, to survive they blended in with the environment, others fled, but since the gods hunted them it is certain that they have decreased, maybe you could do something, but you can't"-

-"What do you mean?"-

-“Heimdallr is the brother of the goddess Sif, Thor's wife, and it is said that Thor still goes around the realms to slay giant dragons, Heimdallr does not share Thor's ideal of slaying giants, however he has not only killed giant dragons but also giant ponies, because giants can be both dragons and ponies, and even the giant ice ponies were called Hrímthursar, but unfortunately no one can make the gods think, not even a sweet filly like you, at least Thor doesn't kill normal-height dragons like the rest of us."

-"But it's not fair, what harm have these giants done?"-

-“There are no real reasons, as far as I know, but it is Odin's thing to get rid of every giant, because he thinks they are dangerous”-

-"But....it's terrible, all this because of a god?"-

-"Don't pay attention to it, Odin has it in for giants, but he remembers that he also hates giant ponies, in fact we dragons also have our enemies, for example the crystal dragons"-

-“The dragons of the crystals? How can they be your enemies if they are dragons too?”-

-“You see Kristall, crystal dragons are creatures that have evolved, having the body covered with crystals they are able, as you already know, to do magic compared to normal dragons, even after death their bones have magical properties, but we still don't know how to exploit them, however if an evil creature used them it would be a problem, in the past they always tried to kill their own kind, that is, only normal dragons, so they only left crystal dragons alive, they are evil beasts, and as far as I know they tried to conquer lands far from here, but they were still defeated, they fought against any race, both dragons, ponies, griffins, bison, yaks and even gods of other lands”-

-"It's terrible, I don't know what I would do if I met one"-

-“If you meet one, let me know, because a crystal dragon can never be trusted, they are double agents, and they would kill even an innocent like you, you must never reason with one of them, you cannot talk about peace between the peoples with a crystal dragon”-

-“Not even with someone like Flod”-

-"Leave him alone, as long as I'm around, he shouldn't matter to you, because he's the king, but I'm his queen, I won't let him do anything to you"-.

After the chat Regn and Kristall resumed their journey.

Regn showed the filly various places that she had already known from when she lived in Niflheimr, Kristall was very interested and looked at the landscape curiously, and as she walked Regn continued to explain.

-“You must know, Kristall, that both dragons and giant ponies of other elements existed, there were for example the Sjǫrisar who were the giants of the sea like Ægir and Rán, the Leirjǫtnar who were the giants of the earth and then the Vindthursar who were the giants of the wind, our lands are so full of history and magic that it is difficult to know everything, but there are also terrible dangers as you know, that you have never seen, such as Trolls, who can kill dragons and ponies, and also the Mephits, and there were quite a few of the Ice Mephits around here”-

-“What is a Mephit?”-

-"It's a horse, but depending on its element, the body can vary, the Ice Mephits are big horses made entirely of ice, I defeated several of them in the past together with Flod, above all to defend your mother, there are of different elements, for example in our lands there are the Mephit of water, the Mephit of air, the Mephit of earth, the Mephit of lightning, the Mephit of fog, the Mephit of minerals, and in Múspellsheimr there are also the Mephit of brimstone, the Mephit of dust, and the Mephit of smoke”—

-"They are dangerous?"-

-“Yes, because exactly like us ice dragons, they too know how to use their element, but they are not invincible, you have to hit their head, inside it they keep the magic gland, which is a kind of round black stone, without that they can't regenerate or use magic, and if you're strong enough you can aim for their heart, Mephits have a heart made of crystal, and depending on their element the color of the heart changes, for example Ice Mephits have a crystal heart light blue in color, if you manage to destroy it you can say that you have defeated the Mephit, but remember you must never bring the gland close to the heart, because in this way an explosion of magic is unleashed, and they can reassemble themselves if they fall into the ice in the case of the element some ice”-

-"I'll remember, why are you telling me all these things?"-

-“Because you have to learn to defend yourself, what your mother failed to learn, you have to fight, even if you want peace, you have to know how to fight, because if you don't fight a dragon, one day you might fight some other dangerous creature, and I couldn't be there, just like I couldn't be there for your mother" -,

Kristall sat up for a moment, she wasn't the type to fight, but after what she'd been able to do with the runes, maybe she should try, she was actually more comfortable with the ax that with the bow, and then she had received compliments from a Norse god a little while ago, and so she already knew that she was destined to do great things, so she had to get busy, and then she wanted to defeat the Mutants too, those who they had killed his mother, so he stood up and answered Regn,

-"Okay Regn, I will become strong, I will be strong for my mother and father, and also for you and Sven, I will do anything to become better with the ax, and to defeat the dangerous creatures that will meet in my path" -

-"This is the right spirit"-.

Regn led the group to other areas of the kingdom, even though it had been a long time since she had come to Niflheimr she remembered every ravine very well, even if it had changed and if years had passed.

At one point the whole group found themselves in a valley of ice and Regn showed some beautiful ice flowers that only grow in that kingdom, but then he heard a strange noise, like a wind, but Regn heard a rattle at that moment an ice stalagmite was created in front of her, and there were others around the group, someone was blocking them in that valley, then everything was clearer, seven horses made of ice appeared, with bright yellow eyes, they emitted a disturbing neigh , Regn had no doubts, after who knows how long he found himself in front of her some Ice Mephit.

-“Guys, stay close, they always try to divide their prey, remember to hit their head or their heart, we are ice dragons so we won't do them much damage, but we can use our claws too, Lapillus and Lava have more advantage because they are fire dragons, come on you can do it”-.

Kristall saw the dragons fighting against the Mephits, despite Regn's encouraging words, she could not come forward, instead she stood aside clutching her ax, the dragons hit the Mephit with their fists, Regn also managed to cut the head of one of them, but after a while the head got up from the ground and reattached itself to the neck, the beasts emanated jets of ice and evoked ice around them, Kristall saw that Lapillus and Lava were also busy, in fact with their jet of fire managed to weaken the Mephit, who melted, even the ice dragons used their breath, albeit of ice, however they managed at least to immobilize them, Regn gripped the head of a Mephit with her claws and in her hands she had a small round black stone, then he squeezed and destroyed it, from the headless neck of the Mephit an icy air came out, Regn had weakened him, then Regn kept clawing at him making a hole in his chest and managed to take the blue heart that looked made of crystal, and destroyed that too, with no gland and no crystal heart, the Mephit disintegrated, now only six remained, but then four remained because the other dragons managed to destroy them.

Kristall wanted to do something also because she told Regn that she wanted to become strong, but she was afraid, since she had never seen a Mephit, so she ran away, but one of the Mephit stopped her, she tried to fly away, but the creature summoned a barrier of ice around and Kristall went towards it and fell to the ground.

Now he was in the snow in front of a creature he had never seen before, approaching menacingly, not knowing what to do.

Regn from afar urged her,

-“Don't get impressed Kristall, did you see how we did? You can do it, you just have to believe in your strength”-,

Kristall then took her ax and raised it to the sky to summon his power, but Regn stopped her, ù

-"Don't use the Berserk spell, you have to use your strength without counting on the upgrades"-,

Kristall had to think of something else, so he swung his ax at the Mephit, who flew into a rage, and cold air came out of the wound he now had, but it healed quickly, Kristall, he had to think of something, he had to think about what Regn had told her and also made her see, so Kristall struck an ax blow on the Mephit's head, but it wasn't enough, now Kristall felt like a fit of rage, so she climbed the ice wall and jumped, he shouldered the ax and hit the Mephit's head, this time he made a bigger crack, Kristall began to feel adrenaline in his body, the Mephit backed away and his wound healed, but the filly wanted to try to destroy her gland, so he tried again to make the previous attack, so he took a running start, jumped, held the ax tightly with one hoof and a volley close to the Mephit's head struck it with full force charged,

-“I will call this attack…YXA FRÅ HIMLEN (Ax from Heaven)”-,

He had done it, he had made a deep crack in the Mephit's ice head and he could see the magical gland perfectly, so he took it with his hoof and tore it out, the Mephit seemed to have gone mad, Kristall then struck the creature's chest to remove its heart , an ax blow and another and the Mephit fell to the ground, now he tried to create a new move, he threw the ax into the sky, then he jumped and caught it with both hooves and pointed towards the chest again as she fell,

-“And this attacked I will call…….BORRNING AX (Piercing Axe)”-, Kristall fell with the tip of the ax on the right spot and when he took out the ax a blue crystal was stuck to it, it was the very heart, that Mephit also exploded in a blast of ice.

The wall of ice around the filly fell apart, Kristall couldn't believe it, she had managed to defeat an enemy without using the bärsärk, only with her strength, meanwhile the other Mephits had also been defeated, and Regn embraced Kristall,

-"You did it Kristall, you were amazing, I knew you would do it, you also used some new techniques that you invented at the time"-,

Regn left Kristall and the filly was happy,

-“It was incredible, I felt my heart pounding, and……it's a fantastic feeling”-

-"I think you did a lot today, I was hoping to meet some Mephits, so you would learn how to fight, and now I'm sure you can fight alone"-

-"Alone? How alone?”

-“It's always in case Sven and I won't be with you, so you'll always be ready in case of an attack”-

-"Does that mean I'll always have to manage by myself?"-

-"Listen Kristall, your father won't be there forever, it's true that we dragons live longer than ponies, but I want you to be able to count on your own strength, without needing us, did you want to prove you're strong? Now Flod won't be able to say anything, you're already strong on your own”-

-“But….you won't abandon me, will you?”-

-“We will never do it Kristall, after all you are all I have left of your mother”-.

Those words consoled Kristall Snö, who was afraid of being alone, now he was certain that she could also face a Mephit, but surely there were other dangers that she would have had to face, but perhaps there was time for other trials.

Regn wanted to continue, but Kristall was feeling a little tired, so the dragoness escorted her back to the Bifrost portal.

-"Remember that we also have to pay a visit to the kingdom of Múspellsheimr, but since you need to rest, wait for us at the small square of the portals, you can keep Heimdallr some company, so you can also tell him about your little battle"-.

Kristall Snö entered the portal and made her way to the portal square, and saw again Heimdallr, who thanks to her hearing had already heard her coming when she passed the portal.

-“Hello Heimdallr, I came here to wait for the dragons before going to Múspellsheimr”-

-“Stay here and rest then, it's a very dangerous realm since it's the realm of fire”-

-“But now I'm not afraid, I even faced an Ice Mephit”-

-"Really? Come on tell” -.

And Kristall Snö told Heimdallr of the fight against the Ice Mephits, and did not leave the details of his duel and the fact that he had invented two fighting moves.

Heimdallr was happy that already at that age Kristall had beaten a Mephit, he himself had shot down different types in the past, then Kristall took from two pockets that he had created in the skin some small things, they were the magic gland and the heart of that Mephit, instead of destroying them, she had collected them and kept them in her pockets, Heimdallr recognized them, and spoke with Kristall Snö.

-“Did you keep them? You have to be careful not to throw them in the ice because in this way the Mephit recreates itself”-

-"Yes, I know, and yet, I don't know, I didn't feel like destroying them, they are such particular objects, I wanted to keep them, however.....Regn says they are dangerous"-

-"I think you have to keep them, do you know that with those things you can upgrade your weapons?"-

-"Really? My ax too?”

-“Also, many gods enhanced their weapons with pieces of Mephit, Thor did it too with his hammer, using the heart of a Lightning Mephit, even Odin with his spear, the trick is this, you choose the Mephit to kill, then you keep the gland and the heart, as you did now, then you have to find a dwarf bison, give him your ax, give him those two objects, and so he will upgrade your ax with the element of ice, then with the right runes you could invent new spells to use against enemies, if you fuse another heart of ice mephit your ax will become stronger, if you also use a bracelet with a gland of ice mephit, the magic will increase, and you can create more spells, however based on ice, my advice is to look for a Mephit of the air, in this way, you will be able to create an ax with the powers of both ice and wind, but first you must find a dwarf bison”-

-"I've never met one, are they good?"-

-“They are the best smiths a village could have, they are the ones who made the godlike weapons that we Norsemen have, if there is a smith you can trust he is surely a dwarf buffalo, they might as well enhance your bow, if you use the glands or the heart of Mephit on your bow you could shoot magical arrows made of ice or wind, in some cases even of lightning, but my advice is to better learn how to shoot with a bow, because otherwise you will not be never good”-

-“Right, you have to be able to hit an enemy even from a distance, all these suggestions make me think that I have a long way to go, but I would like to improve my weapons, to be able to improve my skills too, where can I find a dwarf bison? ”-

They are normally found in Svartálfaheimr, but they are also found in Midgardr, you just have to know how to find them, I think some Viking village hosts one, but I can't tell you where, also because I don't think the Vikings would let a stranger enter their village, even if would pay a dwarf bison for his work”-

-“But I don't have any money”-

-“In that case you should find a dwarf who would work for a favor, if you give him a mission then he will upgrade your ax for free”-

-"I must be very lucky, but who knows where to find him, I don't think I could ever enter a Viking village"-

-"It was just an advice, I know you're not a viking, but he who knows, life is full of possibilities"-.

While Heimdallr and Kristall Snö chatted, the ice dragons were returning from the portal of Niflheimr to resume their journey together with the filly,

-"Thank you Heimdallr, for keeping Kristall busy, now that we're back we can resume our journey, come Kristall, now let's head to Múspellsheimr, mind that it won't be a quiet place like Niflheimr, so always stay close to us"-.

After saying goodbye to Heimdallr, Kristall headed towards Múspellsheimr with the group of dragons.

Once there, what Kristall saw was a completely different landscape from the one seen in the realm before.

It was all rock, various mountains and deep fissures, and on every mountain there were flames pouring out of fissures, and lava as far as the eye could see, all she saw was rock and fire and lava, that was indeed Múspellsheimr , the so-called realm of fire, this made Lave and Lapillus happy, who stretched their wings and took a deep breath, both were happy to be back even if for a while at their home.

Kristall turned to Lava,

-“So….this is your home?”-

-“Yes, Kristall, even if it doesn't seem so welcoming, this is where we were born and raised”-,

-“Well, I can't judge, you are fire dragons, it is logical that your kingdom should mirror you”-

-“Beware that there are various dangers here, and we dragons fight them several times”-

-“Life can't be easy for you fire dragons”-

-"It's easy for no dragon, there are dangers for everyone, but strangely, monsters often prefer to pick on dragons, but even you ponies are always attacked"-

-“In my village we don't suffer many attacks”-, Regn broke into the speech,

-“This is because….dear Kristall, there are few dangers that can be found in those parts, at most a few Wargs, or a Troll, but some of us ice dragons always go around the mountain to avoid dangers in your village, this way none of you get hurt”-

-“And Flod allows you to protect us?”-

-“Hey, I'm still the queen, dragons obey me”-

-"Do you mean they carry out your order?"-

-"Yes….in fact, I had commissioned a dragon to check the village before coming here, because if I don't ask, no one checks"-

-"Thank goodness I'm relieved"-.

The group set off again and admired the landscape, even not everyone was satisfied with the trip, in fact Regn being an ice dragon was not used to all that heat, as well as Sven and the other ice dragons, furthermore Kristall, with skin The ice dragon felt pretty hot, but she tried not to think about it, because she had started admiring her ax because she had an idea for a new move, but now wasn't the time to try it, plus she didn't want to tell Regn that she kept the Mephit's organs, because he would have asked her to destroy them, but she wanted to follow Heimdallr's advice, and therefore if she had the opportunity to meet a dwarf bison she would want to improve her ax, even if it belonged to her father , but he didn't mind that she had it, after all he had to defend himself.

The group crossed several valleys, but found a surprise, there were some armed enemies,

Lava asked to be careful and also silence, Kristall glanced,

-“Why should we be careful? It's a bunch of ponies, griffons and yaks, I didn't know there were any here”-

-“Look at them Kristall, they are not normal ponies, griffons and yaks, look at them”-,

in fact Lava was right, all those ponies, griffins and yaks weren't normal, their skin seemed to be made of bark, with some splinters coming out of the body, even if they had fur you could see this detail perfectly, moreover they all had yellow eyes no pupils, and they all had weapons like swords, spears and axes, and they were making grunts, they didn't look like sentient creatures.

Kristall marveled,

-"I don't understand, but what are they?"-

Regn answered her,

-“Those, dear Kristall, are Draugr, and they are dangerous both for me and for you”-

-“Draugr? I had only heard of them, but I had never seen even one, what are they?”-

-“They are souls of old warriors who died in battle and do not reach Helheim or even Valhalla, which would be a place where the greatest warriors meet in a giant hall of Asgardr, spend their time fighting and then in the evening attend a banquet”-

-“Do you also know Valhalla? My father once mentioned it to me, he wonders if my mother could have ended up there even if she wasn't a warrior ”-

-“I know Valhalla because we dragons have one too, the Valhalla of dragons, where the bravest dragons find themselves in a gigantic golden valley full of food and gems, where every wish comes true, and where they spend eternity fighting, celebrating, eating and doing all kinds of things” –

-“It must be a nice place for dragons”-

-"If you have been a good dragon you can deserve the Valhalla of dragons, otherwise you will be sent to Helheim, in fact the infamous dragons end up there"-,

-“But if there are no ponies, griffons and yaks here, how can there be Draugr here?”-

Lava stepped in,

-“Usually the souls are collected by the Valkyries, but apparently from what some elder fire dragons say if a Mutant manages to capture a soul with magic, he transforms it into a Draugr, and the Mutants seem to have returned to these lands , as also in other kingdoms”-

-"But my father had said that he, together with other warriors, had killed the last queen"-

-"Perhaps in Midgardr, but in the other realms there could be other queens, and then some Mutants could have survived or escaped, after all, wasn't your mother killed by some Ice Mutants?"-

-“Yes…that is true”-

-“Listen, they are not many, we can fight them, if we catch them by surprise we can beat them easily, get ready”-

-“But how do you defeat a Draugr?”-

-“You hit him until he falls apart, Kristall, they're strong, but not that strong”-.

The group prepared to attack, walked slowly behind some rocks, then attacked by surprise, Lava and Lapillus immediately fired and flamed at various Draugr, while the other dragons used their claws and ice.

Kristall Snö gathered courage, and began to swing left and right, striking as hard as he could at the Draugr, and each time he struck, pieces of wood scattered on the ground.

At one point the filly was surrounded, and the Draugr wanted to hit her, but she had the opportunity to try the new move she had invented, she gripped the ax tightly in her hoof and spun on itself like a whirlwind and in the rotation she managed to violently strike the Draugr, some were even driven to the ground.

-“I will call this move: Virvelvind öxa (Axe of the Whirlwind)”-, Kristall saw that the Draugr got up, but she wasn't afraid indeed that situation was giving her the right boost and she tried again,

-“Stand still, Virvelvind öxa (Axe of the Whirlwind)”-, Kristall made the attack again and managed to smash the ax well on the faces of the Draugr who fell on the hot rock ending up in pieces like old hollow logs.

At that moment there was a Draugr yak who came at Kristall, took a running start and tried to slice her with her axe, but the filly parried with hers, then struck the Draugr yak on the head on the face with the end of the haft , then she braced herself for another attack

-“Time for my second new attack, Modig yxa (Fearless Axe)”-,

Kristall Snö ducked, then swung his ax up and down, hitting the Draugr on the chin, whereupon he tossed it in the air, caught it again, and prepared to strike the Draugr on the head.

-“Die accursed Draugr, Borrning ax (piercing axe)”-.

She struck the yak Draugr so hard on the head that it split his helmet and the head broke into many splinters of wood, and once the head was removed the body melted, as did the other Draugr defeated by dragons.

Everyone made a clean sweep of those Scandinavian undead, Lapillus and Lava started looking on the ground for what those monsters had left, Lapillus explained himself,

-“Sometimes the Draugr leave something they had, like pieces of weapon, crystals, or even money, we eat the crystals, we melt the money and the weapons, we make armor”-, Kristall was amazed,

-“Since when do dragons wear armor?”-

Lava answered her,

-"In ancient times crystal dragons and fire dragons always wore armor, to go to war, but now we wear armor only when we have duels in our kingdoms, or when there is a trial by fire"-.

-"Regn?, didn't you know this thing about armor?"-,

Regn answered the filly,

-“The truth is that Flod doesn't believe in armour, a real ice dragon has skin as hard as diamond, and he shouldn't be forced to wear it, in fact when Sven has to test by fire he won't have to wear armour, he'll have to do it himself only, even if the other dragons should have them”-

-"I still hope to be there when he does it, at least I'll be rooting for him"-

-“And I will keep you company”-.

The small group made more steps to the Múspellsheimr, but they found no other dangers, except a group of fire Mephits, they were horses made of flames, but this time Regn and the ice dragons took care of them, Kristall said nothing, let them take care of they, also because he didn't think of taking the gland of a fire Mephit, thought that rather perhaps its element could be more ice than anything else, or maybe air, as advised by Heimdallr.

After the encounter with the fire mephits, the group resumed walking, admiring the landscape, not as beautiful as the Niflheimr, but still it was the realm where the fire dragons lived.

At some point, Regn decided it was time to return to Midgardr, also because time passed differently in the realms, and therefore Midgardr must have already passed the afternoon, so he had to bring Kristall Snö back to his village.

So they resumed the portal to return to Midgardr, but when they arrived at the square of light they found Heimdallr who was fighting red Changelings with a sword.

They were fire Changelings and Regn along with Sven, Lava, Lapillus and the other dragons and also Kristall Snö helped him.

They managed to bring them down, but Regn was amazed at the presence of the Changelings in the Bifrost.

-“How is Heimdallr possible? Everyone knows that Changelings cannot travel in the Bifrost”-

-“On their own certainly not, maybe someone opened the Bifrost for them, but the beauty is that they came from Midgardr, I can hear any noise from afar as you know, but not outside the Bifrost, but I didn't perceive any noise outside of the Changelings, so whoever helped them did it from outside, I wanted to blow my horn to warn you of the danger, but one of those beasts had taken it from me”-

- "Oh poor thing you're hurt"

-"It's nothing, it's just a bite, but I showed him what happens when you turn against me"-

-“ Kristall Sno? Can you heal him?”

-“Of course, Helande sång(healing song)”-,

Kristall Snö invoked healing magic and Heimdallr's wounds healed immediately,

-“Thanks, but now I think you have to go back to Midgardr right away, I wouldn't want there to be more Fire Mutants”-

Regn was suspicious though,

-“Now that I think about it, Fire Changelings only live in Múspellsheimr, how did they end up in Midgardr?”-

-“I have no idea, maybe as I told you before someone must have carried them with the Bifrost across another road while you were walking down yours”-

-"Then it's better if we go"-.

So the group said goodbye to Heimdallr and immediately headed to Midgardr, instead of walking they all started running because if there were Fire Changelings in that realm then there was danger for everyone.

They passed the portal and immediately arrived in Midgardr, they looked around but there was no trace of Changelings,, of any element.

Regn looked around

-“It seems that everything is calm, maybe it was just those Changelings who had come here, but I wonder who could have made them come?”-.

At one point Sven looked up and saw the village of Kristall Snö,

-“Hey look Kristall, looks like they already lit a bonfire for your return”-

Kristall Snö raised her head, and unlike Sven she looked better, and she worried,

-“ Det är inte en bål, det är min by (That's not a bonfire, it's my village)”-.

Kristall Snö took off and saw from above an ugly sight, many houses had been destroyed, the palisade around the village had been half burned, and there were fires burning some houses, and moreover he saw that many inhabitants were lying in the snow, some were being chased by Changelings, some were Fire Changelings, some were Green Changelings.

What was happening? One thing was certain, he had to go and save his people so he called the other dragons to save the village, so they all swooped down, once they landed Kristall Snö didn't feel well, she couldn't see her father Tømmer, plus towards the stockade they saw the body of a fire dragon, it was Flamma.

To be continued…..

My Little Pony By Lauren Faust & Hasbro