SORRY! Accidently unpublished this chapter for those of you who've already read it!

Mitch POV<<<<<<

I had just propped my head up against one of the logs Reks had brought back when a ear-piercing howl rang out through the mountain, causing Piper and her brother to sit up straight almost immediately.

"Winterwolves" Piper stated plainly as Zephyr turned to look at the captain, a wary look in his eyes as he squinted at her in the ever encasing night.

"What the heck is a winter wolf?" He asked before Reks put a finger to his mouth, shushing the pegasus while pointing out to the path they had returned from getting wood.

"Um...maybe them?" I whispered to myself, noticing what looked like several snow mounds slowly moving across the ground towards us, several pairs of glowing yellow eyes staring back at us.

"That's a Winter wolf alright. They're made of snow that has been tainted by dark magic." Piper explained as she sighed, looking back towards the empire with a frown. "Ever since the fall of that shadow monster at the empire, they've been a frequent threat in these mountains." Piper stated, slowly getting to her feet as she motioned for us to do the same. "Cmon! Slowly stand up, and grab your things."

Giving a short nod, I made my way up from my laying position, feeling a sharp cold breeze as I tied Zephyrs blanket around my waist like one would do with a hoodie.

Wont be able to run holding this...and I'd rather be cold than dead. I thought with a shudder as I saw Zephyr hook his duffel on his back with a strap and nod to Piper, signaling that he was ready.

"Alright, now begin to slowly back away from them...and DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK." Piper exclaimed, pointing at an almost fleeing Zephyr. "Resist those prey thoughts of yours and make yourself look bigger."

Taking a couple steps back, I stood ramrod stiff, my eyes never leaving the mounds as they slowly moved forward every time we took a step back.

Glancing to my right, I could see the armored plating on Reks' right arm morph into a single blade that ran a couple inches off his hand as another couple of wolf eyes popped up in the dark.

How many of these things are there?!

Just as I was about to say something, Zephyr let out a gasp as he pointed a wing at the space above the wolves.

"Guys...what's that?" He said, his tone riddled with fear as I saw what he was pointing at.

It was barely visible, but if you squinted your eyes enough you could see something big moving in the trees.

"Reks...grab one of the burning logs and throw it." Piper ordered, getting a nod from Reks as he took a step to the side and grabbed one of the firewood pieces with a metal coated hand before chunking it towards the wolves.

The flame didn't illuminate much, but it did manage to bounce off whatever was in the darkness, provoking a heavy growl from whatever was in there as it looked like the shadow of an entire hill was approaching us.

Wait, if Winterwolves are snow mounds, then a snow hill would be a... I thought in growing fear as I noticed we were slowly approaching a downhill slant with each step we took backwards.

"So, are we going to run yet? Because whatever that is looked huge." Zephyr whispered as Piper shook her head.

"Running will only start the hunt for them. As long as there's not Alpha dog in their pack then we are good." She said, grabbing the sword she had tightly as whatever giant mound of snow Reks had hit earlier finally walked into the fires small light.

It looked like a regular wolf, not counting the snow for fur and ice for fangs and claws...well, that and the fact it was taller than some of the trees nearby and looked ready to kill.

"Hoooooly shit." I exclaimed as Pipers eyes widened and she did a swift one-eighty turn.

"Change of plans, everyone. Run!" She exclaimed, zooming down the slope as we all followed suit, pushing through the snow as several more howls sounded off behind us.

Taking to the air, Zephyr began to get ahead of everyone as he flew past me.

"Mitch, Jump!" He yelled as he sped past, flying low to avoid any branches while planted my feet and jumped...

...just as I saw a pair of icy fangs gnaw at the spot my feet had been.

Shit, that was close!

Almost stumbling, I barely landing on my feet and sped back up while Reks and Piper managed to slice through it past a couple of wolves that had cut them off.

"Head into the forest!" Piper yelled as we approached the bottom of the hill. "If we can get to the cave on the other side we'll be safe!"

Picking up speed, I ran straight into the forest and caught up with the dogs while Breeze flew over us, pointing ahead at several moving snow mounds rapidly approaching.

"There's more of them!" He exclaimed as the mounds grew fangs and lunged at us.

"Scatter!" Piper yelled, sidestepping a wolf while I barely dove out of the way of another, slamming face-first into a tree.

Letting out a pained gasp at the blow, I somehow managed to stumble forward, making sure I didn't stop moving as I barely managed to dodge several other trees I could barely make out in the dark.

"Guys, wait!" I heard Zephyr call out before hearing a loud thunk of what had to be him colliding with a tree midair.

"Zephyr!" I called out, turning around just to be tackled by a moving snow mound, the blow slamming me into the ground as I attempted to keep its jaws from my neck.

The Winter Wolf growled deeply, his claws finding their way into my shoulders and making my left side explode in pain as I managed to get my right foot underneath its stomach.

"GET OFF!" I yelled, kicking it apart entirely as it turned into nothing but mush in my hands.

Standing quickly, I wiped my left shoulder only to feel blood trickling down my crystallized hand.

Great...do I heal this now or wait?" I frowned, remembering how exhausted I was after healing Bertha. If I became exhausted again and the wolves found me...

Another howl from my left brought be out of my thoughts as I remembered why I had stopped in the first place.

"Zephyr, I'm coming!" I whispered to myself, hoping to not draw attention as I crouch walked the way we came slowly, making sure to keep my eyes peeled on the darkness surrounding me.

Why did Piper and Reks have to run so far?! And how am I going to help Zephyr by myself?

"You could start with calming the fuck down."

Snapping out of my funk, I looked ahead just to see a illuminated figure standing a couple yards away from me, its golden hair flowing over its face as it stared at me.

"MITCH!"

"What the...who are you?" I stated as the figure sighed and used a crystallized hand to removed the hair from its face...

...only to reveal the fact that it was the reflection of me from the dark water, though his eyes were now purely white with no pupils at all.

"MITCH!"

But before I could even say anything else, he began to slowly stagger towards me with a twisted smile on his face.

"You really forgot about me already? Pity." He stated as he began to approach me, a twisted grin on his face as he clenched and unclenched his hands repeatedly. "But of course you did! After all, doesnt everyone want to forget their nightmares?"

"Stay back!!!" I yelled at his approaching figure as I grabbed a twig off the ground and pointed it at him. "I dont know how your here, but leave me alone!"

He stopped about three feet from me before bending over and touching the limb, causing it to wither away almost immediately, the ashes blowing away in the chill of the night.

"Oh, but I cant just leave you alone, Mitch. Your a part of me as I am a part of you." He stated with a laugh before his smile disappeared as he stared what sounded like a garbled voice from behind me, sighing as he shook his head. " Looks like our face to face will have to wait. Right now, you gotta wake up!"

"MITCH!"

My eyes shot open as I realized I was being pulled by Zephyr across the snow with his forehooves.

"Wha...What happened?" I asked as Zephyr turned to me with a relived smile.

"Oh thank Luna your alright! After you plowed into that tree back there we thought you'd be out for hours!" He motions his head to where the sounds of blade connecting on ice could be heard. "We came back as soon as you fell, but then the wolves swarmed us, so the dogs are buying us time to escape."

Grunting out a reply, I slowly got to my feet just as a wolf went to lunge at us before getting kicked into snow bits by Zephyr.

"We need to go...now" I said, still slightly out of it as I turned to the direction of the fighting and winced slightly, feeling slightly lightheaded from my run in with nature.

"Piper! Reks! I'm up, let's go!" I yelled as Zephyr and I continued our run through the woods, this time making sure to avoid any trees even at the cost of slowing down slightly.

"Keep going, we're almost there!" I heard Piper yell from behind us as I hopped over a big rock that came into view almost too fast for me to react to.

"How much further is-"

"THERE!" Zephyr exclaimed as we finally came across a torch-lit cave entrance.

"FIRE!" A loud voice rang out as two dogs stepped out from the cave, firing several flaming arrows towards us.

"Shit, get down!" I exclaimed, dropping on my stomach alongside Zephyr, making him drop his duffel bag in shock as the arrows flew past us...

...and straight into the jaws of a couple of wolves that had managed to catch up to us, melting them instantly and saving us from their freezing fangs.

"Get up, you two!" Piper yelled as she and Reks bolted past, the captain throwing a quick salute to one of the dogs as she and Reks made it to the cave.

Getting on my feet, I grabbed Zephyrs bag and bolted towards the cave alongside the now flying Zephyr as I heard what sounded like a tree snapping in half behind me.

"ROOOOOOAR"

Glancing behind me, I caught a glance of the giant Winterwolf from before as it was staring right at us as his left paw stood on what was a perfectly healthy tree...though it didn't make a move towards us as we came in hot on the cave entrance...

....right towards one of the dogs that had fired an arrow at the wolves.

"Watch out!" I called out, bursting into the cave and losing my footing on the slick floor almost instantly while Zephyr couldnt stop flying in time to avoid me, causing a man/dog/pony pile up at the mouth of cave.

"Ugh...did we make it?" Zephyr whimpered, his eyes rotating around like those in a cartoon.

"Yes you did, NOW GET OFF ME!!!" The same voice from before yelled out, causing Zephyr and I to scramble off the dog we were laying on.

"Sorry about that, I kinda couldn't stop running." I explained, feeling my left shoulder as I got a glare from the husky on the floor.

The wound from the dog bite isn't there either...guess I did knock myself out when I hit that tree...then what was with that reflection of me?

"Well, at least you had a reason to be running that fast. Not many survive an encounter with a Queen Winterwolf." He stated, getting to his feet and dusting off his red armour. He grabbed a crossbow off the ground and holstered it to his back and extending a paw, allowing me to see his golden fur. "I am Commando, and as you can guess from my name, Commander of the North Wind."

"Ok...but how did you know we'd be here?" I asked him, shaking his paw as Reks snorted, causing Piper to smack him on the head.

"He couldn't have known they'd be here, Reks." She said before motioning to the cave. "This is the eastern entranceway to the underground city, so there are always guard dogs up here." She glances at Commando and rolls her eyes. "That, and Commando likes to patrol the pathways of the caves himself all the time, something about making sure its 'Done Right' or whatever."

Commando chuckled at that, though he seemed to be keeping a wary eye on Zephyr.

"Sure do, keeps those crystal rats in that city above out of our turf." He said before glaring at the pegasus next to me.

"Rats? Who are you calling a rat?!" Zephyr exclaimed, but Commando ignored him, gesturing to me and Zephyr as he frowned at Piper.

"On that note, what's with the winged one? You know their kind arent welcome here, not after what happened to the chief. And why the monkey? Last I checked we didnt run a circus, Captain."

"He's with us, the renegades had him locked up and working slave duty" Piper explained while I turned to look at our pursuers, noticing they hadn't tried to attack us yet...but why?

Noticing my gaze, Commando pointed at the edge of the cave entrance, which was lined with several symbols that looked eerily like the ones back in the cave I had went into.

"See those runes? The Chief set them up, keeps the evil ones at bay." He turned around and pointed at Piper. a relenting look in his eyes. "Due to the situation with the mining corps, the furless monkey and the pegasus can stay for a couple of days...no more."

Piper smirked at that, clinking her paw against my crystal arm, causing Commando to do a double take as he looked at me incredulously.

"Your kidding...so there was a pool up there after all? And it chose him?!" He face-pawed before walking off, the two archer dogs following him without a single word. "Take him to the chief...I'm going to go make sure their arent any other distractions at the other gates."

Letting out a huff at the retreating figure, Piper turned to Reks.

"Take Zephyr to the guest barracks, I'll take Mitch to the chief." She instructed, causing Reks to huff but reluctantly follow his sisters orders as he pointed at Zephyr and motioned for him to follow.

Zephyr went to object, but I kicked him on the his left foreleg, causing the pegasus to look up at me.

"Hey, where else do you think your going to go? We need them to get to the empire." I told him, causing him to groan as he shook snow out of his mane.

"Fine, but I don't like this, Mitch. Talk to the chief, then we leave as soon as possible." He stated before turning away and hovering after Reks into the cave, leaving me alone with Piper.

"Cmon, let's get you to the boss." She said sternly as I began to follow her, noticing that we were going down a deeper path on the left compared to the inclined path Reks took on the right.

"So, how where does the tunnel Reks took go?" I asked as we took a right turn down the suprisngly well lit cave.

Silence.

Fuck, is she still mad at me? I thought as I mentally sighed. It was just a joke! Why did she take it so seriously? I thought before shaking my head. Better try to patch things up with her, considering she saved me and all.

Deciding to swallow my pride, I took a deep breath and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing the captain to turn around.

"What?" She asked, her tone stressing that she wasn't in the mood for games.

"Look, I didn't mean to insult you earlier with the sword jab. It was just my way of messing with people." I told her, removing my hand from her plating as I placed my hands behind my head. "I'm sorry."

Piper squinted at me for a while before sighing, giving me a small smile as she out out her paw.

"Thanks for apologizing, Mitch. Not many males do that around here, they expect all of us females to be as insensitive as they are." She said as I shook her paw with a smile of my own.

"Well screw them, not our fault if we sit on couches eating ice cream while watching soap operas." I told her, earning a confused look and that sound dogs make when they don't understand you, causing me to wave her off. "Nevermind, just a phase I went through." I told her as we resumed our walk, though now without the rather gross vibe. "Tell me this, if your the captain of the North Wind...where does big shot from earlier fit in?"

Piper snorted a laugh as we pass a pair of guard dogs, each of them saluting Piper before giving me the stink eye.

Well, fuck ya too. I thought as they passed. You guys are lucky I dont have a newspaper.

"Commando is the third in charge, though he believes he's numero uno just because he's got deadly aim with a crossbow. Other than him, every other guard dog are just enlisted units in our military."

"Hmm...sounds familiar to what we have back home." I said, earning an eyebrow raise from the captain. "Though officers were usually not as simplified as you make your military out to be."

"How so?" Piper asked, causing me to shrug, feeling my arms and noticing I wasn't cold anymore...though that couldn't be the heat from the torches alone heating me up, right?

"Don't know much about the U.S military, just enough to know the enlisted and officer ranks aren't just categorized by your skill levels at what you do." We took a left turn as we came to a stop in front of a blue door that had more of those odd runes on them. "Let's just say someone could go to college and be put in charge of a unit immediately after graduation."

Piper frowned at that. "That's...weird to think about...just allowing fresh meat to lead people?" She shook her head and knocked on the door.

A small slit of the door opened up, revealing two beady eyes staring back at us as a gruff voice cleared its throat.

"What have you to report, Captain?" An equally deep voice asked as Piper went into attention, saluting the figure as her armor clanked loudly at the effort.

"Investigated the mining corps, and found three slackers running a slave hussle there." She motioned with her head towards me. "One of the slaves was chosen by one of the pools of Duisternis, and I've brought him to see the chief."

The dog on the other side said nothing as the little slit slid closed, a moment a silence reigning over the hall before the door slid down into the ground.

"Whoa." I stated, suprised at the sight of gears and chains in the linings of where the doors hinges would be.

So these dogs are actually capable of creating technological advancements? Perhaps Zephyr and I have been underestimating our companions brainpower...which might pose an issue if things go south.

Getting a nudge from Piper, I shook off my thoughts and stepped into the room as my eyes began to adjust to a drastic change of lighting.

It was MUCH brighter in the room than it was in the halls, and a couple squints later I was able to spot what looked like glowing crystals that lined the roof of the room.

"How are those crystals glowing?" I asked as a soft laugh echoed all around me.

"Why, what a peculiar question indeed! Why do the crystals glow in the dark, kehehee!"

As my eyes finished adjusting to the room, I was finally able to see what was lined up on the opposite wall of the doorway.

There was a crystal chair that had to stand about twelve feet tall. Standing next to the chair was a rather obese looking dog that had a staff in his hands.

Must be the dog that let us in. I thought before looking up at who was on the crystal seat.

"Sir!" Piper said, kneeling before what had to be the chief. "Reks and I have returned successfully. The mining corp and its renegade dogs are dealt with, and the pool is dry."

The dog she was kneeling to was...interesting to say the least. He seemed to be a tad smaller than me, though at five feet six inches that isn't saying much, and was easily a husky like the rest of the dogs around here.

What made him different was the fact that only his head and tail were a normal white fur...the rest was covered in yellow crystal.

"Rise, Captain! I can tell from the hairless ape in front of you that the pool was dry, but thank you regardless." He said with a giggle before pointing at me with . "What is your name, stranger?"

"My name is Mitch, Sir." I said, bowing slightly as the dog smiled.

"Mitch, aye? What a weird name...but I can talk, my name is literally Wackjob!" He said before cackling again, causing my to snort slightly.

"I wonder why?" I mumbled as he stopped laughing almost instantly, his eyes narrowing as his smile disappeared from his face.

"What did you say?" He asked, his tone eerily lacking the cheery vibe it had as Piper rose to her feet quickly.

"Sir! He didn't mean any-"

"QUIET!!!" He roared, his voice getting deep as his white fur turned yellow instantly and his teeth became more jagged.

In the blink of an eye, the chief was standing inches from me, his rather disgusting breath forcing itself into my lungs as I stood there, unable to react or move at all from shock.

How the hell did he move so fast? I wondered in fear as he sniffed my face three times before returning back to the crystal seat of his, his body returning to normal as fast as it had changed.

"I see. So you have a nightmare as well?" He said with a smirk as he looked to Piper. "Relax, Captain. He won't die today, I just had to provoke his nightmare into thinking he was in danger...look at his arm."

Looking down, I noticed my right arm was faintly glowing black, something that hadn't happened before.

"You...knew that would happen?" I asked as Piper sighed in relief.

"The chief is capable of sensing magic on those who don't usually have it, it's part of his gift from Duisternis." She explained as she kicked me in the shin.

"OW! What the hell?!" I yelled as she frowned at me, her eyes holding a deathly serious look in their gaze.

"The chiefs nightmare can't stand being insulted, and will lash out if not controlled. DO NOT provoke it!" She explained as Wackjob sighed.

"Aye! The cost for magic can be great, as you will learn the hard way sooner or later." Wackjob stated as he smiled. "But first, I must ask what you are. I've never seen your kind before, and I want to know what qualified you for a magic core."

"Easy enough." I answered, happy that the chief wasn't going to kill me after all. I looked around before shrugging and sitting on the ground, getting comfortable as I prepared myself.

"Alright, so it started when I was heading home to see my family..."

Author's Note

Yup, we're gonna end there for now. I want to write more, but I'm tired and have decided to split this in half.

A lot more action this chapter, between the Winterwolves and the underground home for the diamond dogs.

The winter wolves are pretty much Timberwolves, but native to the northern region of Equestria. If Timberwolves can exist in a place of magical weirdness like Everfree, then why wouldn't someone's dark magic (Like Sombras) have an Influence on the snow and ice surrounding the city he once attempted to recontrol.

(Besides, Timberwolves are underrated as hell, and need some more story buffing. Expect more lore on those baddies throughout the story.)

As always, comment your thoughts or spellchecks! every bit helps and is greatly appreciated!