Wyvern

by PegasusKlondike

First published 11th of April, 2012

A monster will an insatiable appetite must be stopped by a lowly pegasus scholar.

The wyvern, one of the few creatures in Equestria known for having such ferocity and enough primal rage to strike fear into the heart of the dragons. To those few that know of their existence, they are but a horrid plague that is trapped in their own icy hell of the northern tundras. Until the one breaks free of her prison, descending down to wreak havoc upon the mining towns of the Frozen North. In order to stop this creature from consuming everything he knows, one stallion must recruit some unsavory allies, including a taxing dragon, a drunken tracker, and a questionable knight and his squire.

Brood Queen

The chilling polar wind rolled off the barren tundra, biting deep on the hide of the great serpentine creature that basked in the cold. She did not care how cold the wind was, for she craved the frost and snow. All of her species did. It kept her blood from boiling with the venom that was trademark of her species.

Her great serpentine form lay splayed out on a iceberg, one she had drug in from the frozen sea when her previous one had grown too small to accommodate her ever-growing bulk. The beast's mottled brown and grey scaly skin stood in stark contrast of the blue and white of the iceberg, but she did not need to be concealed. No creature would dare attack her, and though her appetite was always great, she almost never hunted for herself.

Above the sleeping form, a flock of her mates flew and squawked at one another. The smaller males all shared her territory, serving their purpose by hunting for their brood queen. A particularly loud squawk disturbed her slumber, and she lazily opened an eye to see that two of them were fighting again. The smaller, red striped males were picking on one of their brethren, and with the way he ducked and weaved his mouth to avoid losing his cargo to the thieving attempts of his fellows, he had probably just returned from a hunt with something good.

Landing clumsily in front of the brood mother, he dropped his offering and squawked. She raised her horned, triangular head, inspecting his offering with piercing yellow eyes. A measly snow fox sat bedraggled and bloody in front of her. She snorted at his pitiful attempt, flicking out her long snake-like tongue and inhaling the fox without chewing.

He gave a short and curt squawk, expecting her to allow his advances. Easily twice the cheapskate's size, she declined by laying her head back down. Standing back on his legs, he swelled his chest and gave the most powerful roar he could, flapping his large wings against his chest as a show of strength.

The brood queen raised her head, a serpentine hiss telling the small male that she did not want to bear his eggs. No meant no. Flustered, the male became more aggressive than usual, raising his long, whip-like tail over his head in a posture of battle. If he couldn't impress her into mating, he would intimidate her. He reared up onto his legs, spreading his winged forelegs to show the coercive and intimidating patterns on the underside. The male let out a hiss, hoping to cow her into submission.

The queen opened an eye to witness the spectacle, this was not her first attempted forced breeding, not by a long shot. In fact, the brood queen was old and wizened by battle, incredibly so for one of her species. Her scales were cracked in places, and the tip of a horn had broken off in a territory battle long ago with another female. The male continued his spectacle of flapping his wings against his chest and roaring.

Carefully she waited, then lashed out with her own tail. Lightning quick it struck him at the base of his throat, piercing the spot all her draconic kind sought to protect, their anti-venom gland. She injected her venom through her tail, paralyzing the attempted suitor. She opened her mouth and took in a lung full of polar air, letting it out as a stream of pure hoarfrost. The icy beam characteristic of her race began to freeze the male. He struggled with what strength he had left, fighting to get away, but with his source of anti-venom gone and his very bones freezing, he succumbed to his brood queen's relentless assault and his own venom filled blood.

She stopped her frost breath, rearing back her tail she whipped the icy statue, shattering it into dozens of meaty chunks. The chunks settled on the frozen ground, with her tail she speared a piece, placing it near her own head. Opening her great mouth she swallowed the meat, in his failure to feed and impress the brood queen, he had secured his place as her next meal. No matter, she had at least a dozen more males in her territory, all eager to try for her attention.

A roar came from the horizon, another male returned from hunting. But this one had been much more successful, and had taken on much larger game. He struggled to stay alight as he carried a young mammoth in his claws, having snatched it from the tundra plains. Blood coated his beakish muzzle, he had a little gory fun retrieving this one, the ice trolls that herded the tundra mammoths would be lucky if they had a herd left. The males typically hunted in packs, taking down large game on the tundra with their venomous tails and their frost breath. Only when the females were in season did they hunt alone.

He dropped his oversize load in front of the brood queen, she was obviously impressed with his offering. She lifted her muzzle closer to the mammoth, sniffing. Still alive, kept so by the paralyzing venom injected by her mate. They could switch venoms; either a paralyzing venom that they commonly used, or a deadly venom they typically used in combat with others. The brood queen tore into the mammoth's belly, gorging herself. The male took this distraction as his opportunity, quickly taking the position behind the queen. After a quick copulation he flew off to join his pack, satisfied that his offering had succeeded over his fellows.

The queen was also satisfied, the best meal bringer meant the best genes to pass on to her next brood, which would come soon enough. And all across the tundra, creatures cowered and hid, knowing that this most dreaded time of year had come again, wyvern mating season.

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The brood mother slept as usual, digesting her several meals with content. Besides her mammoth meal, several musk oxen and even a pair of trolls sat in her belly, providing sustenance to her and her growing clutch. In a few days she would lay her eggs in a suitable place, something she had done countless times. But then she would have to hunt for herself and defend her eggs simultaneously, as the idiotic males were more likely to destroy the eggs and eat the embryos rather than tolerate additional mouths to feed.

Males were indeed stupid, in fact wyverns as a species weren't too intelligent. They measured somewhere on the intelligence scale as much lower than a sentient being like a pony, but slightly higher than a predatory animal like a wolf. But that intellect was almost reserved exclusively for the larger and more powerful females.

Wyverns have an inborn hatred of heat and fire, and whenever the sun managed to poke its way through the arctic cloud cover, the males would hiss at it and try to breathe their frost breath at the annoyance. On occasion one would get the brilliant idea of flying up as high as he could to put out the infernal light. Many a wyvern male has since died from altitude sickness and falling injuries, having flown as high as the stratosphere before passing out and falling back to earth, never quite able to reach the sun to put it out.

Being that they hated heat and flame, they held a special hatred in their simple minds for their flame breathing cousins that lived to the south. They would try to come up here to the tundra sometimes, their powerful wings bearing them over the mountain range that separated the wyvern territory from the rest of the world. But the moment their scent hit the air, the flame breathers had filled out their own death warrants. Every wyvern within a hundred miles would descend on the flame breather, stinging with their deadly venom and breathing their terrible elemental breath. But even the largest flame breather had no chance against a female wyvern defending her eggs. No creature, magical or not, could stand against such fury. Nothing except an even more pissed off wyvern.

And the brood mother had just such a problem, to either side of her territory lay the territories of lesser females, controlling their own small packs of males. Each of those brood mothers desired her territory and her pack of males to add to their own. More territory meant more possibilities for prey in the sparsely populated tundra and every mile counted.

The brood mother was kind of lazy for one of such ripe hunting grounds, never really bothering to patrol her borders and oust any encroachers. She had her males to do that; so all she did was lay coiled up on her iceberg, only occasionally leaving to take care of various things.

The brood mother smelled something, something familiar. She opened her eyes and rose from her resting place, sniffing the air. Her whiplash tail lashed back and forth, angered by the scent of a rival female, the one to her west. Her coven of males roosted on the ice, sleeping off their various hunting practices from the day. She hissed at them, the males remained unresponsive, only shifting slightly in their rest. She growled at their laziness, stretching out her great wings to take to the sky.

Her expansive wings beat, powerful chest muscles forcing her higher. The brood mother scouted her territory, looking for signs of the intruder. Her rival seemed to be hiding somewhere, most likely waiting for the local brood mother to show weakness. The brood mother dropped down to the open tundra, her massive bulk landing hard on the frozen earth. She leaned off of her wings and beat against her chest with her wings, like the male had the day before. She gathered her breath and roared, her challenge resounding across the open tundra, daring her enemy to come out.

To 'ice' the cake, she spewed out a gout of her frost breath into the open sky. She got an answer almost instantly. Only a few miles away, a similar pillar of frost breath spewed from the ground, followed by a challenging roar. Her rival female flew up to meet her, much younger than the brood mother and much more agile.

But the brood mother had experience on her side, flapping her great wings she rose to meet the intruder. The intruder had the height advantage, she spread her wings out and aimed her clawed feet at the brood mother, who barrel-rolled to the side, unleashing a gout of ice as her enemy flew past.

The younger wyvern could not let up her momentum and slammed into the ground, scattering snow and ice. The ice blast had barely caught her on the back, freezing a few of her tough scales. The brood mother's claws slammed on the intruder from above, tearing great rends in her frozen flesh. The younger wyvern threw off her enemy, grabbing onto her with her own claws. The pair rolled across the ground, biting on each other's necks with their bone crushing teeth, ramming their horns and clawing with their feet and the claw on their wingtips.

They struggled to get the advantageous position, the position that would allow one or the other the strike with their venomous tails. Eventually the two broke their grapple, rolling to their feet to face off. They hissed at one another, wings fully spread to give the illusion of greater size. Though the brood mother was larger, she could not keep this up much longer. Blood dripped down her hide, splashing into crimson pools on the ground. She needed to end this quickly.

The brood mother lashed out with her tail, her rival dodged it easily, but the brood mother had her chance. Charging forward she unleashed a gout of ice straight into her rival's face. Though more resistant than other creatures to such an attack, a breath of frost to the face was deadly for any wyvern. Her rival's head stood frozen solid, the rest of her body flopping and flailing, not yet registering the fact that it had been killed. With a spin she whipped out with her tail and shattered the enemy wyvern's head.

Victory, but the brood mother had paid for it. Her neck now glistened with wet blood that froze in the arctic wind. Her muscles were sore and bruised from the tail clubbing and the hard landings from her fight. Several gaping wounds showed in her belly, rends from her rival's clawed feet. If she had taken much more punishment, she could have still-birthed her clutch of eggs prematurely. Leaving the normally appealing corpse to the scavengers, the brood mother winged her way back to her roost.

She was flying high overhead, just below the ever present cloud level when she heard the sound that brought rage into her mind. Another challenging roar, from her eastern rival. And it was on HER roost! Dipping low she spied her more dangerous rival laying her scent down on the brood mother's icy roost, violating her very resting place.

The wyvern queen to the east had always been an opportunistic bitch, crossing territories and stealing prey animals, even going so far as to abscond with her own males on occasion. And now she had apparently caught on about the commotion between the other two, taking the opportunity to expand her own territory. The brood mother wanted to tear out her rival's heart and feed it to her chicks. But her rival was different from the western upstart, the opportunist was almost as large as the brood mother herself, and nearly as experienced in battle.

She couldn't fight in this state, not without risking her eggs that still formed inside her belly. Shamefully the brood mother let out a wail of defeat, a sound rarely heard on the tundra. A wyvern willingly giving up its own territory was about as common as a unicorn with two horns. Banking on her wings she turned to a direction not many of her species ever went. South.

If she was to find a new territory, it would need plenty of fresh meat to accommodate the clutch she was ready to lay. And there always seemed to be an abundance of meat around the mountain range to the south.

**************************************************************

The wounded and egg laden wyvern queen flew through the territories of many of her sisters and cousins, all rivals and all screaming their challenges to the intruder. With a single track mind and the greatest type of shame she wailed her cry of defeat over every territory she passed through. A long day of flight had the brood mother facing her greatest challenge yet, the mountains that separated the tundra from the unknown. No matter how hard she searched, all the available and appealing places either had the scent of another wyvern about or she would receive the challenge call and fly off.

A thought entered her head, if all the territories were taken on this side of the mountain range, maybe there were open places on the other side! Climbing high on her wide wings she faced the southern exposure, flying straight between the gap between two mountain peaks. Almost instantly she was buffeted by extremely powerful winds coming off the mountainsides.

If it weren't for her lightning reflexes she would have been smashed on a cliff face. Dropping lower meant more meandering through mountain passes and valleys, but it was safer than being scrambled like an egg. She began to feel warm, that feeling that all wyverns hate was attacking her from all sides. Any one of the valleys she swooped over would do, after the first few all she smelled was residual scents left from her own species. But none of them had the amount of food her clutch would need, so the brood queen pressed onward.

Onward and through the night she flew, the oppressive heat closing in on all sides. Until the mountains began to gently slope off. Landing on a mountainside glacier to cool herself, the wyvern queen inspected this new land. The first thing noticed, it was covered in something that was rare on the tundra, trees. Lifting her muzzle she sniffed the air for any of the pungent pheromones of another wyvern. Not a single micron of the familiar scent or even the residue of another wyvern, not even a male, could be picked out by her strong sense of smell.

Rearing back on her legs she slammed her chest with her wings and gave the challenge roar. It resounded and echoed far in this strange land, but her call was not answered. Taking to the sky once again she began to search for the key element to her survival here, food. Swooping low over the treetops she sighted deer, goats, bears, moose, oxen and a smorgasbord of other delightful meals. With her tail hanging low she snagged a deer as she flew, injecting her venom to paralyze it and hopefully chill its warm blood. Stopping on another glacier, she feasted on the body of her kill, filling her belly and sustaining her young within her.

This glacier intrigued the worn out brood mother, and she investigated a crevasse that easily fit her massive bulk inside. The ice cave did appeal to her, here she could be cold, here she could lie safely while the hated sun burned overhead. Going back to the mouth of the cave, a flickering in the distance caught her eye, and activated instincts that turned her to instant rage.

*****************************************************

The two prospectors sat around their fire, awoken from their sleep by whatever was flying around, roaring at this time of night. After a long day seeking a good claim on the river the last thing they wanted was some monster driving them out at three in the morning. They were the standard fare around Snowreach, an earth pony and a unicorn, both migrated up far from Equestria to seek their fortunes panning for gold in the hostile and unforgiving territory known as Snowreach.

"What the buck do you think that was?" the unicorn asked, leaning up from his bedroll, using his telekinesis to pull out a sword.

"I don't know Chipper, maybe Obsidian is out tonight, looking for a fresh meal."

"You know that lazy dragon doesn't leave his cave very often. Not since we started feeding him."

"Yeah, but maybe he got tired of gems and gold. Maybe he wants some fresh meat tonight!" The earth pony grabbed his crossbow from his rucksack, pulling back the string with his teeth and placing a bolt in position.

"Even if it is Obsidian, he wouldn't attack us. That's a part of the agreement right? That's why we pay him off every month. Come on, let's get more wood on the fire; even if Obsidian will leave us alone, some bear or a troll might get some ideas."

"Good thinking." The pair reluctantly left their bedrolls for the bitter cold night air, trotting out to the darkness to grab some more driftwood from the stream they camped by. This was their claim, and they would defend it from bandits, trolls, bears, wolves and even Obsidian if they had to.

They gathered wood by the babbling stream, keeping an eye out for any sign of trouble. Chipper, the unicorn, picked up a piece of wood with his magic when a shape that blotted out the stars whooshed over his head. An odd spraying sound occurred, back in the direction of their camp. Chipper looked down at the creekside, the water flowing around the rocks was freezing in place. Chipper looked to his partner, then both ponies looked back at their camp. Dropping their wood they crept back to camp, something huge touched down and moved around, tearing their camp apart. Hiding in a small stand of trees, they got a look at the intruder.

"That's not Obsidian..." the unicorn whispered. The dragon-like monster was sniffing their possessions, rifling through their oddities with its muzzle. The creature was only illuminated by the moonlight bouncing of its scales, looking down the pair saw their fire, a icy sculpture of an actual fire, the flames frozen completely in place.

The beast stuck its nose into a particular bag, sniffing for the scent of a meal. The earth pony nearly flew off his handle. "That's the gold bag! That bastard is stealing our gold! HEY YOU! GET OUT OF THERE!" he shouted as he broke cover, hoping to scare off the obviously fearless monster.

The beast snapped its head to the source of the sound, seeing only a pony she raised her venomous tail and began to hiss.

"Yeah, that's right! Get out, scat!" the earth pony brazenly yelled to the creature.

The brood mother would not stand for any of this, with a whip crack her tail caught the pony square in the chest, hitting just hard enough to inject her venom. The pony began to foam at the mouth, eyes glazing over as he slumped to the ground. She wrapped her prehensile tail around the pony's torso, dragging him closer. Leaning down she began to sniff, then took a test bite. This creature was delicious! Grumbling her approval, she took to the air to take her latest meal back to her new cave home.

Back on the ground, the unicorn known as Chipper stared at the wreckage of his campsite, at the bloodstain that had been his friend and partner. At the fire that defied all logic by freezing in place. Chipper grabbed a torch and his sword, intending to make the perilous journey back to the town of Windshear in record time.

Windshear

It is commonly noted that pegasus ponies live for the freedom of the open sky, to stretch their wings and dance amongst the clouds. It is for this reason that pegasi hate claustrophobic environments, like caves or mines. So in the small mining town of Windshear, along the farthest frontiers of civilization, pegasus ponies were as rare as decent literature.

Windshear was a rough and tumble town, built hastily along a large river in the far northern territory of Snowreach after a gold rush had brought fortune seeking ponies far up from their normal haunts in Equestria, hundreds of miles to the south.

The signs of gold in the riverbeds had been promising, yet the streambeds had run dry of the precious metal in a few short months. Looking for another source, prospectors had left no stone unturned looking for that vein that could be the tip of the mother lode. And indeed they found such a vein, deep in the heart of a mountain. The standard gold pans were replaced by a deep mine shaft owned by an enterprising explorer company. The prospectors all got hired out as miners, filing into the mine daily with picks and shovels to extract the ore from the rock.

There had been problems starting up Windshear. Diamond Dogs also sought the same veins of precious metals for their consumption, but a few bands of hired mercenaries and a show of force had the Dogs packing for the other end of Snowreach. Trolls, rare in Equestria, were abundant in the pine forests and windswept tundras. There were a few scattered tribes of caribou in the area, but they seemed incredibly superstitious about the mountain range known as the Dragonspines and thus stayed far to the south. But the biggest problem of all had been Venerax, the great black scaled dragon that called this particular stretch of the north home. Due to his deep black color, the migrant ponies had taken to calling him Obsidian.

No amount of coercion, intimidation or even pleading with the wyrm could get him to leave, and the company had considered shutting down the mining operation for fear that Venerax might get a wild idea to attack Windshear. But Venerax had been the one to call for a compromise, a share of the mine's gold and gems for leaving the town alone. And if they behaved, he just might keep his fellow dragons from infringing on their agreement.

Though pleased the dragon had made such an offer, the heads of the company were outraged at his request, a full half of what came out of the mine was to go to Venerax! No way in Tartarus could they make a profit with such lion's share going to the dragon. But Venerax considered himself generous and offered another deal.

Unlike his brethren, the great black dragon of the north craved knowledge as well as gold. One pony saw that, and offered books to the dragon to lessen the monthly tax. Venerax agreed heartily to this deal, only demanding a quarter of the mine's production in exchange for getting a few books delivered to his cave each month from the town library. Venerax's payment of knowledge was the only reason one pegasus stuck around town, the company demanding that he stay on to manage the company ledgers and keep Obsidian content. A shy pegasus stallion named Klondike.

*************************************************

Klondike moved carefully amongst the dusty shelves and bookcases, looking for last year's pay roll documents. Finding the ledger he needed, he carefully grabbed it with his mouth and pulled it from the shelf. He carried the logbook to his desk at the front of the library, setting it down it let off a cloud of dust. Stifling a sneeze, Klondike opened the ledger to the right page. Scanning employee payments he spied the error that had been reported by corporate headquarters back in Equestria. Gripping a quill in his teeth he marked it out and fixed the problem.

With a sigh he snapped the ledger shut, not liking his job like he should have. His cutie mark was even a quill. But he just couldn't seem to draw any joy from reviewing old income tax forms that had been improperly filled out by the miners. He pushed the ledger back to the "shelve" pile. He would reshelve it later, right now he felt content to sit in boredom at the front desk, listening to the clock tick, looking at a calendar of a tropical beach.

"One day, one day." he said to the calendar. His parents had been a part of the gold rush here to Windshear, planning on settling down when they had panned enough gold. He had been just a young colt when they came to harsh wilderness of Snowreach, leaving all of his friends and family back in Equestria for this forsaken corner of the world. By the time his parents had given up on the prospect of striking it rich, he was a teenager that The North Enterprise Company had sunk their claws into. He was indifferent about the higher ups that ran this operation, but they snagged onto him, paying fairly well for softening the problem of Obsidian's exorbitant landlording over Windshear. It was odd, for some reason the dragon seemed to tolerate him more completely than the other ponies. It was actually very simple, Klondike knew what kind of book Obsidian liked.

Klondike's parents had just left one day, leaving the young pegasus here to fend for himself. They never really seemed attached to their son, being a unicorn and an earth pony made having a pegasus colt an awkward topic for conversation. They had no clue what to do when he started getting his wings about him, and there are certain things pegasi should know about themselves that his parents didn't know.

In desperation they turned to the only other pegasus in Windshear, a drunkard aptly named Old Spin. After they turned to him, his parents gathered their meager earnings, sold their claim and took off for warmer climes on the next cargo ship to Equestria.

Suffice to say, Old Spin won the title of town drunk and fool without question. Crazy old coot had come up as a miner, but found a different trade when he discovered the forests of Snowreach filled with the furbearing critters whose fur lined the fanciest garments in Canterlot high fashion. Another reason most ponies avoided him, he constantly smelled of partially rotted polecat.

Klondike was trying to make a game of synchronizing his blinks with the ticking of the clock, head leaning on a hoof that was propped onto the desk. A pounding knock sounded at his door; not really his door though, technically it was the library/archive door, but he lived here regardless.

"Come in." he shouted to the other side of the door. The door burst open with a rush of subarctic wind, his long time friend muscling through the gales. "Pine Fresh, can I help you find a book?"

"You always open with that librarian crap, and the answer is always 'no'." The light orange furred earth pony shook off the cold.

"Wipe your hooves before you come in, I don't like mu-."

"Yeah yeah yeah, you don't like mud being tracked in the library." The earth pony obliged, going through the typical ritual when he visited his friend. Pine was a miner, having just got off his shift in the shaft. And it goes without saying that he did not live up to his name. Pine was the opposite of clean, being very filthy from his line of work.

"If you don't want a book, why bother to come in here?" asked the red pegasus.

Pine Fresh sauntered over to the front desk, "I don't know, maybe I just want to visit a friend or something. Nothing major."

"Alright then." The two stallions stood there for a while, neither one knowing what to talk about, the ticking of the clock and the howls of the bitter wind outside making the most noise.

"So, you want to hit the saloon?" the earth pony asked.

"Not until I can clock out for the evening."

"When is that?"

"Two minutes." Klondike stared at the clock, waiting for the precise time for his evening freedom.

Pine Fresh was stunned. "Unbelievable, of all the ponies in Windshear, only you would actually wait two minutes to get out of this place." He waved a hoof at the stacks of books, scrolls and ledgers.

"Somepony might come in during those two minutes. Who knows? They might actually want to check something out for once."

"Klondike, I hate to say this buddy, but nopony ever comes in here. Except for those creepy stallions that check out that old, ratty edition of that book on ancient art. You know, the one where the mares are..."

"I know, and please don't remind me of that one. I scrub off with hot water every time I touch it." The pegasus shuddered at the thought of the barely held together book that saw more checkouts than any other three books combined. He looked back at the clock and smiled. "Well would you look at the time, I ran overtime for a whole minute."

"Good, now let's get out of here."

Klondike turned down the oil lamps, blowing out the flames and locking the door on his way out. The pair trotted to the saloon, Pine Fresh shivering as he walked. Klondike trotted along comfortably, something his parents had neglected to mention was that pegasi didn't feel cold like the other ponies. Something about living high up in the clouds just made them more tolerant of it. Pushing open the door to the saloon they were greeted by yells of 'shut the damn door!'.

Taking a seat by the bar, Pine Fresh gave Klondike a kick under the table. "Hey lover boy, your dream girl is working the bar tonight."

Klondike warily turned his head, whipping back when he noticed Aurora indeed serving drinks. "Don't look! She might notice."

"You need to stallion up Klondike, if you like her just talk to her."

"No way Pine."

Pine Fresh grinned like a madman. "Waitress!" he called out. The snow white unicorn mare walked over to the stallions, levitating a tray of drinks and salt blocks with her magic. She flicked a strand of her honey colored mane out of her face.

"What can I get you gentlecolts tonight?" she asked.

"Get me one of your bottles of Fillydelphia whiskey and two glasses. Klondike my old pal?"

The pegasus was on the verge of flying out the door with nervousness, he mumbled something under his breath.

"What's that? I didn't quite catch that sir."

"Just a block of salt." he croaked.

Pine Fresh had a devious look in his eyes. "Don't mind him Aurora, he's just a tad bit flustered around pretty mares."

The mare giggled, walking away to get their drinks. Klondike looked Pine Fresh in the eye. "I'm going to murder you." he said with all sincerity.

"Please, you've never held a weapon in your life."

"I'm serious. I'm a pegasus if you didn't notice, we pegasi are proud warriors!"

Pine Fresh's face squelched up, then he burst out laughing. "Good one! Klondike, you've never met another pegasus in your life except Old Spin, and he can't even fly anymore!" The tangerine earth pony nearly rolled off his stool, laughing until his eyes watered. "Proud warrior, phew, you made my day with that one! Maybe you should have been a comedian instead of a librarian."

Aurora returned with their alcohol and Klondike's salt block, setting them on the table. Pine Fresh covered tonight's round with a nugget of gold from the mine. Klondike grabbed a glass, filling it with whiskey and draining it in a single gulp, filling it again he slammed another.

"Woah there, slow it down. The night is still young, 'proud warrior'."

Klondike slammed down his glass. "You make fun of me for my heritage, but what was the bravest thing you ever did? Hmm?"

Pine Fresh had to think about it for a second, "Well, there was that time I kicked a troll straight in the nether regions. Ooh, and there was this time I got frisky with the other barmaid, but then that night actually turned out really good for both of us. And then this one time, me and the boys got stupid drunk and grabbed some weapons from the militia armory, and then we went and hunted down that wendigo that was causing problems around the mine."

"Alright I get it! But I think I've got you beat, I confront Obsidian, MONTHLY!"

The earth pony's face turned serious, "Klondike, that takes some serious machismo. Seriously, I'd wet myself if I had to go talk about my favorite books with a fat lazy dragon!" His smile was ear to ear and he snickered uncontrollably. "Come on, let's see your flank! Maybe you drew that cutie mark on there, let's rub it off and see the comedy mask."

Pine Fresh was a bit tipsy, and he actually leaned down to look at Klondike's flank, just to make the quill and ink were really there. Klondike swatted him with a wing.

"Seriously though Klondike, maybe Aurora would warm up to you if you told her you tango with dragons regularly. If you weren't a complete chicken. Look, your wings even look like chicken wings!" Pine Fresh began to cluck like a barnyard fowl.

"Knock it off!" Klondike's wings flared, threatening to knock over some poor bar patron as he walked by.

"Easy there, we're just having a conversation. That's all." The earth pony's nose wrinkled. "I smell dead fox nearby. Better cover that nose of yours before Old Spin-" The door to the saloon creaked open, some ponies prepared themselves to yell at the newcomer, but noticing the old pegasus they stifled themselves. "Too late." Pine Fresh muttered.

The old pegasus lived in a cabin outside of town, which was a blessing to everypony. Thankfully the wind typically put the odor of his fur trapping and skinning operation downwind of town. He always seemed solemn and even depressed until he started drinking or licking salt. After that he was the town fool, spouting ridiculous stories about how he used to adventure across Equestria and fight monsters. Mostly made up, but occasionally he told one that might have made sense had anypony else but him told it.

"Uh, yeah. I think I've had enough for the night." Pine Fresh grabbed his half full bottle of whiskey as the village drunk took his traditional seat in the corner, his hood up until he had some liquor in him. Klondike stuck around the saloon to lick his salt block. Old Spin always seemed to have an eye on Klondike, like he knew something about the only other pegasus that Klondike didn't already know.

Klondike shuddered at the thought of the weird old trapper watching him all the time. Taking a final inebriating lick off his salt block Klondike stood up from his table, walking out the door. For him it was a gorgeous night out, a fine time to work his wing muscles after sitting behind a desk all day. Spreading his wings he stretched them out good, not wanting to cramp up or tear something in mid flight.

Taking off he headed up the river that Windshear relied on for transport out of this hostile territory. He followed it up to a place he knew to be peaceful and quiet, where he could watch the stars and relax himself. The miles ate up under his gentle glide, he soon spied the cloud covered peak where he would lay some nights. Landing on a nimbus perch he turned back to look out over Snowreach. If you tried to look at it from a different angle than fighting for your survival, it really was a beautiful place.

He never grew tired of the way the stars gave their shining vigil over the forested lands, twinkling at their mirror images in the placid waters of a glacier fed lake. Some nights he would get lucky, and a shimmering aurora would dance across the skies. All the more recent migrants would stare in awe at the aurora, saying it shone like the mane of Princess Celestia herself. Klondike smiled at the thought, in his mind nothing could compare to the beauty of nature in its full purity. Untouched and untouchable, a soothing show of light that calmed the heart of the most wild beast.

Klondike thought about sleeping out here on this cloud, under the lights of heaven. But he had to be up early tomorrow, another day of being a corporate drudge behind his desk for The North Enterprise Company. God he hated it.

Leaping from his cloud, he drifted lazily back to Windshear. Dropping to his hooves by the door, Klondike pushed open the library door. Stepping inside he wiped his hooves on the doormat, making sure he was not being hypocritical. Climbing the broad stairs to the right of the door he turned to his sparse bedroom. It was mostly books with a rough bed in the corner, but it was home. Laying on his bed he wanted to snuggle up in his blankets and sheets. But he had to give that up quite a while back. For some reason he would wake up and his sheets would always be torn to shreds, cut to ribbons somehow.

Close Encounter

Her wounds were healing well, the only problem with these southern climes was the bugs. Yes, sometimes it got just warm enough to have swarms of black flies storm the tundra, but only in the summer months when the wyverns migrated to the farthest northern reaches of the tundra and even became pseudo-aquatic to stay cool. But here the bugs just would not quit!

The brood queen nipped at her flank, where another huge fly had found a seam in her armor and caused insufferable irritation. Even in the ice cave they found a way in to bother her wounds. Shaking her hide, the queen stood up and sprayed her ice breath through a concentration of the flies. That ought to teach 'em.

She hadn't yet laid her eggs, but she still prepared thoroughly. Going to the back of her cave she sprayed the wall with her breath, shaping the ice into a bowl. A few more layers and it would be complete. But she still needed to sustain herself. Though wyverns were normally diurnal, the brood queen had to adjust her schedule a bit to accommodate the burning sun. Only when the cloud cover was thick enough could she go out to hunt. It was that, or give a try to becoming nocturnal. Which was fairly easy considering how thick the prey was around here.

Creeping to the entrance of her cave, the queen poked her horned head out. Not feeling the burn of sunlight and smelling fresh meat around, she gathered her wings about her and took off. Flying high above her newly conquered territory, she spied something familiar from the tundra, a throng of mammoths feeding in a forest clearing.

Banking into a steep dive, the queen aimed her claws at the back of a large bull. Landing hard on the animal's back she succeeded in driving the massive creature to the ground, snapping its spine with her aerial assault. Standing atop her kill, she flared her wings and roared at the rest of the herd. The mammoths bellowed in racial fear of the draconic creature, trumpeting loudly to try and scare her off.

The queen lashed out with her venomous tail, striking one mammoth after another with deadly venom. The herd finally ran off, tearing down trees in their rout. Four dead mammoths lay at her feet, too much for her to eat in one sitting, indeed too much to probably eat in a week.

To lighten her load, the queen set about gorging herself on meat. Only able to finish half the carcass, the queen grabbed it in her claws and flew it back to her cave. Dropping it in the ice, she turned back to get some more. It took two hours to make the several trips to stash her kills. She would have to eat all these, the deadly venom had killed the mammoths, and baby wyverns always preferred fresh blood.

Though full to bursting, the queen left her cave and set about hunting again. In this land of perpetual plenty, it was almost a crime not to thin the herd a little more. Going to furthest reaches of her new territory, she spied what looked like boxes on wheels, pulled by more of those delicious ponies. But something caught her eye, the flickering yellow and orange that set the queen to instinctive rage.

**********************************************

Something was pounding on Klondike's skull, a rhythmic pulse that would come in trios before settling again. He rolled in his bed, sans the sheets because of his mysterious problem. He grabbed his pillow, pulling it over his ears.

Too much to drink last night, he decided.

"KLONDIKE! WAKE UP IN THERE!" somepony shouted from the front door. The pegasus sat bolt upright, looking at his clock he scrambled out of bed, having overslept by two and a half hours. The pounding came again, though his head was indeed foggy and painful, it was knocks at the door instead of his throbbing head. Cantering down the stairs he opened the door to see one of the Company goons standing outside.

"Sorry, library is closed for the day, come back tomorrow." he said while rubbing his eyes.

The goon stamped a hoof, "You have an appointment with the boss, if you didn't remember!"

Oh Buck! That's what I'm late for!

He scrambled past the company tough, running for the offices. Down by the riverside near the docks, the offices were simple. Like everything else in Windshear they had safety against the cold in mind. A solitary sign swung on rusty hinges over the door, bearing the triple mountain peak symbol of the North Enterprise Co.

Klondike knocked softly on the door.

A gruff voice shouted from the other side. "If it's that worthless bookie Klondike out there, get your ass inside!"

He pushed open the door, inside it was fairly dark. Behind a large paper covered desk sat the head of the field branch of the North Enterprise Co., a mahogany unicorn named Tweed Suit. His goons all went about calling Boss Tweed. Tweed chomped on a Mexicolt cigar, using his magic to sort through papers.

"You're two hours late Klondike! Where's that error report I told you to get filled out and mailed by this morning?"

"In my out pile Mr. Suit. I'll get it in the manifest for the next cargo ship to Moosehead."

"You better, chicken wings." Tweed rifled through some more papers, "This order form says that you want three hundred books shipped up with the next steamer, what's the deal with that?"

Klondike shifted on his hooves, believing the answer should be obvious. "They're for Obsidian sir, we're starting to run out of books that he hasn't read."

Tweed snorted, conceding that Klondike did seem to know the dragon's tastes better than anypony else. "Princesses damn that wyrm, if he wasn't around I'd have you working the shaft just like everypony else. But since you're two hours late, I've got a job I need you to do."

"What is it sir?"

"Our warehouses report that the caravan from Yellowblade is late, you need to go out there and see what is holding them up."

Klondike raised an eyebrow, "Why me?"

"Because you are a worthless accountant that is stinking up my office with his booze ridden breath. And you can fly. Now hop to it Klondike. And I guess you can take the rest of the day off after you're back."

Klondike nodded his head, "Thank you Mr. Suit." He turned and left the office, wanting to get his caravan assignment out of the way as quickly as possible. He took off flying in the direction the caravans took when taking the long overland route to Yellowblade.

***********************************************************

It had been a few hours, nothing but trees and the occasional stream or animal path breaking the monotony. Off to Klondike's left lay the Dragonspine Mountains, the great barrier that basically was the end of all maps. Sometimes he wondered what lay on the other side, Old Spin claimed to have been over there once, but that was another thing nopony believed about him.

He had traveled at least thirty miles in the two hours he had been flying, still no sign of that caravan. Klondike dropped lower along the road, scanning for any recent sign of the caravan coming through. Just the oldest signs from previous travelers.

"They must already be in Windshear, damn Tweed..."

A light rain began to flick down on Klondike's back; he knew that they always started light, then got heavy. Thunder rolled in the distance.

"Wait, that wasn't thunder." He strained hard to hear the noise again, but through the rain and wind he couldn't hear a thing. Shaking his head in disbelief, he turned to fly back to Windshear, more willing to face Boss Tweed's anger rather than stick around when this storm hit. It came again, sounding less like thunder and more like...a roar.

Klondike took to the skies, seeking out the source, knowing that whatever it was, it was attacking the ponies that worked that caravan. He poured on every ounce of speed, pinpointing the source of the noise farther down the road. He expected smoke, he expected fire and the smoldering ruins of a supply ridden caravan. But what he saw boggled his mind.

He landed next to the untouched wagons, looking for any sign of the wagoners. The wagons were in a semi circle around the remnants of a campfire. But the campfire itself was an aberration of physics; the fire had frozen solid, like the very heat and smoke itself had succumb to frostbite.

"Hello?" he shouted. "Is anypony here?" Klondike took an apprehensive step forward, his hoof stepped in something that made a squish. Recoiling, his mouth gaped in horror as he beheld the blood covered ground, chunks of flesh scattered like something had eaten a very messy meal. Whatever he stepped in had stuck to his hoof, lifting his hoof he looked at a piece of violet fur... with a partial cutie mark on it.

Eyes wide in fear, Klondike shook off the blood coated crime scene, turning away he wanted to vomit. But his face came directly into the face of another pony. Klondike yelped and fell on his haunches, backpedaling to avoid a heart attack. The other pony did not move, though he was posed in a posture of terror. Wisps of frosted air fell from the pony, his mane frozen the way it had stood, not even blowing in the wind.

The more Klondike looked the more he saw of the carnage: bloodstains littered the ground, chucks of dirt were displaced by gigantic claw marks, and the very atmosphere seemed chilled by the frozen carnage.

He was paralyzed by fear of what could have done this, could it have been a dragon? A wendigo? A renegade tribe of trolls? Or something far, far worse?

He snapped out of his catatonic state, he heard something in the wind, like sails on a ship flapping in a gale. In terror he scrambled under a wagon, hoping whatever it was wouldn't get too thorough looking for prey. The ground shook as whatever it was landed. Klondike peeked out and saw a huge pair of clawed feet, large enough to grab hold of just about any creature in Snowreach. In front of the feet a large wing levered on the ground, balancing the great bulk of the creature on a single joint in the powerful wing.

It walked towards the wagon, Klondike held his breath, stifling his fearful whimpering. As it got closer Klondike saw more of the beast, and more of it offended every sense. A wave of the putrid scent of death rolled off the monster, its muzzle appeared next to the wagon, sniffing for something. Its breath was not hot; no, this monster redefined what Klondike thought of Tartarus, no longer did it contain fire and rivers of blood. Such a place must be frozen and filled with millions of such evil creatures.

Klondike was on the verge of running when the beast nudged the wagon with its muzzle, rocking his hiding place. But if he ran he would assuredly be eaten or frozen into a statue like those forsaken souls that had worked this caravan. The creature grumbled, not finding anything worth investigating. The massive feet turned away from the wagon, and approached the frozen statue of a pony. Klondike heard a sickening snap, then the creature began to beat its huge wings, forcing itself to take off. Convinced he was relatively safe, he crept out from under the wagon.

With revulsion he saw four hooves still frozen to the dirt, the frozen body having been torn off at the ankles by whatever that beast was. "I have to warn everypony." he said out loud. But when he turned he saw the beast still not too far away, he got a good look at this demon from the frigid depths of Hell itself. It was like a dragon, but unlike any dragon he had ever seen in a book or in real life.

Instead of front legs, the wings were the front legs. A pair of horns sat atop the head, one broken off at the top. The body of the creature was serpentine, the neck seeming like it went all the way to the tail without stopping, with the back legs and wings just kind of tossed on. That tail seemed too long, being as long as the body and half that again, Klondike guessed it could be some kind of whip like weapon, the tip seemed solid and possibly swollen.

Biologically this thing was fascinating, but to Klondike it was a monster, plain and simple. The beast flapped those massive wings, heading back towards the Dragonspine Mountains to the north. Without thinking twice about it, Klondike himself took off, but back westwards to Windshear. Boss Tweed would not be happy about the caravan, but neither could he ignore the fact that some unknown monster had destroyed it utterly.

Sun Eater

Old Spin trudged past the palisade wall of Windshear. If there ever was a guard or something, they gave up long ago and hit the saloon like he was getting ready to do. The old pegasus still had some life in him, and every time he earned a few bits selling his furs down at the docks he would typically burn through them at the saloon.

Occasionally Pinch Penny, the owner of the bar would give him free drinks to tell some of his more interesting stories. They were indeed interesting, but nopony believed a word he said. Pushing open the door to the saloon, he halfway received the standard yells for closing the door, but they were silenced at the sight of the old pegasus. Wearing a deep hood and cloak, Spin took his usual place in the corner, near the hearth.

He only had to sit for a minute before that pretty unicorn mare Aurora stopped by.

"The usual, Mr. Spin?"

"You know it," he grumbled.

The mare walked off, very promptly bringing back his typical bottle of whiskey and a block of salt. Old Spin dropped a couple of bits on the table, then shook a few more out of his coinpurse. "Keep the change, buy yourself something nice."

"Thank you sir." Aurora walked away to attend to business with other patrons. Spin filled his glass, beginning his nightly ritual of drowning his sorrows and making an ass of himself as he told insane stories to those ponies that bothered to listen.

**********************************************

Klondike flew as fast as he could, occasionally looking back to see if that monster had somehow followed him.

"Have to keep going, have to warn everypony. Have to keep going, have to warn everypony." he chanted his mantra, hoping that he wouldn't be too late, that maybe the militia in Windshear could do something about it. He stayed low so as not to lose his bearings, and hopefully stay out of the sight of any monsters that might be lurking in the clouds.

Windshear was in sight, the beautiful glass pane windows alight with candles and lanterns. Only a few more miles and he could be safe from the beast that haunted the mountains. The storm that had lightly spat on his wings earlier had fulfilled his prophetic clarity, and now torrents of heavy rains poured on the fleeing pegasus.

Klondike strained to keep going, to keep himself in the air. But the howling wind forced him to the ground to run the rest of the way to Windshear. Running along the muddy road, he panted as he tripped over something. Landing face down in the mud Klondike scrambled to stand up and clear his face of the muck.

Whatever he tripped on groaned, Klondike turned back, wings outspread, hoping he wouldn't have to fight whatever it was. No, it was a pony, a unicorn that had collapsed from exhaustion. He recognized this fellow, it was one of the miners that had taken off and decided to go back to panning. Klondike helped him to his feet, supporting the unicorn's weight with his wing.

"We need to get to safety!" he shouted to the unicorn. The unicorn's head drooped, not having much life left in him. With his charge partially slung over his back and a wing keeping him standing, Klondike trudged towards the fortified town.

********************************************

The door to the saloon burst open, the patrons all lining up their standard greeting. But they shut up the moment Klondike trudged in with the unicorn miner slung over his shoulder.

"This pony needs help!" he screamed. All the various patrons dropped their glasses and rushed to relieve the pegasus of his burden. Two miners lifted the unicorn off of him, placing him on a bench that lay near the fireplace.

"By Celestia's flank, it's Chipper! Chipper, what happened to you?" one patron said as he shook the mostly unconscious unicorn.

"Out of the way!" Old Spin muscled his way through, carrying the bottle of whiskey. He wrenched open the unicorn's mouth pouring a shot down his throat. The burn of alcohol brought him to, but when his eyes opened Chipper began to scream, terrified at the memory of something. Old Spin slapped him with a wing. "Calm down! What happened?"

"MONSTER!" he screamed.

Spin placed his hooves on either side of Chipper's face, holding him still and preventing him from struggling. "What monster? What did this monster do?"

"Beech Nut, it killed Beech Nut!"

"What killed Beech Nut, Chipper?" Old Spin proffered the bottle for the unicorn to drink from, he grabbed it and gulped down the firey liquid. "Slow down, now what killed Beech Nut? A troll? Wendigo? Something else?"

Spin forcefully removed the bottle from the unicorn's grip, Chipper gasped as he calmed down slightly.

"A monster killed Beech Nut." he whimpered.

Spin looked directly into his eyes. "What kind of monster?"

His eyes watered as he gasped out the words. "I don't know."

"Yellow eyes, like those of a cat. Great big wings like the sails on a ship. Breath worse than frostbite. A head with two horns, like some kind of devil, but one horn broken off." The entire patronage of the saloon turned to Klondike, sitting by himself with a thousand yard stare.

"Yes, it killed Beech Nut!" cried the unicorn.

"What are you saying Klondike?" asked one of the miners.

"I saw it, up close. It was a monster, and I've never seen anything like it before. It killed the entire caravan from Yellowblade, and ate their corpses." He pointed a hoof to the mantle over the hearth. "That, that's it!"

He pointed to a piece of mammoth ivory, scrimshawed by some troll long ago. The minute scratches and ink fillings on the piece depicted a beast similar to a dragon, wings spread as it sprayed death on whatever stood in its way.

Old Spin removed the mostly decorative piece from the mantle, inspecting it closely. "I've seen these beasts before. And if Klondike is right, we are all in horrible danger."

"Is this some kind of joke Old Spin? That's a religious piece from some tribe of trolls, that monster isn't real! I'll bet it was that wyrm Obsidian, I think he got bored and went on a rampage!" Many of the group agreed.

"This thing is more real than you could imagine. The trolls call it a Sun Eater, and I've seen them before; high up on the tundras past the Dragonspine Range."

The door to the saloon creaked open, Boss Tweed and some of his toughs walking in. "Another one of your crackpot stories, Old Spin? Don't go around slinging slander like that, we all know that this was the work of Obsidian."

"THIS WASN'T OBSIDIAN!" shouted the old pegasus. "Several years ago I tried hunting bigger game to help fill my fur quotas. I got on the trail of a huge saber cat, I tracked that creature up into the mountains for days. When I finally confronted it, I managed to wound the cat with my crossbow. It fled north into the Dragonspines. If you didn't know, saber cat pelts are some of the best selling furs in Kali'Gryph, killing this brute could have easily made my year."

"Do go on, old foal." snickered one of the company toughs.

"Keep that tongue behind your teeth before I rip it out. I chased the cat all the way to the other side of the mountains, when I reached the other side I lost the trail, but I discovered a new land. Snow and ice as far as the eye could see, howling winds drowning out the cries of dire wolves, bears and whatever other predators stalked the snow fields. I got lost, there was no way I could find my way back through the blinding white snow. That was when I saw them."

"Them?"

"Yes, an entire colony of these creatures. They're huge, able to pick up a mammoth with their claws. And they breathe an elemental attack like a dragon, but instead of fire, they breathe ice. There were dozens of the little ones, all striped with red and yellow. But they were subservient to a really big one, a foul creature that was mottled brown and roared like a dragon. I fled their territory, only to blunder into a tribe of ice trolls that were herding their mammoths. They saw pity on me and took me in. I speak some Jotun, and they told me that those monsters were called Sun Eaters, as whenever the sun came out, the little ones would fly up and try to consume it. They said that the Sun Eaters fear nothing, they consume everything and are the reason why nothing up on the tundra makes fires anymore."

"And we are to believe this story from a drunkard who probably dreamed up the whole experience?" Boss Tweed said snidely, his toughs laughing behind him.

"I am not lying! And if what Klondike says is true, we are all in horrible danger!"

One of the toughs bellowed with laughter, "We're supposed to believe that some ice breathing dragon made its way down here just to scare a couple of ponies? Tell us another one Spin! How about that one where you were taken by that flying dinner plate out near Las Neighas?"

"That one was never true, but I warn you, if we ignore this threat then no place is safe!"

Boss Tweed stamped a hoof, "If it will shut you up Old Spin, I'll call a town meeting. One hour, back here at the saloon. Boys, fetch everypony in town." His toughs nodded, running out the door to fetch all the miners and everypony else from their homes.

"Idiots! Sheer idiocy runs this place!" Spin kicked over a chair, returning to his place in the corner to nurse a glass of whiskey.

Klondike still sat in his chair, back to the wall, staring at the horizon. Aurora walked up to him. "Are you alright? Are you hurt Klondike?"

"I'm fine." He quietly said. "I'm just a little frightened is all."

Aurora telekinetically grabbed a glass and a bottle of brandy. Opening it carefully she poured him a glass. He took the politely offered glass and sipped the drink. "Thanks, I really needed that."

"Is there really a monster? Are you sure it isn't that awful dragon?"

"I've seen Obsidian more than any five ponies put together. This wasn't Obsidian, it wasn't even a dragon. I'll never forget that thing, how its breath felt like frostbite and how it stank of death." He looked Aurora in the eyes, only now he realized he wasn't a shivering wreck and stumbling over his words. "I know Obsidian, he would never attack us like this. He's too docile and content with his books."

"It's kind of brave of you, talking to that dragon every month. And even braver to stand up for such a creature."

Klondike's lips curled in a small smile, "Yeah, I guess it is."

*******************************

Windshear, being a corporately established settlement of the North Enterprise Co. had no official mayor. It was for this reason that all town decisions fell on the shoulders of the board of directors back in Equestria. Or on the regional branch executive in times of emergency, which every issue seemed to be an emergency with Tweed as the regional executive. Boss Tweed stamped a hoof near the fireplace, calling to order all the various employees and denizens of Windshear. The saloon was packed, even the top floor was filled with ponies leaning out over the railings.

"If anypony hasn't already heard, a few incidents have occurred which require our attention and possible action."

A pony in the back shouted out, "Yeah, your foremen run us like slaves in the damn mine!" Several of the miners shouted their anger at the treatment.

Another called out, "And where is our pay? Most of us have been breaking our backs in there, but we still haven't been paid in weeks! A lot of us have families in Equestria that rely on the money we send back to them!" More ponies became riled at the mistreatment of the miners.

"You all can thank Obsidian for that! He is sucking us dry with his monthly tax! But I did not gather you all here tonight to discuss your labor union woes. A few incidents have occurred which resulted in the deaths of a few ponies."

Klondike shoved his way to the front. "A few?! An entire caravan was slaughtered out there!" A company goon placed a hoof on the pegasus' chest.

"Yes, a caravan was sacked. And we all know the source of our woes! Our 'landlord' Obsidian has become displeased with our progress. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of sending out a missive to Equestria requesting dragon slayers!"

The saloon became a mad house, ponies shouting their cheers at the company finally doing something about Obsidian, others jeering because they believed that even after the dragon was dealt with their conditions would not improve.

"NO! Venerax is innocent! You have to listen to me, this is something far worse than any dragon!" But Klondike's cries fell on deaf ears, the sound of everypony shouting easily drowning him out. With a curse he left the saloon turned town hall, kicking a post on his way out. Dejectedly he stalked to the library, opening the door he wondered if this was some kind of nightmare or not. A great monster was out slaughtering willy-nilly, and they all wanted to cross swords with Venerax!

Klondike climbed the stairs to his bedroom, pausing by his wash basin and mirror. He looked at himself, muddy, bedraggled, with even some flecks of blood on his hooves. Grabbing a wash rag he diligently cleaned himself. Any other night he would have heated up a tub full of water and bathed properly, but he was too tired and still boggled from the creature's attack.

Shaking off the excess water, Klondike lay on his bed, head up so he could preen his wing feathers. They had taken on quite a bit of grime between hiding from the Sun Eater and carrying Chipper on his back. Delicately nibbling on the edges to realign the shape of a feather, it gave him time to think.

"That's all I can do, think. Pine Fresh is right, I can't fight this thing, I'm no warrior." He finished preening his wings, laying his head down he slept fitfully, having horrible dreams about that creature freezing the whole world, feasting on the flesh of everypony he cared about.

Frozen by Fear

There she stood, the corpses of everypony Klondike had known acting as an altar to her great and terrible personage. The beast reared up on her hind legs, roaring her victory over this pitiful creature that lay sniveling on the ground before her. Behind her thousands of black shapes erupted from the ground, millions of her devilish children, hungry for the flesh of the weak. They sprayed their elemental breath, changing the very world to the icy land that spawned them.

The beast leveled her head, drawing in the breath to make his body and heart colder than the core of darkness. The eyes, those horrible eyes burned their sickening yellow, malevolence permeating the pegasus with every second she stared at him, preparing her deadly breath. A metallic ringing came from her mouth instead of a deadly blast of frost or a bone shaking roar, and Klondike lashed out...with something.

Klondike sat bolt upright in his bed, panting and gasping from the nightmare. He looked over to his clock, he had woken up right on time. Strange, that damn clock should be going crazy right about now. He squinted at the piece of junk, noticing the hands had stopped moving. He poked the clock, and with a crash in fell in two even pieces, split cleanly down the middle.

"I'm never buying Mexicolt crap again." he muttered, picking up the pieces to hopefully fix it later. By the calendar he had down in the library, it was a Saturday, a day he normally got off anyways. Quickly he made up his mind about what he was going to do today. Going to the loose floorboard in his bedroom, he pried it up with a little bit of coercion. Reaching his head into the empty space he grabbed his entire life savings in a bulging coinpurse. Setting it on his upstairs desk he began to count his bits, seeing how much he really had.

It took about an hour to count it all, and then count it again. "Twelve hundred bits, that should be enough to get me to Equestria if I catch the next ship downriver." he said to himself. He had no idea what he was going to do when he got to Equestria, maybe look up his parents, see if they still cared about their only son. After that, see what he could do about finding a job. But whatever happened, he needed to get away from Windshear. Away from Snowreach if at all possible.

He didn't want to be here when ignorance of facts triumphed over logic and reason, but mostly he did not want to end up in some monster's belly. Klondike would never be able to deal with the shame of failing to defend Venerax, but he figured that the further he got from the dragon, the less pain he would feel. Besides, Venerax was at least a hundred feet long, if not more. He could take care of himself, he didn't need some washed up librarian to defend him.

Walking down the stairs Klondike utilized his library resources, checking the company logs for the next scheduled ship upstream from Moosehead. What a stroke of luck, one was scheduled to come upriver tomorrow to Windshear, the last stop on its cargo voyage to gather the gold and furs harvested by the Company.

Grabbing a set of saddlebags Klondike set about packing up everything he owned, quite the pitiful amount actually. A couple of photos, some clothing, a set of quills and ink and a stack of parchment. "Wow, do I really not have anything?" he said of the half empty saddlebags. He put them aside, today he was a day for himself, and he would spend it so.

Walking out the door he saw the normally bustling settlement of Windshear become a ghost town. Klondike walked down the main street, looking for any sign of anypony. Only a few left their homes and other buildings, one eye on the sky as they went about their business.

He went to the boarding house where Pine Fresh stayed along with at least a dozen other miners. Knocking on the door he got a few gruff yells to come inside. Pushing open the door he saw a few miners sitting around a table, gambling away the gold nuggets they managed to sneak out of the mine shaft, past the careful eyes of the Company foremen. 'Supplementary, untaxed income', that's what they called it.

He noticed they had weapons laid out, some makeshift like their mining picks and others actual swords, spears and crossbows. Klondike stifled a grimace, as if the Sun Eater would come knocking at their door before it froze their souls and tore them apart.

"Is Pine Fresh around?" Klondike asked the miners.

"Nope, trouble down at the mine. Some of the miners are refusing to work until they get paid and Obsidian is dealt with, Pine Fresh is trying to talk some sense into both parties, miners and foremen."

"Thanks." he turned to walk out the door.

"Hey kid, you really think this ain't Obsidian?"

Klondike turned his head back, "Does a bear shit in the woods?"

The blue collar ponies all grumbled their acknowledgement, some pulling their weapons a bit closer.

Klondike left the boarding house, determined to say a few things to a few ponies before he ran back to Equestria with his tail between his legs. Walking at a slow pace to the saloon, he took a few breaths to calm himself as he pushed open the door. It was too early for Aurora to be working, but she still lived in the backrooms with the other barmaids. The earth pony barkeeper and owner sat at a table with the barmaids, eating a late breakfast of oatmeal and reading a month old copy of the Equestria Daily.

The barkeeper looked up from his paper, the headline blaring incredible news about some creature crashing the Grand Galloping Gala and stealing an Element of Harmony. Probably tabloid journalism.

"Klondike m'boy, bit early to be drowning your sorrows isn't it?"

"Actually Pinch, I'm here to talk to Aurora."

Pinch Penny grinned, "Aurora! You have a handsome gentlecolt caller!"

The pegasus laid back his ears and blushed, deepening the red of his already crimson fur. The snow white mare leaned out of the kitchen, her face slightly sooty and wearing an apron. "Who is it?"

"That pegasus you always thought was cute." The mare's face turned scarlet, realizing she was a little too dirty to be presentable she ran back into the kitchen to scrub up a bit. The barkeep laughed like a madman, pleased at his ability to embarrass two ponies in the span of a minute.

The other barmaids giggled, Pinch's wife Silver giving her husband a punch on the shoulder.

Klondike cleared his throat, "It's not like that sir, she's just a friend."

"So is my wife, but they say your very special somepony is always your closest friend." Silver Penny smiled, giving her husband an appreciative nuzzle.

"Well then, dress me up in my finest, because by that logic I'm betrothed to Venerax." The barmaids nearly collapsed laughing, the proprietor and his wife giggling at the foalish stallion.

"Only you could ever say that, Klondike, well played m'boy. What is taking that girl so long?"

"Here I am!" She trotted out of the kitchen, without her apron and looking much cleaner. "Good morning Klondike, you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to tell you a few things, then I'll be out of your mane." The barkeep nodded to his employees, standing from the table they left the room, giving the two some privacy. Though out of sight, the pegasus knew they were still listening intently for a juicy morsel of gossip.

Klondike sighed, thinking about what needed to be said. "Aurora..."

Her eyes grew a little wider, and she took a step closer. "Yes Klondike?"

"I'm leaving Windshear tomorrow. For good."

"Oh... are you sure that is all you wanted to say?" she said hopefully.

"There is one more thing." he took a step closer, looking into her eyes.

"Yes?" she said in a voice more mellow than butter, her eyes glittering pools of amethyst.

"...I think you should leave too. That creature is far too dangerous for anypony to still be around here. Maybe just flee until the dragon slayers do their job."

Aurora's eyes narrowed, her smile turning to a slight frown. "Right then, thank you for the memo. I'll keep that in mind." Turning around she stalked back to the kitchen, muttering something about bone headed stallions.

From the other room Klondike heard a shout, followed by a muffled thump. To him, it almost sounded like somepony said 'Oh, come on!'

**************************************

"I tells ya Pine, we ain't gonna lift a hoof until those buckheads at HQ pay us!" several miners shouted their agreeance with the accented miner. Several of them blockaded the entrance to the gold mine, preventing any non-union scabs from getting in to work. There was a problem with being unionized in foreign, un-annexed territory; no government to back the unions.

"Can we just agree to disagree? The Company has to withhold our pay to cover the expenses of hiring dragon slayers. Without that, we'd all be crispy by the end of the month with Obsidian going on a rampage." the tangerine earth pony reasoned.

"Oh, so its all about corporate expenses is it? I recall that our pay dropped and never went back up after the Company hired those mercs to chase out the Diamond Dogs!" Pine conceded to that. Things did seem to go downhill every time Tweed had to fix a problem, but Tweed himself was always somehow innocent and the blame always went to Obsidian's tax.

"You know somethin', I think I'm startin to agree with that bookie. Maybe this ain't Obsidian, maybe this is some kind of Company scam for cheap labor!" The ponies with the protester cheered. "Well speak of the devil!"

The crimson pegasus dropped down next to his friend, landing with a small cloud of dust rising under his wings. "Pine, do you have a minute?"

"Not really Klondike, these union boys aren't listening to the Company boys. It might boil over if I don't talk some sense into everypony."

"I'm leaving, Pine."

"What? Just stop in for a quick fly by?"

"No, I'm leaving Windshear tomorrow with the next ship to Moosehead. And from there, hopefully it's a straight shot home to Equestria."

Pine Fresh looked dumbfounded. "You mean, you're turnin' tail on us? You're running away?"

Klondike scratched at the dirt with a hoof, "Yeah, I'm getting the hell out of Snowreach. Listen to me Pine, if you had seen that thing, you'd be running too. And I think you should while you still can."

"I can't just pack up and leave. I gave up everything I had back in Equestria to come here and dig in the dirt. I hate to say it, but Snowreach has kind of become my home. And I can't leave while North Enterprise keeps mistreating us like this."

Klondike shook his head, "I can't force you to do anything, but I beg of you, please just get out of here before it is too late."

"No can do pal, say 'hi' to that warm, sunny beach for me. If this is the last time we ever see each other, I'll miss you buddy." The earth pony threw his forelegs around the pegasus, Klondike returned the hug.

"You're my best friend Pine, if you ever get out of here, look me up."

"Sure thing Klondike, sure thing." the pair held their hug for another few seconds, then they drifted apart.

Klondike took a few running steps, leaping into the air with his wings outspread. With all of his goodbyes done, there was only one place left to go.

***********************************************

The pegasus landed lightly at the rough cut porch for the North Enterprise offices near the docks. If anything went on a ship southward, Tweed had to clear it first. Klondike raised a hoof and knocked briskly on the door.

"Who the buck is it?" shouted Tweed's raspy voice.

"Your least favorite bookkeeper, I need to talk with you Mr. Suit."

Strange, the curtains were drawn on the offices. But he heard some movement in the office, from more than one set of hooves. The door creaked open, Tweed's mahogany face poking out.

"What the buck do you want, chicken wings?"

"Sir, I want to leave. After the dragon slayers come and kill Venerax, there won't be any point to me being around. I have enough money to pay for passage south, and it would be in the Company's interest to let me go."

The Boss looked on, expecting more. "You still don't think it is Venerax, do you? You want to get out of here before your monster shows up again."

"Yes sir Mr. Suit."

"Well, I'd be glad to get rid of your sorry ass. But right now you are just too valuable of an employee. Since you started doing records Windshear has been the poster child of bureaucratic efficiency for North Enterprise Co."

A mare's voice called from back in the office. "Who is it Tweedy? If it's another one of your friends that is another twenty bits."

"Shut up you dried up excuse of a whore!" he shouted back. Tweed apparently had his fun with "Hardware Store", so named because a few bits could get you a good screw. Looking back to Klondike, he rethought his position. "How many bits do you have?"

"About twelve hundred Mr. Suit."

"Let me wet my beak a little and you can be on that ship tonight."

"'Wet your beak' sir?"

"It's simple bird brain! You consider your life savings shrunk by, oh let's see, two hundred bits and then you can get out of my sight and out of Windshear by tomorrow morning."

Klondike was taken aback. "You want me to bribe you into letting me leave?!"

"That's the idea chicken wings. Now pony up those bits or have fun pushing pencils behind that musty old desk until your contract expires in ten years!"

The pegasus growled, reaching into a saddlebag he pulled out his coinpurse. Carefully he proffered two hundred bits after a few minutes of counting. Though he barely had enough bits to make the trip before, now he was short a few hundred. He might have to fly his way back to Equestria if he couldn't make it on one thousand bits.

The sleaze bag of a unicorn inspected his pile of gold, emblazoned on one side with the cutie mark of Celestia, the other with Luna's cutie mark. "Mhm, consider yourself fired. Luckily for you that ship arrives any hour now with our dragon slayers aboard."

Klondike was about to leave, cursing the damnable filth that was Tweed Suit. "Wait, it's a week long boat ride to Moosehead alone. How are the dragon slayers getting here today if you called for them yesterday?"

Tweed was on the spot, nervously he tried to close the door. Klondike shoved a hoof in it, throwing his shoulder in it to force his way in. He looked at the town 'lady of the night', "Get out! Tweed and I have to talk." The whore obliged, grabbing her various garments and accessories. Kicking the door closed with a back hoof, Klondike stood with his wings flared, his ears laid back. Had he not been a librarian, he might have looked intimidating.

"You've been planning this you bastard! You hired those dragon slayers months ago, the Sun Eater was just a convenient excuse to announce it!"

"Still on about your imaginary monster? There is no 'Sun Eater' you foal! Venerax has always been a thorn in our side, and once I get rid of him we go back to peak production and I can get out of this hell hole. Maybe go to Canterlot and settle down, where I never have to hear about somepony's troll problems or why the miners won't dig!"

"You're the lowest type of scum, Tweed. And I'll be the first to spit on the pile of shit that will be your grave when that monster comes hunting for you."

A bell rang from outside, it's brass announcement telling the whole town that the latest cargo ship had arrived, the ship having docked with the Windshear docks. Tweed grinned at Klondike wickedly. "Speak of the devils, looks like I'll be keeping myself away from a premature grave. Since you are such a 'hospitable' stallion, why don't you go get our guests and show them the way to the saloon? And Klondike, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."

"Buck you and everything you stand for." hissed the pegasus, nearly taking the door of its hinges as he threw it open.

*****************************

Two stallions stood at the dock, several heavy trunks behind them. The first, a unicorn, was dressed regally in royal purple and blues, his white head hung as if the very simplicity of Windshear was an affront to his person. The other, a red-brown earth pony, looked like some village might have been missing their fool. A leather cap donned his head, and a worn linen tunic covered his body. The earth pony looked like he might have once had a good smile, but somepony had taken a hammer to his teeth. As a pair they were polar opposites.

"Well would ya look at that sire, a right and true local! Hey local, come grab our baggage would ye!" the earth pony spat at Klondike.

"Now Patsy, do not use such complex words as 'baggage', you might confuse his elementary mind."

Klondike, still fairly pissed from Tweed, addressed the pair. "Are you the dragon slayers?"

"Who wants to know?" replied the cockney earth pony.

"The pony who is about to leave town because of you two."

The regal unicorn tossed his mane, twirling a long mustache with his hoof. "Oh, the shipmaster has decided to stay for the night. I do not hope it has caused you an inconvenience."

"If it pleases his 'lordship', it has set me back. The quicker I leave town the better." Klondike replied with acid in his voice.

"Why do you not simply fly away on those astoundingly large wings of yours?"

"What I'm running from has even bigger wings than I do." He grabbed a trunk and tossed it on his own back, grabbing another in his teeth he began to drag it to the saloon.

It took the pegasus three trips to drag all of the heavy luggage to the open boarding room in the saloon where the slayers would stay. Though perfectly capable of getting it themselves, they insisted that they were 'too weary from their long voyage'.

By the time the exhausted pegasus had finished placing the last trunk in their room on the upstairs floor of the saloon, the crude and rude earth pony had managed to corral everypony not doing something to the main floor of the saloon.

The foul pony gathered their attention, clearing his throat and unfurling a scroll to introduce his regal friend."Presenting his lordship, Knight of the Realm of Equestria, Sir Owayn, dragon slayer!" Several sets of hooves set about stomping and clapping for the dragon slayer.

Sir Owayn raised a hoof, silencing the denizens of Windshear. "Indeed, my squire Patsy and I have come to rescue your fair village from the clutches of the dragon Obsidian. I personally answered the call of the North Enterprise Company, volunteering myself and my squire to come and bravely risk our very lives to face off with such a beast!"

"Ha! Hahahahaha!" the laughing silenced the knight, all attention turned to the corner, where the town drunk roared in laughter. "You think you can take Venerax? That is the best joke I have heard in years, hahaha! And the perfect punchline will be when the real monster comes to freeze your very bones you foal!"

Owayn turned to his assigned escort from the Company, a local tough. "Who is this drunkard? What does he speak of?"

"Just the town drunk, he makes up stories to entertain himself and the other drunks. He thinks that there is some kind of monster out there other than the dragon."

"And there is!" Old Spin shouted. Taking a glass full of whiskey he threw it on the fire. A blast of flame roared from the hearth, illuminating the ivory scrimshaw work of the Sun Eater. "This beast shows no fear, no mercy and no reason. Calling it a myth is simply making it stronger. It will hunt the forests until they are barren of any living thing, then this creature will come to feed on us!"

Two muscular ponies grabbed the ranting pegasus, hauling him out as he shouted his warning. "IT WILL KILL US ALL! IT WILL CONSUME EVERYTHING YOU FOALS!"

With the attention completely diverted from him, the knight and his squire left the stage, quietly adjourning to their supplied quarters.

*********************************************

The queen screamed in the pains of labor, her cries reaching far across the forest land from her icy cave dwelling. With a push, a leathery egg emerged from her womb, dropping into the bowl of ice in the back of her cave. The queen stopped for breath, them pushed again, screaming in her labor. They came more easily after the first, each egg taking an empty bowl of ice spread out across the cave. Her screams echoed in the chilling depths, this act of painful birth would put her in more desperate need of fresh meat from now on.

After an hour, she finished birthing her clutch. Thirteen eggs, all perfectly formed, an excellent clutch for any queen. The leathery shells began to harden, the oozing slime of her afterbirth coating each one protectively. The queen inspected her eggs, sniffing for any flaws put off by the embryos. One in particular gave off a foul odor, prompting the queen to recoil from it in repulsion. Apparently the stress of her fight with the other queen and her flight to this new land had been too much for this little one. Grasping it in her teeth she carried it outside, dropping it far away from the other eggs in the clutch. The rotting odor might attract scavengers, and that was a risk she could not take while hunting for additional food.

Going back into her cave, she stopped to gorge on a frozen, dead moose that she had killed a few days ago. Recovering the lost nutrients after giving birth would take days, but now the queen was in her defensive state of mind and was more dangerous than ever. Returning to her nest she sniffed her eggs again, just making sure that no others had been stillborn. Satisfied no others were damaged, she assessed her children's gender by their embryonic pheromones. Three females, nine males. Other queens might get jealous and kill the female offspring, but there was plenty of new territory here for them to take over on their own.

Instinct drove her to leave the cave. With no foolish and jealous males to guard against, she was free to hunt. But all the prey around the ice cave had grown wary of her scent and were getting scarce. She would have to range a little farther for food.

*******************************************

The lone pegasus pushed open the door to the library, coming in for the final time. Quietly he walked the aisles and stacks, occasionally stopping to straighten a book or brush away a mote of dust. It had been his prison for years, the confinement that had risen around him when his parents had abandoned him here. And like a true prisoner, having been trapped for years, the outside world would frighten him. And Klondike would yearn for these parchment walls, so secure and unchanging.

With a heavy heart he grabbed his saddlebag, placing it securely on his back he walked down his stairs. Closing the door to the library he looked back with want, want for some place to truly call home. He sighed, walking slowly in the twilight shadows to the dock houses, hopefully the captain was still on board, and he could get a spot on the cargo ship downriver. Several ponies were working the docks, lifting crates of smelted gold with their muscle or magic. Crates of equipment and other necessities replaced the filled crates of gold bullion in the warehouses. Klondike found a pony that looked like he was in charge around here, a stranger that had an anchor cutie mark.

"Sir? Do you know if this ship is taking passengers?" he called to the sailor.

"Aye, we can take on a passenger, if that passenger has the bits to accommodate."

Klondike reached into his saddlebag, pulling out his purse of bits. "I have money, and I don't have any luggage except what I'm carrying."

The shipmaster eyed the bulging bag of coins, slightly less full since Tweed had gotten to them. "Alright then, make yourself at home and don't get in the way."

Fluttering over to the ship's deck, he set down his saddlebags and sat next to the rails. Finally, his time here could end, he could be free from the monsters of Snowreach and beyond, free from the tyranny of a corporation without reins.

He closed his eyes, breathing deep he took in one of the last breaths of the pure, cold air of Snowreach.

"I'm coming home." he whispered to nothing. His eyes snapped open, a fearfully familiar sound tingling in his ears. A roar like the roll of thunder. "No, NO!" he screamed. "Everypony take cover!"

The dock workers and sailors looked at him in confusion. Then the roar reached their ears. "Obsidian is attacking!" somepony shouted. Instantly the docks were embroiled by fear and chaos. Ponies dropped whatever they were doing to flee for shelter.

Klondike took off from the deck, flying as fast as he could to the center of town, screaming his message. "Run for cover! The monster is attacking!" What ponies that were out at this time of day cried in terror and ran for cover. The roars grew louder, and now he could hear the beats of huge wings. His heart pounding in his chest, he saw his waking nightmare emerge over the mountains, hovering for moment. The beast seemed to inspect the town, considering her options. Luckily most everypony had gotten inside, hiding from her sight.

With a short roar she banked on her wings, heading for....the mine.

"Pine Fresh..." Klondike whispered, and he poured on every scrap of speed that he could to chase the monster.

****************************************

The queen saw the odd structures, and she hovered above to get a good look. But they showed no promise of a meal, and she banked towards a nearby mountain side. Looking down as she hunted, the queen spied an entire herd of ponies, all standing in a neat little row in front of a small cave entrance. More of the structures stood outside of the cave, and upon spying her the ponies fled into the cave and the buildings.

Landing hard, she sniffed and inspected one of the buildings. The delightful scents of fear and fresh flesh came from within, and she rammed her horned head into the wall. A little too hard perhaps, it crumbled against her assault, bringing down the entire building. Screams of terror and pain rang out as she dipped her head into the rubble, picking out any ponies that she could find and swallowing them whole.

This was just like flushing out lemmings as a hatchling, tear down their nest and gorge yourself. Her whip-crack tail brought down another shed, quickly stinging the pair of ponies that hid inside. She turned her attention to the real goal, the ponies that cowered inside the mine. She sniffed, the air that came out was rank with their smell, and the queen tried to reach her head inside to grab some. Her head only made it a few feet inside, flicking out her serpent tongue she grabbed a pony by the leg, dragging him into her gullet as he kicked and screamed.

Backing out of the cave, she reached in with a clawed wing, the greater reach allowing her to go deeper. Grasping about, she felt a slight prick and pain. She withdrew the wing, a pinprick of blood on the tip of her wing. Annoyed, she rammed her head into the mountainside, shaking the mine. Some ponies shouted, one of them tried to run for open ground. Standing over the entrance of the crumbling mine, she stung the fleeing ponies with her venom as they ran out. This was too easy!

They stopped coming out for a moment, and a fit of Pavlovian conditioning, she rammed against the mountain to make more delicious morsels come tumbling out. Strange, they didn't come running. She rammed the mountain with her horned head again, but a cloud of dust billowed out from the mine shaft. In her overeager attempts, the queen had collapsed the inside of the mountain! Grumbling in her reptilian fashion, the queen grabbed as many of her victims as she could hold, taking off with her prizes.

********************************************

Klondike arrived moments after the queen's departure, he landed, desperately seeking his friend. "Pine! PINE!" he shouted. Running over to the ruins of the foremen's office, he scrambled through the fallen timbers and broken walls. "Pine!" Only bloodstains and a few dead foremen greeted him.

He flew to the mine entrance, overcoming his fear of the mine shaft as he dove inside. Several ponies groaned and cried out in pain. "Pine! Where are you?!"

"Klondike..." a voice weakly called out. The pegasus ran to the source of the answer. Pine Fresh lay pinned under a support beam, scarlet blood leaking away from his trapped body.

"Don't move, you'll be alright. I just have to get this off of you!" Klondike put a shoulder under the beam, straining he lifted. Pine screamed in pain, but the beam shifted just enough for the pegasus to pull out his friend. He dragged him out of the mine shaft. Other ponies were now coming up from Windshear, holding weapons and prepared to fight that monster. Klondike looked up at them, "The mine shaft collapsed!"

All the ponies dropped their weapons and ran for the entrance to dig out their friends. Klondike held his oldest friend close, Pine's breathing was ragged and he spewed blood.

"You're going to be alright Pine, you'll pull through this!"

Pine Fresh coughed, "You...always were.. a terrible liar."

The pegasus' eyes were filled with tears, "Don't say things like that, you're too tough to die here."

"Klondike...I'm cold. I want....I want...to go home."

"No, don't feel cold. Don't go into the darkness." he choked back his tears. "We're going to get out of here Pine. We're both going to go to that sunny beach. It'll be warm there, with pretty mares to serve you drinks, with no foremen to ride you all day."

Pine Fresh managed to smile, "Go back to my place....in my trunk...send the letters there.....to my family."

Klondike nodded. "You got it...buddy." Sniffing, he wiped his own eyes with a wingtip.

"Klondike...I'm sorry I laughed at you." he rasped.

"No, no. Don't feel like that. You were right, I'm not a warrior."

Pine Fresh pulled him closer, "No...you're the strongest stallion I've ever known. Goodbye....friend." Pine's hoof fell to the ground, his chest became still and his eyes glazed over.

"Goodbye Pine...." he closed the earth pony's eyes. He held on to his friend for a few moments longer, never wanting to let go. A familiar roar brought his eyes up. "You... I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed at the fleeing monster.

Klondike grabbed a spear that a miner had dropped, taking to the air he flew like a bullet towards the creature that had been responsible for so much death. He flew like one possessed, the distance between him and the unsuspecting beast melting away.

With rage fueling his course, the pegasus flew above the monster, still unaware of his pursuit. Out of racial instinct he threw the spear from his mouth, aiming it for the beast's back. Though its aim was true, it clattered harmlessly off her hard scales. The beast stopped, whirling around to find the creature that dared attack her in the air.

Klondike stared down the monster that flew just yards away from him. Without a plan he had charged up here to fight, and now he had wasted his only weapon.

The queen had her claws and tail full of dead and paralyzed pony, normally she would have whipped him with her venom tipped tail and been on her way. But that was not an option. Sucking in her breath she charged up an ice beam.

Klondike saw only one way to attack, lowering his head he charged full speed directly at her exposed chest. Ramming the beast, he forced the monster to let out her breath of frost too early.

The queen felt his attack, and in her most protected and vulnerable place! Aiming her half charged frost beam she blasted the small creature that had defied her in her own domain.

Klondike felt the cold, the bone chilling breath that could only be compared with the arctic blasts on naked skin. He felt heavy, falling from the clouds as the beast roared and resumed her journey. The world became darker, the spinning ground becoming closer with every moment. Spreading his wings he slowed his descent, but too late. He slammed into tree branches, snapping under his weight as he fell to the earth. With a stinging crash that jolted every bone, he landed hard on the ground, the world fading to black.

Only the Worthy can Stand

"Venerax!" cried a familiar voice. The obsidian-black drake lifted his head from resting, noticing a group of other dragons about his age coming his way.

"Cirzoke, what is the meaning of this?" The drake stood from his small hoard of gold and gems, stretching out his muscles. All around the young dragons flew the elders of their kind, resting themselves in the warmth of the crater they migrated to. It was Venerax's second migration, and one of the rare opportunities amongst dragonkind to socialize with others of their species.

"We have decided to go on a raid, you in?" Several of the drakes looked excited at the prospect of a delightfully destructive raid in the near future. Venerax was not much of a warrior, preferring to rest here in the crater rather than go out on raids with the other drakes. Cirzoke was an old friend from his first migration, in that time they had caused much havoc amongst the local wildlife around the migration crater.

"Um, no. I'm sorry, but I do not really have any desire to go on a raid."

The lime green dragonling sidled up to Venerax. "Come on, you know you want to let out a little flame now and then. Besides, you're the smartest one among us and you have the longest flame!"

Venerax considered it. "Alright, I'll go Cirzoke. What are we raiding? Are we going after that phoenix nest in the next valley? Or perhaps that den of Diamond Dogs? Maybe we'll find a manitcore to harass?"

The other eleven dragons exchanged glances, large grins splitting their faces. "Better than any phoenix nest or Dog den. Venerax, we're going to hunt wyverns!"

"WYVERNS?! Are you insane Cirzoke!? The elders all say that wyverns are too dangerous for even them to fight!"

Cirzoke scoffed, "Have you ever even seen a wyvern? They're small, scrawny and shoot icicles. How dangerous could that be?" The others nodded their heads. "Besides, if we kill a wyvern in a raid, we'll be legends! Dragons and even those namby-pamby ponies will talk about our raid for years!"

"Nothing except the opening of Tartarus itself would make me hunt a wyvern, Cirzoke."

His peers shrugged their shoulders, "Fine then. Remember my face Venerax, because after we come back with a dead wyvern in our claws, everyone will." Cirzoke turned back to his raiders, "It's a long trip north to wyvern territory, eat as many gems as you can now. We'll probably be gone for a few weeks at the least."

Several beat their great wings, taking to the sky after gorging noisily on gems. Cirzoke turned back to the black drake still lying prostrate on a hoard of gems. "So long Venerax. Have fun playing it safe!"

"Wait!" shouted Venerax. "I'll go." The black dragon cursed his loyalty to his friend, and took wing northward to hunt wyverns in the polar tundras.

*************************************************

Klondike felt like he was moving. He would lazily drift between consciousness and sleep, seeing the sunlight filter through the treetops as he was dragged to wherever he was being taken. Eventually, the smell of tea woke him up. But not just tea, the cloying smell of animal furs and partially rotted meat filled his nose. He tried to open his eyes, but they felt like the weight of mountains was on his head.

Forcing every ounce of strength into his eyelids, he cracked them open. He lay under a warm animal skin, on a lumpy bed that smelled of alcohol. He struggled to rise up, but felt sore in every part of his body. Klondike's head lulled towards the nightstand, on it lay several cups with steam rising out of them. Reaching out with his prehensile wing feathers he grasped at a cup, spilling it on the floor. He tried again and grabbed the second, bringing it to his lips he drank it down hot.

Klondike nearly vomited, besides tea that drink tasted of something alchemical. But the soreness of his bones eased, and he could actually lean up. Grabbing the third cup he swallowed it down, anticipating the bad flavor to come. He lay for a minute, letting the potion do its work. Sitting up in the strange bed he got a look at his surroundings. A cheerful fire crackled in a stone hearth. The walls were logs with mud mortar, and decorated with animal skins. A small table sat unattended, set with breakfast for one. Rising from the bed, Klondike stumbled over to the table.

Not bothering with silverware, he greedily ate down the oatmeal mash and biscuits that were laid out and still warm. Finishing his meal in minutes, he saw the glint of steel beside the hearth. Looking closer, he saw the outline of a sword in its sheathe. Standing from the table, he grabbed the sword and strapped it to his back.

"I'm borrowing this." he said to nopony. The weight of the weapon felt odd on his back, he most certainly was not a warrior, but he knew that this was no run of the mill blade that a soldier might wield. Pushing open the door of the cabin he walked out, determined to find that damn monster.

"Where do you think you're goin?" said a rough voice. Klondike turned to see Old Spin leaned back against a log, a wide brimmed hat tipped over his eyes and a wood axe laying next to him along with a pile of freshly chopped wood.

Klondike stared down the town drunk, "I'm going to find that monster, and I'm going to kill it."

Spin tipped the hat back, "Hmph, that's the funniest joke I've heard since Owayn said he would kill Venerax." the grey pegasus stated, spitting out a wad of chew.

"I mean it, I'll find it, and I'll kill that demon monster from Tartarus!"

Spin stood up, stretching out his legs. "And just how do you think you'll kill the Sun Eater? With mean words? How about a not-so-nice letter?"

Klondike grabbed the hilt of the sword in his mouth, awkwardly jerking it from its sheathe. "With this." he said.

"Please, you're not a warrior. You're a pencil pusher, a librarian that has seen more action with knitting sweaters than he has with a sword. You're more likely to kill yourself than even score a hit on that beast."

"To hell with you; thanks for the breakfast, but I have a monster to kill." Klondike began to walk away, but a crack sounded and suddenly his flank burned like fire.

"Congratulations kid, you're dead." Klondike looked back at Old Spin, who stood coiling up a bullwhip.

"What the hell was that for?!"

Spin threw the whip again, scoring a hit on Klondike's leg.

"That first one was for stealing my sword. The second was for the disrespect you gave me. And this one is to prove a point." Again the old pegasus lashed out with the whip, catching Klondike on the neck. "You died with the first hit, now it's just playing with its food."

Klondike rubbed the welts on his neck and leg, "What point are you trying to prove here?!" Spin cocked back his hoof again, Klondike saw another whiplash coming and jumped out of the way.

"Better. But you're still dead three times over. That beast has a tail that moves even faster than this whip, and from what I've seen, they pack one hell of a venom. You're still a dead stallion though, if you face off with it you won't last a minute."

"Then teach me how to fight! Teach me how to kill it!"

The old pegasus tossed down his whip, meandering over to his woodpile. "You think you have what it takes? You think a little training might somehow give you the skills to stop an apex predator?"

"It's a better option than letting it just pick us off, one by one while we sit back and suck on our hooves."

Spin nodded, "True. Alright, lesson one, respect your teacher. Lesson two..." With lightning movements he grabbed the axe from his wood pile, swinging it at the young pegasus. Klondike barely dodged it, grabbing the heavy sword he lifted it to defend himself. Spin knocked it out of his teeth with a swing of his ax. "...expect the unexpected."

Spin walked over to his sword, kicking it back to Klondike. "Again."

Klondike reached down to grab the sword, grasping it in a fetlock he saw Spin's shadow hovering over him. Raising the blade in a cross defensive he managed to block the old trapper's downward chop. But Spin was not deterred, pulling back with the ax and elbowing Klondike in the jaw. Recoiling from the surprise blow, Klondike swept with the sword towards Spin's gut. With a flick of the ax handle he knocked it aside, taking the sword out of Klondike's fetlocks.

Spin walked over to the once again disarmed pegasus, kicking the blade back to him. "Again."

Klondike rubbed his sore jaw, "Go easy on me, I've never even held a sword before!"

Spin dropped his axe, "Easy? You think I'll go easy on you because you're some kind of sissy amateur? Do you think that monster will go easy on you? You think it'll let you get in a few handicap hits because of how inexperienced you are?! Just because you are some pitiful excuse for a stallion doesn't mean it won't tear you limb from limb just for existing! I've seen good ponies with plenty of potential get trained 'the easy way', and they were always the first ones to die in the face of fear!" Spin grabbed his ax again, "AGAIN!" and lunged at Klondike.

Klondike managed a clumsy parry of the swinging axe, slicing forward on the rebound. Spin had to block this awkward attack, quickly countering. Slipping the head of the axe around the blade of the sword, Spin twisted and once again disarmed Klondike. "I was wondering when you would finally start doing some of the work. Lesson three, know your enemy."

"What exactly is our enemy?" Klondike said as he retrieved the sword from the dirt.

"We've all failed lesson three apparently, nopony knows what in Tartarus this thing is. And the Sun Eater isn't our only enemy in this, Sir Owayn could pose a threat to our safety if he kills the wrong monster. Tweed Suit, always the greedy bastard, is also somepony to watch out for. Even Venerax could pop out of the blue, royally pissed that he won't be getting his monthly goodies anymore."

"What about you, Spin? 'Know your enemy', and to me it seems that there is more to you than meets the eye." Klondike stood ready for another attack, wings flared and the sword ready.

"I'm not the enemy here kid. But you show at least a little competence, but they say curiosity killed the cat." The old, gray pegasus worked out a cramp in his shoulder, "Come on, I'm done whalin' on you for now. Let's set up the simulator."

The simulator turned out to be an old log with poles sticking out at various points, with a rope they strung it up from a sturdy tree branch, letting the log dangle.

"Alright kid, this log will train you to press the offensive while maintaining the ability to defend yourself. Take that blade of yours and hit one of those branches." Spin took a seat on a stump, reclining to rest his back.

Klondike hefted the sword, choosing a doomed pole he swung for it. Connecting solidly the entire log spun. "Okay, now wh-" a pole caught him squarely on the side of the head.

"Remember kid, offense AND defense." Spin pulled out a hidden flask, taking a swig.

Klondike shook the stars out of his eyes, lining himself up for another swing at the log. Hitting a high pole, he quickly put up his guard to block the low pole that came swinging for his leg. Successfully batting back that pole, he was shamed by another pole striking him in the ribs.

"Okay kid, as much as it entertains me to see you scramble yourself like an egg, it's time for another lesson. Lesson four, anticipate your enemy's moves."

The training lasted all day, the younger pegasus suffering more bruises than he cared to count by the time Old Spin let him stop. Relaxing in the yard of the cabin, the pair of pegasi tended to Klondike's injuries, both old and new. Spin dipped a wing feather into a bit of salve, smearing it on one of the more prominent bruises of Klondike's face.

"You did fairly good, for a gutless bookie."

Klondike winced at the sting of the salve and of Spin's words. "I'm not gutless. I was brave enough to attack that creature in the sky!"

Spin screwed the lid back on to the jar of salve, "There's a huge difference between bravery and stupidity. You nearly died out there because you let anger get the better of you."

"At least I'm the only one who has tried to do something about that thing!"

"Tried and nearly died! Damn it kid, you have to THINK if you want to help overcome this monster!" Spin poked Klondike's sore head with a hoof.

"And just who the hell do you think you are Spin?! You've beaten me, degraded me and stared at me behind my back for years! Maybe I wouldn't be such a failure if the only other pegasus wasn't a filthy drunk!"

Spin's eyes had a look that shoot daggers. "You think you're any better than me? I am ashamed to even call myself a part of the same tribe as you! You're not a pegasus, you're a damn earth pony that chopped off a pigeon's wings and sewed them on himself! No wait, I've seen unicorns with butterfly wings that are better pegasi AND better warriors than your sorry waste of a feathered hide! No wonder your parents ditched you out here in the wilderness!"

"AAAHHHH!" Klondike roared at the insults, all holding a grain of truth, all bitter and striking a nerve. Grabbing the sheathed sword on his back he attacked the old pegasus with a ferocity unlike he had ever seen. Spin jumped and dodged, barely able to grab his ax to defend himself from Klondike's onslaught. Steel rang on steel as ax head met sword. Soon Klondike was throwing hoofed punches as well as swinging his sword. Spin was backed against a wall, holding the ax handle up defensively. With a heavy chop, Klondike sheared the ax handle in two.

Whipping his weapon back up, he held it to Spin's throat.

Spin panted, then a smile breached his lips. "Well now, it looks like I was wrong. Now get your feathers out of my face."

Klondike looked down, the sword point wasn't at Spin's throat. Instead, the longest feather on his wing was aimed straight for the trapper's voicebox. Flexing the feathers, he laid his wings back down. Klondike began to unbuckle the sword belt from his torso.

"Don't bother kid, keep the sword. I don't need it so much anymore. I will, however, ask that you loan a couple of bits to replace my ax." With a hoof the old pegasus nudged the halves of the ax handle.

"No can do, I lost some of my bits to Tweed and the rest are still on that ship, which I'm guessing is long gone by now."

Old Spin shrugged, grabbing his cloak that he wore when he went to town. "Then I guess drinks are on me tonight. Come on."

*************************************************

Yowza, that took a hell of a long time to write for something so simple. Good stuff though, Venerax finally gets some dialogue (even if it is in memory form). It's kind of weird, but I think it helps to imagine Old Spin's voice as being exactly like Sam Elliot's voice. You know, the old guy from the first Ghost Rider. No? The Stranger from Big Lebowski? Hulk? Still no? Fine, look it up! Lolz, having imaginary arguments with myself again, time for my "vitamins"! Happy Earth Day to all my readers, cherish and love our Mother and she will love us in return.

Knight's Errand

Cirzoke had been absolutely right about a few things. The trip to the north took weeks, flying for days on end without any food or rest. The twelve young dragons did make a few pit stops now and then if they found a particularly concentrated source of gems to eat. Or, as the case was more often than not, to display their draconic dominance over some creature village by doing a little pillaging and burning on the side. Far from their main goal, they typically left a village alone unless the denizens looked at the dragons the wrong way.

Unfortunately, this plunder had to stop after that yellow scaled buffoon Az had taken a sword cut to the thigh. Some enterprising dragon-slayer wannabe had taken an opportunity to get his two bits on the yellow drake, and was promptly turned to ash by Venerax. The black dragon felt that such pillaging was unnecessarily rough on the mostly defenseless ponies and whatever else they encountered. Az deserved that little nick he had taken, of course he had been in the process of incinerating the poor fellow's barn when he was wounded.

With the side raids put on hold, the journey northward started taking leaps and bounds, and within a fortnight the auroras danced in the skies overhead and the air grew chill with the night, though autumn was barely beginning.

The raiding party landed in a forest clearing, scaring away a small herd of grazing musk oxen. Venerax put his nose to the wind, sniffing for any scents of the dreaded wyverns.

"I do not smell any wyverns Cirzoke, are you absolutely positive that the elders were not just telling us stories to frighten us as whelps?"

Cirzoke slammed his clubbed tail into a log, shattering the wood. "They are real! We are not in their territory yet."

"How? This is the farthest north any dragon dares to go! 'The great mountains where lights dance in the sky, there you shall find the beasts of ice and die." Venerax recited an old nest rhyme that his mother had sang to him and his siblings after they hatched.

Cirzoke clubbed the black dragon on his head, "Have you ever considered that there might be something on the OTHER SIDE?! The world doesn't just stop at the peak of these mountains, little-wings!"

Though his wings were actually much larger than Cirzoke's, Venerax growled at the insult that was so very serious among dragons. Tongues of flame curled from his maw, and Cirzoke hissed at his friend. The pair began to circle one another, their fighting instincts having taken over. Several of the drakes grabbed both the green and black dragons, holding them back.

"Calm down you whelps! We'll never find a wyvern to kill if we kill each other first!"

Cirzoke threw off his oppressors, brushing dust off of his scales. "Kelmore is right, Venerax. I am sorry for the insult, but you tend to be a bit too zealous of the elder's tales."

Venerax shrugged off the drakes holding him down. "They are the elders for a reason, their wisdom is what allowed them to survive. And if anything we need to listen to their wisdom if we want to survive."

Cirzoke nodded, accepting the logical thoughts of his companion. "Very well, move out." The entire flight of dragons took wing northward once again, foolishly daring to cross the mountains that protected the rest of the world from the wyverns.

******************************************

Klondike and Spin both donned long cloaks to ward off the sub arctic wind, though their natural tendencies as pegasi made them unnecessary. Still bearing the sword that Spin had so willingly and oddly let him keep, Klondike walked with his elder to town for the nightly ritual of alcoholism. The pair approached Windshear, the palisade walls and ramparts covered in ponies that had willingly volunteered to act as vigilant watchmen.

Passing through the gate they nodded to the townsponies who stood watch. A few were bandaged and bruised, likely survivors of the mine collapse. Though the injured were all too few in number. Several militia ponies stood huddled around torches and braziers, the warm flickers of flame not penetrating the coldness that the beast held on their heavy hearts.

Spin walked onto the porch of the saloon first, stopping the younger pegasus before they could enter. "I want you to know a few things before we go inside. We can't trust Owayn or his squire, even though we may need them. Don't say my name, and most certainly do not mention that I am a pegasus." Spin left his cloak loose to cover his wings.

"Why not? Owayn might actually have the skills to defeat the Sun Eater."

"Owayn is here for one thing and one thing only, his shot at taking down Venerax. That old dragon is kind of famous amongst slayers like Owayn for his reputation of being untouchable. And with the gold mines paying him tribute, rumor says that Venerax might have the largest hoard north of Canterlot."

Klondike snorted, "So we have to get Owayn on our side....while not telling him anything."

"You're a quick one. Maybe training you won't be such a chore after all." Old Spin nodded and pushed open the door. Normally the patrons would have set about yelling in their normal idiom, but tonight there was no cheer or mirth in the atmosphere. Many sat at the bar, heads low as they stared at the bottom of a glass. Many seats sat open and lay barren of the miners and foremen that normally filled them. Some had bandages wrapped about their limbs, some even had limbs missing, the stumps sutured by untrained unicorn magic.

Spin and his protege took the table in the corner, patiently awaiting the waitress to take their order. Aurora came within a few short minutes, her eyes baggy and bloodshot. "What can I get you? The usual Mr. Spin?"

Spin opened his mouth to ask for a bottle of whiskey and a salt block, "No. Get me a glass of water. And a round of drinks for everypony. Kid?" he asked the still hooded pegasus.

Klondike drew back his hood, looking into Aurora's eyes. "Two glasses of Fillydelphia whiskey."

"You're alive..." she said. "I thought you died after all those ponies said you chased after that monster."

"I'm alright, but a lot of good ponies died back there."

She nodded and proceeded back to the bar to fetch their drinks. Upon hearing about a free round courtesy of Old Spin, everypony's melancholy lifted ever so slightly.

A loud stomping of hooves from the second floor drew the attention of the two pegasi, Spin glanced up to see Sir Owayn tromping down the stairwell. Owayn didn't seem fazed by the fact that a monster had boldly attacked this very town less than a day ago, while he was around nonetheless. His foul squire Patsy followed close behind, forcing several depressed miners out of their table to accommodate Owayn. "Ey pretty mare! Bottle of your finest wine for his lordship!" Aurora obliged the foul squire, receiving an unwanted touch to her rump when she delivered to the knight.

Grimacing at the unwarranted attraction, Aurora levitated her tray over to the pair of pegasi. "Your drinks gentlecolts."

Klondike picked up one of his glasses of whiskey, then with tear filled eyes he poured it out on the saloon floor. "This one for you, Pine." Taking the other glass he sipped it slowly, letting the burn of alcohol wash away some of his pain.

Spin drank down his water quickly. "Alright kid, I'll handle Owayn and Patsy."

"What do I do?"

Spin smiled and nodded in Aurora's direction. She stood alone by the kitchen door, trying to hide the tears that so much death had brought to her once shining amethyst eyes. "Go to her kid." Spin stood up from the table, throwing his hood back up and assuming the most cockney, backcountry hick persona that he could manage. Stumbling over to Owayn's table, he sat down across from the knight of Equestria.

"Hey local, this table is reserved for Sir Owayn!" Patsy growled to the newcomer.

"Well howdy there ye young whippersnappers!" Spin gave in a crazy old coot miner voice. "The name is Spin if ya don't mind s'much."

Owayn appeared offended by the presence of the old trapper. Horn glowing with magic, he levitated the glass of wine to his mouth without regarding the trapper.

"You deaf old colt? I said this table ain't got no openings!"

Spin lifted a hoof to his ear, pretending that he indeed was hard of hearing. "What's that? Y'all say yer lookin for openin's in that dragon's lair?"

Owayn's ears perked at the trapper's remark. Patsy continued his aggression. "I told you once, old foal, now you gone and pissed me off!"

Owayn captured Patsy's flying hoof as he prepared to punch out Spin. "Hold your anger Patsy. What do you know of the dragon?"

"Welp, I don't know much about Vindicator or Vinny or Vincent..."

"Venerax. His name is Venerax." Owayn corrected.

"It sure is young feller. Anyhoo, I don't know me much 'bout Venerax. But my young pegasus friend over thar knows 'im better than his own mama!"

Both outlanders looked over at the pegasus still nursing a glass of whiskey. "The Company baggage boy? How could he know the dragon?"

"Aw Klondike ain't no baggage boy. Til y'all showed up he was the town librarian!"

"Librarian? Of course, the other knights all say that Venerax treasures knowledge above all other things. Has your young friend been supplying him with literature?"

"Sure as shoot, Company pays 'im ta do it. Well, not no more since y'all seem to be on a dragon slayin' mission up hyar."

Owayn looked closely at the old trapper, "You seem familiar. Have we met before?"

"Just yesterday. I was a rantin and a ravin about the real monster!"

"And just what is this 'real monster' of yours?"

"Trolls call it a Sun Eater. It's a critter like a dragon, but not smart like one. From what me and my edu-ma-cated young friend over thar understand, it's totally unknown to pony science and research. I thinks that the reward fer bringin' something like that back ta Canterlot, with all its possible magical and alchemical values, could be worth quite a mighty fortune, more than the bounty on Venerax and his hoard combined."

The knight and his squire sat speechless, enthralled by the idea of such a bountiful prize, more so than any petty wyrm, flying around the north.

"What's the catch old foal?" Patsy chimed out.

"Y'all seen what that critter done ta this town? I'd be happy seein' a pair o' fine dragon slayers like yerselves do away with it. Well heck, I might just help ya out with this critter, seein as I know these woods and valleys like the back of my hoof."

"And your price, 'Spin' was it?"

The old trapper grinned. "One dead monster, Owayn."

The pair shook hooves. Spin leaned back on his chair, "So, what's been happening down south?" The knight and his squire poured themselves another round while regaling the old trapper with the news. Since he had come up north things had changed quite a bit, new Embodiements of the Elements of Harmony had been chosen and Princess Luna had been freed of the darkness that had consumed her. Discord had broken free and been imprisoned again, and all of Canterlot had been threatened by an attack by the Changelings during Princess Cadence's wedding. When he left Equestria for Snowreach several weeks ago, there had been some hoopla about 'demons' or some such.

Over at the corner table Klondike finished his single glass, leaving the second empty and turned over for Pine Fresh. He could almost hear Pine poking fun at him, mirthfully drinking away the night as the pair talked endlessly about what they would do when they got home to Equestria. Klondike looked up from the bottom of his glass, his gaze drifting to Aurora. Standing from his table, he walked to the unicorn mare.

"Hey, are you alright Aurora?"

She sniffed and wiped her eyes, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm....I'm just afraid is all."

"Me too." he whispered, remembering how Pine Fresh had died in his hooves, how that beast had come with her sky darkening wings and tore down his world.

"I heard about Pine Fresh, I'm sorry Klondike."

His eyes grew misty, "He was a brave pony, and he stood up for what he believed in. I'm proud to have called him my friend." The warm press of Aurora brought him back to reality, she had wrapped her hooves around his neck, tears streaking down her face. He raised his wings to wrap around her, the expansive feathers encircling the pair, placing them in their own private world. "Aurora, I swear upon Pine Fresh's memory that I will find that monster, and I will make it pay."

She squeezed him tighter, "No, please don't. We've already lost so much, I don't want to lose you." she gave him a warm kiss on the cheek, the soft gentle caress of her lips like nothing he had ever felt.

"I have to, if I don't then this monster will destroy everything. Nopony else is willing to stand against it."

Her embrace drew away, the warmth of her touch fading with the cold air of Snowreach. "If you do find it, I want you to promise me something."

"Anything."

"Come back home. Alive and in one piece."

He lost himself in those eyes of glittering amethyst, leaning closer to the mare he shared such a special bond with. She leaned closer to him, her glittering eyes closing ever so slightly.

A gruff voice cleared its throat, the two young ponies snapping back to reality in that bare second before their lips could touch. Aurora blushed, grabbing her tray she cantered back to work, embarrassed that she had been caught in such a situation. Klondike shook his head, wondering what came over him. Turning back to the source of the damnable interruption he was greeted by the stares of Old Spin, Sir Owayn and his squire.

"I apologize for interrupting such an intimate moment with your marefriend, but your old friend here has proclaimed that you have some exclusive knowledge of Venerax."

"Maybe I do and maybe I don't. What's it to you, Sir Owayn, Knight of Equestria?"

"My order of knights knows little to nothing about Venerax, we have combed the archives of Canterlot and of our priory, but to no avail. All we know is that he likes books and that he is what we term an 'untouchable'."

Klondike raised an eyebrow, "An untouchable?"

"Yes, a powerful dragon that holds some regard in the circles of draconic elders. For some reason they avoid him and his territory, and the dragon elders prevent the younger and more ambitious drakes from breaching his territory as well. In fact, I believe that Venerax is the only dragon within several hundred miles. He doesn't even have draconic neighbors, with the exception of your 'monster'. An incredibly odd phenomenon, considering the riches aplenty in this land."

"So you believe me? Spin told you?" The aged pegasus nodded, smiling.

"Indeed, we seek your service to guide us to Venerax's lair and your knowledge of the wyrm. And in exchange, we will aid your town in disposing of your 'Sun Eater'."

Klondike sighed, he could not betray his draconic friend, but he must stoop to incredible lows to deal with the real monster. Dropping to one knee, he bowed his head. "I accept your offer, and agree to lead you to the dragon, Sir Owayn."

The knight smiled, his long wispy mustaches fluttering. "Arise, with your guidance we strike out tomorrow for Venerax's lair."

Razorwing

The wind howled like the dire wolves that stalked this tundra. Venerax shuddered as a particularly piercing gale penetrated his thick scaly armor. The young dragons huddled together for warmth against the blowing wind and stinging snow. Venerax twisted his long neck to rest his head by Cirzoke, exhausted from three days of searching the polar ice with no wyverns to show for it. The pack of dragon raiders rested in the lee of a small hill, taking whatever shelter that could be offered on the mostly flat and windswept tundra.

"Still think this raid was a good idea?" he shouted over the howling wind.

Cirzoke snorted a puff of smoke at his friend, a meaningless gesture of annoyance that was lost in the wind. "It will be one of the defining moments of our lives Venerax. If you could keep your head out of the storm clouds for a few minutes you might appreciate that. When we go back to the crater bearing a dead wyvern, all the finest females will be at our claws, all the elders will share the most choice prizes from their hoards!"

"You do know that the twins are females, right?"

Cirzoke glanced over at Valcor and Volcar, the two indistinguishable twin females that had accompanied them on the raid. "Good luck with them Venerax, they say that their hearts are harder than their scales. And if they do not want females, they can have only the strongest and most appealing males as their mates." With a few winks he slid a little closer to the twins.

"And you think you are such a male? Please Cirzoke, my sister and I have seen ponies that appealed to us more than you!"

"Shut up Valcor!"

"I'm Volcar! Learn the difference!" Cirzoke grumbled at his misjudgment, scooting back closer to Venerax. The dragons were all hungry, though the land to the south was rife with their preferred meals of minerals and gems, the tundra was barren of such sustenance. And so they resorted to a more primal portion of their diet, fresh meat.

None of them knew which one had assigned Az to hunting for now, but someone had to have sent him out for food. Venerax began to worry for the yellow drake, Az wasn't the brightest dragon he had ever met and his sun yellow scales made him stick out on the tundra. A splash of unnatural color in an otherwise white, black and brown world. Should have sent one of the twins, their bright white scales made them blend in somewhat.

A faint roar sounded in the distance, Venerax lifted his head from the snow to search for the origin. It wasn't hard to spot Az flying in at full speed, threatening to crash land if he did not pull up. "SLOW DOWN YOU FOOL! YOU'RE GOING TO CRASH!"

Az roared again, obviously extremely excited about something. The other dragons all yelled at him to put on the brakes, but Az refused to listen, too eager to tell his news. With a rush of wind he overshot his landing, crashing into a snowbank behind the pack of dragons. Standing up he shook the snow from his scales. Almost bouncing he ran to the other dragons.

"I found one! I found one!"

"Well where is it? Where's the food?" One of the other dragons asked.

"Not food, a wyvern! I found one out on the tundra!" After he said the word 'wyvern', his speech became so quick and frenzied that it sounded like a giant hummingbird singing.

Cirzoke grabbed Az by the shoulders, slapping him with a clawed paw until he calmed down. "Slow down Az, how did you find a wyvern?"

Az shook off the blunt force of the slaps, regaining his senses he started again, but more slowly this time. "I was out hunting like Kelmore told me to and I found a tasty looking white bear to kill. I hit it with some fire and torched it good." the yellow drake grinned at the memory, "But then I heard this strange roar, like one of ours, but it didn't say anything that I could understand. I wondered if it was some kind of small dragon whose territory I had invaded, so I hid behind a huge rock. I waited less than a minute before this thing showed up! It was only about my size, maybe smaller. It was red and yellow, but in stripes instead of blotches. The thing had two horns on its head and no front legs. Anyways, it found the bear I killed and sniffed at it for a little bit, then it opened up its mouth and sprayed the body with ice! After that it started to eat, and I came straight back here!"

Cirzoke stood in awe, "A wyvern, you found a wyvern Az!" Cirzoke cried out and danced a merry jig, happy they had found the beast of ice, and that it was no bigger than Az.

"Well, what in Tartarus are we waiting for? Let's move out and kill a wyvern!" Venerax shouted. All twelve dragons beat their huge wings, Az leading the way as they hunted down the solitary wyvern. Az, in a bout of unfitting intelligence, said that they should land and sneak up on it. Otherwise they might scare off their only chance of killing a wyvern before they had to fly back to the crater.

Venerax saw his first wyvern that day, but it would not be his last. Landing discreetly the dragon raiders crept up on the feasting wyvern. It was just as Az had said, red and yellow stripes on a mainly brown body, a pair of horns on a triangular head. But what he failed to mention was the size of the claws on those hind legs, and that tail! That tail looked like it was in constant motion, swishing back and forth, curling on itself like a snake.

The beast in question was busy tearing into the flesh of the white bear Az had killed as unintentional bait. Head deep within the bear's stomach cavity, it did not notice when the twelve dragons crept close to it. Cirzoke looked positively ecstatic, barely able to control his eagerness to fight this thing. Venerax held him back with a claw. "Hold Cirzoke, Az found the wyvern, and he should be the first one to attack."

Cirzoke lost some of his bluster, "Oh alright, make us proud big fella!" He gave Az an encouraging pat on the neck. Az grinned like a fool and crept forward, getting dangerously close to the feasting wyvern.

The crunch of snow under the yellow drake's foot froze the distracted wyvern in place. Lifting its bloody muzzle out of its gory meal, it sniffed the air. Catching the scent of its hereditary opposite, the creature spun around, hissing and growling at Az. Az decided to make a proper duel, standing on his back legs he roared, spraying a pillar of fire in the air as a challenge.

Instead of intimidation, the wyvern became enraged, whipping out with that sinuous tail to hit Az in the neck. The yellow dragon placed a claw on his neck where the tail had struck, suddenly he felt very tired and extremely heavy. Foam dripped from his mouth, and Az fell to his knees before the wyvern. The wyvern reared up on his back legs, drawing in a breath he fired the hoarfrost beam that made wyverns so different from dragons. Az screamed as the ice reached his bones and froze his magma hot blood. He fell to the snow covered ground, and the wyvern placed a clawed foot on his back, spreading his wings and thumping them against his chest.

"AZ!" screamed Venerax. The wyvern noticed them for the first time, too caught up in its bloodlust before. Venerax expected it to attack, but instead it sucked in more air than should have been possible, letting it out in an ear splitting roar. The dragons slapped their claws to the sides of their heads, hoping to muffle the roar. It carried across the tundra, echoing for miles and miles. "KILL IT! KILL IT NOW!" Venerax shouted.

All eleven of the remaining dragons charged the wyvern, flying above it they sprayed down torrents of fire as hot as magma. The wyvern writhed in his agony, coated in flame he looked like some perversion of a phoenix in flight. In desperation the creature let loose its icy breath on its own body, freezing its own limbs to stop the pain of heat. Clawing at itself, the wyvern's struggles became weaker as it finally admitted that it was dead.

Cirzoke landed next to the charred wyvern corpse, panting at the adrenaline rush of the battle. "We did it, we killed a wyvern."

Venerax landed next to him, grabbing Cirzoke by the shoulders. "At what cost? AT WHAT COST?!?" The twins desperately did what they could for Az, but he was dead the moment that venom had entered his veins. "We have to get out of here! What if it was calling for others?" Off in the distance, across the tundra, another roar chilled their hearts and froze the dragons in terror. And another sounded in the distance, from a completely different direction. In tandem more of the roars rose from every direction, filling the tundra winds with the anger of dozens of wyverns. Small black shapes took to the sky, the horizon studded with scores of wyverns, all enraged by the intrusion of flame breathers into their realm.

Venerax shivered in terror, his eyes wide from the Pandora's box of primal fury that they had unleashed. But one thing would be burned into his memory for the rest of time. Rising amongst the dark shapes came a figure of titanic proportions. Dwarfing the small males, she roared with enough force to rattle bones and shake the frozen ground. As a wave of fear the wyverns tore across the tundra, their one goal being the utter annihilation of the dragons in their territory.

"Fly...FLY DAMN YOU!" Venerax shouted to the dragon raiders.

***********************************************************

Klondike opened his eyes to greet the morning sun. He had not been able to find a place to sleep last night, after his pledge of service to Owayn he had spoken in private to Aurora for a while. They had talked long into the night, Spin left for his cabin back in the woods to gather supplies for the journey, and Owayn had retired to his quarters in the saloon.

He could remember every word with clarity. Their final words had filled his heart with sorrow.

"Aurora, what we have is something special, something that I've never felt before. But it cannot be."

"Why? Why can't you just talk to me about our feelings?"

"Because, in all likelihood I walk out of this door tomorrow, and I never come back."

"Don't say things like that! You are going to succeed, you are going to kill that thing and make this world safe for us!"

He cupped her face with a hoof, she reached her hoof up and held it there with his. "I don't want you to be hurt when I don't come back."

She let her hoof fall, and moved away from his touch. "Go, leave me. I said GO!" Her horn flared with magic as she hurled a bolt of magical rage at the stallion who refused to love her. Taking the blow he grimaced as it left a welt on his chest, he walked out and went to the one place where he could be a true pegasus.

Laying on a cloud he felt cold inside. Not the cold of the wind, nor the deathly cold of the Sun Eater's breath; but the cold, bony grip of fear before a battle. As the sun warmed his body he gazed down at Windshear, so prepared to die when that monster came back for the main course. "I won't let that happen...for Pine Fresh I won't let it come to that. For Beech Nut and Chipper, I won't let that monster destroy everything we've worked so hard to build. For her...." He closed his eyes and sighed. Standing from his bed of vapors he dove down to where he was to meet Spin and the dragon slayers.

He flared his wings as he landed between the trio.

"You're late, guide." stated Owayn. "We agreed that we would meet at the gate at sunrise! Sunrise was fifteen minutes ago!" Owayn looked different, his normal satin noble clothing had been replaced by shining armor and enough weapons to outfit a squadron of soldiers. For a dragon slayer, he sure looked the part. Spin was still wearing his cloak to cover his wings from Owayn, but now he also wore a chainmail shirt with an ax and a crossbow on his back.

Patsy seemed only a little different, wearing a studded leather vest he carried a short sword and a crossbow like Spin, but he also lugged around a pair of small chests on this back with Owayn's personal pennant waving in the breeze.

"I move at my own pace, and if you can't keep up in all that metal, I'm not stopping for you Owayn." The knight was taken aback.

"Well I never!"

"Correction, you just did." Klondike spun on his heels and galloped for the well worn path to the dragon's lair. Spin appeared next to him, chuckling at some inside joke.

"What's so funny?"

"With you kid, a lot of things." The elder pegasus openly chuckled now.

"Such as?"

"My little trainee is growing up so fast, first he finds true love and then he puts a snobby noble in his place. Next thing you know I'll have to teach you the birds and the bees and bail you out of jail for getting in fights."

Klondike nearly choked at Spin's joke. "My parents already told me all that stuff!"

"Apparently not all of it kid, your little thing last night with Aurora, when you wrapped your big wings around her ever so gently, is the pegasus equivalent of getting to second base."

"WHAT?!? HOW!?"

"Your wings are a very vulnerable part of you if you didn't already know. Very delicate and sensitive to touch, so enveloping her like that is like rubbing the most sensitive part of your body all over her. It's a very trusting act, letting somepony mess with the most important part of a pegasus. With unicorns it's comparable to fondling their horn. Technically, she got to second base on you!"

Klondike screeched to a halt, falling back to his haunches as he realized how private of an act he had committed in public! And she liked it! Had his fur not already been red, Klondike could have signaled down airships with how scarlet he had become.

Spin stopped and trotted back to his gobsmacked trainee, tousling the younger pegasi's mane. "Aw, your ignorance of our tribal idiom is so cute. I might have to keep going with this, see what other hilarious tidbits you don't know. Next time she should ask you for a wing massage, it'll send shivers down to places she didn't know existed." He gave a wink and clapped Klondike on the shoulder. "Come on, Owayn is catching up."

Klondike stood, shaking off the craziness of the old trapper that had taken him under his wing. Wait, under his wing....now that idiom just sounded gross! "If what you say is true about horns and wings and naughty things, alicorns must really have it happening in their personal time."

Spin cackled madly, "I have never thought about it that way, you really are sharper than a tack kid."

*******************************************************

The pair of dragon slayers eventually managed to keep up with the galloping locals. Klondike normally made his book drop off flights in less than a day, making it to Venerax's cave in only a few hours. But on hoof, the trip would take until tomorrow at around noon at a full gallop. Other days when his book drop off schedule coincided with the gold delivery to the dragon, he had to walk the caravan there.

Klondike knew this path well, it cut through the heart of the pine forests and across several smaller rivers. But it was the only traversable path to the dragon's lair without flying. Leaping logs and jumping the stones across rivers, Klondike ran like the only thing stopping that monster from devouring everything was him. He ran for hours, his light body carrying well across the rough terrain. His only burden was a saddlebag and Spin's sword.

"Kid! Slow down damn it!" Wheezed Old Spin. He slid to a stop, wings flaring as he glared down the trapper. "You may have the stamina of youth, but the rest of us are weighed down or too old for this crap! And besides, you completely outran Owayn and Patsy an hour ago."

Klondike smiled at making the knight suffer just a little, and trotting to a stream he treated himself to some cold refreshing spring water. Spin sat down on the edge of the path, uncorking a wineskin to treat himself a little. About fifteen minutes later the dragon slayer and his squire cantered up the path, wheezing under the weight of all that armor.

"We ain't go no further til we've had a breather!"

The crimson pegasus rose from a small bed of pine needles, "We can't stop now. If what Spin said about that monster is true, it hunts in the dark and clouds. The sun is out right now, we are at our safest to travel."

Sir Owayn panted heavily, the labored breathing fluttering his mustaches. "How far are we from the dragon's lair?"

"We're about halfway there. Another twenty miles and we're on his doorstep."

Owayn considered it, "Another five miles at most, and then we must rest for the day. We cannot face such a dragon if we can barely breathe."

Klondike nodded, "Try to keep up" and took off at a much more leisurely pace.

The dragon slayers shook their heads, taking off after him.

********************************************************

Once again he managed to outpace everypony else, and found a nice place to camp for the night. A hollow made by the dense canopy of a thicket of hardwood trees. A decent place to camp, sheltered from the wind and nearly invisible from above. Klondike once again waited by the path, sitting on his haunches. After a few minutes the rest of the party showed up, panting and tired from chasing him down.

"Good choice of cover kid." Spin muttered to his protege.

Sir Owayn and Patsy began to take off their respective burdens, rubbing feeling back into their chafed and sore muscles. Klondike spread out his cloak to act as a bedroll and crashed on a nice bed of pine needles. Covering his face with a wing, he was on the verge of sleep when a hoof prodded him in the ribs. Removing the wing he saw Spin's gray hooves standing next to his head.

"I was about to have a nice nap, go away." The blade of Spin's old sword dropped down by Klondike's head.

"Up lazy bones, you need practice with the blade more than you need rest." He kept his voice low to keep Owayn from hearing his true accent. "Normally you have to go through five years of training to even go into battle, I've had two days to whip you into fighting form."

Leaning up on his elbows, Klondike regarded the old trapper that was removing his chainmail shirt. "And just how do you know so much about the martial practices?"

Spin picked up his ax and started to swing, "I'll tell you when the time is right."

Klondike rolled as the blade of the ax landed straight where his throat had been. Scooping up the sword as he snapped to his hooves he swung for Spin, starting their ritual of trying to kill each other as training.

The dragon slayers watched the duo exchange blows, Owayn silently puffing on a long stemmed pipe. "Hmph, you have good form old colt. Your friend is clumsy with his parries. Remember to move your hooves, do not stay stationary." Sir Owayn advised from his seated position.

Of course the bout ended with Spin disarming his inferior. "You're gettin' better kid, but remember not to attack my weapon, attack me."

Picking up his sword again, Klondike hesitated a moment before attacking. "What about the thing we hunt? Its entire body is a weapon. Where am I supposed to attack on that?" He arced his blade high, almost instantly being blocked by the blade of Spin's ax.

"A good point kid. But after I'm done with you, I want your entire body to be a weapon as well. To fight a weapon, you have to be a weapon."

Spin slashed with his ax, Klondike leapt backwards, wings flared as he utilized his aerial advantage, hovering above the ground. "So to kill a monster, I have to be a monster."

"Not in the slightest sense of the term. We're different from monsters like manticores, cockatrices, wendigoes and other things because we can show mercy. They exist on a level of daily survival, their thoughts always motivated by the idea that they are in constant danger. They fight because they have too." Spin swung at Klondike, who deftly backwinged away. "We fight for abstracts; concepts like 'truth', 'love' and 'harmony'. We don't see that in monsters, monsters kill so they can survive. Who's the more dangerous one in the end? The creature that fights for an undefinable concept, or the monster that fights just to live?"

Their fight ended with something odd, Klondike actually scoring a small hit on Spin. The old trapper had stumbled on a stone and Klondike took that opportunity to flick his blade under the trapper's leg, scoring a small line of blood on his calf.

The sun had continued its eternal journey across the northern sky, falling from Celestia's day to bring about Luna's night. If Luna liked night so much, she should vacation in Snowreach more often. Nights here could last up to a month depending on the season. The chill air was draining the warmth from the dragon slayers, and Patsy tried to start a small fire to warm up some of his master's tea.

Spin walked by and kicked a shower of dirt on the bed of embers. Patsy snapped at the insolence. "What's your beef old colt? Can't a bloke have some damn hot tea?!"

"No fires, might attract the Sun Eater." Spin sat on his bedroll, uncorking his wineskin to take a few drams. Owayn seemed unaffected by the cold, his horn glowing with a small stream of magic to warm himself up. He did seem interested in Klondike though, asking questions about Venerax, hoping to glean the one clue that might be the dragon's weakness.

After awhile Owayn gave up, all he managed to learn was that Venerax seemed to prefer mystery novels and noire types over adventure. From what the pegasus said, he didn't even see Venerax that often, the dragon preferred to hide in the shadowed recesses of his cave, his body always hidden in the dark when he spoke to Klondike.

The party would have to sleep in shifts, one pony always awake and alert. Klondike volunteered for first watch, time for himself and time to think. After several minutes of fierce debate, Spin allowed for a small bed of coals instead of a crackling fire, the light might attract some undesirables, but the ponies needed the warmth. The gentle orange light occasionally flared and flickered, reflecting in the hazel eyes of the watchpony.

Leaning against the trunk of a hardwood tree, he looked up at the sky. The auroras danced through the heavens, their slow and methodical promenade which gave a glowing gown of elegance to the starlit sky. Under their light, he felt small, insignificant and yet,.... he felt important. He was important to somepony out there, even if his parents had forsaken him and his best friend died in his hooves. Somepony needed him, if it was the ponies he knew from afar, or the one he shared the most intimate moment of his life with.

"When monsters look up at the night sky, what do they see? Something beautiful, or nothing at all?" he asked the universe. The stars did not answer, the auroras never stopping their gentle ballet across the heavens.

********************************************

Klondike awoke with a start, realizing he had failed at his only duty and fallen asleep on watch. Scrambling to make it look like he never had closed his eyes at all, he stopped to wonder, what woke him up? Twisting his ears he listened, straining hard to pick out any unnatural noises. There! Off to south, something big was shoving its way through the brush, not making any effort to be stealthy about it. Quietly he stood from his post, creeping his way to the fire he prodded Spin on the back.

"Spin, wake up! Something is out in the bush."

Spin shifted a bit, groaning at some most likely interrupted good dream. "Hmm? My turn to watch?"

"No, something big is out there!"

Spin opened his eyes, staring Klondike like he was crazy or something. "Probably just a moose or a bear, go back to your watch." Whatever was out in the bush started to call out, a wailing whoop that started low and ended as a shriek.

"Well Spin it seems like your moose could use a lozenge."

Spin growled, "Wake up the dragon slayers." He stood from his bedroll, throwing on his chainmail shirt and grabbing his ax.

Klondike gave the dragon slayers a swift kick, "Get up! We're going to have company here in a few minutes!"

"Hmm? What, is your monster here?"

Klondike started throwing branches on the coals, building a blazing fire in seconds. "No, something a little more common." Owayn and Patsy scrambled to their hooves, grabbing whatever armor and weapons that they could.

Spin faced off towards the brush, axe laying in his fetlocks, ready to fight. "If there's only one, it'll probably just go around."

Klondike positioned himself next to Spin, sword at the ready and wings flared for battle. The crashing sounded much closer now, and multiple whoops and shrieks came from the south.

"You just had to say it, didn't you Spin."

"Shut up kid." Sir Owayn levitated a very large mace, one that would have taken two hands just to lift. Patsy stood back with a bolt in his crossbow.

Individuals could be heard now, growling and huffing at one another as they got closer to the pony camp. The light of the fire illuminated the clearing, but nothing could be seen yet. Owayn almost seemed to panic. "What are they!?"

"Wendigos." Spin said, his eyes fixed on the brush to the south.

Patsy and Owayn both looked incredulous, "What, like those winter spirits from Hearth's Warming Pageant?" Klondike and Spin glanced at one another, smiling at their foalish ideas.

"No, those are windy-goes, they aren't real. What foal would actually think they were real?" Klondike remarked to the dragon slayers.

"What's the difference!" Owayn shouted.

"You'll see." said Spin.

Klondike struggled to keep calm, everypony around him was calm and composed, veterans of innumerable battles and fights. To keep calm he talked about the only thing he really knew, books. "Sir Owayn, does your priory have any books on ecology?"

"Yes, many." Owayn stared off into the dark, levitating that huge mace threateningly.

"Any on Zebrican wildlife?"

"A few."

Klondike swallowed the knot in his throat, "Ever seen a picture of a gorilla in those books?"

"Once or twice, what does this have to do with our present situation!"

"Take a gorilla, make it stand upright and make it about eight feet tall. Give it some horns and a set of tusks, and there you have it, a wendigo."

Owayn grinned, "Good to know." Off in the dark, the wendigo pack found the ponies scent trail, howling and shrieking.

The crack and snap of branches was close, within a hundred yards, the whoops of the beasts growing louder. Spin noticed Klondike, shaking a little bit. "Easy kid, hold steady."

The branches in front of the ponies parted, a large brown primate stepping into the clearing. Slimy mucous dripped from its tusks and foliage was stuck in its upright horns. The great forest ape slammed its fists into its hairy chest, howling at the moon. Four more wendigos stepped into the clearing, huffing and panting.

"FOR EQUESTRIA!" Shouted Owayn, and more surprisingly, Spin as well. The warriors charged the nearest wendigos. A soft click sounded from behind the group, and an arrow thudded into the hairy shoulder of a wendigo.

"Yeah, come and get some ya fat hairy demon's uncle!" shouted Patsy, drawing his short sword to charge the wendigo. Owayn swung his heavy mace at his wendigo, Spin juggled a pair of them between his ax swings. Leaving only one, a big ugly brute with green tusks and slobber running down his chest to charge Klondike.

The pegasus stood ready, leveling his sword he charged the rabid brute. The wendigo stopped short and swung an arm, catching the pegasus in his chest. Klondike was flung like a rag doll, slamming into the trunk of a tree. The wendigo howled, slapping its palms against its chest. Lowering its horned head, it charged on all fours. Klondike rolled out of the way, the wendigo's horns crashing into the tree behind him.

Jumping into the air, Klondike landed on the stunned wendigo's back, ready to drive his sword into its spine. But the wendigo rolled over, slamming Klondike again with one of his tree trunk arms. Flung several feet away, the wendigo closed the distance with a single bound. Klondike raised his sword to block its imminent blow. The wendigo slapped it out of his hooves, letting it land solidly into the dirt.

Still on his back, Klondike lashed out with his back hooves, kicking the beast in the stomach. The wendigo groaned, clutching its gut with both hairy palms. Rolling to his belly, Klondike scrambled to get his sword. A hairy fist grabbed his back hooves, lifting him off the ground.

The wendigo lifted Klondike to face level, those unintelligent eyes staring him down. Opening that tusked mouth, the wendigo roared and started to place its jaws around Klondike's chest.

Something inside of him came alive, something deep and primal. His wings whipped outwards, and the wendigo shrieked. The grip on his hind legs came loose, and Klondike fell hard to the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw the wendigo staggering backwards, clutching the bloody stump where its hand had been.

His wings, something felt different about his wings. Klondike lifted one to look at it, the tips of the feathers seemed rigid, and covered in the blood of the wendigo. Snapping back to the situation, he stood up and charged the wendigo. Swinging a wing he cut through the wendigo's thigh like paper. The brute screamed, falling to one leg. Klondike lashed out with another wing, arcing it through the wendigo's one good arm.

Falling flat on its face, Klondike jumped on its back again, aiming the long feathers straight down. Piercing through flesh and bone with ease, he punctured the beast's lungs, silencing it for good.

Spattered with wendigo blood and panting hard, he twisted his feathers once, ripping them free of the dead brute. Around him, the other ponies had finished off their own wendigos, too stunned by what they saw to help him with his own.

Klondike clambered down from his furry perch, panting hard he looked at the stunned and silent faces of his companions. "What?"

Spin walked forward, lifting a hoof he touched Klondike's feathers. Soft and flaccid, completely harmless to the old stallion. "How? It's not possible."

Owayn dropped his mace, bloody and coated with wendigo brains. "Apparently it is, our young guide is more of a warrior than he ever believed." He too touched the pegasi's wing feathers, amazed beyond belief.

"What's going on? Somepony please just tell me what happened!" He flared his wings in agitation, Spin and Owayn both stumbled back like he let out a pair of vipers.

"Careful with those things! You're liable to hurt somepony." Owayn said in slight fear.

Patsy pushed past the older stallions, "It's simple mate, you have one of the rarest talents in all of ponydom. Even rarer than bein a time lord. You're what's called a 'Razorwing'."

"Razorwing?" Klondike stretched out a wing, flexing the feathers.

Owayn felt a little safer, approaching once again. "Indeed, Razorwings are a very rare type of pegasus pony, capable of hardening their wing feathers to become like steel. Some say even harder than steel."

"That can't be right, I'm not a warrior. I'm a librarian, a bookkeeper, a nobody!"

Owayn snorted, "Indeed a nobody. You fit all of the normal parameters of a Razorwing; abnormally large wings, fairly tall, instinctive skill while fighting with your wings, normal every day cutie mark. Let me take a wild guess, you've been shredding bed sheets since you were little?"

Klondike considered it, "Yeah, ever since I started flying as a colt..."

"You shredded them because your wings would harden while you slept. You would have a nightmare and your body would react to the sense of fear, hardening your wings to defend itself."

Klondike's confusion grew into a small smile, chuckling at some memory. "So I did that to my poor alarm clock." His smile went back to confusion, "Why don't I cut myself?"

Owayn nodded to that, "Simple really, being a Razorwing is some kind of hereditary magic, your feathers use that magic to recognize your own body, thus rendering you harmless against yourself."

Patsy was messing around with one of Klondike's wings, just to see if it hadn't been some kind of illusion. "Some o' the greatest knights and warriors in Equestrian history were Razorwing pegasi. Who was that one m'lord, that one who left the order a couple o' years back? Right befores you got knighted?"

"Sir Greyback the Bladeless. Damn fine warrior, the model of an Equestrian knight. But he didn't leave, remember Patsy? He was killed in that quest given by Princess Celestia, that fated journey into the Changeling lands to fight Zito, Queen Chrysalis's champion."

"Oh yeah."

Spin placed himself between the chatty dragon slayers and the young pegasus. "Right! Wendigos are all dead, put out that fire 'fore we attract a real monster."

Owayn and Patsy returned to the blazing fire, putting it out with a little bit of Owayn's magic. The clearing sank back into darkness, the dragon slayers returning to uneasy sleep. Klondike returned to his watch, Spin taking a seat next to him.

"Hell of a first time for you kid. I remember my first fight, against a mangy Diamond Dog out near Appleloosa. Damn near put me in the hospital."

Klondike stared out at the stars, "What am I Spin? Some kind of freak or a mutant?" he flexed the feathers on his right wing, "Is this why my mom and dad abandoned me?"

Spin laid a comforting hoof on Klondike's shoulder, "You aren't a freak, what you are is something different. Something that the Sun Eater won't see coming. Makes you dangerous, gives you an edge over any enemy that stands in your way. What you got is a gift, a gift that sets you even above the other members of our tribe."

"But what about my parents? Did they know about this?" he tried to cut through a branch, but this wing feathers just brushed harmlessly away.

Spin shook his head, "I don't know, you never hear about Razorwings at a young age. They're loners mostly, sticking to themselves out of some sense of protecting those ponies around them from themselves. My guess is that your parents did know something, but they thought it was something normal for a pegasus foal to go through."

"Am...am I a monster? My body is a weapon, just like that thing out there. And I killed that wendigo and felt nothing for it; I didn't kill it for a reason, I just killed it."

"You're here talking about it aren't you? A monster wouldn't even show the common courtesy to remember what it did, you feel something bad about what you did. Kid, you are a weapon, but you're a righteous weapon." Spin gave him a nudge. "Go on and hit the hay, I'll cover the rest of tonight's watch. And for all our sakes, try to have sweet dreams."

Klondike stood up, still sore from the wendigo's beating. "You know Spin, I think a certain mare will have to take a rain check on that wing massage."

Spin cracked a smile, "Probably a good idea, her loss though." Klondike walked over to his bedroll, laying down near the warm glow of the bed of coals. He needed his rest, tomorrow he would confront the self proclaimed lord of Snowreach.

Lord of Snowreach

The black dragon Venerax sat on a small island in the middle of a pool of magma, his hide marred by wounds from his escape from the tundra. All around him lay the elders of the dragon race on the rim of a volcanic crater. Five massive dragons, all untold centuries old. They were the reason dragonkind migrated to these craters in the badlands of Equestria. This was their territory, their uncountable hoards fed their entire species when they congregated. The young drake Venerax quaked in fear of these ultimate dragons, the undisputed kings and queens of fire. Even the pony Princesses bowed before the dragon elders. Center amongst the elders lay the stone throne of the dragon King, but that throne had lain empty since the death of the dragon king Quartz, a great leader in an ancient war.

Drumming his massive claws, Elder Ashmore presided over this trial of the drake Venerax. His face was covered with enough spikes that it appeared bearded. Craning his massive neck into the volcanic crater, he blew a jet of hot smoke onto the shamed drake.

"Young one, do you know your crime?" Ashmore's voice shook the crater walls, booming enough to shake loose stones from the crater rim.

Venerax shivered in fear of the elder, "Yes great one, I hunted the forbidden creatures."

"You flew north to the forbidden territories and dared to challenge the dread wyverns. We know that you did not instigate this forbidden act, but you amongst your brethren should have known better."

"I tried to warn them Elder! Cirzoke did not listen, he wanted to kill a wyvern and be a hero!"

"Silence! Your failure to stop your brethren resulted in the deaths of nine dragonlings! Two from my own clutches!"

Volcar and Valcor had been his daughters, neither of them had made it back to the mountain range. Venerax could remember with vivid recall how swarms of wyverns tore them apart in mid air, letting only a gory rain fall to the tundra plain. Dragons do not feel fear often, but the memory shook Venerax to the core.

"Volcar, Valcor, Az, Chizor, Cirzoke, Gramzon, Kirok, Nobaldon, and Azet. They all died on my watch Elder, I failed them to forward my own foolish goal of impressing the others." Venerax's spikes and ridges lay flat on his back, his head hung low in shame of failing his friends.

"Your pride and stupidity could have brought the wyverns back over the Dragonspine Mountains in your pursuit! It would have been more dignified and less foolish of you to die out there in the ice fields!" Elder Ashmore slammed his tail against the crater wall, shaking the entire volcano. The other elders hissed and growled their agreement.

"I will suffer for the rest of my life for this failure. I killed two wyverns with my own claws and flame, but I bear their scars as burdens of shame."

Elder Ashmore leaned his head out of the crater, his face shadowed by smoke and darkness. But his eyes glowed through the haze, penetrating the black drake's heart and mind.

"Most impressive."

Venerax raised his head, looking around at the dragon elders. Their claws drummed in applause for such a herculean feat.

"But Elder, my actions resulted in the deaths of nine drakes!"

"Yet you killed two of the dreaded ice breathers by yourself. Even the great king was said to fear the wyverns enough to never fight them. None of us hold such an achievement in our claws."

"But-"

"Enough of your foolish chatter. We have agreed that we may have a better use for you. Speak with Elder Zircon, he knows the most amongst us about the wyverns and their ways." Elder Zircon nodded his great head, "After he has taught you all he knows, fly back to the Dragonspines....and never return. Snowreach is your kingdom and your punishment until the end of your days."

*****************************************

Klondike led the party of ponies again, still unsure of what he was. It just felt so natural, having his wings become weapons like that, but he didn't want it to feel natural. He had killed for the first time last night...and some part of him enjoyed it.

Spin galloped next to him, noticing the younger pegasi's emotional distress. The dragon slayers were far enough behind to where Spin could talk normally. "You alright kid?"

Klondike considered it for a few moments, "I don't know. I don't even know what I am anymore. I used to think I was just a normal pony, but these things attached to me make me some kind of walking weapon. I don't want to be a weapon, I just want to be normal."

"No such thing as normal anymore kid, the more you see of the world, the more you'll understand that." Spin skidded to a halt, "We're here."

Before them a yawning cave opening marred the side of a mountain. Small curls of smoke drifted out from the cave opening, and stalactites made it look as though the cave itself was some kind of horrible beast, fanged mouth open wide to consume the intruders. Sir Owayn and Patsy trotted up next to the locals, staring in awe at the cavern that was the home of an untouchable dragon.

Owayn grabbed a stick and began to draw out his plan of action. "Alright Patsy, today is the day we become legends amongst our order! I'll draw the dragon out into the open while you hide above the cave entrance and hit him with your poisoned arrows. It'll take awhile for him to go down....where is he going?"

Klondike had taken off for the entrance at a canter, completely ignoring the slayers. Stopping at the entrance, he took off his sword and laid it aside. Spin appeared next to him, "Kid, don't you think about going in there! This isn't some normal book delivery or tax day for him, who knows what he could do?"

Klondike stared him directly in the eye, "He won't hurt me."

"By Princess Celestia's golden aura, I hope you know what you're doing."

"Not a clue, old colt." Klondike crossed the threshold into the dragon's lair. Inside it was nearly pitch black, the only light being the occasional flare of flames from natural gas leaks or the sunlight coming from the cave entrance. The stench of sulfur and dragon pheromones felt thick enough to cut. A low rumble could be heard, rhythmic and even, the snores of a truly powerful dragon.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, he called out. "Venerax!" His call echoed into the cavernous depths, and for a moment Klondike believed the rumbling was his imagination, that Venerax couldn't possibly be home.

Something moved, something huge. The nearly metallic sound of scales scraping on stone, coming closer with each heartbeat. In the darkness of the cavern, a pair of red eyes flickered into being, a jet of smoke coming from beneath them to envelope the pegasus.

"Little-wings. Why do you disturb me?" The great dragon's voice was like an avalanche; gritty, rumbling, coarse, and deep enough to vibrate the stones that Klondike stood upon.

Klondike suddenly remembered that he never quite got over the terror of being around such a super predator. Shaking, he managed to spit out what needed to be said. "I need information."

"You claim to be a knowledgeable pony, if there is something you do not know, what makes you think I would know?"

"A monster! There's a monster that we don't know anything about, going around killing ponies!"

"Lament your troll problems to your Company, I am sure they will actually care." The sound of scraping again, and Venerax's eyes disappeared from view.

"Stop right there, Venerax!" Spin stood next to Klondike, hood down and standing tall. "Krag na'al urik dim tose sim lar'ac!"

From the lack of the scraping sound, Venerax had frozen in place. His eyes reappeared as he turned back to look at Spin. "Boldly stated, but who comes before me, speaking the language of the elders with such arrogance?"

"We need your help, old wyrm. Who I am is of nopony's concern anymore." The dragon's head reared close enough to make out some details in the dark, Klondike never stopped underestimating how absolutely titanic Venerax was. A gust of wind whipped the cloaks of the two ponies towards the dragon.

"I know your scent, old one. It is an honor to be around one of such infamy. Tell me, why should I help you instead of slaying you where you stand?"

"Little-wings here isn't lying when he says there is a monster about." Spin said defiantly.

"Prove it."

Spin reached into a saddlebag, pulling out the ivory scrimshaw of the Sun Eater. Placing it on the ground, he backed away, motioning for Klondike to do the same. Both pegasi crept back slowly. A massive clawed paw reached out from the darkness, slamming down on the scrimshaw and lifting it to the dragon's eye.

Venerax's eyes flared open, small jets of flame exuding from his nostrils. His claw clenched, and a fine white powder fell to the floor of the cave.

"Is this a joke of some kind? Another attempt by your Company to drive me away?"

Klondike jumped forward, "No, this thing has been going around, killing without mercy. It even destroyed the mine!"

"This is the one thing that arises anger out of me, Little-wings. You must be incredibly brave or unbelievably stupid to show such a graven image to a dragon!" Venerax's tail slammed against the wall, showering the ponies with small chunks of stone.

"I'm sorry for offending you, but what is it!?!"

"A wyvern! The eaters of the Sun, breathers of ice and rulers of the north! And you say with such profound ignorance that one has come here!"

Klondike leapt into the air to hover in front of the dragon's face. "One has! It killed my friends, it tried to kill me! It had yellow eyes and wings like the sails on a ship, breath colder than the depths of Erebus-"

"And a tail like a great whip...." If it was possible with such a deep voice, Venerax sounded incredulous.

"Yes... it attacked Windshear, all those ponies think it was you that did it. They even hired dragon slayers to kill you!"

"What color was it?"

"How is that important?" Venerax's great claws closed around Klondike, pulling the struggling pegasus close to Venerax's black face.

"WHAT COLOR!?"

Klondike felt the heat of a volcano pouring from the dragon's mouth, his nearly flaming eyes boring holes straight through the pegasus. "Brown and gray, it was all brown and gray!"

Venerax let go of Klondike, letting him fall to the floor. The cave shook with Venerax's rage, the dragon roared with enough strength to nearly deafen both ponies.

Spin grabbed Klondike and forced him up. "Time to go kid!" and took off for the cave entrance. Running as fast as they could, Klondike had to take wing to avoid being toppled over by the earthquake inducing footsteps of the dragon right behind him. Jumping out the front of the cave, Spin grabbed the aloft pegasus and pulled him to the side.

Another roar resounded from the deep cave, and Venerax's massive head reared out of the cave. He deserved his title of Obsidian, his scales were black as night and as hard as solid obsidian. Multiple scars ran down his body and he pulled his massive self out of his cave. Shaped like most dragons, there was a leaner quality to Venerax, like he was underfed. Venerax craned back his spiked and horned head, letting out another ear splitting roar.

"WHERE ARE YOU!? COME AND FACE ME!" he shouted to the wilderness.

Sir Owayn trounced out from behind a log, levitating his heavy mace. "Haha, foul drake! Feast your eyes upon the glory of Sir Owa....HOLY CELESTIA!" Owayn looked as though he could wet himself from the massive mountain of dragon that stood there, scanning the skies and completely ignoring the knight. Shaking free of his astonishment, Owayn swung the mace, slamming it down on Venerax's front claw.

With burning hatred emanating from him, Venerax looked down at the minor annoyance, lifting a claw to flick him like a bug. Owayn crashed against a rock, stunned but still alive. "I shall deal with you later." Spreading his sky shadowing wings, Venerax flapped and caused a dust storm as he took off.

Spin slapped Klondike on the back, "After him kid!"

Klondike scrambled to take to the air and pursue the black dragon that was hellbent and determined on finding the wyvern.

Pushing every ounce of energy into flapping his wings as fast as he could he caught up to Venerax. Narrowly dodging Venerax's enormous wings as they beat, he tried to yell him down.

"Venerax! You have to listen to me, you can't kill it alone! You need our help!" The dragon either ignored him or more likely did not hear him. Still scanning the wilderness, Venerax roared to draw her out. Pouring on even more speed, Klondike flew straight to Venerax's head, grabbing him around one of his huge horns and hanging on for dear life.

Stomping a hoof near the dragon's ear hole, he finally managed to make the dragon acknowledge his existence. "Leave me Little-wings! This does not concern you!"

"Like buck it doesn't! I have just as much reason to hate this thing as you, if not more!" he shouted over the gale force winds that blew past as the dragon continued his flight.

Venerax responded by landing his great bulk on the top of a mountain, wrapping his tail around the peak and shaking the clouds from his head. Reaching up with a claw he plucked the pegasus off of his horn. Holding him in front of his face, Venerax opened his claw for Klondike to stand upon.

"You do not know these beasts as I do, Klondike. They are responsible for all the suffering of my life. My best friend as a whelp was torn apart in front of me by wyverns, him and eight others who I had known since the egg."

Klondike shook off the trauma of being manhandled by the dragon, "So you've seen them before? Do you know how to fight them?"

"Yes. It is why I am the master of this territory. I have killed wyverns before when I was young."

"Why does this one make you so angry? What does the difference in color have to do with anything?"

Venerax shook his head, "All the difference in the world. Had you said it was a colorful beast, I would have lain much more content and not been afraid. But the difference amongst wyvern color is gender."

"Gender? What does that matter?"

"You have seen a queen wyvern. A massive and powerful female of their species. I have only ever fought males and lived, the queens are dominant in wyvern hives, and they are apex and unstoppable predators."

"What do you mean 'unstoppable', you're a dragon! Dragons are symbols of power in every culture, the very icon of invincibility!"

"There is much you must learn about the world Little-wings. I cannot stop her by myself, but I am bound to try by an oath of blood to my kin."

Klondike stomped a hoof, flaring his wings, "Then let us help you. We want the wyvern dead as much as you do, and you need all the help you can get stopping her."

Venerax lowered the pegasus in his claw to rest on a cloud, "With such allies that you have brought, we may have a chance at stopping her. Come Klondike, if I am right, the threat is greater than you could ever imagine."

Battle Plans

"Do you think he just up and left Snowreach m'lord?" the squire Patsy asked the shaken and rattled Sir Owayn. Helping him back to a standing position, the knight reached out with an armored hoof and smacked Patsy up the back of his head.

"You dolt! Had you actually been in position like I told you to, we would be several stories deep in dead dragon by now!"

"Oy! It weren't my fault! Those two locals went and got themselves kilt in there, probably tipped off that damn dragon."

Owayn wrenched off his helmet, tossing it aside. "Well this is a bust. How are we going to collect our reward if we don't show up with a dead damn dragon! And no I don't think he just 'up and left Snowreach'. Probably got a stomach ache from eating those bloody locals. How are we ever going to make it up to the order after this travesty?"

Patsy grinned with his many crooked teeth showing, "Well m'lord, we may not have a dead dragon on our hooves, but we got a dragon's hoard sittin' unguarded." he said with a sidelong wink.

Owayn placed an armored hoof on Patsy's shoulder, "Patsy, I don't say this very often, but....you're a genius. And I take back what I said the other day about your mother being a mule."

"She is a mule m'lord. Besides, I've always been the brains of this outfit. Now lets go plunder us a dragon hoard!" The pair of dragon slayers made a mad dash for the entrance to Venerax's cave, half-seriously shoving each other out of the way to get the first pick of loot.

"Ahem."

Both of the slayers skidded to a halt, the form of Old Spin sat in the entrance to the cave, half-heartedly chewing on a stem of grass.

"Oh, um, Spin. Um, you're alive! I knew we could count on you to do....whatever it is you do around here."

"And just where do you two gentlecolts think you're headed?"

"Nowhere, certainly not pillaging any hoards, right Patsy?" Owayn punched his squire in the shoulder.

"Oh, yeahs. We're, er uh, lookin for cover! Yeah, just in case Venerax comes back all mean with sand up in his mare parts!"

A claw grabbed Patsy by the scruff, effortlessly lifting him in the air. "For your information, I do not have what you deem to be 'mare parts',"

Spin smiled at the flailing squire. "You can be real sneaky for being over a hundred feet long, what's your secret Venerax?"

"Eternal damnation in this wilderness, it also works wonders for ricketts and arthritis."

"Ack! That foul drake has absconded with my squire! Unhand him before I end you foul wyrm!" Owayn whipped out a longsword, encapsulating it with his blue magic.

With his free claw, Venerax grabbed the blade like somepony else might have grabbed an hors d'oeurve. Scraping out a few gem shards from his teeth, Venerax promptly flicked the bent and twisted sword down his throat, swallowing loudly. With a belch he tossed back Patsy.

Owayn was outraged, "You inconsiderate lizard! That sword was worth a small fortune!"

"I've eaten small fortunes that tasted better. In the future, if you dare to challenge me in my own realm, do not mock me with the cheapest steel you can find. Diamond Dog crafting is a good minimum." He poked Owayn as lightly as he possibly could in the chest. Flustered, the knight's horn enveloped in blue magic, in rage he hurled a bolt of magic to strike Venerax on the face.

Venerax recoiled from the bolt, stepping back he flared out his massive wings, hissing at the knight. Owayn summoned his mace out, holding it far out front aggressively.

"You wish to fight me? Then I shall send flowers to your next of kin!" Venerax's claws dug trenches in the ground, he snorted jets of smoke and flame.

Owayn swung his mace once, testing the heft. "I shall see you dead, worm of a dragon! I'll parade your head down the avenues of Canterlot before I have it stuffed on my mantle, next to all the other dragons I have slain!"

The coal black dragon reared up on his hind legs, roaring in challenge. Sucking in a whirlwind of breath, he aimed at the knight. Owayn diverted his magic from his mace to make a shimmering force field.

A red blur dropped down from the sky, planting itself directly between the adversaries. "Break it up you two! If you haven't noticed, there is a real bucking monster out there that needs our attention. You can kill each other when this is over."

Spin cantered out to his apprentice, "Wondering when you would show up. Where in Celestia's mane have you been?"

"Is that really important? Two of our allies are coming to blows here!"

Spin nodded, "Understandable. You two think about what we're up against! Now kiss and make up." Owayn scowled, then slammed the head of his mace on the ground, turning to trot off to his supply chests. Venerax snorted, dropping down to all fours he slithered back into his cave, sticking his head back out to rest in the clearing.

Obviously still ruffled, Venerax discharged a plume of oily black smoke. "I've seen foals make more competent dragon slayers! No respect for their enemy anymore, not like the old days."

"Stop being nostalgic, there were no 'good old days' of dragon slaying. If you had a cutie mark, it would probably be a dead dragon slayer." Spin crashed down next to Venerax's head, uncorking his flask.

"I would personally prefer a dead wyvern cutie mark. Are you going to share or what?" Spin rolled his eyes as Venerax hinged open his jaw. Pouring a considerable amount of liquor on the dragon's tongue, Spin took a dram himself. "So old one, how do you know Little-wings?"

"Master-apprentice relationship. Besides that, I've been the town drunk for Princess knows how many years. Have you told him how severe of an insult you call him?"

"Bah, friendly banter. How is he working as an apprentice? Personally I believe he does not have a fighting bone in his body."

Klondike trotted up, sitting on his haunches near the dragon and his teacher. "Haha, very insightful, I am still here you know. Besides, I think they can hear Venerax back in Canterlot!"

Spin bit his lip, then nodded. "He has shown... potential. More so in the past day than previously."

"Still waiting to hear what you see in him." chimed Venerax. 'Chime' being relative to a cathedral bell.

"Hold your horses you great crocodile! I don't think he can control it yet."

Patsy and Owayn returned from removing their armor and weapons, stripped down to nearly bare fur. "Yes, go on young fellow, show our 'host' your little trick."

"I...I don't know how. I was afraid the first time it happened, and it just happened."

Spin stared Klondike straight in the eyes, "You can do it kid, just concentrate. Feel the feather, be the feather."

He nodded, closing his eyes he tried to concentrate, muttering a little mantra. "Feel the feather, be the feather. Feel the feather, be the feather." Klondike spread his large wings, still muttering his chant. Opening his eyes, he swung a wingtip at a rock. The feather tips brushed off harmlessly, throwing up a small puff of dust.

"Congratulations old one, you have succeeded in training a feather duster. If that is his special talent, there are some cobwebs in one of my corners that are demanding attention."

Klondike's head drooped, his ears laid nearly flat in humiliation. Spin tried to comfort him, "You gave it your best shot, we'll just have to work on it."

Venerax scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, 'afraid' you say." Quicker than lightning he bared his teeth in front of the downtrodden pegasus, roaring with a force like a hurricane. Aiming just over his head Venerax sprayed a massive pillar of fire.

Klondike's wings snapped to attention, hardening with a raspy sound like scraping metal. Finishing his little test, Venerax reared back his head and wiped a small amount of magma from his mouth. "There you have it, a little fear to coax out the inner beast."

Klondike lay shivering on the ground, hooves covering his head with his wings comically standing upright. Spin gave him a careful nudge, then a hard push. The young pegasus burst from the ground, his Razorwing fighting instincts having taken over. Landing on his hind legs, he posed with his large wings spread out wide. Venerax reached out with a claw, sliding it along the edge of one of Klondike's wings. The tip of the claw fell to the ground, sheared cleanly from the dragon's hand.

"A Razorwing, most impressive. I have misjudged you Little-wings, if you can learn to control such a gift, you will be quite the valuable ally."

****************************************************************

Venerax dragged a claw through the dirt at the mouth of his cave, tracing a shape from his memory. He didn't bother with minor details, all he needed was a rough outline. The four ponies with him watched inquisitively as the dragon drew out his image. Though a modest drawing for Venerax, the ponies could have set up a comfortable camp inside of it with room to spare.

"Gentlecreatures, this is what we face." Venerax indicated the large sketch of a prostrate wyvern, splayed like the drawing was of a creature on a dissection table.

"That's it? I expected a lot more claws and spikes for something that has caused so much trouble."

"Learn to expect more from your opponents, little 'knight'. This beast is quite possibly the deadliest single creature that has ever taken wing. We dragons call them wyverns, and though they are our relatives they are nothing more than animals at heart."

Owayn snorted, "Oh yeah? If this wyvern creature is so close on the family tree, how do I know that this isn't some kind of dragon family reunion?"

"Bad move." murmured Klondike.

Venerax scooped up the knight, closing his claws around him. Owayn struggled to breathe as Venerax vented his rage. "They are not family to me or any other dragon! They are beasts, animals! They don't kill for righteousness or pleasure, they simply kill for food, and wyverns consume EVERYTHING! And their hunger is insatiable." He dropped the knight, fighting to control himself in the face of such allegations.

Klondike walked into the sketch, "What do we know about it? How does it fight?"

"Wyverns are living arsenals, every part of them is a conceivable weapon. What we must keep our eyes open for are the weapons that define them. Here, and here." He scratched once at the mouth of the wvyern sketch, and again at the tip of the tail. "They spray a beam of ice from their mouths, freezing anything in front of them in a split second. However, they prefer to attack first with the tail."

"What's the tail do?" asked Patsy.

"An apt question, wyvern tails are extremely long, thin, and flexible. At the very tip is a stinger of sorts that they use to inject a paralyzing venom into their prey. Some dragons say that they can consciously change their venoms to a more potent and deadly cocktail that they seldom use."

Klondike trotted up and down the sketch, looking for any opening in the incredible offense of the wyvern. "How do we fight it? It is guarded from both front and back, with those claws and wings in the middle."

"Which is why we focus our attack here." he indicated the base of the neck, right at the top of the breastbone.

"Seems kind of counter intuitive Venerax, going dead center leaves you open to all of her attacks."

"You misunderstand, the same venom that pumps through the tail of a wyvern also exists in their bloodstream. Wyverns are not immune to their own venom, not by any stretch of the imagination. Which is why they secrete anti-venom constantly throughout their lives, to keep from succumbing to their own venom."

Klondike drug a hoof through the spot at the base of the neck. "And this is where the anti-venom gland is?"

"Correct. Which is why they are so protective around the chest. That same venom is also why they have such fondness for the cold, it seems to dull the nearly constant burn in their veins."

"So if we can destroy her anti-venom gland, she'll die on her own."

"Theoretically, yes. In practice, I have no idea. I was stung by wyverns out in the tundra when I was young, but I survived after tearing out one of their throats in combat and consuming it, purely by accident I discovered the way to overcome them."

Klondike reached out with a wing, making an X at the base of the sketch's neck. "Stab the heart, and the serpent will die."

"Precisely. But this wyvern is not the only threat. This one is a female, and from what I have seen, this is no happy jaunt into the south."

Klondike kicked the X mark, scattering the dirt. "What do you mean? There's only one wyvern out there."

"Pray to your Princesses that you are right. For there is only one now, but soon there may be over a dozen."

"You mean there's going to be more of those damn things tearing up Snowreach!?" Klondike's wings were on the verge of going razor, the amount of anger and fear triggering the reflex.

"Wyverns are incredibly proud creatures, the only reason one would migrate so far out of their territory is because they were displaced by another. Normally they would fight to the death for control of a territory, but this one chose to flee south. Up north the air is thick with their cries of mating, and almost all the females are pregnant. And why would a creature of such imminent pride choose shame over death?"

It all came together for Klondike, "To protect her young... But why is this happening now? If they are such vicious creatures that breed so much, why haven't more come over the mountains?"

"They hate heat in almost any amount, wyverns will not even go out in the sun for fear of overheating. Compared to the polar tundras, Snowreach is balmier than the Great Southern Jungles. And though they breed more quickly than rabbits, their populations never grow too large. Due mainly to the fact that they are willing cannibals."

Spin shook his head, "Damn, if that creature has laid eggs then we have to split our attack. Both of our targets are high priority; but the eggs are the more long term problem."

"Indeed old one, with how long she has been here, she has to have born a clutch within that time. And they could hatch any day now. If the queen is capable of surviving here, her offspring will undoubtedly try to form a colony. Even if we kill her, her offspring could spell doom for all of Snowreach."

"Then we have to find that nest and destroy it! Klondike, you're the most mobile amongst us, it's up to you to find her den. But I warn you, do not try to fight her by yourself, you will die if you try."

"No need for him to scout, there is only one place where she could hide. A glacier not too far from here, next to a icy lake, it has everything she needs to survive the heat."

"I hope you're wrong about the eggs Venerax, but it makes so much sense. She's been taking food back instead of just eating it where she is."

The great dragon shook his head, "Come inside, the sun is getting low. She will hunt tonight, there is no doubt of that." Venerax drew his head back into his cave, allowing the ponies to come inside as well.

Klondike tossed his small stash of things down in a corner, finding a smooth section of floor to spread his bedroll out on.

Spin tossed his bedroll down next to his apprentice, "Don't get too comfy kid. We're going to do some practice tonight, no exceptions." Klondike reached down to grab his sword. "No, no blades. Just what you have on you."

A decent fire crackled inside the cave, Venerax allowing one because they were unexposed to the outside, thus not drawing any unwanted attention. The flickering light cast the shadows of the pegasus and his trainer on the cave wall. Instead of attacking Klondike, Spin had him face off against a stalagmite sticking out of the floor.

"Concentrate, let your body do the work." Klondike closed his eyes, breathing deep and letting it out. He focused as hard as he could, swinging a wing it brushed against the stone pillar, not leaving any impression whatsoever. "Come on, focus. Now try again." Again he futilely batted at the stone, again he failed to control the inner weapon.

Angrily he slapped his wings to his torso, "I can't do it! I can't control whatever makes these things work."

Risking being sighted by Owayn, Spin slapped Klondike with one of his concealed wings. "Don't you ever say that you can't do something! The only thing stopping you from becoming a true weapon is yourself. You just have to know how to unsheathe yourself."

"I. DON'T. KNOW. HOW! You're wrong Spin! I'm not a weapon, I'm a useless bookie who has bad nightmares and is too scared to admit he likes the local barmaid!"

Spin's enraged glare could rival a wyvern's breath for how cold of a stare he gave Klondike. "I've had ponies like you flogged for less defiance. And you know what? They were grateful for my help, and they turned into some of the best damn warriors Equestria has ever known!"

"I'm not a warrior! You want a weapon?! Fine, here's your weapon!" Extending his wings, he focused his thoughts into his wings, not asking them become weapons, he demanded and forced his wings to harden and sharpen. With a scraping rasp like a sword leaving its sheathe, he slashed at the column.

It stood still, for a second Klondike doubted himself, but the stalagmite tilted and fell, shattering on the floor. With a flick his wing feathers became soft again. Holding a wing in front of himself, he breathed deeply and concentrated. The feathers hardened with an audible schink! Letting go of the concentration had them back to feathers.

"I did it." he said to nobody. "I actually did it. Spin! I-"

A hoof punched Klondike in the face, coming very close to knocking a tooth loose. He swayed around for a second, then crashed to the stone floor. Spin stood above him, rubbing his hoof. "Lesson one, respect your teacher." he grabbed Klondike by the mane, lifting him to eye level. "Are you gonna keep giving me lip like that? Or are you going to jump whenever I say 'frog'?"

"...frog..." he croaked.

"Good boy, now keep practicing on those stalagmites." Spin let go of Klondike's mane, letting his head fall back to the floor. Spin walked back to his bedroll, uncorking his flask to take a sip. Sir Owayn and Patsy stared at him, their tasks of sharpening their swords and polishing armor frozen by the drama.

"That was a bit harsh on the boy Spin."

Spin stretched out on his bedroll. "Have to be harsh, if you don't kill them in training, they'll die the second they see battle."

"I say, what happened to your accent? You appear to have become more cultured in your vernacular recently."

Picking up a shed dragon scale from the ground, Spin drew it along the blade of his ax. Sparks flew as he sharpened the weapon. "None of your concern, so don't lose any sleep over it."

Over in the corner, Klondike slashed and hacked at any standing stone. After bursting through that barrier of personal doubt, he could control it easier with every slice. Hours passed with him learning the nuances of being a Razorwing. Besides just being able to cut with his feathers, he could fly while razored, though less effectively than normal. The hardened feathers could also act as a kind of shield, blocking a particularly nasty spray of rocks from a wayward slice.

After hacking through a particularly thick pile of shed dragon scales, he finally gave in to exhaustion. Sitting down, he noticed all the others had gone to sleep with the exception of Venerax, who stared out the cave entrance.

Walking over to his draconic friend, he sat down next to Venerax's leg. "Trouble sleeping?"

"I have slept plenty in the past few weeks." he kept his voice to a low rumble. Klondike squinted at his reptilian face, though it showed little in the way of expression, he could tell that Venerax wasn't looking for something, more along the lines of staring into space.

"What are you thinking about?"

"A story my mother told me as a hatchling. Among dragons there are many tales of the wyverns, most are myths that hold little truth. My mother told me only the most mythical of these tales, believing wyverns themselves to be myths. She was wrong. One story tells of a wyvern queen who was born pure white and without venom, a true stranger amongst her kind. Without the venom burning her veins, she gained a mind. The wayward queen had thoughts, dreams, hopes and goals. She saw the stupidity of her brethren and vowed to herself to never become an animal like them. She fled the tundra to seek answers for her great questions and purpose to her life. She ventured far into our lands, seeking acceptance in a world not her own. But dragon and pony alike saw the Snow Queen as nothing more than a monster, a beast born to fight and destroy. Vren'kasha looked upon the Snow Queen with pity, seeing that the Snow Queen felt lost and begrieved. Vren'Kasha told the Snow Queen that she needed a new champion to guard Tartarus, and a wyvern seemed to be a likely champion. The thinking wyvern was overjoyed, a purpose in life that she could fulfill while still being more than her kin. And so the Snow Queen ventured to the gates of Tartarus, challenging Cerberus to a duel to the death. The great beasts fought for weeks on end, shaking the bones of the earth with their struggle. In the end the pair sat exhausted from their duel, equals in every aspect. Vren'Kasha was pleased with the Snow Queen for holding her own against Cerberus, and she stopped the hound of Hell from continuing their duel. With the powers of her ice, the Snow Queen was granted guardianship of the deepest frozen depths of Erebus, to watch over only the most damned of the evil ones until the end of time."

"Who is Vren'kasha, some kind of Princess of the dragons?"

"The Lady of the Scale, the godly queen of dragons and indeed all life."

Figures, some kind of god. "Is this story true? Did an albino wyvern challenge Cerberus and become the watcher of Erebus?"

Venerax shook his head, "No, there is no knowledge of a wyvern ever becoming intelligent. It is simply one of the stories we are told as hatchlings to remind us of one of the four deadly enemies to dragons."

Klondike was shocked, "Four? What besides a wyvern could kill a dragon?"

Venerax extended a claw, dragging it through the dirt to tally off the creatures that could make dragons quake in fear. "The first is a threat from our own kind, more ambitious or larger dragons are dangerous to anything. The second are krakens at sea, their shear size and ability to manipulate water make them unmatchable. The third are the weapons of the long dead demon race. And the fourth, wyverns." Venerax peered at the moon in the sky, the image of the mare in the moon staring back at the world. "It is late Little-wings, you should rest."

Klondike stifled a yawn, standing up he stretched a few sore muscles. "G'night Venerax."

"Sleep well, little friend."

Klondike trudged back to his bedroll further in the cave, crashing down he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But somepony was murmuring in their sleep, a certain grey pegasus was saying some rather interesting things.

"Redress the lines.......get the wounded away........you can't go in there alone..........no Fireflash.....NO!" Klondike nudged him with a hoof, instantly Spin had him face to the floor, one leg twisted behind his back.

"What did you hear?" hissed Spin.

Klondike's face was still ground into the floor, "Not enough. Who are you? And who is Fireflash?"

Spin let go, "You don't need to know."

Spitting out dirt and gravel, Klondike stood up. "Bullshit, if I can ever trust you, I need to know who you are Spin."

"Tell him old one." Venerax grumbled from the cave entrance.

Spin cursed under his breath, sitting back down on his bedroll. "My name isn't Spin. I chose that name because my life spun out of control the day I lost Fireflash."

Klondike sat down on his own bedroll, glancing at the knight and his squire who still slept like logs. "What happened? What did you do?"

"Fireflash was my apprentice. We were soldiers in the Equestrian army years and years ago, serving our Princess with a smile on our faces. Finest unicorn fire mage I'd ever laid eyes on, a true warrior and proud of it. One day, we get a transcript from Canterlot, saying that our detachment needed to head into some rough territory and clear out a nest of dragon whelps that was terrorizing a nearby village. Fireflash and I took point, but those dragons weren't alone in there in that hellhole. They'd partnered up with a hive of arachnes, intelligent spider monsters. We didn't stand a chance in there, so many dead in the first attack."

Spin was holding back a lot of pain, reaching into his pack he pulled out his flask. Taking a swig he returned to his story. "We fought for hours, Fireflash and I holding back dozens of them. We knew it was a one way ticket, and after we managed to beat them back I ordered all the troops to evacuate. Fireflash charged into their lair alone, detonating a magical bomb in the center of the hive, whole cave came down on him. He didn't make it back."

Spin looked at his flask, bringing it to his lips he hesitated. "Before that day, I never touched this stuff. I took what was left of my detachment back to Canterlot, I begged with Princess Celestia to make me suffer for failing Fireflash. But she said no, she had a better idea for me. She banished me here in her wisdom, to waste away the rest of my life in the north and make sure no monsters hurt the miners."

"In short, he was sent here to make sure I behaved."

"Shut up Venerax. But he is right, I was sent here to watch, and if necessary, slay him." Spin dropped his flask, pointing at the sword propped up against the wall. "That. That was Fireflash's sword, it's all I have left of him."

Klondike felt six inches tall, he had no clue he had stolen Spin's last relic of a treasured pony. "I'm sorry. I didn't know, Spin."

"Nopony knows, and I consider it my real punishment. He died as an anonymous face in the arms of an enemy. I deserve to rot up here, alone and unknown. You know something Klondike, you remind me of Fireflash. Strong, hot-headed, always the first to claim humility. And like him, you're terrible with the mares." Spin's bloodshot eyes showed a small glimmer of light, like Fireflash lived on through this nopony pegasus. "Keep the sword, Fireflash would have been proud to have somepony like you bear it."

Klondike looked at the exquisite sword that leaned against the cave wall, the steel casting a slight reflection in the dying lights of the fire. "You really believe in me enough to give me your old apprentice's sword?"

"If anypony here has the guts and the heart to kill this thing, it's you kid." Spin lay his head down, his heart heavy with sorrow for his tragic loss so many years ago.

**************************************************

He'd been gone for three days, and in that time the few ponies who went out to scout for that monster still reported bloody messes and sightings of the beast. Aurora worried for Klondike, of all the inhabitants of Windshear, he had been the one closest to her heart.

She'd admired him from afar, an out of place pony struggling to make his way in a world that used and abused him. But until that monster came around and forced them together, she and him had never really had the chance to talk much. The way he became so flustered when she was around was cuter than a baby bunny. And don't get her started on the way he boldly talked to that dragon every month! If there was one thing she admired, it was bravery. But the fact that he respected and tolerated Obsidian instead of fearing him was just the icing on the cake.

"Last call!" she yelled to the abnormally quiet patrons of the Goldrush Saloon. Nopony responded and most stood from their stools and left. After quickly wiping down the tables and the bar, she hung up her apron for the night. The other barmaid, Ruby Rose, was putting on her night clothes when Aurora walked in and grabbed a cloak.

"Where you going at this hour Aurora?"

She cinched the cloak around her neck with a broach, "The same place I always go Rose."

"Oh, your 'special place'. Don't keep me up too late waiting for you, boss says we have to be up early tomorrow to help the militia boys get the arbalests set up. And Aurora, please be careful. They say that monster is still out there."

Aurora's golden magic glowed around her horn, levitating a bow and quiver of arrows from her trunk to strap itself around the mare. Her dad had taught her to use it, just so she wouldn't feel so helpless when she immigrated out here to Snowreach as a filly just turned mare. "Don't worry about me, I can handle myself."

"Just be careful girl."

Aurora walked out of the saloon, locking the door after her. Drawing up her hood to keep out the wind chill, she brought to mind the image of the one place where she could be alone. Focusing her magic, the world blinked and shifted as she teleported to a small wood clearing at the edge of the river. For Aurora it was an incredible expenditure of magic to teleport the mile to her clearing, so every time she came here it had to be for a while.

On the far side of the clearing sat an old tree stump, pockmarked with notches and scrapes. Levitating her bow, she nocked an arrow and took aim. Firing, she felt a certain satisfaction as the arrow landed with a solid thunk in roughly the center of the log. Nocking another arrow, she placed that one within a half inch of the first. Then a third, then a fourth.

On the fifth arrow to fly downrange, she heard a distinct yet pleasing sound. "Split another one, again." Trotting downrange, she pulled her arrows out of the stump, giving the split one a dignified retirement into a pile of all the other arrows she had worn down to kindling. So what if she didn't advertise the fact that she was a nearly world class archer? It might make her more intimidating to that one stallion she had been dropping so many hints to over the years.

"Hmph, maybe I have been going about it all wrong. He is being trained as a warrior anyways, maybe he'd appreciate a warrior-princess. If he isn't dead already...." She suddenly felt very foalish, thinking about colts and girly girl things while some monster was out doing unknown horrors in Snowreach.

"Just as well anyways, he doesn't need some airy damsel in distress distracting him while he is trying to fight some monster." Carefully dropping her bow and quiver next to the stump, she lay down on a bed of pine needles, looking up at the night sky. The auroras were out tonight, and just as beautiful as ever. She smiled as she remembered the story behind her name. On the night of her birth, a storm had come while her mother was in labor. But just as she had taken her first breath of life, the storm cleared and an aurora danced in the skies. Such a strange thing, she was born in Manehattan, far away from any place where the auroras were visible.

Her cutie mark was almost always covered up by a cloak or an apron, and those ponies that actually saw it thought they were looking at some kind of musical instrument. Far from it, her cutie mark was of her preferred weapon, the bow and arrow.

Summoning her magic, she still felt too exerted to make the return teleport back to town. Laying her snow white head down in the grass and earth, she stared at the heavens. Feeling that, despite her ineptitude with sociability, that she wasn't alone. "Are you out there, looking at that same moon, at those same dancing lights?" she gave the expansive sky a grin, "Who are you thinking about?"

She couldn't stop thinking about him, though they had only ever embraced two or three times, and all of those in the past week. But his touch was firm, comforting, and to Aurora it was more addicting than pure Mexicolt star-sugar, with twice the narcotic effect. Dreaming lazily about flights of fancy and romance, she hardly noticed when she drifted to a gentle slumber.

But something was wrong, in her dreaming mind she could hear shouts coming from town, something about an alarm. Her eyes snapped open as something slammed the ground around her. Shrouding out the entire night sky, the only thing she saw was a pair of sickly yellow eyes hovering over her. Aurora opened her mouth to scream, but a shooting pain stabbed in her hip, and suddenly the world became very dim and faded to black.

Fire and Ice

"Awaken Little-wings."

The rumbling sound of Venerax's voice pulled Klondike out of a horrible dream. Again it was a dream of their foe the wyvern queen, but this time she struck his heart instead of his body. Attacking the one pony he cared for the most since he had lost Pine Fresh.

Klondike rolled off of his bedroll, stretching out his muscles. Over in their corner, Owayn and Patsy strapped on their armor and tacked on their weapons. Glancing over at Spin, the old pegasus still wore his cloak. But he kneeled, hooves wrapped around the haft of his ax, eyes closed and mouth silently moving.

Klondike did not bother him, instead placing on the harness that held his sword. Cinching it snugly, he noticed Venerax staring out the cave entrance. Walking over to the great dragon, he sat next to his great claw.

"Cloudy, with the scent of rain on the wind. A day she will use to hunt. A wonderful day to die. We fight her today Klondike, we take the fight to that monster from hell."

"None of us are going to die here Venerax, you have my word on it old friend."

The dragon glanced at Klondike out of the corner of his eye. "A noble thought, but a foolish one."

Spin rose from his kneeling position, taking position with Klondike. "We need to draw her out of that cave so some of us can go in there and destroy those eggs."

"That is my purpose in this whole charade, I am the bait old one."The pair of dragon slayers joined the rest of the hodge podge party.

"Well aren't we a sight? Two upper crust dragon slayers, a drunken trapper, a bookkeeper with a wing problem and a disgraced dragon."

"Do not test my patience. Either you are with us and willing to kill this thing, or I incinerate you here and now."

"Then lets get it over with." said Patsy.

Venerax nodded, "Maybe the squire should be the one in charge instead of the peacock."

Owayn scowled, "When this is over, worm, you and I will finish our little disagreement on the field of honor."

The dragon bared his teeth in a reptilian grin. "Until then, little knight." With his claws Venerax grabbed Spin and the dragon slayers, stepping out of his cave to spread his wings and fly. Following close behind, Klondike's wings beat a dozen times for each one of Venerax's.

Landing somewhere in the wilderness, Venerax dropped off the ponies and started to tear down trees, throwing them into a large pile. After he cleared out a large enough space for him to maneuver, and indeed enough space to land a fleet of airships, he settled down to plan with his fellows. Spin took the forefront.

"Alright, we're gonna hit this thing hard, and we're gonna hit it fast. Venerax, you're the only one who can take her in melee combat, so you're here."

Venerax nodded his head, cracking the knuckles in his claws.

"Owayn and Patsy, even though Venerax can hold her for a few minutes, it's up to you two to get in there and help put her down."

Owayn drew his mace, and Patsy pulled back the string on his crossbow. "Indubitably Old Spin."

"Kid, you're with me. We're going to the heart of Tartarus, the nest. If at any time the wyvern queen catches wind of what we're up to, our sorry asses are in the deepest trouble in the world."

Klondike placed a hoof on Spin's cloaked shoulder, "To hell and back, master."

Spin smiled, a small tear in the corner of his eye, "Just like Fireflash." Snapping back to the issue at hoof, "Right, now how are we going to lure her out of the cave?"

"With me of course." Venerax reached to his thigh, scraping off a single scale. Dropping it in front of the pegasi, they covered their noses when the foul stench of concentrated dragon pheromone wafted to their noses. "Wave that scent into the cave, if she is home, she'll charge out like a minotaur at a red cape."

Klondike grabbed the scale with a hoof, holding it far from his face. "And then what? We wave the scent in, she charges out and then we have a pissed off wyvern trying to kill us!"

"I lure her here."

"How? What could lure her so far from her cave?"

"Fire, Little-wings. Wyverns hate FIRE!" Venerax craned his neck over to the giant pile of uprooted trees, sucking in a whirlwind of breath he released a pillar of his hellish flame, creating a beacon of fire that could be seen miles away.

*********************************************************

Spin and Klondike ran through hill and dale, crossing the paths of both pony and animal in their single goal of reaching the wyvern's cave to set off their trap. The plan was simple; lure out the queen, have her catch sight of Venerax's burnt offering, then run in and destroy the eggs while she was away. Once that part of the plan was over, Klondike would fly back as quick as possible to assist with the queen if necessary.

The trees opened up to the gravelly shore of the glacial lake, and the going became a bit easier for the pair of pegasi. Out in the farthest reaches of the lake, icebergs crashed and fell from the glacier that spawned them.

"There's the cave!" Spin shouted. A part of the glacier rested on the shore of the lake, and on that part lay a cavernous crevasse of ice. Slowing to a canter, the pair of pegasi prepared themselves mentally for such a task.

"Klondike, never before in all my life have I faced such a foe. If we survive this, ponies will remember our names for generations to come. And if I die here, know that you have been one of the most boneheaded, defiant, head in the clouds, self doubting ponies I have ever taken under my wing. But you were one of the best apprentices I have ever had, and it was a pleasure fighting beside you." Spin snapped a wing out from under his cloak, giving Klondike the salute of Cloudsdale.

Klondike snapped out a wing and saluted back. "Everything we've lost, everything we've striven for, it all comes down to this. Thank you master, for making me into the weapon we need to accomplish this."

Klondike reached under his cloak, grabbing the pungent dragon scale. Tip-toeing his way to the front of the cave, he placed it down and began to flap his wings into the cave. Just enough wing power to get the scent moving into the icy cavern.

Falling back to a hidden alcove on one side of the cave, all they could do was wait.

****************************************************

The queen rested, after days of hunting for her chicks, she had sequestered away enough meat to last them a week. Raising her head up from the pile of icy gore where she lay, she sniffed her eggs. All well, all healthy.

Leaning her head closer to one, she listened for the telltale signs of readiness. Giving a short and gruff whistle, she listened for any responses. From inside the leathery shells came a chirp in response. The queen trilled her pleasure, the eggs were about ready to hatch. And in this land of plenty she wouldn't have to sacrifice any of her newborn chicks to the elements in order to let the others survive.

Life was good for her. Laying down her great horned head back on her personal pile of food, she closed her eyes to rest. Breathing in to sigh, her nostrils caught a strange scent. Quick as lightning she was on her feet and wings, sniffing the air, scanning back and forth to pick up more of that hated scent.

Flame Breather

Instinctive anger boiled in her mind, rearing back on her hind legs she pummeled her chest with her wings, roaring out the challenge to the trespasser in her realm. Disregarding the safety of her eggs she charged out the front, looking for the source of the scent. Exiting the cave, she spied a small black scale laying on the ground, stomping it provided her tiny mind with a sense of satisfaction. Lifting her head, a pillar of flickering orange and red caught her eye.

Screaming her rage, the queen flapped her huge wings to enact her self appointed duty as Snowreach's firefighting force.

******************************************************

Venerax snorted a plume of smoke. He heard that devil's cry from afar. Looking to the sky, he called on the spirits of his ancestors, the power of his brethren and his friends.

"Vren'kasha, I have never prayed to you before, for I am not a dragon of those thoughts. But may dragonkind remember this day, the day when the weak stood against the invincible. When creatures of humble origins gathered together for a single cause of fighting such blind hatred. In your benevolence wise Vren'kasha, grant me one thing. Grant me revenge against the wyverns. For Cirzoke and Az, Volcar and Valcor, for all the souls of dragons sent to their graves by such mindless beasts. And if you do not listen, then to Hell with you!"

The winged shape of the queen rose above the trees, still some miles away. Venerax stood on his hind legs, spreading his wings wide to show his defiance of dragonkind's most deadly enemy. Drawing in his breath, he roared more powerfully than he had ever known he could, rage fueling this duel between super predators. The queen sighted her enemy, giving her own higher pitched roar.

"Come and face me you great she-devil!" Venerax bellowed across the forests. "Knight, are you ready?" Venerax growled. "Knight?" He looked around, expecting Sir Owayn and his squire to just be too afraid to speak. No, they had long gone, a spherical displacement of dirt showing where Owayn had teleported the pair away.

"COWARDS!" he roared. Sending his attention back to the quickly approaching queen, he sucked in a vortex of air for a burst of fire. Holding it in, he waited.

The queen trilled as she landed in Venerax's clearing, hitting the ground running. Much quicker than Venerax expected, the wyvern rammed him in the stomach with her horned head, shoving him to the side.

Swallowing his intended blast of fire, the queen brushed past him as if he were no more threat than a mouse, running on her powerful back legs towards the gigantic bonfire. Her eyes transfixed completely on the flame, she opened her mouth and sprayed ice all over the blaze.

Venerax growled, pumping his powerful wings as he shook off the wyvern's complete ignorance of him, so consumed by hatred of fire as she was. Flying up a hundred feet, he aimed his back claws straight at her back and folded his wings in.

Plummeting like a meteor, he smashed into the queen's back, driving her to the ground. Grabbing the queen around her wing joints, the dragon bit down on her neck, sinking his stone crunching teeth deep into her hide.

Twisting and screaming in his teeth, the queen's tail lashed around wildly whipping the dragon on his wings but not stinging.

Venerax wrenched his jaws free, spewing a pillar of his hellfires straight onto the queen's head. Snaking her head out of the way, the queen twisted under his claws, sinking her own fangs into his neck. Planting her claws into the dragon's stomach, she launched him across the clearing. Regaining her footing, the queen hissed and circled the obvious threat.

Venerax wiped the blood from his mouth, spitting out a gobbet of wyvern flesh. Standing up on his hind legs, he cracked the joints in his neck, "Is that the best you can do?" Though only three quarters his size, the queen's claws had ripped into his belly, leaving bleeding gashes.

The queen recoiled and hissed, bunching up her leg muscles. Venerax roared, and both dragon and wyvern launched themselves off the ground, crashing into a flurry of claws, teeth and wings. The entwined duelists fell to the ground, both rolling to gain the advantage over the other.

Both dragon and wyvern rolled precariously close to the slope of a hill, falling down the edge. Venerax lost his grip on the queen, bouncing off every tree and boulder in Snowreach as he fell down the steep incline, the queen tumbling right behind him. Venerax cried out in pain as a boulder caught his wing, shredding the delicate membrane and snapping the bones.

The avalanche of dragon landed in a stream, rolling on his back in the frigid waters. Venerax tried to rise, but his wing was too injured to help him move. A foot slammed him on the chest, the yellow eyes of the queen staring him down, mouth dripping with bloody saliva. Her tail whipped over her shoulder, taking aim between the dragon's eyes.

Lightning quick the venomous tail flew for his face, and only pure instinct saved Venerax. Snaking his head out of the way, he grabbed her tail as it slammed into the streambed. Holding the writhing tail in a single claw, Venerax struggled to keep it away. The queen puffed up her chest, readying her second attack. The dragon clamped his other claw around her mouth.

With fury in her eyes, the queen pushed all of her strength into her tail, inching the weapon in the dragon's claw closer to his face. Grating his teeth, Venerax let the queen's stinger fall into a log, trapping the deadly venom stinger in splinters. With his free claw he raked the wyvern's neck, curling his claws into a fist he punched the queen with enough force to kill anything less than a dragon killing monster. Flipping her off of his chest, he slammed his feet down on her. The wyvern's clawed wings pummeled and scratched the dragon's chest.

Though taking the most horrendous beating of his life, Venerax had her right where he wanted her; tail trapped, mouth clamped shut and neck open. "See you in Hell you bitch!" Charging up a fire blast, he clawed at her breastbone, tearing through scales to expose her anti-venom gland.

The queen felt his heat, and adrenaline fueled fury pumped through her veins. Lifting her entombed tail, she slammed the dragon on the back of the head with the log. Shattering it on his thick skull, the dragon clutched the back of his bleeding head. Bashing him with a wing the queen freed herself from underneath the dragon. Falling back, the queen lowered her head and rammed the still swooning dragon.

Falling under the ferocity of the queen's sudden attack, Venerax landed again in the streambed. The queen flapped her huge wings, hovering above him as she charged an ice beam. Spraying it around the dragon, she froze the river around Venerax.

Venerax struggled to get out of his icy tomb, but he was held solid. With only his face and part of his chest above the ice, he could do nothing to fight back. Landing over him, the queen stalked up to his face, hissing at the dragon face sticking out above the ice.

Must not give up, must not fail my friends!

The ice cracked and strained under his mighty force, but the queen would not allow such defiance. Placing a clawed foot on his chest, she sank her claws into his scales. Venerax screamed in pain, blood gushing from the claw wounds. Slithering to his exposed face, the queen hovered near, trilling at the encapsulated dragon. Her serpentine tongue flicked out from her teeth, licking a stream of blood from his cheek as if saying, I want to taste your fear.

Venerax winced at her repugnant touch, letting her get closer. Filling his lungs with air, he blasted the queen's head with fire. Screaming, she clawed at her flaming head, beating her wings to try and put out the flame. Dipping her head into an unfrozen section of river, the wyvern's head emerged hissing and steaming. In rage she stalked to his head, her whiplash tail stopping by Venerax's head. It traced along his scales, searching for a weak point.

The dragon struggled, still defiant to his end. "One day, a creature like me will kill you. And on that day, I hope that creature sees fit to exterminate your entire race!" Venerax shouted from his tomb.

The queen hissed, plunging her spearheaded tail through his lower jaw and out through the top of his skull. The dragon's eyes glazed over, and all attempts to fight or struggle ceased. Twisting her tail free, the queen stood on the corpse of her foe, beating her chest and roaring to the world that a new Lord of Snowreach had arisen.

*******************************************

Minutes earlier, Spin and Klondike witnessed the queen leaving her den in a fury.

"Now's our chance kid! Get in there and destroy anything that you can't identify." The bellowing roar of Venerax confirmed their chance at destroying the eggs.

Klondike unsheathed his sword and spread his wings. Spin grabbed his ax, ready to eviscerate some embryos in the name of Windshear. "We go in together Klondike, no mistakes, destroy every single egg."

Klondike grinned. "Yes sir Spin."

A pulse of magic ruffled the feathers of both pegasi. Suddenly Klondike and Spin's limbs were forced out in the air, both of them being levitated off the ground. Sir Owayn trotted up, his horn glowing with his magic.

"You know, I don't think such valuable assets should be destroyed so eagerly, don't you agree Patsy?"

Patsy aimed his poisoned crossbow at Spin, "Right as always, boss."

Spin struggled against his telekinetic bonds, "What in Tartarus do you two think you are doing!? They have to be destroyed!"

Owayn chuckled, "On the contrary, such magnificent creatures should be preserved. Preferably in some mage's workshop in Canterlot or in the alchemy markets with their weight in gold lining my pockets."

Klondike struggled against his bonds, "Why? She'll come back, and she'll kill us all!"

A magic bolt punched the pegasus in the stomach, blowing the wind from his lungs. "Quiet foal. Venerax and the wyvern will take care of each other. And as for why, gold is a beautiful thing foalish idiot of a backwoods nopony! Far more beautiful than your pretty little marefriend back in that podunk town of yours. In fact, with all the gold we'll be making off of this job, I might hire her to lick my boots every night!"

"There won't be any gold you idiot! The wyvern destroyed the mine!"

Owayn scoffed, "As if that wretched gold mine could even compare to the rewards we will be getting! First there is the bounty on Venerax. Then there is the possible bounty on the wyvern. And once the dragon is dead, Patsy and I have first go at plundering that damn dragon's hoard! After that, we sell your little baby monsters in Canterlot for more gold than the Princess could bathe herself in. And to top it all off, Patsy and I regain our status in the Order after we haul this criminal back on his knees!"

Patsy ripped the cloak from Spin's back, exposing the wings tucked underneath. Owayn forced them out with a halo of his blue magic. "Thought you could just run away? Live out the rest of your pitiful life as some sham of a backcountry bumpkin? Oh no, you'll be coming home with us, back to the flock and to the executioner's block! Your little game is up 'Spin', you always had a flair for drama, and now you lose another squire in shame."

Owayn's aura left Klondike, falling to the dirt he swirled back to his hooves, wings razor sharp.

"Ah ah ah, don't be so hasty, Razorwing." The knight's sword levitated to rest against Spin's chest. "One false move and your precious master will be getting more than his fair dose of iron. Now, you are going to go into that cave and get us an egg. Make it quick!"

Spin shook his head, sword blade to his throat, "Don't do it kid. I'm not worth risking the safety of everypony you know!"

Klondike hesitated, then his wings softened and laid down at his side. Owayn grinned, "Good boy, now fetch us a healthy one on the double!"

Klondike picked up his sword, shoving it back in its sheathe. "I'm sorry master." Taking a few steps into the maw of the ice cave, he looked back at the knight holding his only friend prisoner. "Owayn, buck you and everything you stand for."

He turned back to the cave, entering the shadows.

**************************************************

The foul stench of wyvern pheromones coupled with death drowned his senses. The floor was sticky under his hooves, he knew what it was and he didn't want to look down to see it. Though his breath left puffs of frost in the air, large swarms of flies buzzed around, enjoying the free meal the queen left them.

Klondike swallowed hard, sword leading the way as he slowly walked through the dark. Every little drip of water or tiny sound that made its way through the buzzing raised his hackles in fright.

Without warning the icy floor gave way underneath him. Klondike fell down an incline, bouncing off of soft, squishy things as he fell. Landing at the bottom, he opened his eyes to see the horrible stare of a grizzly bear looking at him. Scrambling backwards, his heart calmed when he noticed the bear was not moving. Looking around, he saw dozens, if not hundreds of dead or paralyzed creatures making a gory landscape of fresh meat for the queen.

And standing behind them, as if the unnatural hunger of the wyvern queen was a sacrifice to their idolatry, stood the eggs. Twelve eggs, all as tall as he was and several times thicker.

Drawing his sword, he approached one carefully. Tripping over something, he fell flat on his face in a pile of fur and blood. He struggled to get up, but the golden hair had something in it that kept his attention. A familiar smell, roses...like the soap that the mares used back in Windshear. Lifting his head, he looked at the corpse of his most beloved Aurora, still and pale, her beautiful coat covered in the blood of unknown creatures.

"Aurora, no...." he threw down the sword, heaving off the corpses of other creatures that had joined her as an offering to the princes and princesses of ice. Cradling her cold head in his hooves, he choked back the tears. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Aurora. I never meant for you to be hurt, I was supposed to die out here, not you." Hugging her still form to his chest, he held his head close to hers. "I'm so sorry that I never told you.....I love you Aurora. More than the stars in the sky, more than a stallion should be able to love a mare."

He held the mare tight, never wanting to let go, never able to forgive himself for being such an idiot around her while they had time together. And now that they could never share another moment....

His ears pricked up, a faint thump calling him to reality. Placing his ear against her chest, he listened. "Please, please, please just let it be true." He listened for several seconds, not hearing anything. Just as he began to give up hope, another thump.

"You're alive, but barely. How? How do I help you?" Klondike combed through his mind, trying to think of something he had read in a book or something he had overheard, anything that might help. "Think Klondike, think! Somepony said something, somewhere!"

Wracking his mind in desperate frustration, he remembered Venerax and his stories.

I was stung by wyverns out in the tundra when I was young, but I survived after tearing out one of their throats in combat and consuming it, purely by accident I discovered the way to overcome them.

"Anti-venom....but only wyverns have the gland! Where am I going to find a wyv-" His mind suddenly felt like it was kicking him in the rump. Glancing back at the eggs, they suddenly seemed to take on a heavenly glow from his point of view. For good measure he smacked a hoof against his own face. "Stupid, I have a dozen wyverns!"

Klondike dashed to the nearest egg, backing his hooves to it. Rearing forward, he invented a new sport/hobby, egg bucking. He expected the egg to be solid as bedrock, but it was soft like leather and gave way readily under his attack. His hind legs were showered with a torrent of amniotic fluids. Klondike jumped out of the way, pulling out his sword and looking inside the egg. A curled form of a wyvern sat still inside, the shadows covering the slippery creature.

Slowly reaching inside, he poked it with the blade. The infant's head snapped up, and it wailed. Clambering out of its cramped prison, the wyvern landed on the gory ground, struggling to stand after its interrupted nap. Gritting his teeth, Klondike jumped in and cut off its head with a downward slice. The corpse continued to struggle for a few moments, then stopped fighting.

Flipping the red and yellow creature onto its back, he hardened a single wing and began to cut above the breastbone. A spray of blood spat in his face and Klondike grimaced. Stabbing again he continued to cut, looking for anything that might be a gland. Tossing aside strips of flesh and organs, he continued to dig when he came upon a small yellowish thing that continued to pump after the wyvern's death. Grabbing it in his teeth he ripped it out, hoping it was the right thing. A bitter yellow liquid dripped from the gland, fouling his mouth with the sickly yellow gore.

Wrenching open Aurora's mouth, he squeezed the gland, dripping as much of that bitter yellow liquid down her throat as he could. Spitting out the gland, he cradled Aurora's head to his chest, silently begging something greater than himself for this to work. "Please....please come back to me. I'll say it every day, whether you actually love me or not. Just please wake up." he whispered.

He waited, inside he begged to trade, to give this wonderful mare a chance at life instead of himself. Eventually he gave up, "I was wrong again, I'm sorry." He delicately placed his lips against hers, giving a final goodbye. Breaking apart, he closed his eyes, damning the queen, damning Owayn.

The mare in his arms sputtered and coughed, her breathing regular and normal. "Klondike....." she coughed.

"You're alive!" he shouted, grabbing her around the neck and squeezing tight.

She clutched her head with her hooves, "Not so rough....where am I?"

"It'll be alright, I'm going to get you out of here. We're in the monster's nest."

Aurora scrambled to her hooves, screaming in memory of those dreaded yellow eyes. Klondike grabbed her, trying to comfort her. "It's okay, it's okay. She's gone, but we have to get out of here."

Looking in his eyes, she nodded, gasping for breath. Her legs were still sore and stiff from not moving, so leaning on Klondike the pair trudged towards the entrance.

Klondike stopped, his ears perked. Something behind them was moving. "Aurora, stay here." He walked back to the eggs, listening intently. It sounded as if something was sloshing around inside one of the eggs. The egg nearest him began to shake, and the leathery skin bulged outwards. An infant wyvern ripped its way out, wailing as its head emerged. The other ten eggs began to shake, their wyvern occupants crying for freedom. Spilling out of their shells, the chicks chirped and wailed, tearing into the nearest pile of flesh.

Several of the infants approached on their wing joints, fumbling around and sniffing the corpses of their mother's offering.

"Klondike, lets get out of here!" Aurora hissed behind him. She yelped as a wyvern chick nipped at her from behind. Huddling next to the pegasus, she shivered as the wyverns around the pair tore into the corpses of dead animals.

"Don't make a noise, don't move at all, it might provoke them." Klondike whispered as a wyvern chick stood within touching distance, tearing into the belly of a deer.

Aurora squeaked, and the chick stopped gorging itself. Craning its head to inspect the ponies, its cold breath mussed the ponies manes as it sniffed. Opening its mouth, it wailed at the ponies, calling the attention of its brothers and sisters. All the wyvern chicks stalked closer, eager to hunt live prey for the first time.

"RUN!" Klondike yelled. Bolting for the entrance, he barely dodged a set of clacking teeth as it tried to eviscerate him. Coming to the incline, three of the chicks blocked the way, sniffing and wailing at the ponies.

Klondike spread his wings, hardening and sharpening in an instant. "Get behind me Aurora!"'

"Screw that!" Aurora's horn became enveloped with magic, focusing her fury on an icy stalactite, she tore it from the ceiling, crushing one of the chicks. "I'm borrowing this!" she said, pulling Klondike's sword from its sheathe. Holding it out front with her magic, she impaled a chick as it tried to lunge for her.

Klondike snapped out of his amazement, slicing through the remaining chick with his razored wings. Aurora wasn't finished however, and she started charging back into the breach to sate her unnatural thirst for wyvern blood. Klondike grabbed her around the shoulders, pulling her back to the cave entrance as she fired bolts of magic back at the chicks.

"We need to leave Aurora!"

"NOT UNTIL I KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE MOTHERBUCKERS, NOW LET GO OF ME YOU MULE!" she screamed and twisted in his hooves, the wyvern chicks squawking in fear of the enraged unicorn. Finally just throwing her on his back he bolted out of the ice cave.

To his surprise the dragon slayers had gone, and Spin lay unconscious on the ground. "Spin!" Klondike rushed to his master's side, helping the groaning pegasus to a sitting position.

Spin choked, "He failed, Venerax is dead. Those damn dragon slayers heard his death cry and fled. We failed kid."

Klondike was lost for words, "No, no we haven't lost yet. We can still pull through, we can still beat this thing."

Spin shook his head, "You saved the girl, are the infants dead?"

"No, Aurora killed four of them and I killed two. There are still six."

Spin managed a small smile, "Maybe I trained the wrong one." All three ponies' ears perked at the sound of distant roaring, too high pitched to be Venerax. "Get out of here kid. I'll finish the rest of the chicks and hold her attention here as long as possible."

Klondike helped him to his hooves, then snapped his wings to hardness, "I won't leave you!"

"Get out of here, that's an order! Now take the girl and fly, fly far away!"

Aurora placed a hoof on Klondike's shoulder, "We have to leave, she'll kill us if she finds us here."

Klondike threw his hooves around Spin, "I'll never forget you Spin."

Spin returned the hug, "Its been one hell of a ride kid."

The pegasi broke apart, Klondike grabbed Aurora in his hooves, taking off with his heavy burden. Spin yelled to his apprentice. "Klondike! Tell the world that today, Sir Greyback earned his wings again." The old stallion spread his wings, the feathers scraping apart with a metallic schink.

Klondike saluted with an open hoof. "Yes, my lord." he said, banking on his wings to take Aurora to Windshear.

***************************************************

Coming back to her nest, the queen fell to the dirt, the many wounds dealt by the dragon weakening her to the extremes. Crawling back into her cave, she smelled the subtle smell of infant wyvern. Whistling for her hatchlings, she listened. Trudging down to the egg site, she took in the sight of her hatched eggs.......with her chicks laying dead on the floor. Reaching down with her muzzle, she nudged the still corpse of a female chick. Trilling at her young, she tried to make them stand up, to stop playing this game.

Arcing her head back, the queen wailed at the death of her entire clutch. Looking at her brood, the queen spied a gray pony gasping for breath, dying from the many stings of her children. Around him lay six of her brood, all dead by cuts. And on the gray pony, their blood.

Roaring at the pony, the queen lifted a foot and crushed him underneath, grinding him into the ice and stone. In complete fury she stormed out of the cave, looking every direction for something to kill. Rearing on her hind legs she roared in pure hatred of the creatures that dared to touch her children and leave.

Desperate Times

Klondike beat his wings as hard as he could, trying to keep himself and his ever so precious burden aloft. Adrenaline kept him going over the expansive forests of Snowreach, the roars of the wyvern queen driving his mind to utter terror. But the mare in his hooves kept him going. Aurora, the very mare he had told that he would most likely never see again, rescued from the heart of the wyvern's nest.

But at what cost? Venerax had been killed, Spin was certainly dead, and the damn dragon slayers had been the cause of such a disaster by letting greed get the better of them.

Aurora shifted in his hooves, he wasn't worried about dropping her. Even if he did, he flew fairly close to the ground and she could probably do something magical to stop the fall. She had the reflexes for it, temporarily at least. Some kind of side effect of the wyvern anti-venom seemed to be heightened awareness and a touch of edginess.

Though she had proved to him she wasn't some doormat, airheaded barmaid that was unable to pull her own weight in combat, Aurora was still concerned for Klondike. And he was concerned for her, she had been through so much after being harvested by the queen.

"Klondike, you need to rest." Aurora begged him.

"Not going to happen, not until I get you to safety." he shouted over the wind.

"If you hurt yourself, neither of us are getting to safety! Now find a place to land and rest!"

It was true, he was on the verge of tearing the ligaments in his wings after this much exertion. Choosing a small clearing by a river, he descended from his treetop altitude, gently dropping Aurora. Rolling to her hooves, Aurora embraced her magic to combat any threats that might be nearby. Klondike, exhausted from carrying such a burden so far, crashed into the dirt, rolling and bouncing off the ground.

Aurora ran to the still form of the collapsed stallion, rolling him onto his back. Eyes barely open, she wondered how he had stayed alight the entire way at all. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" She looked him over for injuries, poking and prodding to see if he reacted negatively.

His eyes fluttered at the mare standing over him, he saw past the blood stains on her fur, past the golden mane matted by wyvern ichor, seeing the beautiful lady he had admired from afar for so long. "Suddenly, things are looking much better." he said, giving a tired smile.

She stared into his eyes, the corners of her mouth dimpling with a small grin. "Lets get some shelter, I don't like the looks of those clouds." With her magic and Klondike's sword she chopped off branches of nearby trees, fusing the ends of branches and weaving them into a wall. Within half an hour she had a decent wigwam constructed.

Staggering into the primitive shelter, Klondike collapsed on the stony dirt floor. Aurora began to pile kindling in the center of the shelter, lowering her horn she sprayed sparks into the tinder.

With an burst of energy Klondike kicked the pile of sticks. "NO! No fire."

Aurora's head raised up, her eyebrows together, her expression saying something like 'well I never!' "And just why not? We'll need some kind of warmth."

"No fire, the wyvern is attracted to fire." Klondike choked, his hazel eyes shimmering with tears, "Venerax told me that with his last words to me...."

Here was the stallion she had admired for his bravery and courage, on the verge of weeping like a lost child. But he was broken for good reason, everypony he had ever known as a friend had been killed or stabbed him in the back. Aurora sat next to the pegasus, stroking his mane with a hoof.

"It wasn't your fault. Spin and Obsidian were brave warriors, they knew what they were getting into when they took this mission into their hooves."

Klondike shook his head, "No, nopony knew what they were getting into. I'm a nopony Aurora, I was supposed to die out there while the heroes killed the monster. I'm the expendable, I don't matter to anypony. It should have been me...."

She lifted his head to look into her amethyst eyes, "You matter to me." He lost himself in her glittering eyes. "And as far as I'm concerned, you are a hero." She leaned down to his cheek and gave him a kiss, a lingering favor from a lady to her knight in shining armor. Rising from her seated position, she walked out the door of the shelter, determined to wash herself off good in the stream. But she would keep an eye on the sky, no doubt about that.

Trotting to a more secluded pool along the banks of the river, she dipped a hoof into the water. Of course it was nearly freezing on its own. Horn glowing with magic, she formed a bowl out of wood and filled it with water. Concentrating she brought it to a steaming near boil. Tearing a piece of cloth from her ruined dress, she scrubbed herself of any trace of the wyvern's foul touch.

A light rain began to fall, pelting the unicorn with cold droplets of water. Levitating her bowl of water she ran back to the wigwam. Seeing Klondike was also fairly nasty with wyvern effluvia, she levitated her rag and delicately began to wipe him off.

Though dead tired and mostly unconscious, the warm rag brought Klondike back to the waking world.

"What are you doing?"

The unicorn scrubbed a bloodstain by his cheek, "You're a mess, just thought you could use a little clean up."

He nodded slightly, "Thanks."

Aurora cleaned up the stallion as best as she could without violating his dignity. Tossing the bowl of water outside, she lay down with him, scooting closer to the stallion. Klondike stood on shaky legs, taking a few steps away from Aurora.

"What are you doing? We need to stay warm Klondike."

Klondike lifted one of his wings, holding the feathers in front of his face, he bit back a great deal of regret. "I can't, I don't want to hurt you."

"What are you talking about?"

Klondike extended the wing to full width, furrowing his brow in concentration. The feathers hardened with a metallic rasp, and he lazily swung the feathers through a thick branch. The branch fell in two, sheared cleanly. "I'm too dangerous." He forced his wings back to normal. Klondike lay down on the ground again, closing his eyes in exhaustion.

The warm body of Aurora lay down next to him, and the stallion opened his eyes to look in her smiling face. "That's a risk I'm willing to take." Aurora lay down her head on her hooves, the warmth of the pegasus being a pillar of strength after so much despair.

Though his warmth was comforting, Aurora shivered in the chill air of Snowreach. Outside the pitter-patter of light rain became a steady drum of fat droplets, but Aurora's shelter held strong and both ponies stayed dry.

Klondike stretched out a sore wing, laying it across the shivering mare. She inched closer, her chill subsided by the warmth of a feathery blanket. Together they felt safe, as if the whole world was enclosed by the boughs and branches of the shelter.

The pain of Klondike's heart and body seemed insignificant in his feelings for this wonderful mare, who was the last pony on earth that actually cared about him.

**************************************

The sun shined bright through the small door of the shelter, shining right into Klondike's eyes. Cracking them open, he never felt more love for the great burning ball of fire in the sky. The wyvern queen hated it with a passion, and the enemy of his enemy is his friend. Retracting his wing, he nudged the mare that had curled up next to his chest.

"Wake up, I'm going to get you home."

After stretching out his wings and making sure nothing was damaged, he grabbed Aurora around the torso, taking off with his passenger. Windshear was another few miles away, Klondike was convinced that he could have made it last night, but time alone with Aurora was like nothing else in the world. They didn't talk, and Klondike's wings threatened to give in to exertion and snap themselves off.

On the horizon he spotted their safe haven, Windshear. But as they got closer, Windshear looked like it was deserted, the only signs of life being ponies that stood on the ramparts, manning heavy crossbows and arbalests. Several militia ponies pointed and shouted at the aloft pegasus carrying the unicorn.

Coming down hard in the center of town, the pair shook themselves off from the exertion of their escape. Militia ponies ran down to the pair, abandoning their posts to help.

"Holy Princess Celestia! It's Klondike, and he brought back Aurora!" Some miner shouted. "You alright kid? Where's Spin?"

Klondike stood from the mud of the street, shaking himself off. "Dead, Obsidian too. They stabbed us in the back, those bucking frauds betrayed us!"

"Who? Who betrayed you, Spin? The dragon?"

Klondike grabbed the militia pony by the collar, "Owayn, that traitor Owayn and his pet squire stabbed us in the back! The wyvern is still alive!" Klondike let go, cursing to himself. Word spread quickly through town about their return, and a sobbing Ruby Rose barreled through the crowd to smother Aurora.

"I told you not to go out! I told you to be careful!" Rose screamed to her friend.

Aurora tried to pry herself away, "I'm alright Rose, I just need some time." Rose refused to let go, her hoofed grip on the unicorn more solid than iron. Finally freeing herself, Aurora grabbed one of Klondike's hooves. "Come on, let's get out of here." Klondike nodded, and together they ran to the Goldrush Saloon, startling the few patrons that were in at this hour.

The owner, Pinch Penny, stood behind the bar, cleaning a glass with a dirty rag. The glass crashed to the floor when he saw the two ponies everypony thought were dead. "You're alive.....you saved Aurora!" Pinch shouted. Jumping over the bar, he grabbed both around the necks and squeezed them tight.

"I knew you could do it Klondike! You slew the monster and saved the fair maiden! Everypony! Free drinks for the next ten minutes."

Aurora interrupted him, "Pinch, I quit." she dragged the pegasus back to her room. Horn glowing with magic, Aurora started dragging out suitcases and bags, filling them with anything that would stow. "I have enough money for us both to take the next ship out of here. We'll start over, back in Equestria. Just you and me against the world!" She smiled as she pecked him on the cheek.

Normally her kiss would have left him elated, but Klondike stood solemn, "I can't go back with you Aurora."

The aura on her horn flickered out, the objects she levitated dropping to the floor. "What? What are you saying? Don't you love me?"

He cradled her cheek with a wing, "More than anything, but I still have a job to do. And I can't just give up. I have to finish this thing, for my master Greyback and for Venerax. They died to give us this chance Aurora, and I won't shame them by running away." Klondike's wing dropped back to his side, turning away he walked out the door of the barmaid's quarters.

Ruby Rose brushed past the stallion as he left, feeling the heartbreak as Aurora stood alone in her room, personal effects strewn about like they had been robbed. "So, I take it not everything turned out as planned."

Aurora stared out in space, her eyes heavy with the pain of rejection. "I wanted to leave, with him. But...he said he couldn't. He has to stay here and kill that thing."

Rose shook her head, walking over to her trunk she opened it up. "When the alarm sounded a few days ago, with you out there, I thought to myself that this couldn't be happening. I thought that you were a strong mare that couldn't be stopped by either a stallion or a monster. So when the militia went to the place where that thing landed and brought back this, I gave up hope." Rose pulled out Aurora's bow and quiver of arrows. "I've watched you grow up from a skinny girl to the proud, beautiful mare that you are now. But so has he, and if anything is possible in this world, he loves you more than I do. And he will protect you until his last breath. That thing out there has taken everything he loves in this world away from him, and he'll never rest until that monster is as dead as our hopes of getting rich out here."

"What do I do Rose? I'm just holding him back by even being here."

Rose pushed the bow into Aurora's hooves. "What you do is your decision, but he doesn't have a choice. He's a pegasus, and pegasus ponies never back down from a fight."

************************************************************

Klondike walked out in the saloon, set and determined to get his revenge against the wyvern queen. At the news of free booze, the saloon had filled up with ponies, with most of the town being inside for a free drink. Coming close to the door, a familiar Company tough stepped in his way.

"Move." he grated to the tough.

Smiling dumbly, the tough laughed. "And where do you think you're goin'? If ya ain't heard, it's a bucking party!" The tough splashed a glass of whiskey on the pegasus, laughing at his stoicism.

Tweed Suit pushed through the door, he and his foremen laughing. "Well, you made it back. Right in time for my victory dance!" Tweed hopped onto his hind legs and clicked his hooves in apparent joy. "With that damn dragon out of the way, we got the 'go' from HQ to restart!"

Klondike snapped, throwing Tweed against a wall, crushing his throat with a leg and aiming a wingtip between his eyes. "Ooh, what are you going to do with that feather? Tickle me to death? I'm sssooooo scared!" Despite having his windpipe nearly shut, Tweed managed to choke out some more laughter. One of the foremen drew a sword, awkwardly chopping at the pegasus. With an unconcerned flick of his free wing, Klondike neatly cut the sword into a dozen pieces.

Tweed's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, his bottom jaw touching his chest. Looking at the wing feather hovering less that an inch from the bridge of his nose, he swallowed the lump in his throat. "Look, uh, sorry about what I said about Obsidian. We can work something out, right? I mean, we're both reasonable ponies here."

The entire population of Windshear had stopped dead to watch the unfolding events. The drop of a pin was louder than the commotion in the saloon. Letting go of Tweed, Klondike walked to the mantle.

"Listen up everypony! I have a few announcements to make. As you all know, a few days ago, a pair of dragon slayers, Old Spin and myself all left town to fight the monster roaming free in our land. We recruited Obsidian to help us, and we would have won! But those damn frauds, hired by Tweed Suit months ago to kill our only line of defense against these creatures, turned against us. Venerax is dead, my master, my mentor Old Spin is dead! And the wyvern is still out there, alive and well!"

The ponies began to shout and scream, each and every one trying to think of a way out.

"We can take the ships downriver!"

"There aren't anymore ships for a month, we take the overland to Yellowblade!"

"We could hide underground!"

"I'm going to build my own boat and get the buck out of here!"

Hundreds of ponies all clambered to get to the door. Klondike extended a wing, hardening the feathers. Placing them against the stone of the hearth he scraped downwards, a horrible screeching silencing everypony.

"Go on, go ahead and run! Run crying back to your mothers! No matter how fast you run, that thing flies faster than you could ever hope to run. Me, I'm through running. I'm going to stay here and fight this thing, even if it means I get torn apart! That damn monster has taken somepony near and dear away from all of us, and I am through with it! I'm going to fight that monster on my terms, for all the friends and family that it has taken from us. Now, who's with me?"

The saloon remained silent, the townsponies looking elsewhere in shame. Brave and strong ponies had eyes downcast. A few even walked out the door.

"I'll stand with you." Aurora pushed her way through the crowd, bow slung on her back.

Pinch Penny walked out from behind the bar, "You got my blade kid."

"I'll weave my magic to your will!" a unicorn shouted.

Several of the miners nodded to each other, "For all our friends and fellows, you have our muscle Klondike."

The militia captain drew his sword. "And our steel!"

Even Tweed Suit took a step forward. "If this thing really is as dangerous as you say, me and my boys are with you."

Somepony in the back shouted, "Klondike the Razorwing! Death to the Sun Eater!" More and more ponies took up that mantra, drawing weapons to salute their leader the Razorwing. Aurora stood with Klondike, a fiery passion burning in her eyes and a grin on her face.

"Looks like you have an army Klondike. How are we going to fight the wyvern?"

Klondike nodded and turned back to the crowd. "The Sun Eater hates fire more than anything. So I say, we give her all the fire she could ever want!"

Desperate Measures

Owayn and Patsy had heard something they had heard dozens of times, yet today it was unwelcome. The air vibrating scream of a dying dragon, Venerax to be exact. And after his scream ended, the high roar of the wyvern queen reverberated across the forests and valleys.

That damn pegasus had taken too long getting one of the eggs, and with the queen on her merry way back, the dragon slayers had to do what came natural to them. Running away.

Sure, it was why they had been kicked out of the Order of the Virtuous Blade, cowardice being akin to treason and murder for that particular order of Equestrian knights. To lighten their load, Owayn and Patsy had to abandon the one pony that could have gotten them back into the order. Greyback had been hiding up here for years, out of sight and out of mind for the order that had been shamed by his failures in Equestria. Sure running away was one thing, but letting a simple squire stay behind and sacrifice himself for his knight?

"Boss! What the bloody buck are we gonna do now!?" Patsy shouted as the pair crashed through the brush, no aim or direction in mind. Dropping their facades of honorable knighthood, Owayn stopped at a stream crossing, catching his breath and throwing off some of his cheap armor. Flashy junk wouldn't stand a single blast by a real dragon, but since the Order had stripped him of all his possessions, titles, rank and holdings it was all he could afford on the meager wage they scraped together as mercenaries.

"I don't bucking know what we're going to do!" Splashing some cold stream water on his head, he shook the matted tangle of mane that his helmet had disfigured. "We can't collect on any of those damn bounties now, if either Greyback or that Klondike survived, we won't be able to show our faces in any town within a thousand miles."

"We clocked him out pretty good boss, if he even wakes up he'll have to face the wyvern."

Owayn sat on his haunches, rubbing his temples, trying to find the silver lining in this clusterbuck. "We can't collect on the wyvern, she's still alive. We can't collect on Venerax, we have no idea where his corpse is. And last but not least we can't haul Greyback to the Order and buy our way back in. We're screwed Patsy, royally screwed. And I mean that! If North Enterprise figures out we aren't the real deal, they'll put a bounty on our heads large enough to draw in bounty hunters from Stalliongrad to the Minotaurranean Sea and everywhere in between! And don't get me started on what Princess Celestia will do to us if she figures out we've been impersonating members of one of the holy Orders."

Patsy slapped the unicorn with a hoof, "Snap out of it! There's still one thing left that could salvage this whole journey."

"WHAT?! What could possibly make this any better?!"

Patsy poked Owayn in the chest, "Venerax's hoard, you jackass! Rumor says it's the largest one on the continent besides an Elder's hoard. Once we get our hooves onto that baby, we can just BUY North Enterprise! And who gives a flying buck if Princess Celestia arrests us? What's she gonna do, send us to the moon? We'll buy the damn moon!"

Owayn started to smile, realizing they indeed had a completely unguarded dragon's hoard sitting open somewhere. "You're a genius Patsy! We'll buy our own Southern Jungle nation after we get that hoard, screw Equestria!"

Patsy slung his crossbow onto his back, "At least I have two bucking brain cells to rub together." Owayn's eyes slanted at the insulting earth pony, and together they ran for the general direction of Venerax's former cave.

********************************************

It took the rest of the day and all night of blundering through subarctic wilderness to find the cave again. Since his death, the cave's stench of dragon had begun to air out, being replaced almost exclusively by the acrid scent of brimstone in the air.

Owayn took the first tentative steps into the abandoned cave. "I'll go first, see if anything moved in or if Venerax left a few traps."

"And let you whisk away the best treasures with your magic? Buck you, we go in together." Patsy stood on his hind legs, crossbow in the crook of his arm.

"Right then, after you my little squire." Owayn directed him inside. Both walked past the main sleeping area, looking for any telltale signs of treasure. Mainly little tidbits like stray gold coins or small gem fragments embedded in the floor. Both signs of a good and healthy hoard, mostly in younger dragons though, mature adults like Venerax tended to have a lot of time on their claws and would obsess over the cleanliness of their lair.

Owayn flared his horn with magic, lighting up the cave. Patsy whipped his crossbow up, aiming at the surprise lighting.

"Get that peasant weapon out of my face." Patsy lowered the crossbow, a glare in his eyes. Despite having several twists and turns, the dragon's lair was linear, with only one shaft into the mountainside.

"Where's the damn hoard!?"

"It's got to be here Patsy! A dragon like Venerax would want to protect his hoard as completely as possible. It's just deeper in!"

The pair trudged down deeper into the cavern, eventually coming to a dead end. Increasing the light in his horn, Owayn and Patsy looked at Venerax's treasure.

"That clever bastard. He's laughing at us from beyond the grave! I HOPE YOU BURN YOU GREAT LIZARD! I HOPE YOU SUFFERED!" Owayn kicked a pile of Venerax's loot, scattering it all over the cave floor.

Something inside of Patsy snapped, "I've listened to you without question for nearly a decade. I've been to hell and back and done things nopony should have to do just so I could sleep with a roof over my head! I didn't get kicked out of the Order like you did, but I followed you because you said we would be rich! And I wasted my life and left behind my wife, FOR NOTHING!" Patsy lifted up his crossbow, squeezing the lever. A soft click from the crossbow, and the lights from Owayn's horn flickered out, plunging the cave into darkness.

A sickening thud echoed through the cave, a pool of blood forming at the base of a massive pile of books. They had found Venerax's treasure alright, but what Venerax treasured most was knowledge.

************************************************

Klondike muscled open the door to the dockside warehouse in Windshear, several miners and Tweed Suit lighting their horns to light the dim warehouse.

Shaking off the dust, Klondike looked around at the various crates and barrels. "Alright, what do we have on inventory?"

Tweed flipped open his ledger, meticulously kept and updated every time a shipment came in. "Um, let's see. Sixteen barrels of lantern oil, four crates of cloth, six crates of mining equipment and a few unmarked boxes."

Klondike nodded to the miners. "Get every single barrel of oil and take it out to the clearing out front. The diggers there will know what to do."

"Hey chief! You gotta come see this!" somepony shouted. Klondike trotted over, the miner throwing a tarp off a small stack of boxes.

The pegasus inspected the cargo, "What am I looking at here?"

The earth pony smiled, his grin ear to ear. "Check this out." He dragged out one box, prying it open with a crowbar.

Klondike's eyes grew wide with childish envy, "Sweet mother of Celestia.... Hearth's Warming just came early this year. Is that the only one?"

"Unfortunately yes, but it sure gives us a bang for our bit!" Inside the padded and reinforced box sat six sticks of mining explosives; those beautiful red sticks of dynamite with the white wick taped to the side. Klondike had to control his masculine urges to light one and chuck it at something.

He grinned, "Keep these safe, and for hay's sake don't pick today to take up smoking."

Seeing that the warehouse was taken care of, Klondike took wing outside to oversee the other preparations. Stopping by the saloon, he spied a teary eyed Pinch Penny sorrowfully liberating his entire inventory of alcohol to the effort. Hovering hear him, Klondike patted the barkeeper on the shoulder.

"Hey, if it makes you feel better, I'll pay for every drop."

Pinch wiped his eye with a kerchief, "Really?"

"Absolutely, now make sure it all gets to the clearing outside the front gate." He gave him a slight punch to the shoulder, flying off.

Fluttering to a more moving sight, he landed next to Aurora, the surprisingly gung-ho mare had taken over a portion of the militia and was now overseeing a platoon of crossbow ponies and a pair of arbalests practice.

Pacing next to her charges, she adjusted a militia pony's stance and hold on the crossbow. "Suck in that gut, and remember not to breathe right before shooting, it destabilizes your aim. You there! Eyes on the target and not on my flank."

Klondike sidled up close to her, "You know, the natural soft tone of your back and the fine curve of your leg do tend to draw the eye straight to that wonderful flank." She gave him a punch on the shoulder, still smiling. "How are preparations going here?"

"Arbalest units are ready to go, archers need as much time as you can give us."

"I'm afraid I'm not in control of that, that monster decides when and where to show up, we just have to be ready."

Aurora shuddered at the thought of the wyvern being in control of this situation, "Just do me a favor, make sure she suffers for what she has done."

"She'll pay for everypony that she took away in blood." Spreading his wings he flapped off to another section of the preparations, the actual trap in front of the town gate. Miner ponies dug furiously, placing the barrels of lamp oil and alcohol in the pit.

Once finished, they tamped a thin layer of dirt over the top to conceal the trap. Not needing to stop here, Klondike continued out into the wilderness.

Stopping in a clearing, he inspected the work of several woodcutters and miners. "Excellent work clearing those trees, make sure to stack those logs dead center, and pile them high."

"Yes sir." one pony said, using his magic to strain and levitate a downed tree onto the pile in the center. There were going to be five such woodpiles, all in a line leading to Windshear. When lit, they would make a path of flame straight into their trap. And from what Klondike understood, the wyvern queen would follow it like a mouse on a trail of cheese.

**********************************************

Unlocking the door to the library, Klondike pushed his way in. Though it was less than a week since he had been inside these walls of parchment, it felt like a different life for him. A past that was unreachable; personal growth, the pain of loss and strength of a born warrior all coming together to free him from his old prison. Drawing his wing feathers over the old stacks and bookcases, he lovingly caressed these memories of a simpler life, one where ponies only relied on him to keep rarely checked out books in order.

Lighting a lantern, he sat down at his front desk, setting down a small stack of letters. They were all addressed to one 'Mint Fresh' of Fillydelphia. Looking at a picture included with the letters and taking a quick glance at some of the letters themselves, Klondike nearly broke down as he looked at Pine's sister.

Such a happy, pretty face. Her world would fall to pieces after she received these letters. The letters that told a story simply by existing, of life on the edge of the known world and in the realm where the monsters ruled. Pulling open a drawer, Klondike fished out a bottle of whiskey. Fillydelphia Reserve, Pine's favorite.

"I was going to save this. Save it to celebrate the day we finally could live out our dreams. I'll miss you Pine." He uncorked the bottle and took a swig, pouring out a shot for Pine Fresh. Holding the bottle in his hoof, he thought about the world he lived in, so far removed from the safe and easy life back in Equestria. No, there couldn't be any weakness, everything he did now he did for his survival and the survival of the ponies who relied on him. Corking the bottle with a rag, he did the same for four more bottles he had stashed around the library.

This whole operation relied on him, he was the only one fast enough to light all of the beacon fires to lure the wyvern in, and the only one who knew her weakness.

With his five cocktails sitting in front of him, Klondike had a thought. Reaching into another desk drawer, he pulled out a black and white picture of Pine Fresh and himself, seated at a table in the Goldrush Saloon. They both smiled at the camera, each lifting a drink, toasting life itself. Pine's hoof was around Klondike's shoulder, giving the earth pony a silly appearance. Klondike smiled at this good memory, so many good times with his friend, but nevermore. He tucked the photo into one of Pine's letters to Mint Fresh, sealing it with a wax stamp.

Standing from the front desk, Klondike again paced through the stacks of books, looking for one in particular.
He passed by several technical manuals, a partial series of Daring Do books, and even one of the library's most prized possessions, an unedited copy of Starswirl the Bearded's Essays on the Origins of Magic. The thing had nearly an inch of dust on it, nopony had ever bothered to touch it since it had taken its place here, not even the librarian. But he passed it by, not being a unicorn meant that ninety percent of that crap wouldn't make sense to him anyways.

"There you are," he pulled the book from the shelf, taking a seat in a musty reading chair near the front.

It was a book on Cloudsdale, the cloud city of the pegasi. Even though he had read it almost a hundred times since his colthood, it never failed to bring a smile to his face when he read about the place that was his tribe's home. And at this point in his life, with so much riding on a plan where so many things could go wrong, it looked as if the only way he would ever see Cloudsdale was in the illustrations of this book.

"Every dream of mine has shattered right in front of me. I have no family, no friends, no job, no mentor, I have nothing except revenge." He closed the book, setting it aside on the table next to the chair.

"You have me." Aurora stood in the doorway, coming inside she flipped back her hood. Gently tracing a hoof on his chin she stroked his face. "And when I have you, I don't need anypony else in the world."

He stood from his chair and wrapped both of his wings around Aurora, the feeling of connection being like ambrosia. But he was not content with simply embracing Aurora. Leaning to her lips inside of their feathery realm, he kissed her without hold. Pulling away, he gazed into her amethyst eyes, feeling something he had never felt with a mare, passion.

"I love you. I've always loved you." Closing his eyes he nuzzled the mare of his dreams, drowning himself in her delicate scent, taking in every single drop of this beautiful mare's love. He nibbled experimentally on her neck, his lust driven to new extremes as she moaned her approval.

She craved his touch and lust filled every inch of her body. But she pulled back from his embrace, "Klondike, wait."

He folded his wings back, wondering what he had done wrong. "What? What is it?"

Her horn glowed with magic, the blinds shutting themselves and the door locking with an audible click. Her smile could only say one thing, come hither. "Now, where were we?" Klondike had to control his urge to pounce her, instead taking things more slowly.

*******************************************

Whew, that chapter ending, gettin' a bit warm in this room of mine. I think I need some air. Not really, I don't subscribe to the school of clop, but I also do not discriminate against those that do.

A Chance for Redemption

Klondike lay in his upstairs bed, cuddled next to the one pony he loved the very most. It had been one hell of a night, the wyvern queen could have attacked and neither of them would have noticed or frankly given a buck. He nuzzled the sleeping form of Aurora, feeling the velveteen softness of her fur under his touch. Gently he ran a wing down her side, accentuating her curve with slow, methodical precision. She shifted and smiled, opening her eyes.

"That tickles, mmm, don't stop."

Klondike planted a kiss on her neck, a seed of affectionate caring that had blossomed into a flower of love and passion. He began to work his way down her neck, enjoying every inch.

Aurora leaned up, "You are just insatiable now aren't you? Come on lover boy, let's get some breakfast." She stood from his bed, pulling on her dress from the night before, strapping her bow onto her back. Klondike lay on his side, eyes dreamily half closed as he watched Aurora. Her tail swished and brushed his chin. "You coming? Or should we just call it a day?" Her sultry smile could melt the polar ice caps with how much fire it put in Klondike's heart. His wings stood up enthusiastically.

Rising from his bed, the pegasus stretched out a few stiff muscles, "Can't do that, not with the current situation. What do you have in mind for food?"

"I don't know, I was thinking about some eggs and hay at the saloon."

Klondike strapped on his sword harness, sliding Fireflash's blade into its sheathe. Well, it wasn't Fireflash's sword anymore, nor was it Spin's. He hadn't chosen to wield this sword, it had chosen to wield him, just as he wielded his wings as weapons.

Walking out the door with Aurora, they trotted in tandem to the saloon. The pegasus pulled ahead of the mare, holding open the door for his lover, Aurora giggled at his unexpected chivalry. Eyes on one another lovingly, they took a seat with Pinch Penny and the rest of his employees. Too early for proper customers, Pinch Penny read his customary newspaper, how he managed to keep getting them without shipping was a mystery to Klondike. Lowering his paper, the barkeep smiled at the young mare and stallion.

"Well, you two disappeared on us last night. There anything you want to tell us?"

Klondike cleared his throat, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, "Nothing sir, nothing at all."

Pinch's wife Silver dropped a pair of plates in front of the two, smugly taking a seat next to her husband. "Well Aurora, how was it?"

Klondike choked on a mouthful of hot eggs. Aurora dropped her fork, her cheeks lighting up scarlet. "How was what? We just just talked for a while. That's it, just talked!"

"Oh don't play that game with me young mare, I wasn't born yesterday. Before today Klondike was scared to death of you, but now he's following you like a puppy dog. And don't think I can't see you two playing hoovesies under the table." Aurora's hooves shuffled a bit away from Klondike's.

The other three barmaids and Pinch Penny were scrutinizing the stallion, their stares accusatory. Under pressure he cracked like an egg. "It was innocent, I swear! Neither of us started it, it just happened!"

Pinch grinned, "Good for you," and continued to read an article on Equestria's latest military crisis following events at the Gala.

The rest of the table's occupants resumed breakfast, stopping only to refill their pot of coffee. Klondike and Aurora glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes and shrugged, picking up their forks and eating their eggs.

"So, uh, Pinch. You done with the market section?" The barkeep slid over that portion of the paper to Klondike, who grasped it up with his hooves and began to check his portfolio. Pretty bad he decided, most of his stocks were sunk into North Enterprise, and the Company seemed to be taking a sharp fall after the embargo on turquoise from bison territory went into full effect and would only continue to drop after the long term effect of Windshear's incapacitation came into play. Little bit late to be sending a letter to his broker.

Ruby Rose and Aurora were whispering to one another, occasionally glancing at the pegasus and giggling. "I always thought you two would make such a cute couple Aurora." Rose made no effort to keep that little tidbit of information private. "With his...you know...do things get a bit kinky?" She placed her hooves in her armpits and flapped them like wings.

"This conversation is over Rose....but yes there are a few things he can do. Very, very nice things."

The pegasus in question very loudly cleared his throat, angrily turning the page on his paper to announce that, 'yes, I am still here.'

Aurora leaned over and gave her lover a smooch on the cheek, silencing any protest. "It was an innocent question, now finish your eggs." Klondike grumbled as he grabbed his fork and chewed down some more breakfast. Pinch chuckled at the spectacle.

"Hm, watch it Klondike, she's already laying down the law. First it's 'finish your breakfast', next it's 'hold my saddlebags while I try on that dress' and it ends with you cleaning out the gutters."

"Well pardon me if I withhold my enthusiasm."

"Oh no, if she can hone her feminine wiles to just the right frequency, she'll have you doing all that with a smile on your face."

Klondike glanced at the five mares that shared the table, all grinning at the outnumbered stallions. "Let's just hope they never use that power for evil."

*****************************************************

Murderer.

Traitor.

Puppet.

Coward.

Patsy's mind was tearing itself apart, he had committed some of Equestria's worst and most punishable crimes, but murder was something completely new. Monstrous things, evil acts that made him wish for the hangpony's noose. His entire life had been run by that bastard Owayn, and now that he was dead, Patsy had no idea what to do.

He wasn't a stupid pony, contrary to the insults his old master had constantly berated and degraded the squire with. But after so many years under Owayn's hoof, making decisions just seemed so much more difficult. For the longest time he sat in the entrance of Venerax's cave, staring out into the wilderness. Bloodshot and bleary eyes focused on nothing as his hoof curled around the firing lever on his crossbow, the deadly weapon aimed straight towards his chest.

Patsy remembered the last job they had completed before they came to Snowreach, almost a year prior. They had been traveling mercs, living off handouts and sleeping under roadside hedges. After begging for enough bits to stay in a tavern, they lucked out and managed to find one with a gryphon black market dealer that needed somepony to retrieve a little something. Owayn agreed to take the job before even hearing the mission specs.

The job; break into a gryphon monastery and steal one of the old demon artifacts there. A collector in Gryph'Kalor, the gryphon capital, paid very well for demon artifacts. It went off without a hitch, until Owayn's brash attitude blew their cover. They had to flee the monastery, and Owayn had burned it down to cover their escape. He told Patsy not to worry, that nopony had been inside and everypony had escaped without harm. Hard to believe, especially since Owayn kept destroying every single newspaper that they came across for the next three months.

Patsy's eyes closed as he tightened the grip on the firing lever. His hoof quivered, sweat poured down his brow and Patsy bit his lip. "Momma, Papa, I'm sorry."

He felt the tip of the arrow at his chest, shaking with his nervousness. With a cry he threw the crossbow away, taking his head into his hooves and sobbing. "I'm too much of a bleedin' coward to take the coward's way out."

Alone in the harsh wilderness with no real motivation to live and no purpose in life, Patsy was reminded of the one reason why he stuck around Owayn all these years. Loneliness was a killer, worse than frostbite or starvation. And Owayn had at least been somepony to talk to after being shamed after that fateful mission where they had been kicked out of the Order.

Everypony assumed Patsy was some village idiot that had managed to steal a few weapons and marched around with somepony who looked important. Turned out Owayn really was the more backstabbing, cowardly, thieving, and idiotic of the pair. It had been Owayn's idea in the first place to abandon Venerax and go after the wyvern eggs. It was his idea to hold the two pegasi hostage and his idea to leave them for dead when the wyvern killed Venerax.

Patsy hated himself, tears still streamed from his eyes, pooling on the ground. "It's my fault. It's all my bucking fault. I could have said something, I didn't have to listen to that bastard."

His dad had been a real knight of Equestria, a true hero. At least he would have been if he hadn't lost a hoof in his second quest and been honorably discharged. He could almost hear his father's voice, lending a supporting hoof yet chastising him from beyond the grave.

"Patsy my boy, quit yer blubberin'. You want to be a knight of Equestria? I ain't heard o' no knight blubberin' his eyes out after he made one little mistake. A real knight of Equestria picks himself up, dusts himself off, and is willing to go to Tartarus and back to make his mistake right. A real knightly virtue is ownin' up to yer mistakes and bein' a better pony fer it, even if it is the last thing you do."

"Ownin' up to my mistakes..." Patsy swallowed what little shreds of pride he had left, grabbing his crossbow and what was left of the supplies he and Owayn had brought, and took off onto the wilderness trail.

************************************************

Klondike stood at the head of a table in the saloon, a rough drawing of the wyvern queen splayed out on the table with all of the various leaders of the militia leaned over it.

Klondike lazily traced a primary feather along the outline, "Quite the amazing creature, the wyvern. Ferocious, tough, agile, strong, and unrelenting. The perfect predator, but dumber than a post. And it is that lack of cognizant thought, of planning and intelligence that we will use to kill her."

Tweed looked over the impressive arsenal of the wyvern, "How? She's literally armed head to tail and everywhere in between."

"We attack here." A razor feather stuck through the drawing and through the wood of the table, stuck right at the top of the breastbone. "Her offense is quite possibly the most awesome in the world, nothing can get past that. But if we put her on the defensive, we're the ones on top. Attacking the chest forces her on the defensive, right there is where they keep a large sac of antivenom to pump into their bloodstream constantly. She'll defend that spot with her last dying breath."

The militia captains nodded, "We'll get all our boys in the know, aim for the chest, at the base of the neck."

"Captain wait, make it understood that none of your militia or anypony's for that matter are to get into melee range of this creature. Stay behind cover and don't get within fifty yards of her. Stay back, let her take the bait and open fire once the trap is sprung."

The militia captain saluted before running out the door to inform his ragtag troops. The rest of the sergeants and captains did the same, either teleporting away or running out. Klondike stared at the drawing of the wyvern, extending a wing he slashed at the drawing, tearing several long gouges across the picture.

One of Tweed's foremen pushed open the door to the saloon, the impromptu headquarters for this operation. "Chief, you better get to the front gate quickly!"

Klondike diverted his attention from the wyvern sketch to the messenger. "What is it? Is she attacking?"

"No, but you better get down there before they kill him!"

"Kill who?"

"That squire! He just showed up at the front gate and tossed down all his weapons. The militia took him prisoner, but I think the townsfolk are gonna lynch him for what he did to you and Spin." Klondike dashed past the messenger, flaring his wings out and taking off for the front gate.

A large crowd had gathered around, most ponies shouting and throwing whatever rotted produce they had at the bound and trussed up prisoner.

"Killer!"

"Traitor!"

"You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Klondike landed between the rabble and the tied up squire. "Enough!" The pegasus turned to the squire, forced to his knees with his hooves tied securely. Patsy's eyes were on the dirt, the once proud and arrogant dragon slayer reduced to nothing more than the status of a common criminal. "Why have you come here? Where is Owayn?"

Patsy's eyes stayed on the dirt, "Dead, by my hooves dead," the look on his face denoted the greatest sorrow and the epitome of shame.

The crowd stepped back, gasping at the most heinous crime of murder. Frantic murmurs fluttered around, the townsfolk wondering when they should schedule the earth pony's lynching.

Patsy kept choking out his confession, "Owayn was a monster, he controlled my life and did horrible things to so many innocents. He killed an entire monastery just so he could have a few measly bits. And I let him do it..." Patsy struggled to hold back his tears of shame. "I joined the knighthood so I could help people, not make them suffer. Owayn just saw titles and gold. I wanted to make Equestria a safer place...."

Klondike stared down at the broken wreck of a pony, holding no sympathy for a murderer. "Why have you come back?"

Patsy's eyes lifted off the ground, his eyes bloodshot and watered. "I came to turn myself in, to be punished for what I've done."

Klondike lifted a wing, the feathers hardening and reflecting like metal in the sunlight. Patsy closed his eyes and nodded his head, ready to accept his punishment. The crowd murmured and nodded their approval. Staring at edges of his wing feathers, sharp enough to cut through dragon scale, he sighed.

With a downward chop he lunged at the squire. Patsy sat shaking, opening his eyes to discover his bonds had been cut. Looking up, he saw the form of the pegasus silhouetted by the sunlight, wings flared and his form obscured by the bright rays of the sun. Klondike reached down with a hoof, offering it to the squire. With a second chance at life offered to him, Patsy gratefully took the proffered hoof and stood.

Almost immediately he dropped back into a bow. "Master."

Klondike shook his head and grabbed the earth pony by his shoulders, lifting him back to a normal stance. "No, you don't serve me or anypony else anymore. You are your own stallion, the only pony you need to listen to anymore is yourself. But that doesn't redeem you."

"What would you have me do?"

Klondike placed a hoof on his shoulder, "Help us fight, help us kill the wyvern. And if we succeed, none of us will remember an arrogant squire by the name of Patsy. Just a down on his luck pony looking for a clean slate."

Patsy dropped to one knee, "I pledge myself to the ponies of Windshear. Until death or dishonor."

Wyvern Slayer

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.

Guardians of the North

Six weeks had passed since the death of the brood queen. Windshear was slowly being rebuilt around the idea that such creatures could come at any moment from the tundra. But the simple miners and tradesponies rested easier, a hero had risen amongst them and vanquished the beast. And now the queen's bleached skull adorned the front wall of a newly built town hall, a warning to any monsters out in Snowreach.

North Enterprise had taken a hard hit when the wyvern destroyed the mine, and with a combination of that and other factors, among them being the enterprising efforts of a few of Equestria's newer and more clever allies, North Enterprise Company declared bankruptcy and officially shut down all operations, including the township of Windshear. But the ponies of Windshear stayed, they kept their town and made it their own. Without the Company sending ships every week, the denizens of Windshear had to draw them back with some kind of promise of profit. So it was back to panning for gold, no rest for the weary. But it beat the hell out of filing into a filthy mine every day to get most of your wages garnished for no reason.

With the beast dead and their safety assured for now, Klondike was able to relax and enjoy his life for once. He still tended the library, more as a hobby than anything else though. But with Venerax gone and Spin as well, somepony had to watch over Snowreach. And that duty fell onto the shoulders of its resident Razorwing. On occasion Klondike would fly out into the wilderness for a few days to scout for any signs of monsters, be they the normal types or anything that could pose a serious threat to his people.

Aurora shared his burden, her bow and her magic standing guard over the town of Windshear. They fought as one, Aurora hammering her enemies from afar with magic and arrows, Klondike preferring to get more up close and personal. The bow master stood at the top of the rebuilt ramparts at the gate to Windshear, waiting for her lover to return from his latest patrol. She had awfully good news to tell him, besides the fact that she just plain loved being around him. There were times when he would leave for a day at most, then there were times where he would vanish for up to a week, carrying saddlebags bulging with supplies. It was a sometimes lonely life for Aurora, but a life she and Klondike had to endure.

Shifting the bow on her back to have it sit more comfortably, the unicorn spied a flying red dot, coming in for a light landing. Flaring his wings, Klondike landed gently next to Aurora. "Honey, I'm home." He gave his marefriend a nuzzle on her nose.

She gave him a kiss on the cheek, "I missed you so much."

The stallion smiled as he returned her kiss, "I was only gone for two days. Aurora, I have something I want to ask you."

"Ask me later, I have something special for you at the saloon. Something came for you in the mail."

Aurora trotted down to the saloon, Klondike following closely, almost bouncing like an excited colt. "What is it? Come on, tell me! I can keep a secret!"

Pushing open the swinging door to the Goldrush Saloon, she levitated a rolled scroll from a pile of mail to the ponies of Windshear. Holding out in front of him, she whisked it away as he tried to grab it. "Nuh uh, you have to earn it."

"Oh come on! It's my mail and I never get letters from anypony!" Aurora's coy expression didn't waver, "Alright, I'll do the dishes."

"And?"

Klondike rolled his eyes, "And I'll fix the leak in the roof."

She rolled a hoof to keep him saying things, "Aaaaannd?"

He grinned, stepping close to the mare, "And, I'll give one of my famous wing massages to my very special somepony if she gives me my mail."

"That's more like it," she levitated the scroll into his waiting hoof.

He looked at the parchment scroll, wrapped in a red ribbon and sealed with a wax stamp of the sun and moon. Totally unlike the normal square letters or postcards that went through the mail, this ornate scroll could only have come from one place, Canterlot Castle.

With his heart in his throat, he broke the seal and unfurled the scroll.

Most esteemed subject,

It has come to my attention that recent events have occurred which have resulted in the tragic loss of many of your dearly beloved friends and companions. And that you personally have succeeded in vanquishing the monster responsible for the death of so many loved ones. I mourn for your loss, I knew Sir Greyback as a dear friend, and hearing that you have redeemed him and avenged his death brings a glimmer of hope to my heart.

Though your actions did have the unfortunate result of bringing about the downfall of one of Equestria's wealthiest mining corporations, we will survive. The life of a single pony is more important to me than all of the wealth in Equestria. Your perseverance in the face of adversity stands as the true values that Equestria needs in its times of darkness. And so, by the power invested in me, I give you the honorary title of knight of the Realm of Equestria.

I would personally bestow this honor upon you, but recent events have held my attention here in Equestria. In the coming months you may see strange creatures come to your town, but they are not our enemies. They are an ancient race that has only recently come back to us, and their intentions are peaceful.

And as for the wyvern threat, I trust in you Sir Klondike to protect our northern reaches from these beasts. It is my understanding that you are a Razorwing, a rare talent and a useful one. Use your gift wisely, and never in anger.

Yours Truly
Princess Celestia

P.S.

Our new allies have shown an interest in the wyverns, solely for scientific reasons of course. I grant them full leeway to study the creatures at their leisure. And Klondike, do not worry about them, they are fully capable of handling a wyvern with their technology, though your assistance would be appreciated in their quest for knowledge.

Aurora nudged the stallion, "Well? What's it say?"

Klondike furled up the scroll and sat down on a stool, his head spinning, "It's a letter from Princess Celestia. I've been knighted..."

Aurora threw her hooves around his neck, "That's wonderful! Oh my knight in shining armor..." she smooched him in the cheek. All the patrons of the saloon stood up and stomped their hooves for Klondike.

Even Patsy, who now held down a job as a part time barkeep stopped wiping down glasses to give him a pat on the back, "Good on ya mate!"

The pegasus stood from the stool, lifting his wings to silence the crowd. "Everypony, I have something I would like to ask Aurora." He turned back to his love, "Aurora, I haven't been completely honest with you the in past few weeks. I have been going out on patrol, but I've also been panning for some gold on the side. But it was all to make this." He reached into a pouch on his harness, pulling out a gold ring with a sliver of the wyvern's tooth adorning it. He slowly dropped to a knee.

"You have made this entire adventure of life worth living for me. When I was lost in the dark, you stood by me and held strong in the face of adversity. When I lost all hope, you were there to bring me strength and love. I love you more than the stars in the sky and the wind under my wings. Aurora, will you make me the happiest stallion on earth? Will you marry me?"

Aurora's eyes shined bright with joyous tears, she lowered her horn to have him place the ring on. Grabbing him in her hooves the mare hugged her fiance. "YES YES YES YES! A thousand, a million times YES!"

The townsponies cheered once again, Pinch Penny calling for free drinks to celebrate. A misty eyed Ruby Rose dabbed at the corner of an eye with her bar rag, "I always love a happy ending."