Links to the Past

Neither the ponies nor Discord noted the big black bird, that flew over the Everfree forest, and eventually over the lawn. From a distance it looked like a crow. But if a pegasus or a draconecqueus came closer, if the bird let them, they would have noted it wasn't a normal crow. The bird was as big as an eagle, a big black raven with eyes red as blood. The bird cawed. It than turned around and flew back to the Everfree.

Its shadow fell over the treetops, until the raven was flying over a small clearing, which soon ended on the edge of a giant gorge. A single bridge crossed it, leading to the raven's final destination - the Castle of the Two Sisters. The raven cawed again and flew between the broken walls, swiftly entered a small hole in the roof and flew in the main hall, the huge banners with Celestia's and Luna's cutie marks on them right ahead of it. However, it turned into one of the side corridors, which had a staircase going upwards. The raven followed the course of the corridor, until it reached a door on the left. It than landed and used its beak to knock on the door.

The door opened and the raven entered it. Light was coming through the window, but the pony, who had sent it, was sitting on a chair in the dark end of the room, and the only thing the red- eyed raven could see was a pair of dark violet eyes. The eyes of its master.

" This palace once used to be the summer residence of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I guess it isn't now.  Nightmare Moon has destroyed it. "

The raven looked at the corner of the room, from where the sound was coming. Normally, a crow wouldn't understand a thing somepony said, unless it was one of Fluttershy's crows. The eys of this raven, however, emitted sentience. It seemed much smarter than a normal raven.

" Five ponies! " the bird cawed.

" Five? " the stallion in the corner asked.

" Yes! " the black bird confirmed.

" What ponies? " the master of the raven asked again.

" Three foals and two adults! One of the foals was learning to fly. " although the raven's words made sence, they still sounded like cawing, which would have made it sound strange to a normal pony. A pony, who didn't know what the raven actually was and was unaware of its intelect.

" What race did the adults belong to? " the stallion was interested.

" The pegasi race. " the bird replied.

" Are you sure? If you are trying to trick me, this will not end well for you. " the shadow threatened, as the eyes rose. The stallion had got off the chair.

" They were all winged! Three adult pegasi, one unicorn foal, one pegasi foal and one earth pony foal. "

" What are they waiting for?!? " the stallion went angry. A black bolt struck near the raven. It cawed in surprise and flew two inches away.

" Your services are no longer required. " the stallion spoke to the raven. A dark hole opened behind the bord, and before the crow could caw again, it was sucked in. It closed immeadiately after that.

The stallion looked through the window. The Everfree Forest had spread almost to the horizon, but since his room was on the second floor, Ponyville could also be seen just next to the horizon.

' I saved you to bring him to me, not to foalsit! ' tha angry stallion thought.

' If quick aging isn't terrible enough for them, I'll make sure they have another motivation... '

The dark hole opened again, this time for longer. It irradiated cold and fear, but the stallion didn't let them succumb him. After all, he had done this a million times.

He concentrated and called the image of the beast he wished to summon. This would stop any other beasts from using his portal to get out. Luckily, one of the desired beasts responded soon enough.

A wooden claw, all black, stuck out of the portal and held the floor, since the beast feared it might slip back inside. Another claw followed, a head popped out as well, and soon the whole beast stood before his master.

It was a timberwolf, but very different from the ones one would usually see in the Everfree. This one had about the same size as a manticore, and lichen went over his whole body, giving him a more... sinister appearance. Some of the sticks, sticking out of his back, were broken, probably battle scars. His whole body was made out of wood, black as the raven, that had vanished before.

" Who are you? " the beast spoke with a hoarse voice.

" Your master. " the eyes in the shadow answered.

The wolf snarled, opened his mouth and jumped at his summonner, but he was stopped in mid- air. A dark oreol with sharp edges, who looked as if they were trying to cut the air, surrounded it, and the beast twisted in pain.

" You're not here to eat. You're here to serve. " the stallion said, as he finished his control spell.

The timberwolf roared. It wasn't the first time he met one of them. A long time ago, he was changed. He gained his intelligence, but at what cost ... now he only depended on Masters, like the stallion in the shadow. They could manipulate powers, that defeated the timberwolf with ease. Eventually, some of them would call him to his service.

The inexperienced ones were great. They called him in, but could do nothing to control him. Brought out of the Endless Land, he could do whatever pleased him. He could do everything.

But he always got caught... by the experienced ones. They put him under their absolute control, powered by the dreaded power of the Endless Land, and either bound him to their service, or sent him back. Apparently, the eyed shadow belonged to the former.

" There is a large town outside of this wood. I'm sure you can feel it. " the stallion spoke.

The pony was right. The timberwolf could feel it from miles away. Oh, if he could only...

" Your targets are near the town. You'll feel them as well. Remind them they have an importrant mission. If another earth pony comes by, bring him to me. If not... do whatever you want with the adults. Just don't harm the foals. "

The wolf roared. It liked what this pony was saying. With one long jump it found itself on the terasse, than pounced over the edge. The beast landed on its paws, shook its head, and ran in the forest, in direction Ponyville.

As the spell of his new master fully manifested, the surging energy just stopped. The wolf roared. This spell had been used on him multiple times by many of his masters. He knew, that the tasty energy was still there, but he knew, that his organism would only convey the energy of his targets, if allowed by his master. This master, however, hadn't. The spell blocked his sense of energy to anything but the target, and he couldn't consume energy from anything, not even his targets. The only thing he could do was feel his targets. And go to them.

Yet, he could still make those World Dwellers fear him. Apparently, that was what his master wanted.

" Once we get you airborne, you're going to be one hay of a flier. " Thunderflight promised.

Hase had asked him to teach the pegasus filly some tricks, that could probably help her get aloft easier. Sadly, none of them worked. Scootaloo, as the filly was named, trained with him on the ground, and she soon mastered the basic wing movements. Now all, that was needed, was to get in the air.

He decided to try his old teacher's method the next day. He, Rush and Gale were also flightless foals, when they became the first students of Blazewing the Bold, the best flier of Equestria back than. They did all the wing practices he reccomended them, as it was with Scootaloo, who began her every morning with the practices she learned from a mare, called Rainbow Dash, who claimed to be Equestria's best flier, and sure knew some good practices.

However, it didn't work with all four of them. Thunderflight started flying when his teacher applied " the country method " : the foal stood on the roof of a one or two storey building, with a big pile of hay beneath, and jumped, flapping as hard as they can. it worked with all three of them, after a month or so, so he decided it would help Scoot as well.

Just as he was about to share that with her, a loud howl sounded, as if the wolf was mere feet away. The ponies jumped and turned back, awaiting to see Discord, wearing a ridiculous timberwolf costume. Discord was flying above them.

" But than who... " the confused Gale asked, but stopped mid- question, as she saw what emerged from the wood.

A timberwolf, which looked as if it was burned multiple times. With three pounces it was merely 15 feet away. Now the ponies could see the beast in details. This timberwolf was with the size of a manticore.

' A veteran. ' Gale thought. She had heard multiple stories of timberwolves, who despite not being of the King breed, grew to spectacular sizes. Those were mostly veterans, who survived long enough to reach that size.

She hadn't seen another black timberwolf before. This one lacked any leaves one would expect from a timberwolf. Instead, lichen began from its face and covered its whole back, as well as its legs. The sticks, that sticked out of his body, were all broken, probably in battle. Usually they grew back, as a tree would heal its broken branch, but this one apparently lacked this ability, since those weren't fresh wounds.

" Having fun? " the wolf asked with irony in his voice. Now that was something you didn't expect from a timberowlf.

Applebloom chuckled nervously.

" Well... yeah. " she replied.

" Are you surprised to see a timberwolf talk? " the beast continued, getting a bit closer. The group went a bit further, keeping the distance the same as before.

" I... I just didn't know they could. " Gale replied, her hooves shaking.

" Only those, who have passed the Trial can. The others are mindless animals. "

" Wwwhat trial? " the frightened Sweetie Belle asked.

" Oh, don't be afraid! " the wolf took the whole distance between them with a single jump and stroked Sweetie Belle with his paw, making her hide behind Thunderflight.

" I'm not here for you three. I'm here for them, " the timberwolf nodded at Gale and Thunderflight. He pushed the terrified Scootaloo aside, next to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, and came so close to the two pegasi, that their muzzles were almost touching.

" You, on the other side, are in some serious trouble. You got a Master angry, furthermore, an experienced one. I might be scary, but believe me, you don't want to see what Masters can do. " the wolf spoke, as the duo was shaking from fear.

" I can't describe it properly to World Dwellers like you... but one can even make you pass the Trial. You don't want this to happen. " he grabbed Gale's head in his paw and slowly shook it from side to side.

" He has given you a task of some kind, but you don't obey... if your earth pony friend doesn't arrive soon, I may have to apply more.. crude techniques. " the wooden muzzle curved into a grin, as the timberwolf made a few steps away from the ponies. He sat 6 feet away from them, sat and waited. The ponies stood petrified.

The timberwolf stood there for three seconds, when suddenly a thunder sounded and a weird creature appeared in mid- air. It had the head of a pony, but its body was made out of many different animal parts. The creature soon took on some kind of disguise, a white suit, striped with blue stripes, and a blue hat. It held a bat in its front paws. Before the timberwolf could react, the creature lowered, swung and struck him with all of its power.

This scene made the group, that had been terrified until now, laugh. Applebloom just couldn't hold it in, as she saw the draconequus lower from the sky and hit the beast with such power, that it flew over the treetops.

" Homerun! " Discord announced, as he took his usual appearance again.

As the group laughed, they failed to aknowledge a black spot, that had re- appeared on the edge of the wood.

With three huge leaps, the wolf was only 6 feet away from Discord. The draconequus was facing them, so they couldn't warn him. The beast pounced on the master of chaos, putting him down on the ground, with his paw on Discord's neck.

" No more tricks, clown, or you are dead meat! " the wolf roared.

The draconequus just gave him his " Oh, really? " look and vanished with a crack of his fingers.

" Where did he go? " he asked the ponies, but before they could present an answer, if any, he was struck by a curved piece of wood. As he turned around, he saw that wood return to the draconequus, who stood 12 feet away, wearing a grass skirt, hat and with mud all over his skin. The wolf took a leap at him, but before he laid his claws on him, the creature vanished again.

He had no idea where his enemy might be, until he heard heavy breathing, or panting, behind him. As he turned around, he saw a tall dark figure, which turned around as well. It was a biped, all dressed in black, sporting a black mantle as well. It wore boots and had some strange aperature on its chest. A weird mask with something like a respirator where the mouth should have been and a helmet completed the figure. However, the mask still resembled the face of the creature, that had attacked him earlier. The thing was breathing heavily, so the timberwolf decided it was finally exhausted, so he attacked. The armoured draconequus raised his left arm and the wolf halted in mid- air, feeling something choke him. Than he was thrown back, 20 feet away.

" I find your lack of luck disturbing. " the master of chaos said in a deep tonality. Discord held a small stick in his right hand. He pressed a small button on it, and a rod of red light extended. He held it in his right hand and attacked. The wolf quickly jumped away and tried to bite the draconequus's arm, but Discord swiftly turned around and blocked the attack with the rod. He than quickly swung and cut off the beast's left claw. The timberwolf roared and fell down in agony.

Discord hung over its head, probably preparing to say another one-liner, but the beast pounced back at Discord and brought him down. His black costume vanished, together with the red rod, the black timberwolf was on the top of the unarmoured draconecquus.

" Now you die! " the wolf swung with its only front claw, but suddenly it was hit in the head by a stone. The beast fell unconcious. The mastr of chaos looked up and saw his saviors were Rush and Thunderflight. Hase was standing right bellow them. He came closer to examine the beast.

" What is this thing? " he wondered.

" It looks like a timberwolf. But it ain't. " Applebloom said, as the whole group gathered around the fallen beast.

" Black isn't a natural colour for a timberwolf. What's with all of this lichen as well? " Hase tried to examine the wolf from closer. Since the whole group had gathered around, nopony saw the big black raven, that flew in the air for a few moments, and than flew back to the Everfree.

They spent a minute wondering wheter it's a new species of timberwolves, a normal timberwolf, altered by magic, or something else. Than the wolf suddenly got back up. It howled, looked around confused and showed his teeth for the last time, before he jumped over Rush and ran back into the forest.

The wolf knew what was happening. It was another spell, that made him run to his master without having the chance to disobey. The Call, others called it. His master had probably sent a scout to see how it was going, had seen him fail, and was now calling him back to send him away. He had no choice but to run back to the black fortress.

" Discord... siding with ponies? I admit I never saw it coming. " those were the first words that he heard, as he entered the room with the eyed shadow.

" But he's the Spirit of Disharmony and Chaos, not of Battle! Don't tell me he was too strong! " the stallion yelled at him. He gave him no chance to explain. A hole opened behind him and the timberwolf was sucked in.

' I guess I won't succeed that way. ' the stallion mused.

' It's time to take things in my own hooves. '

A dark purple shine illuminated the room. Than, out of the shadow, a black unicorn with a normal height, dark violet mane and tail, and eyes with the same colour, walked out. His cutie mark was a swirling whirlpool in a slightly lighter shade of violet. The unicorn walked down the stairs with a smile on his muzzle.