The wind howled in my ears with every stride I took, clawing at my fur as my feet's claws acted as anchors to sheets of ice, scaling up the mountain, and thankfully, into its woodlands to shield me from the harsher winds, snow crunching underfoot, even if my steps were light to cover more ground.

I tugged the red scarf closer to my muzzle, even with my literal arsenal of abilities, the cold was still nippy, I tried to use Sunny Day, but the clouds are too thick, this hurricane wasn't something I could dispel, something kept it tethered to the mountain. Looking forward, the skies above were darker, a heavy promise of more snow, and the distant peaks were half-shrouded in a veil of mist.

Slowing to a stroll, my eyes caught something nearby, rather, directly in front of me. A tree had been felled, something had cut through, leaving behind only shards of dark blue rime in its wake. Studying my surroundings, parts of the treetops had been broken, as if something had flown down and smashed through by accident. Something big.

Eyeing the ground, deep, clawed footprints marked the snow, a quadruped, so it was a monster after all, a wielder of black ice. Again, I knew no monsters that controlled black ice, or was that just an effect due to Equestria's environment? Some monsters I did know of had subtle changes, not enough to class them as subspecies or variants, but ways their bodies adapted to this new world, like me.

"I'm really overthinking this..." Yui would tell me as much, so I shook my head and kept walking-

Something was behind me, so in an instant, I drew from my aura a long staff in the shape of a thin bone, Bone Rush, brandishing it against the clean, silver edge of long blade as it rang against the staff, creating sparks in their tension. Wait, a longsword? My expression relaxed, seeing the equally amused face greet me.

"Knew you'd get my little memo, Wolfy." The actual, human woman, winked at me.

A woman adorned by armour made from a Nargacuga; her stomach was lined with only a fish-net weave. Her legs were the most equipped with wide greaves with a red hem, the inner thighs exposed, revealing only a pair of black short-shorts. Her breastplate only protected her breasts leaving her sides and armpits exposed. Her gauntlets did the same down to the forearms where bracers were wrapped around with a pink fabric like her waist's bow. Last, her snow-white hair with two ponytails was covered by the raven fur of the helmet, but her soft expression was revealed alongside a pair of piercing crimson eyes.

"Wait, you sent the report, Ren?" I blinked, lowering my weapon as she mirrored.

"One and only, thought the upcoming Guildmaster would want to show the world a little of what he's made of," The girl gave a cheeky grin and flick of her hand in greeting. Then she jabbed a thumb behind her. "Oh, also brought Topaz along too!"

"You did what now?" I blurted out through telepathy, looking a little astonished at the mare marching forward with a displeased expression.

The mare in question was Topaz, a unicorn with a peachy coat and honeycomb mane and tail sticking out at odd angles, and a pair of smooth, orange eyes. She was dressed in reinforced, golden armour for a Royal Guard, namely due to mine and Ren's work modifying the armour with Gold Rathian parts, adding scaled layering to the existing plate metal. Most notable was the silver helmet attached to a belt on her hip, made from pieces of Valstrax itself.

Giving the clearly bemused Captain a humorous smile, I decided to pull the pin. "So... how did she get you out here?"

A grumble left her lips, Ren just stifled a laugh behind her hand, walking past her. "Oh yeah, tell 'em how you came to accompany me, hm~?"

Her cheeks turned a faint pinker, embarrassment and annoyance going hand-in-hand for the mare. "...I lost a stupid bet..."

"What bet- actually, y'know, I don't wanna know," I pointed toward Ren. "Last I said that, you went ahead and told, so this time, I'm tellin' you, I don't wanna know."

"Pfft, not that bad..." Ren rolled her eyes, but hid a mischievous streak in her aura and sharp smile. "...well..."

Topaz groaned louder, running a hoof down her face. "Can we just focus on the blizzard currently freezing me to my armour? Zen, what have you found so far?"

"Tracks of a monster that controls ice, but... I've never seen one that's done what it did in Snowfall, Yui's back there, helping them to prepare for any other attacks." I abridged for the pair whilst we walked, following the trait through the woodlands. "Anything on your end?"

"Not much more than you guys," Ren shrugged, hand catching a few snowflakes. "I've lived near mountains back in the Old World, but I've never seen a monster that could control the weather like this, or even weaponize snow and ice this way." She didn't say it, and I didn't want to. Only one monster category could dictate dramatic changes in an ecosystem like this...

"Could really use that monster girl about now," Topaz pointed out, referring to Mira.

I gave a slight smile, shaking my head. "Mira's a Mizutsune, they don't like frigid environments and mountains."

"Damn, imagine having a monster to ride into battle, that'd be a sight to turn a few heads back home," Ren chuckled, only for her amusement to die in her throat, holding up her fist to have us pause. She jogged ahead where the path split either way, narrowing those blood-red eyes. "Tracks."

Approaching her sides, we knelt down as she picked up... a solid chunk of frozen magma? It was hardened by ice, a few scales attached to it, forming a volcanic texture within the ice. Ren stared at it, unsure of what to make of it, even Topaz was at a loss for words.

"Ain't seen a formation like this, you?" Ren gestured with the chunk in her hand.

"Not to my knowledge, its definitely magma but... its been rapidly cooled in this state." Topaz murmured. "A sibling of mine is the rock expert, but I know that much."

"Right-right, Quartz, wasn't it?" Ren hazard a guess, earning a confirmation in the mare's nod.

"...its the Iceborne Wyvern..." Out of all monsters, I didn't expect to see one here, then again, I never anticipated seeing any monsters when I wound up in Equestria. My response came out like a cool breeze, a part of me was cautious, but the other couldn't help but feel a rush through my veins, an anticipation building in my chest.

"Now that's a name I ain't ever heard of, Wolfy." Ren admitted, tossing the chunk to me as I stared at its glistening texture, a perfect state of tempered magma cooled by only the sheer cold one monster could produce.

"It's a monster of the New World, a creature said to inhabit only the coldest edges of the world, making it a rarity to be seen... the Lord of Ice, Velkhana." Just saying name had the wind give out a timely howl between the trees. Raising my head off to the rightmost path, I could see them, creatures frozen solid on the spot, birds that had been frozen mid-flight without warning.

"Sounds like King Sombra's wet dream." Topaz snorted, looking at the corpses that had been obscured from our sight, the mare looking a little unsettled. "And, uh, we can beat it.. right?"

"I don't know, but, I've also seen how it fights, so don't worry," I gave them a confident grin, standing tall, flinging the moulted scale high to catch in my left hand. "I'll tell you everything I know, and we'll bring this so-called Lord down for good."

Relaying what I knew from memory wasn't difficult, some fights against monsters were engrained in my mind even two years later, Velkhana was a fearsome Elder Dragon, her ice was deadly and would cut us down if we falter at all. But she wasn't infallible, we could beat her before she ever set foot near Snowfall again.

Following the warnings left around the area, those frozen entirely by ice, we persevered to the mouth of a large cave overlooking a sharp slope down the mountain, the land below shrouded by the mists whipped up by the growing storm, rumbling could be heard, and the snowfall was starting to accumulate.

The entrance was covered in ice of all shades, ranging from white, to blue, all the way to black. "Almost be a pretty sight if not for the carver." Ren remarked dryly, drawing her longsword whilst I led the charge, using Aura to map out the route ahead, a feeling of isolation is all I received.

Despite the large opening, the path down into the mountain wasn't long, winding a little, the ice becoming more frequent with each turn, even my breath was visible in the air. At any moment, Velkhana might make her appearance, so far... nothing, an unsettling silence say for our feet clanking across the ice.

"Hey, got another of those drinks? Freezing my flank off here," Topaz asked, and was happily rewarded with a small jar from Ren, filled with a thick, light-red liquid. "Ah, lifesaver, thank you."

"Always prepared." The human winked as the Hot Drink quickly warmed Topaz up, indicated by how she sighed in sweet relief. I too carried them, especially in dealing with a monster that controls ice and frost.

Up ahead, I could see the cave start to widen a little, a pale, blue light bleeding into the tunnel. We marched down, finally gaining a clearer view of the wide, tall cavern they've arrived in. A solid flatland under the mountain peak with another way in at the far end of the cavern. A few, thick pillars of stone supported the ceiling, some jutting out with large, crystal formations, providing a brilliant shade of light to refract the blue of the ice.

But what took our breaths away crunched underfoot. Crawling across the ground, arching into wide crescents and coiling into helixes around each of the pillars, eventually coming to form a webbed canopy of dark blue ice, layers interwoven, drooping from the ceiling and forming a rough, circular formation on the ground, only a glaring glow refracting through the dark rime.

The air grew colder...

"She's coming..." I whispered, a biting aura soon came crashing against mine.

"About time!" Ren grinned, just as Topaz threw on her helmet.

From beyond the cavern, a powerful wall of white mist came cascading through, bracing the cold, frost and ice spread over the ground, cutting into our bodies. Large chunks of ice formed and broke from the ceiling, forcing me to sweep Metal Claw to shatter the ice, in time to spot a shadow looming over us, dispersing the mist in a wide ring around us.

Her head slowly came to rise. Scales shimmering with ethereal frost, expelled a cold vapour so intense that it was almost life-threatening to stand so close. Her wings expanded, their semi-opaque form refracting light across her gradient of icy scales, creating a mesmerizing backdrop against its frozen cavern.

The wings folded against the slim body of the creature. It had the look of a traditional, slim, upright body of a dragon. Its scales and shell made from a unique, crystalline blue material, some of its scales and jagged point iridescent in colouration, similar to molten glass grafted to its scales. Its head has a tiara-like crown of small horns. But most notable was its thin, lance-like tail made from dark blue ice.

The Iceborne Wyvern, Velkhana, had finally come out.

But... it was different, its appearance had changed a little. No, that doesn't matter right now, its still the same Elder Dragon I've fought numerous times! Summoning Bone Rush, I heard the girls draw their weapons too, spreading out as Velkhana stared solely at me, then, let out a high-pitched roar, twirling backward, its jaws wide.

"Dodge!" I projected sharply, diving away from the vertical beam of cold air, leaving behind a brief row of ice chunks in its wake.

Through this, she flew backward, thrusting her tail forward to pierce the ground an inch shy of my feet, forcing me to swivel around to bring down Bone Rush across the tail, slashing across the sturdy rime that withdrew only to thrust again in an instant, throwing me back when a third lunge attempted to pierce me, only to ring off Quick Guard at the last second, sending me skidding on my heels.

Distracted, Velkhana was caught off guard by the white slashes climbing from the tail to her chest, Ren kicking off her scales to draw her longsword down in a clean, vertical cleave, leaving a thin, red line through her throat. Despite this, Ren gasped and held her weapon high in time to brace the sudden plunge below sub-zero, the ice breath leaving a thin layer of ice over her body, shattering as her back struck the snow. Rolling to evade Velkhana's slam, Ren swung her sword to bear, barely parrying the sweeping tail from the left side, her joints clearly stiff from Iceblight.

A flash of amber enveloped a shield of golden scales, catching the brunt of an ice beam, Topaz leaping over Ren to deliver two parallel lines with a finessed twirl of her sword, the parallel lines diverting the deadly tail skyward, leaving the beast stunned for my approach, Sword Dance dispelled as I sent a electrified fist through the chilling mist, cracking Velkhana across the jaw, using the leverage to spin, sending an spinning flurry of Metal Claw lacerations down the length of Velkhana's body, the dragon screeching in pain.

Landing, I felt the warm pull of magic throw me sideways, Topaz knocked backward by tailing beam of frost, Velkhana repeated the action, but Ren narrowly avoided the barrage of ice crystals that formed like a frozen wave, vaulting off the tip of her longsword to carve down the hindlegs and the dragon's flank, sheathing her sword with a backstep to avoid a tail thrust, entering Iai to sweep all four limbs, a rippling flash of red breaking apart pieces of Velkhana's frost armour.

"Hit her, Wolfy!" Ren called mid-slide.

"Dragon Pulse!!" Roaring its name, the shockwave of dark purple energy tore through the air, shattering the ice clusters forming in the air around Velkhana to crash against her side, the drake diving with her wings into an elegant backflip, landing to spray a horizontal sweep of frost.

Twirling on a heel, I swept side-to-side, then flicked my wrists to sweep Metal Claw through her scales, sliding underneath to avoid the stabbing tail. Despite that, I could raise Quick Guard in time, but Topaz's shield spun through the air in her magic, allowing me to catch and parry the heavy thrust that threw my sideways. I couldn't however, prevent the formation of three rings of ice from appearing, shattered by Velkhana's trample over me, burying me in the snow.

"Ow..." I grumbled, shaking off the snow atop my head as I was tossed another Hot Drink from Ren, the huntress diving back from several tail thrusts into a foreleg slam, herself downing another as a curse slipped from her throat.

"Starting to run low on Hot Drinks!" She warned.

"I got some too, just keep laying on the attacks, break her armour down!" I relayed, tossing Topaz her shield to slam it against Velkhana's side, followed by a flurry of slants.

Velkhana landed a few feet away, threshing her tail as if to inspect it. "The way she fights, even before she was sizing us up, these monsters really are crazy..." Topaz shook her head in disbelief, it was terrifying if not impressive in person, even two years on.

Velkhana was a regal, ferocious, elegant monster in every sense of the words.

Taking the charge, I waited for Velkhana who swung back on her wings, breathing a cold mist in a crescent, a sudden eruption of ice forming as a wall before her tail punctured through the middle, straight into the sharpened hail of silver stones. Releasing Stone Edge, the silver shards tore across her tail like buckshot.

Using her momentary loss of momentum, there's a rhythm, I swept forward in a blur of black and blue, pummelling her body with a combination of Extreme Speed, and a newer skill, one that had my fists rapidly assaulting her hardened scales like a hail of bullets, cracking and shattering that rime armour of hers. Bullet Punch.

Rolling backward to narrowly avoid a downward breath attack, I stepped back again, three rings of ice forming under the dragon before she shattered them with a stomp, digging her rapier-like tail through the snow to flick toward my face, grazing my cheek with her rigid blade. But Ren vaulted dove over us both, a vertical cleave swatting the tail sideways before digging her crimson-tinged blade upward, kicking up the snow to mask mine and Topaz's forms.

She turned and sprayed a cool mist in a funnel wide, forcing us to dive under the blast that left a wall of dark rime at our backs, cornering us. Ren stepped forward, gritting her teeth as the wyvern's tail slashed in a pirouette that ended with a sharp thrust that rang in my ears. Yet, Ren kept her feet pressed deep into the packed snow, sword held high to block the ferocious blows.

"Glavenus... hit... way harder...!" She grunted.

Velkhana recoiled when a shield shoved her tail back, forcing her head forward to spray us point blank, or until Topaz performed a backswing with her shield, smacking Velkhana across the jaw into an uppercut, the mare using her magic to form a barrier to land against, leaping to deliver a downward slam, the brunt of her glimmering shield stunning the Elder Dragon as I threw two Aura Spheres aimed for the drake's head and neck, the blasts only matched with another Iai slash from Ren, peppering the great Lord of Ice in accumulating wounds.

That's when Velkhana finally took to the air, avoiding our assault to swivel around slowly. "Looks like she's backing off!" Ren smirked.

"She'll likely enrage now, get ready!" Just as planned, if we kept it up, we'd keep her from ever setting foot near Snowfall again.

A triumphant sensation began to build in our chests, or... until something stabbed me in my chest, a cold, dead feeling filling up my aura, attempting to smother it. And my grin fell, my fur slowly standing on end. The blizzard that had dispersed at Velkhana's presence returned tenfold, wrapping her whole body like a thick blanket of snow. Her scales seemed to grow, forming a layer of ice over the edges of her limbs, the temperature dropping further and further until even ice began to form on our bodies from this distance.

I stood back a little. "Wait... this isn't how she usually transforms..." No, this wasn't like Iceborne.

"What do you mean by that?" Topaz called to, almost skeptically. Then, she saw my face fall and pale. "Zen..." She asked worryingly.

...o-oh no...

Suddenly, Velkhana's wings curled around herself, the cold air was immediately drawn in towards her, the sound of crystals breaking and chattering filling the air as a pulsing, baby-blue light emanated from behind her crystal wings. Immediately, I ran and hooked an arm under Topaz, throwing her into Ren as I raised Quick Guard instantly, putting all my aura into it in time for a sudden, blinding eruption of sub-zero winds.

Frost formed on the tips of our armour and hair as the atmosphere took on a darker, blue tinge. Gritting my teeth, I felt my barrier and even Topaz's give out, shattering like glass and sending us tumbling across the cavern floor. Catching myself quickly, I righted myself and could only feel dread wash over me.

Velkhana had entered a new stage of evolution, no, she already had the moment she set foot in Equestria. Cracks of black veins stretched from her chest, pitch black rime forming at the tips of her original frost armour and creating a jagged, unruly edge to her shimmering wings. Her eyes moved with a crimson contrail as a jagged, black array of ice formed along her spine towards a larger, onyx-coated tail. Black snow fell around her form as she stood taller than any of us.

"Zen, the hell just happened!?" Ren yelled, her hold on her weapon beginning to quake.

"I... I don't know... she... she's never had a form like this!" Then it finally sunk in, the words rolling from my mind like lead. "...its a new variant..." I miscalculated...

"We need to fall back, now!" It was Topaz who found the strength to speak, shaking her head. "That means, NOW!"

"Go- GO!!" I screamed, quickly pivoting when Velkhana began to draw in all the cold around her, a great blizzard forming around her body.

Discarding the notion to fight, we each scrambled toward the original path we took to get here. Behind us, I heard Velkhana's roar shake the whole cave system, large deposits of moisture crystalized, dropping small payloads of ice we narrowly avoided, zig-zagging between one another, kicking up snow at our backs as the air grew unbearably numb to my skin.

Large arcs of wind and snow stretched through the air, like a black hole, the cold air was drawn towards Velkhana who spewed white mist far and wide, adding to this cacophony of prickling, popping ice. I kicked my muscles into high gear, nearly passing the girls, seeing daylight further ahead, but also the roaring storm directly behind us.

"Hold on!" With my arms wide, I scooped up both of them, immediately forcing Quick Attack to engage, burning through my legs and splitting the ice beneath me, feeling the tip of my tail starting to freeze over.

Picking up speed, something loud shattered behind us with a tremendous blast, all of us peered over our shoulders and I honestly wished I hadn't, a massive nova of white was closing in fast. "Faster!/Holy shit!" Topaz and Ren gave off two very distinct reactions.

"This might huuuurt!!" Caution thrown to the wind, I broke free of the cavern in time, but overshot the cliffside entirely, and like a stone to water, the second I lost momentum, the three of us plummeted down the side of the mountain, screaming as we fell toward the trees.

[Yui's POV]

Preparations were coming along nicely, it had been about two-to-three hours since Zen left, hope he's doing fine. I snorted at that, knowing him, he's doing something completely reckless again. Inspecting the cache, those large towers operated a massive gate the village used to combat heavy avalanches, using it to keep their storage safe and clear. Which, against a monster, is perfect for active defence.

"Let's see, Skate has all the mares and children being moved closer to the station in the event of an emergency evacuation..." I listed off on a clipboard held in my wing, toying with my ring on its necklace. "Rations have been moved from the cache too... ongoing defence preparations are still in effect... okay, should be ready by daybreak." Implying this monster doesn't hunt at night.

Grunting in annoyance, I kinda wish I could do more, but unfortunately, life has a funny way of circumventing expectations. Rubbing my forehead, taking deep breaths to settle myself. "Easy, Yui, vent later..."

"Hey, I think I see somepony!" One village guard called out.

"It looks like that wolf creature!" Another exclaimed, rousing a collection of murmurs and chatter, some heading down the walkways to inspect the group returning from the pass.

"Zen?" Getting up, I trotted down to the base of the gangplank where he... he was limping! In his right arm, Topaz looked to be out cold, Ren hoisted over his left shoulder in much the same predicament. And all three were roughed up, covered in twigs and leaves, as well as a thin patches of snow and frost peppering their bodies.

Zen looked exhausted, did he run with them from the top of the mountain? Or rather, did he tumble down it? Running up to him, I saw him form a weak smile, panting heavily. "H-hey, Yui... think I... messed up..."

"What do you- Zen!" I managed to catch him with my right hoof, but the girls collapsed to the snow, a number of ponies gathering round to help me move them out of the cold, they were freezing to the touch. "Zen... what happened?" I whispered, even if it fell on deaf ears.

<>To Be Continued...<>

Author's Note

The hunt is far from over yet, Velkhana isn't going down so easily, and she has a whole new form! More on that later, I enjoyed writing about a monster hunt, nice to take a tiny break from my usual work. And going back to look at all the references to Lucario's move set, I got options!

While their first hunt was unsuccessful, I wonder how the next will turn out? I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Hunters!

Chp. 3 - Proof of a Hero

Velkhana will be coming for Snowfall, but without a leader, how will they prepare to face the coming storm...?