Far, far from the central territories of Equestria there lay a village on the very outskirts of the land of magic. Cold-Keep was its name, contributing to its year long winters, as well as its acute lack of proper heating within its singular and diminutive stone keep. Huddled close to this stone structure like ducklings hiding under their mother's wings were a few dozen little thatch huts and homes, with a few rickety wooden structures dotted around the neighborhood haphazardly. Winter was always present in this land, never spring, summer, or autumn, only winter. Save for a few scattered days when the howling winds died down and a moment of silent respite was allowed, this little outpost was constantly worn down by a perpetual blizzard.

Frosty Feathers was a Cold-Keep native born and raised. All his life he had known the cold, it was his constant companion, his unspoken family, for as long as he lived he never knew anything else. Now he stood in the northern guard tower, casting his gaze out to the griffin border, that way lay nothing but a vast open field of snowy tundra with nary a tree in sight. On calmer days it was possible to send mirror signals to the griffin guard tower on the far side, however due to the eternal blizzard, all one could observe was a solid wall of snowflakes twisting and falling in the whipping winds.

"By Celestia's warm fookin' teats its cold!" grumbled a harsh voice from off to his right. Glancing over he clapped eyes on his patrol partner, Ice Diamond, who was attempting to relight the black iron brazier which had gone out after being soaked by the sudden snowfall.

"I thought the weather team said we'z had a normal bloody day t'day! Now me arse is bein frozen off cuz this bloody piece o' shite wont light!" he grumbled on, slapping the flint and steel together again with growing frustration.

After a few moments the sparks seemed to catch and smoke started to weakly thread its way up before being whipped away by the harsh winds, "Finally, come on, stay lit-" however the smoke then stopped as the fire died once more.

"Oh sod it all, feck yesself yeu bloody idjit fire!"

Giving the brazier a good smack with his hoof, he then settled back into his chair and grumbled to himself in a constant low rumble. Frosty grinning at his partners antics turns back to continue his watch. What he saw however, chilled him more than the coldest of winters. Marching out of the snow were several hulking hunched-over shapes. First there was one, then two, then twelve, then twenty, then fifty, then a hundred. Carried on the wind came howls from a hundred throats, eerie and haunting it was, before they began to march once more across the snow towards the town. At that time Frosty's training finally kicked in and he began to yank desperately against the bell rope at the center of the tower, letting loose booming rings that echoed through the keep.

"Mothah a' Mercy..." came the quiet mumble from Ice, who then scrambled to the small desk off to the side. Frantic scratching came from the desk as he scribbled out a letter on a scroll. As the bells from the other towers began to ring as well, Frosty had a hastily rolled up and sealed scroll shoved into his saddlebag by his partner.

"Frosty, you have to take this letter to Canterlot, you're the fastest flier here and I know you can make it, Im packin a weeks worth of rations into yer pack as well so go, go and get help. Goddesses protect you colt." Ice grumbled as he hastily shoved the items into his partner's pack before nodding and watching Frosty Feathers leap off the tower, fading into the blizzard without nary a word.

"Very well sir," standing up a little straighter, the older pony seemed to grow younger by the second, "what do you need?"

"First, we need to-" Farren is then suddenly cut off as a guard bursts into the room, a scroll floating in his magic with an exhausted snow white pegasus guard in tow.

"Your Highness! A report from the Cold-Keep outpost!"

"What is your report sergeant?"

Standing aside, the sergeant allows the exhausted pegasus guard to step forward. Contrary to the bright and flashy golden armor of the royal guard corps, this guard wore a set of battered and dull silver armor of an older make. This armor had dents and scratches denoting a history of active combat. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, the guard then begins to go through a series of complicated gestures and signals with his wings at a frantic pace. While Twilight and the other guards stare in confusion, Farren and Celestia's gaze hardens with each gesture made. Finishing his report, the pegasus guard then presents the scroll to Celestia, who then scans through the page with ever increasing worry while Farren then turns back to address the others in the room.

"Cold-Keep is under attack by what appear to be diamond dogs, by the description of private Frosty Feathers here; a large number of hulking, hunched over figures came out of the blizzard in the direction of the griffin border and howled before charging towards the main gate. The last thing he saw before leaving was the group swarming the outer walls."

"How did you get all of that? The private said nary a word." asked the sergeant.

"Sign Language, its an old language that I introduced so that beings who where mute or were rendered mute by injury could still communicate. Im surprised that it still exists." Farren explained, turning to his niece, "I take it you kept it alive all these years?"

She nodded in affirmation, addressing now the newly appointed captain she inquired, "How soon can we get a sortie out to the outpost captain?"

"Princess, I cannot lie to you, by the time we could scrape together a decent sortie, the dogs will have moved on from the outpost an' will have already started raiding nearby settlements." he offered with a grim monotone, "the guard is not prepared enough for this."

Silence settles deeply into the barracks, hope begins to fade, all seemed lost; then Farren stepped forward, and spoke.

"I shall go."

Author's Note

Hello people, Finals are done! Maybe I can finally finish writing the rest of these chapters and I have few Ideas for the next fight sc-

*Billy Mays bursts through the door and bounces a bucket of OxiClean off my noggin'*

Billy Mays: "BUT IM NOT DONE YET!!!"

Yes, so Im not quite done yet with school testing, I'll try to add more chapters in, but I do have things to do with applying to my college that I need to sort out in the next few days. So this little chapter is a stopgap for the next three-ish chapters I plan to write after I sort out the stuff.

Thanks you guys for being so patient with me. See you all in the next few weeks!

also, I need my fix of OC's, GIV MEH UR ORIGINEL CARACTARZ! (Plz P.M. me)