Beyond the borders of Equestria, beyond even the northernmost point of the Crystal Empire, there lay frozen mountains, eternally wrapped in snow. And beyond those? There was the ancient and proud nation of Yakyakistan, home to the mighty Yaks. Though isolated from the rest of the world for many generations, these people had come to mingle in recent years, thanks to the efforts of not only the ponies, but the willingness of their leader, Prince Rutherford. Even so, this place saw far fewer visitors than the likes of nations like Mount Aris. In spite of this, however, there were those who did deign to go there, and right now, one of them was trudging through the snow to do just that. Yona, a young Yak, coming home after a long time as a student in Princess Twilight's School of Friendship. A happy smile was upon her face as she walked through familiar paths, passed familiar trees, and allowed herself to rejoice in the warmth, or lack thereof in this case, of home. Stopping for just a moment, she took in a deep breath, then exhaled.

"Ah! That more like it! Pony lands is good, but Yak lands is better! A Yak can breathe up here!"

She laughed heartily, and this had the unexpected effect of causing a nearby tree to suddenly lose some of the snow it had been collecting on its branches, which now promptly fell onto Yona's head. Now, most people would be rather upset to have this happen to them, but not Yona. Instead, she continued to laugh, shaking the snow off herself before falling backwards and merrily starting to make snow angels.

"Oh, Yona missed this! You never know how good snow is until it no longer with you!"

Sighing, she maintained her smile as she got back to her hooves, taking a moment to further shake any leftover snow from her fur. Then, all of a sudden, she remembered that she was not alone out here today, and her smile widened as she turned around.

"Smolder! You having fun too?"

There was silence as Yona looked to the trees over there, waiting patiently for a response. Then, after almost a full minute of nobody talking back to her, she finally saw her friend. Smolder, taking slow step after slow step through the snow, holding herself while her teeth chattered. Adding to the image was, rather embarrassingly, what appeared to be icicles that had formed on her upper lip from drips out of her nose. And all the while, she looked to Yona with narrowed eyes.

"Yona...there's...there's kind of a good reason why we dragons prefer warm places!"

Yona rolled her eyes, snorting.

"Pfft! Dragons supposed to be tough, like Yaks! Tough things can handle cold and ice!"

Here, Smolder just dropped whatever act she might have wanted to give.

"You know what, forget toughness! I just want to be out of this cold!"

Realising that her friend needed some help, Yona tapped the end of her chin, and then, after looking over her shoulder, she smiled.

"Don't worry, friend-Smolder...we're here!"

The young dragon looked up, and saw that her friend had the right of it. Yakyakistan was indeed there, standing out among the mountains and the snow, ancient and imposing, with the great Yak statues towering over all. It was an impressive sight, to be sure, and one that brought a great deal of joy to Yona. Smolder wished she could appreciate it, but right now, all she could think about was her continuing discomfort over the absurdly low temperatures. Yona, realising this, gave her friend an assist, picking her up and placing her on her back. Smolder was a little taken aback by this, but did not turn down the help. Instead, she clung to Yona's fur for dear life as the latter started galloping towards her home. Sure enough, she reached it within minutes, and then, after setting Smolder to one side, began to bash the front gates fairly loudly.

"HELLO?!?! IT YONA!!! YONA HOME!!!"

Smolder raised an eyebrow to this, then looked on as, with a very loud creak, the old wooden gate started to open. Moments afterwards, the head of a young Yak, a male from the looks of it, poked out, looking to the two beyond. Instantly, a smile appeared on his face, and he rushed forward, giving Yona a good hug.

"Yona!

Yona smiled back down to him.

"Yona missed you too, brother."

As the two parted, the nice family moment was suddenly interrupted by the sound of Smolder clearing her throat, prompting the two of them to look to her. And it was at this point that Yona noted that her dragon companion was actually starting to turn a little bit blue, which, when combined with her somewhat irritated look, made the young Yak female remember why they were in such a hurry to get here.

"Oh! Right!"

She looked back down to her brother.

"Go and tell family Yona will be there shortly. Yona bring friend."

Her brother smiled and nodded, rushing back through the gates, leaving his sister to once more collect her friend from her potentially icy death out here. Again, Smolder grabbed onto the massive amount of fur on Yona's back as she was carried in, and once they actually were in, she took a few moments to glance around and see this home of her friend. There were, of course, many other Yaks here, and every once in a while, they'd look to her oddly. She may well have been the only dragon to have ever come to them, and while she would normally have taken some measure of pride in that thought, right now she was simply too cold to do so. Instead, she contented herself with just looking around as Yona carried her. Thankfully, it wasn't long before the two of them found themselves at the entrance of a hut in the middle of their village, and as Yona entered, Smolder immediately perked up.

"Is...is that?"

Sure enough, it was a fire, right in the middle of the room, having already been prepared, and was roaring nicely, filling the room with a great deal of warmth. Like a thing possessed, Smolder leapt off Yona's back and, in a move that would have been complete and utter suicide for any other creature, laid herself within the flames. It was like a nice warm bath for her, and as the heat set in for her, she sighed with contentment.

"Oh yeah...now that's more like it!"

"...Why little dragon in fire?"

Smolder, realising that this was not Yona's voice that had spoken to her, snapped her eyes open, looking to the side to see that a much larger male was standing nearby, looking to her with incredulity. He was soon followed by a large Yak female, Yona's brother and what, presumably, had to be Yona's sister too. As they all looked to her, Smolder suddenly realised how she must have looked to them, and after letting out a nervous chuckle, she started to slowly climb out of the fire.

"Hehe...um...sorry."

Yona, who had actually been somewhat amused by her friend's antics, walked beside her, gesturing to her before looking to the other Yaks.

"Mother, Father, brother, sister...this Smolder. She friend from School."

Smolder raised a claw, giving a little wave to them.

"Um...hey."

The Yaks looked to her, then, after a moment of utter quiet, they all opened their mouths and let out a massive bellowing scream. Smolder had no idea what was going on, and she soon found herself completely terrified as four massive bundles of fur charged towards her. She spun in place, ready to run out and get out of here before she was stampeded to death, only to be caught by Yona's Father, who held her tightly in what, Smolder realised, was actually a hug.

"Ha! Welcome to Yakyakistan, friend-Smolder! Any friend of Yona is friend of us!"

Smolder, of course, who thought she had become used to the strength of Yak hugs through her experiences with Yona, now realised that she knew absolutely nothing. The strength Yona's Father was putting into this was like a bear, and it actually felt like she was being outright crushed. And it certainly didn't help that all the rest of the family was pitching in. Dragons may have been strong, but even they had their limits, and Smolder was fast reaching hers. Recognising this, Yona cleared her throat, gaining the attention of her family.

"That enough...for now," she said with a smirk.

Understanding, the other Yaks let go of their visitor, allowing Smolder to recover not only her breath, but also her strength, as that experience had taken quite a bit out of her. Having finally regained her footing, Smolder stood upright, looking to her friend with appreciation over her intervention. Yona smiled back, but soon, the latter's Mother spoke.

"How school, Yona? You have fun and learn much?"

Yona smiled proudly to her Mother.

"Yes! Yona and friends help save school! We help save all Equestria!"

Her Father gave a pride-filled laugh to that.

"Haha! That my girl! Ponies know now how great Yaks are! Yak help save them! This will be tale for Yona's children! And their children! And their children And..."

This went on for some time, and Smolder slowly leaned in closer to her Yak colleague.

"Um...how long does he usually go with this?"

Yona shrugged her shoulders.

"Meh, sometimes an hour...or more."

Smolder grimaced at the prospect of having to hear this guy say the same few words over and over for that length of time, so, in a move she knew was probably a big risk on her part, she cleared her throat, getting the attention of all the other Yaks.

"Sorry, but...we've come a long way, and I was looking forward to meeting you all. Yona's said a lot of good stuff about you."

Yona's Father, who, thankfully, was not insulted at having been interrupted, looked to his daughter with a smile.

"Me glad. Me miss Yona being here. It like hole in heart!"

Yona blushed, walking over and giving her Father a hug.

"Yona miss you too, Father."

Smolder smiled at the overwhelmingly-touching moment, but then, a new thought occurred to her. She glanced around, looking to all of Yona's family, and realised that there appeared to be a few missing.

"Hey...Yona? Didn't you say your Grandparents lived here too? Where are they?"

However, it was Yona's Mother who soon answered that question in her daughter's stead.

"They go to elder meeting with Prince Rutherford. Big debate. Very important."

Folding her arms, Smolder looked to them with interest.

"Oh yeah? What's it about?"

Yona's Father now added his voice to the proceedings.

"They discuss which great song of Yak traditions be sung during big festival tomorrow!"

Hearing that, Smolder started to smile.

"There's a festival tomorrow? Sweet!"

She gave Yona a playful nudge with her elbow.

"Guess we got here just in time, eh Yona?"

The two shared a laugh, and Yona's Father soon joined in, continuing to explain what was going on.

"Good time indeed! There will be many songs! Dances! And most importantly, the great melodies of the beloved yovidaphone!"

However, while Yona's face lit up with joy over that prospect, Smolder, by contrast, had a somewhat different reaction. At the mere mention of the word yovidaphone, her mind conjured up a torrent of images featuring a certain pink mare back in Ponyville. Her ears ached over memories of echoes of that instrument being played in the way that it was, and all the headaches that came with it. As a massive grimace crept onto her lips, and she nervously poked the ends of her fingers together.

"Well...maybe we can't stay too long. I mean, it is a pretty long trip for the two of us to the dragon lands after all."

Yona's ears drooped, and while Smolder felt bad at having said what she'd said, she soon discovered, to her horror, that Yona's Father had a different idea in mind.

"That no problem! If Yona and friend-Smolder not here for festival, then we just play our yovidaphone right now!"

Smolder's pupils shrank with fear, and she watched as, just as promised, Yona's Father brought out his very own yovidaphone, which Smolder only now realised had been resting in the corner of the room this whole time. She winced, ready for the terrible music she fully expected from that feared instrument, and as Yona's Father blew into it, she covered her ears. Yet, there was no discomfort, no bad sounds, no sense of having to hear something she knew was bad. Instead, through the muffling of her claws over her hears, she started to hear something else. It was, for lack of a better word, pleasant. Slowly, she lowered her claws, allowing herself to fully hear the music being played.

"That...that..."

Yona looked to her, smiling.

"Yes, Smolder...that true yovidaphone music!"

In stark contrast to the sounds she'd been subject to the last time she'd heard this instrument, the music that now played in this home was, in all honesty, good. True, Smolder was no music expert, not by a long shot, but she did enjoy what was being played here. It was soothing, calming, and all in the family swayed their heads from side to side as they allowed themselves to hear and enjoy it. Pretty soon, even Smolder herself was letting herself enjoy the moment, and she smiled genuinely.

"Wow, that...that's actually kinda...well...nice."

Looking over to her friend, Yona smiled back, placing her hoof upon her shoulder.

"Welcome to Yakyakistan, friend-Smolder."

Smolder looked to her, then back to the pleasant and musical family image before her. And as she took this moment to enjoy the calm of the whole thing, she sighed with a little contentment, before letting out a hearty chuckle.

"You know...maybe we could spend a little time at this festival of yours."

With a massive smile breaking out onto her face, Yona rushed forward, embracing her scaly friend and, as was the norm at this point, nearly crushing her ribcage from the effort, all while Smolder wheezed through the experience.

"Ach! Yep...shoulda seen that one coming!"

Next Chapter: Wounds Estimated time remaining: 39 Minutes