The smoke bellowed in every direction. The contorted lifeless bodies of hundreds of ponies from all three races covered the ground in a carpet of meat and blood. The few that survived were Pegasi, swift enough to evade the attacks with minimal injury. It was clear to all of them they were doomed to failure, but killing the dragon wasn’t their goal, they only needed to keep it in one spot until King Chronos could arrive. They had no way of knowing their savior was already on death’s doorstep. Crippled and broken, not three miles from the dragons field of bodies, King Chronos lay face down in the snow. There was no blood, no sign of struggle, just the evidence of his skidding to a stop in the snow, and his broken form. He was alive, but only by the hair of his mane.

“I cannot move my neck...”

Chronos said, with what very little strength remained in him. The Alicorn’s heart sank as he heard what was clearly a blade rushing past bone, piercing the deep insides of his body. He couldn’t speak again, he didn’t have the energy. He wished now that he had saved his last words for a curse, but it was to late. The figure, engulfed in rags, came around to the King’s front, allowing him to see who it was that had cast the final blow. Heis eyes showed bewilderment, acknowledging that he had no idea who it was.

“Fear not, Dregg, you were not meant to recognize me. “

The voice was soft, and could have been described as kind, if not for the palpable malice that flowed from the speaker’s tone. The King of Time was terrified, and crippled in the snow. Left to the mercy of an unknown, and hateful individual. It had been nearly two thousand years since the poverty stricken citizens of Equestria were called Dreggs. To have knowledge of such a term meant intelligence beyond an adept student of Equestrian history.

Chronos glared as he tried to shift his head, in an attempt at looking upon more than the bottom of his conversation partners ragged cloak, but failed. His neck was badly jammed, if not broken, as he suspected much of his body was. If he had not broken nearly every bone in his body, than he was under a very powerful paralysis spell. The snow rustled as he thought about his condition, as well as that of his Queen, left alone to command the remaining forces against a raging Dragon.

“Should you survive this, I can only hope you will remember the hate you feel for me right now.”

After a few moments the sound of snow being packed under hoof was gone, and all was silent. The whistled wind, and faint echo of the dragon’s roar were all Chronos had to keep him company until his pain over took her, and he blacked out. He was now helpless. Beaten, and broken, left to the cold repose of the frozen north. He would not survive the night without help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From point A, to point B, there was a mountain in the way. His entire journey was delayed by a gigantic frozen rock that he had to either climb, or walk around. Deciding that it would be more of a hassle to take the extra days to walk around it, he got to climbing. He made camp for the night after a few hours of climbing. The last thing he needed was to freeze himself to death on some god forsaken mountain. Getting the fire started was hard, keeping it going was almost impossible. He didn’t sleep, or rather, wasn’t allowed to. His dreams were haunted by visions of his past, and the sensation that hundreds of bugs were crawling all over him.

It had been nearly three years since he had a full night sleep, and had almost gotten used to it. Pick up camp for the new day didn’t take long, and he was off on his way just before sunrise. It was cold. Unbelievably cold, and he didn’t know why. He’d climbed mountains before, and been in ice water lakes, but this particular mountain had a heavy malice in his chill that struck him to the bone. Several hours of progress later another traveler in a more tattered outfit than his passed him in the snow.

Silver Knight had always been perceptive of his surroundings, but every sense he had drew him to the stranger and told him to attack with every fiber of his being. His instincts were screaming as loud as they ever had that the being he just passed evil, and needed slain, but he wasn’t about to attack something that caused that kind of reaction. If his feeling was right, than he probably couldn’t have beat the individual as he was. Sleep deprived, hungry, and frozen to the core, he wasn’t about to get himself killed for a feeling. He did however, make note to keep an eye out for that stranger in the future.

It was for another half hour or so that he came upon an unconscious stallion in the snow, one  bleeding wound, and looked to have broken not only his wings, but his back as well. He made a fire as quick as he could and used his tent to create as much black smoke as he could. He needed to get a signal of some kind out, he couldn’t move the stallion as he was without risking his life. It was a day and a half’s run down the mountain, and it was very unlikely he would survive more than another night in the cold. All he could do was keep the injured stallion as warm as possible, and stop the large wound’s bleeding.



[Image credit goes to Telthona of Deviantart I altered the color slightly, to be the vibrant blue I had in mind.]

Zhaka stood at the camp's edge, staring deep into the night sky. His gaze wondered from one star to the next, pausing only to look upon his astrological atlas. Satisfied that he and his crew were going in the right direction, Zhaka walked back into his tent and started to sift through the contents of the bag which laid beside his bed.

Pulling out a scroll, he unravelled it and started writing down a report of the day's activities. After many day's journey, he and his crew were finally in position for what the government had planned for them. Finishing it up and requesting further orders, he handed the letter to a royal messenger. The messenger took it with glee and started to run back the way they had come from, towards the capital.

Vivacity galloped through the infirmary, anxious. She had the most awful feeling. She ran out of the infirmary and flew through the skies, looking at the clouds.

"Those can't be rain clouds, it would be snowing..." She spoke to herself and saw that the clouds was indeed smoke, and it was a pattern. Vivacity then ran back into the infirmary and bagged a saddle bag of supplies, then sprinting out. She then jumped into the air and quickly flew to the source of smoke.

It’s smoke, the black fume that poured from his mouth, have completely blotted out the sun. A lenticular cloud swirled around mountain, coating the white snow in a thick, black soot. The remaining Pegasi went in, hoping to incapacitate the monster before it made it’s way down the mountain. They were to slow. The Dragon’s gaping mouth unhinged, and it let loose an echoed cry that split the clouds apart, allowed spotted rays of sunlight to highlight the blood stained mountainside beneath the Dragon’s feet.

It couldn’t be called a roar, or scream, it was too deliberate, to meaningful. The monster had meant to knock the Pegasi unconscious with the shockwave of the wail, and it had worked. They fell from the sky, and slammed into the snow, limp. Their’s, like the hundreds before them, were now just broken forms that lay dead on the ground in the wake of the Dragon’s fury.

It’s eyes and inner mouth pulsated a vibrant blue as he looked to the west, and began marching toward Temerran, the second biggest city outside the capitol. Nopony was left to face the beast, and it moved freely through the snow, crushing the bodies of the fallen ponies beneath each massive step.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a few hours, and he could still clearly hear the Dragon’s roar echoing. All of Equestria must have shaken when it let out it’s cry. Silver Knight was worried, that with everything going on, King Chronos and himself wouldn’t be found in time to save the King’s life. He had a fire going, to signal anypony in viewing distance, but with the Dragon’s smoke covering the sky, he wasn’t sure his would even register as a different source.

He needed to calm down, remind himself that if he was to lose his cool, the King would surely die. To that end, Silver Knight took an old piece of paper from his bag and began reading it. A letter from an old friend, now long dead. It had writing on the top and bottom margins of the paper, notes added after the letter had been written, and the writer escaped.

A memory is supposed to be a link to the past. Something that let’s you recall details you would otherwise forget. Some things are better left forgotten, and nopony ever said those memories had to be happy.


“My name is Blitzkrieg, and this is my one last letter.

South East of Stalliongrad, in the mountains of Eternal Solace there was supposed to be an odd magical presence. Myself and two of my newest recruits were sent to investigate and terminate if it proved hostile to Stalliongrad. We arrived at just past sunrise in the valley below the mountain. The winds were to harsh for us to fly, and I wasn’t going to risk the proposed enemy spotting us. The recruits weren’t used to the weight of their packs on hoof, but they stayed strong and kept pace with me while we traversed the lower regions of the mountain.

I would say it was roughly noon before we made a visual verification of the target, a Unicorn, just a filly. She looked like she was just playing with her magic, but if we took everything at face value we wouldn’t be very lucrative mercenaries. We approached slowly, being careful not to make any sudden movements that might scare the little thing into attacking us. Just as we were about to have her, I heard a shout, it echoed loud enough for me to understand it. ‘NOW’, it was a trap. The Ponies in Stalliongrad that had hired us were after the bounty on my head from the Ceaseless Chasm incident, but that’s a tale for another last letter.

They killed my recruits and left them in the snow like they were nothing. Jet Stream and Wisp, neither of them asked for this. They didn’t ask to get left face down in the snow like feral dogs. The brats just wanted some glory the Knights Watch couldn’t give them. Me on the other hand, I’ve committed enough sin to deserve their fate, but Rhea’s Will was kind to me. All they did was beat me to a bloody pulp and demand to know where I kept all the gold I got from my last few missions. The letter you’re reading is supposed to be a map. I guess my would be treasure hunters are going to have to go without tonight.

They’ll be back soon enough, and I want this done before they return. This will be the end of my letter, my career, and most likely my life. My name is Blitzkrieg of the Darkwind, and whoever you are that’s reading this, thank you. “

Climbing the mountain was tough, watching my recruits die was tougher, but to have survived may just kill me one day.

(BLITZKRIEG!)

Vivacity saw two small images from her perspective on the ground, a small fire next to them. She then nose dived to the ground, carefully landing. She ran up to the two and put her bag on the ground, opening it up, "Is he alive?"

“Vivacity!” Silver Knight exclaimed as she landed. Jumping to his hooves the stallion made his way to King Chronos, and looked him over once more as Vivacity questioned his health. “For as long as this fire will last, yes. With your aid, he may return to Lady Rhea yet. “ He wasn’t sure how severe the wounds were, but he knew that with the King’s broken bones, simple healing wasn’t likely to be a complete fix. He would need a Unicorn to levitate the king, a stretcher would be to harsh on the broken bones.

As horrid as the situation with the King was, Silver Knight’s mind flipped gears as he looked back to the mare. “Tell me Vivacity, how many of ours has that Dragon killed?” He had been on his way to the far side of the mountain, where the dragon was reportedly thrashing about. It had moved, and not just that, gained something. Silver Knight had seen dozens of dragons, but none had a wail like the one sharing a mountain with him, the King, and Vivacity. It worried him to think about his knights being swatted away like insects by the monster.

She stopped, "How many?" She slowly continued working on some healing supplies, "tens, more towards 45..." Vivacity sped up her working.