Wake Not Which Lurks Within

Chapter Nine

I couldn't stand being in the house for much longer. The sky was clear and inviting. We said our farewells and quickly gathered our things and double checked to see if we really got everything. My back still hurts but not enough to dissuade me from flying. The Dream Catcher emerged from beneath the snow waiting for me to climb aboard.

"Wish us luck Jim, oh! What's your brother's name?" I called to him.

"His name is Worm Feet! He'll know I sent ya!" Jim laughed looking human but beefy as ever waved me off.

My shoulders hurt again as I boarded the Disc. Shaking my head I took to the sky with reckless abandon. The sun was on my head, the cold wind whipping about me, feeling gravity pull at me every time I dipped downwards. I loved it.

I soared higher and higher till all the houses looked like dots. The wind just ROARED up here, good thing I didn't have to rely on ears alone anymore.

"Testing, testing, Earth to Dreamer." Glitterlamp's voice rang clearly through my head.

"Heh, guess so. Heya what's up?" I thought back to her. Immediately my attention was pulled to where she was looking. Snow topped mountains surrounded us so why this one warranted more attention was weird.

"I believe an element is there." Glitterlamp pointed. "Saw it in a dream, I think it was called Love or something around those lines. It didn't really use words." I gave her a thumbs up. The disc corrected it's course for the mountain.

"The entry should have been here." Glitterlamp said while looking around. "The rock formation is correct but it's not there!" The wind was bothersome now that we slowed down. Snowflakes kept smacking my eyes forcing myself to squint at the rock wall before us.

"Maybe," I started to say when a gust flung snow in my mouth.

"No! I know it's here look!" Glitterlamp held up Loyalty to show me the ribbon passing through the solid stone. "This is text book examples of dragon claw marks!"

"They look like rocks." I said looking for what she saw. "I don't see anything."

"I do! Wait," the Alicorn Amulet began to shine then the light condensed into a beam that erased the rock wall. "If there's one thing all changelings know it's-"

"How to change faces?" I said trying crack a joke.

"It's how to detect illusions." Glitterlamp continued "Dragons aren't supposed to know how to cast magic! Well," she stopped for a moment, "not on Equestria at least. Keep your wits, I think it's still in here."

There was definitely a warm breeze coming from deep within. My whole body shuddered with excitement. Me, getting to actually meet a dragon and in living color too! I dismissed the Dream Catcher and entered the cave entrance. We walked for several minuets in quiet anticipation. I was thrilled, Glitterlamp was ready for the worst.

"Do you think the dragon will listen to us?" I asked looking over to Glitterlamp walking with care.

"Thanks for reminding me, you go first and be ready to turn us both into sand." Glitterlamp then fell in line behind me. The cave walls were not strange to me, in fact it reminded me of the winding passages within Glitterlamp's mind. Although the actual here is much less confusing. A foul stench wafted from the breeze but beyond the smell of rotten eggs, sulfur I guess, was a smell that spiked my tension.

I could smell copper.

The smokey Void wrapped around me and proceeded us trying to feel for anything that wasn't supposed to belong. What I found immediately didn't do a single thing to comfort me; I found some brass casings in the cavern ahead of me. I drew Fearbane from it's home in the void and tread with care. Humans may still be about.

The cavern was warm but was growing colder. In the center was a large mound of treasures ranging from gold chunks to gems of incredible size. A car could be seen sticking out from the hoard almost in pristine condition but that was not the "crown" of the mound. A large pale dragon lie bleeding onto the many treasures, the kill must not have been long ago since the body was still bleeding. Not far from the dragon was the smashed remains of what I could only guess was the dragons clutch of eggs. The contents was gooey with half developed whelps cold and lifeless. The brass shells were everywhere.

"Oh no," Glitterlamp gasped putting a hand over her mouth. "I-wha-ho-, they were just eggs! EGGS!" Glitterlamp yelled openly crying. I gestured and Loyalty came out of Glitterlamp's pocket. The ribbon was now above us. The inability to reveal HOW a path was getting stupid. The ribbon was showing that the Element was above us now. I tried to control my breath into steady paces, I felt hot, a fire was burning in my chest. I had to keep composure, I had too.

"Let's go," my voice catching in my throat. Acid burned at the back of my mouth. "There's nothing for us here, burying them would take too long. We'll have to come back later, when it's safe." I said keeping a look out for trouble.

"Y-yeah, alright. Fine. Later." Glitterlamp slowly got up. "I'll hold you to that." I nodded heading up on a slope. The walk did nothing to ease us of what we saw. Soon we had snow at our feet with many human foot prints, I could even here them now.

"Keep on a look out, one of them is still out here and KNOWS were looking for it." A voice called out urgently.

"We can take them! It's not right if they get away with killing unborn dragons!" Glitterlamp hissed in my ear. Vengeance was already snarling in agreement.

"Not here, not on their terms, they have the upper hand." I strictly snarled, I looked at the white snow with the black Void crossing over it, "we would be found out too early."

A wailing screech came from my right and tackled me a row of teeth latched onto my shoulder. I couldn't what was happening but something large was cutting me as we tumbled down the mountain.

"I've had enough of this! It's my turn now!" Vengeance roared and I felt my body change as a red veil fall over my eyes. With every hit I felt my body ripple, the Void was changing me, Vengeance had crawled fully out of his cave, soon I was much larger than whatever was attacking me but it wasn't enough. My body now looked exactly like Vengeance in every regard. The cracked black scales pulsing red in the fissures, the broad sun blotting wings, the proud scaled chest, wicked teeth made for battle, eyes filled with anger.

All this was staring down at what was now pinned underneath my claws. A small white dragon with the widest blue eyes staring up at me.

"F-father?" The little wretch dared squeak at me. A sick smile curled at the corners of my mouth. It wasn't like before back in Appaloosa, I was still in control but yet I wanted to hurt this thing under my claws. I wanted what Vengeance wanted.

"You little-" something detonated on the side of my face. I roared, and what a glorious sound that was! Shaking the very air we breathed! I spotted the pitiful marksman looking at me with fear, his eyes said it all 'that should of at least ripped a scale off' the roar descended into contempt laughter. "Ah, finally, sport!" I flapped my wings once and the marksman was sent tumbling down the mountain's unforgiving slopes. More gunfire attracted my attention, explosions racked my sides making me tuck my wings back in. "Stop! Stop! That tickles!" I felt my lips cry out. I breathed in and breathed on the ridge they stood upon. Not fire, but a solid beam of Void erased anything on the ridge. It wasn't what I was expecting but they were gone, and that was enough for me. A small part of me felt cold. Destruction, was this the only thing I excel at? Wasn't the reason for destroying my sword was to prove I could rise above my base instinct for violence?

The only sound that prevailed was a soft rumble in the distance, probably an avalanche from my yelling. Oops. I looked back down to the warm little body still pinned to the snow. The Wide blue eye were now filled with admiration.

"It really is you father! Mother said you'd come back!" The little dragon cried out. "If only you got here so much sooner!" I flinched and lifted my paw off of it. "Now it's only me and you, no one else made it." The little dragon sniffled then went into a full blown meltdown. The mountains all around us echoed her sorrow. I didn't know what to think about this small, pale, bawling, orphaned dragon lying on its back. I wanted to help, but-

"I am not your father." I spoke. "If I were your father, I wouldn't have abandoned your mother. I am sorry for your loss." The small dragon just stared at me defiantly through watery eyes.

"No! You must be father, no one else even looks like you!" The small winged lizard got onto her claws. "'Your father was as black as night with big scary eyes, big enough to eclipse a human's in fear.' She told me that story all the time. You may not know me, you left long before I hatched, I'm your daughter! Don't leave me again!"

The sound of need and urgency infected her words. I continued to stare down at her, the gaze was not comforting the small hatching, no, she has to be older than a hatchling.

"Michael, how are you understanding it?" Glitterlamp came out of hiding. The small dragon spun quickly, hissed, than took cover behind my wrist.

"What? Can't you understand me either? I can understand just fine. Unless," I paused then looked down at the dragonette.

"Please father! Kill it! Kill it!" She chirped rapidly. I could understand every pony on Equestria and everything spoken and barely could read once taught. Perhaps it's something about my summoning, or something of magic origin.

"What's your name?"

"Please kill it! For Mother!" She called out getting more hysterical as Glitterlamp approached. I slammed my tail down snapping the dragon's attention back to me.

"What is your name? That's Glitterlamp, she is not a threat." I snarled.

"Snow, that's what mother called me." Snow answered but kept an eye one Glitterlamp.

"Did your mother have a precious bottle? A small trinket, like this one?" I produced the Element of Loyalty. The ribbon was pointing the way but I couldn't see it very well in the sunlight reflecting off the snow.

"Yes, but another filthy human took it already." Snow growled. "Before it killed mother, the wind roared like you! It was so loud!"

"OK," I said looking around, we're on top of a mountain. The wind would always blow up here. Always.

I was starting to feel the stress of this form, Vengeance was no longer interested anymore. It wasn't like before where I would suddenly lose strength, it was like having your arms above your head for too long.

"Snow, I'm going to transform. Don't be startled." I said as I relaxed myself. I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was not more head level with snow. Snow was like a very large and bulky great dane. Her eyes met mine and for a moment she looked might have been frightened but not now.

"Is that how you can fool those humans so easy, father? You can use magic to look like them?" Snow spoke all amazed.

"No, I was born human. Snow, I really am not your father. I'm sorry."

"How could a human have a dragon's eyes? How? No human can do that." Snow insisted. "I don't care what you look like father, you're still a dragon on the inside." Snow then wrapped a wing around me and placed her head on my shoulder. I tapped into her mind, like Glitterlamp, I could only get vague feelings. Snow desperately needed me to be her father.

"Then I'll be her father, she won't last long out here." Vengeance reasoned.

"I don't know if lying to her is the best course." Courage warned.

"She is in pain, you can ease that pain. Fatherhood doesn't have to be by blood." Pain intoned.

Glitterlamp felt a little odd, she felt happy that we were able to save a dragon's young but wasn't sure how to take care of it. Especially since Snow is convinced that I am her father.

"I have to find that bottle, it's very important." I asked Snow making sure I had her attention. "I need to find that human if it has it."

"That human was able to kill mother! I don't want the wind to roar again!" Snow begged me. I looked down and tried to shade the bottle to see the ribbon.

"Trust me Snow, the humans are collecting them for something. Your mother was hiding it for a very good reason." I said starting to follow the ribbon. "I'm not sure what the bottle's will do when I get all of them, but maybe it'll be safe to fly against the clouds openly again. No more hiding, maybe. Oh, don't bite Glitterlamp there, she's not human. OK?"

"Ok," Snow said still casting wary glances at Glitterlamp.

The walk up the snowy mountain was hard, cold, and unforgiving. One slip could very well send you back several feet, the banks of snow may very well be snowy burial pits. Putting one foot in front of the other was bad enough but every now and then the wind would pick up blinding us. The ribbon was another head ache, it stuck straight out! It was like it had a very strange view of the world where I could walk through walls and stone!

Other than that the view was breathtaking! The snow on the very tall but thin pine trees was worthy of hanging in a museum. I only wish I wasn't so cold despite all my heavy winter gear. This mountain was meant to be scaled this far, every now and then we'd find a mile marker on it.

"So, Dreamer," Glitterlamp started. "Do you think that the opposition already made away with the Element?"

"Maybe, maybe not. The ribbon still- OUCH!"

"What?!"

"Nothing, it's just my shoulders. I'm not nearly as athletic as I think I am. Jeez, my favorite sport involved me sitting down on a computer playing games." I thought to her, "the ribbon is still strong, I think we're close. I still feel bad for Snow's mother. When I find the guy who ordered this, I think I'll take him apart slowly."

"No doubt about that." Glitterlamp laughed out loud.

"Why is it talking to itself?" Snow chirped.

"Sorry she was talking to me. I can talk in her head back. I'll try not to do that around you." I explained.

"Not only can you transform but can talk in their heads? You are even cooler than mother's stories!" Snow was giddy with excitement despite her recent tragedy. I stopped to lean against a tree to catch my breath, the air was so thin here. I'm running out of breath just like the time I got hurt in Ponyville

"Snow, were you close with mother?" I asked bracing myself for the tears.

"No, not really. I mean I love her, loved her, but even when I was young she made sure I knew the score." Snow was shifting around on her claws. "She told me many things, like I was probably going to be left alone for a long time, not like when she went hunting. That a lot of the eggs were not going to hatch, why father was no longer with us." Tears formed at the corners of her eyes. "At the time I didn't believe or understand what she was doing, why wouldn't the eggs hatch? I was told I was the only egg last time, and I wanted to have siblings. Now I won't be able to."

"That sounds a lot like my home, starving isn't the fastest way to go." Glitterlamp said and I translated for Snow.

"What would she know anything about what I went through?!" Snow growled.

"Perhaps not the same things but her own mother tried to keep her as a pet, going as far as killing her best friend." I wasn't exactly meaning to be mean but that shut Snow up for a moment.

"What are you then?" Snow asked Glitterlamp, to which I translated. Glitterlamp switched faces rapidly taking on new looks each time. Snow looked impressed.

"So, father taught you to transform too?" Snow asked without the edge of hostility.

"Close enough, a little more complicated than that."

The wind kicked up suddenly causing lots of snow to fly every where. The wind roared louder than it had previously. Snow was screaming but pressed up next to me.

"The wind howls! The wind howls!"

"Hmm, a dragon whelp in a human's company? Do you even know what stand next to you?" the wind stopped dead in it's tracks but a new higher pitched sound replaced it. "That's a cold killer in front of you." The bottle in my hand trembled violently in my pocket, I could see the ribbon pass through my pocket and point right at the new arrival.

The new guy some distance away was dressed in a suit with a green and blue checkered tie with a Japanese folding fan in his hand. His ears were pierced with brass with feathers as the decorations. His hair was shoulder length but the wind kept playing with it.

"Yeah, it's a dragon. Can't you tell?" I said pushing my sunglasses up. "Now, I'm looking for a small bottle. You have it, and I want it."

"Yeah?" the man said. The voice and the body didn't match. His voice was a little high for his form. He flexed the fan out fully and ready to wave it. "The Council has the Elements. You must be Merlin's lackey. I don't like killing so I'll give you a warning." He flicked his arm and a wall of wind and snow blasted towards us. Glitterlamp tackled me into the snow and the wind passed over us.

"SNOW!" I could hear Vengeance roar. My left arm felt tight, I felt hot all over now. I now know what that tug was earlier, it was this wizard. He had an element, he must have helped kill the dragon. I got up and tore off the coat. Steam wafted off my skin and my bracer was alive, it's eye twitching around trying to find Snow. I pointed my left arm at the wizard and several black daggers flung themselves at him, they each struck home as the daggers ignored such things as wind resistance. The wizard zipped around as erratic as the wind around us and I wasn't really ready to do battle. Already I felt tired, soon I would have to be digging into my own health. Gotta end this now. I turned into sand and morphed a punching dagger around my left arm. I closed the gap quickly, when I emerged to bury this blade into this cretin's heart; he already had one hand on my shoulder with something in his hand. I tumbled in the snow some distance away.

"How much of an idiot are you? Well, without this your not much of a threat anyway." the wizard sounded almost insulted. "It's been fun, ta ta!" The wind whipped up again throwing a thick layer of snow on top of me. Whatever warmth I once had now flashed off into the snow. I was going to freeze to death out here.

"Dreamer!" Glitterlamp called out.

"Something is wrong, I can't feel my arm!"

"We are in the SNOW! Of course we're numb!"

"Father!" Snow's paw pressed down on my stomach before lifting quickly. "Here! He is here!"

"What's with the- no, no, no!" Glitterlamp pulled me from the snow. I saw what worried her so much, strange that I couldn't feel her. The wizard stood some distance away with my wedding band, I could see a blurry image of the man.

"What is that doing over there?" I asked then looked down to my left arm. It was completely missing.

"Honestly, if you want something done right! Do it yourself!" The wizard huffed impatiently. Snow was standing still, fear had overcame her mind.

"Damn it all, pardon me." Pain hissed in my ear and I felt my body drain even further. "Get him away from here, I'll handle him for a time." Pain's voice came from outside of me. I could see his cloaked, bandaged figure. "I had hoped to present this at a better time, here." The cloak dropped around me as Pain now faced the foul wizard.

"What trick is this now? Friends of yours?" The wizard taunted.

"I am Pain." His voice was not loud but it cut through all the noise. "I am real," his steps were deliberate but carried him quickly, "I am not a dream!" A bandage detached and wrapped around the wizard's throat. Next thing I knew I was on Snow's back with Glitterlamp gliding down the mountain.

"Quickly, you know my magic can only delay the wound!"

Authors note: I have a short announcement, I have successfully made it through college and got a job to which I hope turns into a career in HVAC. (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) Sadly I have the most chaotic schedule, sometimes pulling a random 12 hour day,

Moaning aside, I will not even pretend to say I will keep a certain posting pattern. The rest of the chapters will be posted when they are ready. . . whenever that is. Thank you everyone that keeps messaging me about this, help remind me that this story is worth reading AND finishing.

Thank you everyone.

SilverTopHat.