"Okay, where to start?" Hedvika sighed. Her eyes' distant look wandered around the room, tracing the grains on the wooden planks lining the wall.
Most of the mud from her body was gone, leaving just an occasional smear on her, now visible, green coat. Her teeth chafed at her lip, tiny red beads shimmering there again. Water dropped from her fur, pooling into small puddles on the ground.
Luna watched with amusement as the unicorn's gaze shifted, her expression changing every few seconds.
Hedvika pawed at the ground, her hooves drawing uneven lines and circles into the floor. In the end, she pulled her ears back, straining a smile. “I’m sorry, I’m not the best storytelle—”
"Who wants a late midnight snack?" whooped Sev, abruptly ending Hedvika's mental self-torture. Eyeing the water pooling beneath the mare, he added, “And you’d deserve a midnight towel.”
Hedvika blinked a few times and looked at her reflection in the puddles. “Oh.” She stood up and with a sheepish smile trotted away and into the bathroom.
Luna turned to the dragon, slightly annoyed by the sudden end of her current entertainment. She had to chuckle at the sight of him the next moment.
Sev's wings were unfolded and bent at strange angles, carrying the weight of a large tray laden with half a dozen sandwiches. A large pile of peeled carrots swayed dangerously from side to side next to the sandwiches.
The meal was far simpler than the delicate cucumber sandwiches and crunchy salads the royal chefs usually prepared, but at least the portion seemed big enough to actually sate a pony. Also, one didn't need a magnifying glass to see the food on the plate.
"Thank you." Luna clumsily grabbed and maneuvered one sandwich to her mouth with her hooves, a few pieces of tomato nearly escaping the confines of the bread slices. She took a gentle bite, her gaze automatically searching for a napkin.
The flavor of a hefty coat of butter and salad exploded in her mouth. With her empty stomach screaming to her mind, she ditched all her delicate royal manners. She dove headfirst into the carrots, knocking the tray from Sev's hold. Munching on at least three of them at once and sputtering tiny orange bits all around, she caught the puzzled stare of her scaled host.
With a crunch, she slowly swallowed the last carrot and blushed awkwardly. "Uh, sorry?"
"And I was afraid I wouldn't be able to be classy enough around you," Hedvika deadpanned. Luna jumped slightly, turning to the mare standing in the doorway with a towel around her neck. Seeing the blush on Luna’s cheeks, she stifled a chuckle and trotted into the room.
"You have really great mouth-working skills for a unicorn." Luna wiped the leftover crumbs from her face with her healthy wing.
"Fank fou," Hedvika replied and spat out the needle her teeth were holding. "My grandma was an earth pony, and I spent quite a lot of time with her when I was younger. She taught me how to do many things the earth pony way, not knowing how useful it would prove later." She turned to Sev and back to the now fixed piece of fabric she was fidgeting with. An annoyed huff left her lips. "Hmm, the blood stains are still visible. I'll have to find something red or orange to dye it over..." She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle.
Luna looked at her curiously. "Why are you wearing a scarf in the middle of summer, if I may ask? You don't seem to be cold or have a sore throat."
"Mere nostalgia. Let's just say that this piece of cotton saved my life more than once.” Hedvika gently stroked the ragged cloth. She rolled her shoulders, eliciting a few quiet pops from them, and continued, “Anyway, we’ll get to that. You deserve to know what happened tonight, and I’ve been keeping you waiting long enough."
"Leave that to me… or we will be here till the morning before you get off the fence," Sev chimed in, unhindered by the two carrots sticking out from his mouth on his biggest fangs.
Hedvika smirked at him, giving him a thankful nod.
Luna supported her chin with a hoof. "I'm listening."
"So… This evening was really unique, because we were finally able to fully observe the timberwolves’ mating ritual—"
“You did what?” Luna straightened up, her eyes wide. The drake cleared his throat. "Uh, I meant to say, that must have been... really interesting and... satisfying?"
"Okay, you might think we're crazy doing a thing like this. It's just... you'll find that many legends surrounding the Everfree Forest are just myths and half truths. But you probably won't understand till you see for yourself," Hedvika interjected, her voice weary.
Luna opened her mouth, but Sev's cough drew back her attention.
"Then we went to see Zecora. She’s a zebra living in the Everfree as well," he explained at the princess' questioning look. "She is ill, so we decided a little company would cheer her up. When the storm clouds started to build up that fast, she sent us home, hoping that we would manage to arrive home before the downpour started."
(\*/)
"I wonder how Zecora managed to catch the flu in this scorching weather. I hope it will get at least a little colder after the rain."
"Maybe if's becaufe she waf born in Zebrica and if heredifarily ufed to their condifionf." Hedvika turned to Sev swooping behind her, a pencil in her mouth. "And yeah, fe weafer if killing me foo, foo warm and sficky."
"Come on, can't it wait till we get home?"
"Whaf? Nfo." The mare looked up from the weathered notebook, releasing the pencil from her teeth. "These facts are too important to not be noted down immediately. And I don't want to hear anything about devastating my eyes."
"You know such a sight is unforgettable. Especially when captured in your memory. And maybe not your eyes, but your book will mind, it's starting to rain."
"Okay, okay..." Hedvika closed the notebook against her chest and slipped it into her saddlebag.
"Sev?" She turned to him, only to spot his tail disappearing up a nearby tree.
"There is something off with the clouds," came an answer muffled by the leaves. She sighed, rearing up and planting her hooves against the tree trunk.
"Do you always have to choose the trees with the smoothest bark?" Hedvika groaned as she pulled herself between two thick branches. A few twigs stuck out of her wet mane, her muzzle and mouth covered in moss and lichens.
"I know you like a good challenge." The dragon smirked. His face fell more serious in the next moment. "It almost seems like the storm was built by pegasi."
The mare rolled her eyes, hopping over to him. Her hooves slipped slightly on the wet wood. "Isn't something shimmering over there?" Hedvika pointed to the dark sky, leaning on a branch for support.
"Let me see." Sev flew forward, eyes squinted. "Night guard armor. Those bat ponies always tickled my curiosity. I bet they are related to dragons in a way. Though their amateurish style of hiding is clearly that of a pony."
"Their style of what?" Hedvika's ears shot up.
"You see, those two can't even take their polished helmets off when sticking their heads out of the cloud cover." Sev landed on a branch, poking his head through a tuft of leaves and turning his neck from side to side comically.
Hedvika ignored the show he put on, carefully stepping further away from the main trunk. "But why? Did those bigheads in Canterlot decide to guard the Everfree twenty-four hours a day?" She gasped as the branch bent slightly under her.
"Seems more like lurking than guarding to me," Sev remarked as he climbed up her back and leaned against her neck.
"Hmm... Waiting. For prey.” Her eyes narrowed. “I don't want to miss out on that."
"I was afraid you would not say that." Sev spread his wings, their leathery membranes fluttering in the picking up wind. “Ready?”
“Ready.” The mare pumped her legs and rebounded from the branch into the depth of open air.
"You think they went down at the Castle Gorge?" Hedvika tried to make herself heard over the wind and rain gushing around them.
"Either there or really close-by."
"Can you turn left here?"
"You know I'm not as swift in maneuvering with you as when I'm flying alone?"
"Drop me at the nearest clearing. I don't know which side we are on yet, but a little help might be needed."
"You have enough apples?"
"Yep."
"Three... two... one... I'll stay close!" Sev started ascending while Hedvika dropped to the ground with a splash.
"You got a whole pack?" Sev dashed above the overgrown path, watching the sight below through the downpour.
"Apparently it's going to be a tough winter when timberwolves are going after any zapple they spot. Good for us! Now, can you give me a lift again?" Hedvika panted as she slid in the mud.
A few timberwolves barreled behind her, teeth clapping and claws sweeping. All tried to snatch for themselves one of the zap apples attached to the mare's tail. A blue blur descended to the ground and pulled their prey up into the air.
"Not so high, or they'll lose interest!" Hedvika yelled, twisting in Sev's grip.
"Okay, okay... You know I can't fly directly through the treetops, right?"
"Just stay slightly above."
The hungry pack rushed below them, lagging slightly. The sounds of galloping hooves and occasional glint of armor drew nearer and nearer.
"I think I can see one hugging a tree down there. Interested?" Sev called and momentarily slowed..
"No, I want to know who they are after."
"So be it."
Sev landed with his pony burden at the edge of a small clearing. Silhouettes of a few ponies in the distance were clearly visible in the moonlight. He let go of her back and snuck into the nearest bush.
"Oh, chickencoop." Hedvika growled at the scene playing out before her. She put her dagger into her mouth and crawled the other way than her dragon companion. She knew they had half a minute at most before the timberwolves arrived.
She pushed her back against a tree, listening to the guard slashing his blade through the air above the limp pony.
Hedvika bit her lip. Guards. It was always a dicey business with them. One wrong move, and she might be accused of disrupting their operation. On the other hoof...
The guard chuckled. "Don't worry, Princess, it'll be much more painful for you than me."
Hedvika’s eyes widened, a gasp almost escaping her lips.
Without thinking, she jumped from her hideout, throwing and skewering a zap apple on the middle of the guard's wingblade. "I don't think so," she growled.
A timberwolf jumped after the apple immediately, jaws snapping shut on the fruit and blade alike. The creature dragged the guard to the underbrush by his wing. Hedvika, stepping over the fallen form of the limp pony, watched the guard flail and cry for help.
"No, no, no!" The remaining guard threw himself forward, both blades pointed at the green mare.
She blocked one of the blows with her dagger, both weapons shimmering on impact. Turning, she aimed a buck at his chest. His second blade hit flesh, just before her hooves connected with him.
The kick only crumpled his armor, causing him to stagger a little.
The guard grunted, nostrils flaring. The image of the weakened mare, pressing a hoof to the gash on her chest, reflected in his eyes. She was hurt, only barely holding onto her weapon. She seemed just as helpless as a filly armed with a toothpick.
He gulped, glaring at the bunch of green eyes glowing behind the mare. Rather these than Her Highness being displeased with him. He crouched down, ready to charge.
"Oh, I think you forgot you wanted to run for your dear life from the timberwolves, didn’t you? Let me help you on this one," a cheeky male voice chimed behind him.
Something small, yet surprisingly strong grabbed him and lifted him to the air. He flailed his bladed wings around, hoping to hit the assailant. All he managed were a few scratches on his own body. Suddenly, the grip around him loosened, and he sank to the canopy below.
"One would think those guards would have a better knowledge of handling their own weapons than that one. He almost cut off his own… oh," Sev remarked as he returned to Hedvika. The mare acknowledged him with a flick of her ear. He bent down to the fallen alicorn. “How is she?”
The mare crouched over Luna's unconscious form and ran a hoof across her wing.
"Just exhausted and bruised, I hope. Help me get her up." Hedvika gritted her teeth as she dragged the princess on her back. Balancing the alicorn on her shoulders, she moved her hoof to her large white scarf. She tightened the fabric, letting out a hiss as the cloth chafed on her irritated flesh.
Licking his nostrils, Sev gave her a disapproving look, but said nothing. He hovered above her, eyeing the unconscious mare. She breathed calmly, her legs occasionally twitching. Her wet mane cascaded down in messy strands, curling on Hedvika’s muddy coat.
"A princess... betrayed by her own guards. What are we gonna do with her?" Sev ran a claw across Luna’s cheek, revealing a fur make-up and eye shadow of the finest brand under the layers of dirt and mud.
"Take her home and see if we can put her back together. After that, no idea."
"Maybe I should carry—"
"No. I need you to watch out for any incoming threats. We are knee-deep in this mess now, whatever it is.” Hedvika growled, pushing the alicorn’s head over her shoulder. Princess Luna snored, drool dripping from her mouth on Hedvika’s coat. The mare sighed. “All I know is that it’s not gonna be a pleasant mess."
/)*(\
"Ah, at least I know that it would be useless to fill out reports to the Weather Patrol Office to calm down the Everfree weather." Luna twisted in her seat, rubbing the remains of her cut tail.
"I still can't believe I’ve sent an angry timberwolf pack at a bunch of royal guards. At least I hope they had some better excuse than just your sister wanting to occupy your comfy bed." The green mare winced and groaned, casting a glance at her neck and torn scarf.
"Princess, you are not surprised by our use of zapples?" Sev chimed in, his voice much more lighthearted than Hedvika's.
"I am not going to be surprised by anything this evening—” Luna turned around, trying to spot some clock. “Or early morning, my dear non-baby dragon."
Hedvika cleared her throat. "Shall I continue with the story of a non-baby dragon that wasn't that much non-baby back then?" She gave Sev a smug grin.
Luna cocked her head, carefully watching the little dragon. "I would be more than happy to hear it, but he does not seem to approve."
Sev was slamming his head against the nearest wall.
"Did calling him non-baby insult him in a way?" Luna turned her worried gaze to Hedvika.
She just shook her head and smirked.
The dragon grunted, his growl turning into a roar. "Can. You. Finally. Get. OUT?!" The slamming continued, Sev’s horns slowly carving grooves into the wall.
"We?" Luna cocked her head, confusion and indignation written all over her face.
"At last!" Sev spat out the carrots, his two longest fangs still embedded in them.
"Are you okay?" Luna extended a hoof to him.
"Are you surprised?"
"Sev!" Hedvika growled, clapping her hoof.
"What?" He gave Hedvika an innocent grin, surprisingly with a full repertoire of his teeth.
"Okay... Here we go, explaining. Again." Hedvika sighed and turned to the princess. "Dragon venom has slightly unpleasant consequences on their teeth, so the inner enamel around the channel renews and renews, pushing the older layers to the perimeter of the fang. Thus dragons more or less periodically shed off the outer layer of their teeth, especially after using a larger amount of the liquid. Sev misses the teeth-corrupting component, but his genes stil command his body to do this."
"Once the outer layers start separating, it's really annoying. Better help them out." Sev ran his claws over his new pristine white fangs and tapped on them.
Luna turned to the fang-infused carrots and examined the hollowed-out teeth.
"Just start with the story already. I fear he will try to surprise me again," she muttered, collapsing back on her blanket. "Or, wait for a moment. Where did you get that dagger?" She motioned to the weapon, still lying abandoned on the floor after Hedvika’s theatrical greeting.
“Oh, that.” Sev picked it up and gently handed the ornate weapon to Luna. “A honorary gift from the Dragon Margrave himself to mark his friendship towards ponies.”
Luna turned the blade in her hooves, the cogs in her brain spinning. Her mind went through the cornucopia of little obscure states and their rulers. High Priestess of Okapis in Central Zebrica, multiple warlords of the nomadic hippogriffs, even the self-coronated king of dolphins of the Horseshoe Bay, but no Dragon Margrave whatsoever. “Pardon, Dragon Margrave?”
"Jaggertooth the Third. A tiny bit of the story ahead," Hedvika said. “If you ever meet him, please don’t mention I use his special gift as a kitchen knife. I don’t think he’d be pleased.”
Luna raised an eyebrow, but nodded. The unicorn before her sighed, slowly starting to unfurl the tale.
"It was during my first years in elementary school. Let's say that I was a little different than the other foals… Simply the weird one that touched every slimy creature and was immensely happy about it.” Hedvika chuckled, her gaze growing distant. “After all, it stayed as my occupation up to this point.” She rubbed the fur blanket gently. Luna grimaced.
"My curiosity for nature aside, I'm not too proud of my past, so please just note that I was not very popular in my class, as long as my classmates weren’t in need of copying homework. I think it could be useful to understand the story properly... that is also why it might seem like I’m beating around the bush quite a lot; I just want the events to come out as clear as possible in the given context.” She rubbed the back of her head and adjusted the scarf around her neck.
Clearing her throat, she finally started, “Freshly after Autumn Wrap Up, we had a school trip to the ancient crystal mines at the base of the local mountain range. Who could have known that the mines were the only remains of the now newly returned Crystal Empire?"
(\*/)
A group of foals hustled before the entrance to the cold, darkened cave. Eager hooves adjusted the heavy helmets they were given, and the chatter of a few ponies mixed to create a dull hum. The noise slowly quieted down as a guide mare trotted to the group, clearing her throat.
A small filly tried to push her way through the crowd, rearing to get to the front so not a word of the guide escaped her ears. She stopped midway, catching a glimpse of her classmate with face green as a fresh spring leaf. “Hey, Pinie, feeling better?”
Pinie looked back at the filly, her eyes glassy and unfocused. “Kinda.” Her cheeks seemed to bulge out a little for a moment, the mere memory of the nauseating train ride flipping her stomach once more.
“Well,” the filly pawed at the ground, “I have to say, I have never seen a pony literally turn green from feeling sick. I mean, I don’t know what terrible kind of food would be able to do that.” She moved a loose lock of her mane from her eyes. “But you remind me of one sea gastropod. It gets all green from eating algae, and then it can photosyn—”
Pinie waved her hoof through the air. “Hold your horses, Hedvika. Green gastro— What?”
“A gastropod. You know, a creature like a snail or slug. Those slimy little animals that leave the mucous smelly trails on lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes...” Hedvika cocked her head, watching as Pinie turned even more green and pale before running off. “Huh, maybe she doesn’t like molluscs. Maybe I should have mentioned greenflies instead...” She scratched her head and trotted after the slowly departing crowd.
A voice of the guide drifted above their heads, "...It's unbelievable, but these huge chunks of gemstone were delivered to the nearby villages, and it was not until they arrived there that they were worked on, carved and refined to be used as building material or turned into jewellery.”
“Some brave historians say that there was a whole city dedicated to doing this work. Would you believe it? A huge town for carving gemstones! It had obviously just disappeared without leaving a single trace!”
The foals moved past the colossal crystal clusters, each easily as big as Princess Celestia herself. Hedvika shivered as a few water droplets fell on her back, the filly retracting deeper into her large white scarf. She watched her face’s reflection distort and twist on the surface of the gems.
The group continued forward, jumping over rusted rails on the ground. The guide stopped before a wall displaying various picks, buckets and burners. "Those tools were used here for centuries till the great dragon disaster happened. The mines were then closed for a decade until the Canterlot mines ran out, and the need for gemstones brought new workers back here…
“Now you’ll experience the conditions under which the miners had to work here. When their burners ran out, they couldn’t just leave and obtain a refill. Instead, they had to finish mining the crystal they were working on and only then could they return to the surface. This was meant to ensure the miners worked fast in hopes of getting their daily quota done before they lost their only source of light. Everypony, please turn off your helmet lights.”
“Ah, chickencoop!” Hedvika cursed lightly, trying to force her magic through her horn. She grunted, pushing with all her willpower, but not a single spark touched the switch in the headlamp. She moved her hoof to the manual switch with a quiet grumble. In the dimming light, she saw most of her classmates weren’t faring much better. She kicked at a tiny gemstone on the ground. Waiting for the moment when she was old enough to use her horn properly was a pest.
Slowly but surely, darkness enveloped them all. Dripping water, tripping hooves, and quiet whispers were all that disturbed the deafening silence. Hedvika slowly moved forward, occasionally stumbling into another pony or the cold, smooth wall.
Suddenly, a voice reached their ears. “I’m… Nightmare Moon! Bow before my night! Mwaha—ha—uh.” The fumbling crowd stopped. Hedvika could feel the foal closest to her shaking.
“Sugar Lump, that wasn’t very funny!” A spank and a hiss echoed through the caves, followed by a booming laughter.
A quiet, urgent voice spoke through the darkness, “Um, guys? I think I’m feeling unwell again.” It was Pinie. The whole group turned, ultimately running away from the filly.
A few cries from the guide and a few reassuring words of their teacher later, the wild herd was organised once more. The foals slowly moved forward through the darkness, holding each other by the tail. "And now we are nearing our last stop; The Lake Dome!" the guide called from the front of the group.
The huge cavern lit up with the glow of the guide's horn. The children stepped on the suspended bridge, amazed and terrified by the sheer vastness of the place. The gargantuan crystals radiated with the light spell and mirrored in the limpid water below.
"Now, who can tell me what are these nearly translucent insects floating in the water?" the guide asked and pointed into the lake underneath them.
The following silence couldn't be louder. Just one small hoof shakily rose up.
The guide’s eyes shimmered as she looked at the filly. "Yes?"
"They are the quartz niphargi, but actually these aren't inse—"
"Thank you, Greenlock, that's enough. The guide surely knows her job." The teacher groaned, casting the guide an apologetic look. The mare just grimaced.
"But—" The filly turned to the teacher, only to see her tail moving away.
"Pretty disgusting, those bugs," a light blue filly said, turning to her friend.
"Yeah, it's a miracle Pinie hasn't thrown up again at the sight," a beige filly added.
Hedvika peeked over the edge of the bridge, gazing into the water. "They seem interesting to me. And they aren't bu—"
"Oh, don't you want to take a better look at them then, Greenlock?" The blue one pushed her against the railing. Their classmates streamed around them, trotting down the bridge.
"Let me be, Bluebell! And you know my name's Hedvika, you don't have to call me by my surname like a teacher." Hedvika groaned, pushing back.
"Oh, so you still haven't noticed that she's trying to teach you how to be a mare and not an animal, one of the many things you still don't comprehend? Right now it was a lecture in proper postural habits. You fall, you fail, Greenlock," the beige one finished, stomping a hoof into a puddle on the floor. Hedvika flinched as the ice cold droplets hit her face.
"Come on, girls, you can now try your magic at gemstone inscribing!" the teacher called from the other side of the bridge.
"Yeah, you should go and try it. We know you're good at it, too good that you don't want to show your magic to anypony!" Bluebell grinned at Hedvika before cantering away. The filly lowered her ears, trotting after the rest of the group.
"Watch out!" Pinie, now back to her healthy, orange self, yelled at the nearest colt, aiming a snowball at him.
A fight erupted just as the clock on the visitor centre started to tick down the hour of free time the foals were given. The snow-covered terrace on the side of the mine hill provided lots of ammunition and cover as well. The sunrays danced across the snow, shimmering and stinging in the eyes. Soon all the foals engaged in forming and throwing snowballs, all of them already wet to the bone.
Hedvika was about to throw her ball when—
"Revision!" A pair of blue and beige hooves hit her side.
Unprepared, she fell squarely to the ground, hooves slipping. She grasped for support. Neither the half-melted snow nor the ice could hold her. With a small yelp, she tumbled backwards into the void below.
Standing near the hill's edge seemed tactical to cover her back from flying snowballs, yet it proved a wrong choice for ice skating. She rolled down the hill, bumping over stones and ice clusters. Her body stopped in a snowdrift, lying limp.
"Fell and failed!" Bluebell victoriously cried. "Come on, Maize, she can get back up without our help."
"Um, we should run away quickly, she isn't moving." Maize was already backpedalling from the edge.
Hedvika groaned and stood up shakily. Her vision swam, and her grazed skin stung at the touch of water. She shook the snow from her coat along with most of her soreness and looked up.
She was calm on the outside, but her mind raged. Part of her wanted to cry at the duo's cruelty, another was prepared to go back, yell at them, and buck them down, and the last tried to persuade her hooves to just run away.
In the end, she decided to not risk climbing the frozen hill. Spending the rest of the day with bullies and blind minds wasn't a welcoming thought either. It'd be best if she travelled back to the train station by herself and went home alone. She could even leave a note for the teacher so she wouldn’t worry! She bit her lip, kicking at the snow with a hoof.
Travel back to the train station. Nice idea, worse realisation. Upon their arrival to the train station, she had noticed a few roads leading into the connecting valleys. However, she had just a vague idea of where she was, and she knew even less of where those roads were. With a sigh, Hedvika turned her back to the mines and set her eyes on the mountains towering before her. Ears aback, she gulped audibly and started forward.
There seemed to be no end to that hill. The station surely wasn't that far. It didn't make any sense, there had to be a way! Not just all those ravines and cliffs. The filly huffed as another obstacle appeared in her supposed right way.
Clouds built up in the sky and locked the warm rays of the sun away. It started to snow.
She burrowed her head deeper into her huge scarf. It still smelled of her grandma’s living room: Hearth's Warming cinnamon and dried lavender. Only this time the scent of wet fabric and condensed saliva was mixed in, pushing the pleasant memories to the back of her mind. At least it blocked out most of the cold.
How she wished for her spell-casting ability to be stronger. She could name at least five spells to warm herself up, yet she still wasn't able to perform even the simplest telekinesis. Her horn was good only for icicles to form on.
Bemused, she watched solid waterfalls and columns of ice pass around her. Normally she'd be excited by such an enchanting sight. Not now. One couldn't climb these. They just sat there, further narrowing the thin ledge between the wall and the tricky snowy overhang above the chasm that gaped underneath her.
With a groan of rage and despair, she bucked the nearest tree. A tree that was more like a sickly bush that overestimated its ability to grow in such a hostile place.
It bent over the edge, the frozen wood creaking. With one final screech, it snapped and fell, its roots taking half of the cliff for a ride.
"Oi. Sorry," Hedvika cried to the depth below, holding onto one of the frozen cascades. She slid down with a thud, the path behind her crumbling down as well. She sighed. One more change of course.
She trudged over the frozen plain. Tiny tornadoes of snow danced around her, fed by the wind from the mountains. Waves of snowflakes raced across the icy ground and gathered into towering dunes. Gone was the blinding and shimmering snow. The sun was concealed by thick clouds directed only by the wild winds of the Frozen North. Pristine white was replaced by gloomy gray. Hedvika shielded her cheeks from the biting wind. A snowstorm was coming.
Holes in the snow left by her hooves were refilled almost immediately. Wind whipped her face and hurled sharp crystals of ice into her eyes. Locks of her mane and tail wildly flapped in the air, the strands of hair slowly freezing together. Snowdrifts collected on her eyelashes as she fought to keep her eyes open.
She was no longer trying to fix her course. All she could do was hope that she was still walking straight, and that some cover would show up soon. If that was true, she should still be able to backtrack, at least in theory.
Head bent down, she pressed on. "You mustn't stop. You can't fall asleep. You won't wake up," she muttered, until she felt saliva freezing on her tongue.
Suddenly, the snow from below her vanished, and she slid forward with a shriek. She landed before a small overhang. It was lined with huge icicles looking like prison bars. Not hesitating a moment, she crawled inside. Still cold, but at least the wind was gone.
She felt sleepy. She no longer had the will to resist it. And that one snow pile, looking like a fluffy pillow, was so tempting. She'd relieve her hooves just a little, rest her head, and close her weary eyelids...
Crack
Her ears shot up, swiveling to the snow pile.
"Probably just a crunching piece of frozen snow..." She muttered as she put her head back down.
Her eyes stared out into the raging storm. "Will they be looking for me?" The question resonated between the icicles. "But why would they? My classmates make fun of me, and our teacher isn't even trying to stop them. Not caring would be better both for me and them."
Tears started to form at the corners of her eyes, immediately turning to ice.
Crack
The small pile beneath her shook, a cloud of steam rising from it.
Despite her weariness, Hedvika jumped up and backpedalled further into the frozen cave. Pressed against the wall, she eyed the pile with fear and curiosity. She'd read about geysers streaming out hot water once in a while... Most of them were in the Badlands, but there were mentions of some in the Crystal Mountains as well. Was this one of them? If it started to pour, should she stay nearby to warm herself up or run before it boiled her?
Too late.
The pile erupted in a small shower of snowflakes. There, in its epicenter, sat an egg.
A crack egg with a goo-covered reptile inside. The creature eyed the filly curiously. It seemed to be expecting something.
Then it started to wriggle and rub feverishly on the eggshell, ridding itself of the clinging mucus. Shimmering blue scales began to poke from beneath the brownish sludge. Small bat-like wings slowly unfurled from its sides, looking like fins of fish that had been pulled out of water.
The freshly hatched dragon blinked a few times and licked the remaining slime from its nostrils. Then, with surprising force, it leapt forward.
A row of glimmering, sharp teeth caught on the fabric of her scarf. Hedvika stood still, remembering what a friend told her. Stay calm, trust the animal, it will trust you.
Yeah, that was efficient when you had a thorn-tailed lizard on your shoulder, not this thing that could probably burn a hole through a pony's neck with a single sneeze. She mentally kicked herself for calling the dragon a 'thing' in the next moment.
Luckily it didn't sneeze. It just curled in her scarf and twisted its tail around her neck. Her hooves were beginning to freeze to the ground when the restless wriggling around in the scarf ceased, and the drake started to climb up her chest and neck again. It stopped to explore her muzzle with its tongue, hanging on her jaw with its talons.
“I just hope your saliva isn't acidic or something,” she muttered over the claws digging into her lips. She tried to hold her head still, even with a burden of nearly the same size.
The small reptile didn't seem to notice. It was too fascinated by her horn. Its round pupils turned more slitted, the reflection of the emerald green tip still clearly visible in them. The filly's own eyes narrowed as its nose drew closer and closer to her forehead.
Its movement was slow and shaky, yet steady.
Suddenly, in a bright flash of light, a stream of sparks arched over the remaining distance.
It was the second time that day she was coughing up snow and picking herself off the ground. Though the tingling in her body and the dragon cowering in her scarf were new.
She lowered her eyes to look at the small creature. Her gaze met a smoother part of the icy ground. She winced at the sight. Her horn was singed black.
Her hoof found its way into the many folds of her scarf where it tenderly caressed the dragon. The little one seemed to radiate even more coldness, sending chills down Hedvika's frozen spine.
She thought that she was hallucinating as the snow around her seemed to move. She blinked. It did move. Stuck to the coats of two polar foxes.
They stopped between the icicle bars, eyeing the filly. Not with fear, but respect for the unknown creature before them. Hedvika cocked her head to the side, returning their look. The little one tried to hide even further into the scarf.
Slowly, the two predators approached the pair. Hedvika's mind flashed the images of rabies and other illnesses, but she was too tired to move. The foxes came nearer and lay down by her side, shielding her from the cold.
Trust and respect, it is shared both ways. You must never show fear. Remember that.
She remembered, but it was only now that she fully understood.
"This is something that makes me different from the puppy and kitty cuddlers," she muttered to herself. "Respect and trust for animals. Understanding."
She felt a tingling wave of heat wash over her and settle in her flank. When she turned to it, she noticed a leaf shape with a stylized owl in its center appearing in a flash of light.
As the plain green fur disappeared to make way for her cutie mark, the snow and ice around them melted, leaving a small patch of moist grass under the overhang.
A small smile wormed its way to Hedvika’s lips. Now just to find a way back and also some good explanation for keeping a dragon and its smelly eggshell. The first could be solved quite simply, it was still refusing to leave her scarf... but the second... Would stopping to beg for an ostrich egg be enough?
/)*(\
"It was a small miracle, but we managed to get to the train station. The teacher planned to be angry, but she just embraced me, tears streaming down her eyes when I showed up. And after a newspaper ad about Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns using dragon hatching as an entrance exam, my parents let me keep the dragon.”
“I named him ‘Severhak’ after an ancient god of the north winds that appeared in lots of my fairy tales. But since pronouncing something from the ancient language is not exactly easy, he usually goes with ‘Sev’.” Hedvika extended a hoof, searching for the dragon blindly. Her eyes were bound to the flames of the fireplace.
“What else to say? My family later moved to the central parts of Equestria, I managed to have received approval for a research project focusing on small northern dragons, which led to the discovery of Dragon Margraviate far in the Frozen North, where I was able to learn more about them." Her hoof found Sev’s scales and rubbed them lightly.
"A few years ago, I was wandering around the edge of the Everfree when I spotted a smoldering timberwolf. Somepony tried to kill it by burning it alive. It escaped at the first sight of me. I started to look for all the information I could find about them and the Everfree in general. Just a few tomes of the Classical era were what I found.” Her eyes narrowed, still intently staring into the flames and shimmering embers.
“It started with small expeditions to this forsaken place, continued with meeting the zebra herbalist living here, and ended with us moving into an old forester station on this ancient tree."
With a snore, Luna fell headfirst into the remaining sandwiches.
A weary sigh escaped Hedvika’s lips. "Sev? How long is she...?"
"Not long... I think." The dragon grinned, slithering past her.
"I'm really looking forward to repeating all of this tomorrow." Hedvika grimaced. "But still, she is our chance to show the outer world what really lies in the Everfree..." She looked at the peacefully sleeping alicorn with butter and breadcrumbs caking her dark coat.
"Let’s get her some place to sleep. And you need rest too." Sev turned to her, smiling faintly.