What does it mean when I tell you that your mind is always stronger than your body? When I speak those words, you think you understand. You don’t. It means that you keep going, no matter what. When you’re tired, keep going. When you’re tired and you no longer wish to carry on, push harder. When you are tired and your will has deserted you, and your body refuses to obey, that is when you must take the next step! You think you understand, but you won’t, until you’ve proven it unto yourself.

-Thorn Blueblood

Four Years before...

“Open up you old stallion! You can’t hide in your office forever!” Shadow pounded on the office door a few more times in futility. Hooves shod in the gold-tinted adamantine of Castle Guard’s armor hammered loudly against the heavy wooden door, causing a heavy thumping to ring through the empty hall. Buried at the back of the administrative section of Canterlot Castle, nopony was around on Friday afternoon.

Dive had promised to be there, and had even taken time off to make sure of it. His schedule was up beside the door, underneath all the other mess that dignified an officer’s room, and a little note that lied to him:

Captain Grade Nine Dive Skyward

Head Records Clerk

Unavailable on Friday, 24 Blossoming, due to personal visit.

That was supposed to be my time. Where the hell are you?! Shadow had been through everything just trying to find some time to talk to his father. Ever since graduating from guard academy, every last effort had been frustrated. Upon graduation, he’d been allowed to pick his post, and had decided to forego the esteemed platoon command of the Border Scouts, or even the remotely interesting job as a City Watch Officer anywhere else in the kingdom, he’d opted to be Castle Guard. Only a small portion of the guard had the distinct honor of standing around all day in heavy armor doing nothing at all, and there was one slot for an officer to manage their shifts.

After having to endure several shifts to understand what his stallions were going through, Shadow was allowed to take up residence in an office and write shifts, approve leave, resolve petty arguments, deal with highly unimportant incidents, and other staff officer work. Protecting two Goddesses was some kind of joke, really. Posting guards around the castle and sending escorts with the princesses was first for deterrence, and second for decorum. If ponies were seriously stupid enough to try to assassinate Celestia or Luna, they’d find out very quickly that the princesses were immortal, and that they were not.

Having such a posh job was no reason to go soft, and for lack of much better else to do in his days, Shadow had frequented the gym and the flight obstacle course daily, building his strength and endurance. Sometimes out of sheer boredom, he’d lock his office door and put up the soundproofing spell built into the door, and practice his singing. All that free time was not at all what he’d expected.

The sole reason he took the Castle Guard posting was the close proximity to the Royal Guard administrative offices, housed in the same castle. There his father worked as the records clerk, the mundane job of making sure records on pay, enlistment, postings, leave, and such were recorded down into the Guard archives. It was a kicked-upstairs dead-end posting, and everypony knew it. It would logically follow that Dive had plenty of free time, and the two of them could catch up on everything that had happened since Shadow had been sent to boarding school.

That was a pretty sentiment, and one that proved to be entirely false. Dive was constantly busy dealing with all kinds of work from the higher-ups, apparently fixing all kinds of old issues in the records. When officers and nobility were not hogging Dive’s time, he was out of office, and out of town, conducting business. At times, whole days were blocked off his schedule, labeled as ‘out to retrieve records’. While Shadow was in charge of castle security, it never seemed to get him in front of anypony else to visit. Outside of work, both Dive, and his wife Sure Splint were constantly gone or busy, and the few times that they were home, they had said they did not want company.

It had been an entire month since Shadow had made grade two; the little silver star sitting next to the new moon on the forehead plate of his helmet. That made thirteen months in the guard. Thirteen months in which he’d gotten used to having his coat and wings change to white upon donning his helmet. Over a year to get used to wearing the red plumed helmet of a company grade officer, and learn that an honorific didn’t make him all the more respected, but it sure gave him more paperwork. That long, and he’d only run into his father at formal dinners and inspections, occasional group PT sessions, and twice that he’d dropped off a formal record of shift rotations.

Two weeks back, when Shadow had hefted that mass of paper to leave for Dive to deal with, he’d found Senior Sergeant Swift Slash finishing the recording for Dive. The sergeant had given Shadow a friendly greeting, and informed him that Dive was out for the next few days. Shadow had demanded that a message be given to Dive that he wanted a private meeting, and soon. This morning, Swift Slash had come by with a letter promising Shadow that meeting on Friday afternoon.

Now waiting outside the apparently empty office, Shadow grit his teeth. I don’t care if he’s a captain, he shouldn’t be ten minutes late. And he’s my dad! Short of the kingdom being in a war, he should be able to make at least a little time for me! A faint rustling stirred from the other side of the door, and Shadow lost his patience. He walked up to the door and pounded it again, bellowing.

“This is the commander of the Castle Guard and I hereby order you to open this door!”

A click sounded as the door unlocked, and Dive opened the door. He was missing his helmet, and the dull gray of his coat showed under the gilded armor. A sort of wariness showed on his eyes; but not the same you’d get from a guard threatening to kick in your door.

“Sorry I’m late, I had some stuff come up. Do you want to come in?” Dive ushered Shadow forward with a foreleg. The younger stallion followed, and his anger came with him.

“Late?! What do you mean? You were in your office the whole time!”

“Please don’t shout.” Dive shut the door. “I know you’re angry and you have every right to be, but if you just give me a minute I’ll explain everything.”

“Whenever is good for you. You’ve taken your sweet time so far.”

“Hold on now. I meant what I said. I’m sorry you’ve had to put up with me being busy, but there is a good reason for it. And I made time for you here because I want to offer you a chance to be part of it.”

Shadow’s heart lept at the thought before coming back to reality. “I’d really like to spend some more time with you, dad, but being the security commander here is boring enough without transferring to the records office.”

“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I meant. I think it would just be easier to show you.” Dive led Shadow around behind the desk, where the glowing runes of a still active teleportation spell burned on the floor. “Well, step on and let’s go.”

True to the few times he’d practiced travel by such a spell in basic, Shadow stepped onto the spell, and found himself immediately on the other side; no bright lights, noise, or change in pressure. What did change was the smell of the air, and the surroundings. He was in a circular room hewn from stone with a concrete floor, several lengths in radius. There were three other ponies standing in the room, wearing black body suits of sorts. Dive trotted over toward a large stone door one the edge of the room.

“Wait here, I’ve got just a few things to take care of.”

Looking around, Shadow couldn’t see any way to get out of the room except the stone doors in front. They looked heavy, and there was scarcely a chance that he could get them open before the other ponies clobbered him senseless. They were all pretty big, or at least taller than Shadow.

Out of both a desire to figure out a way out and a hefty measure of boredom, Shadow sized up each of the guards, or at least he figured they were guards if they were in some secret room that Dive had access to. They were all out of regulations, wearing their coats and manes all in their original colors. To his left, a tall pegasus stood, red of coat and with a short pale yellow mane. He looked slightly bored, but not nearly as impatient as the pegasus on Shadow’s right. Just as tall as the first, but sporting a coal-black coat which made his armor seem brighter. The dark pony had a pale blue mane, with streaks of white running through it. Shadow looked until that pegasus turned to face him, and was startled when he saw the eyes looking back at him. One was a dull red, while the other was a bright blue.

The only one seemingly unaffected by the long wait was holding a helmet with the stars of a Stable Sergeant on it, holding very still in the middle of the room. The little bit of his coat exposed by the suit showed to be the same white as pegasus guards wore in regulation, and his mane was gray, but it was too even to be the result of old age. He wasn’t as tall as the other two, but still taller and far more thickly built than Shadow. All three were in contrast to Shadow, whose mane and coat were an even white and blue; the spell built into his helmet keeping them firmly in regulations.

Failing to see any way past the guards, and for want of anything else to do, Shadow was about to speak up when the door him opened again. All of the other guards snapped to attention, and after a moment’s hesitation, Shadow did as well.

“Ok, relax. This isn’t going to be any more fun with you all standing like that.” Without further introductions, Dive made his way closer to Shadow, such that the four other ponies were standing in a ring around him. “Sorry for all the cloak and dagger crud, but it’s just gotta be this way. Anyways, I’m offering you a transfer of position to something very different than guard duty. After getting your cutiemark in basic, we’ve had our eyes on you to join up with Timberwolf Team.”

“I’ve never heard of ‘Timberwolf Team,'” replied Shadow in a voice far more scared than he would have liked.

“Good, because you shouldn’t have. I know you wanted to do your guard job, but do you really want to serve Equestria? Because if you do, this is your chance to become her finest servant, after the Princesses you protect.”

Shadow nodded earnestly.

“Very good. Now we all know who you are, but for the sake of introductions,” spoke Dive as he pointed to the red pony, black pony, and white pony in turn. “This here is Sergeant Razor Wings, though he’ll probably ask that you call him Savage.” Savage winked at Shadow, who winced at the harsh name.

“This is Sergeant Wild Wind, and we all call him Chaff.” Chaff smiled eagerly at Shadow. “He’s very happy to meet you at last. And this…is Stable Sergeant Storm Crasher. He’s dangerous, and even though he goes by ‘Crash’, I don’t think he ever has. Have you?”

“Once, sir.” Replied Crash in a calm voice.

“Well, guess I was mistaken. And you already know who I am, so let’s get down to business. You graduated top of your class, good marks for leadership, levelheaded thinking, and fitness. Since we needed a designated markspony, Princess Luna gave me permission to test you to see if you were up to serving with Timberwolf Team.”

“Test?” This should be good.

“Mhmm. Can’t let just anypony join, we need to see if you have the grit to get the job done. Nopony who we’ve selected has ever failed, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. This is your chance to prove to us how badly you want to serve, how badly you want to bleed to serve your country.” Dive began to shout. “So do you?! Can I count on the colt I raised myself to grow up into a stallion I can be proud of?!”

“Yes, sir!” bellowed Shadow.

Dive looked pleased, but also sad. Looking behind himself to the still open doors he called out; “Alright then. Mama Wolf, bring it in.”

In through the doors trotted an aging unicorn in several shades of dark gray, which Shadow immediately recognized as Sure Splint. What is she doing here? She was carrying a large bundle of items in her magic, which she divvied up to the pegasi present. She laid it at Shadow’s hooves, with a friendly smile. “You’ll be wanting all of that, Shady.” Oh she did not just use that old name with these guards here! At the very top of the bundle was a small piece of parchment, showing a map.

It was mouth-drawn, but very detailed. Many trees were strewn across the middle, which Shadow guessed was a forest. To the north, from all the way on the left to the right edge of the map were a set of jagged triangles, which could only mean mountains. North of those, an irregular darkened shape sat, almost as wide as the page and perhaps a tenth of its height. Wait, I know this place, that’s Frostdale lake!

“This is a map of part of the Windego Wilds. That’s over a thousand miles away.” Shadow stated the obvious, in hopes that it would somehow not involve going there. The Wilds were a frozen and inhospitable land, where the Wendigos had been banished to after they had attempted to freeze Equestria. It was a realm of snow and ice, and few who went there ever returned.

“A good observation. Now, do you see the marks?” Dive pointed to a circle in the lower left-hoof corner, and then to an ‘X’ on the north end of the lake. “You’re starting there, and you have forty-eight hours to make it to the other mark. If you can make it to that point before time is up, we will know you have what it takes. Don’t get caught by the local wildlife, and you’ll probably want those.” Dive pointed to the rest of the bundle, which contained a compass, a set of heavy winter boots, a full body coat, and a thick saddle which Shadow hurriedly donned. While he dressed, the ponies around him popped their backs and legs nonchalantly.

“Ok, now that everything is in order, Mama Wolf, if you’d please?” asked Dive.

The gray mare nodded and her horn suddenly lit up with a double-aura of magic. As Shadow stared, the world around him faded from gray to white to gray again. A chill washed over him as he realized there was snow up to the pits of his legs. His torso was faring no better, as the wind left it freezing despite his heavy coat.

Shielding his eyes against the torrent of snow, Shadow looked around for everypony else, and found them standing in a ring, much the same way as when they had left, save for the snow blowing between them all, rendering them ghostly outlines. Dive strode toward Shadow until his form took upon detail and then yelled over the wind.

“Alright boy, we’ll see you at the end, or not. Good luck.”

A flash of magic followed, which faintly lit the surrounding area. When it faded away, Shadow found himself alone in the snow. The cool gray of the snowstorm was rendered nearly white a moment later by a flash of lightning, though the lone pegasus could see no further into the torrent of snow. Thunder boomed overhead, and he forced himself to begin marching toward where his compass said was north.

If it was cold during the day, while the world was shrouded in endless gray, at night was cold enough to numb to the bone. When the darkness fell, the temperature dropped with it. That was two hours ago now. Shadow reckoned that was six hours after he’d entered the forest and two after he’d started. The thundersnow had kept going the whole time, harsh light coming between the dark trees.

It had been hard going at the start. The snow was very deep, a little over halfway up his legs. Not for the first time in his life he cursed his short stature. Each step had to start with pulling his leg up several hooves before he could begin to move it forward, and four times just to get one pace in. It was hard going to keep up a reasonable pace, and before he knew it, Shadow was sweating.

It wasn’t noticeable in the cold, as the constant wind kept what little body he had exposed completely numb, and the rest very cold. He noticed finally after a drop dripped down his mane and into his eye, the salt stinging the dry edges. The sudden pain caused him to jump and then fall down again into the snow. Shifting around, Shadow could feel the dampness under the heavy clothes and saddle he was wearing, and the realization chilled him more than the wind. Unless he could dry out the gear, it could very well be the death of him in wind like this. The sweat would cool and then freeze, leaving him equally cold and frozen. With a renewed determination he pressed forward, hopeful that he could get a fire going in the forest, both to dry his gear and warm himself up.

Nearly an hour passed before Shadow could make out any change in scenery in the distance. A wall of darker gray lurked at the front edge of his view. In excitement he waded harder through the snow, and that gray yielded itself to be a wall of fir trees, stretching left and right for the few lengths he could see in the snow. He couldn’t see what color they might be as each branch was buried under nearly a hoof of snow. The forest floor was equally obscured, but thankfully at a depth less than he had been trudging through out on the tundra. Trotting forward as quickly as he could, Shadow hurried into the woods.

Inside the protective wall of trunks and branches, there was little wind and far less snow than the plains he had left behind. The snow was still about two hoofs deep, but that was less than half of what it had been. While it was by no means fast going, Shadow was able to make much better time. As he pressed on, he glanced from side to side, looking for any kind of dry wood. As the minutes wore on, he was found to be disappointed; everything that wasn’t wet with snow was frozen solid. This was only made worse by the realization he lacked anything to start a fire with.

For lack of a better option, Shadow continued on in the hope that his body heat would dry out the heavy coat. He kept careful watch on his pace, making sure that he wasn’t over-exerting himself. Without the wind blowing over his form, and less snow clinging to his legs, Shadow warmed up considerably. Feeling returned to the skin under his hair, first around his torso, and then his neck and upper legs, though his face and lower legs still had no feeling.

After some time, Shadow grew hungry, yet he hadn’t seen anything above the snow to eat since he’d entered the forest. Hell, I haven’t had anything since lunch! If there was one physical condition that could slow Shadow down, it was his stomach complaining to him. Not willing to keep going if food was an option, he stopped to dig around in the snow.

Shadow was not expecting much in the way of vegetation under the snow, but what he found caused him to groan. Or rather, what he didn’t find. Beneath the snow, and beneath the ice below that, there was nothing but dark brown of the frozen earth. How these trees grow here I’ll never know. Pine needles for dinner it is.

Looking over to the nearest pine, Shadow found it as deeply coated as every other tree he’d seen in the seemingly endless forest. The tree was so large that there were no longer any branches low to the ground, so Shadow spread his wings and gently made his way up to the nearest bough. As he fluttered closer, the lightning took another chance to strike, close and bright. The resulting boom caused him to jerk forward into the branch, upsetting it.

Realizing his mistake, Shadow jerked backwards, but not in time to avoid being caught under a heavy mass of falling snow. He hit the ground hard, nearly thirty hooves below. Instinct forced him to try to inhale, but he was unable. In desperation he bucked through it, only to find that it was little more than two hooves deep. After poking his head up through the snow, he looked around to find himself at the edge of a large ring of snow around the tree, most of it far deeper than what he’d been buried under.

“Sun-damn-it!” He swore as he realized snow had gotten down his collar and inside the coat, soaking it and his fur coat once again. “At least it’s time for some greens.”

The tree itself was now revealed, tall and broad. The many branches it had bore needles of a green so dark that it almost yielded to black. Shadow licked his lips, uncertain of what he was about to eat, but too hungry to try for something else. Hesitantly, he bit down on the closest branch, and leaned back to let his teeth strip the needles from the branch. As he chewed, the familiar tang of pine filled his mouth, but far more bitter than usual. Hunger washed away any other objections, and he took another mouthful, and then another.

Ten minutes later, Shadow’s face was coated in frozen slobber and sap, and he was full and happy. Still cold, and colder still when he rubbed his face clean in the snow, but Shadow was not too concerned. He’d just dumped a lot of fuel on his inner fire, and that would keep him warm for a while.

Pegasi always have had an innate knack for finding their way. Pony scientists have theorized that they have magnetic portions of their brains, much as birds do, but whatever the case, when Shadow took out his map he had a decent idea of how far he’d gone. He didn’t like it either. Tracing a booted hoof along the map, he found himself perhaps a sixth of the way there. That’s never going to do. I may not make it at this rate if the wind doesn’t die off and I can’t fly there. Trotting further into the maze of the forest, he soon faded into the gray haze of snow.

Night came far sooner than Shadow reckoned it would have. He’d heard tell from the visiting Crystal Empire guards that the days were darker up north, but nothing prepared him for the early fading of the light. As the sky faded to black, it took with it every last ounce of warmth and light from the icy forest. If Celestia were there, Shadow would have seriously considered swearing to her face that his bones had gone numb, before throwing himself on his face and pleading for warmth.

In an effort to keep himself warm, Shadow had turned his pace back into a forced march. Reasoning that he needed to keep going if there was any way to get there, and the exertion prevented him from getting too cold to carry on, but only barely. Going hard was just enough to keep himself from really going numb, but it didn’t stop him from getting cold. He knew all too well that the real danger lay in his insides getting cold, and so he made two more stops for food during the night.

Trying to see much anything beyond the darkest shades of gray was an exercise in futility, and the frozen pony was forced to to keep his compass out for the flashes of lightning that had kept tearing through the skies as day had worn into night. Several times a minute, a brilliant bolt would illuminate his surroundings just enough for him to either see where he was going, or read his compass, but never both. A split-second to ascertain the way, followed by a minute of walking in the dark, stopped as the land became lit again, it was the same pattern for hours upon end.

For what seemed to be the thousandth time that night, the woods lit up for a fleeting moment, and Shadow marched onward around where he thought the trees were. If he ran into a tree, it wouldn’t have been the second, or the third time a load of snow had been piled over his form. The land had been gradually getting steeper; hills and rocks had started making the trek more treacherous. As much as they made it difficult, it was heartening to know that he had to be getting closer to the mountains.

How those bat-ponies in the Night Guard see in this muck I’ll never understand. Why the Tartarus did I agree to this anyways?! What am I proving here? I was already the fastest flier in horse-shoe camp. I just wanted to see dad, and here I am out in some Sun-forsaken wasteland whining to myself like Private Pansy. Damnit this wind is cold!

It took Shadow a few moments to realize he’d been walking for nearly two minutes since the last flash of lightning. Uncertain, he paused, and waited until the landscape was harshly lit once again. When it did, he realized he wasn’t surrounded by trees anymore. After waiting for the light to come back to visit several more times, he found himself not in a clearing, but on the edge of the forest, mountains tall and intimidating looming to the north.

Realizing that there was probably nothing else to eat in between where he stood and where he was going, Shadow turned back to trudge toward the forest to fill his stomach one last time. This task was doubly difficult when he couldn’t see, but it was worth the effort to make sure he wasn’t buried in snow again. Getting soaked before going out into the open wind again was a death sentence.

Once full, he looked up, and this time could see the faintest outline of the trees, a mass in front of him slightly darker than the slope to their opposite. Though there was no alpenglow to herald the day, Shadow took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and began his trek up into the hills. The wind blew the snow into his face, the pain grinding through the numbness. Through occasional breaks in the snow, he could see the jagged peaks of the range. If the snow down here is deep, it’s just going to be awful up there.

After half an hour of steady slope and gradually improving light, the snow stopped suddenly. Perhaps five seconds elapsed from near-whiteout conditions to completely clear. Confused, Shadow glanced back over his shoulder to see not fifty hooves away, the snow was still falling in a thick curtain. Panic seized him, and he dived into a nearby snowbank.

The thing Shadow knew about being buried underneath snow is that it didn’t get any colder than the temperature water froze at. So in theory, his hiding place wasn’t going to get any colder than when he first landed in it...at least he thought so until an unholy chill passed through him. Right through the snow he was buried under, right through his thick coat, he could feel the cold chilling his skin, his bones, and even his thoughts and emotions felt like they were dampened. He wanted to close his eyes and bask in his cool hatred of everything around him until a rough braying caused him to snap out of it. Poking his snout just far enough clear so that he could see, Shadow watched as the wendigo came into view.

It was ice blue and incorporeal, if the way its backside blew with the wind was anything to go by. Where its hooves met the snow, there was no noise as the powder turned to ice. Its eyes were everything the legends told. They were a glowing white, every bit as angry as they were cold. Shadow’s eyes only came up to the wendigo's midsection; the abomination stood as tall as a horse.

The wendigo sniffed the air, and turned its head from side to side, as if looking for something. Shadow held deathly still, praying to the sun and moon that he wouldn’t be found. Sun knew how he was supposed to fight it. Legend had it that he was supposed to defeat it with friendship, but here he was, alone in the frozen wastes. Grah...I hate...nononono! I...agh! Why the practical level of his mind was trying to work out how to fight the monstrosity, the rest was a chaos of hatred.

I’m so cold. So sun-damned cold. I could go out there...beat it up...tell it how much I hate being out here freezing my rump off. No! If I go out there it will freeze me into ice! No it won’t, I’m a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard. My job is to beat things like this into submission. Go! NO! GRAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

During this mental strife, Shadow still hadn’t moved a sliver. Not seeing anything, the wendigo let out another blood curdling cry, and flew away. As it left, Shadow felt feeling return to his body, and clarity to his mind. No wonder the first tribesponies fought with those around. It was all I could do to hold still.

Not wanting to take chances, and enjoying being out of the wind, Shadow waited for another five minutes, carefully watching against the wendigo’s return. Nothing disturbed the stillness, not even lightning or the wind, which had died off soon after the wendigo left. The air was cold and still, and his range of vision had grown drastically, such that he could see both the forest below, and the peaks above, all under a haze of dark clouds.

After shoving his way out of the snow, Shadow found himself grateful for both. It was far warmer without the wind, and chancing a pass through mountains above treeline with lightning just seemed like a bad idea. Not wanting to be caught by surprise again, he made sure to be listening carefully for any braying as he trotted upwards and onwards.

Hunger. It emptied every part of him, from the inside out. It started in his belly, then worked its way out to each of his legs, making them floppy and weak, and then finally out to his head and wings. Each step took longer and stretched him thinner, leaving his legs leaden. With each breath through his narrowly opened mouth, his teeth clenched down on the empty nothingness of the bitter air. It did not satisfy.

Hunger and cold. There was cold, and then there was biting cold. Every bit of exposed coat, every breath he inhaled burned. That burn had quickly become a cough; weak and feeble, but almost loud in the silence. His nose had been running like crazy, and what he didn’t wipe off froze to his face, and it had been like that all day. A day that was almost over.

Hunger, cold, and exhaustion. When each step one after another seemed to plod on endlessly into the next, mile after mile, ridge after valley, mountain after mountain, it turned into a constant way of living. Every stride became mechanical, hurting no less and no more than the one before it, and the one coming slowly after. So far into the forced march, it was becoming hard to separate the exhaustion of over a full day’s hard travel from two days without sleep. Worse still, it had long since become impossible to tell if that fatigue was from the exhaustion, or from hypothermia. Without any way to tell, the only choice was to press on. Shadow’s tail drooped as he made his way along the ridge, trailing in the snow behind him.

Night was falling just as swiftly as it had the day before, and Shadow was still trying to find his way through the maze of peaks. The snow being deeper than on the tundra hadn’t been a problem as it was so cold that he could walk on top of it without his weight pushing through. On the downside, it was so slick that he had to constantly use his wings to push himself back on-balance whenever he slipped. Flight was the only reason he hadn’t fallen to his death hours ago, and the only reason he was able to keep going. Three times that day he’d followed what he’d thought to be a pass or a saddle, only to find it drop off steeply a mile or so later, and been forced to fly onward.

It had been hard enough to find his way when he could see what he was doing, and Shadow worried that his wing strength wouldn’t hold up to constantly correcting himself all night. If he had some way to tell how far he was through the mountains, it would have given him some hope, but the map was so rough that he couldn’t glean any insight from it. All that was left was to cover as much ground as he could before the night covered the land, and left him missing the lightning.

Too soon the darkness fell, and Shadow was left with nothing else to go on save for his last impression of the next peak and valley before him, and the slope beneath his hooves. He followed that slope up for as long as he could, and as slowly as hunger and sleep deprivation would let him. As the time wore on, Shadow could have sworn he was getting better at following the ridge he was climbing. It seemed as if his need to correct himself was getting less frequent, as if he were able to somehow see what was going on.

That prospect seemed so laughable that he decided to stop and wave his hoof in front of his face, if nothing else to remind himself that it was black as pitch. To his surprise, it was visible, a dark shade of gray against the black landscape. Puzzled, he leaned back on his haunches and stared up at the sky. Unfolded above him, the heavens were not entirely dark. A rift in the wall of clouds allowed a glimmer of starlight to fall to the slopes below, burning white to the eyes that had been so long in the darkness. Luna’s stars! Oh thank goodness!

As Shadow stared at the sky in wonder, the gap widened, letting more and more light spill down. The reflections lit the surroundings in a faint glow, more than enough for Shadow to see all around; the ridge he was standing on, the peak he was trudging toward, the valley far below, and the other peaks all around. They stood as silent sentinels against the cold, bright sky, for miles back the way he had come from.

The heavens finished revealing themselves with the arrival of the moon on the far horizon moments after Shadow reached the peak. Silver light, made nearly as bright as the day by the snow, washed over the land laid out before him. Having been so long in the dark, now everything around glowed with a brilliant moonfire. There was a beauty in the sheer cold that threatened to leave him frozen; the bleakness which he stood against as one dark speck in a rolling eternity of white.

A length in front of his hooves, the mountain ended, with a fall of hundreds, if not thousands of lengths to the valley below. To either side, the range of peaks ended similarly, in a very sheer drop to the land beyond. That forested land was adorned with a vast lake, gleaming darkly under the moon’s light. There was no mistaking it for the one on his map, it stretched far enough in each direction that he couldn’t see the ends. The far side was visible though, where the darkness stopped reflecting the moonlight had to be where the lake ended and the trees began. There wasn’t much further use for the map now that his destination was in sight, however far away, so he tucked it and the compass back into his coat.

Looking across the sky to the moon, Shadow realized with a start that he didn’t have too much time left, perhaps less than eight hours. Without a timepiece he could only guess when he was supposed to be there, and the dawn was no sure indication. It certainly came late the day before. With that came the sinking realization that he was going to have to cross over the lake rather than around it. Shouldn’t be a problem, it has got to be well frozen.

Resolve set forward, he took as deep of a breath of the biting air as he could without coughing, and spread his wings wide. The sudden stretch on the limbs so long held in place caused a tremor of pain to shriek through the numbness. Three steps forward took him into a shallow glide toward the near edge of the lake. Hunger, and the weakness it left complained to him that he should just close up his wings and dive, but it was an instinct suppressed. He was going to get every hoof of distance he could out of having to climb that last mountain.

When his hooves finally met snow, Shadow was still half a mile from the lakeshore, having been forced to take a steeper trajectory than he had wanted due to all the heavy winter gear. Back below tree line, the snow was warm enough that he sunk into it, but it was also shallower thanks to the trees. These pines were much the same as the ones he had seen on the other side of the mountains, and so he tore ravenously into the needles it had. Once full, he made his way down to the shoreline, to discover luck was on his side yet again tonight.

The lake was completely frozen, which was what he expected, but frozen deeply. Stomping a boot hard on the ice caused no disturbance save for a muted *clack* that echoed across the frozen waters. It could have been just his imagination that it got a little colder right then, but he certainly wasn’t imagining the breeze that stirred the air. Waiting no longer for whatever might be following from the woods, he trotted out onto the ice.

It was slow going at first, each hoof-fall slipping on the smooth surface. The only thing that kept him from planting his rump or face on the ice was the leather of the winter boots he was wearing, making the grip for him. Further out onto the lake, the wind was beginning to pick up, blowing into his face. It left him cold, but more frustratingly, constantly slowed him down. Several times he lifted himself from the ice to take the next step, the wind found purchase to pick him up and blow him several lengths back the way he came, sliding him against the cold lake until he managed to halt himself.

After several hours of trying to get to the other side, Shadow felt every bit as cold as the ice he stood upon. The wind had only gotten stronger, making it nearly impossible for him to cover any more ground on hoof, and dangerous to fly. Yet that seemed to be his only option for going forward, taking off into the spirit of winter blowing against him. Unable to decide, Shadow paused to look back the way he came, and to his panic found it far closer to him than the far shore.

Realizing he would have to turn to his wings to get to the other side, he shrugged off his saddle, and then the overcoat and boots. Without any protection against the wind, it plunged daggers of ice into his coat, and down into his skin. Within moments he was too numb to feel it anymore.

In a well-practiced motion, Shadow leaned back on his hind legs and pushed himself into the sky, flapping hard. The wind blew furiously, driving him higher and backwards, and he fought against it. The tired muscles cried out in protest, but after angling down and pushing hard, the pegasus started to gain ground.

Alone against the storm he flew, eyelids half closed, head bowed and staring down at the lake below. The dark ice reflecting the silver of the moon and the howl of the wind were his only company as the minutes wore and his back burned. At the roots of his wings, the muscles grew tight and began to sting amidst the agony he felt. Just pretend you’re back at basic...and Sergeant Pinion Punch is making us to do a wing workout...just keep going…

Locked into such a state of mind, Shadow was only focused on forcing his tired body to keep flying, and was not ready when the wind gusted hard on his left side. He heard a loud *POP* and felt pain blossom along his left wing. Before his mind could register what was happening, he plummeted the scant ten lengths to the ice below.

Impact caused the pain to course through his body, jolting his mind out of its single focus. When managed to force himself to stand again, his left wing was hanging along his side, fully extended and resting on the ice. Dammit! I hate dislocated wings. He’d have to reset it, which was difficult for a pegasus to do to himself. Slowly and tenderly, he wrapped his teeth around the leading edge of the wing and braced himself for the pain. As he went to shove the wing-socket back into place, an ear splitting cracking noise deep in pitch shook the ice beneath him, and caused him to shake his already hurting wing.

“SUNDAMMIT!” he screamed in agony, but his voice was lost in the rumble of ice. It took him a fraction of a second to understand what had happened after he shook off the pain. Somehow, the ice was breaking. He needed to move. Falling through into the sun-forsaken depths of the frozen lake would mean a quick death and a forgotten grave. No time for re-locating the wing.

In half-terror-half-desperation he sprinted forward, his hooves clacking noisily on the ice and his left wing dragging as he ran. The ice was not only slick, but the surface was changing its slant every time a new *CRACK* rang out in the air, causing him to slip and slide several times. Chips and flecks of sharp ice flew through the air to coat his face and body as jagged fissures rent the lake’s surface. In his eyes were his goal, not five hundreds lengths away was the far side, and somepony had a fire going. Around it stood what looked to be about a dozen figures, but that was all he had time to see before the noise all around him picked up drastically.

Faster and higher pitched, the noise seemed to be all around him now. I’m not going to make it! Shadow slid to a halt as cracks started to appear in a random fashion in the ice below him. Running on raw instinct, he bit down on his his left wing and shoved the bone back into the socket. The click of the wing going back into place was inaudible above the sound of the lake opening it’s maw to swallow the pony. As the ice split, it collapsed inward and spat water into the sky, narrowly missing Shadow as he flung himself into air.

For miles around the cracks propagated and caved inward, and Shadow found himself flying over dark waters as he pushed himself to make the last bit of the flight toward the lake. The pain in his wing was strong, but the adrenaline blocked it off, hopeful he might survive. It was in this state, his breathing fast, heart pounding, and mind solely focused on making it to the other side that the wind gusted even harder in the middle of his upstroke. This time his wing didn’t pop once, but several times, breaking it completely.

Screaming in agony, Shadow fell from the air to land with a splash amidst the floating chunks of ice. If it was cold as ice before, beneath the water was as cold as death. It sucked the air out of him and the feeling from his body, leaving the hurt from his broken wing the only thing he could feel. He clung to that pain, letting it drive him to kick his legs until he broke the surface, gasping for air.

Orange and yellow greeted his vision; the shore was close. He didn’t care about the cold, or the pain, or anything else he could see or feel at that point-he would make it to the other side if it killed him. Numbly, he kicked his legs again, and then again, driving himself toward the shore. It came up to meet him, and soon he felt solid ground below his hooves and found his snout in the snow.

“GET UP! GET OVER HERE! DON’T YOU DARE STOP NOW!”

Shadow looked up weakly to see Dive bellowing at him.

“Yes...sir...” murmured Shadow weakly. He pulled himself to his hooves and started stumbling slowly over to where his father stood, shaking and shivering the whole way. It feels...warm…

Halfway there his legs gave out, and he flopped down in the snow. With a growl, one foreleg shot out and pulled his body forward. Then another. Hoof over hoof and leg over leg he crawled through the snow until his body lay at the hooves of the pony who’d sent him out here in the first place.

“Look up.”

Following the gentle instruction, Shadow raised his head to look around. Dive was standing there, as was the rest of Timberwolf team. Behind them were stone statues, having been recently melted out of the snow by the fire. Two pegasi, two unicorns, and an earth pony, standing tall and regal forever cast their gaze out toward the lake.

“Do you see them? They were the first Timberwolves. They are whose name you aspire to bear. Today you have proven yourself worthy to try. If you still wish to, answer me now. DO YOU SWEAR, ON YOUR LIFE, YOUR BLOOD, YOUR HONOR, AND ALL THAT YOU HOLD DEAR, TO DEFEND EQUESTRIA WITH ALL THAT YOU HAVE UNTIL THE DAY THAT YOU DIE? WELL DO YOU?!”

“I swear...” muttered Shadow with the last of his breath. Spots swam at his vision, and all went black.

Dive watched as his son passed out and planted his muzzle in the snow. He regretted hurting the poor stallion so much, but now he knew for sure.

“Well that’s just barbaric! Here, get out of the way.” Sure Splint pushed him aside in order to get to the unconscious pegasus. She levitated him up and over to lay by the fire, and began to tend to his wounds. Several clicks were heard as she mended his wing, and his shivering stopped as the magic warmed away the hypothermia.

The rest of the team looked on as Sure Splint draped a blanket over Shadow and began preparing the spell for them to go home. Crash walked over to Dive, looking conflicted.

“Was it really necessary for me to break the ice, sir?”

Dive sighed and gave Crash the honest truth. “By the time I told you to break it, he was already done. He would have made it just fine if we hadn’t done so. I just wanted to see what he would do...and he didn’t disappoint.”

“So he’s in?”

“Of course. There’s no way we’d pass that up. Lets just hope he’s still as excited about it when he wakes up.”

Author's Note

About time this got here! Wrote this six months back on a warm summer afternoon, and the song about the same time.

Thanks to Dizziestbeef for editing (he got deployed to Antarctica yesterday...lets hope he doesn't experience any of this).

Bonus thanks to SwiftArgentine for checking it over and fixing my derps.