Prologue: Dammit, Dorian!
Bitter tears were sliding down Kylar’s weathered face as he openly wept.
It was something that had happened a lot, since his wife, Viridiana, had died of old age. He was only a few years younger than her, but because of his magical ka'kari, he had stayed the same for the past half century. As far as he knew, he would live forever, always unchanging, unless he used his magic to change himself.
He remembered standing by her deathbed as she lived her last, smiling gently, looking him in the eyes as her life bled away. Every night for the past week had been spent either wandering or simply staring at the ceiling. For a month before her death he had spent every moment possible with her. Since King Logan had died and his son, Logan II, was born, Kylar hadn't had much work, because the kid hardly trusted him.
When Kylar remembered the suspicious looks he always got from the new king, he chuckled. It felt good to laugh, so he kept doing it, and continued with his quiet laughter until his lungs were empty. Then he realized just how much he'd changed in his lifetime -- from a little gutter rat in the Guilds to a close friend of the King and savior of the world. He laughed a bit more.
For once, Kylar was free of pain.
After a few minutes, though, he stopped, realizing again where he was. His smiled died, to be replaced by an expression of sadness. He searched his memories, and realized that the last time he'd felt this sad was at the death of Elene.
Elene, who had been his first love. Elene, who had sacrificed herself for the sale of the world. Elene, forgotten Elene, charming Elene, who so few still remembered. Everyone attributed the saving of the world to him, but it was Elene who had trapped a goddess using love and all Kylar had done was summon the courage to stab her and end it. It had taken all of his willpower to do that, even with Elene herself urging him to kill her. A tear rolled off of his cheek and onto the bedsheet below him, and on the brink of sleep he heard a very familiar voice, one he’d not heard in decades.
I hate to say this, but you need to learn to get over this kind of thing. It will happen a lot, what with you being immortal.
Kylar sighed, still thinking of Elene. Still mourning her. He’d never gotten a proper chance to do it, as he had to act as a diplomat between Cenaria and the Godking in the north immediately after. The sudden shift from assassin to peace-orchestrating government official was jarring; thankfully, the Godking had realized that the diplomat sent to him was new and forgave many of the errors he made. The two had become fast friends, especially once Kylar realized that the Godking used “normal” magic, and not just the power of the magical parasite, the vir.
Thinking back on it, he had really filled most of his time with Viv or with his biggest new hobby of learning languages. His old master, Durzo Blint, had left him with a short quote, and he’d been trying to find the language in which it was written since then. He reviewed it in his mind once more, as he had countless times in the past half century. He muttered it under his breath.
As always, he couldn’t translate it. He had no idea what it meant. After fifty years, he had yet to hear a language even slightly similar to it. He felt a pang of longing for Durzo, and a second tear fell to the bedsheets under him.
Suddenly, he heard the door handle twist. Pulling on his magic, he made himself invisible, then silently leapt off of the bed and pulled his sword, Iures, from its scabbard. The door opened to reveal no one but a servant, who appeared extremely confused when he didn’t see Kylar in the bed. With a start, Kylar realized it was nearly morning, and that the servant had likely been sent to wake him up to speak with his advisor, Asylria Greyhall. She was the grandniece of his friend, Count Drake, and had volunteered to help him.
With an aggravated sigh, Kylar set down his sword and made himself visible again. “I’m here,” he said to the servant, who spun around and hastily bowed. Kylar nodded in return and the servant quickly walked out. He fully recognized that he was in a time of great peace, but his instincts could not be worn out. He supposed it might one day come in handy, so he continued to spar with the best the world had to offer, but it was times like these when he regretted it.
That continued training was hardly necessary to dispatch the assassin that jumped in through the window with a loud shout. Without looking, Kylar brained him using a convenient candlestick, sighing in depression at the idiocy of the assassins sent to kill him and the idiocy of their sender, the nephew of the old King Gunder IX. The king himself was dead, courtesy of poison. The king had been a foolish boy in an old man’s clothes, and he tried his best to rule a kingdom that he didn’t understand, and he succeeded to some extent. His heir, Logan Gyre, was far more successful, and his son, Logan II, was just as popular and still competent. “At least better than his cousin, what was his name again? James? Jeffry? It doesn’t matter.” He chuckled darkly, shaking his head, as he stretched. Kylar had replaced his Wetboy greys, which lay in a trunk at the foot of his bed. He donned a black coat, trimmed in gold, with the Ursuul insignia embroidered over his left pectoral muscle.
He walked through the hallways and was about to turn to enter the Godking’s throne room, when he stopped, seeing something out of the corner of his eye. That “something” ended up being the blade of a knife, which buried itself in his leg. Three assassins rushed him.
Kylar drew the ka’kari into his leg and cut off the knife by using the magical artifact to eat through the blade. Once that was done, he left a tiny portion covering the wound and formed the rest into a knife in his hand. He stabbed the first one in the neck, nearly severing his head and causing a fountain of blood to erupt as he fell sideways. It splattered over the second assailant, who tried to stab Kylar. The diplomat grabbed the assassin’s wrist and twisted, breaking it and dislodging the shortsword from his grasp. He caught the sword and jammed it through the assassin’s leather armor, killing him. He dimly heard someone gasp behind him, and a scream, and a deep voice shouting something in a language Kylar didn’t understand.
The final assailant was burned to a crisp by the Godking’s magic. While still completely mad, his ability to see through the rivers of time meant that he was the best for the position, so the parliament he’d formed elected him as head. The information flashed through Kylar’s mind as he realized that the bolt of magic had also gone slightly astray, and burned through half of his torso. Kylar raised a hand, blinking, then raised a single finger. Opening his mouth slowly, he said, “I don’t think Logan will blame you, King Dorian,” then collapsed, dead.
He awoke, as he always did, in the Wolf’s chambers. The insane wizard was shaking his head, frowning. As he was wont to do, he got straight to the point, once Kylar was responsive.
“You don’t have any way to get back to your planet.”
Kylar blinked, unsure of what he’d just heard. “I’m sorry, what? I don’t--”
The Wolf cut him off. “You didn’t love anyone enough for the sacrifice to bring you back.”
Kylar was still unsure. “So, you mean that--”
“No, you’re not stuck here. But you can’t go back to where you’re from.” The Wolf grinned. “I can, however, send you to where I’ve been passing the years.”
The ka’kari whispered, Yeah, but it needs a form change, right?
The Wolf looked peeved, admitting, “Yes, it does.”
Kylar had turned his concern elsewhere. “And where were you when I was about to get stabbed?” he demanded. “I thought you didn’t like it when people died, and now it looks like I have!”
The ka’kari responded, quietly saying, Because this other world needs you, Azoth-Quicksilver. And the only way to get there is for you to die, old friend.
Kylar stiffened at his old name. It brought back too many painful memories. At the same time, he remembered a promise he’d made, just after Doll Girl, no, not Doll Girl, Elene’s death, to help those who needed him. He still had a question before he left.
“And why can you hear the ka’kari, Ezra?”
The mad mage grinned. “Kid, I put so much of my magic in that thing that I would be surprised if I couldn’t.” He sobered. “Now, are you ready to travel? It’ll be a fairly long trip.” He grinned. “Thankfully, you can go to sleep now and you’ll wake up there, so you don’t have to do as I will and experience the space between worlds.” He looked at Kylar expectantly.
The assassin nodded. “Ready.”
The Wolf smiled wrly again, and said, “Lie down. I’ll put you to sleep and then, you should wake up there. Try not to die again, I’d rather not have your ugly face back here any time soon.” The man cackled, and Kylar felt a strange, soothing, calm. He was out before his head even hit the floor.
“Sleep well, little nightingale, you’ll need it.” The Wolf smirked, as a rune appeared around the “young” man before him, and his body glowed a faded red. “Now then,” His eyes turned almost blank, the pupils disappearing, leaving a molten gold ring surrounded by milky white, “No, that version will never do, no, too dead, no, too cheerful, the prime world will do.” He muttered, as a swirling black void appeared behind Kylar, and two black tendrils wrapped around his still form dragging him closer to the Void. Once his body vanished from sight did the Wolf drop the incantation. His eyes returned to normal, and he slumped against the nearby wall.
Sighing, the Wolf took a swig of his wine, “Well, It looks like I’ll be paying Solaris and Laurel’s two guttersnipes a visit. Along with that blasted niece of theirs, and Celestia’s lover, that Twilight Sparkle.” He grumbled, taking another long drink, smashing the empty bottle against the wall, as his form shifted, into a great, grey wolf, golden eyes glowing like the sun, “How I despise this form.” Ezra the Mad grimaced, cracking his back, as he opened a portal to Solaris and Laurel’s old chamber, the two having long gone to rule in some other plane of existence. “They get to rule some paradise world, and I get locked in a forest with Roygaris Ursuul.” He hung his old flask from his neck, and trotted through the portal.
Author's Note
Let me know what you think! Point out any errors. I think I caught them all, but I doubt it.
Also, let me know how I could have done better! Keep in mind, though, that this was written with fans of Brent Weeks' trilogy in mind, so some things are guaranteed to be confusing if you haven't read them. You can buy them online at Amazon, Audible, and/or Barnes And Noble.
Kylar opened his eyes and discovered that he was lying down on grass. It felt oddly spiky. There was something grey in his face. His whole body felt… off.
He groaned, then tried to stand up. The grey thing in front of him twitched as well, and Kylar felt his arm shift. He lifted his head slightly, eyesight still somewhat blurred. He saw a longish grey body stretched out behind him, a scabbard strapped to its back with Iures in it. The body had four legs, each the same color, ending in a darker grey hoof. His vision cleared more, and he noticed that the body had fur coating it -- it was this that was grey, not the skin itself. There was a jacket lying next to him.
He put his head down and groaned again. Concentrating, he pulled his legs under himself, then tried to stand up -- and failed. ”Urgh, I haven’t felt this bad since Logan’s thirtieth birthday, and Lord Tofusin had his best Sethi wine served to the guests.” He moaned, holding his head, shaking it. He noticed that he was… a horse?
“Pony” is what they’re called here.
“So, this is the form the Wolf chose for me? Why does fate need to dick with my life?” he grumbled, before moving to take sip of the crystal clear water, sighing as the cool liquid swirled in his mouth, “By the Night Angels, thats good.” He sighed, “At least it isn’t the gutter piss I drank as a Black Dragon.” He chuckled darkly.
Check your back, Kylar. I think you’ll end up liking it.
Kylar’s eyesight was finally completely cleared, and he noticed that he had… wings?
“Right, this could actually be a blessing,” he said, grinning. He groped for a tree trunk next to him, and slowly pulled himself up, groaning. “Hmm, moss, that means...” He tilted his head to the side of the tree. “North,” he muttered, then laughed to himself. “Yeah, right. Whatever.” Picking himself up, he began trotting forward uneasily, getting used to the feeling of going on all fours. “Now, to find civilization.” He muttered, as he closed his eyes. He would let his other sense aid him. “A blind man sees more than a man with both his eyes open,” he muttered, remembering a phrase he’d read in a book decades ago. He used his magic to pull his jacket on, and was relieved that it worked without too much trouble.
Soon enough, he stumbled -- quite literally -- onto a small cottage. He had gotten fairly used to walking on all fours by this point. “Hmm, a hermit’s hovel? An exile’s home?” He wondered, noticing it had a thatch roof, and was made of oak wood. Swiftly, he moved to the front door, and wrapped a forehoof, which bore modified versions of boots and gauntlets, and rapped on the maple wood door, saying, “Hello, is there anyone--”
They say “anypony” here, you fool.
“Anypony home?” He asked, grumbling internally as he rapped on the door once more. “Hello?” He called out. He took a step back as the door slid open, and a violet eye poked through, “Oh, hello, ma’am,” He saw another ho-- pony face, and guessed it was a woman -- mare -- due to the delicate features of her face. “You see, I’m kind of... lost. Might I ask if there is a town nearby?”
The yellow gi-- mare squeaked, before opening the door fully. “Oh, yes, Ponyville. Its right down the path.” She pointed to a well-worn dirt path leading from her home. “Whats your name, sir?” She asked, “I’m… Fluttershy.”
“Excuse me? I didn’t quite hear that,” Kylar said, swiveling his ears towards her since he could barely make out what she had said. “Futashy?”
Kylar Stern might be considered a strange name here. Hmm, I need a fitting name. Night Angel? Shadow Blade? Ooh! I know! Shadow Sword!
That is a ridiculous name, Azo. Shit Eater would be classier, seeing as they don’t know what “shit” means. Just go by “Kylar” and say you’re not from around these parts. Your accent’ll do you good as well.
“Kylar, my name is Kylar.” Kylar said, “I’m from...” He had no knowledge of the cultures or countries in this world. Better play the “amnesia” card. “I can’t remember, actually.”
“Hmm, your accent seems like its from Trottingham.” Fluttershy replied, tapping her chin with a hoof. “Maybe that’s where you’re from,” she suggested.
“Yes, Trottingham, thats it. I’m from Trottingham.” Kylar replied quickly. Smooth, Kylar, smooth. “Thank you for the directions, Fu-- Fluttershy.” He nodded, swiftly turning around, and trotting down the path, his jacket rustling in the gentle breeze. Trottingham, a bizarre name, though this is a bizarre place, he thought as he was wandering down the path. As he rounded a large boulder, he saw a medium sized town nestled in a large swath of land. On a nearby mountain, some kind of structure lay anchored to the side. “How does one build something on the side of a mountain?” He thought aloud, pulling his weathered hood over his head to shelter him from the sun.
Magic.
Kylar started at the voice of the ka’kari. He hadn’t realized that the inhabitants of this world had magic -- or, at least, not enough. He hadn’t sensed any latent Talent in Fluttershy.
Not the kind of magic you’re used to. It’s… different here.
Kylar shrugged, accepting the ka’kari’s statement. He continued down the path and, soon enough, came upon the town of Ponyville. It appeared filled with more ponies, a square with stalls containing more ponies than any other area. There was a river running through it, and Kylar decided that he would get there faster if he tried to fly.
He spread his wings, which seemed far too small to support him. He gave an experimental flap and, to his surprise, he took off! He grinned and tried flapping slightly differently so he would go forward -- and flew. He flapped again and sped up slightly. Before reaching the town, he tried flaring his wings to stop and successfully landed.
Not to burst your bubble, but that’s pretty much instinctual for you now. You’ll be able to do what the average adult pegasus can.
Kylar grumbled something about how that really did burst his bubble, thanks, but the ka’kari ignored it. He noticed that he felt… different, but he couldn’t place how. His wings weren’t tired, but it almost felt like his mana supply -- his glore vyrden -- was running low. He checked on it and found it was full, as was to be expected when he was standing in full sunlight.
Shrugging -- and then wondering how he had done that while standing on all fours -- he took off again and this time used his Talent to boost his wingpower. He grinned and felt his cheeks flapping in the wind and the air pressure began to build up. He made a spear of power in front of him to cut the air and dropped friction to zero, easily breaking the sound barrier. He felt a surge of magic but tamped it down before it could activate anything.
Suddenly, he was passed by a rainbow contrail. It spiraled around him before shooting off into the distance. Curious as to what it was, Kylar boosted his Talent and took off after it. He closed his mouth and pushed his Talent farther ahead. He swiftly caught up with the source of the contrail to find it was… another pony?
She looked to her right and saw Kylar next to her and nearly lost control from surprise. She shouted something but it couldn’t be heard over the wind flowing between them. He gestured that they land and, when she nodded, he just folded his wings and let himself drop. He let go of his Talent and slowed down greatly from the force of air pressure alone. When he was perhaps forty meters off of the ground, he snapped his wings forward and managed to execute a perfect landing.
Kylar wasn’t quite sure how he had done that, but he was proud of himself nonetheless. Rainbow landed beside him a moment later, and the first question out of her mouth was, “How did you fly that fast?!”
Kylar shrugged. “I don’t know. I just put up a cone of force to lower air resistance and flapped my wings.”
Now that she was standing still, Kylar could see she had surprisingly pretty magenta eyes. Her eyebrows were raised almost comically high. “What do you mean,” she asked, “a cone of power?”
He sighed. “I push my Talent in front of my to push apart the air. I make a cone-shaped field of power and it lets me travel faster that I otherwise would be able to.” He had kept eye contact with the other pegasus as he spoke, and sat on his haunches at the end. “Does that explain it?”
She furrowed her brow. “So you like, used magic?”
He sighed again. “Yes. Please tell me that exists here, because I don’t want to be a freak.”
The mare looked at Kylar oddly. “Well, no duh magic exists! How d’ya think you can fly?” She frowned. “But only unicorns can actually… use it directly.” She looked at him piercingly. “So why can you, huh?”
Kylar was confused. “Why shouldn’t I be able to? It’s just Talent. Nothing special.”
The mare blinked, confused. “It’s your special talent to be able to use magic? I didn’t even know that was possible!” She looked at his flank, only to find bare fur. “Wait, you don’t have a cutie mark, though!”
Kylar laughed. “No! What’s that?”
She looked at him accusingly. She showed him her flank, where a cloud with a multicolored, cartoonish lightning bolt was printed onto her fur.
“What, so like a tattoo?”
She hit herself in the face with her hoof, and Kylar heard the ka’kari giggling. It was so incredibly unlike the artifact to do anything so… childish.
You dimwit, I’m older than you can comprehend. Immortality tends to drive one mad after the first few centuries. I got lucky and found a way around it, but I’m not completely sane.
Kylar groaned, scowling. “So, mind explaining it to me? I’m from another world entirely where I’m not even this species. I didn’t know that… ponies existed until today, so I will need to learn about you folks.”
The mare’s eyes shot open and her pupils -- and irises, somehow -- shrank to the size of pinpricks. “Wait, so you mean… I’m like, an ambassador to the first known alien species on our planet? Awesome!” Her eyes returned to normal as she started hovering, grabbed a hoof of his and vigorously shook it, nearly dislocating his shoulder. She dropped it a moment later and said, “I’m Rainbow Dash! Future Wonderbolt and current record-holder for the fastest 4 klick flight in Equestria -- just under ten seconds.” She considered for a moment, before sitting on the ground again and, suddenly calm, saying, “And I’m gonna be your tour guide.”
She grinned hugely and manically, and for the first time in many years, Kylar felt fear.
Author's Note
Dangit, Diokno! Where'd you go? Pbtbbtht.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy. If you find any errors write them down below. I'll try to answer all comments where it makes sense, and if I can do so without spoilers, so if you have questions, ask away!
This import feature also has the annoying feature of importing comments at the bottom. It's infuriating me.
Chapter 2: Introductions and Summons
Author's Note
If you've already read parts 1 and 2, back when they existed, find "As they flew to Rarity, Dash started whistling." on the page. That's where what would be Part 3 starts.
Enjoy!
And if you see any errors, as always, let me know.
Chapter 2: Introductions and Summons
Kylar was too startled to make any noise when Rainbow Dash started pulling him by the hoof towards the town he’d seen before. She was… well, not quite shouting, but saying loudly, “Right, so we’re heading to Twilight last. She’s gonna ask a ton of questions. Pinkie will notice you anyway, so we’ll stop by hers second to last. I think you’ve already met Fluttershy, she was in the direction you just came from. Rares is closest, probably, but she’s gonna wanna make you a whole outfit, and I wanna get the shorter visits done first. That leaves AJ, who’s on the other side of town. It’ll be faster if we fly. You ready?”
Without any warning, she took off and let go of Kylar’s hoof. It occurred to him that he still had not told her his name, and he decided to do that as soon as possible. Hopefully as soon as they were no longer flying above the speed of sound -- and, interestingly, Rainbow Dash was creating that same rainbow trail. Kylar looked back and noticed that his tail was nothing but a tail; its colors didn’t extend beyond their natural length. Shrugging -- and still marvelling at how he could do that -- he turned his attention back to Rainbow, who was signaling to land.
They landed together, and it would have been perfect synchronization if Kylar hadn’t caught his hoof on a rock and flipped onto his back. Rainbow heard the thud and turned around, then blinked, then laughed at how the alien who she was so proud of meeting had just failed at landing.
“Ha! You should totally see your face right now! Oh, this is priceless.” She was laughing, and it irked Kylar greatly. He stood up in a huff, dusted himself off, and noticed that they were in a dense orchard. An apple orchard, to be specific. Rainbow was trotting off towards a large, red barn in the distance, shouting, “AJ! Get over here! I wanna show you something!”
The barn’s door cracked open to show an old mare, who said something Kylar couldn’t quite hear. Rainbow nodded, then trotted back to him. “Right, so she’s in the south orchard. Follow me!” She put an odd emphasis on the second syllable of ‘follow’ for some reason. She began walking to the south, and Kylar followed. After a few minutes of walking -- the orchard was surprisingly huge -- they saw an orange pony with blond hair and three apples as her… cutie mark, was it?
Still gonna call them magical ass tattoos, Kylar thought, inwardly chuckling. He thought he had heard the black ka’kari call him an idiot, but paid it -- him -- no mind.
They approached and saw her kick a tree, which somehow made all of the apples on it fall down. She looked a bit worn-out, but Kylar supposed it was tiring to harvest.
They were only a few meters away when Applejack flopped onto the ground and groaned. Rainbow stopped short and I would have run into her if I hadn’t been to the side as well as behind her. Instead, I stopped next to her, and awkwardly cleared my throat. Applejack -- at least, I assumed this was the mare Rainbow had mentioned -- stood up instantly and finally noticed that Rainbow and I were standing there. The apples in the baskets on her back all flew up and somehow, without any magic used, they all managed to land back in the baskets.
Applejack spoke. “Oh, h-howdy, there, Rainbow!” She blinked, then continued, “I’m sorry. Big Mac went‘n got himself hurt so now I’ve gotta do the harvest myself. He needs to keep on ice for a few weeks, and I’ve got to pick up the work load. It’s darn tedious, but I can do it! My family’s countin’ on me, so I’ve gotta.”
Rainbow looked concerned. “You need help, A.J.?”
Applejack look at her, tired, but peeved. “I’m alright, sugarcube. I’ll be right as rain once harvest’s done.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Anyway, can you take a few minutes off? I wanna introduce you to somepony I met.” She gestured towards me, and Applejack slowly turned to face me. “This is… Wait, what was your name again?” Her brow furrowed -- which was really weird to see on a pony -- and she said, “Did I ever get your name? I don’t think I did! Wow, and that should have been the first thing I did.”
Kylar smiled. “No, you didn’t ever ask, between us flying at three times the speed of sound, your excitement over me being an alien, and then me tripping on a root.” His smiled turned into a grin, and he held out a hoof. “The name’s Kylar Stern. I’ve also gone by Kagé, Kyle Blackson, and the Night Angel. Take your pick.”
Applejack seemed very confused and said to Rainbow, “Wait, you’re saying that this stallion here’s an alien? What in tarnation do you mean?”
Kylar’s grin dropped. “She means that I’m not of your planet.” Figuring it would prove it to her, he tried to coat his body in the ka’kari, as he had done before. It worked, and when he opened his eyes to reveal flickering blue flames -- fancy illusions that absolutely ruined his unneeded mundane night vision, but that clearly had the desired effect on Applejack. “An alien!” he said, his voice altered by the suite of illusions to be something demonic. Kylar dropped the illusions and sucked the ka’kari back into his skin, then grinned.
Rainbow Dash, however, was staring, mouth open. Her jaw was perhaps six centimeters further down than should have been possible without dislocating it, but when it snapped back into place with an audible click, Kylar realized something was very off about this world. The ka'kari reassured him, so he ignored it, but it left him feeling uneasy.
Rainbow Dash, oblivious to Kylar's discomfort, said -- no, shouted -- "That. Was. Awesome!" She appeared in front of him and said, "Can you do that again?"
Kylar blinked. "Uh, sure, I guess." He repeated the actions and again set up the illusions, thankful that it was daylight so his energy was replenishing through his skin and eyes. His voice again altered, he said, "Why?"
Applejack flinched slightly and Kylar shot her a look to express his apologies. She nodded, then plodded away to continue bucking trees. Rainbow responded by trying to tackle him, but Kylar's Wetboy training kicked in and he smoothly dodged out of the way, reaching for a knife but stopping himself before he threw it at the mare, who was just registering that Kylar had moved.
"Whoa! How'd you move so fast?" she asked, unaware that she had nearly died. Her earlier question and excitement at his strange shifting had disappeared, completely replaced with wonder at his speed.
Kylar's face went blank. "I might tell you later, but not now." His face brightened again. "So," he said, "how about we stop annoying Applejack here and keep going?"
Applejack didn't turn, but she was thankful that the two were leaving. She loved Dash like a sister, but... Well, that stallion just creeped her out. She wasn't sure what it was. She sighed, and decided that she'd withhold judgement until she knew more about him.
Rainbow, meanwhile, was leading him back to Fluttershy's cottage, to properly introduce him. Kylar hoped he'd be able to convince the shy pegasus to actually talk with him. He could see that she had a list of crimes longer than his own, and that she was trying to atone. Kylar decided that warranted his help.
It took them almost four minutes of flight -- subsonic, but still fast -- to reach Fluttershy. When they did, Kylar checked carefully for roots and rocks before landing and did it without falling. Rainbow giggled at his caution, and together they walked to Fluttershy’s door. Rainbow knocked, and they heard a voice call out, quietly, "Just a moment!"
Half a minute later, Fluttershy answered the door. She saw Rainbow Dash first, and smiled. "Oh, hello! How are you today, Rainbow?"
Rainbow Dash smiled. "I'm doing awesome, as usual. How are you?"
"Oh, I'm well. I just fed the animals. They're oddly quiet today. Even Angel seems sad. Anyway, how can I help you?"
Dash smiled. “Yeah!” she said loudly, making Fluttershy flinch slightly. “You’ve already met him, probably, but I wanted to introduce you formally to Kylar Stern!”
Fluttershy opened the door wider, revealing the grey pegasus stallion. He stared at her with eyes that seemed to read every secret about her, but not in a harsh way. They were eyes that said, I see who you truly are, I see what you do now, and I do not find you wanting. They were eyes she could trust.
Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in front of her face. “Hello? Fluttershy? What happened?”
Kylar was smiling gently. “She saw my eyes,” he said. “They have that effect sometimes.”
Fluttershy welcomed them both into her cottage. Rainbow looked confused as Kylar evenly watched Fluttershy. After almost a minute of them just looking at each other, Kylar waiting for Fluttershy to start and Fluttershy living up to her name, Rainbow Dash got bored. “Are you two just gonna have a staring contest for the rest of the day?’ She asked, having read the Daring Do books she had stashed in her saddlebags, in case of boredom emergencies.
Neither other pony responded. Rainbow Dash pulled out a book -- one she'd already read, but that couldn't be helped -- and started reading with an aggravated sigh.
Four more minutes passed before Fluttershy had worked up the courage to speak. "So you know?" she asked.
"About your old job? Yeah. One of my powers is seeing people's sins." That gentle smile stayed. "And if they are repenting." It grew, and Fluttershy sighed happily.
Fluttershy sighed. Rainbow Dash gave both ponies a confused look, wondering what 'sins' Kylar could possibly mean. “Uhh… You two want me to leave or something?”
Fluttershy jumped, quite literally, a meter into the air. “No! Um… Well, if you want to, that is.” She shook herself like a wet dog, then said, “I mean, you were planning to introduce Kylar to the rest of your friends, so maybe you should go do that. But I need to talk with him later… I mean, if that’s fine with you.”
Dash was about to reach out and ruffle her friend’s hair before she realized who it was and her likely reaction. Instead, she said, “Sure, Shy!” She smiled. “So, let’s see, we got Flutters, you want me to pick who we go to next, or you wanna choose?” she asked Kylar, as they began flying towards Ponyville.
“Hm, I suppose, if I want to fit into Equestrian culture, then maybe we should visit -- what was her name again? The one who would make me clothes?” Kylar asked the mare.
“Rarity, and yeah, she knows all about the fashion junk!” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes to suggest she didn’t care about ‘that fashion junk’ in any way. “Alright, come on,” she said, as she urged him to follow.
As they flew to Rarity, Dash started whistling. The tune was aimless, and didn’t seem to follow a pattern. It was pretty, though. It seemed familiar to Kylar, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“Where’d you hear that tune, Dash?” he asked.
She stopped whistling and her cheeks got red. “Uh… It’s... kinda embarrassing.”
To Kylar’s credit, he didn’t press it. He shrugged -- and realized he would never stop marveling at the fact that he could shrug as a pony -- and decided to ask later.
A few moments later, they came into sight of the town. After another minute, they came upon a structure, which Rainbow Dash angled towards. Kylar assumed it was the house of this Rarity.
As they landed, Kylar decided to take a look at Dash through the ka’kari. As the ancient artifact gathered a portion of itself in Kylar’s eyes, the worlds shifted slightly, and when he looked at Dash, he saw her sins -- that is, the crimes she had committed. Kylar didn’t know what rules the ka’kari used, but it seemed to include every major crime. To his surprise, Dash was, for the most part, innocent. One instance of petty theft, but she had been forgiven for that, so he ignored it. Rainbow Dash knocked on the door as she had that of Fluttershy’s cottage, and after a moment a muffled voice called, “Oh, just give me a moment, darling!”
Hmm, she seems much like the elites of Cenaria, like an actress, or maybe some well known designer. Kylar thought to himself, cracking his neck with a sight.
She is a designer you lackwit fool, that is what that mare said. The ka’kari grumbled, wondering how he could have bonded with such a colossal idiot. Granted, said idiot had saved the world two times over, so maybe he wasn’t a complete imbecile. It was debatable, really, but hardly a debate to have right then.
The door opened, showing a shockingly white unicorn with a curled, purple mane. There was a dazzling smile on her face, but it was all overshadowed by her long, long list of sins. Kylar stared, but after a moment realized that they were all the crime of dishonesty -- lying to her sister for her own good.
Behind her was a purple unicorn, wearing a dress and aggravated at Rarity for making her wait. She didn’t mention anything, however, because she had agreed to do this and she’d be damned if she would break her promise.
She shivered slightly at the potential consequences of breaking a Pinkie Promise, then quelled the movement before it could disturb the dress. A pink, hornless head popped out of a nearby flowerpot in her range of vision, glared briefly at the mare, then disappeared.
Meanwhile, Rarity was beckoning her friend and Kylar in. She winked at Rainbow Dash, before saying, “So, will you be introducing me to your coltfriend here?”
Kylar’s eyes widened as the irises and pupils shrank to pinpricks. He stood, frozen, as a memory played across his mind of the same thing -- with ‘girlfriend’ replacing ‘coltfriend’ -- when he found his real parents. They hadn’t come forward when they recognized him at the battle, but they had been part of Terah Graesin’s rebellion against the old Khalidorians. In the end, they wanted nothing more than for Kylar to live his life -- they had been forced to abandon him, they said, so it was hardly right that they should get anything in return. When he’d arrived, hand-in-hand with Viv, that was exactly what they’d said, and the memory overpowered him. A tear slipped out of his eyes as he recalled that they refused to let him at least help pay their taxes. They had died of starvation during a famine because of that refusal.
Rainbow Dash was in a similar position, and recovered just in time to see Kylar snarl, which revealed long, curved incisors, and quietly say, “No.” Quietly, but with authority and power. He continued, “No. That position was only just vacated, and I’m still mourning. No one else is moving in yet.”
Fear appeared in Rarity’s eyes at the sudden reveal of Kylar’s fangs, and Rainbow was bewildered at how she hadn’t noticed them before. Both mares took a step back from him, and his lips closed after a moment, settling his mouth into a flat line.
Rarity laughed nervously, saying, “I’m sorry, I had--”
Kylar cut her off. “Don’t. You didn’t know. It makes it no easier.” His clipped tones forbade any reply. Rarity just coughed awkwardly. She stepped back to let them in. Rainbow Dash stepped in first. She glanced back to see that Kylar’s face had softened. Emotion had begun to leak back into it. There was a… dead quality to his eyes. Not emotionless; that suggested that emotion could once again take up residence in them. They seemed like emotion would never again take residence in them, and Rainbow Dash empathized. She understood what it was like.
Rarity flinched as Kylar passed, and Kylar winced. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have burst out like that… It’s painful.” His eyes had a tiny trace of regret in them, but mostly they were still that dead look.
Rarity went back to the unidentified unicorn, who was standing in the same position, and began interrogating Rainbow about who he was. The pegasus was clearly used to such things happening, so she just answered every question to which she knew the answer.
Kylar, out of curiosity, began examining a dress on a mannequin -- ponyquin? -- and realized that it was, aside from the obvious differenced to compensate for a different body structure, exactly the same as human dresses. There were subtle adjustments that he noticed after a while to allow for the different pattern of movement; the dress was also tighter, which prevented the rocking motion as ponies walked from making the dress slip off. Since ponies normally walked around naked, it seemed, it didn’t really matter, but at a formal ball or party it was likely still an embarrassment.
Kylar realized that he hadn’t taken off his cloak yet. Worried, he felt for each of his knife belts and memorized the new locations in relation to his hooves -- then realized that holding things would be impossible with hooves. However, out of curiosity, he tried. To his surprise, he succeeded in drawing the knife. He was far less stable on three legs, however, so he decided to continue training his talent and refine his precision so he could effectively levitate things.
He heard his name called, and noticed that the purple unicorn was calling his name. She was free of the dress and frowning.
“Kylar, Rainbow Dash said you can use magic. Is it true?”
Kylar blinked. “I’m not sure if it’s like yours, but I can use something called my Talent.” To give a demonstration, he made himself invisible. Twilight gasped, and, under the cover of invisibility, he charged his muscled with Talent and jumped to the ceiling above him. He formed claws on his hooves with the ka’kari and hooked them into the ceiling, then dropped the enchantment, standing idly on the ceiling.
“Sorry ‘bout the roof damage, but I think it’s more impressive to be here than on the ground.” He was idly spinning a knife on his fetlock, carefully holding it in place with Talent, but other than that using careful twitches to keep it spinning.
The three ponies gaped, then continued to gape as a pink earth pony with balloons as her cutie mark bounced up to his height. Somehow, a trampoline had appeared below her, and she bounced again and booped him on the nose, now suddenly wearing suction cups on her feet and upside down. She stuck to the ceiling and grinned, saying, “The name’s Pinkie Pie, resident part pony! I knew there was a new pony here, so I went to find you, and the Pinkie Sense said that you were with Rarity, but I couldn’t figure out why you would be with Rarity, but I came anyway because I wanted to say hi and tell you that you should be prepared for a party! Anyway, bye! I need to prepare!” She said that entire thing on one breath.
The three mares below stared as Pinkie detached from the ceiling, winked at Twilight, then disappeared. Kylar was so stunned he dropped the knife, but thankfully nopony was standing under him, so it just slid into the floor with a thud. As the blade was covered in the ka’kari, it left a hole in both the well-cleaned carpet and the polished floor beneath.
Kylar was staring at where Pinkie had been, utterly shocked by two things: firstly, she had the Talent -- hers was almost as strong as his, and that was without any magical artifacts -- and secondly, the fact that she had appeared, spat out almost seventy words on one breath, then disappeared -- taking the trampoline with her -- in just under ten seconds flat.
One thought rang through his mind, and it was the same as in the minds of the others: What just happened? Of course, in Kylar’s mind, there were several expletives as well as other words, but the gist was the same.
Kylar recovered first, in part because he realized that he had dropped his knife and in part because the ka’kari had eaten through what little slice of roof it had gripped, and he was about to fall. With a graceful flip and a flare of his wings, he landed perfectly on all four feet. He picked up the knife with a hoof, dismissed the question of how he could pick it up to the same category as that of how he could shrug, and slid it neatly back into its sheath.
The quiet whisper of metal on leather was all it took to break them out of their shock. Apparently, even they weren’t used to something quite like Pinkie’s entrance happening. Rarity looked up at her ceiling, where there were four small gashes, about three centimeters deep and five or so long. She clucked her tongue, but decided to ignore it; it would barely take any effort to fix it.
However, before she could speak, Twilight began bombarding Kylar with questions. “Who are you? How did you do that? How were you holding that knife against your leg? Was it magic? How can you use magic?” She stared directly into his eyes, blinking between each question, but never giving him a chance to answer. Kylar quickly got fed up with her incessant questioning, and pricked her chest with a quick swipe of one of his unpoisoned knives.
“Shut up. I will answer your questions if you give me time.” He smiled, then put a hoof over the small cut and channeled some energy into healing it. Silently, he thanked the mage schools he’d visited for offering to teach him the basics of all of their courses -- he was far from a master healer, but it came in handy. His smile dropped, leaving a neutral -- but pleasant -- face. “Sorry for that, but it was the only way I could think of to stop your rambling. Now, ask your first four questions again, and I’ll answer.”
Twilight took a deep breath and Kylar removed his hoof. “Right. Sorry. I tend to get… Overexcited.” She smiled nervously. “Right, so… Who are you?”
Kylar smiled back gently, taking care not to bare his fangs. “I’m Kylar Stern. I believe Dash already told you my name.” Twilight blinked, confused, then remembered that she had. Before Twilight or Dash could say anything, Kylar said, “Next question?”
Twilight nodded, adopted a professional air, and said, “How did you turn invisible and stand on the ceiling? I’m guessing some kind of claw to hook onto the ceiling because of the gashes it left, but I’ve never heard of a pegasus being able to turn invisible.”
Kylar grinned, showing his fangs. Twilight gasped, since she had been facing a different direction when he’d first shown them by accident. He hid them immediately and said, “And I’ll bet you’ve never heard of one with fangs, either.”
Twilight shook her head hastily. Kylar laughed a little, then shut up when he realized how insane his laugh sounded. “Don’t worry, I won’t bite you. Not without permission, at least.” Twilight smiled, feeling more at ease, and Kylar continued, “As I said before, I have something called my Talent. Capital ‘T’.” He plucked a knife from its sheath and slowly levitated it. “I can use it to extend my reach, make some very carefully controlled force to levitate things, go invisible, supercharge my muscles, and a bunch more.” He slid the knife back into its sheath, making all of the ponies relax slightly. He internally decided to keep the ka’kari secret -- he could pass off his idiotic use of it earlier as just an illusion. “The claws were made of Talent, and the bit through which they cut wasn’t big enough to hold me for long. My weight pulled me down.”
The three mares nodded, Rarity looking up at the ceiling again and frowning. Her horn glowed, and as Kylar watched, the ceiling knit itself back together with a faint, light blue glow. Kylar’s eyebrows raised, and he said, “That kind of thing is what I can’t do. I’m not really sure what I can and can’t do, compared to you ponies, but I’ve got an eternity here.” He grinned. “That’s one thing I’ll never be able to do: die.”
Twilight looked shocked that he could be happy at that. “But… You’ll lose all of your friends and family!”
Kylar looked her in the eyes and said, “So? The world is what it is. I will mourn their loss, be grateful for the time I had with them, and move on.” He almost teared up. “I’ve already done it plenty of times. Logan, my parents, Jarl, Momma K, Durzo…” His voice at a whisper, he said, “Viv.” He sat down roughly and said, “Next question.”
All three mares felt sorry for this poor stallion; immortality certainly wasn’t easy. Dash was the only one to think about how awesome it would be to see civilization change over time and be able to live through it, instead of reading about it in some dusty old tome. She put a wing across Kylar’s back and said, “Come on, Kylar. Don’t cry on us. It’s hard to lose those you love” -- her eyes were starting to tear up -- “but don’t linger on their deaths. Enjoy life, like they would have wanted you to.” She fought back sadness and hugged Kylar.
They sat there, Rarity and Twilight looking on in sympathy, for a few moments before Kylar pulled away. He smiled at Dash. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “Next question?”
Twilight coughed awkwardly, then smiled. “You already answered it.”
Kylar shrugged, then said, “Ask me another, then.”
Twilight frowned, then brightened and said, “How did you get here?”
“No idea. A mage in my world named Ezra the Mad inhabits the world where I go to when I die, and he sent me here. You’ll need to ask him, but I don’t see how you could. As far as I know, he’s still there, in his Antechamber of the Mystery.”
Twilight nodded. “Alright then. One last one. Are you OK with seeing the Princesses? I think they’d like to talk with you.”
Kylar was confused. “The princesses? Why not the king or queen?”
Twilight smiled. “For some reason, we only have princesses here. Celestia and Luna. I’ll have Spike send a letter to them, and we’ll see what they say, OK?”
Kylar nodded, hopeful that he could start a life here that didn’t involve assassination. “Sounds good. I’d like to start a life here.” Everything seemed better here than it did in Midcryu. Peace and tranquility would be a nice change, and there was bound to be something to keep him entertained.
Twilight walked out the door, saying as she did, “If you want, I can show you the library! It’s only recently opened.” Her face fell. “And so far, a total of four books have been taken out. All by Time Turner. I don’t know why, but he loves history. Anyway, follow me.”
Kylar saved the information for later -- this Time Turner had a common interest with Kylar, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to about history. He followed her and, when they got to the library, Twilight called up the stairs for ‘Spike’ to come down.
A tiny purple creature with green spines walked down the stairs, who smiled and identified himself as a dragon, welcoming Kylar. Kylar looked enviously at his claws, and watched with interest as Twilight quickly wrote a letter and handed it to the dragon, who burned it when he got it. Kylar was confused, until Twilight explained, “Celestia enchanted his fire so it can send things it burns to her.” Kylar nodded, then picked up a book and began to read. It was a fiction tale about an adventurer named ‘Daring Doo’
He was less surprised when the little dragon coughed up a scroll, presumably a reply. It was creamy white paper, sealed with a midnight-blue ribbon, and a small, golden crescent moon attached to the ribbon.
Twilight frowned. “That’s not Celestia’s seal. I don’t know whose it is, though.” She opened the scroll deftly, and quickly glanced at the bottom, then gasped. “Oh! It’s from Princess Luna! I hope she’s alright. The Elements released a lot of power, and it could have--”
Kylar cut her off by poking her. “I’m sure she’s fine. How could she write this letter if she wasn’t?”
Twilight nodded, then said, “Right. Anyway, she wants to see you immediately. She said that she would be sending a chariot for you and me, and one other pony if we want. Is there anyone you’d like to bring?”
Kylar considered for a moment, but wasn’t sure if Dash had prior obligations, and it felt selfish to bring her along. They were barely friends, if that. He shook his head, and picked up his book again. It was amazingly written, but Kylar’s training kept him from getting fully immersed. As such, he looked up immediately when the chariot landed outside. He poked Twilight, and together they walked onto the chariot. One of the guards looked back, then at his companion. They nodded at each other and took off.
Kylar braced himself, but enchantments on the chariot kept them from feeling the acceleration. Kylar saw a castle faintly in the distance, sighed, and wished he’d brought his book.
