Evenfall: Verdant White

by Yinglung

Chapter 5 – White Specters from the Past

“You know, Yolana might be mad, but this is like the best idea ever!”

Kanipha cheerfully proclaimed. “We no longer have to tolerate getting pelted in the face by snow and ice!”

“And the occasional bugs too.”

“Occasional? Spike, I think that this displays a severe lack of sense of scale. The frigging mosquito swarm here is worse than those in the dreariest swamp in Zebrica. Given, it was tolerable a few days ago, but since we departed again, it was a helluva worse. We’d all be stung into hogheads if we don’t have this cover. Thank your Rainga for that!”

“Heh. I’m just glad that Yolana is now willing to rotate and share her load. She’s quite stiff-necked. I guess this is a common trait to all yaks and muskoxen.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I don’t wanna sound whiny, but it’s a shame that we can no longer talk with people on other sleds by shouting. That was fun. But if it was that or getting a mouthful of bugs. I’d take a warm and bugless trip every time.”

Spike chortled. But then, the sled they were on abruptly changed direction and then stopped on its track. Kanipha was launched from his seat and smashed onto the wooden interior unceremoniously. When he fell back down, he was cross-eyed and moaning in pain.

Spike fared better as he was opposite the zebra colt’s direction. He gasped and checked out the zebra colt. Kanipha shook his head with a wince and signaled that he was fine. They then quickly stepped out of the sled car.

A circus of loud growls permeated their ear drums. On the uneven landscape with half-melted snow, a pack of about a couple dozen white wolves have stood aggressively on the horizons. He turned back and found that the sleds were circled.

Yolana was nervously using her magical translation to communicate with the dozens of deer guards who leaped out of the other sled cars.

Kanipha immediately asked. “What is the matter? Wolf attack? Are we still half-way to the coast. Why are there wolves all of a sudden?”

“Hang on. Look at them, they don’t really look at all belligerent. They might be howling, but these kind of howling was not intended to shock and awe. These are more like ‘don’t get closer, we would really bite’.”

Kanipha peeked at the wolf pack at the distance and retreated near the car warily. Seeing lupine creatures still made him feel incredibly queasy.

The purple dragon sadly sighed, and then gazed at the wolves again. He muttered. “These whites look rather ragged as well. The whites like to preen themselves. They must be in a hurry or something.”

Yolana finally came through with the guards in formation. She immediately said. “Mister Spike, these wolves suddenly showed up in our way, so I stopped the sleds and circled them. I don’t think they are hostile, but I’d like your input because you have Nighthewer’s experiences with the whites.”

“They don’t look hostile to me as well. But without actually talking with them, I don’t exactly know their intention.”

Kanipha gasped. “Oh dear, don’t tell me you’re going to talk to them on your own. They’re wolves, and we ain’t gonna get lucky everytime!”

Yolana added. “And are you sure you can actually talk with them? Language changes a lot over the millennia. The deer are a living example of that.”

“Even so, I can still try. If all else fail, you can use the sign of Ulgen to talk with them.”

The muskox slowly nodded. “Indeed I can. Do you want me and the guards to follow you to them?”

“No. That would risk setting them off. We should raise a white flag to signal that we’re peaceful, and then I will go over and try to explain ourselves. Once that’s done, we can talk about a larger meeting.”

“… Very well.” Yolana solemnly nodded.

Kanipha looked weak. “Please, Spike. Run if there’s any danger. My heart can’t withstand any more scare from your escapades.”

“Come now Kanny, you’re beginning to sound like Twi herself.”

“I’m not joking-”

“Yes, yes. Roger that. Why don’t you all go raise the flag first? If we move too slowly, they might think that we’re discussing battle strategy.”

Kanipha pouted, but he went off to look for a white cloth to fly. In the meantime, Spike steadied his chestplate and cautiously walked towards the wolves with both his arms raised.

The wolves stopped howling all together when they saw the white flag. One of the larger, older wolves walked forward, looking rather surprised.

“You! Are you a dragon? In this barren northern land?”

Spike perked up visibly. Unlike the deer’s speech, the white wolves’ speech remained recognizable over the years. Strange, he thought, but he was not going to question it when it benefited him. The wolf’s voice sounded really deep, but it was apparent enough that she was a she-wolf.

“Yes, my name is Spike. We come in peace. We represent the deer and the muskoxen, and we wish to seek the goodwill from the wolves.”

The wolf raised a brow in alarm. She quickly ran towards Spike, causing the dragon to widen his eyes quickly and assumed a defensive pose.

To his surprise, the she-wolf began to sniff him rather aggressively. With an aghast face, he shuddered and yelped.

“What the Tar… are you doing?”

"I smell the sign of 'Yölei' on you.”

Spike looked surprised.

“You know about him?”

“The white wolf never forgets. Now, you shall tell me who you are and why you bear his magical signature.”

“It is complicated. But before we continue, I must confirm that you are not hostile.”

The she-wolf gruffly howled. It was only after a moment Spike realized that it was a sad chortle.

“We are the outcasts of the pack. I myself was casted out by my own sons. We are wolves without fangs.”

“... Words cannot express my shock. Care to have a meeting around our sleds? I promise I shall tell you what I know of, if you do the same.”

The she-wolf looked wary, but Spike then added with a grin.

“We have wolfberries freshly harvested from the forest.”

The she-wolf gulped. Her belly emitted an untimely growl of hunger. She immediately flushed with shame.

“If you do feed us, then telling you about us is only fair.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The she-wolf and her pack ravenously chomped on the honeyed wolfberry stew Yolana prepared in a hurry. It was less apparent at a distance, but it was clear now that these wolves were severely malnourished.

Spike’s face was tinged with a shade of iron green. Upon seeing Yolana and Kanipha, he immediately said with a firm and heavy voice. “We need to head back to the forest immediately.”

Kanipha was shocked. “Why? W- What’s up with that? Haven’t you talked these wolves into behaving themselves?”

“Yes, Mister Spike, what’s wrong?” Yolana also asked worriedly.

“We have to wait till they finish eating, so let’s use this time to talk."

Spike gave a gaze to the wolves, and darkly sighed. “Sunset Shimmer had preempted us. Her lackeys must have gained sea access, because she seemed to have managed to reach the wolves by sea and talked them into joining her in alliance.”

Kanipha’s face was drained of color. “What the Tartarus!??”

Yolana also said with great alarm. “How in Erlik’s darkest mumble did that even happen? Don’t the wolves h- hate ponies?”

“The she-wolf I talked to is Suologievra. She was the supreme pack-leader of the whites. But as you see now, she lost her throne to her two ambitious sons, Laske and Puuska. After she refused Sunset Shimmer’s proposal casually on the mere fact that she was a pony, Sunset Shimmer was able to depose her by linking with her plotting sons, and promised them aid to overthrow her. In return, they turned against their mother and joined Sunset Shimmer against her enemies.”

“Holy heck, is Sunset Shimmer still in the north, then? Like, hunting us down along with the wolves?” Kanipha asked worriedly.

“Suologievra seemed to hint that she left by sea right away after defeating their royal guards and pulled a palace coup. Sunset Shimmer might have more urgent matter to deal with in the south. Suologievra does not know of such an order given out by the ‘orange unicorn’. But then again, she does not know everything because she had to escape in a hurry with a handful of followers.”

Yolana frowned. “This is way too strange. Why would the new shadow specifically go to the wolves and attempt to gather their support? The white wolves have lived a secretive life over the years. And you all do not know of them before coming to the north. Why would she know? And above all, why would she succeed?”

“Is she, you know, using her vile magic to turn allies against allies again?” Kanipha grunted.

“I asked Suologievra, and she doesn’t think that something like that was involved. Her eldest son, who had always been on less than cordial term with her, had plenty of reasons to oppose her. She was a bit less sure about her younger son, but she said he could be swayed by simple words as well. Of course, given Sunset Shimmer’s history with mind magic, there’s always the possibility of memory manipulation. If so, the whole thing might be taken with caution.”

The faces of the two listeners were darkened, but Spike quickly added. “But I’m inclined to believe her for now. For if anything happens, it would always be better if we’re in it together.”

Kanipha nodded. “… I guess you’re right.”

“She must have a yet unknown source of knowledge about the north, even though she might or might not know that we’re here. While the fact that It seemed that she was able to play the wolves into helping them, by not only promising the two power, but also an honest-to-Harmony horrible plan that feed into their ancient hatred.”

“And what might that be?” Kanipha gritted his teeth in nervous expectation.

“She came prepared. She had given the brother-leaders an extremely powerful anti-magic charm. It was apparently so powerful that the charm must be hauled in the sea, lest it drained away her and the crystal ponies’ own magic.”

“Anti-magic charm? What use can it have for the whites?” Yolana knitted her brows.

Spike clenched his teeth, and recited to the unknowing duo.

“It sates itself on the life-blood
of fated warriors,
paints red the powers' homes
with crimson gore.
Black become the sun's beams
in the summers that follow,
weathers all treacherous.
Do you still seek to know? And what?
… a wind age, a wolf age—
before the world goes headlong.
No wolf will have
mercy on thee.”

Kanipha looked grim. With shaky breaths, he asked. “W- What was that poem about?”

“It was the proclamation from the whites before the ancient whites swarmed the Firstling settlement of Knarvik and started the war. And the two brothers were intent on finishing their unfinished business three thousand years ago.”

Yolana looked sick. “My stars, are you saying that they want to negate the protection given by Nighthewer… t- to try to do their thing to the remaining Firstlings?”

“Not only that. From what Suologievra said, they planned to join force with the crystal ponies in an ‘unholy alliance’ afterwards. In their minds, creating as much havoc in the pony lands would satiate their needs for pony blood. And more pony blood will well avenge the souls of their ancient brothers.”

Kanipha wheezed. “Bucking Tartarus this is bad. They need to be stopped post haste.”

“Suologievra said they saw the pawprints of a large wolf army heading to the direction of the Deermark forest in the snow a few days ago. We need to go back and join the others in defense.”

Yolana’s face was stormy. She blinked and asked difficultly. “I know this sounds a bit too distrustful, but why would a former leader of the white so willing give you all these information vital to her pack? She should still have at least some loyalty to her pack.”

Spike breathed out heavily. “… She recognized Nighthewer’s ‘scent’ on me. The whites kept a piece of Nighthewer’s scale in their altar.”

“The white wolves still respect Nighthewer? Even after the war?”

“The wolves were, since the sealing of the Firstlings and the Lucent, split on how they should treat Nighthewer’s legacy. According to Suologievra, she was of the faction that focuses on honoring Nighthewer’s hope for peace, but her eldest son was of the faction that focuses on righting the injustice and maintaining their hatred against ponies. The two factions were always in dangerous balance, and even Suologievra had to placate the other side by showing Sunset Shimmer the cold shoulder. Now that she’s out here, my connection to Nighthewer was perhaps a good enough sign that I’m a trustworthy enough dragon to confide in. Of course, I also told her a bit about my condition as a gesture of goodwill.”

Yolana licked her lips. “This might sound preposterous, but do you think that we can count on them… to fight for us?”

Spike smirked. “I asked her this question over the bowl of stew.”

Kanipha showed a knowing smile as well. “Cheeky.”

Yolana also nodded with a grin. “Heh, you know that them wolves are too honorable not to return the favor after being rescued from starvation.”

“She agrees to join our ‘warband’ on three conditions. First, we have to hand them all barrels of forest wolfberries to them.”

Yolana snorted. “I don’t think that those are going anywhere anyway.”

“Second, unless attacked, they’re not going to fight their fellow white wolves.”

Kanipha stuck his tongue out. “That sucks, who are we going to fight here anyway? Mosquitos?”

Spike waved his claws. “Helping out with self-defense is good enough. They’re good fighters. But the third one might be a bit tricky.”

“Let me guess, she wants her throne restored to her from her treacherous sons?”

“Bingo. She didn’t set a deadline, but it’s not going to be an easy job.”

Kanipha sighed. “Or a bloodless job, even.”

Spike clasped his claws nervously. “Well, let’s get back to Deermark quickly and hope everything’s still well. With any luck, we can stop them at the outside of the forest.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Smoke billowed from a spot in the erstwhile peaceful forest, prodding the group to gallop even faster into it. Their worry was compounded by the fact that there was no guard to stop them at the edge of the forest this time.

A hastily erected barricade sat in the middle of the main forest road, and the outposts were all visibly stationed. Stray arrows and other signs of battle was plain in front of the defense line.

The defenders were agitated upon seeing the wolves that followed their back, and bows were stretched to the full.

Suologievra was alarmed, she immediately detached from the sleds and pulled the following wolves out of the arrow’s range.

Spike immediately yelled in his pidgin Deerish, hoping that someone among the defenders was able to understand.

“Stop! Dese volves are our fwiends!”

A familiar-looking white deer poked her head out of the barricade. She was trying to be solemn, but she was clearly nearly unable to hold it hearing the butchering of the Deerish tongue.

She turned and gestured to her fellow deer, and the gate opened slightly. Spike looked back, and after receiving affirmations, he ran inside and immediately went for Rainga.

The deer princess quickly waved away the guards nearby, and she cheerfully embraced the approaching dragon.

“Uunf-! Whoa, Rainga, you look excited.”

“Mwahahaha-! Dada, your Deerish is horrible!”

“R- Rainga! I just learnt the tongue for, like, two hours. What do you expect? Making a poem out of it?”

“If it’s dada, I would believe you can do it!”

“H- Haha… So, um, Rainga. Can you tell me what exactly happened here? Why the battle scene?”

“The whites invaded the forest and attacked us, for the first time in thousands of years! They never dare to actually come in before!”

Spike gritted his teeth. “We caught wind of that.”

“Really? Then you’d be relieved to hear that these faithless baddies were no match for natural protection, as well as our brave and strong warriors! Our scouts saw them coming and immediately raised the walls, and they were all but scattered by our rains of arrows! I bet they’re out of the forest with their tails between their legs!”

“… Huh. How many wolves were there, you reckon?”

“About several hundreds in total, I think. They come in really, really small waves though. The whole thing was dragged out for two days! The last wave was only beaten off half a day ago. That’s why we’re still in high alert.”

“… That’s weird.”

“Ehh?”

“The entire wolf army should be much more numerous than just a few hundreds. Anyway, Suologievra out there was on our side. They’ll stay put. Please don’t attack them, and if okay, give them somewhere to stay for now. Also gather everyone, for I have something to tell about this trip.”

Rainga looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded with a clean smile. “Aye, dada.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This time, the entourage and those who stayed behind met in a small barrack near the entrance of the town of Hvideskov. The wolves led by Suologievra were quickly herded inside a secluded corner inside the barrack and left to rest. Still, a lot of townsfolks were alarmed at the sight of wolves walking among their midst.

Spike again stood in the middle of the group, and coughed. “As shocking as this might sound, I’m afraid that Sunset Shimmer managed to hook with the whites before us.”

Cadance covered her mouth. “What?! T- This… How can this be?”

Shining Armor also said with disbelief. “How exactly does an Equestrian unicorn like her know about the white wolves in the first place?”

“I don’t know. But the real threat is that the wolves are now possessed with an artefact likely capable of breaching the barrier set down by Nighthewer. They are fully intent on cracking the shell and finally devour the almond nut inside.”

Geuse muttered. “Well… at least they’re beaten off for now…”

Pisacan mulled. “Spike, so who might that she-wolf be?”

“She’s Suologievra. She’s the mother of the current twin leaders of the white wolves, and used to be the pack leader herself too. When Sunset Shimmer promised them power, they agreed to join her in an alliance, in exchange of her help to dethrone her. We chanced upon them on our way there. If that didn’t happen, we might be walking into a trap ourselves.”

Spike bit his lips. “If what she said was true, then we must stop the wolves from getting their paws on the barrier.”

“… Do we, though?”

Spike sharply turned to Shining Armor, who was mulling over. The unicorn said cautiously. “We’ve talked about this, right? Maybe letting them open the door for us isn’t that bad an idea. We can join force with whatever remained of the ponies inside, and the wolves would be hard-pressed to defeat our combined force.”

Rainga again complained. “But the white mountain would crumble…”

“Is that something that would absolutely happen, though? It comes across as quite foolish if the white wolves would do something like that, only to suffer a landslide which would definitely bury a number of their own.”

The white doe pouted. “I’m not gonna risk it by testing this out. Hvideskov is my home, and only home!”

Cadance spoke up. “Spike, I don’t think you’ve ever commented on this.”

“Yeah, will it or will it not cause a frigging landslide?” Kanipha tagged on.

Spike deeply frowned. “I don’t really know, I’m sorry. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think Nighthewer think this out very clearly back when he had to pull this off. While his body does anchor the pocket dimension his scorching fire created, it’s only by conventional wisdom that cutting off the magic would stop magical occurrences. Rainga’s worry is not baseless, but whether Nighthewer’s body would crumble, disappear or explode, we couldn’t have known unless we try.”

He sighed with a shrug. “If Twi’s here, she’s definitely going to make me plot a risk-benefit profile.”

Kanipha covered his mouth with his hoof to hide his amusement. “I think that the prudent way is to defeat the white wolves first. They have to come inside this forest and fight on foreign soil, while we have the defensive advantage. Whoever remains of the ponies inside the barrier can wait. It’s not like they haven’t waited for thousands of years already. Only when things calm down a bit, we might be able to arrange for the deer to evacuate to a safer distance, and only then we attempt to do it in a safer way ourselves.”

Spike slowly nodded. He looked to Rainga, who was looking back at him with an uncertain and somewhat expectant look. He then made a gesture to the others, who then let the two have their own little talk.

Spike laid his claws on the doe’s soft white fur. He whispered into her ears. “Don’t be pressured if you really don’t want to affect the lives of your fellow deer too much.”

Rainga blinked. “Dada, I know that gram-gram promised to let you have the full rein of the deer nation. If you say so, I will command all the deer to leave at once.”

“Rainga-”

“Yes, I might be a wide-eyed fawn, and gram-gram’s intention might be less than pure, but even I know to keep to a promise.”

“The situation when the promise was made was strange. I’m just a small dragon.”

The deer’s gaze hardened. “No you aren’t. You’re the only dragon that lived. You’re my one and only dada.”

Spike momentarily grew doubtful of the propriety of the current arrangement, but he then simply sighed.

“The thing is, I should not just randomly hold the power to all deer, because of some weird magical ritual that no other deer know about.”

Rainga turned her head away and puffed her cheeks. “I’ve said this before. I don’t like being a princess or being in charge. I know that they joke to each other all the time, but no deer would dare to have even a bit of fun in front of me. It’s also so much stress and trouble. Like this – why do I have to make the choice? Either way there’s going to be unhappy faces. Dada, you go make the choice.”

Spike bit his lips. At the end, he patted the doe and turned back to everyone. “Let’s heed Kanny’s advice for now. We have to defeat Laske and Puuska’s invasion first.”

Cadance asked. “But didn’t we? Rainga’s deer guards have repulsed waves of wolf attacks in the past two days.”

“According to Suologievra, at full strength, the white wolves can field over three thousand shook troops, plus an indeterminable number of auxiliaries. This far exceeds the number of wolves that were seen invading the forest these two days. I doubt that we’ve seen the end of them yet.”

Shining Armor suggested. “Perhaps they’ve split their army to join force with Sunset Shimmer down south?”

Spike winced. “That’s a worrying possibility. If so, the situation in the south might’ve worsened.”

Geuse raised her trident and said. “If they are defeated here, and their main army is at the south, why don’t we quickly mobilize and descend right onto the wolves’ den? This would destroy their morale to keep on fighting, and it can restore that So- Sulo- Suo-”

“Suologievra.”

Geuse rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that. You can even get that she-wolf her throne and be done with it. She’s going to be grateful for our help. Bam, Yolana’s plan of getting the three northern races together achieved.”

Yolana licked her lips. “If so, that’s indeed a promising development.”

Cadance slowly shook her head. “This sounds a bit too shaky to bet on. If we’re lured out of the safety of our defenses and instead got our homes ransacked, then it would be disastrous to our effort to stop Sunset Shimmer.”

Kanipha nodded. “It’s a bit too foolhardy to abandon our natural defensive advantage here to fight in the open. Geuse, don’t you remember how much casualties we took when we sallied out of Timbucktu?”

Spike lightly shook his head. Looking at the expectant faces, he secretly questioned the bizarreness of being looked upon as the one to make decision here. Others he understood, but even Cadance and Shining Armor were yielding to a small dragon like him.

He never asked out loud, but he surmised that it must be due to the shame and regret they felt when they had had the power to stop these from happening. As for himself, he would have been prouder if not for the discomfort he felt and the depressing situation he was currently in.

Nonetheless, he had to act the part. He raised his arms and turned to Yolana. “Yolana, I would like to know if the Cave of Earth Mother is absolutely impermeable to attacks.”

“I would like to think so. The cave was carved deep inside the body of a granite mountain. It was only owing to the mystical power of the Bitig that the cave could can be excavated without any opening, save for small crevices for letting air in. Unless the wolves have acquired the pounding lightning from the heavens, they would not be able to breach our shelter.”

“Excellent. If so, is it possible to call forth all the available fighters from the muskoxen tribe to join us in here? Whether we’re going to strike out or hole up, more hooves are always better.”

Yolana pondered for a bit, and nodded. “I guess I can do that. So am I to rush back and call for more backup right now?”

“Please do. But Rainga, please spread out the scouts to make sure that the way to the muskoxen lands is clear.”

Rainga smiled. “Aye aye.”

“I myself will communicate with Suologievra more to try to better gauge the wolves’ possible intention. For now, we stay put.”

The others looked to Spike’s determined outlook and calm command, and nodded readily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luna’s moon again rose to the middle of the distant horizons.

Or at least Spike thought and hoped that this was Luna. If the royal sisters were still there, then at least the south was not yet plunged into war and complete desolation yet.

He sat on the fence of the barrack, gazing at the few white wolves who were ordered to stand guard. It seemed that Suologievra was not entirely trustful of them yet.

The erstwhile wolf matriarch was a hard white wolf. Still, despite her altercation with her wayward sons, she still had a fierce loyalty to the pack, and was incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of turning her claws against them.

Despite her belief that the white wolves should put less focus on the past, ponies were still not a welcoming sight in her eyes. As such, seeing ponies in the midst of the deer came as an uneasy surprise for her.

But Nighthewer’s experiences told him that Suologievra was also unlike the white wolves the old dragon saw several thousand years ago. For one, she was flexible and negotiable. Unlike the white wolves who had only seen Nighthewer as a goodie-two-shoes, she seemed to think Nighthewer was an ameliorating influence on the wanton aggression that the white wolves once had.

Something interrupted his thoughts and he raised a brow. The fence he was rocking on was shaking and trembling. He jumped onto the ground, and noticed that the ground was also shaking.

The wolves at a distance looked to each other, and then to Spike. None of them seemed to know what that was about.

The tremble receded, and just when he thought it was just a light earthquake, a blinding white spot of light lit up the entire polar night sky from behind the white mountain, but then immediately disappeared.

He felt a yanking feeling in his heart towards the white mountain. Knitting his brows tightly, he began to run towards the tree house. Sleep be darned, he thought, as this was definitely not normal occurrence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rainga yawned deeply. “Dada, why can’t we wait till tomorrow to check this out? Shooting stars and arctic lights aren’t exactly uncommon here.”

Riding on the back of the white doe, Spike said apologetically. “Sorry, Rainga, I have a nagging feeling that it was not just something unimportant. I felt yanked towards the source of light, and I’m afraid that the barrier has been tampered.”

“But the wolves-”

“I know, I myself am not entirely sure about that, so I didn’t wake up everyone. I figured that you’re more familiar with the landscape, and given your agility, you can take a peek and pull back if it’s in any way risky. I’m just concerned that the whites might have some tricks in the hat, and that’s related to it.”

“That’s silly. Nid-nid’s protective magic ensured that any malicious invaders that don’t travel on the roads would get lost inside the woods, before even getting near the white mountain! And we have sealed the roads like a glue!”

“Um… Crap!”

Rainga first snorted, but then raised a brow. “Ehh? What’s wrong, dada?”

“Seriously, if magic keeps out the wolves, what do you think they would do when they get a hold of an anti-magic charm?”

“Uh… Ohhh… right.”

“Crispy crud. Let’s go back and get more hooves before we actually run into- mff-”

“Dada, they’re already here.”

Rainga covered Spike’s mouth and said, although there was no real need of speaking softly. The melted spring snow had made the river roaring with water, and its sound was deafening.

Spike looked out between the trees, and the scene he saw was shocking. They had arrived at the backside of the white mountain, opposite the town of Hvideskov. It was near the place when he was first duped by Raingeva, the strongest node of magic that remained of Nighthewer’s mega-spell.

He did not even need to rely on any natural light. The white wolves had somehow cleared a straight path towards the white mountain from the seldom-trodden side of forest. Freshly felled trees lied chaotically to the two side of the clearing, leading up to a large circular campsite where a barrack had been established, complete with bonfires and parameters around the surface of the white mountain. They were standing perilously close to the said campsite.

He took in a breath. There was machinery that seemed to have helped them fell the trees. The warriors were all well-armored and equipped.

It was hard to gauge how many wolves were there, but it was safe to bet that this was where the main bulk of wolf army was. He lamented that he failed to carefully think about the possibility, that the assaults on the deer settlement were simply distractions.

“Let’s get the hay out-”

“Soldiers! Arrest these two intruders!”

Spike and Rainga gasped. The purple dragon turned and saw a scarred white wolf officer glaring at them ferociously.

Rainga immediately kicked her hooves and ran back the way they came. Perhaps it was the natural instinct of an herbivore against her predator, the doe did not even spare a split second in thought before fleeing. Spike was barely hanging on, but also secretly thanking harmony for that.

However, his thankful thoughts were cut short when Rainga abruptly stopped. In the hot pursuit, they seemed to have been driven to the face of the mountain purposefully by the wolves.

Rainga was trembling, but she still heavily breathed out and attempted to cast her flying magic to escape.

To her shock, the orange magic simply fizzled out at the tip of her horn. She looked up, and noticed that there was a huge glowing crystal being pushed towards them from the camp.

The white wolves had closed in and surrounded the two within a semi-circle. The officer they saw just now readjusted her pure black cap and leathery armor. He then walked close with a threatening stance and an almost sadistic grin.

Spike jumped down from Rainga and pushed the doe behind him.

“W- What are you doing, dada?”

“I’m not as absolutely pacifist as Nighthewer. When it comes to self-defense, I’ll absolutely not hold my fire. Besides, if I’m not going to roast them now, they’re going to roast us.”

Rainga’s face turned green. However, Spike simply drew in a deep breath and attempted to reignite his flame gland. A piercing pain immediately ensued, but he pushed on.

The white wolves stopped advancing when they noticed that Spike was apparently preparing a fiery attack. With a painful scream, a fireball quickly materialized in front of Spike’s mouth.

To his shock though, instead of orange-red like ordinary fire, or even green like his message fire, it was pure white. Moreover, it did not shoot forward, but rather stayed where it was and quickly ballooned in size. He stepped back involuntarily and carelessly looked back. The mountain was also glowing in silvery white, oddly resembling what he saw on the fence earlier.

He could see the white wolves frantically moving around and yelling commands, but he could not hear them clearly. Rainga was looking at him with a frozen stance. He tried to reach her, but before that, the expanding white fireball engulfed him, and his sight was replaced by pure blinding white.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sky was dark and dusky.

Spike opened his eyes. Greyness swirled and swayed in front of his eyes, he noticed that the sky was seemingly arched in a strange way.

As senses gradually returned to him, he found himself inexplicably lying on a stone platform. He jumped up, and he was immediately shocked still by the scene he saw.

Apparently, he was lying on a raised rock in the middle of a torrential stream. He was not restrained in any way, so he looked around to see if this was the doing of the white wolves.

Loud shuffling noises were heard both left and right. He quickly looked to both sides, and was flabbergasted.

Ponies.

That was something that he hadn’t seen in large number for quite some time.

To the great river’s left was a crowd of rugged-looking ponies dressing in lamellar and chain mails. They all wore the same style of helmet, with a round cap and a spectacle guard around their eyes. Half-kneeling on the ground, they emitted a collective grunt upon noticing Spike’s gaze, and raised their axes and round shields high up in the air. The shields all had a motif carved on it – it looked both like a sunburst and a snowflake.

He turned to his right. This group of ponies were more refined-looking. Cladded in quilted cloth and stout linen, these ponies also looked incredibly solemn in their black clothes. Their short cape waving in the winds, they turned towards Spike when he looked at them, their full helmets clanking with metallic noises. Raising their spears and white-gold kite shields, they hollered something unintelligible at him as well.

Trepidation, as well as a tinge of happiness, rose in his heart. He knew them. They were Nighthewer’s lost children. The First and the Lucent.

However, he did not understand the meaning of this, or how he exactly got to the place where he was.

A mare, who looked calm but also somewhat surprised, suddenly stepped onto the rock from a ledge Spike had not noticed before. She had a coat of greyish silver, and her wild violet mane with many locks billowed. Her cut-glass voice rang through his ears, and this time it was in a language that he understood.

“Heed, here comes the Aldarrök.
Raise thy weapons and thy shields.
Our father that birthed this world,
had come to us in flesh again.
Let us praise his name in solemn hymn,
Before we took up arms and joined the final fight.”

“Wait, wait a sec-”

Before Spike could interrupted, the two crowds joined in a sublime chorus of chant. Spike’s mouth opened and closed. He could not find words to describe his thoughts and feelings. He was floored by the dedication Nighthewer’s former followers showed even after all these years.

But he was not Nighthewer, he was Spike. Furthermore, while it was pride-stoking, it was also incredibly uncomfortable for him to be literally revered as a living god. Time living inside Nighthewer’s protection might have slowly changed the two races’ perception – their mere thankfulness and respect had developed into full-blown worship.

He sighed, and asked the mare.

“What's your name?”

The mare looked honored, and she replied aloud.

“My name is Frigg, my lord.”

Drawing upon the memories of Nighthewer, Spike sighed. “Frigg, are these the children of Alva and Aida?”

Intense emotion came over Frigg as she was further certain that the dragon before her, though not white as foretold, was indeed their 'lord'.

She nodded fervently and said. “Yes, yes indeed, my lord.”

Spike was conflicted. He wondered if honesty was the best policy here. His discomfort aside, it might not be exactly wise to proclaim that he was not quite their messiah in front of two groups of heavily armed ponies.

With difficulty, he said. “Frigg-”

“My lord, I need thee to proclaim Aldarrök. Our destiny must be fulfilled in the next world, remade with our very own flesh and blood.”

Spike widened his eyes in confusion. Frigg then continued. “The dome of this world has to be shattered with the fire that made it. The Firstlings and the Lucent will stop fighting each other in ritual, and instead join force to fight the war to end all wars, the ultimate test of our courage and our faith.”

Spike covered his mouth. Despite all, her words seemed to hint at a possible way to get out of this faltering dimension. The same way that warped him inside in the nick of time. Also, although it might count as exploiting their adoration, this could not come in a handier time. An army of battle-hardened ponies to join in their fight, it would prove incredibly valuable later on.

But a part of his mind tugged at him, and he knew very well where it came from. Nighthewer, or as those ponies called him, ‘Nidhogg’, was staunchly pacifist.

He would be appalled to know that he intended to… manipulate their worship of his memories, into fighting a bloody battle that they mistakenly thought as divinely inspired.

Massaging his temples, he sighed long and gruffly. Thousands of lives were to be decided at his breath, but the only one he could think of at the moment was the doe he met just a few days ago.

His sharp teeth dug deep into his tongue, and the pain cleared his mind up for the difficult decision. He breathed in deeply, and faced the sky. Opening his mouth and encountering the familiar pain of exertion, he difficultly drew from his newly reignited flame.

Frigg seemed to be observing him closely, and once he opened his mouth, she raised a long birch staff that was tied into a knot at the end, and pointed it to the sky as well.

The two groups of ponies at the two sides of the riverbank also noticed the change occurring on the rock. They began to rhythmically shout and bang on their shields, and the sheer power of warrior’s chant was eardrum-blowing and heart-throbbing.

A ball of white light shot forth from Spike’s mouth, and it was guided to the top of the ‘sky’ with the birch staff of Frigg.

It was at that time their world shattered into a million brilliant white particles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rainga blinked, and her dada was engulfed by the white fireball he created. She called out in shock, momentarily forgetting the dire situation she herself was in.

When the white light was out, the visage of the purple dragon was gone.

Her heart almost stopped.

Feeling of revulsion welled in her chest. Where had Spike gone?

The truth was out there – her last clutching straw was gone. Disappeared in a last ditch of repelling the enemies.

She was, in a way, sporting an act. She was not entirely the fawn that she was pretending to be. It was not like she did not know how to ‘act her age’, but she did not want to, because she thought it was not a part of herself. Her adult experiences were all a product of her stolen years.

She wanted to continue from before all those lost years, she wanted her own life that was guided with her own hooves.

However, she also loathed the emptiness and loneliness without Raingeva. The eternal matriarch was such a massive fixture in her life, she did not know what to do with her life once the elder doe had passed on.

And so she settled on a middling choice. The inheritor of the massive knowledge from Nighthewer, the mysterious dragon champion, which like the older dragon himself, came from the south and became their legend. He shall be her very own idolized adopted father, separate from the twisted love Raingeva had for her Nighthewer, and they can grow together in mutual acknowledgement of their common baggage. She knew that this feeling was petulant, and even might not be shared by the purple dragon himself, but she was like a drowning fawn, who was desperate to clutch at someone with a connection in fate with her.

All these went down the drain now, it seemed. Her invested feelings were once again crushed under the cruel reality, like when Raingeva ignored her own will to take control of her own body.

Heartbroken, she did not even pay attention to the encroaching wolves. She feebly stepped back and backed herself up onto the face of the mountain.

Or she thought there was one. Shocked that there was nothing to lean on, she turned.

The white mountain, the gigantic crystalized body of Nighthewer that towered over the Deermark forest, was gone. It was replaced with a large brownish fenland that was cut in the middle by a river.

Her sight of further horizons was however blocked by a thundering wave of advancing creatures… no, ponies.

Ponies!

She was shocked beyond words. Those were not just any ponies, but from what she gleaned from a distance, they were Firstlings, once sister race to the deer under Nighthewer’s protection. The Lucent, if they were there as well, must have been heavily influenced by the Firstlings, because they all dressed in Firstling attire.

She looked back, and the wolves that once surrounded her had hurriedly pulled back into the protection of their fortified camp. She let out a breath of relief, as these wolves were likely ignorant of her true identity and the use as hostage.

The warriors let out waves of increasingly frequent deafening cries, and the wolves in the campsite let out series of bloodthirsty howls in response. It seemed that despite their past defeat at the paws of the wolves, it did not dent their will to battle even a little bit.

The deer then realized that she was right on the path of the galloping Firstling warriors. But when she almost closed her eyes and prepared to brace for impact, a distant visage entered her sight.

“Halt, hold your position! Shield formation!”

Rainga gasped. Sitting behind a pony with violet mane, Spike quickly scanned the horizons. Then he saw Rainga, and his gaze locked onto her solidly.

“Rainga, come quickly!”

Rainga immediately galloped towards the tip of the newly formed line of Firstling infantry, led by the strange pony and her ‘dada’.

However, the wolves suddenly let out an even louder howl of pure aggression.

“Praise the ancestors! These treacherous vagabonds show themselves and placed their head on our chopping blocks!”

A white wolf wearing a golden crown and golden collar yelled from the safe distance of a lookout tower inside the campsite. Another one who wore a silver coronet and silver scepter simply curtly said in a low but rumbling tone.

“Archers, load – fire!”

Rainga gasped, a sky-blotting wave of arrows came from the direction she was fleeing from. Unfortunately, the muddy fenland she was trotting on was impeding her to move at full speed.

“- Gaargh- ”

Rainga thought she was able to reach the line in time, and she nearly did it.

Nearly.

A stray arrow landed on the small piece of light armor on her back. While the armor saved her from a gaping tear, the sheer force of the crossbow arrow knocked all the winds out of her lungs. She lost balance and fell gracelessly onto the ground, and hit her head on something hard. Her vision promptly went black as consciousness slipped away from her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rainga opened her eyes again. Her back was still nursing a stinging pain, and her head felt incredibly light.

She blinked and looked, the bittersweet vines on the wall of her quaint palace swayed in the air quietly, just like when she left the day before…

Or was it the day before? She was confused about the passage of time.

She gasped suddenly, and she struggled to get up from her bed. However, her legs buckled and she fell down again.

The door to her swung open quickly, and a small dragon covered in mud and grime strolled in.

“D… D- Dada? Dada!”

“Shh, Rainga, lie down and rest. Everything’s fine now.”

Her voice was breathy and weak. “But- but…”

She began to sob. Difficultly raising her hooves, she tried to sweep Spike into her embrace. The purple dragon was momentarily reluctant to let the dirt on him blacken the snow white coat on the doe, but he quickly relented.

“Is this a dream? Am I dead? Please tell me this is not just an illusion… I don’t want to fade into nothingness yet…”

“Of course not, Rainga. I’ve dragged you back from the frontline with my very own claws. If you dare to die on me, I’d be mad as Tartarus.”

Rainga weakly giggled. “Thank you… Dada, you really are my savior.”

Spike guiltily said. “If I was not willful and asked you to come with me, you would not have been injured.”

“Silly dada, I would not in a thousand years begrudge you for that.”

Rainga let out a sigh. “Tell me, dada, what happened out there? Who were they?”

Spike lightly drew in a breath. “Are you sure you’re well enough to listen? I’m sure one of your lieutenants will draw up a report to you after you recover.”

“Nah, I want to hear from you, dada.”

“… Very well-”