CCC-To Find Her Place

by Fresnor

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Diamond Dogs, Original Character, Adventure, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 78630

Outliving your friends is something that is hard to get over. When a young kitsune realizes that she has a long time to live and is now without her friends she heads out to find the one place she may be able to belong.

It's been over six and a half score years since she first entered Ponyville and with most of her friends now dead it's time to move on. Not knowing where she is from Flarenza begins her journey to find where the rest of her kind is and to locate her place in the world.
<><><><><>

Book 2 of the series which will take place over a long period of time. It also happens immediately after the last of the non-alicorns of the Mane 6 passes away from the previous story which is approximately 130 years after the start of season 1. Expect long gaps of time with little reference to time as it will take place over the course of many years. Much of it will explore things outside of Equestria so there will be a lot fewer ponies in this one than the last.

<><><><><>

Tags are provisional for now but if you see one that should be added or removed then please let me know.

Published 2014-09-20 20:00:03 UTC
Last updated 2015-01-04 21:04:49 UTC

Brownie Incident

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the rest of the Princess,

It’s been a while since I’ve set out and only now do I have anything worth relating back to you all. It was only after I left that I realized how limited my resources will be as I travel and I won’t be guaranteed to have a supply of parchment to send letters back on. Because of that, and us not setting up a way to send letters back to me again, means I will have to be a bit miserly with my resources so there will likely be long breaks between letters. I will at least try to keep you notified of any major events I am part of as well as anything that I find during my exploration.

On that note I have finally made peace with the last bit of my past in Rock Talon Heights. Being able to finally say goodbye and leave a small memorial lifted a weight off of my shoulders that I didn’t even realize was there. While I was in town I saw something which leads me to my current little detour while searching for my kind. While there I saw a couple of brownies and I wanted to find out more about them. Like most of the other lesser known races I’ve found that the Equestrian libraries often lacked information on them and even the more well-known ones are rather lacking. I know Twilight has lamented on this fact before when it came to raising Spike but in my time in Ponyville little had been done to rectify that.

Of course with me sending back copies of any notes I take means that I’ll have even less to use for these letters so expect some unconventional things to arrive if I run out. Back to the interest in the brownies, I’ve learned where one of their villages are located and am taking the time to visit. I am a bit wary considering how some of the being I got the directions from were chuckling behind my back when they thought I couldn’t hear them but I hope it is just me being overly paranoid. Not much else to mention for now so I’ll let you know how everything turns out in my next letter.

Your Friend,

Flarenza

I sigh as I roll up the letter and send it off for delivery through Spike with a burst of flame. I take a moment to once again admire the intricacy of the spell and wonder if there is a way to adapt it so a dragon isn’t required on the other end. Filing that thought away for later I turn my attention back to the forest in front of me that supposedly houses the brownie village called Woodberry.

The forest is primarily made up of evergreen trees that are packed together pretty tightly. Bipeds and the larger quadrupeds would have some issue moving through the forest comfortably but there was enough space below the trees to fit a walking pony so there was plenty of room for me. The scent of the trees, on the other paw, is rather strong and completely blocks my sense of smell preventing me from using it to search for danger. At least it doesn’t look or feel like too terrible of a place, but considering I only have the Whitetail Woods and Everfree Forest to compare it too that doesn’t mean much.

Thinking back to the two forests I have had the most experience with I’d say that there is a bit of a feeling of wariness here not found in the Whitetail Woods, but it feels nothing like the Everfree. Not that anything can really come close to how that place felt though over the years it was starting to feel rather comforting being under the branches of that place. Shaking myself out of my thoughts I start to pick my path through the forest.

I had no idea where I was going within the forest exactly as no matter who I talked to they didn’t know where the village was. Supposedly I just had to walk in and wander around long enough and one of the brownies would show up as an escort if they wanted you to find it. If they didn’t then I was told you could wander around the place for weeks without finding it though none could say how it was hidden. I had a few ideas on why this would happen but without actual proof then it was only just an idea.

Wandering through the forest I take them time to observe the wildlife that wasn’t trying to hide from me. Considering my resemblance to a common fox the smaller ground animals were in hiding but the birds were out in force. I took comfort in their presence as it was a good indication that there wasn’t anything too horribly dangerous around. I still kept up a habit of projecting a light magical screen as a precaution which has helped in the past. I could have used one of the enchanted gems that I’ve made in the past but I’ve gotten beyond the laziness of relying on them.

It really does feel nice to be out and about once again. Ponyville was a really great place to live but the urge to get out and explore never really left me. It’s just too bad I could never convince Fluttershy to come out with me on some of my trips, after she got over her fear she would have loved seeing the unique wildlife deep in the Everfree. My mood began to darken as memories of my old friend came to mind. It still hurt to think of those that I lost and I really wondered what happened to cause her to vanish like she did.

My attention is pulled away from my thoughts by a strange gibbering sound off to my side. Turning towards it I am surprised to see the form of a brownie as I didn’t expect to find one so soon. The sound I heard turned out to be it attempting to get my attention though I hoped it knew a common language as I never could get any translation spells to work right. I had learned a few major languages on the off chance I needed them though most beings I’d found knew the common language spoken in Equestria.

It gibbered at me a few more times in its language and made a few motions at me trying to get me to understand it. It looks disappointed when I shake my head at him as I can’t understand a word he is saying. “I have no idea what you’re saying but I’m not here to cause any problems. I‘ve never seen a brownie before and I’ve heard that there was a village out here somewhere. There weren’t many books on your kind where I was staying the past many years.”

The brownie looks at me oddly and cocks its head to the side. I am about to try another language on the chance that it knows at least one of them when it claps its hands with a smile. Gibbering something else at me it waves at me to follow before turning to lead me through the forest. Huh, maybe it really did understand me. Though if it did I would think it would at least be able to speak it as well. Though I guess there are some languages that are tougher for certain creatures to learn. Gryphon-speak has a lot of whistling sounds which are hard to duplicate and I had to use magic myself to imitate them.

Following the brownie give me a chance to examine it from up close without much effort. It’s about fifty centimeters tall and wearing clothing that appears to be made out of leaves and bark. Its skin also looks to be bark-like in appearance though I can’t tell if it has the same texture. It walks in a bipedal stance which looks rather odd to me and it has hair that looks to be made of moss. It has hands like a minotaur but I have no clue what to call the things it stands on as I have never seen their like before. Its overall appearance seems out of place in this evergreen forest yet it still somehow managed to sneak up on me.

After about an hour of walking I notice that the trees have started to change to ones that would more fit the looks of the brownie which helped to explain its looks. I had thought that the forest was only full of evergreens but it seems I was mistaken. Eventually we come in sight of what appears to be its village with the building built around, and even up in the branches of, the grove of trees it is situated in. The homes mostly appear to be made of wood, bark, and leaves and, though relatively simple looking at first, I spot some intricate designs if I look close enough.

The brownie I was following called out to the village as we approached and we were soon met with a small crowd of brownies. Looking over the gathering I feel as if something cast a copy spell over and over again as I can’t see any difference between one brownie and another. Soon I am surrounded by the crowd as they all gibber and jab at me in curiosity. I feel a bit wary as they do so as I don’t know much about these things though they don’t seem to be threatening. I still can’t understand what they are saying and I’ve even lost sight of the first one I met within the crowd of others.

They all seem happy to see me for some reason and their smiles seem to get even wider when I lower the hood of my cloak. If I hadn’t gotten used to some of the smiles I’d seen in Ponyville I would have probably run off in panic instead of just being uneasy. I try to take everything in stride as they hadn’t made any hostile actions but I still reinforce my defenses as a precaution just in case.

My arrival really seems to be an event for the brownies as they immediately set up a small feast and festival. I only nibble a bit on some of the fruit as the portions are sized for them, or nobles, and I don’t want to eat enough to cause problems for them. Throughout the entire things I just shrug at them whenever they say something to me since I’d rather not be agreeing with something I don’t want since I can’t understand them.

Eventually the party winds down and they all start heading off to their homes leaving me alone in the center of town. I really hadn’t had a chance to do any of what I came here to do and I wondered how I would even go about it when I can’t understand them. This is actually rather disappointing. If I had known that this town didn’t speak a common language then I would have just skipped it for another. I guess I’ll have to disappoint Twilight who probably would be expecting a small book worth of notes. Not like I ever got into taking notes to that extent in the first place.

Yawning I look around for a place that’s out of the way for the night. I find a decent enough spot between two buildings and settle down for the night. While I do happen to be in a town I’m still not sure how safe it is to be outdoors in it. I decide not to remove my packs in my usual precautions while putting up a couple more wards for safety as I close my eyes.

I am awakened some time later to the feeling of something prodding at my side. Opening my eyes to look I find that one of the brownies was the one to wake me up and after a moment I looked at it in confusion. “Hello there. Now how did you get in here?” The brownies just looked at me with a grin before it shouted out in its language. From everywhere brownies started boiling out of buildings and started to converge on my location. I leap to my paws in alarm at their actions and strengthen the wards that I placed around me.

Unfortunately I find out how the one brownie got in as the others start pushing through my shield as if it was just water. What the frig? They shouldn’t be able to do that. I almost think I messed up somehow with the spell when I notice that while they can enter rather easily anything they are holding doesn’t have the same benefits. Trying to push them away with my magic is met with similar results, which only adds to the evidence on what is going on. Are these things actually resistant enough to magic to be practically immune to its effects? This is not good. Looking around at the approaching swarm only one idea comes to mind on what to do about the situation.

Soon enough I am crashing through the bushes surrounding the town with a brownie hanging from my tails and a single train of thought on my mind. Frig, frig, frig, why do things always have to be more difficult than they need to be? Why couldn’t it be undead that I’m running in terror from instead of these magic-immune creatures? At least the undead I can just set on fire and forget about until they are nothing but ashes. Looking back at the horde chasing me I try to dissuade them anyways by tossing a ball of flame at them but it doesn’t faze them at all. I do notice that they avoid the patches of fire on the ground after one leaps away from them with a cry of pain.

Wait a second, they may be immune to the magic itself but that doesn’t mean things caused by the magic will slip right off of them. With that in mind I reach out with it and grab the rope that one is carrying and use it to trip up and bind a small bunch of them together. With this success raising my spirits a bit I start grabbing random items from around the forest to use in tripping up the brownies chasing me. Through all this I forgot about the one hanging off of me when it suddenly plops down onto my muzzle from above.

“What the!? Gah! Get it off! Not the face, not the face!” I fling my head around trying to shake it off as it hangs on while flailing its limbs when it has the chance. Through all this I can’t see a thing which is why it’s not a surprise at what is soon to happen. Just when I think that I may have to utilize drastic measures to remove it the brownie suddenly vanishes from my view. Unfortunately a tree is now blocking my view as I run muzzle first into it as I don’t have a chance to stop.

Blinding pain fills my head on impact and I cradle my face in my paws. “Ouch, anyone get the number of that carriage?” While my shield was still up and could absorb most of the impact there was still enough kinetic energy to throw my thoughts out of whack for a moment. Of course that delay was enough for the closest brownies to catch up with me and climb atop my back. When they tried to throw a rope around my head and catch it in my muzzle I recovered enough to bite down on it and severing it with my teeth.

By this time I was feeling a mite more annoyed than panicked as I turned my head to glare at my passengers with one eye. “Oh so you want to go for a ride, huh? Well you better hope you’re ready for a rough one then.” The glint in my eye must really worry them as my passengers start looking a bit fearful now. That’s the only warning they get before I take of running at an even faster pace than before as I use my magic to enhance my speed.

From that point I start to perform various stunts and maneuvers to shake the brownies off of my back. Unfortunately most of them seem to have a good grip as bounding off trees, tight turns, and even a leaping barrel roll does little do dislodge them. It’s only when I spot a hollow log that I get an idea to remove my little infestation. Weaving around a bit I make a sudden turn towards the opening before dashing inside of it. Luckily it was low enough that there wasn’t much clearance above my lowered head and a few resounding thumps as well as the absence of weight on my back indicates the success of my plan.

Now that I got rid of my passengers I can work on getting out of this forest. First to get out of this log and get my bearings again and… As soon as I exit the log I feel some excess weight on my back again. ....they’re back on me again aren’t they? A quick glance back reveals my fears to be correct. With few other options I decide to try and blinking away from them though it’s not something I would risk normally. At least with how magic doesn’t work on them they shouldn’t be pulled along with me.

Taking a moment to focus my thoughts I begin to channel the spell and vanish from under the brownies in a flash of light. When I reappear I find myself in the general direction that I was aiming for, but instead of on the ground I was falling through the air towards a pine tree. Oh this is going to hurt. Why do these spells always put my up in the air like this? Bracing myself I start crashing through the branches of the tree until I eventually fall out the bottom of it. Spitting out a bundle of pine needles I look around to see that the coast is clear. “One of these days I’ll manage to get those travel spells working right.”

I mutter to myself as I make my way out of the forest and find myself at the place where I first entered it. There I find the two gryphons that had directed me to this area in the first place, both with amusement written across their beaks. “Well you managed to make it out of there; did you manage to find what you were looking for?” I just glare at them before flicking my tails at them which dislodges a bunch of pine needles in their direction as well as a brownie that I didn’t realize was hiding in them.

I answer them as the brownie impact into the face of the larger of the two. “It would have been nice to have a bit of warning before going in there, of course watching this is helping my mood a bit.” I watch in amusement as the two realize what just happen and start flailing around trying to remove the brownie from the gryphon’s face. I chuckle as I walk away and even let out a laugh when the smaller one tries to beat it off with a stick only to bean the larger one between the eyes. I jerk to a halt for a moment when I hear a cry behind me. “That was really fun, come back again sometime!”

I just stare at the brownie that spoke in a language I could finally understand before I bring a paw up to my face. “Ugh, I’d rather deal with Discord than those things. I’m not even going to bother doing anything else with those things.” Turning back I just pick up the pace as I head off somewhere to settle down and rest for the rest of the night. I find a decent enough place though my day doesn’t end there as I fall asleep.

I raise my head to look around me to find myself surrounded by darkness. I start to wonder what is going on as I was last curled up under a bush when I spot a winged form approaching me. It takes me a moment but I recognize the form as well as the larger one following behind it. “Selene? Luna? I didn’t know you could reach me all the way out here. This is a dream isn’t it?””

The two nod at me as I focus to shape my dream into the sitting room from my old manor. The two take a seat across from me before Selene begins to speak. “We received your letter saying where you were going which worried Celestia. Luna thought this would be a good training session as there aren’t many chances to search for specific dreamers at a distance.” She looks up at the older princess who nods in response to this. “Yes, I also remembered the antics of the creatures you were searching for and according to my sister they haven’t changed much in the years I’ve been gone.”

I just shake my head and sigh as them having some knowledge about brownies would have been nice to know. Of course I didn’t know that they could find me like this so there wasn’t a way to get this knowledge before anyways. “If you mean how they are mischievous and seemingly immune to magic then I found that out the hard way.” The two wince at his as I continue. “It can wait until I send another letter back to you all later. How about we just spend some time catching up with each other as it has been a while since I’ve left?”

The two nod at me and we spend the rest of that night talking about the little things I’ve been going through as well as what I had missed in Equestria.

Author's Note

Not much to say, though I think I might be sticking with doing a little letter to the princesses at the start of most chapters. I'm not fully sure what direction everything is going though I do have some plans at one point. This won't be the last incident of problems with creatures that magic isn't good against, just need to find something appropriate to use though.

Find any typos or things to complain about? Then please tell me especially if you down-vote.

Improving the Pack

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

It’s always interesting what you can find in the most unlikely of places especially when you aren’t even looking for it. Take that underground complex I mentioned falling into in my last letter, I would have never expected to find out that it was used to research and implement things from a lesser used branch of magic. The entire place was used as a staging point for some vagrant in creating golems to further his plots of world domination. Yes you heard that right; his plans were well documented in his research notes with his first target being Equestria due to its weakened state after losing Luna. That there says how old the place was and nothing came from his efforts as the being in question was assassinated by his own servants. After looking everything over I believe he may have been able to actually pull off an attack at first, but he never would have been able to hold any ground he wasn’t near as the golem designs were flawed. While some things could be attributed to age, after going over the research journals I found it revealed a drastic flaw in that the golems were only able to follow instructions to the letter and had no ability to actually think meaning that the larger the group of golems got the less effective they would be. This would have been remedied by having live leaders giving out instructions to correct their actions but that would mean he would have had to give power over them to those that killed him.

Seeing as I have already taken notes of anything that interested me in the journals I will be sending all of it with this letter as well so apologies to Spike for how much I will be sending. Unfortunately I won’t be able to send a copy of my notes along but I don’t think that’ll be much of a problem since Twilight enjoys doing her own research. It’s not like she’d want to be able to compare notes with someone that was able to see the golems in action or anything.

After that little adventure I’m going to be taking a bit of time doing something a bit less stressful. I’ve learned about a diamond dog pack that is having some troubles in the area and I think that I’ll be going out to check on them. It may not just be them having problems as I’ve found that they usually aren’t completely innocent about such things. Considering the reactions I’ve had from other packs it should make things much easier to get them to listen to me and being an outside party will allow me to negotiate between all parties that may be involved. At the same time I’ll be able to find out what they may know about some other things I’ve been looking into as they once had some connection with the kingdom I had found remains of.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I chuckle as I try and imagine Twilight’s reaction to the teasing as I send off the letter and journals that I retrieved from that underground complex. “I probably shouldn’t have done that as twilight is going to have it out for me whenever I see her again, but it’s not often that I find magic that she isn’t well versed in. Of course the other princesses will probably also have it out for me if Twilight goes into one of her little fits. At least she usually comes up with something ingenious when she’s in one of those moods even if she does end up driving everyone around her crazy with worry.”

Packing everything away I turn towards my current destination and admire the architecture of the place. Whatever could be said about diamond dogs choices in living spaces were put to shame by the beauty of the fortress that this pack found themselves in. From what the other races around the area knew this pack had always been here as none of them had any clue as to when they first settled here. This had me optimistic as a pack that had been around this long was bound to have a lorekeeper of considerable knowledge.

“I wonder what exactly had is going on with this pack that has those around it worried. It has to be bad if I can’t get a straight answer out of anyone in the area.” I had been observing the place all morning and I really couldn’t see any problems from my vantage point which pointed to something less obvious. I had been hoping for some clue on what was going on before involving myself in their affairs but it seems like that was too much to hope for.

Sighing to myself I make my way down to the entrance of the fortress and wonder how much of the place is underground. I ponder that and a few other minor questions as I make my way down since this is the first full pack that I’ve heard of to have much of any living space above ground. The guards to the fortress watch me warily as I approach and I keep my hood up just to see how they react.

“Halt! No entry without approval of pack Alpha!” The guards bar my way from entering which amuses me as I know they’d change their tune if I reveal myself. “Well how would I go about getting the approval of the Alpha?” My question seems to throw them off a bit as it wasn’t the expected response. One guard turns to the other questioningly. “Um, how does she get permission?” The other guard just shrugs before the two just look toward me again and shout. “No entry without approval of pack Alpha!”

I just shake my head as they show the usual level of intelligence expected from diamond dogs. “Well do you think you could get someone that could answer the question?” Unfortunately their ability to think outside the box isn’t the greatest. “No entry without approval of pack Alpha!” Well there goes any hope of getting in without revealing myself. It’s rather annoying how diamond dogs always seem to want to serve me whenever they find out what I am but rarely are they intelligent enough to actually be much help. I let out a sigh as I reach up to pull down my hood but am stopped by a shout from inside the fortress.

“Doggonit you two, I said escort visitors to me to see what they want and only turn away those that look like a threat!” I am surprised by not only how well the speaker’s grammar is but also by the voice being from a female. I watch as the female diamond dog marches out of the keep to berate the two. This is unusual as I had never seen a female actually being in charge of guards of a pack before, and not only that I suspect she may actually be the Alpha. I take a moment to look over her red fur and note that she seems to be of a rarer breed of diamond dog than those that usually are wandering around. I am even more surprised by the ice blue color of her eyes when she turns them onto me.

“I’m sorry about the welcome but these idiots just can’t seem to get anything right no matter how many times I tell them. Ugh, all that effort to learn about the world so I can challenge my father and take over the pack and this is what I have to deal with.” I consider the implications of this before answering. “Well that is an admirable goal, but from what of seen of diamond dogs packs it’ll probably take you years to make any progress, especially for one of the few female Alphas that I’ve ever heard of.”

She lets out a sigh in agreement as she waves me into the fortress. “Yes and that only compounds the problem. When they aren’t slacking off they are constantly challenging me trying to take over all because they think females are weak. The few that agree with me don’t really have that much power within the pack and the changes I’m pushing for go against so called ‘tradition’ which means even the loremaster is against me.” I wince at this as I know that the loremaster is often seen as the second most powerful dog in the pack and being on their bad side is never a good thing.

“Sorry about ranting at you but it’s just been a long month; anyways I am Ruby, Alpha of the Bloodstone Pack, and who might you be and what business do you have with us?” I think about what she is doing and actually feel sorry for what she is going through. At the same time I understood a bit of why she is doing this as I was planning to do the same thing myself even if the reasons are a bit different. Seeing as having help would make things go much smoother I decided to do what I could to help out.

“Well my name is Flarenza, and I initially came here looking for information that your loremaster may hold, but I think I may actually be able to help you at the same time.” The Alpha cocks her head to the side in confusion. “Flarenza huh, that name sounds familiar for some reason. But whatever it is you are looking for it’s doubtful that the loremaster would even tell you, and also what do you mean you might be able to help me?” She looks at me in suspicion while I just try to brush the question off for now.

“Oh it’s just something that I’ve picked up when dealing with other diamond dog packs. It strikes right to the heart of the traditions most packs hold but it’s something I try not to abuse without a good reason.” Ruby still doesn’t look entirely convinced at my explanation but doesn’t press any further. “Well I guess it can’t hurt to try whatever it is you have planned. It’s not like he can hate me any more than he does now.”

She then motions me towards a door leading deeper into the fortress which I assume leads to wherever the loremaster is. “So what plans did you have for this pack anyways? Considering how the guards out front handled things I can guess a bit of what you may be trying to do.” She sighs at being reminded of the two boneheads at the front gate. “Yeah they have something to do with it. It’s all part of why I left the pack to see the world as most diamond dogs are either incompetent, stupid, or just plain lazy. I wanted to make it so that we could actually compete with other cities in trade and other areas. To do that though the pack needs to be taught how to do things without having to be told to do it and to actually be more creative. I mean look at this place, this was all made by diamond dog paws yet you wouldn’t know it by looking at us now.”

I take a closer look at the places we are passing and can see a bit of what she means. I can see images of diamond dogs in some of the carvings and it obviously wasn’t recent work either. In fact on closer inspection I actual see a couple faded images of timberwolves as well. “Hmm, I can see what you mean. Most diamond dogs I’ve seen can barely even do simple carvings let along something of this quality. In fact the last one that I’ve met that had much of any skill was only able to write words into stone though he was very good at that.”

She just nods sadly about this when we come across a door that smells faintly of parchment and mold. Upon opening the door we find an aging diamond dog poring over a pile of scrolls and doing what looks like recopying them. He doesn’t even look up at our entrance before he starts speaking. “So the pretender returns once again with a stranger now? I highly doubt that they’ll have anything of interest to say no matter how strange the smell.” I can tell that this is the loremaster as they often are the smartest dogs of the pack and usually the only one with any real education which is passed down from one to the next. Oddly enough he seems to be alone despite his age as I would have thought his future replacement would have assisting him so as to learn what is needed.

“You know as well as I do that I won the challenge for Alpha fair and square. Just because it goes against your so called traditions doesn’t make it any less so. I never wanted to be trapped in this room listening to whatever brainless oaf happened to be in charge at the time when I could be improving the entire pack!” I’m starting to see the source of their animosity with each other though I wonder how things would turn out if I wasn’t here. I watch as the two continue arguing as if I wasn’t there in a way that feels almost rehearsed, probably having done this many times before. I decide to step in before things get even more off-track than they already are.

“I’m not sure exactly what is up with you two lovebirds but do you maybe think we can get onto something more productive than just screaming at each other like a bunch of unicorn nobles?” My voice breaks the two out of their conflict though they seem surprised at my words, especially Ruby. “Oh eww, he’s old enough to be my great-grandfather and what do you mean by unicorn nobles?” The loremaster is much less affected by my words though. “As if I would even think of being with somedog like her. The loremaster is traditionally supposed to stay separate from the Alpha and even then rarely takes a mate.”

I just shake my head at the loremaster as his attitude just feels wrong. “Right, as if a pack being united under their two leaders in such a way would be such a horrible thing.” This seems to hit him hard, and even surprises Ruby, and causes him to actually look angry. “So not only does the pretender bring in a stranger she brings in one that insults the packs traditions. Well there is only one way to fix a problem and that’s with my own paws.”

I shake my head as he starts to advance on me threateningly and Ruby hasn’t yet recovered enough to do anything to stop him. I sigh and cast a spell to make me invisible while hiding my scent but leaving my cloak visible. Once done with that I levitate my cloak so that it looks as if I’m still under it as I slip out and lay down atop the table to observe. Soon enough the loremaster plunges his claws, or at least attempts to since the protections on the cloak prevent them from piercing, into my cloak to find that I am no longer there.

“So not only did you bring in a stranger but also one of those magic using unicorn pests as well?” I shake my head at the loremaster’s reaction and drop the spell hiding me. I’m really getting tired of being called a unicorn, there has to be some other races that use magic as well that aren’t in hiding. “And hear I thought you were one of the more intelligent diamond dogs that I’ve met. Not everything that uses magic has to be a unicorn you know.” The loremaster doesn’t even turn towards me but Ruby’s jaw drops open in shock at my appearance as her pupils shrink to pinpricks.

“Well it’s not like it matters much anyways when you aren’t going to be much longer be part of this world.” With that he spins around and attempts to thrust his claws through me again but is brought up short by my shield. The Alpha only whimpers at this and his eyes widen when he sees exactly what I am as well as what he just tried to do to me. “A H-h-h-high One?! Here?! I-I-I…” With that he promptly collapses into unconsciousness with Ruby just staring in shock.

“Huh, it’s not often that they literally toss themselves at my feet. Usually most diamond dogs seem to stay conscious enough for me to ask them not to do that.” I turn towards Ruby who seems to have finally found her voice again. “The High Ones are actually real? But I thought they were only a myth to help remind us of the days when all the packs were united into a real country. Wait, you said your name was Flarenza? You mean those tales about the pony princesses having a pet High One were true after all?”

I bring a paw up to my face at that last bit as this is something I hadn’t heard before. “Ugh, I wonder where that rumor started from. Sure I was friends with the princesses but I think Celestia would have preferred me being a pet after some of the things I pulled.” Ruby looks a bit shocked about that bit of news even more than before. “Of course once the loremaster wakes up again we can get to work on what you had planned as well as a few ideas I had as well. While I’m not here to stay for overly long since I’m trying to find my way home I do have some interest in seeing that the lives of diamond dogs improve. If they insist on throwing themselves at my kind as servants then I’d think they need to be at least intelligent enough to think for themselves and handle things without being hovered over all the time. Also, if they manage to start their own country without us being there then all to the better as well.”

Ruby is too shocked to respond to that as this situation is far outside what she had thought possible before now. Once the loremaster woke up he threw himself at my feet in a subservient manner trying to apologize for his actions. It took months for him to finally get over what he did enough to actually assist in our efforts to improve the pack. Over the next few years we did everything that we could to improve the life of the Bloodstone Pack.

The first thing that we did was set up a plan to teach the entire pack the basic skills that would be found in a school, especially the abilities to read, write, and do simple figures. Once we had gotten that set up we sorted out the dogs that had a higher level of intelligence than normal and taught them even higher levels of those skills as well as the more important skills of logic. All these efforts took a few years to implement which was all made easier with my presence as they all wanted to try and please me. Eventually everything was in place so that I was no longer needed and even now I could see the effects of it all as traders from further away than normal had started coming to the pack.

I had even learned a few things from their ancient histories that helped point me in the right direction. Unfortunately this was in the opposite direction of where I was headed meaning that I had to travel back through Equestria once again. News from there was rather scarce out here but enough came through the traders that I learned that things weren’t going well in certain parts of it. There were rumors of another diamond dog pack out there that was getting extremely aggressive and that they even invaded a town on the border of the Crystal Empire.

I was watching over the pups of this clan while thinking of all this when another thought came to mind. Maybe I shouldn’t have left Ponyville as soon as I did. There are still many things I wanted to tell Scootaloo and Selene but I just couldn’t bring myself to do so. I just hope that there is still time to do so.

After making my plans to head back towards Equestria to deal with these issues I met with Ruby and her new mate to let them know of my plans. They, along with the rest of the pack, were sad to see me go but they understood my reasons. Looking in the eyes of the diamond dogs revealed something that had been missing before when I first arrived, a spark of hope. They finally had hope once again that they weren’t forgotten by those that came before them and that the rest of my kind would know that they were still waiting.

I left the pack with much joy in my heart but that night things changed for the worst. That night Selene appeared in my dreams and without saying anything she wrapped her fore hooves around me and began crying.

Author's Note

And back to Equestria we go for a bit though things may change some of the tags a bit with what I have planned. Also for those that are wondering Ruby's breed is based on a red husky.

As usual if you spot any typos or have any concerns please let me know.

Visiting Equestria

Author's Note

Just as a warning there might be a tad bit of gore in this but I hope it's not enough to hurt the rating. Still just a warning just on the off chance but let me know if you feel I should change it.

Also since it's at the top be sure to let me know of any typos or comments you have.

Visiting Equestria

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

I’m not even sure what it is that I want to write about this time but after the news I just received from Selene I felt I had to try. I’m not sure how much parchment I wasted in doing this but I felt it had to be just right.

Hearing about the passing of those three was not something I was ready for especially when I had just made the decision to return to speak with Scootaloo one last time. I sometimes think that I should have waited before leaving Ponyville on my trip but then I may not have even made the decision to tell her how I felt. In fact after losing the others I was scared of having to go through the same thing with her that I just ran.

I know now that this was a mistake and will have to live with the regret that she will now never know what I had come to think of her after all this time. I’m still not exactly sure how to put this into words as I don’t quite know what exactly it is that I feel. I want to say that because I helped her with her life and even helped with raising her that I’d consider her as a daughter but that’s not quite right really. I don’t believe it’s the same kind of situation her two friends have with it being a sisterly relation either. All I can say is that over time I had come to consider her as family and would have done anything I could have for her if she had just asked. Now that she is gone though I won’t be able to tell her any of this and it really hurts.

I still am going to be coming back through Equestria like I had planned as some other things had come up that I need to take care of. I’m not sure if I will be able to visit, and I will try my best to do so, but sometimes things come up that make plans change without it being planned for.

Just in case I don’t have a chance to visit then there is something else that I have to say that I don’t think can wait. Scootaloo wasn’t the only one that I had come to think of family since I’ve been in Equestria. Ever since I decided to bring her into my home I had grown rather fond of Selene as well. I’m still not sure why I did everything I did for her at first, and still don’t really, but I like to think it was the fact that I had found a kindred spirit that had also lost the only family they knew of. While the situations may have been different for each of us the end result was the same and we were left completely alone. Those early years will be some of my most treasured memories and I am honored to have been able to help reunite her with her family who otherwise may have never known she existed.

As for what came up that required me to come back to Equestria I’d rather not explain yet as it is mostly rumors that I am chasing and I hope they are just that. If they turn out to be true then I feel compelled to do something considering those that are said to be involved. Of course the other reason for this is that I finally found a hint of where the other kitsunes went and it was the opposite direction from where I was going.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I wipe my eyes once again before considering if I should try to rewrite the letter again due to the teardrops on it but decide not to since I don’t know if I can do it again. It had taken me days to get this done correctly and it drained me each time I tried to do so. I was tempted to crawl back under a bush and sleep through the day as it had drained me that much. Maybe I should try and take the time to visit them even if something comes up. Celestia and Luna have lived so long that they must know how this feels and might know some way to help a little.

Sending off the letter I turn my attention to the town that the rumors had been coming out of, Amber Falls. Since I had arrived at this point late last night I didn’t have a chance to examine the town but now I could see that there may be some truth to the rumors. I was upwind from the town or else I would have been able to smell the some from the smoldering remains of some of the buildings. What was left was in a bad state as well as doors and windows had been busted in and left in disrepair. The worst thing about the town was the lack of any signs of life though the lack of bodies could be good or bad.

Searching the town revealed many diamond dog tracks mixed in with the ones of ponies that used to live here but no sign of anything else. “This is starting to look really bad as the rumors are starting to look like they are true. I just hope that the last bit is false or else things are going to get very ugly.”

I let out a growl at the thought of such a travesty and am surprised to hear a small squeak from nearby at the sound. Searching through the nearby area reveals a young red crystal pony filly hiding in the rubble. I could tell she was terrified from both her shaking and her muttering. “Please don’t find me, please don’t find me, please don’t find me.” Her coat is smudged from the smoke and soot while she looks to have been living off of whatever scraps she could find since the town was attacked and her situation strikes a chord in me.

Looking down upon the young filly in pity I lay a paw on her back which causes her to flinch before she turns her eyes up towards me in fear. “Don’t worry, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop the diamond dogs and save anyone they have.” The filly still looks fearful but I can see a bit of hope enter her eyes as well. Taking a towel from my packs to wrap her up in I also get out some fruit that is still relatively fresh for her to eat. Taking a moment to send of a letter to inform the princesses of the situation, I make my way in the direction that the tracks all lead.

As I travel I make plans based on what I had come to expect from diamond dogs as well for what the rumors had been warning me of. I tried to contain my feelings as much as I could but after the news I had of Scootaloo, as well as what was in the rumors, it was very hard to do so. I had been feeling strange since I had learned of all this but I just attributed it all to the emotional overload.

It wasn’t that hard to find the entrance to the diamond dog lair as they made no effort whatsoever to hide their tracks which really pointed out how low the intelligence of the group was, or at the very least very reckless. With how obvious the tracks are a youngling of the most directionally challenged race would be able to follow the diamond dogs right back to their lair. I really hope that they are either dumb or reckless; otherwise they are probably directly challenging the princesses, which is just foolish. I highly doubt they found anything that could even come close to harming them even if they had a trap or ambush set up.

Not knowing what to expect from the diamond dogs I decide to play it safe by conserving my magic and using only the least power intensive spells to hide myself. I decide to go with a simple scent suppressing enchantment as well as one that diverts the attention of beings away from me. The spell may be easy to see through by not looking for whatever it’s cast on, but a simple glance is often enough to pull their attention to the target which then causes their vision to slide right off of it. Given the intelligence of the average diamond dog they will just assume that they were just seeing things and lose interest.

The caves that the diamond dogs were using was a few hours away which made me wonder if Amber Falls was the only town to be attacked or if there were others close enough for them to hit as well. They kept guards up at the entrance like most other packs but they seemed a bit off for some reason. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly since they looked just like any other diamond dogs and I could only assume it was my instinct or something giving me the vibe. I put my cloak away so that it doesn’t get caught on anything and casually walked into the tunnel they were guarding. I smile when they start to look a bit nervous as they caught a glance of me but then completely lost sight of me. That combined with my form was obviously doing a number on their nerves which was a pleasant side effect of the spell.

Like most other diamond dog dens I’ve been in this one was also set up like a maze if you didn’t know the trick to navigate it. It takes me a while but I eventually get the gist of how it is set up though I don’t exactly know where I am headed. After many twists and turns I eventually come out in what can only be described as the dungeons. Ponies are packed into cages and pens in this area with diamond dogs keeping watch over them with whips and spears. Most of the ponies look pretty cowed by all of this and I feel uneasy at some of the injuries I see on them. While they are mostly of the earth crystal pony variety I do spot an occasional pegasus and unicorn mixed in with them all. The latter two are often sporting the worst injuries in the form of plucked or broken wings and cracked horns.

It’s only when I enter the next room that the true horror of what is going on is revealed to me. The smell of smell of blood floods my nose which wouldn’t have bothered me if it wasn’t for the source of it all. Located in this room are a number of tables and upon them are the dismembered bodies of ponies, some of them looking to be no more than foals. Seeing this I am forced to retreat from the room in revulsion.

Ugh, I can’t believe the rumors are true. This pack has practically gone feral and is actually eating other sentient beings. Not even in the worst of the histories that I’ve read from the various tribes have they fallen this low. In my haste I lose track of where I am going and come to abrupt stop as my face meets a wooden structure that wasn’t there before. After a moment I shake myself out of my daze, make sure that my spells are still running, and look at what it was I ran into. Strange, why would they just leave a blue wooden box just sitting around in the center of a tunnel. Granted this tunnel does look to lead to a part of the den that hasn’t been used in a while.

Realizing that I got turned around somewhere I make my way back the way I came and try to find my way towards the Alpha’s chamber. It takes me a while, luckily without any more disgusting finds, but I eventually find what could only be described as a throne room. Sitting in a throne made of gems is an extremely large diamond dog who is flanked by a pair of guards. Around the rest of the room are gathered other diamond dogs, most that don’t give off the uneasy feeling I felt from the others, as well as a couple crystal ponies. A red crystal mare is at the foot of the throne cowering in the presence of the large Alpha.

Some of those in the room must have spotted me before the spell kicked in hiding me from their view as a wave of nervousness rippled through the room. Strangely enough the ones that didn’t give off the strange vibe had a different look go across their faces at first before they started to look disappointed. My attention is drawn away from the rest of the room when the alpha started to speak.

“Do you not believe in my strength yet? Pony town is ours and no pony princesses to stop us and the High Ones are but a myth. Only strength of diamond dog is what we go out and take. We need no High Ones to take back what is ours and even if they did exist we not need them.” I frown as he says this as I had never seen a diamond dog completely doubt their own histories to renounce their connection with my race. I wonder if this has anything to with that feeling I am getting from them.

Me thinking about this distracted me enough that I missed the alpha grabbing the red crystal pony at his feet. What I couldn’t miss was her shrill scream of pain that happened moments later. Jerking my head up I see the pony writhing on the ground with blood streaming from somewhere on her head and a bloody mess in the alphas paw. My jaw drops open as the alpha shoves the mass into his mouth and starts to chew and I feel sick when I notice that the mass was once the pony’s eye when I see an empty hole peek out from under her hooves.

I’m not sure what happened next but something in me just snapped and I lose control of my body. “STOP THIS AT ONCE!” My voice booms out through the chamber, at levels equal to the Royal Canterlot Voice, even though I had no control of it happening. The diamond dogs around the room look at me in shock as the spells hiding me drop away revealing my furious form as my tails stream out in all directions. Most of the diamond dogs in the room cower away at my appearance and even the guards look a bit worried though the alpha seems unfazed by my appearance.

“Well, well, well. Maybe I was wrong about you things being a myth, but what is a little bitch like you going to do to stop me? There is only one of you and many of us.” He gestures to the many guards that are around the room but I can’t look to confirm this as my body is still outside of my control. “THIS ABOMINABLE ACT THAT YOU TAKE PART IN SHALL BE THE END OF YOU! BY YOUR OWN PAW SHALL YOU BE JUDGED WE ARE BUT THE TOOL OF THAT JUDGEMENT!”

I can feel my body begin channeling magic into a spell that I don’t recognize and it is centered on the poor mare for some reason. The alpha just lets out a cruel laugh at my claim and is joined by the guards, though they seem a bit worried. “Oh I shall be judged will I? When you can’t even stop me from doing this!?” With that he reaches down to the crystal mare at his feet yet again and pulls her up in front of him by her tail.

I try to move my body to stop him from doing anything else but whatever is going on still has control of me. My panic turns out to be for nothing as once the alpha’s claw comes in contact with the other eye of the poor mare he freezes in place. I look of puzzlement crosses his face which soon changes to horror as his entire arm turns gray and the color slowly spreads across the rest of his body. He drops the mare and tries to scratch off whatever is spreading but this only serves to speed up the spread to that arm as well. Everyone in the room can only stare in horror as the alpha is consumed leaving only a stone statue in his place.

“AND SO JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE! LET ALL BEWARE THAT WISH TO FOLLOW BEHIND THIS CREATURE OF EVIL!” With that the presence fades away from my body leaving my shaking due to the aftereffects as well as the fear of whatever that was. None of the others in the room is paying any attention to me though as the guards are too busy fleeing the room being chased by the others that I assume had been against them and the alpha this entire time but lacked the courage to act until now.

I’m not sure how long I sat there trying to recover from this experience but it’s the whimpers of the injured mare that pulls me out of my stupor. Realizing that she still needs help I advance on her to give her what help I can and she watches me fearfully as I advance. “P-p-please don’t hurt me.” I pause for a moment at her tone of voice before once again advancing. She cringes back until she is pressed up against the now stoned alpha while clutching the ruined remains of her eye. I draw myself up in front of her and channel my magic into her eye socket and heal it to the best of my abilities, though easier than I expected for some reason, it unfortunately isn’t enough to replace the eye.

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t here soon enough to save your eye but I can at least stop you from bleeding and feeling the pain of it.” I was about to turn away and figure out what to do now with the rest of the den when I notice something familiar about the mare. Taking a guess that she is somehow related to the filly I found in that town I say one last thing before leaving the room. “I’m not sure if you know of this but I found a red crystal filly in Amber Falls that reminds me of you. The princesses should know about what is going on and heading there now.” I turn away from her but am glad to hear a sound of gratitude behind me as well as tears of joy.

As I move through the rest of the diamond dog den I am met with varied reactions from those that I pass. The dogs that I was getting the odd vibe from look at me in fear while the others look on in awe as they bow as I pass. Strangely enough when the ponies see me I was expecting to see fear but see hope instead which grows even more as I order their release. This is soon explained as one of them comes up to me with a sheet of parchment. “We thought that stallion was mad but you really did come to save us. I don’t know where he disappeared to but he told me to give you this before he ran off with that pegasus mare he was with.”

I look at the pony oddly as I turn my attention to the item in question that I was given. On it is a list of names that mean little to me but from how they read I suspect that they are diamond dog names. I ponder the meaning of this but am interrupted by a shout echoing down the tunnels from the surface. “DIAMOND DOGS! WE KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE! RELEASE OUR SUBJECT AT ONCE OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO USE DRASTIC MEASURES! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES!”

I smile as I recognize the voice and the ponies seem to cheer up as well as well though the diamond dogs seem to be in a panic now. I take a minute to calm the dogs down which still leaves me plenty of time to lead some of the ponies up to the surface while ordering the dogs to prepare to escort the rest up behind me. It didn’t take me long to reach the surface now that I had proper directions and I smiled again when I heard the voice again. “That’s four minutes now Captain with no answer, be ready to send in the first group.”

Seeing as the problem is already solved I hasten my steps and soon reach the entrance. “Now, now, Princess Cadance, there’s no need to do that anymore, they should be leading the ponies out soon enough.” My appearance causes the guards that the princess brought with her to point their weapons in my direction but I was more focused on the look of shock on the pink alicorns face. “What? Didn’t you get my message that I was in the area as well as the one about what happened at the town?”

At that moment a pegasus came flying in at top speed to the princess with a message satchel. I just bring a paw up to my face as I suspect that it is the message in question. “Captain you can have the other go into standby for now, she’s a good friend and if she says things are being handled then I believe her. Though send a pair of your fastest runners to Amber Falls as there is at least one filly there and possibly more we don’t know of.” Turning back to me she stays in her princess mode as she motions for me to follow her to a nearby tent that had been set up.

Once inside she drops her act and turns to me with a smile on her face. After I catch her up on everything that happened here, minus the bit about that presence that possessed me somehow, she calls in a guard and gives him orders to get things organized. It was during our talk that she pointed out that I now had five tails which I hadn’t noticed yet. One of these days I’ll figure out why I keep getting more as well as how many I’m supposed to have in the end. While this is being done we catch up a bit on things and I find that she had been on the move for a few days now here so was unable to hear about my latest letter. Talking with her about it helped a lot and when we finished I remembered the parchment I was given.

After a bit of research we find that it was a list of names that had taken care of the ponies the best they could and refused to eat any of the meat harvested from them. The princess was shocked to hear what had happened here and I was afraid that she would do something drastic at first but she just sighs wearily. With a bit of effort we manage to separate out the diamond dogs that had partaken in the abominable actions of the former-alpha and gathered them in an area to deal with later. The rest were allowed to stay in the den while under the watch of Cadance’s Crystal Guard while I picked one of those named on the list as the new alpha. I even had them send to the Bloodstone Pack for a dog to come as a teacher for the pack to work with and that are sent by the princess to improve things there.

Soon enough I wave to the princess as I leave to head deeper into Equestria for one last thing before visiting with the other princesses. It takes me a couple days, made faster by the means of train transit, when I arrive at Ponyville once again. I took care to avoid those in the town as I wasn’t ready to meet anyone else right now when I finally arrive at the graveyard for the town. It doesn’t take me long to find the gravestone I was looking for as the soil was still relatively fresh for the three plots beneath it. I move to sit by the rightmost of the three.

“Well I’m finally here but I wish I could have been here for you before you passed on. There was so much that I wanted to tell you but it’s too late now. If only I didn’t let my fear of seeing you go control me then I could have at least been there for you in your final days. The only consolation I guess is that you were at least with your friends at that time so you never really were alone.”

I pull out a special gem that I had been working on for a while now and let out a sigh. It had taken a lot of work but I had managed to combine three gems into the image they once used for their club. I added a little bit of my own to the design though as the center gem was a yellow topaz alicorn, surrounded by a blue sapphire shield inside of a red ruby field. I look at the gravestone and find a blank space beneath the words ‘Three friends together for all eternity’ and with a flash of magic embed the gem into the stone.

With my final tribute to the second family member I had lost complete I turned away and made my way to visit the friends I had not seen in years.

Forest of Death

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

It’s sad to say that it is once again time for me to move on with my search once again. While my time back has been rather pleasant I still have things that I must do before I can truly settle down somewhere. Still being able to talk to you all has really helped me organize my thoughts better in relation to recent events. While I may not be completely over what happened the advice I got from you, especially from Luna and Celestia, really helped me get past the worst of my feelings. Of course if what I was also told is true then I’ll probably never be completely over it all so I’ll be doing my best to learn from it all so I never have to repeat that mistake again.

While I had originally planned to travel quickly out of Equestria, the recent events that have happened have made me realize that it is in my, as well as your, best interest to stop by a few diamond dog packs before I leave the country. While I haven’t heard of anything major brewing in any of those that have regular dealings with ponies I still think it’s a good idea to check on them just to be safe. If nothing else my mere presence should at least reassure them that their legends are true and hopefully the examples I’ve left behind will become a trend.

Since I will be traveling through some of the less traveled areas of the country I’ll also be sure to check on a few rumors that Luna had related to me that she never had a chance to check on. While her guard could handle any of the usual things they are sent to deal with there are some that are better taken care of before they have a chance to gain a foothold and go out of control. Even more worrying though, is how some of the rumors were of creatures of darker origins such as undead. Those are the worst kinds of things to leave on their own for any length of time as once they start to spread they can be almost impossible to stop without destroying a large amount of territory.

Oh and before I forget I’ve also set up a way with Spike to get letters back to me though it isn’t as reliable as from me to him. As long as anything you want to send to me is sent within minutes of him receiving anything I send then it should be able to follow the path back to me. Since I am unsure of how long it’ll take for the messages to travel back and forth I will be sure to wait for about ten minutes before assuming that you had nothing ready for me at the time.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I sent off this letter as I watched over the diamond dogs of the recent pack I was visiting go about their day. This was the third pack that I had visited since leaving the princesses company and things were going rather well. It was strange that word of my presence hadn’t spread through the packs yet but it seems as if they don’t communicate with each other often. Getting them to talk with each other more was one thing I was working on fixing now so that the teachings I leave at one would travel to another. More specifically I had them send off a request to the Bloodstone Pack for assistance in the form of a teacher. I felt a bit bad loading things onto Ruby’s plate to deal with but it fit well with her goals except that not only her pack would benefit from the improvements.

I was preparing to head off from this pack having dealt with some of the problems there already and was planning to investigate some of the rumors that were in the area. This part of Equestria was a bit wilder than the other sections, but still nothing like the Everfree could be, so there were a good number of wild monsters roaming around. Strangely enough something had been causing the numbers of wild creatures to diminish lately with no visible reason as to why. It would have been understandable if something else had moved in to take over the area but there was no sign of anything at all. Most being would have taken this as a good sign but I had found that coincidences such as this were often a sign of problems.

This was one of the most minor of the rumors that I had heard from Luna but seeing as it was in my path anyways I thought I’d check it out. Of course since the rumor boiled down to ‘something suspicious is going on’ there wasn’t much reason for it to be a priority. Now that I had more information though I found that it was a good thing that I was in the area since if the disturbance could scare away the more dangerous monsters like hydras and manticores then it meant that something tough was probably there.

I set off from the den towards the forest that these rumors had originated from with a small wave to this den’s alpha and lorekeeper as I go. I had actually been enjoying my time with the diamond dogs I meet even if I have to practically order them to stop bowing and scraping to me every time I pass. Even so they always do seem awfully happy to be of service when I ask for something showing how loyal they really are to my kind. I start to wonder how long it has been since any of my kind had been seen by them and yet they still revered us.

I eventually make it out to the forest and immediately could tell that something was wrong. “It’s not only the large monsters that are gone but even the smaller animals and birds are missing as well. There is definitely something wrong here that needs to be investigated.” I cautiously advance into the forest and keep all my senses on full alert for anything at all. There is something else about the area that worries me as well and it takes me a moment to realize what it is. “The place feels so empty, as if it was drained of all life or something. I’ve never felt anything like this before, even Tirek draining the magic from all those ponies didn’t feel like this.”

As I advance through the forest I can see the plant-life is starting to look less and less healthier than when I started into it. This worried me even more and I started to wonder why Luna’s sources were so inaccurate as to what was wrong here. Whatever was wrong here should have been reported as a major incident and not the minor one it was made to look like. Weaving around another tree I find myself confronted by one of the forests denizens and I froze in reaction to what it was.

I takes me a moment to try and break eye contact with the cockatrice in front of me which should have been too late but examining myself I find myself perfectly fine. The sound of hissing from the cockatrice draws my gaze back to it, the time not looking anywhere on it but it’s eyes, and notice that it looks like it should be dead with all how the flesh is hanging off of various wounds. “Oh great, and undead chicken-snake, can this day get any worse?” I immediately find out how when I try to remove the abomination with my usual undead slaying magic, just to find my spell stop a short distance in front of the creature.

“Oh great, I just had to open my big mouth didn’t I? It’s not just an undead abomination but a magic-eating undead abomination.” I back away a few steps as the creature lets out a shrill cry and starts to shamble towards me as it lets off a faint glow. “Well at least I know why I wasn’t turned to stone by it now that I know what I’m facing. There no longer is any magic in its body to power it as it’s all going to keeping it animated. It must be some variation of a wight but instead of draining the life from its victim at drains the magic instead. This makes it even worse than the normal variety in that it can even drain the plants and rocks around it as well.” My eyes widen as I realize something and dart a look at the plants nearby before sighing in relief. “But thankfully it doesn’t reanimate them through just the draining effect; I don’t even want to think of the possibility of undead plants.”

Looking back to the cockatrice I bound back a few paces as it is starting to get a bit closer than I’d like while I decide how to deal with it. Seeing as I can’t directly attack it safely, reminding me of my need to learn how to fight without magic, which means I have to use less direct means. Luckily I’ve had some experience with this kind of situation making it an easy to solve problem. Breaking of a dried branch from the tree next to me I turn it into a crude torch and send it spearing towards the cockatrice. I watched in satisfaction as the creature begins to go up in flames as it shambles towards me before it collapses from the damage.

“Well at least fire works on the well enough still. Though now I know why all the monsters and animals vanished though the question is how widespread the problem is.” My ears twitch as the sound of snapping branches and bushes floats towards my ears. “Of course with me being the only thing with magic in this area it would also light me up like a bonfire to these things as well. I’d better send a message off while I can since I might have to do something drastic to see that these things are contained. Just being near them is enough to be weakened which means there aren’t many beings that can deal with these safely.”

Pulling out a spare sheet of parchment I quickly jot out a message.

To Princess Luna,

The rumors of this area have been vastly understated and recommend that the source is fired or retrained. Dangerous undead creatures similar to wights, that drain magic instead of life, inhabit the forest now and have been infecting the monsters that they reach creating more. As direct magic is ineffective indirect means are required which means the forest may be a lost cause. I am sending this as a warning in case I am forced to raze the entire thing to contain the outbreak.

From,
Flarenza

I send this off just in time as the first wave of wights arrives in my vicinity along with a beacon spell for the exact location of where I am. Most of them seemed to be smaller creatures like the cockatrice but I was sure that things should change relatively quickly judging from the sounds I was hearing. Burning off this group was a matter of just repeating what I had done with the cockatrice though I was starting to notice something odd. Some of the creatures were giving off a stronger glow and appeared to be in a much better shape than they should have been. They were even moving at a faster pace relative to their size which caused me to come to a startling conclusion.

“These things actually get stronger and move faster the more magic they’ve drained? I really hope that that nothing too dangerous was able to draw in enough to be nearly at a strength that they’d have while alive. I’d rather not find out if it’s possible for them to eat enough to be able to use their natural magic again.” I didn’t have enough time to come up with any other plans as the next wave was coming into view now behind the flames of the previous one. “This is just going to be one of those days isn’t it, I’m just glad I’m not as bad as I used to be when facing these things.”

The second wave was dealt with as easily as the first, yet it was followed by a third, and soon after a fourth. By the time the sixth wave came into view I was starting to worry as they looked to be nearly whole and from what I could hear something big was approaching. “Did I somehow manage to attract everything in this place just by casting a couple spells? This is completely ridiculous.”

I was starting to be a bit tired by the tenth wave of creatures coming after me as I had been out here for hours. “When are these things going to stop coming after me? I can’t believe that this many creatures had been infected without anyone noticing them yet. With my luck dragons are going to start being part of these swarms.” I quickly close my mouth but am too late to stop myself from tempting fate once again. Luckily there were no dragons in the next group but it was nearly as bad as three giant hydras crashed through the trees towards me.

I just stare at them a moment before I come to a simple decision. “Nope, this is just not going to happen anymore. I am so out of here.” I take off running into the stands of dead trees not containing the hydras and try to think of an idea as I race away. Unfortunately nothing comes to mind which means I have to fall back onto my worst case scenario option. “Right, everything burns now, somebody else can deal with the fallout of this as I am not facing down three large magic-eating monsters that can easily swallow me whole.”

With this decision in mind I start sending small bursts of fire off into the trees as I pass them, trying to conserve as much power as I can. This is relatively easy to do as just the smallest bit of fire up in the dried leaves of the trees is enough to make the entire thing burst into flame rapidly. I had underestimated the effectiveness though as the fires spread very rapidly from one tree to the next and was soon starting to overtake me. The fires also did little to slow the hydras either as they crashed through the forest in their efforts to catch me though their efforts managed to spread the flames even more.

“I knew things had been going too well for me recently, the day started out so nice as I left the diamond dogs and now I’m yet again being chased by undead abominations as well as a raging inferno. Once I finish traveling I am going to take a long vacation somewhere nice and quiet.” The chase lasted long into the night and I was started to falter when the first of the hydras finally succumbed to the flames. The other two weren’t looking much better either but I wasn’t going to last much longer with them chasing us as well as the smoke and heat from the forest fire. I was sure that the inferno could be seen for a good distance in every direction now that there was no other light to interfere with it.

Just about when I thought I would collapse from exhaustion I finally got a break that would get me away from here. By this time there was only one hydra left even though two of its four heads were now aflame. I dredged up any remaining energy I had left and charged towards the sight of water that was reflecting the light of the fire. As soon as I came upon the source to find that it was a river I was seeing I plunged in and let the swift currents carry me away. I relaxed myself once I entered the water and just floated along while watching the final hydra finally collapse.

By the time I could drag myself out of the river to shore I was completely wiped out, and the fire was far behind me, and could do little more than crawl under a nearby bush and fall asleep.

Author's Note

Another small chapter though some of it wasn't as I had planned really, ideas mostly just came to me. Would like to see some more comments though even if it's only about typos. Seeing two downvotes with no real explanation for them which makes the system pointless if I don't know what needs to be improved on.

Spirited Winter

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

Yeah, first of all I’d like to apologize for any problems that I just left in your lap after my last letter. There may have been a better way to handle things but when facing down three reanimated hydras that eat magic as well as grow stronger off of it then overkill is probably the safer option. I just hope that none of the other infected creatures escaped from the fire and that this was just a random phenomenon and not the work of something darker. I know that you’re probably mad at me for dropping the cleanup on you all but river escapes don’t often leave you many ways of backtracking especially when you’re asleep for over a day afterwards. I just hope that the time since then has calmed you down enough that I don’t have to worry about you all sending me some nasty surprises.

Of course it’s like there is much worse that you can do that I’m not doing to myself now. It seems that the curse of winter is still with me even after many years of avoiding any problems during the season. As of now I am currently writing to you while under a good amount of snow since I had the bright idea to try and visit Stalliongrad during the winter. I probably wouldn’t even be writing to you now if it wasn’t for my magic as the blizzard going on right now is pretty severe. I had heard that things got pretty bad up here but I have been moving through this storm for almost a week now. I was expecting to be at a town near the city a couple days ago but the weather slowed me down drastically.

If you’re wondering why I’m up here in the first place it’s mostly just a bit of a vacation of sorts. While I may seem a bit crazy doing something like this during the worst season to do it in I find that this would be the best season to do so since it means it should be very quiet. A few weeks of quiet would be nice to have so that I can plan out a few things with what I’ve learned from the various diamond dog groups I’ve visited recently. Of course considering the season it would be a good idea to restock up on things that are hard to get while on the move and since this will probably be the last Equestrian city I pass in a while it’ll be easier to get what I need now than to wait. I just hope that the weather calms down soon as I’d rather not have to fight through it for much longer.

Your Friend(I hope I still am at least),
Flarenza

“Maybe I should add a couple more apologies just in case. Sure Luna probably won’t mind too much since she knows what it’s like fighting these things. Twilight though would have had a fit once she saw what happened but I hope enough time has passed for her to think it over.” Hoping for the best I send off the letter and start gathering my things while waiting to see if anything comes back to me through way of Spike.

It didn’t take long for the something to come back to me through the spell, as if an ocd unicorn was sitting in wait for it, though I wasn’t ready for how they arrived. “Well I guess it could be worse considering how Spike is forced to deliver them.” I shake my tails a few more times to make sure that every letter had been removed from them. I try not to think of ways that could be worse for delivery especially considering how close a less comfortable area for delivery is.

“Well no point in holding off on reading them. It doesn’t look like there are any rude surprises waiting for me at least.” I am soon proven wrong as the first scroll I open up spits out a mess of ash at me. “Of course I could be wrong about that, makes sense that Twilight would be the one to send evidence of what I did out there.”

Reading through the letters I find that things are going about as well as I expected back in Canterlot. Twilight is panicking, like usual, Celestia is sounding disappointed with what I did and Luna seems to be evading the issue. Reading between the lines of the Night Princesses letters I don’t find any disappointment at all and I think I notice a bit of approval as well. “Well I guess things could have been worse but I’d better try and avoid causing any more problems for a while. Maybe I should send Twilight something to help her let go of some of that stress she seems to be hanging on to.”

I try not to think about how much of that stress is directly caused by my actions or through things I supply to her. It makes me wonder if she has done anything with the research notes on golems that I sent her yet. Of course with how she is with her schedules it’ll probably be a few more years until she gets to them. “Maybe next time I visit I’ll hide all her check lists for a couple months. I bet I could get Spike to go along with it just to get a bit of free time for a while.”

Going through the rest of the letters doesn’t reveal much else of importance though I did catch some bits about the finances that I left behind but it’s not something I care about since I have no need of it all while traveling like I am. Putting everything in my packs to peruse at a later point I sit and ponder what to do since the weather looks as if it’s not going to let up any time soon. “I’m getting rather tired of just sitting here under all this snow with nothing to do. I thought that I could have just waited out this storm but even after all this time it still doesn’t look as if it’s going to end soon. It would be nice to know if this kind of weather is natural for the region or if something is really wrong.”

Digging my way out to check the progress of the weather I find that little had changed since the last time I checked. I wasn’t sure if it was the boredom, the lack of color, or if it was just me going completely nuts but I decided to risk traveling in this weather to try and reach the town. It wasn’t like the cold bothered me all that much with my white winter coat and magic to keep me warm. It was just annoying having to plow through all the snow as it got rather tiring doing it, with or without magic.

Packing up the little bit I had out I exit my little burrow and allow the shield holding it together to fade letting me collapse it so that nobody gets hurt on the off chance they walk over it. Comparing the maps I have as well as using a simple compass spell to check directions it’s not that hard to get the correct direction that I want to go. If it wasn’t for the weather I could easily be in town within an hour or two but it’s hard to estimate under the current circumstances.

Walking through the snow was as trying as I expected and with the sound of the wind being my only companion it really made me feel isolated from the world. I was used to the sound of wildlife surrounding me while traveling and even the Everfree at its worst still had some semblance of life going for it. Right now things just felt so lifeless which left my mind open to imagining things as I swear I could hear some sort of equine howling along with the wind.

I was starting to get annoyed by the sounds I was imagining so I was relieved to see signs of the town ahead in the form of a signpost. I didn’t bother checking it as it would mean delaying that much longer which would keep me from finding a nice place to stay until the weather passes. My mood really started to improve when I caught sight of the first building but it rapidly faded when I saw the ice coating the place. “Oh great, I come up here to find a place to relax and it looks like I once again am heading into trouble. I really hope that this building is just an oddity that isn’t repeated.”

Unfortunately things just weren’t meant to be as I pass building after building that are completely coated in ice making me wonder what happened here. “Why do even the simplest of plans have to go to Tartarus in a hand basket? Even worse is that if I don’t figure out what happened here it’s going to bug me.” Searching through the town reveals more of the same with no clue as to what did all this. It isn’t until I reach the center of town that I see the true horror as I start coming across the bodies of ponies frozen where they stand. Nothing was spared as even foals were caught by whatever was causing this phenomenon.

“Well this is definitely not turning out to be the pleasant trip that I had planned. Some reason this all seems familiar but for the life of me I can’t figure out why.” Examining one of the frozen ponies closely I notice that this seems to have happened unexpectedly as there was no fear on their face but for some reason there was a look of anger. Probing with my magic I confirmed that they really were dead and not preserved like some creatures do with their prey. While doing this I detected faint traces of magic, but it wasn’t coming from this area but from somewhere on the other end of town.

I wasn’t sure exactly what it was but there was something odd about what I was sensing so I tried to get across the town quickly. Whatever was causing it had to have some knowledge of what happened here I hoped since there was no sign of any other clues. It may have been possible to find something if there was time to do so but the weather coupled with the proximity to a major city made it unwise to do so. When I came upon the source of the magic I was feeling I almost wished that there was time to find out what happened some other way.

Flying around what looks to be the only house not coated in ice are three spectral looking equines and I knew immediately what they are. “Windigos are still around in Equestria? From all those stories that I heard about this country’s history I could have sworn they were all driven away. Well at least I know what happened to this town now and if they are still here that must mean there is something still alive in there.”

I know I don’t have much time if I want to stop them from doing what they are doing but I couldn’t afford to rush if I wanted to be sure to get out of this safely. Casting out with my magic I am surprised to notice that they register under my undead detection spell though not quite like other varieties I’ve encountered. It’s like they are only halfway undead or something which means that my usual spells may not work quite right. Judging from what effects they are having on the area as well as what I’ve heard about them in stories there is only one thing that comes to mind that potentially has a chance of working.

“Well like I’ve always said, fire fixes everything.” With my usual fallback plan in mind I leave the cover I was in and advance on the house and start gathering my magic. With the weather it’s not as easy as it usually would be but it’s still doable with my current magical strength. As I advance I coalesce five balls of flame around me and I revel in the warmth coming off of them as I take aim at the distracted spirits.

The windigos were so focused on what they were doing that the first indication that they knew I was there was when the one nearest to me took a ball of fire to its head, torso, and rear. Its shriek of pain caused my ears to try and swallow themselves to try and block out the sound of its death cry as its form starts to collapse into frosty pieces. The other two immediately turn towards me and let out shrieks of their own in rage at the loss of their compatriot. Instead of attacking though they fly off at great speed to somewhere north of the town.

“That wasn’t quite what I was expecting them to do and I really doubt that this will be the last I see of them.” Snuffing out the remaining two flames I quickly rush over to the house and, after using a bit more magic to unblock the entrance, make my way inside. While it’s not much warmer inside than out I can tell that someone had been trying to heat the place with magic but it wasn’t enough to stop the monsters, just slow them. The outer parts of the house actually had frost coating the walls which made it easier to find the owner of the place.

Unfortunately when I arrive I find a mare just giving her dying breath as her magic sputters out and fails. I bowed my head to her and just when I was about to turn to leave I catch some movement from her. Quickly moving to her I find that the movement wasn’t from her but from two young fillies that she was curled up around protectively. The two fillies, one a pink pegasi with white mane and the other a green unicorn with a pink mane, look like they are barely old enough for solid foods and look to barely be holding on as the cold creeps in on them. “She did everything she could to protect these two, only a mother or someone else that loves them deeply could have lasted this long against those things.”

Refusing to let the mares sacrifice be in vain, I lift the two up onto my back and secure them there with my magic and cover them protectively with four of my tails. Once I have them settled I hear a cacophony of screams from outside. “It sounds like the windigos are back, and in larger numbers as well. It’s been a while since I’ve really stretched my magic skills but if I’m going to make it to Stalliongrad with these two safely I’m going to have to. Especially if those things are going to be dogging my step the entire way.”

I make my way to the door to the house and begin gathering all of my strength for what is going to be a wild chase through the forests around this place. Once I had tapped into everything I started pushing out spells to boost my speed and strength as well as forming a bubble of intense heat around me while keeping a cushion of cooler air between it and the fillies. Stepping outside I watch as the heat melts the snow which then rapidly freezes into ice as the water reaches the much colder snow below it. This rapid process of melting and refreezing allows me to easily walk on the surface, gripping it with my claws.

“All right, time to get a move on before they get within sight. Keeping these spells up will be hard enough without them trying to counteract the heat with whatever it is they do.” Taking in a deep breath I start my run towards the city at my fastest sustainable pace. Having to dodge around rocks and trees slows me down some which is enough for the windigos to easily catch up since they can fly over everything. The creatures finding me is made easier due to the light fog drifting off of my bubble of heat into the much colder air, even with all the snow.

They try to dive at me in an attempt to catch me but they immediately retreat in pain when they run into the barrier of heat but their actions serve to drain the heat from it forcing me to expend more energy into maintaining it. After their third attempt failing, they just constantly circle around me while projecting the field of cold that they naturally create. “Oh you aren’t going to have things go your way that easily.” I growls at the circling spirits as I conjure up wisps of flame and send them flying out at the circling creatures.

This disrupts them enough that they have trouble keeping up with the chilling effect but isn’t enough to do much damage as any that are injured flee out to recover as another takes its place. I wasn’t sure how many of them were after me but from what I could see there were easily dozens of the creatures. Neither side could get enough of an advantage to cause any real damage so it remained a stalemate between us as I raced through the forest.

My reserves weren’t endless though and I could steadily feel my magic being drained as the chase wore on. I was starting to get worried as I started having to tap even deeper into my reserves than normal just to keep going when I started to notice that the weather was starting to taper off and I could see lights in the distance. Realizing that I was coming up on the edge of the weather area more strongly controlled by the pegasi of the region I drew everything out that I could and put on a final burst of speed.

With the snow clearing I could see movement on the walls of the city as they noticed my escort. The windigos redoubled their attacks on me when the weather broke as they were in danger of losing their prey now that assistance was in sight. I aimed myself towards the gates of the city which I could see were starting to close off and I hoped that I could make it before they finished closing.

Gathering the remains of my magic I focused a blast of flame in front of me to create a path of ice to the gate and the released everything else I had behind and above me in a corona of flames to drive the windigos back as far as I could. This, along with blasts of magic and fire arrows from the walls gave me enough time to pour everything I had left into a final burst of speed as I slid through the gates just before they closed.

Hearing the shrieks of rage from the creatures leaves a satisfying feeling in me as I weakly take a few more steps before collapsing at the hooves of one of the guards that were behind the gates. Taking one last deep breath I manage to get out one last message to them. “Town to the east is lost, only survivors are these fillies.” With that my sight fades to black as my tails fall away from the two younglings.

Author's Note

Well another day another bit of writing done. Would be nice to at least hear something even if it is just to point out any mistakes or gripes. Left that little cliffhanger as I have yet to decide what will happen to those two but it really depends on what feels right when I start the next chapter.

Diplomatic Incident

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

Sometimes it feels like it just isn’t worth trying to do things for others. You try and do something nice for others and it all ends up blowing up in your face without even an apology once everything is investigated. I was forced to spend the weeks I had planned to rest up in Stalliongrad inside of a jail cell after finding a town that was attacked by windigos, saving the only two filly survivors of said town, then getting chased through the snow to the gates of the city and they think I was the one responsible for it all. They are just lucky that they took good care of the two fillies or else they wouldn’t have had to worry about taking care of a jail as it would no longer be there. You’ll probably be hearing complaints from the town sometime as a large portion of the population will be sporting nice pink coats for the next month or so. I made sure to leave notice that it is all thanks to the care the guards gave me as they barely even tried to verify my story and just assumed it was me because I wasn’t a pony. It’s a good thing that I am leaving Equestria now as any future dealings I would have had if I stayed in the country any longer would have been committed by a pony.

It’s going to be interesting to see how much the gryphon lands have changed since I last passed through them. From what I remember honor was always a really big thing for them as well as actually ability. While I may not be able to fly, the time I spent there before allowed me to at least earn the respect of a couple gryphon guards by being able to outsmart a group of criminals which led to their eventual capture. If things haven’t changed that much since then I may actually enjoy my time traveling through the country.

Even if things don’t turn out well for me I’ll at least have a fallback plan as there are a few diamond dog packs that I plan on passing through as well. If I have to vanish for a while it won’t be that difficult to do so as gryphon don’t like going underground so they tend to avoid the diamond dog dens. I don’t expect any problems but with how things have been going I’ve come to expect my original plans to go completely off track. Still things could still be worse as I’m still alive which not many could say after going through what I have.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I had forgotten how much more wild the lands the griffons controlled was with all the time spent in Equestria. While they could do little things with the weather they just weren’t up to par with what pegasi could do. Since they flew around everywhere there was little need for them to tame the land so it was relatively dangerous to travel through. That alone was enough to earn some respect from them as only the best or the lucky could travel through their lands unscathed.

Looking down from my perch in the tree I watch as the chimera continues to pace around the base of it. I just shake my head at it and wonder how long the creature is going to chase me and just be an all-around annoyance. “Whatever happened to animals having good instincts for avoiding danger? If I felt like it I could easily take it on without even breaking a sweat even if it was immune to magic which chimeras normally aren’t.” Sighing I put away my maps as I had finished charting my route to the gryphon capitol.

Seeing as I was almost to the city I decided to use the situation to my advantage as the chimera was a decent size and could be sold for a decent amount to a gryphon butcher. I didn’t need the money but the prestige of such a kill, especially solo, would be enough that most gryphons wouldn’t bother messing with me. Stretching out my body to make sure everything is loosened up I then dive down from the tree I’m in and land in front of the chimera. I then quickly turn away from it and kick it in the feline jaw with a hind leg before taking off towards the capital with the now angered beast in tow.

While running on in front of it I occasionally toss back insults and taunts to make sure it stays angry enough to keep chasing me blindly as I consider how to finish it off. Let’s see, fire spells would do too much damage to the meat and ice spells take too much time. I’d rather not cut it up since I’ll still have to carry it through town and leaking blood could cause issues. I guess I could just go with a focused blast of force and break its necks but that seems rather boring. Hmm, maybe I could try out the reversed featherweight spell I’ve been working on; this could be a good test of how effective it is at least.

I’m surprised that the chimera was keeping up as well as it had been chasing me for quite a while now. By the time I was getting close to the capitol it was looking a bit worn out though I wouldn’t have been much better off if I wasn’t using my magic to boost my stamina. Seeing as I was getting so close to my destination I was keeping an eye out for the perfect location to finish the chase. I spot a good sized tree the looks to be perfect for my needs and I angle the chase towards it.

I slow down enough so that the chimera thinks that it is about to catch me so that its focus is entirely on me. Reaching the tree I rapidly climb its trunk as the chimera crashes faces first into it below me. Once I reach a good height up the tree a flip off of it and aim towards the chimera’s back as I cast the stoneweight spell on myself. Immediately I feel the effects of the spell as I plummet down towards creature at a faster pace. The chimera’s necks audibly snap as I impact into it, killing it instantly leaving only its tail to flail in pain. Unfortunately I wasn’t ready for the spell myself as when I land my left legs fold under me in pain as I sprain them from the landing and extra weight.

“Mmmph, that’s going to be a problem with this spell if I want to use it again like that.” I look over at the chimera and fire a focused blast of force at the snake tail, snapping its neck and making sure it doesn’t come after me. “Well at least I know it works well in theory even if there are a few things to work out with it. I think I’ll just rest a bit here before going anywhere though.”

After about an hour I finally feel well enough to move again though there is still a bit of pain to work through. Getting up I levitate the corpse as I make my way to the gates of the city which are visible from my position. I wonder why nobody had bothered to see what was going on as I did make a good amount of noise, but arriving at the gates I found the guards asleep and nobody in sight that would even need to use it. “Huh, well when the surrounding area keeps most ground-borne beings away and the usual groups fly it makes sense that the guards would get bored. Of course if they get caught sleeping like this I bet they’d still get into trouble.”

Walking through the gates with the chimera’s corpse my eyes are immediately drawn to the multitude of airships that are floating around the city. I could tell right away that they weren’t meant for simple trade or travel as a majority of them had small catapults and ballistae hanging over the edges of them. Strange, I haven’t heard of any major conflicts that would require that many ships to be gathered together. Most of them look pretty new as well. I also make note that they all seem to be connected together by ropes bridges for whatever reason as well.

Shaking my head I search out for a butcher shop and easily find one by following the smell of blood. Many gryphons look at me strangely and look to be about to do something but when the see the body behind me they turn away. I’m not sure of the exact reason for most of them, but as long as problems are kept away from me any reason is fine. This allows me to make it to the shop unhindered.

Business with the gryphon butcher goes relatively quickly as any being that can take on a chimera is one that isn’t worth trying to cheat. It also helped that he knew some gryphons that needed a good amount of chimera meat at the time so he wanted things to go quickly. Leaving the shop with a bag of gryphonic currency I turn my attention to the next thing on my list of things to do in the city.

It doesn’t take me long to find exactly what I was looking for just by following the smell. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had anything other than fish and vegetation to eat. The ponies rarely have any place that serves things like that and the diamond dogs eat mostly gems. While I don’t mind the other stuff it’s nice to have a little bit of variety once and a while.” I’m almost skipping as I walk into the restaurant that I had found.

I am soon seated in a private booth with a succulent plate of meat and potatoes on the table in front of me. I sit there and just savor the smell coming off of it for many minutes before even reaching for my eating utensils. The first bite actually brings a tear to my eye as it had been such a long time since I’ve had red meat of any kind and the taste of the warm blood of the slightly bloody meat just satisfies a craving I hadn’t thought about in years.

The rest of the restaurant watched me as I dig into my meal with gusto. I pay little attention to them beyond noting their staring but I care little about anything beyond my food at this moment. Even the sight of a group of guards entering the building isn’t enough to draw my attention away from my entrée. Of course a sword being stabbed into the center of the table is enough to at least cause me to look up and see what is going on.

Staring down at me is probably one of the most gaudily dressed gryphons I had ever seen. The sight of him in such a garishly green and frilly outfit almost makes me forget about my food. While I’m not a stickler about fashion, being around ponies that made it their job to know what looks good has given me at least some idea of what looks horrible. The lime green of his suit just doesn’t work with the orange highlights of his feathers or the black of the rest of him. I almost miss what he says due to the horribleness of it all.

“So this is the thing that supposedly took down a chimera by itself? It doesn’t look that tough to me.” I just roll my eyes and try to ignore him as I continue eating my food. Oh great, he must be some overly self-important noble. This is going to be more annoying than it needs to be doesn’t it? I just sigh as I try to block out his ranting and finish my meal before things fall through. I am lucky enough to be able to get to the last bite before the gryphon finally goes berserk at me ignoring him.

“Hey! Are you even listening to me? How dare you ignore me!?” With that he rips the sword out of the table and tries to swing it at my head. Sighing I just pull up a bit of magic and redirect the blade upwards into the ceiling with telekinesis and when he’s off balance from his body being forced into an upraised position I then slam him backwards so that his head impacts with the floor knocking him unconscious. The rest of the restaurant is silent as all this goes down and they even start backing away in horror for some reason.

After paying for my meal as well as a bit extra for cleanup I try to leave but one of the guards tries to stop me. “Don’t you know what you just did? That’s the crown prince!?” I look back at the fallen fop and internally wince at the potential problems this is going to cause me. “Is he? He seems to be rather clumsy for someone of that stature.” The guard just sputters as he tries to come up with a reply as I slip out the door. I decide to try and find a place to lay low for a while and hope everything blows over by tomorrow.

Unfortunately I found myself being chased through the streets of the city by the griffon royal guard a few hours later. Of course things don’t work out as planned yet again. Why did it have to be not only a noble, but the heir to the throne that decides to start something with me? So much for gryphons being more straightforward than Canterlot unicorns usually are. I look back at the chasing gryphons and wonder what the best way to lose them would be as well as the fastest way out of the city.

Losing the guards is often easy enough but it doesn’t take long for them to find me again seeing as I’m the only one of my kind in the city. I could use my magic to lose them but I didn’t want to reveal too much of what I could do just in case I needed a trump card for later. Still I’m able to do simple things to throw them off a bit such as using an aversion spell on tree branches and bystanders so that they don’t see them and crash into them while they focus on me.

Eventually I find myself up on one of the airships hovering over the city and I wonder how I even got up here in the first place. Looking back at the catwalk that led from the building I just left to get here I notice that the guards are still following me and in even greater numbers. Shaking my head I decide to resort to drastic measures since turning myself in is not an option as things definitely won’t turn out well for me with a pampered noble brat involved.

Seeing as how I’m already up here I guess these things will have to do as a distraction. It’s just too bad I don’t know what these airships are supposed to be used for in the first place. Looking around a notice a nearby lit lantern and grab it up by the ring with one of my tails. The guards just look at me oddly for a moment until they see me toss it in the air when they just watch in horror. Once it reaches the apex of its flight I split it in two with a burst of energy sending flaming oil across the deck as I take off towards the next ship.

While the guards try to stop the flames on the first ship I start up another conflagration on the second and third ships. By the time I make it to the sixth ship things are getting out of control on the previous ships and I spot gryphons pouring out of buildings to either watch the inferno or to try and put it out. Eventually I reach the last airship where I notice that there isn’t a building connected to the final ship in the chain. Looking over the edge of the ship I spot a cloud a good distance below and come up with a risky plan.

“Well nowhere else to go but down I guess. I just hope that I remember this spell correctly.” Closing my eyes for a moment I cast the cloud-walking spell on myself before taking aim at the cloud and leaping off of the ship. My aim is good and I sail through the air at the cloud but when I collide with it, it only slows me down a good deal before I break right through it. “Oh crud, this is really going to hurt.” I wince as I see the city rise up at me rapidly and I close my eyes and try to go as limp as possible.

The first impact isn’t as bad as I expected as I hit something made of cloth and break through it. This happens a couple more times before a hit the ground hard. Unfortunately by that time I had tensed up in reaction to the other impacts and land badly on one of my legs where I hear a loud snapping sound from causing me to let out a large yelp. “Frig!” That is all I can really force out as a reaction as I clutch at my now broken left foreleg.

Painfully climbing to my other three legs I decide now is a good time to use magic as I hide myself with everything I can and limp my way out of the city. I only glance back once when an explosion erupts from one of the airships and see them all slowly falling to the ground in flames.

Author's Note

Hmm, I'm starting to run low on ideas and might have to pick things up a bit to the main bit. I was hoping to get to ten chapters before then and I think I may only have two or three more worth of ideas for before that section. I'm considering interactions with a few of the other races of the world but I'm not quite sure what to go with so ideas may be considered.

As usual please leave any comments or typos found in the area below so things can be improved.

Dragon Along

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

I sometimes wonder who I made angry to have all these things happen to me. When it’s not gryphon nobles trying to get revenge on me for some imagined slight it’s a horde of undead monstrosities that have been buried for centuries. Add that to the fact that I’m still recovering from a broken limb and you can imagine a bit of what I’ve been going through lately. All I need now is to be trapped in a dragon’s lair and things will be just perfect. As it is things have just been going way off track lately and I’m hoping to get back to my original plans once again.

The issues with the gryphon will hopefully be forgotten eventually but even so I don’t plan on heading back to the gryphon capital any time soon. I was able to lose any pursuit easily enough but things turned out a bit badly so I had to take refuge with one of the diamond dog packs in the area so that my leg could heal up. I’m still not used to how they always treat me when I go to one of these groups and it always feels so embarrassing with how they always act around me. I try to do what I can for them so that I deserve the praise and loyalty the shower me with but it doesn’t feel like enough sometimes. This groups at least had some level of education that others I’ve found hadn’t had but I later found it was because things had been spreading from the few packs I already visited so there wasn’t much for me to do in that way. Luckily, or unluckily in some ways, there was an important task that they requested of me. I agreed ahead of time to do it but I partially regretted it when I found out that they had problems with an old abandoned mine. The mine was sealed for centuries as a plague went through the place turning all the workers into undead abominations.

Clearing out the mine was easy enough but I ran into an even worse problem when I found the source of the problems there. Someone at one point built a portal into Tartarus within an underground laboratory and the miners accidentally broke into it. I managed to drive the demons back into the portal before destroying it but the resulting explosion left me trapped inside the lab with the mine sealed. There looks to be nothing of any worth in this place and I decided to take a moment to rest before finding the way out. I’m not overly concerned about escaping the place since there seems to be fresh air coming from somewhere. At least things are rather quiet down here so that I can rest without anything coming after me.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I yawn as I look at the empty halls around me and wonder if there is somewhere nearby that will allow me to clean myself up at. I still had some things dripping off of me that I didn’t want to think about from dealing with the creatures in the mine. “It’s just too bad there isn’t anything left down here to make this little adventure profitable in some way. Granted with how demons and undead were involved I probably wouldn’t have been able to use any of it anyways if there was something left.”

Picking myself up off the ground I move on over to the exit of the room and try to search for the exit to the surface. It was obvious that this place hadn’t been in use for a while as the rooms I passed were completely bare of anything except mold and mildew. Not even furniture or the remains of them were around which seemed rather odd considering the portal that I had found here. It struck me as strange as well since the demons must have been here for a while and would have likely brought things of their own.

I pondered the oddities of the place I as began to ascend a staircase that had the scent of fresh air flowing down it. There was the scent of something else on the air as well but I filed that away for later as the other mysteries seemed more important. As I was nearing the top of the stairway I noticed that the walls started looking more natural as if it was part of a cave when something came to me. “Wait, if the path and fresh air is so obvious then why haven’t the demons been rampaging across the countryside? They wouldn’t be sitting around the portal unless something was blocking the way out or…”

I exit from the stairway into a cavernous room to find the reason for them being trapped. “…Or else something powerful is guarding the exit.” I sigh and slam my head into the wall as I remember what I wrote earlier as I look at the giant dragon atop a pile of treasure. Looking at the dragon I was guessing it was rather old considering its size as well as some of the scars on its body. I’m really starting to think that something is spying on me and making everything I say come true in a way to annoy me. If I get out of this I’m going to make sure I stop saying things that’ll get me into situations like this.

I was so busy slamming my head into the wall that I wasn’t paying attention to anything else when I hear a feminine voice call out. “As fun as it is watching you bang your head into the wall would you mind telling me how you got passed me to those stairs?” I don’t even realize who was speaking as I answer. “Oh I got in through the mines the broke into a room with a portal to Tartarus and had to come this way when the mine tunnel collapsed.” It was only then that I realized that I was being spoken to and I looked up to see that the dragon was awake and staring at me.

I just sit there staring in fear at the large being as she just stares down at me in curiosity. While I could see her form clearly it was still too dim to see much of her coloration, at least until she lights the torches around the room revealing her large lavender form. Seeing the look on my face the dragoness raises a claw and waves it at me. “Oh settle down there, I was only curious and it’s not like you’re one of those demons that always come up through there.” She pauses for a second and takes a closer look at me. “Though it certainly has been a while since I’ve seen a kitsune wander through here, a couple centuries in fact.”

She looks thoughtful for a moment before squinting at me as if looking for something and taking a deep breath. “In fact you do kind of smell like her and I seem to recall that she had a small bundle with her as well.” This information shocks me as there was only one possible thing that comes to mind from this. “Could it be that you actually met my mother when I was too young to remember?”

The dragoness blinks at my owlishly before letting out a little chuckle. “Well, well; it really is a small world then. How has she been doing lately? We had some interesting conversations back then and I’m sure she’d have some more interesting stories after all this time.” I look down at my paws before replying sadly. “She was murdered about a decade after that by a necromancer. I had been taking care of myself since then until I found a place to stay for the next century to recover and prepare to find where I came from.”

The dragoness looks shocked as well as saddened by this news. “That’s actually disheartening to hear. The long lived races are rare enough without others killing them off even if it is difficult to do so. Granted the fact that she was under a curse would have prevented her from using her full strength to defend herself.” I look at her oddly when she says this. “What do you mean by a curse? I’ve never heard anything about this before.”

The dragoness lowers herself back onto her piled treasure while I take my seat a respectable distance away. “She didn’t mention much about it as there were things preventing her from doing so. All she mentioned was that it prevented her from finding a home and was targeting her through her name. It has made me wary about giving my own out to others until I know how such magic works.” I hadn’t heard of magic like this before and I wondered how powerful it could be if it made a dragon wary of it. It further proved the strength my mother had which I was only now being able to copy to an extent.

“She never told me about that before, in fact she told me very little about her past beyond passing along some of the skills she had picked up. I don’t even know how long I can live and the only hint that I have of being longer lived than most others is by outliving most of the friends I had made.” She looks at me in sympathy over my words.

“That is the curse of having a long lifespan. Outliving those that you would call a friend is always painful but you should never regret it as their memories will live on through you. I’ve found that it helps to find others that have similar lifespans so you at least have others that you can turn to for companionship. I actually enjoyed the time your mother spent with me and really did hope that we could meet again.” I start getting a bit depressed at the current topic though thinking back to the princesses helps a little.

“I may have to look into that type of magic myself so that I can at least defend myself from it. I’ve found that learning how to perform the spells of a specific branch let you find ways to best counter them as well. Knowing the worst parts of necromancy has let me counteract the effects of it and interestingly enough it’s even helped handle demons to some extent as well. Most of them dislike the same sort of positive magic and it works to overload portals to their home as well.” The dragoness looks at me oddly once again.

“That’s the second time you mentioned a portal? Does that have something to do with those annoying creatures that occasionally come up through there and try to attack me? They have been getting rather annoying and aren’t even slightly edible even.” I was about to ask how she didn’t know about what was down there but looking at her size it’s pretty obvious that she couldn’t look down there. “Yes, there was a portal connected to Tartarus down there with a few demon guards. A nearby mine accidentally broke into the room some time ago which resulted in the miners being turned into undead by something. A nearby diamond dog pack asked me to clear the place out though they didn’t know the cause at the time.”

The dragoness looks thoughtful for a moment before replying. “While I don’t quite like diamond dogs, since they tend to try stealing from me, nothing deserves to have that happen to them. Though what were you doing with them in the first place?” I sigh in exasperation. “Well there seems to be some kind of connection between my kind and them in such a way that they practically worship us. It’s actually kind of embarrassing how much they try to do for me. I have to practically bully them into letting me help them out to repay them.”

She looks at me strangely for a moment before responding. “You know most beings would jump at the chance to be in your position yet you just want to throw it all away.” I just shake my head at her. “I’ve seen what happens to those that are put in charge of others like that. They either become corrupted by the power that they hold or they lose almost all freedom as they slave away for others. While I’m willing to help out if asked I prefer to keep my freedom.” This causes the dragoness to laugh in response to my reaction at being thrust into a leadership role.

“Well it’s good to know that if you ever were in that kind of position you wouldn’t be out to hurt others. But I guess considering how the diamond dogs act, there’s a good reason to not want to be in charge of them.” I contemplate glaring at her for the comment but I know she is right, at least until they improve under the education system I was spreading. “Well I have been working on bringing up the standards they live by especially on the intelligence front. The thing is there is supposed to be something even higher than me that they are waiting on to return. I don’t know if who they are waiting for is real or not but I’ll find out once I find my own origins. Though… I think that I have an idea to help you out with the thievery since just asking them would be only a temporary fix for the problem.”

The dragoness looks on in interest as I dig out some chalk and a gemstone from my bags. While I don’t need to use a magic circle anymore for my enchanting work it still makes it easier and allows me to pour more power into it. Having had so many years of practice it only takes me moments to draw out the appropriate diagram with the gem in the center. Taking a moment to look around I spy one of the torches that are nearby and pull a bit of the magical essence floating around it still. Taking the energy I combine it with the source of the enchantment to tie its energies with the dragoness.

It doesn’t take me long at all to finish the enchanting process and I toss the gem to her as she watches in interest. “This should help stop all but the strongest beings from getting at your hoard. Just set the gem somewhere nearby and tap it a couple times.” She follows my instructions with interest and a lavender barrier erupts from the gems to surround her and her treasure. She tries to poke at the shield and gets a confused look on her face when her claw just passes right through it. “While this is rather pretty how is it supposed to stop thieves?”

In response I just toss a rock at the barrier to watch it bounce off instead of passing through. “I tied the spell to your magical signature making it so that only you can pass through the shield. It would take someone remarkably strong to break through it with brute force or to even copy your signature to pass through. The only thing you might have to worry about are dragons that are closely related to you as they may have magic that is similar enough to fool the spell.” She looks rather impressed with my work.

“That is rather impressive. I’ve heard of enchantments that can do things like this but there aren’t many that can pull them off with this much skill. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that last bit though, any of my relatives are a long ways away and don’t know where I live.” I feel a bit embarrassed with the praise though I believe I may actually be getting close to what my mother could do. “There is something else I should warn you about. I’m not sure how long the enchantment will actually last as I haven’t had a chance to test how long they will last. The ones I’ve done in the past were still going strong when I last checked so expect it to at least last a few centuries. If it isn’t strained to badly it could even last for a millennia or two I’d think considering my earliest works are nothing compared to what I can do now.”

Her eyes widen at this is surprise. “Well now this really is a fine gift then. I’ll be sure to always treasure it.” We talk for a while longer before it starts getting rather late in the day. Seeing as it has gotten late she allows me to stay in her cave for the night where we talk for a good deal longer. When I leave the next morning I feel good about myself having potentially made a good friend and I hope that I can meet her again in the future. Having some time to relax and examine my feelings after hearing from someone else who knew my mother it made me realize something strange.

Ever since I had that episode with the feral diamond dogs I had been feeling something rather odd with myself. It was only recently that I realized that it felt as if I was being pulled somewhere that was in the direction of where I heard my people had gone in the past. I had no idea what it was but the closer I came to the location it was pulling me to the harder it was to ignore it. I only hoped that whatever was at the other end wasn’t a threat.

Author's Note

As usual please leave comments and typos found below. Not much else to say but things are starting to come to a point where some things start to be revealed. Expect a few bad jokes in the next chapter though just as a warning.

Voyage on the Seas

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

Since the last letter I have vowed to be much more careful about what I say or write. As I was leaving the place that I wrote to you last I ran into exactly what I mentioned in the letter, a dragon. Luckily the dragoness was rather friendly and she also happened to have met my mother. It’s too bad that Spike is so far away as he could probably learn a few things from her since she looks to have been around long enough to not have the arrogance of the younger generations of dragons. Interestingly enough I think that I may have made a friend of her in the short time we talked and I hope to see her again sometime in the future.

Recently I have started to realize how much I enjoy writing these letters as well as reading your replies. Talking with that dragon helped me realize that while I may lose friends due to old age but you all will still be there. Even Celestia mentioned this fact before in her own way but I just didn’t understand at the time. While I have no idea how long I will live it really is reassuring to know that you all will still be around in the future.

Still it leaves me something to think on more deeply while I travel around in my search. Of course it makes it hard to think deeply on this when you have an old minotaur rambling on about the origins of a cities name while you pretend to listen and take notes. I have been hearing some interesting rumors lately about some diamond dog pirates and I figured that I should check it out. While it isn’t odd to find diamond dogs doing various jobs around the world it is strange that an entire group of them are running a ship even if it is for piracy. This leads me to believe that they may be more intelligent than the ones I have been used to seeing and means they may have some information that I can use.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

“…and that is why the name of this great city was changed from Cowstantinople to the current name of Istanbull.” It takes me a moment for my mind to catch up on the conversation before I look at the old minotaur bull oddly. “Wait? What does all that have to do with why there are so many turkeys running wild around the city?” I gesture towards all the wild birds that are clogging up the streets right now. “Oh that’s easy; they all had a vote on putting the change into place. In fact more turkeys than anything else turned up for the vote and the change of the name made most of the old laws worthless.”

I look between the old bull and the flightless birds and wonder why I was even bothering with this line of questioning. I can’t even remember how we even got onto this topic and wonder why I’m even bothering with questioning him now. Reading back over the letter before sending it reminds me once again of what I had originally asked him about. “As great as that story was, you still never answered my original question about what you knew about those diamond dog pirates I had been hearing about.”

The old bull just seems to ignore me as he fiddles with his mug in front of him. I sigh as I slam my head into the table and consider searching for a diamond dog to ask. I had decided to hide most of my tails as well as wear a cloak to hide myself in the off-chance that the griffon empire was still chasing after me this far. I was pulled from my thoughts as a feline-like biped stepped up to the table from behind the minotaur. I can’t tell their gender underneath the cloak they are wearing though from their voice I was guessing male.

“I hear that you are looking for information on the dreaded Diamond Dog Pirates. I’m sure we can work out an appropriate trade for such information.” I look him over a bit and try to decide if I would be better or worse off with getting the information from him than the old bull I was directed to. He looked rather shady but considering how the rest of the port looked he wasn’t really out of place here. Thinking on my funds I conclude that I am getting a tad low on funds but information of this kind is probably going to cost me something anyways. Sighing, I pull out a few coins and set them down in front of the feline causing his eyes to widen.

“Well, well, well. It seems that you really do want this information badly if you want to spend that much for it.” He pulls up a nearby chair and seats himself between me and the minotaur who seems to be oblivious to everything around him. “Well you did pay a good amount so I guess that means you deserve every little bit that I have. There are many rumors about who they are and where they are from but most of them agree on a few things. They come from some undiscovered land or island across the sea though nobody has seen it before. Also even though they are labeled as pirates the actually avoid taking real valuables and instead take everything else such as food, tools, and materials. The number of pirates is also unknown yet there has never been more than a single ship spotted at a time, yet ships are hit in areas days from each other around the same time.”

I start to reconsider having paid so much for this information as it doesn’t tell me much at all. I am about to say something before the felinoid being raises his claws as if he remembered something. “Ah yes, there was also one other thing that came up on occasion. I can’t tell you if this is true or not as there has yet to be a clear sighting but it seems that the leader of the ships is not a diamond dog at all.” My eyes narrow at this and I wonder where he is going with this. “It seems that whatever it is can use some kind of magic and walks on four legs instead of two. The only times it has been seen though is with it hiding in a shadowy doorway while covered up by a cloak. Strangely enough while using magic there is no light from under its cowl like should happen with a unicorn.”

My eyes widen at this information and I wonder if this information is truly accurate as there aren’t many races that use magic. I nod to the feline and turn away from the table, leaving him to the money I had left him. Could that rumor actually be true; and if so could it really be another kitsune? I can’t think of any other races that would be able to not only control a group of diamond dogs and also use magic as well. This is actually the first I’ve heard of any rumors that would even remotely match what I look like and it not be because of me in the first place.

There wasn’t much else I could learn in the town that wasn’t either a wild speculation or an obviously made up rumor. Though with it being a major trade port it did allow me to restock up on supplies for a potentially long trip across the ocean. I didn’t expect that any of the ships here would actively search for the pirates, no matter how much they got paid. Luckily I had some ideas as to how to cross by myself though it would be a bit more wearying than getting a boat.

I waited until early the next morning so that I was well rested and unobserved for what I had planned next. The clouds were rather light and wispy but there were still enough to gather up with my magic and compact them into one of a decent size to ride around on. After casting a cloud-walking spell on myself I leaped up onto it and started floating it out across the waters. “I would never have thought being injured and being forced to learn how to travel around on a cloud would come in handy again.”

Sailing through the air like this leaves me plenty of time to think and it’s not as hard as I remember from before. “It’s nice to be able to relax for a bit at least. I’m not sure how long that will last though, since I’m not sure how those diamond dogs will react to me. I can’t expect them to act the same as all the other packs I’ve seen since they don’t seem to be acting the same as all the others. That’s especially true if there really is another kitsune that is leading them.”

I try to imagine what another of my kind would even be like as my mother was the only other one I had met. There must have been a reason for her to have been out on her own but she never told me what it was. “There isn’t much I can do until I actually meet one anyways. But I can at least I can throw them off a bit by keeping my abilities hidden until I need them. I’m really not sure what I can do if I push myself to the fullest of my abilities but I’m pretty sure I can do a good amount of damage.”

I pause in my thoughts as I truly think on what I may be capable of with my full strength. “I remember Twilight saying that she could wipe out a good sized city if she poured everything into one large blast. I’m not sure how close I am to her in strength but I do have a bit of an edge when it comes to technique. At the very least I could probably fight her to a standstill at the very least if neither of us catches the other completely off-guard. As long as I don’t find anything as strong as her I should be fine, and even something as strong as Celestia I can surprise enough to overwhelm them if I downplay my powers. If all else fails though I can always attempt using some chaos magic, though it is always risky to use it and controlling it is near impossible while guiding it is hard enough.”

I float through the skies over the ocean for a few days without any sign of land or the ships I am searching for. I had enough food to last me a few months and water was easily obtainable using a gem enchanted to gather moisture from the air, while shielding the cloud from its effects. The pulling feeling I had been feeling was still as strong as ever though I was starting to lose track of the exact direction it was guiding me as I got closer to wherever it was. With all this extra time on my paws I was able to catch up on my studies a bit, though I almost lost a book after forgetting to enchant it so that it didn’t fall through the cloud.

It took over a week to finally catch sight of something that looked suspicious enough to investigate. On the horizon were two ships that were moving around oddly and when I got closer I found that one was attacking the other. I kept myself well above them and just observed what was going on. While I remember that Equestria was working on metal sea ships the two below me were still of the wooden varieties. I couldn’t identify what kind they both were as I had no knowledge of such facts but the one being attacked looked to be of a fatter variety meant for trading. The other one was sleeker and obviously meant for speed but it looked as if it could still carry a good amount on board.

The smaller vessel looked to come out on top during the battle yet it soon pulled away leaving the other one intact. Taking this as a good sign I floated down slower while staying above it and eventually was able to pick out a few figures aboard it. “Well, looks like I found those pirates I’ve been hearing about. I don’t see anything except diamond dogs aboard the ship from here. Funny how there doesn’t seem to be a flag of any sort flying from the mast like is usually done. I guess it can’t be much stranger than a group of diamond dog pirates I guess.”

I follow along above the ship for a while and just observe it to see if I can notice anything else about it that may help me. There wasn’t really much to see though other than that they also suffered from one of the usual common problems I’ve seen in the ground-bound races that even I’ve been guilty of. “They should have noticed by now that a cloud has been following them for a while now and it isn’t going the same direction as other clouds. That’s probably the biggest reason why the gryphons and pegasi were such successful warrior races.”

Near the end of the day I decide that I had been following them for long enough and decided to try and make contact. I wasn’t stupid enough to do it without being safe about it so I slowly float down towards the crow’s nest while maintaining a light shield to stop projectiles. Getting close to my destination I find that none of the crew have bothered looking up yet and the one in the crow’s nest was asleep. Deciding not to actually board the ship for the sake of politeness I just float there above the diamond dog and wait for him to awaken.

After sitting there for a good while with no response from the sleeping dog and the rest of the crew still not noticing me I decide to try and hasten things. Turning to my side a bit I unveil one of my tails and bring it down to the diamond dog’s nose and start tickling it. At first I think that it isn’t working but when he lets out a large sneeze I find that it worked a little overly well as I am forced to shake my tail dry. “Huh? Wuhza? Who’s there? I wasn’t asleep, honest!”

The diamond dog looks around in panic and looks confused when he doesn’t see anyone before sighing in relief. I shake my head as I lower my cowl before clearing my throat to get his attention as I float above him. “You know, you really should look up more often so things don’t sneak up on you.” The canine’s head immediately swings in my direction and his jaws drop at the sight of me sitting on a cloud above him. It isn’t until I wave a paw in front of his eyes that he realizes that I really am there.

“Who are you? The Captain said nothing about another High One showing up during this trip.” I take note of his odd accent and rather polished speak as I mentally thrill at his words. He said ‘another’ High One. That must mean that the rumor really was about another of my kind being in charge of these pirates. “Well it would be interesting to see another High One as it’s been a couple centuries since I’ve seen one and that was my mother.” His eyes widen when I finish speaking as if I said something he never expected to hear.

With something like fear in his eyes he scrambles down the mast at a quick pace leaving me alone up in the crow’s nest. “Well that was an odd reaction but rather refreshing in a strange sort of way. I wonder what caused him to panic like that to just leave the ship without someone to keep watch.” Looking down I notice that the others had finally noticed me and some were even pointing up at me now. It doesn’t take me long to notice another figure moving across the deck under a large cloak similar to mine own.

I watch as he bounds up the mast to where I am and I admire their style while catching sight of fox tails under the cloak. I wonder what they are using to jump like that. It could be a rather useful spell to know if it is one. If it’s all physical strength then I really need to start working out more in the future. Soon enough the figure reaches the crow’s nest and looks up to observe me and I lower the cloud so they don’t have to crane their neck up so much. “Well look at that. I thought that the crazy pooch was spouting mad-dreams again but he really was right about a wee lass being up here, and a pretty one to boot.”

I can feel my face warm a bit at that as I wasn’t used to compliments of the sort having not been around my kind before. “Now what is a cute little vixen like you doing all this way from the kingdom? Did the old Lord and Lady send a message to me about what has been going on back home?” This is the second time that I was thought to be from wherever my kind originated from which causes me to worry a bit.

“Um, I actually have no idea where this kingdom place is. I’ve been wandering the world since I was born and much of it without being around other kitsunes.” I think this may have been the wrong thing to say as he rears back in surprise throwing his hood off to reveal his blue furred form. “I was really hoping that he wasn’t correct when he said that you weren’t from the kingdom. You should know that once you are banished from the kingdom or leave without permission then returning is impossible. In fact you being on this boat is enough for me to be forced to kill you.”

I just raise an eyebrow at this before looking down at the ship and then back at him. “Well it’s a good thing I’m not actually on the boat so things don’t have to get ugly.” I point a paw down at the cloud I’m on which he looks at in amusement. “Aye, that does be true. I don’t like having to put that order into effect though most kitsune that are thrown out aren’t crazy enough to return and force me to do so.” He chuckles good-naturedly as I ponder something about what he said.

“You mentioned that those that leave or are thrown out aren’t allowed back, but what about those that have never actually been there?” He’s about to say something but he freezes with his mouth open in confusion. “That is a good question actually. It has never really come up before and thinking about it if you had gone through the entrance to the kingdom you shouldn’t even be trying to get back due to the geas that is laid upon those that break the laws. In fact when I left I was notified that there were no exiles living on this plane at this time so you being here should be impossible.”

I smile at him at this point which causes him to break out into laughter. “In fact out of all of the laws I can think of; then the only one that applies to you is the ancient law when the kingdom was founded that guaranteed safe travel for all kitsune-kind to the borders by those with the means to do so. So I guess that means I have to welcome you aboard the Sea Diamond as we return to the kingdom.” He waves a paw down to the ship and I nod and accept his invitation as I step down from my cloud. Without me powering its propulsion it quickly falls behind us to the surprise of the kitsune.

“Well that must have been a useful spell to travel around with. How about we go down to my cabin so we can chat in peace while the crew brings us towards the kingdom?” I nod to his idea and follow his leaping down to the deck by walking vertically down the mast. The diamond dogs on the ship watch me as I walk down and I wonder what is up with them now as the other kitsune waits for me at the bottom. “Well you sure do have an interesting bag of tricks lassie. You learned some neat tricks wherever it was you’ve been hiding these past years. Now if you’d just follow me we can get somewhere a tad more comfortable.”

I was a little wary about following him into his cabin but I was sure I could handle him if I needed to. On entering his cabin I am impressed by how comfortable it looks without being overdone like I’ve seen nobles do. “Huh, rather cozy looking place here.” He nods as he removes his cloak and tosses it into a corner of the room. This is the first time I get a good look at him and I worry a little bit as his six tails are now revealed to my sight. Okay if things go bad I may have a bit of a problem dealing with him now. My only hope would be the element of surprise but I hope it doesn’t come to that.

I pull off my own cloak before placing into one of my bags and taking a seat on the cushions he gestures to across from him. “A two-tail, huh? I’m kind of surprised that you were able to pull off some of those tricks you did then. I would think that it would take at least a three-tail to be able to pull off the things you did and even then with some difficulty.” I raise an eyebrow at his knowledge of magical theory. “Well with over two centuries of practice the spells do tend to get easier.”

I once again feel as if I said something wrong as his eyes widen as he stares at me. “Now you are just toying with me. Two-tails don’t live for that long, especially looking as good as you do now, and even three-tails start going a bit grey around that age.” He looks at me suspiciously as I curse my lack of knowledge of how my body works. “Is it really that odd for a kitsune to hide their tails when they are traveling around to make it easier to keep them clean?” I try to act innocently but from the look on his face it’s obviously not working as well as I hoped.

His bursting out into laughter isn’t what I expect from him though which leaves me a tad confused. “Well now if you can do that you’re really going to rile up the nobles back home. So how about revealing them so that I don’t have to guess and know how best to treat you?” I sigh as I realize that any chance of surprise now is gone so being honest is the only safe thing to do now. I nod to him as I focus a bit and feel a rush of energy as all five of my tails come into view before I open my eyes to see his reaction.

“Well now, a five-tail with only two centuries behind her? You are really going to shake up the court when you arrive and many won’t be happy with the competition.” I groan at his words which causes him to chuckle at my reaction. “What? Don’t care much for politics?” I shake my head. “I’ve come to abhor them after seeing how little they really do and how much they hurt those they are supposed to help. Am I really going to be forced into them when I arrive?”

The blue-furred kitsune just nods. “Any kitsune with five or more tails is considered to be a noble and has a place at the court. From how little knowledge you have shown about yourself I’m guessing you have a lot to learn but you seem intelligent enough to learn quickly.” I sigh as I shake my head at the thought of being forced into these things. “You’re right about me lacking knowledge of what are probably simple things to you, though if your reactions to the simple tricks I’ve done is of any indication I bet I can teach them a few things they never would have expected.”

This causes him to burst out laughing once again as he rings for a crewman to send in some food. “Aye lassie I really was right about you. You really are going to shake things up and it’s about time it happens. I prefer to be out here on the high seas than back there since they’ve gotten so boring. Usually it’s a punishment to be sent out here but I’m proud to be called Admiral Farraige and whatever happens you’ll have my support at court. I never did ask your name, did I?” He realizes the last bit and asks a tad hesitantly.

“While I don’t have any fancy title like you my name is Flarenza.” He smiles as he raises a glass that had been brought in by one of the crew and we continue talking about little things for the rest of the night until I’m shown to an adjoining cabin that was prepared for me.

<><><><><><><>

It was about another week before we reached our destination and I was surprised with the island that the harbor was located on. There were many vessels there but the size of the island was too small to support anything the size of a kingdom. I was about to ask him what was going on when he waved me along to follow him through the town. I was curious so refrained from saying anything as I followed him to our destination.

As we approached what I believed was the center of the island I was about to speak up when he suddenly turned towards me with a smile. Gesturing with a paw to the side I turn to look to see the reason why Celestia never found where the kitsune went as I stare into a large shimmering portal.

Author's Note

And here ends the exploration arc which I guess could have gone longer but I felt it best to end here. Next up will be the start of the main story for this book which will involve a good amount of improvement to the character and some expanding on the lore.

As usual send any comments or typos found and I'll see what can be done.

New Sionnach

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

This may be the last time in a long while that I can write to you all though I will try my best to keep doing so. After so many years I have finally found what I was looking for and I am actually a little bit scared now that I am standing here preparing to take the final step. I had always wondered how beings that make Celestia worried could hide for as long as they did but upon arriving here I finally understand how they did it. I can’t say anything too specific about it as to preserve their privacy but I will say the spells used to do so are stronger than anything I’ve seen before, rivaling even what Discord does at his worst.

Still after all these years on the move I am always surprised by some of the things that I run into unexpectedly. There was this port city that changed its name recently and you won’t believe the reasons I was given when I asked around. The last one I heard before I left was probably one of the oddest ones by far and I still wonder what turkeys had to do with the decision. I’ll probably never know and I bet when others ask in the future the truth is going to be so muddled that they’ll probably make up something completely new that seems to make more sense.

One last thing I will say before I sign off for what is hopefully not the last time. I have actually met the first kitsune other than my mother after this whole time and he was the one to escort me here. After talking with him over the last few days I really found it hard to distrust him though I worry about some of the things he has said. If it is all true then I am a bit worried about the kind of reception I will receive when I get to the capital of the kingdom. From how it sounds I will somehow be counted as some kind of noble and while I disliked having to deal with them back in Equestria I still remember some of the things I learned from my friends that will hopefully help me here.

Oh and before Cadance starts thinking too deeply about that kitsune I met; while I find him interesting it’s more of a mentor relationship than anything. He seems to be willing to watch out for me at the courts here and generally seems to be a caring being. There is just something about him though that I can’t quite place; something about his voice just feels off to me but I’m not sure what it is. It’s not any sort of spell from what I can tell but there is just something that I can’t identify as of yet. While I’m sure that I can trust him well enough I will still be sure to be careful since I know so little as of now.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I watch as the last letter I may ever be able to send to my friends flies off in a wisp of smoke and wonder if this really is the right thing to be doing. The Admiral had already gone ahead allowing me time to prepare myself for the final steps into a new world. I look at the portal he had gone through and wondered how much power and skill it took to not only keep it up and running, but to also keep it hidden from some of the most powerful beings I had ever met. I had taken some time to examine it and I had found that it was only visible if you were close enough to it but it also vanished if you were at the wrong angle as well. This made it where the only way to find it was to either know exactly where it was or to be the luckiest thing alive and find it on accident.

I wasn’t lying when I wrote that I was a bit scared, though it may have been closer to being completely terrified. It was really intimidating to finally have the answers I had been searching for over the period of two centuries that I was almost wanted to run away and not come back. Even the feeling of being pulled towards the portal wasn’t quite enough to stop that feeling as it was even worse than facing down Celestia the very first time. “I never did think about what I would do once I found my way here. Sure it will take me a while to learn everything that I want to but what do I do after that? Even when my friends obtained their dreams they still could improve themselves within it but once I learn what I wanted to here then what is next?”

This was the first time I had even considered that there would be something after I found my kind as before I could only find rumors and no real facts. In fact I was actually enjoying my time traveling around that I was taking more pleasure in doing that than my actual search. I almost regretted that it was all finally coming to an end but the relief at travels finally coming to an end was also a relief. This portal was the only thing standing between me and the end of my journey now and it took all of my being to prepare to take that last step. Drawing in the deepest breath I could, I hold it for a couple minutes before finally releasing it and walking through the shimmering entrance.

I had my eyes closed the entire way so I didn’t see anything as I went through but the feeling was worse than being teleported without consent. When it finally ended and my eyes opened I found myself at the bottom of a cliff in front of a vast forest. There was something familiar about it but I just couldn’t place my paw on it until I noticed something wander out of the forest towards me. “Are those timberwolves? And why does this place feel like the Everfree Forest?” I keep an eye on the two wolves as they advance on me while I try to figure out what is going on. The two wolves advance on me but they don’t seem to be hostile in any way. Once they get close to me they both sniff at me before nodding and wandering back the way they came from.

“Well that was rather odd behavior for them.” I snapping sound to the side caused me to whip around to find a three-tailed kitsune with fur that blended in almost perfectly with the surrounding trees. “Well the old admiral was right, you really never have been here before though that doesn’t explain how you know about the wolven guardians, or timberwolves as you called them. Anyways let me be the first to welcome you to New Sionnach, the last refuge of the Kitsune Kingdom.”

When he mentioned the name of this place I almost went into shock as I hadn’t thought about that place I found in the Everfree for a long time. Thinking about the things I found over the years it actually made sense and the timberwolves being here were pretty solid proof of it being true. It also explained the feeling of familiarity of this place as it meant that the Everfree was once the home of my kind. It actually made a bit of sense as I had always felt at home in that place and enjoyed looking out over it from my window.

“Hey, are you okay there, miss?” The voice of the other kitsune snapped me out of my daze and I turned my attention back to him. “Oh sorry, it’s just a bit of a shock to finally be here. I had been searching for a long time and only now do some of the pieces finally fit.” He smiles at me and nods, though doesn’t say anything else regarding that. “Well anyways, the admiral said he would meet you in the capital which you can reach just by following the path there, you’ll know it when you see it. Why he would ask for a two-tail to meet him there though.” He trails off there and heads back to where he was hiding before as I look back over my disguised form.

I’m not sure I like how he said that but I’ve already had some worries when he mentioned that just by having five-tails makes you royalty. Maybe I can figure out a few things while I travel there while I also try to figure out why I feel so strange right now. At least there will be something familiar to me in a place I thought would only be unknown to me. Feeling a bit lighter with these revelations I begin my jaunt along the indicated path. I spot the occasional timberwolf on the outside of the path and judging from what I’ve heard they must be guarding it.

“So they really are guards of some kind. I was wondering why they were ate that place but never could figure it out. I kind of wonder why they were left behind though since they were there to be changed by Discord.” At this point I realize that the questions I have are probably going to increase as I find out about things. My dream might take even longer than I thought to complete as I wonder if the timberwolves are created, grown, or born. If I’m already coming up with new questions just minutes into the kingdom then I’d probably have dozens by the time I reach the capital.

I could tell that the forest wasn’t an especially safe place as the feeling of danger was present all around me. Yet at the same time it was also controlled in some way outside of the use of timberwolves. “It’s rather weird how I can feel the chaos from this place yet it also feels ordered as well. It kind of makes sense though if they really created the place then they’d have a way to control it too. I wonder how the Everfree was controlled by the princesses for as long as they did or if it just ran wild.

I was so busy thinking of all the new questions I had that I never noticed when I arrived at the first town. It was reaching the end of the day when I arrived which made me wonder if there was any sort of inn or something that I could stay at. Strangely enough there didn’t really seem to be much of anything that could be classified as a market with the only building that I can identify a purpose for being a tavern. I was prepared to find somewhere outside of town for the night though when I was accosted by a pair of three-tailed kitsune, both with a brown coloration.

“Well lookie here. Looks like we got some fresh meat in town.” He nudges his partner with his paw who is chuckling. “Lucky us, we get to welcome her into town.” I don’t like the way they are looking at me and it makes me want to get out of town fast. “I’m sorry but I’m just passing through on my way elsewhere.” I try to just slip by them but am surprised when I feel a wave of magic pass over me, holding me in place.

“Now, now, it’s rather rude of you to just greet and run like that. You should really allow us to show you the hospitality of our fair town.” The look on his face, combined with the spell his friend cast over me gives me a good hint of what their hospitality entails. Probing lightly at the spell shows that it is really sloppily cast and I find that I don’t even have to use more than two tails worth of power to break it.

Seeing as they are just local bully boys then I feel no need to make sure they are completely uninjured for attempting to waylay me as they are. Finding the weak point in the spell I pour energy into it causing a feedback loop which causes the on casting the spell to cry out and collapse unconscious. When his partner turns to him in shock I send him to join him in dreamland with a well-placed rock to his temple that I grabbed with my magic from the other side of the street. “Unfortunately boys I’ll have to be declining your invitation. Maybe next time you try to pick somebody up you’ll be a bit more polite.”

I can see other looking at me from their homes and the nearby tavern as I walk away and wonder if this kind of thing is normal here. I was almost out of town when I heard the sound of a group of things in armor approaching me from the center of town and I turn to see a squad of diamond dogs being led by a four-tailed kitsune. Huh, so they also have diamond dogs inside of the kingdom as well? Still, I wonder what it is that they want to have come after me. I soon find out when the kitsune leading them speaks up.

“You’ll have to come with us ma’am. We can’t allow a two-tail that can take down those above them to run wild. Come peacefully and we won’t have to hurt you.” I raise an eyebrow at this as I don’t quite like what this tells me about the society here. Is this place really like an extreme form of the nobility? I don’t like the thought of anything with more tails than me being able to do whatever they want. I hope there is more to this than what I think but for now I think I’ll just follow them since if that’s how things work then I have an advantage they don’t know of.

I nod to the kitsune and watch as the diamond dogs move to surround me. At the same time the leader throws up a spell around me that is supposed to stop me from using my own magic but I know I can easily break it if needed. As they escort me through the town I see the other inhabitants watching me from windows and doorways with expressions I can’t quite identify. Eventually we come to a building in the center of the town which turns out to be some kind of guard outpost where they lead me to an isolated room in the center of it then guard me from the outside.

As I sit in the room alone I do a quick check over myself and wonder at the incompetence that seems to be going on here and wonder how much more I will find. My packs were still firmly attached to me and they could have easily found them through the aversion spell if they bothered to check properly. The diamond dogs alone should have been able to locate them from the spells of the gems in the packs alone. Even the measures that they did use are rather slipshod as if they haven’t bothered to even practice the spells which made them easily breakable if I desired.

Shaking my head and chuckling I bit I make myself comfortable for what is probably going to be a long night. I am surprised to see the four-tail that brought me in enter the room though as I expected to have to wait a while. “Do you know how much trouble you are in young lady? I don’t know how you did whatever you did in the first place but a two-tails attacking a three-tails is against every law we have.” I raise an eyebrow at him and try to hold back a chuckle.

“Well I am rather new to the area so I’m a bit rusty on the local laws. Could you maybe inform me of exactly which laws those are?” He looks at me as if I’m crazy though I try to look as serious as possible. “I really hope you are joking but I’ll humor you anyways. While you may now be classified as an adult by having two tails you still have to follow the orders of any with more tails than you until you earn your third. Even then those with more tails than you still have more authority than you. By attacking those above you it means you refute all of the laws that make our kingdom great.”

Well I guess that explains most of it. So until you reach three tails you are considered to be beneath everyone, and even then those with more than you are still pretty much in charge. I’m actually glad it was the admiral that I first met otherwise things could have been really ugly. It’s probably time that I end this charade though as I’d like to eat and rest for the night. “Well after hearing that then I guess you don’t need to do anything. I’m sure those two have already learned their lesson.” He looks rather confused at the smile on my face and is thrown off a bit.

“What are you talking about? You’re the one that is in trouble here and I don’t like how you are just flouting our laws.” I just chuckle at him as I flex my power and snap the spells around me, though more gently than I did to the other two. He just looks at me in fear as I do this and starts to back away from me towards the door. “You really do seem to be bad at your job as well, your spell-casting is so sloppy and you don’t even bother checking to see if your information is correct. You didn’t even bother searching me properly and left me with all my things when you locked me in here.”

His eyes nearly pop out of his head when I remove the spells on my bags bringing them into view, and he starts to stutter. “A-a-and what information is incorrect?” He seems even more fearful as he says this and I lean forward a bit. “Who ever said that I only had two tails? That alone would have been obvious if you asked my age which is over two centuries now.” His jaw drops open as I start revealing my tails one-by-one and he starts whimpering in fear when the fifth one shows. I am surprised myself though when a sixth one reveals itself when I fully drop the concealment though I do my best to hide it. Of course yet another one appears without my knowledge of it happening. At least I’ll be on a more even keel with the admiral whenever I arrive at the capital.

Once the sixth tail appears he is scrambling to get out of the room and is calling out for the others in the building. The sound is muffled by the door by I can catch the words ‘emergency’ and ‘noble’ as well as a few less important ones. I am slightly amused though also a bit annoyed that he just left me here without a word. Seeing as I already revealed myself fully I take the time to draw out something from my packs to eat and chew on it while waiting. “It would have been nice to have time to cook something but dried food will have to do for now. At least I can probably get access to a real kitchen whenever I get to the capital.”

I wasn’t sure how long I was waiting but it felt like an hour until they finally came back to the room for me again. When the door opens it reveals a line of diamond dogs and the kitsune who was here before in a uniform as well as nine others in the same outfit. “Ma’am, Duchess, we’re sorry for the inconvenience we caused you. We would like to offer you the best room in our fair town for your convenience tonight and we shall gladly prepare an escort for you to your destination.”

They all look scared of something and I am a bit surprised by the title though I wonder if that is the correct one or if I even have one in the first place. While I was told I would be counted as a noble I would like to get confirmation at the capital to know for sure. Seeing as they seem to be awaiting my answer and on the verge of breaking down I decide to take them up on their offer. “Yes, it’s been a long day and some rest would be nice. I’ll also take you up on that offer of an escort as well. You don’t have to worry about me being angry about anything either.”

This seems to have been the right thing to say as a wave of relief passes through them all as they escort me to my housing for the night. After only being here for a single day and already finding this much excitement I wonder what is in store for the future when I arrive at the capital.

Author's Note

Well here we are with the first look at the kitsune homeland and a bit of lore for it. It's not going to be a pretty place as shown here but the explanations for it will eventually come. There are probably going to be more questions that pop up now though so like usual if you have any, hhave comments or find typos please leave the below. I'll answer and fix what I can.

Royal Welcome

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene and the other princesses,

While you won’t receive this anytime soon I figured that I might as well still write letters to all of you whenever I have the time to do so. Since I won’t be able to send letters again until I leave then I figure that I can mention things that couldn’t tell you before. I just hope that when or if I leave that I do so on good terms and have permission to tell you these things. There must have been a reason for Celestia to dislike my kind and I plan to find out why and hopefully end whatever the conflict was.

My first impressions of this place though don’t leave me with much reason to hope though unfortunately. The kingdom seems to be separated from the rest of the world by some sort of portal. From how the magic feels I believe that it is in a completely different reality or dimension or something. What is more interesting is that inside this place is a forest that feels remarkably similar to the Everfree Forest. My impressions of the kitsune I have met are where the main problems are right now. There seems to be some kind of system in place where the more powerful ones practically own those below them. I don’t know the full details of it but it may be a good thing that I now have six tails as it sounds as if it will afford me great leeway within the kingdom. I’m also not sure how the diamond dogs fit into everything yet but they seem to be the servants of all of kitsune around the place.

The first day I was here was rather interesting as well. I found that the timberwolves were most likely created by my kind as I met a few of the ones that were uncorrupted by Discord. Not much more to say about that, but I bet Celestia will be happy to hear that I was arrested in the very first town I found. As mentioned before with the tail hierarchy bit it makes it where one perceived to be a two-tail is not allowed to defend themselves from the advances of a pair of three-tails. I wasn’t forced to fight any others as I allowed myself to be taken in peacefully but they got a real shock when I showed them that I had six tails.

Currently I am in a carriage being driven to the capitol by those same guards that brought me in. They are wary about talking to me any more than they have to so I have to find other ways to entertain myself. The diamond dogs pulling the carriage don’t seem very talkative yet they also seem to fear me the least. They also seem to enjoy the illusionary magic that I use more than the others and I’ve entertained them every night we stop. Even the other kitsune act like they’ve never seen this kind of magic before and I am pretty sure that this may be true as well. I’m going to have to be very careful about what spells I cast around them until I find out what exactly is safe here. And yes I will be taking extensive notes just for you Twilight of anything new that I find.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I sigh as I flop across the seats in the carriage while I send the letter into my packs. “This is so boring. I really hope we arrive at the capitol soon. At least there I can find something to occupy my time instead of just sitting here doing nothing. I’d rather not practice my magic until I know what is safe to use here and what isn’t.”

It wasn’t until near the end of the day that we finally reached the capitol and I was impressed with the view. “That is one impressive place.” Rising from the center of the city is a great tree that looks to actually have been grown into the shape of a palace. Looking at it reminded me of the Ponyville library and it made me wonder what the full history of it was now. The rest of the city was a variety of tree buildings and ones built in a more conventional way. Thinking back to the ruins in the Everfree I remember all those trees in the ruined area of the city and wondered if they also were connected as well.

Catching the attention of one of the guard I direct them to head to the residence of Admiral Farraige as he was supposed to be waiting for me. There was little interest in the carriage as it rolled through the city as if it was a common occurrence here. Watching the city as it passes by I notice the multitudes of colors of the kitsune but notice that those with less than four tails were of more earthy colors while most of the rest tended to be as colorful as the ponies were. It was enough of an oddity to notice but it was low on my list of things to find out here.

The buildings were also varied as well now that I was up close to see them clearly as they each had their own style to them. Many of them were just plain gaudy but some would have actually fit in well enough in Ponyville with how some of the ponies liked to customize their shops. The admiral’s residence was easy to spot before we stopped in front of it as it was full of nautical decorations that somehow managed to look decent compared to most of the rest. “I guess it’s time to get a few of my questions answered.”

Once the carriage stopped one of the guards opened the door for me allowing me to step out of the place. There wasn’t any guard at the front like most of the homes, but if he is out as much as he says then he wouldn’t need one that often. I draw in a deep breath as I watch the carriage rolls away back to the town it came from before stepping up to the door to knock. It doesn’t take long for the door to open, revealing a stern looking kitsune. “How may I help you?”

I look over the kitsune and notice he has four tails but retains the earthy coloration of brown and grey. “Yes, Admiral Farraige told me to meet him at the capitol and I was hoping he was in, the name is Flarenza.” The kitsune looks over my shoulder and see the six tails waving behind me and his eyes widen slightly before opening the door wide. “Yes, if you will follow me, Duchess Flarenza, I’ll show you to the master’s study where he will meet you.”

As I am led through the building I notice that the nautical theme continues inside as well and it feels rather comfortable in its own way. His study looks much like his cabin did on the ship just with more books as well. Browsing through the titles I find that many of them relate to sailing and the seas of various areas though I don’t recognize many of the names. It doesn’t take long for the admiral to arrive followed by a servant with refreshments. “Ah, it’s good to see you again lassie, I almost thought you decided not to come. I see you’ve also changed a bit since I saw you as well.” He nods toward my tails which are waving around behind me.

“Yeah it showed up some time since we separated. I found out about it at the first town on the path to here.” He cocks his head to the side as he sips from his tea cup. “Why didn’t you just take the portal that led straight here?” I just look at him before slapping a paw up to my face. “You mean I could have avoided all that boredom on the trip here? I’m guessing that it is only available to those with a certain number of tails right?”

He looks at me for a moment when he realizes what happened. “Let me guess, you did your little vanishing act again didn’t you?” At my nod he continues. “I hope you didn’t run into any trouble on your way here.” I try to avoid his gaze but soon break down and confess. “Well I did get arrested after beating up two rather rude three-tails while appearing to have only two. When they found out I had six tails they panicked and got me a carriage and guards to escort me here.”

I was starting to expect his reaction was rather common when he started laughing once again. “Oh yes you are really going to shake things up around here. There hasn’t been another to shake things up like that for a very long time. The only exception are the rumors that there is a prince or princess hiding out among the nobles but that has settled down a bit though there are still factions claiming to be sheltering whoever it is. I haven’t cared much for that but it’s thought that one of the few six-tails is the child of the Lord and Lady in disguise.”

I try to follow what he is saying but I know absolutely nothing about the politics here. “That’s good and all but I don’t know enough to be able to say much there. Almost any knowledge I have is from what I learned while I was traveling and the practical things my mother taught me. She never told me anything about this place or even about what it meant to be a kitsune. That and I’ve been getting called Duchess by everyone.” His jaw drops for a moment before he looks a bit thoughtful.

“That is actually a bit disturbing to hear though that all can be remedied easily enough. Since we’ll be introducing you to the court later tonight we’ll start with that for now. You were rather lucky to earn your sixth tail as it will afford you many protections as there are only two above you unless the rumors are right then it would be three. The Lord and Lady are both nine-tails and rule this kingdom while their child has either seven or eight. Next up are the twenty-one known six-tails, including you now, that have the titles of Duke or Duchess unless they are given another one such as mine. The five-tails are the barons and baronesses of which there are about a thousand of at last count. From there everything of one to four tails have no real titles naturally though they may earn them. There hasn’t been a real count of the population but I’d estimate it to be a few million.”

I boggle a bit at the information though something seems off for some reason. “That’s rather interesting I guess; does that have anything to do with the variety of fur colors I’ve seen? I have yet to see anything with less than four tails have colors outside of the more earthy ones.” He looks from me to himself before realizing exactly what I was asking. “Oh that, that’s just personal preference combined with the power required to be able to do it.” I look down at my fur and ponder this but changing my own colors just wouldn’t feel right as well as the fact that previous attempts failed barring the poison joke incidents.

“Huh, I don’t think that I’d care to do that myself even if I even can. I’ve tried a few times in the past and it only changed due to some magical mishaps that were easily cured. Well, also outside of the usual winter time change.” I once again think I said something wrong when he freezes for a moment before answering. “You really are full of surprises lassie. There’s hasn’t been a winter kitsune around in a very long time. They aren’t much different really though they tend to have talents in more unusual kinds of magic. The Lady is going to love to see you.”

I wonder about what he means by this but something else comes to mind first. “Who are this Lord and Lady anyways? I know that they must be the rulers of this kingdom but I don’t think I’ve ever heard their names.” He thinks for a second, as if debating on whether to say anything, and decides to do so. “While it would probably be best to let them tell you themselves I think that not knowing would put you at a disadvantage with the other nobles. The leaders of New Sionnach go by Lord Inari and Lady Ogetsu.”

My jaw drops open at the name of the two as I had actually heard them before. “Wait, you mean Lord Inari and Lady Ogitsu were real?!” I was so shocked that I blurted that out without much thought causing his eyebrows to rise. “So you actually have heard of her then?” I nod though I’m still a bit confused. “Yes, in fact it was from one of the few stories my mom told me when I was younger. In the end it involved Lady Ogetsu being stabbed by a Lady Tsukiyomi though it never mentioned if she lived or not.”

He looks a bit sad at my mention of this and I wonder if I should have brought it up. “Ah, that old tale. It’s not really a popular one though it comes up from time to time. But yes they really were real and in fact are still alive. That is one of the stories that describes the final events of our kind being forced out of what used to be our home back on the world you were stranded on. I don’t have the details of it all myself as it was long before I was born, in fact I’m not sure if any of the nobles were alive back then.” He looks up past me and I turn to see one of his servants motioning to the clock.

“We’ll have to continue this conversation later if we want to be ready for tonight. He’ll escort you to where you can clean up in preparation for it. It’s just too bad that there isn’t time to get you fitted for something to wear.” I rise to follow the servant but something comes to me causing me to pause with a smile. “Oh you don’t have to worry about that, I believe I have something that may work perfectly and might throw some of the other nobles off a bit.” His laughter as I leave the room is the only answer that he gives.

While I wasn’t used to having servants helping me clean up and prepare myself, it did feel good to actually have a real bath again after the long years of travel. The two female diamond dogs he lent me for all this were respectably good at what they did though still a far cry from the best I’ve had in fur-care treatments. Still after having nothing for years there was a lot of tangles and deeply ingrained dirt to be removed and my fur was practically shining by the time I got out of the tub.

I had yet to show any of them what I was planning to wear as it was still deep within my packs kept safe from being damaged. I probably looked odd with half of my body sticking out of them as I dug around for it but it was necessary with how protective I was of the dress as I had few mementos of my friend with me. When I finally cancelled the spells protecting it and began removing it from my packs I kept an eye on the diamond dogs and kitsune in the room for their reaction. The looks on their faces were pretty hilarious when I started to reveal the gem encrusted dress that was the first thing I had worn of Rarity’s.

It felt good to put it on once again and I was surprised that it still fit so well after all this time. There were enchantments on it that were supposed to make sure it fit for years to come based on any changes to my figure but they had gone untested until now. I admired myself in the provided mirror while the others in the room conversed amongst themselves over how I looked. The admiral’s reaction was about as entertaining as well especially when the uniform he wore looked rather dull in comparison.

“Well lassie you said that you had something to wear but this is beyond anything that I expected. If I didn’t know any better I would say that you really were the princess and you were sent through the portal to keep you hidden. But will those colors be good with your other fur color as well? Part of tonight’s event is for the change of season to winter for the next few months to give the land time to heal.” I am surprised by this as the colors on the trees didn’t suggest that it was even fall, but I was a bit ignorant of how most things went here. “Well there is something but since you seem to enjoy surprises so much then I might as well keep it safe until then.”

I had guessed correctly as to his personality if his chuckles were to be believed. He escorted me out to his private carriage which didn’t have harnesses like his previous ones. Instead the driver was a four-tailed kitsune and I could sense what felt like an animation spell on the carriage. I knew a couple spells that could be used to push the vehicle around but I was curious as to what kind they use here. I had to shake head at the direction my mind was going as it was getting to be too much like a certain alicorn I knew.

The drive to the royal palace was rather longer than I expected as there were a large number of carriages heading that way. From the numbers I was seeing I could guess that a large portion of the nobility was on the move towards this event. I chatted a bit about some of the things to expect with the admiral though my mind also wandered to other things as well. I was wondering if there were only going to be nobles at the party or if there would be others of four or less tails there as well. I actually wondered how all that discrimination worked when it came to families though I could find out more about that later.

We were nowhere near the front of the line to get to the palace, but we were also far from the end. From talks with my friends many years ago I could understand pretty well what he was attempting as I saw a handful of other carriages being allowed to jump to the head of the line. “So waiting for all the other Dukes and Duchesses to arrive as well as a good many other before our triumphant entrance?” He smiles and nods at this as he watches the small number of carriages head to the front.

By the time that our carriage arrived at the palace gates night had already fallen. There was some chattering going on between what looked like servants and some of the nobles that hadn’t entered yet but it only paused when the admiral stepped out but came to a complete stop when I stepped out into the lights. Well here we go, my firsts steps into the world of nobility which I’ve wanted to avoid. I pretty much have to give up my freedom to save my freedom.

While I was doing this to find out more about my past it didn’t feel right to give up my future as well. It was a comfort that I still had a place to run to back in Equestria if I was forced to, and with the friendliness of the admiral I felt a bit of hope about things here. Maybe if I can get in with the nobles that I can actually like then things won’t be as bad. I just hope that they have enough clout that things don’t get as bad as they looked to be getting in Equestria.

The silence of those at the gates had abated and the previous chattering had resumed at a much higher level as the admiral escorted me towards the event. I wasn’t sure if it was from just me or if it also included the exoticness of my dress. The admiral was soaking all the attention and confusion up as we made our way through the crowd so much that he was practically skipping. As we reached the entry hall to what appeared to be our final destination he stepped up to whisper something to a diamond dog, which I assumed to be a herald, who soon looked at me with wide eyes.

The entire hall went quiet when the herald rapped his polearm twice on the ground before his proclamation. “Announcing the arrival of Admiral Farraige escorting the Duchess Flarenza.” Somehow the entire place went even quieter than it did before at this as every being in the room, both diamond dog and kitsune, turned towards the entrance and stared. There was another announcement from the other end of the room and a path opened up revealing the rulers on the other end of the room.

There was some unknown sign but the admiral started to escort me slowly across the room towards the two figures. I took my time to observe them as we did so to try and stop any nervous thought from arising. On the left was who I assumed to be Lord Inari whose coat gleamed a bright golden color as his nine tails floated behind him. On the right would be the Lady Ogetsu who was as white as snow with her own nine tails spread out behind her as well. My eyes flickered to a patch of bare fur on her chest that looked remarkably like a crescent moon. Both of them were wearing regalia similar to what the Equestrian princesses wore, but were made of what appeared to be a white-colored wood and amber for gems.

As we passes the halfway point of the room a bell started chiming signaling some event I didn’t know of but could guess as on the final tone a wave of gasps swept through the room. Seeing Lady Ogetsu sit up straighter and a small smile appear on her face clued me in to what happened as I focused on my nose to see the color of it had changed. I reached up during one of my steps to tap on the large gem at my throat and heard the admiral chuckle as another wave of surprise went through the room as my dress changed from the red rubies it once was to deep blue sapphires. His muttered “clever lassie” showed his approval on the change.

Soon enough we arrived at the foot of the stairs to the throne where we both bowed to the royal couple as I had been instructed on the way here. When we were allowed to rise I got a closer look at the two and saw that Lord Inari’s face was as inscrutable as Celestia’s always was, but the Lady Ogetsu actually seemed excited. I was expecting the Lord to speak first but was surprised when it was the Lady to speak first in a voice that was almost familiar. “Greetings Duchess Flarenza, it’s so nice to finally meet you face to face.”

Author's Note

Well I hope anyone still reading this enjoys what is going on though I'm betting there are a bunch of questions out there still. I really don't have much to say now though I'm considering how many of the nineteen other names I'm going to have to come up with really need to be revealed. I may have discovered a flaw with how I've been starting the chapters but I'm going to let it out now that they may not always be written at the time of the chapter since there is no way to send them anyways. As always leave any questions, comments, found typos, or anything else of the like below and I'll do what I can to respond.

Night at the Palace

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

I think I’m starting to understand a bit about the non-alicorns feel when they meet you for the first time. While I was always conscious of the power that radiates off of you all it’s just different from the force of presence that is felt by those of the same race. Standing in front of the Lord and Lady of my people is just so different from being near you all and I really can’t fully describe it. The closest I can come to doing so is that it felt as if I was staring into something that is familiar but so out of reach that it is untouchable. Just standing in front of such power that is so like my own, yet just so many times more than mine feels like an impossibility. If I hadn’t been around all of you for as long as I was then I’m not sure if I would have been able to keep myself calm when I was in front of them.

As first impressions go there is much in them that reminds me of Celestia and Luna. Lord Inari is so calm and collected that he is impossible to read and reminds me of Celestia while she holds court. The Lady Ogetsu on the other paw is more like Luna when she was dealing with foals and her thestrals. She was so warm and welcoming to me that I almost felt a kind of kinship with her that was unexplainable. At the same time their power was so overwhelming that I felt a bit of fear even though it wasn’t any worse than what I’ve felt from you.

I was even shown a bit of their power on my first meeting as well as time suddenly stopped in the room. It didn’t happen for long but it was long enough for the Lady to tell me that we would talk later. I could guess what she meant as I had knowledge that isn’t all that safe to be given freely to others and wanted to clear the air as soon as I could. When time started again I could feel the dismissal from the two rulers which left me to wander the room meeting what would now be my peers.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I was still a bit shaken over not only meeting two being of legend but also of the display of power shown to me. I was lucky that I was able to follow the admiral around as I wasn’t sure what I would have done if he wasn’t there. He could tell that something was bothering me as he didn’t lead me right to any groups and instead led me around the outskirts of the party. “Are you okay there lassie?”

I try to collect my wits about me and push my problems of until I can find time to deal with them later. “I think so, things are just a bit more overwhelming than I expected.” I straightened myself up a bit more as he escorted me around to meet the other big names I would have to deal with in the court. He explained a few things about each of them before we got to them so I wasn’t completely unprepared.

He started with introducing me to the ones that were on the lower end of the court in that they either weren’t in charge of any of the major factions or were just a part of them. He left the leaders of the three major factions of the court until the end. As we moved to the first of them he explained to me what each of them were about.

“Now lassie what you need to understand is that while the Lord and Lady have the final say on everything it is the nobles that decide on what issues they hear. Each faction has different priorities of what is important for them to hear and have different goals. The first group is run by Duke Feithidi and their main goal is to isolate us from the other universes to ensure our safety. They believe that we need to shut down the portals to prevent any danger from coming through them and to protect our kind.”

I still wonder what he means by universes though I already could guess that this kingdom wasn’t a part of the world I was in originally. “The second leader is Duchess Bhean who leads the faction that wants to invade the other universes and create a kingdom like what we once had in the past. With all the portals we have access to they believe that we can easily take over a one of the lesser worlds and rule over them as we spread out once again.” I already can tell that this group’s ideals aren’t one I can really support as I have had enough of unnecessary conflict.

“The third leader you need to be wary of is Duke Okami whose group is more of a wild card as they have no real set goal except to balance out the power of the other two. They may seem the weakest of the three but they have just enough power to make sure that anything that the other two want done needs to go through them. Even those that aren’t a part of any of the three factions, such as myself, tend to listen to what they have to say before making any decisions since they often point out all the flaws even though they never have any good ideas themselves.”

I consider the three factions and while the last one sounds to be the one that sound most acceptable it still doesn’t appeal to me as they don’t seem to do anything. “My advice lassie is to try and play nice with them all but don’t commit to anything that you don’t have to. Just keep your options open until you have a chance to settle in since your presence really upsets the balance that was in place.” The admiral’s advice was pretty sound and I was starting to really trust his opinion since he hadn’t led me wrong yet. “That sounds like a good idea, I don’t know enough about how things work here to try and change anything yet.”

He nods to me and we soon come to the first of the three leaders, Duke Feithidi. His bright yellow fur makes him stand out pretty well from the other kitsune around him. As predicted he tries to get me to join up with his group though I do my best to be evasive without insulting him. He seems earnest in wanting to protect the kingdom yet the way he wants to do so just doesn’t seem like the right way to do it. After promising to at least think about his offer we then move along to the next faction leader.

The first impression I have of Duchess Bhean is of complete revulsion as her fur is of the worst shade of green possible. Talking to her isn’t much better either as she is everything that I hate about nobles all in one package. I do what I can to hide my feelings about her as she pushes her thoughts on the superiority of the kitsune race and how we should rule over everything else. Granted some of her reasons for wanting to expand aren’t bad if things are as bad as she says regarding overpopulation and lack of resources but I wanted to form my own opinions on that first. I’m glad I don’t have to make any promises to her and we leave her behind soon enough.

I could already tell that something was up as we approached the area where the third leader was supposed to be. It wasn’t hard telling who we were going to meet as the raven colored form came into view. He was flamboyantly entertaining those around him and it didn’t do much for my opinion of Duke Okami. While I was glad he didn’t do anything to try and get me to join his group he worked way too hard trying to impress me. He was almost as bad as Prince Blueblood was back in Equestria which really turned me off of him. I was actually thankful when we finally left his presence to mingle with the rest of the crowd.

With a chance to look things over now that I didn’t have anyone else to meet I found that the party wasn’t much better than ones run by nobles that I had been to before. The clothing was really out of date but they still used it to try and show off their status and the food wasn’t all that great either. Now that the admiral had shown me around he left to speak with some of his acquaintances while I found myself heading towards a balcony that overlooked the palace gardens and the city beyond. I took in the cooling air as snowflakes floated down to cover everything in a white powder.

This gave some of the nobles the chance to speak with me alone though not many took the opportunity to do so. I was glad not many came up to me while I was out there as I needed a moment to collect my thoughts as I wasn’t sure what to think about the nobles I had met. I suspected that my plans for study were going to be thrown off track for the first few months here until I learned what I needed to so as not to cause too many problems. I suspected though that no matter what I did someone would take offense.

For the rest of the party I kept from making any mistakes by dancing around any questions that are brought to me. Since I don’t know what is going on here yet I want to make sure that they don’t find out much about me. I’m not sure how well I did at it but I used whatever tricks that I learned from the few nobles I respected. I kept it up until the party started winding down and I began to wonder what I was supposed to do next. Luckily on of the diamond dog guards came up to deliver a message for me to meet with Lady Ogetsu before I left.

I wasn’t expecting to see her again this soon but it probably was best to get it over with as soon as possible. After informing the admiral of where I would be I was led through the palace to what appears to be a personal study. Looking around a bit I find that many of the books seem to be in languages that I am not familiar with though the ones I can read aren’t recognizable to me either. I soon hear the door open behind me and I turn to see Lady Ogetsu entering to whom I bow to.

“Oh no need for that now, my dear. It hasn’t been that long since I’ve talked to one of your type to forget how much you all dislike having to bow and scrape all the time.” I’m thrown a bit off about all this though I relax a bit as she motions me to a cushion while she takes a seat behind the desk. “Now I’m sure you have all kinds of questions and I’ll do my best to answer them for you. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to help a winter kitsune what with them all being chased away by the others and their silly political games.” Thinking back to some of the things that I’ve seen and combining that with what she said is common with winter kitsune then I could understand them not wanting to stay.

“Well Lady Ogetsu, there are a few things that I wanted to ask about though many of the things I’m curious about I can easily learn from a library if there is one I can use at least.” She nods at my questioning look about the library and I continue. “I think my biggest worry is about how the magic I’ve studied and learned is seen around here. I’d rather not stir up any trouble by using spells that are frowned upon if I can help it.” Lady Ogetsu looks a bit down for some reason when I mention this.

“Yes, we probably should speak about that before you do or say something that will alienate you from the other nobles. It’s unfortunate that you have to study into the forbidden arts but we’ve seen that you’ve only used your skills to combat those that abuse those same skills.” My ears perk up a bit at her odd choice of words as she continues. “You should refrain from any acts of necromancy while you are here as well as not talking about it either.” I nod to her and consider what to ask next but her words just won’t leave me.

“What did you mean by you seen me use my skills in combat? I don’t think I’ve used that kind of magic where word can get back to here.” I’m surprised to see Lady Ogetsu look a bit worried before she sighs. “Well I guess now is as good a time as any for you to learn about this though we try to keep from those that aren’t a Duke or Duchess. There was an old spell that me and my husband were forced to cast to protect our people after the war that forced us here. It linked all kitsune-kind to us in a way that allows us to watch over them once they reach adulthood. Unfortunately we’ve found that when a kitsune earns their fifth tail we no longer can see them so we had to resort to other measures. Using the power of names we have been able to keep the peace by removing certain memories so that forbidden magic is kept from them completely.”

I’m not sure how I feel about that though I’m not prepared for what comes next. “My husband even insisted in using it on the portals to keep us safe as well though your presence shows what a mistake that was. Any that are banished or leave without permission have their names erased from the kingdoms history. Nothing about them is left here which led to us not knowing your true name so we are putting a lot of trust in you. He never expected that one of our subjects would leave while pregnant meaning that the spells on the portals never affected you but your mother was so we couldn’t see her on your birth to learn it and add it to the book of names.”

I’m not sure how to feel about all this and I say something on the subject. “I’m not sure what to say about all that. I’ve seen what can happen if knowledge is lost as it always seems to come back when you aren’t prepared for it. In fact as you’ve mentioned seeing I would never have been able to fight some of the things I did without the knowledge.” Lady Ogetsu sighs before nodding. “That is true, though I wish it wasn’t so. I wonder what would have happened if our subjects actually remembered those that left the kingdom as well as why. Maybe there would be more winter kitsune around still if they knew what happened to the others.”

She looks saddened as she thinks about what could have been and I do what I can to change topics to something safer. I keep things on more neutral topics such as where I am going to stay as well as how trade and stuff works here. I was surprised to find that the dress I was wearing was worth more than most have access to as the gems are actually crystalized magic in their base form. Something about the kind of magic used around them while they are growing determines the type of gem they become. In fact it’s because of this process that makes it why the enchantments work better on certain gems over others. It also explained the reaction the court had to my dress as it was a show of wealth to them and it confused them considering I was a new arrival.

Eventually things wound down as we ran out of things to talk about as well as the fact that it was almost morning. As I was about to leave with an escort to my new residence I thought of one last thing to ask. “Lady Ogetsu, if you don’t mind there was one other thing I wanted to ask. What happened between you and Lord Inari and Princess Celestia and Luna? When I first met Princess Celestia she seemed to hate me just for being a kitsune.” I feel that I hit another landmine issue as she looks crestfallen.

“Oh yes, that. Honestly I’m not sure what happened to cause the split between our two kingdoms. I used to be such good friends with Lady Tsukiyomi, though I guess it’s Luna now, that when she attacked me that night I was horribly confused.” She raises a paw up to the scar on her chest. “That night was so confusing that we were forced to flee for our lives until we eventually arrived here. It’s been so long since I thought about that time that I can’t remember many of the details so you might find more in the library. One thing does stick out in my mind though in that when the last of our subjects came through the portal time on the other side seemed to speed up for some reason. We had trouble getting enough food to feed everyone until we opened portals to other places.”

With that information on my mind I bow my way out of the room and follow my escort to my new home. My mind was spinning over this new information especially over Princess Luna being the same being as Lady Tsukiyomi. If this is true then that might mean that Lady Amaterasu is Princess Celestia. Trying to reconcile these facts as well as the rest of what I learned tonight is hard after such a long day. Maybe it will be best if I get some sleep before thinking too hard on all this. Maybe things will be clearer after a good night’s rest. Soon enough we arrive at the front of the building that is to be my home while in New Sionnach.

Author's Note

Bleh, not sure if I'm happy with this chapter or not. It might just be the fact that I'm a bit tired though but if anoyone sees something that should be fixed or clarified then let me know please. Also any typos being pointed out would be nice so I can fix them as well.

Exploring History

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

I’ve hinted at it before but I’m going to outright say that I really dislike having to act like a noble. Not being able to just go out and have fun without someone wanting to follow you or judge you on how you act was one of the biggest reasons why I wanted little to do with them. It actually may not have been as bad back in Equestria when I could just disguise myself before going out but that is impossible here due to how the rules about the number of tails one has are. It’s bad enough that I have to deal with that but I’m also required to have servants as well and that is something I’d like to avoid as well but can’t. The reasons for that are so complicated that it took me months of time in the library just finding out why.

Yes they have some extensive libraries here and Twilight would probably pass out in joy at the number of books here that she most likely hasn’t read. I haven’t had much time to research much beyond the laws of the kingdom but I’ve already spotted a few books on magic that look interesting. In fact it’s from those books that I’ve learned about a major issue with the kingdom and it’s not a good thing in my opinion. All the upper nobles and the rulers are each in charge of a special book which is the main power of the kingdom. In each book is written the true names of every being that they are in charge of and in fact have near complete control over them if they wish it. Using these books it allows them to modify the memories of those in them in various ways but is mainly used to erase the memory of those that go against the kingdom as well as what they label as forbidden magic. The Lord and Lady are the only two mostly exempt from this control since they are the leaders with the exception of them losing the names of those banished through the use of the spell. I said only two but there are technically two others as well, though I can’t confirm one of them, those being me and the unknown prince or princess. I can’t confirm the other but since I was born outside of their control to someone that was banished they couldn’t find my true name in the normal means which means they are putting a lot of trust in me. I’m not sure why they are doing it but if I had to guess I’d say it’s because of me being of a rare strain of kitsune that happens to be favored by Lady Ogetsu.

Speaking of Lady Ogetsu I am reminded of Luna with her thestrals and how she treats them. This, as well as a few other things, makes it easy to understand why they were good friends in the past yet I still haven’t found the cause of the conflict as they say they don’t know. Since I never could get an answer from your end and since your histories seem to have been erased on this issue I’ll have to rely on what little information I can find on this end and hope the pieces fit together somehow. At least I have a comfortable place to call my own thanks to Lady Ogetsu’s generosity so I can take the time to perform my own studies and it’s near the side of the palace with the library. It’s on the more quiet side of the city as not many wish to be on this side of the city since it’s a bit out of the way but it gets enough sun for my purposes. The house on the other paw is a bit much as it’s much larger than I would normally need. With the number of rooms and the size of the entry I could easily host a Pinkie Party for all of Ponyville with room to spare. I don’t plan to be using a majority of the house so most of it is sealed off until it’s needed while the only areas that see much use by me are the bedroom and the gardens. It’s not as varied as what I had at my manor but cherries are a rarity here so I used that to my advantage and used all of the available space and seeds I had just for them.

As for things on my research and dealings with the other nobles well things are still unknown. I’ve studied up on most of the laws and have made sure to stay as neutral as possible so as not to make too many waves. At first there was a lot of focus on trying to get me to choose sides but after a while they’ve started to realize that the only one that has much influence over my decisions is the admiral. I’ve started to trust him more and more over time and have found him to be a fun, if a bit quirky, friend. I have come to depend on him a bit and he has been teaching me some things that the law books don’t say so as to stay independent. I sometimes wonder if or relationship is what it is like for others to have as a father and child.

Your Friend,
Flarenza, Duchess of New Sionnach

I planted my face into the table as I finished yet another book law book that I had pulled to research about some of the recent issues going around with the nobles. “That’s it; I’m done with these things for a while. If I don’t do something that I enjoy I’ll probably do something drastic.” I consider my options and decide to look into something that Lady Ogetsu told me that first time we talked.

Putting the books back in their places I head over to the section of the library that contains the histories of the kingdom. When I first browsed through this section I was confused as to how it was set up until I checked with one of the royal librarians and found that it was sorted based on which portal they dealt with as well as the kingdom itself. I hadn’t had a chance to study up on the different portals and where they went but the little I heard was interesting to say the least. Each one supposedly led to a different world or universe but they weren’t always open barring a single exception. Each one seem to open and close at random intervals and the flow of time supposedly flowed differently while they were closed making it risky to travel deep into those worlds unless time went at a predictable rate in those worlds when closed off. Equestria for some reason was an exception to this rule as it was always open yet there were records of the strange deviations I wanted to look into causing me to pull some of the earliest books from that section.

“Why is it that the older the book is the less likely it is to have an index at the front of it?” I question out loud as I am forced to browse through the books trying to find what I was searching for. “It wouldn’t be so bad if I could do a search for the correct term but I have no idea what they- oh hey, I needed something on the theories of chaos magic- used to describe the incident. Even then it could be something common which would- I’ll have to come back to this part on the creation of timberwolves- light up all the books anyways.”

I took me a while, as well as a few different volumes, but I eventually found the section I was looking for. “Here it is, ‘-as soon as the last kitsune had passed through the portal there was a great flash of light from it and time on the other end seemed to bend. Time seemed to go out of control as at one moment it slowed to a crawl and in the next it looked as if years had passed and at times time even leaped backwards. Any attempts to send one of the diamond dogs back through failed as if a barrier was blocking the other side and magic proved futile as spells were found to end at the surface of the portal. It wasn’t until nearly four thousand years later that time seemed to flow normally again and the barrier was gone.’ Well that certainly sounds like an odd event to see happening. I’m not sure if I’ve seen anything that chaotic befo-“

My head jerks up from the book as I repeat that last bit in my mind again with wide eyes. “I haven’t seen anything that chaotic except for one being who probably has the power to do something like that. If that was anything like what is written here…” I quickly flip through the books as I search for what may be a huge clue to what happened. “Let’s see, night lasting for many days- probably Luna’s Nightmare Moon phase- thousand years of records then a period of night lasting for most of a day- Nightmare Moon’s return and Luna’s cleansing- ah here it is.” I read through the passage and then go back to read one more time just to be sure. “If I’m reading this right then during a short period the days rapidly advanced for a short time while the time of the living being didn’t change at all. A few other events were observed as well but this is definitely the time that Discord broke free from his statue.”

I lean back on my cushion as I rub my eyes with my paws before sighing in frustration as I go over the facts. “Discord is one of the few beings that could do something of this scale and from his reaction to him seeing my real form he had something against kitsune as well. With how easily I was deflecting his magic at the time I would be will to bet that that is the main reason for it as well. If that initial period of random time flows really did occur because of him then it happened just as the last of my kind left that world. Almost all of the timberwolves in the Everfree were also corrupted by him as well yet the uncorrupted ones still could control them. Add in the fact that Luna and Celestia attacked out of nowhere for no real reason, then it actually is highly likely that Discord had something to do with it and was using them as pawns to get rid of the only threat to his power. I wish I had some evidence to prove my theory but it makes all too much sense with the facts I do have. Of course this is Discord and he doesn’t like making sense but considering he is supposed to be chaotic then the unexpectedness of him making sense this one time would be… ugh.” I derail this train of thought as I feel a huge headache coming on from it. “I’ll just run it by Lady Ogetsu later for her opinion.”

Not wanting to make my headache any worse I turn my attention back to the other things I had marked. Unfortunately the section on chaos magic was nearly as bad as what I was trying to figure out and all I could figure out from it was a single rule. That rule being that chaos magic is all about breaking the rules. With the implications of just that it made my head hurt though it did help me understand a bit of what I did with it before while also making more wary about using it again. The information I found on the timberwolves was much more interesting than I expected it to be though.

“I may have to look deeper into this later on when I have more time. Some of this looks vaguely familiar though I recognize a few things from what I found on golems. In a way it makes sense since they do seem to physically be like the ones I’ve seen before though much more advanced. From how things are described here, if I understand it right, they were once a symbol of status for nobles though they have fallen out of favor due to the difficulty in making them.” I jot down a few notes on the books I’ll need to look into later on. “I do wonder how they made them as smart as they are though.”

It took a few months before I was able to talk with Lady Ogetsu again and her reaction to my theory was a bit mixed. She seemed to be relived and happy at the thought that they truly didn’t betray them voluntarily but then she looked really sad about something else. My visit was cut short after this as she dismissed me to take care of something. I was a bit confused about her reaction but she didn’t contradict what I told her so I might have been onto something.

The rest of my time was spent on both studying more on the laws and attitudes of the land as well as my own studies. I had some trouble figuring out some of the technical parts of the spells required but they looked familiar for some reason. I still had plenty of time to study it to try and figure it out as the preparations before even attempting the final steps were rather lengthy. I was making plans to fulfil that part while I was trying to figure out another mystery. “The more I look through these books the more something seems off about them. I can’t quite put my paw on it though yet I think I’ve run into this issue before.”

I wasn’t able to spend much more time on the issue as my escorts had arrived for my little trip into the countryside outside of the city. Since I only had the bare minimum of staff I had to request help from one of the other nobles and they seemed happy to help. Seeing the two diamond dogs, one male and one female, as well as a female three-tailed kitsune made me wonder a bit as some of the other nobles would have taken it as an insult to be sent them as escorts. It didn’t bother me as much as I found that most that the nobles would have thought as being appropriate were rather incompetent.

“So you are the three sent to escort me through the forest to the area that has what I require. The only question I have is how good are you at what you do?” The two diamond dogs look at each other while the kitsune looks a bit worried. “Well uh, duchess, we have been in charge of the area along with the rest of our families. We’ve had many generations in charge of the area and know almost every part of it.” She seems a bit scared for some reason though I chalked it up to a rank issue.

“That sounds perfect then. I’ve found that those that actually live out in the areas are often the best at showing others around as they know the little secrets of the place that others refuse to traverse. The admiral seems to agree with me with things like that since he trusts his crew to most of the work without him standing over them.” She seems to perk up a bit at my mention of him and the diamond dogs also relax a bit. “Wait, you mean you work with the Admiral? I’d heard that he was helping out another noble but I didn’t know it was you, duchess.”

I nod to her as I collect my packs for the trip. “Well I really haven’t made myself known around yet and I’ve spent much of my free time with my studies. Thinking about it, I probably should make more time to get out and about more before I turn into an old friend of mine.” She looks at me oddly as I say that but with a wave of my paw she leads me out to the carriage they brought. As I settle in I notice that the other three are going to be outside where it’s hard to communicate with them so I brace myself in for a boring wait until we get there. “I really should look into hiring someone just to have someone to talk to during these long trips.”

It takes a few days for us to reach the town nearest to our destination which game me some time to practice a few simple spells. It was on the second day that I realized that I was getting a bit out of practice and it was at least something to pass the time with. I was still relieved when we finally arrived though so I could get out and walk myself. They wanted to give me time to rest but I had enough of rest and had us start early.

“I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed traveling around on my own paws. It’s still amazing how much this place feels like the Everfree Forest, which I’m pretty sure is where the original kingdom of Sionnach was located.” My guides had been trying to remain professional through this whole trip but my comment caused the kitsune guide to stop and stare at me yet again. “Wait, you were able to visit the homeland?! But I thought it was taken over by those ponies?”

I examine the trees as we pass them while I reply. “Well there is some truth to that I guess. They were there for a while but things happened forcing them out. They lost control of the entire forest and it’s mostly wild now. Now it’s run by wild animals and monsters with the occasional dragon about the place. There are also a good number of timberwolves there as well though most have been changed by the chaos magic from Discord, a draconequus.” She hangs on every word about the place as I’m finally able to drag her into a conversation. I catch the two diamond dogs looking back at us snickering a bit at her enthusiasm over learning about the old homeland.

The day was nearly over by the time she finally realized what she was doing and quieted down again. Having seen how the ponies often reacted to the princesses I knew that I couldn’t expect her to be completely comfortable talking to me. Still it was progress that she was able to talk as much as she did.

The next day we arrived at our destination and I took the time to examine the trees. “Yes these look like the right kind of trees that were used for creating timberwolves. Something just feels a bit off though with them.” I look through the trees and examine the tall oak, maple, and dogwood trees. The three stay silent as I examine each tree in turn and examine them deeper with my magic. There are a few that are close to what I’m looking for but they just aren’t right.

After a couple hours of searching I still haven’t found what I was looking for when I sense something behind a large cluster of trees. Looking through a small gap in them I spot a tree that looks perfect though a bit out of place. “Over here you three, I think I found exactly what I was looking for.” I dash ahead to the tree and identify it as a variety of rosewood and upon touching it magically I find it to be perfect for my needs. I leap up into the branches of the tree and search around a bit while gathering a few seeds and some samples to experiment on.

My three escorts finally arrive in the area as I am about to jump down before they stop in fear as I prepare to jump down. “Duchess wait! Stay where you are!” There warning comes too late as I am already leaping down and when I land I feel a sharp pain in my front left paw. Feeling a constricting feeling around my leg soon after my gaze shoots down to see a snake attached to the limb and my eyes widen when it turns to stone. “Oh Duchess I’m so sorry, that’s a basilisk viper. Their bite is incurable and when their victim is fully petrified it turns into more of them.”

At her words I stare in shock at the creature as I feel the venom climb up the limb with the color of it slowly turning grey. My magic doesn’t help at all as the serpent is a blank area according to my magic and the venom isn’t affected either. The two diamond dogs I notice are backing away in fear while the kitsune looks to be tearing up. Seeing as they have no idea of a cure and my magic is useless it leaves me with only one course of action remaining if I want to live.

“I wish there was something else I could do but I don’t see any other option.” They all look at me strangely as I gather my magic into a blade of energy as I hold the affect leg out away from me. Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth I bring the blade down on my leg a good distance up from where I can feel the venom coursing in my veins. My escorts gasp in horror as the blade passes effortlessly through my leg, which I then send flying away from me. I had the blade so sharp that I could barely feel it as it sliced through my leg but I knew that wouldn’t last long as I used my magic to numb the area and seal my blood vessels.

“Duchess… what… how?” The kitsune is stunned by what I did so I motioned for one of the diamond dogs. “You, bring me over to the group quickly while I make sure that thing is destroyed.” As he picks me up from where I lay I focus on the slowly petrifying limb and gather my magic into the area around it. Seeing as magic isn’t working on it directly I throw up the strongest shield around the group that I can while I rapidly start sucking the heat out of the area and gathering it far above it. I was so focused on making sure that the serpent was destroyed that I wasn’t paying attention to how much power I was using. My eyes were starting to get blurry as the pain started to make itself known when I saw frost covering the entire area that I could see. Before I could lose focus on what I was doing I slammed the gathered heat down onto what used to be my leg washing the area in a blazing inferno.

It was all I could do to keep my shield up around us as the inferno swept through the area purging it of the creature. The kitsune was still in shock about what happened but the diamond dogs were flinching as small explosions sounded all around us. As the air cleared I looked to where the basilisk viper was to find that my idea worked and all that remained was a pile of ash. At the same time I noticed that the trees in the area had suffered as well as they had exploded from the rapid temperature shifts. The damage continued for a good distance in all directions and I was a bit shocked at how much damage I did unintentionally.

“I think I may have overdid it a bit there. Can you please take me back home now while I pass out?” With that the world went dark around me as the shock settled in.

Author's Note

Well the life of danger had to catch up sometime. The little trick with the magic is based on pyromancy in case you're wondering since the main part of fire is heat making fire and ice magic tied together rather heavily. Probably going to be a few other questions popping up more and more around what I'm planning with the types of magic but there are a few chapters coming to explain. Still leave any questions if you have any as you may think of something I didn't. Also please leave any othe comments and typo finds below.

Day at the Library

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

Sometimes life really doesn’t make sense in how the more dangerous something is, the less likely it is that a major injury occurs. Then there is the other end of that where something that should have had no risk at all ended up with me losing a leg to something I found shouldn’t have even been there. At the time I had no clue on what to do and my mind mostly shut down like it did when I had to face off against undead hordes. As soon as I was told how dangerous that snake was that bit me as well as the fact that there was no cure I stopped thinking and just reacted in what seemed to be the most logical way at the time. After giving up my leg for lost I then found out just how strong I had been getting in my magic as I overdid it and damaged a large area of the forest in destroying the creature. It turns out that my reaction wasn’t all that bad though as I learned that the creature was something that wasn’t meant to be here and somehow slipped through one of the portals somewhere. I was reprimanded for using as much magic as I did but considering the danger that basilisk vipers pose I was mostly forgiven. It seems that the creature reproduces by turning its victim to stone and then the body crumbles apart into more of its kind. Since magic doesn’t work on them directly in any way it makes them hard to find and remove safely so they would have had to destroy the area just to be on the safe side. A couple platoons of guards were sent to check the area for any other infestations when I returned just to be on the safe side as well as to clean up the magical fallout from what I did. It turns out using massive amounts of magic in a small area can really mess things up in unpredictable ways.

I wasn’t in that good of a shape for a while after all that happened as it took a lot of adjusting to missing a limb. I’m not sure what would have happened if my friend the Admiral hadn’t been there to help me out. In the end it took him notifying me about the punishment of my escort to snap me out of it. To make a long story short I now have three personal servants as well as the first entries into the book of names that is under my control. The two diamond dogs, the male named Butch and the female is Cassidy, are much more intelligent than what you would think as not only do they act in the capacity as guards but they also have training that makes them a pretty high-class butler and maid. I may have to work out some new type of uniform for them as I’d like them to work as both positions and metal armor doesn’t work well while cleaning. The other servant is a three-tailed female kitsune named Oraiste. While the punishment that they had planned for the other two was relatively minor what was planned for her was nothing short of barbaric. I’d rather not go into detail on what it was, but being imprisoned in stone with Discord as your only companion is tame compared to it. As the incident was my fault, I stepped in and claimed her judgment to be made by me as the injury was done to me. She looked scared at hearing this at first, but she settled in pretty quickly as I made her my personal assistant and gofer for anything I needed.

While I may not be fully recovered from the incident it did teach me that I have been relying too heavily on my magic and that I need to find something to supplement it. I already had an idea which was part of the reason why the injury happened but I feel that I may need to go a bit further than that.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I had always found libraries to be a relaxing place to be in as not many would bother tracking you down in one unless it was truly important. Add in the fact that they often had comfortable furniture to read in as well as hard to spot hidey-holes and it was easy to pretend that the outside world didn’t exist. Of course there were always exceptions to that, one of which was prancing around in front of me.

“You missed yet another meeting last night. I’m starting to think that you don’t like spending time with us nobles with how often I see you holed up in here.” I level a glare at Duke Okami over the book I am currently reading through as I ponder my response. Ever since I had stepped in and interrupted the court being held for my three additions to my household he had been taking enjoyment in annoying me whenever he had the chance to do so. He usually avoided the royal library so him appearing more often while I was there reinforced the idea. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I like the Admiral just fine. In fact we had a nice little chat over lunch earlier today.”

He just laughs at my response which just annoys me even more as he doesn’t seem to be able to take a hint so I try to make him feel awkward. “Besides with my leg how it is I have enough problems getting around on my own. Until I find something to fix that I’d rather not go places where I can potentially embarrass myself by falling flat on my face constantly.” That stops him from laughing but I still see a glimmer of mischief in his eyes.

“Well I doubt you are going to get anywhere with that while reading blank books. Wouldn’t you have better luck somewhere else such as, I don’t know, the medical books and healers?” I look down at the book on necromancy and flesh-crafting I am currently reading and grimace about one of the annoying things I had noticed about the kingdom. It seems that while I wasn’t under the same restrictions most of the other kitsune were under; it did make it harder to explain some of my reading habits as many of the books I had been perusing were blank to all but a select few. I had to be careful with how I responded to questions about them as, while Lady Ogitsu didn’t mind me reading them much, it was still best not to draw the attention to others about the spell over them.

“Those other options didn’t turn up anything that wouldn’t be horribly awkward and uncomfortable to use. Besides an old ‘friend’ of mine specializes in an odd branch of magic. I still have a long ways to go in my studies on it before I’m comfortable using it often, but one thing it has taught me is that sometimes hiding things in plain sight is the best place to hide them. So what better place to hide interesting information than in something that beings wouldn’t take a second glance at such as an empty book or where something belongs?” I glance at the pile of books nearby, more specifically the one I had found on chaos magic, while I wonder what Discord is doing now.

Returning my attention back to the Duke he has an odd look in his eyes though the smirk never leaves his face. “If you say so, though that friend of yours sounds like someone I wouldn’t mind meeting. He’d probably liven things up around for a bit, even more than you have already done.” I just roll my eyes at him as, while he may be correct, things would more than likely end up much more lively than he’d like if Discord showed up around here. Not that he would as he really didn’t like how easy it was for me to turn his magic back on him and a whole kingdom that probably could do so would drive him mad, even more than usual at least.

I try to think of a way to get rid of the Duke so I could go back to my studying but the only thing that comes to mind is to make sure I start showing up for the weekly noble meetings. Going over everything I have in my head I realize that I should be able to finally put one of my plans into action as everything should be about ready now. “Actually I probably should show up a bit more often to those meetings since the Admiral could use the company. In fact I believe that the surprise I’ll have prepared by then would be something he’d enjoy seeing as well.” I let a small grin fall over my face as my words drag his attention away from the stack of books next to me.

“Really? You’re finally going to agree out of nowhere after all these months of me asking? It must be some surprise then if you’re finally ready to attend again.” He looks over me a bit suspiciously before he starts to walk away before pausing. “I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again, but until then you might want to be careful with that book on primordial magic. It’s not an easy read and using magic of that type is a bit unpredictable at best and insane at worst.” I give him an odd look as he walks away as I consider his words while glancing at the books I had out. Strange, all the librarians only see blank books when they look at these yet he seems to have been able to understand the title of one of them. From how he describes it though the only one that it could be is the one on chaos magic. Is primordial magic another word for it? It would make some sense as even according to Discord there was only chaos before the universe was made.

Shaking my head as I turn back to the book I was currently reading through I flip through a few more pages before sighing and placing it in the finished pile. Not that I’m surprised but nothing useful enough, not to mention anything I’d even consider using, in that book either. If I didn’t care about necromancy like I do then I’d maybe consider getting a random limb to replace the one I lost, but it would just be creepy to dig up a body for that or use some other creatures and start looking like Discord. Full on regeneration of the level to grow it back just doesn’t seem possible without a huge power investment. A sufficiently strong Alicorn could maybe do it, as well as the Lord and Lady, but even with a few shortcuts I wouldn’t be able to do it. It’s not even having the knowledge of the spells that matter but having the power itself since it seems that it bolsters the body so much at that point that healing from even near fatal wounds is possible as long as you sustain them while being that strong.

I sigh and flip through the next book in the stack and pause when I realize what I am reading. Huh, mechanical limbs can be made with golemmancy? That might be something to look into though what they have here looks rather crude. It’s just too bad that most of these books are so old and out of date. I know for sure that some of the theories I’ve found here are so out of date that even Luna would have laughed at them. Sometimes it almost feels like these should be in another language entirely what with how old they are. I pause for a moment when I think that before pulling out my journal and setting it beside the book on the table in front of me as I look between them.

I look back and forth between the two as I try to focus on the shapes and order of the letters instead of what they mean. After a few minutes of this my eyes widen when I notice what I was looking for as well as why things had always felt odd when reading or speaking around here. “When did I learn to speak this language? I could have sworn I was speaking in Equestrian Common this entire time, or the Diamond Dogs guttural language at the very least. Other than those two the other languages I know I have to actually think about speaking.” I rack my brain trying to figure out what was going on while I compared the language I was reading to the ones that I knew of. None of them really came close to matching it though ancient unicornian as well as the diamond dog tongue had a word here and there that looked similar. Even some of the other more obscure languages that I had been forced to learn, after losing some bets with Twilight, didn’t mesh up at all.

When I ran out of languages to compare it to I decided to perform a magical scan of myself to see if there was some outside influence that was causing this. It was a good thing I was sitting down since finding the spell was easy yet the power and feel of it shocked me. “This is old magic, older than anything I’ve encountered before except…” I stop when I remember the feeling the spell is giving off as I had only encountered it once. “The stone I found in the Everfree years ago, this spell feels just like the magic surrounding that area. I knew I felt something when I touched it and I should have realized what it meant when I could actually read the words on it.”

I try to think of what all this could mean but without being able to examine the stone again there wasn’t any chance of that. It did bring up another issue as I look at all the books around me with this new knowledge. There were a few books that I didn’t understand the words on, so I knew it wasn’t a full translation spell, but all the ones I could understand were in this new language as well as ones I’d learned previously. “Is this really a translation spell though? I’ve never heard of one working so seamlessly or even allowing the caster to speak the language. This almost feels like the entre language was implanted in my mind instead of it translating it for me.”

I examine the spell matrix closely but it looks nothing like what I have encountered before. However it works there aren’t many that could cast something this complex and I wondered which of the four I knew of made the spell as well as if all of them knew it. I filed this information away for later while making sure to pay more attention to what I was saying as well as what others were saying as well. It could come in handy knowing if any of the others knew some of the languages that I did as it would allow me to keep some things secret from them if I needed to. The Admiral would be a good one to check with on all this as he would obviously know a few other languages if he was going to order around diamond dogs and the ships they plunder.

I didn’t even need to go that far as I found out before I left for the night that most of the caretakers were masters of various languages. “You mean everyone that works here is required to learn at least three different languages before they are allowed to work here?” I was surprised at how strict they were about whom they had working here though it would make it easier for them to sort the books. “Why of course Duchess, few of the nobles even bother learning other languages so it’s left to us to cast the translation spells on the off chance that someone shows.” I’m not sure if I should be surprised or not with the tone of voice used by the caretaker as I didn’t like too many of the nobles myself.

I decide to have a bit of fun before leaving for the night. “Well it is a shame that they don’t want to learn other languages you never know when they could be useful.” I say this in Equestrian Common but the caretaker just looks at me in confusion so I switch to Gryphish. “Of course it does take a lot of effort to learn them and of course they have so many important things to do.” I almost start laughing at the look on his face before I switch to the diamond dog tongue. “It’s just a shame they don’t realize how important it is to know other languages as knowing them grants you a lot of power when the situation calls for it making those that speak the language indispensable.”

His eyes widen at this last one before he responds in kind. “It’s kind of you to say that Duchess. It’s always good to see a noble take an interest in learning something new when they don’t need to.” I chuckle before switching back to what is normally spoken here. “Well it was more that I actually needed the languages while I traveled around. It’s good to know that there are some I can keep in practice with so I don’t get too rusty speaking them. I’ll need help with some of the languages from other worlds though.”

With a final farewell I hobble my way out of the library back towards my residence with one of my new guards as escort. It didn’t take long for me to spot the growing trees behind my home causing my mind to turn to the experiment I had planned for the next meeting.

Author's Note

Not dead yet but just a bit out of a writing mood. Cut this chapter off a bit early as the next part wouldn't quite link up well enough I felt. Still at least I finally got the chapter out and will have a few more soon. As always please leave any typos, comments, and complaints below so I can improve.

Crying Wolf

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

You wouldn’t believe the amount of knowledge is in the library here in New Sionnach. Much of it is rather useless as the information is based on the rules of an entirely different universe but even then I’ve been able to come up with ideas using principles of the magic I am familiar with. It’s just too bad that Twilight will probably never be able to read most of these books as I doubt ponies will ever be allowed here. I have picked out a few books that look interesting enough to get a copy of though, especially one that I know she is desperately in need of. Some of them do bring up some old memories though, especially one I found on illusions that Trixie would have loved to have. Reading through it myself it really shows that she did have potential to be the strongest unicorn ever, even rivaling your alicorn might if I read this right. If she ever delved further into the mental and emotional aspect of illusions she could have accomplished anything. The power to trap something within a prison of its own mind; or even to cause someone to think that they were killed so badly that it actually happens is a very scary power that few think to defend against.

That’s enough of teasing Twilight about knowledge she can’t have as I am currently preparing for an experiment that I had been planning for a couple years now. It used to be a thing that was commonly done by the nobles here but it fell out of style centuries ago. Looking at the original rituals I can only guess that it was due to how time consuming it was to go through with it but I’ve been able to use some of the knowledge I’ve picked up on golemmancy, as well as a small bit of necromancy, to improve the ritual to make things a bit easier. Hopefully next letter I write I will have created my very own timberwolf guardian.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

The day had finally come for me to begin putting into effect the experiment that probably had the longest time required for planning to even start carrying it out. I looked up at the rosewood trees that I had been growing ever since I lost my leg and thought back to how difficult it was even getting three of them to grow correctly out of the dozens I planted. One of them did have some problem with it leading to it to barely being more than a few feet tall but I have an idea that might work for it depending on how today turned out. I looked over the circle I had drawn in the yard near the largest of the trees making sure that everything was drawn perfectly so that any potential problems were eliminated. I hoped that the modifications I made to some of the runes worked out well as the old ones for the ritual seemed flawed to me; and also for the fact that I was planning a small addition to it in the form of a decently sized diamond that was about the size of a pony’s eye.

I turned to my assistant Oraiste once I was sure that everything was in place. “Right, I think everything is set up correctly for me to do this. Now remember that you, Butch, and Cassidy need to make sure that I am undisturbed for the next hour or two while I channel the spell.” She nods to me before looking hesitant for a moment before responding. “Of course Duchess, but are you sure that this is a good idea what with your condition?” I roll my eyes as I had been getting a bit tired of my leg getting pointed out as a reason for not doing something all the time, even if I was guilty of doing it myself. She did have a point though in that I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen if something went wrong, but I had learned to take precautions with new magic long ago. It was good to see her starting to speak her mind though as she had been terrified to anger me those first few months of serving me.

“Well I’m not fully sure if this is going to work or not, but I made sure to have a triple layer of protective wards around the area as well as multiple energy sinks in case something goes wrong. So even if something does go wrong it shouldn’t be bad enough to injure me too badly. I’ll also be heavily shielded as well as a few other precautions so if something does go wrong then it’s most likely something outside of my control.” I wince a little at my wording but at least I acknowledge that there is always a chance of something going wrong and hope that the opposite occurs. I’m not sure if I reassured her though as she just nods and heads back inside to make sure that if something does go wrong it isn’t the fault of her or the other two.

Once the door was closed I made sure that all the protective spells were ready and active before turning to the circle near the trees. I calmly started to focus my magic into it as well as the largest of the trees and settled down for a long period of concentration. Immediately I came across a problem as it had been too long since I had to focus with such precision that I found my mind wondering back to old memories of my friends which almost caused me to abort the spell a few times. Luckily nothing went wrong during those periods as I continued the spell linking everything together.

Once the spell neared the height of the required power I started to picture in my mind what I wanted to happen as well as the final form. Slowly the tree I had chosen started to glow brighter and its form began to shift as it lifted itself out of the ground and floated towards the waiting diamond. Slowly the diamond began to sink into the wood and, once it vanished from sight, the wood began to start to form the shape I was picturing in my mind. As it started to take on the final shape that I had planned I briefly pondered why the normal timberwolves only were made entirely of wood and little else. This distraction proved to be my undoing as I failed to notice that a small maelstrom of wind had formed around the area and loose objects were starting to be pulled into it. As I started the final part of the spell I felt a sharp pain in the side of my head and the last thing I could remember before everything faded to black was wondering how Rainbow Dash found me out here to once again crash into me.

<><><><><><><>

I wasn’t sure how long I was out but dreams of some of the pranking antics I got up to with Rainbow Dash filled in the void. So it wasn’t much of a stretch to say that I was disoriented when I felt something wet slide along the inside of my ear. “Darn it Dash, how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?” I mutter as I wearily drag myself up from the realm of the comatose and look around in confusion.

“Duchess! Thank goodness you’re all right. We were worried when we found you out here unconscious but we couldn’t check on you because of your guest there.” I look up to see all three of my servants backed up to the door while staring at something behind me. Turning I find that I am lying against one of the largest timberwolves I had ever seen, barring the so-called timberwolf alphas from the Everfree. I shake my head, wincing at the sharp pain from doing so, as I try to gather my thoughts on everything that happened. “Well it’s good to see that everything worked out, except for the being knocked out part, but I swear I didn’t finish the spell. Last thing I remember was casting the imprinting spell for applying a personality and then I was hit by something. Last thing I remember was thinking about…”

I stop as my eyes widen and I turn to take a closer look at the timberwolf that I had created. Like many of the ones I had seen in Sionnach the wood it was made of moved as if it was flesh, allowing it to have a very expressive face as well as the ability to move relatively silently. The one I created differed in that it was a deep red with a brownish tinge instead of the normal brown of the normal ones. It also had what looked like a mane of thorns around its head and neck area which looked to be un-bloomed roses. Taking in the features I found that it definitely gave off a feminine appearance and poise, but what really threw me off was how she was sitting. Oh frig, she’s sitting in such a showy and arrogant manner just like I remember Rainbow Dash used to. While her loyalty would have been something I would have added; it’s her brashness, arrogance, and liability to pull pranks that worry me. Still I guess I could have thought of a worse personality to imprint her with.

Looking from the timberwolf to my servants I realize that I probably should do something to calm them all down, though Oraiste seems to be in a bit of shock over something. Taking a moment I come up with a name for the timberwolf, and curse my lack of imagination for it at the same time. “Rose, you can stand down. Those three work for me and the two diamond dogs are also my guards as well. You two can go back to what you were doing earlier as I think Oraiste might be a bit out of it.” I feel Rose relax from her guarded pose while Butch and Cassidy let out a weak chuckle before heading back inside.

I slowly get up from my position as I check myself over to see if anything else is wrong beyond the headache when my assistant finally snaps out of it. “You mean this is what you’ve been working on all this time and what you were injured for?! Something like this hasn’t been done in centuries and it looks like you did something else as I have never seen one of the guardians look like this before!” I look over at her and start to see her fur looking a bit frazzled which brings back memories of Twilight’s panic attacks.

“Well of course this is what I had planned, mostly. To be honest I didn’t expect her to turn out looking like this but I think I prefer this look over the boring one of the others.” I look back at rose to see her soaking up the praise which causes me to just shake my head. “Besides, this was all supposed to help me prevent getting injured like that in the first place. I’d been needing something to help with my over-reliance on magic since I’ve been in too many situations where it is a liability.” I look over how the wood shifts as Rose moves around. “Besides, I think I may have gotten an idea on what my next project should be to fix that little mistake.” I think I may have said something wrong as Oraiste just lets out a small shout of frustration as she tosses her paws up before storming back inside. I just turn to look at Rose who just looks at me with amusement before I hobble my way back inside to prepare for tomorrow.

<><><><><><><>

Things turned out to be amusing as the next day rolled around as I found Oraiste groveling in fear over her actions the previous day. I just chuckled and forgave her as I was glad to see her actually having a spine as that was one of the most important things in an assistant. Part of her job was to do what she can to keep me out of trouble and make sure I took care of myself properly, things that I learned from watching Spike all those years.

The real issue came with getting used to Rose as I had no idea about everything that she would require. From how she acted as well as the few habits I’ve already seen it makes it hard to believe that she is just a golem, but is more like a real living being instead. Food isn’t an issue for her but she still drinks water so I can only assume that she still photosynthesis like a plant. The diamond implanted in her chest also seem to be undamaged but seems to do nothing for her which I am relieved about as I had planned to use it as a source to lay protections on her and allow her to control them through it.

Still those were all issues for the future as I was expected at the meeting of nobles this week and I was going to arrive in style. Riding atop Rose’s back as I direct her through the city drew many stares of shock to which I just chuckled at internally. I was running a little behind as I wanted all the other 6-tailed nobles to already be there as I made my entrance as I wanted to see all their reactions at the same time. I was sure a couple of them also had personal timberwolves bound to them but I honestly had no idea which of them did though. While it was once a status symbol to have one it fell out of style at some point but I never did find out why. Most of them were old enough to have been from before that time though so it guaranteed some varied reactions. I could already guess how the Admiral would react as, even though he didn’t have one himself, he always enjoyed seeing the others dumbfounded.

We arrived at the usual meeting location for the meeting with minutes to spare but almost all of the nobles like to show up early so they can get whatever plotting done with their groups before anything really begins so we head in. I nod to the guards next to the doors as we pass by who each look dumbfounded at my current transportation. I could hear a lot of conversations going on in the meeting room but a couple voices stood out from the others. “Are you sure that she is going to be here this time? It’s hard enough getting anything done without members deciding not to show making it harder to get the required votes on things.” It sounded like Duchess Bhean and it was obvious who she was talking to before he replied as only one knew about my coming. “Why of course, she said she would be here this week and would be bringing a surprise with her as well.” At that moment I entered through the doorway with Rose which drew his eyes directly to me which widened a bit. “And what a surprise it is as well.”

His tone of voice caught the attention of the room as soon everyone there was looking at me in various ways. Duke Okami was unreadable to me but the other two faction leaders just looked at me in shock. Reactions from the others were varied though, with everything from being completely dumbfounded to even a bit of fear from some. Approaching my usual place by the Admiral I noticed that he looked even more amused than usual like I expected, but there was something else in his gaze as well. After asking Rose to lie down so I could dismount and take my place I then directed her to the space behind me, where the assistant or guard that each noble was allowed to bring was situated.

Once I made myself comfortable I looked around in amusement to find that chaos had taken ahold of the room as everyone broke up into groups to discuss something with each other, though Duke Okami and the other two faction leaders were constantly looking over towards me. Admiral Farraige soon leaned towards me to talk as it looked like things wouldn’t be progressing anytime soon. “Well lassie I said it before and I’ll say it again, you sure do know how to make an entrance. I’m also not the only one entertained by all this either, I haven’t seen Duke Okami look this amused in a long time.”

I glance over towards the dark kitsune myself, but fail to see any amusement at all. “I’m not sure how you can tell, I can’t figure out what he might be thinking or feeling right now. He just looks bored or uninterested from what I can tell.” The Admiral chuckles a bit before responding. “Well it isn’t easy, but when he isn’t all loud and boisterous it usually means one of two things, he’s either extremely worried, or he’s holding back from breaking down and laughing like a mad-fox. Since he’s watching you calmly it’s most likely the latter.” I just shake my head as I was hoping to shock him more than anything.

“Well I was hoping for a different reaction as he had been annoying me for so long since I wasn’t showing up. Though I’m starting to wonder if I missed something in the books I read. I thought the guardians were just a status symbol, yet everyone’s reaction seems to be a bit overboard for something like that.” I turn towards the admiral and once again see that odd look in his eyes which now looks less amused than before. “Well it is a status symbol in a ways lassie, but not in the way you thought. You see the Prince or Princess is supposed to be pretty powerful and a sign of that power is to be able to create their own guardian. The three faction leaders are the only ones that have one right now so since you came in riding one you pretty much just proclaimed that you were potentially the Lord and Lady’s child.”

I just stare at him in horror as I realize the look he was giving me before was one of pity and I just drop my head onto the table before muttering. “Oh frig.” The only response from him is his boisterous laughter.

Author's Note

Two chapters in two days, something must be wrong with me now. Going to have more fun with Rose later on I think as I plan to have her around for a long while. In a way this is sort of part of the diamond dog triad. Where ponies have unicorns(magic), pegasi(maneuverability), and earth ponies(durability) the diamond dogs have the same with kitsune(magic), diamond dogs(maneuverability), and timberwolves(durability). In a straight up competition it would probably end up in a stalemate as the pegasi and diamond dogs take out all the others and then spend eternity not being able to find each other as one is in the clouds and the other underground. As always please leave all comments, typos, and complaints below so I may improve.

Getting a Paw Up

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

You would think that with all the time I spent around Twilight that I would have remembered that books have one huge flaw to them. More often than not they are lacking in the most important bits of information either because they are out of date or the information is supposed to be common knowledge. I finally finished up with that experiment I was doing and now have my own timberwolf companion. What the books failed to tell me was that having one is also synonymous with declaring yourself as the potential child of the Lord and Lady which means I now have to deal with those wanting to ride on the coattails of success. Denials about the issue just fall on deaf ears so I’ve taken to trying to find alternative ways of discouraging them from bothering me. Unfortunately I don’t want to fall into the ways of certain royalty I’ve known so it really limits what I can really do. Mostly I have taken to hanging around more with the so-called commoners of the city which has helped to some extent. While it hasn’t helped my popularity with the nobles much I have come to enjoy how hardworking they are and have even learned a thing or two. In fact I’ve become almost a regular at the schools as I have found the children to be more mature than the nobles and have even started sneaking in lessons on some of the languages I know. That actually turned out to be entertaining when I found that a couple of the children were relatives of some nobles and they had taken to having conversations in equestrian common to hide what they are saying. That really didn’t help the opinion of the nobles towards me with few exceptions; the Admiral being the obvious one but Duke Okami also seemed to be amused with my antics as well strangely enough.

Now the timberwolf that I mentioned… Well things have been a bit odd since she has joined my little household. The first thing I should probably mention is that I made a mistake during the ritual bringing her into being which caused her to develop a personality I’m sure many of you would recognize. I could go on a long rant to describe all the things I have to deal with but I think I’ll just sum it up in two words, Rainbow Dash. Yes I accidentally made it where she has many of the mannerisms of our old friend and the only real relief is that she can’t talk so I don’t have to listen to her bragging all the time. Still, it is nice to have a reminder of her after all this time and you can’t deny that loyalty is one of the most important aspects of a companion and guardian. I still could do without all the little pranks she likes to pull though.

As a side note my trips to the library are going to start happening less often than usual. Apparently I had been in there so much lately that even Lady Ogitsu was starting to worry about me and got involved. I’m sure Twilight can understand how it feels to get kicked out of a library but at least it’s not permanent. I now have to schedule through the librarians when I will be showing up so that they can keep track of how often I use it. This means I need to find other ways to use my time but I may have an idea for that. Unfortunately before I can do those things I might have to delve into some rather dodgy magic that I’ve been studying so I’ll need permission from the rulers before even attempting anything. Still if things go well I might have just found something to surpass even your medical sciences which is rather hard to do.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I was a bit nervous about what I was going to request of Lady Ogitsu but I had made a promise to be careful with some of the less-than-savory branches of magic that I knew. What I had planned may not be something directly from those schools but it did draw elements from a few of them. I thought back to when I didn’t bother checking in with others over my activities and wondered if the change was good or bad. At the very least it was always god to have someone else check over my work in case I made an error somewhere.

While I waited I watched Rose as she had her fun with the guards by toying with one of the spells I put on her as protection. Granted an aversion spell was usable in other ways, but it seemed a bit petty using it to see how close you could sneak up on someone before they saw you like she was doing. It would probably only get worse once I fully worked out that displacement enchantment I read about. There were a few others that could cause some problems but at least Rose was mostly harmless.

When I was finally called in I was surprised that Rose was also invited in as well. “Ah Flarenza, how nice to see you again. I see your guardian is as interesting as I’ve heard as well.” I hadn’t really paid much attention to it before, but with Rose in the room it was thrust in my face how large Lady Ogitsu was in comparison to me. Going by how much bigger Rose was than a normal timberwolf I was guessing that she was to Princess Celestia as to what I was to Twilight normally.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me Lady Ogitsu. I do admit that she didn’t turn out like I expected, but I wouldn’t change a thing now. The guards around the city probably would argue with me on that point though.” The Lady chuckles at that. “Yes, I had heard about some of the antics that she had been getting up to. I think they’re still finding feathers in the barracks from one of her last pranks. It’s fine though since they have been getting a bit lazy.” I look at Rose who tries to look innocent before I bring a paw up to my face. Ugh, I hadn’t heard about that one yet.

I make a note about trying to get Rose to lay off the pranks for a while, though it’s nice to know that the spells work. “Anyways I needed to ask about you a couple things in regards to the magic you didn’t want me to be using here.” I pull out a sheet of parchment with the full details of what I had planned as well as where I got the information for each part from. “I don’t think I would have been able to put something like this together without all that information from other universes. Though I understand why you don’t want some of it getting out, I can’t even believe how horrible necromancy and blood magic can get. I’ve had to fight against the former and the latter mostly makes me feel sick thinking about it. It’s almost a miracle that I found a way to use them that wasn’t blatantly evil.”

Through all this she had been examining the notes that I had given her, though she looked amused about something. “You do know that when you give others something to read you should make sure they know how to read it.” I look down at what I gave her and realize that I forgot that I was writing In Equestrian Common again. “Of course I’ve made it my business to know every language that comes through our library.” She chuckles at my look of shock at her little prank.

“Still I don’t see anything too bad about all this, but I would like to know why you feel that this is all necessary.” I sigh before responding. “Well it also has to do with a request I had. I was looking into training with a weapon so that I don’t have to always rely on magic if I get into trouble.” She nods in understanding. “Yes, I can see why this would be required for you to go through with this before then. Just make sure that you are careful about who you talk to about this though.”

I let out a sigh of relief before bowing to her. “Thank you for allowing me to do this. I’m pretty sure this will work, though I hope I don’t have to do it too often.” After the usual goodbyes I was on my way to the palace armory to look for ideas for something I could use. I decided to look into the portals and others worlds connected by them considering how much stuff they seem to have pulled from them. I was treated with an eyeful of such things when the doors to the place opened.

“Wow, is this supposed to be an armory or a museum?” I look around in wonder at the variety of implements of destruction that are being stored in the palace armory. While some of the common weapons were stored in racks like I expected; there were many that were displayed like trophies along the walls and in display cases. “I said I wanted ideas, but this is ridiculous. I have no idea how half of these would even be used.” I look over some weird metal thing shaped like a seven with a needle-like bit sticking out of the end which was named after an insect.

“Right, I’m starting to wonder what kind of sick creatures would even use some of these things.” I pass over some kind of giant cross, a set of twelve keys, and even what looks like a rat connected to a stick by a chain. As I was looking over a staff while thinking back to some of the things that Zecora used to do with one I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was just a set of large beads but on a closer look it turned out to actually be a weapon that looked to be used like a whip.

“Rosary Beads? Not a very informative description but there is something about it.” I look over the weapon a bit more closely. “I think this is supposed to be used like a whip, a rosary whip maybe? I’m not sure if it would have the same impact as a regular whip but I think I see some potential in this.” Examining the strap used to hold the weapon I pictured how it would be used by me both with and without magic. I can see me wielding it both from my mouth as well as using my tails. Adding in a bit of magic and I could make this a really unpredictable weapon if I need to use it.

Taking out my journal I start to make a few simple sketches of the weapon as well as a couple preliminary notes as well. Looking over the material I note that it looks to be of some kind of ceramic or metal, but I most likely will use wood in my design. After finishing with that I look over a few other things, like a three-bladed sword and odd throwing ring, before heading out once again with Rose. “Well Rose I found something but I was hoping for a few more ideas. Still, I think I can make this one work and I think I have a few ideas to add to it.”

Hopping up onto her back we made our way back to the house to prepare for what I had gotten approval for. I flexed the remains of my missing limb in anticipation to this while I thought out the plans while looking for any flaws. When we arrived I made sure that I had everything prepared as I gave out orders to my servants. “Now be sure not to interrupt me no matter what you hear unless Rose comes to get you. This is going to be very delicate work so anything interrupting me could be catastrophic.” The three nod to me before splitting up to their respective areas.

Heading down to the basement I start setting up the wards to contain anything that could go wrong as well as keep out anyone from interrupting. After verifying that only those keyed to them could bypass them, I then added another layer of spells just to misdirect anyone that may have bypassed the wards in some way. “Everything seems to be ready there, just be sure that you’re ready to stop everything if anything goes wrong Rose.” Turning to the center of the room I examine the circle and the stunted tree that I had moved into a pot down here.

Starting up the spell I begin the first part which is easy compared to the rest of it. Taking the small tree and reforming it into the shape I desired. The tree was larger than I needed so I worked a little harder to compress it down to increase its final strength. Before the process was finished I started in with the difficult part of the process. Looking down to the remains of my leg and bring up a second tendril of magic and use it to reopen the wound allowing my blood to flow freely into a bowl below it.

While trying to hold the fresh wound closed I gather up the blood and start to wrap it around the tree and start to bond them together. Using a combination of blood magic, for its power through blood, and necromancy, for its power over life and death, I imbue the wood with a portion of my own life. Once I start to feel the object start to give off an aura similar to my own magic I begin the final portion of the spell.

Taking a deep breath I bring the shape closer to my body, and with a final inhalation, bring it into contact with the opening in my missing limb. As soon as it comes into contact I begin weaving a spell combining both necromancy and golemmancy. Trying to keep in mind how I read how a mechanical limb is connected I use that as a base while using necromancy’s flesh crafting style to connect the limb to my body. I focus as much as I can on the spell itself and not what is going on as my body’s nerves start getting connected to it and the pain begins. Luckily by that point all that was left were the stabilizing spells to keep my body from rejecting it as the pain was much worse than I thought and as soon as I finished all I could do was scream.

After an indeterminate amount of time the pain becomes bearable enough for me to begin focusing again. I hear whimpering above me and look up to find Rose hovering above me. “Well Rose, that could have been worse but I’m not sure how yet.” I shift a bit and feel something odd and look down at my leg to see its wooden shape that looks remarkably like my old one while having the same realistic aspects like Rose. “But I think things are going to be looking up now that I can walk on my own without being at risk of falling over all the time.”

Author's Note

Bit short and might need a bit of work, but here's another chapter. Please let me know of any problems, typos, and comments so I can improve on things.

Learning Time

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

Believe it or not I finally managed to do something about that leg I lost a few years back. I managed to modify the spell used to create timberwolves with a few other branches of magic and created a fully functional prosthetic leg. It works almost exactly like a real leg with the only real problems being severely reduced feeling in it and having to deal with even more stares than usual. Well then there are also all the jokes the Admiral makes about how well I’d fit in on one of the pirate vessels after reinventing the peg-leg. Hopefully he’ll get tired of the jokes in time though it hasn’t let up much lately.

Not much else has really happened around here lately beyond me starting up some training with a new weapon. I know that when I left, neither Twilight nor Selene had chosen anything to train with but I highly suggest doing so as there have been too many times where magic was nearly worthless to me. I’m still working on the final design for mine, but let’s just say that it will be a long time before I’m ready to actually fight with this thing.

I apologize for the short letter but as I said not much of interest has been going on. I do wonder how things have been going on your end though since it has been a while since I could send or receive letters. While I’ve been able to distract myself over the years only Luna and Celestia have the experience on your end to move on after losing friends. I only hope that they are helping you other three and that you take their advice to heart as much as you can.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I let out a loud yelp somehow manage to smack myself in the rear much to the amusement of the watching guards, both diamond dog and kitsune. Since I had decided to choose a rather exotic weapon I found that there was nobody around to teach me in its use so I had to learn from doing after creating my own training version. I had most of the real weapon planned out but I wanted to be at least somewhat proficient before putting in the effort to make it. At least I was getting better as I no longer went to bed as a solid lump of bruises like the first few months.

Shaking my head and letting out another sigh I started over with the basic forms I had created for the weapon, trying not to hit myself this time. While there was nothing specific for this weapon, I had borrowed ideas from some others as well as a few from drawings detailing how a few others were used. I began with the weapon in my jaws and swung it from the eight cardinal directions in front of me ten times each. From there I repeated the same motions but using the weapon from my tails instead of my mouth. Once I was satisfied that I had the motions down I started in on the more complicated motions I planned out.

I began with a wide sweeping motion from one side to the other before bringing the rosaries up and over into a downward swing from above before retracting it into a neutral stance again. This was the move that I screwed up with last time so I made sure to not make the same mistake again. I was starting to get a feel for the motions this time when an unwelcome voice broke my concentration. “So I see that you’ve finally found something to do other than sit with your nose buried in dusty old tomes all day. Granted you seem to be doing something wrong if I don’t miss my guess.”

I glare at Duke Okami as I try to unwrap myself from my weapon that ended up tangled around me. “Well excuse me for trying to learn something new that requires a bit of concentration while learning how to use it.” I grumble to myself as I finally free myself from my rosary whip just to have the end of it catch under my paw causing me to fall to the ground. This of course causes the Duke and the watching guards to break out laughing yet again. As my concentration was now shot I decided that it was time to move onto something else for the day while everyone else was distracted.

<><><><><><><>

Over the next few weeks I steadily improved with my weapon though often enough I had an audience that got rather annoying, especially when Duke Okami showed up. I did get some support from the Admiral which helped a bit, but my frustrations did bleed a bit into other areas.

“Duchess Flarenza!” I smile as the class of youngsters all bounded up to me in excitement. I could feel most of my annoyance melt away as I interacted with the children. There always was a core of annoyance though at how off the treatment based on the number of tails one had as it only started after they earned their second tail. Even then those few born to noble families still had an advantage in that their families tended to help them out some though they were mostly treated equally until that point.

I pushed those negative thoughts away and instead focused on the bit of joy I found in teaching the younglings something that I had found useful but many looked down upon. “So who is ready to learn more of the languages that I used during my travels?” I laughed as they all started jumping about in excitement as I glanced up at the teacher shaking her head at her class being derailed once again. Considering how things worked around here though she never would say anything in complaint as she was only a three-tail. After looking at what they the children though I wasn’t too sorry about exploiting that fact as I try to add things here and there to enrich the classes.

Turning back to my class I grin as I think of a way to relieve a bit more stress at the expense of some of the more annoying nobility. “Well I’m sure many of you have found out who knows this language so be sure to share that information as you don’t want to be heard saying some of these words together in front of them.” I watch as the teacher’s eyebrow rises at this as I smirk at her and switch to equestrian common. “Duke Okami is a pretentious flamboyant fop.” I run them through it a few times before explaining what each of the words translates into in the kitsune tongue while leaving out any more mention of the Duke’s name. It’s only when the kits starts giggling madly that the teacher realizes exactly what I said and stares at me in horror.

I continue this with a few other languages as well, switching out the name for another noble that had annoyed me lately. By the end of my time there the teacher was completely frozen up in shock and the students were having the time of their lives. I knew that I’d probably get some flak over this later, but that was Future Flarenza’s problem. It was even possible that none of this would even reach the ears of anyone that matters as they tend to avoid those they consider lesser than themselves.

As I left the facility I stopped by a few of the building’s staff that had caught my interest to drop a word here and there. I tried to be as subtle as possible with the changes I was pushing as change was often fought against. I simple correction here and there or an improvement on an idea often began a chain reaction of change that couldn’t be stopped I had found. Of course when the change was as in something such as the medical field things went much faster as I had found when news of my new leg came out.

A lot of my time was taken up running back and forth between the doctors of the kingdom and Lady Ogitsu making sure that only approved information was passed along. Much of it was fine as it was generally ideas and simple things that I had learned and was common knowledge in Equestria, but there was the occasional thing tied heavily to darker magics that I wasn’t allowed to pass along to them.

Still I had been slowly improving the lives of the lesser-tailed kitsune in every way I could. Some of the information I spread hadn’t even reached the ears of the nobles as it was so far beneath them so those focused on growing anything were better off than before as passed on some simple farming and growing tips. Well, most of the nobles didn’t pay attention at least, though the Admiral was a big exception as well as Duke Okami for some reason. The fact that it felt like he was always watching me was one of the things that annoyed me.

<><><><><><><>

It had taken years to get it ready, but I finally finished the most important parts of my rosary whip. Much of the time needed was in saturating the last rosewood tree I had with my blood so that I could get the more complicated enchantments to work. That along with more blood during the final crafting linked all the pieces of it together even when they were separate. That, along with the silver cord I had acquired as well as forty gemstones allowed me to make it where each ten centimeter bead could hold a different enchantment yet still affect the entire thing. Creating and powering that enchantment alone took five of the forty beads.

That allowed me to apply more enchantments on it to strengthen it so that it would take vast amounts of magic to damage the weapon, as well as make it light as a feather to me while each bead would be as heavy as a boulder to anyone else. Those, along with an enchantment to allow me to more easily channel magic through it, took up almost all the gems I used in its creation. That left only seven more gems for me to work with; five after I finished up with the kill-switch enchant, so I could regulate the power of the others, and a size enchantment allowing me to partially change the size and shape of it all when needed.

I give it a test flick once I finished the last few enchantments; marveling at the how light I was able to make it, but wince when I notice the chunk of the wall smashed open by it. “Well it’s good to know that it’s working like I wanted it to, but I might have to be a bit more careful with it. It’s going to take a bit of work to test out exactly how the enchantments will interact with each other.” Deciding that it was never too early to start I wrapped the whip around a tail before shrinking it down to a more manageable size. I nodded at how well it looked as a decoration before heading out to find somewhere to practice a bit with it.

There really weren’t many safe places for me to test my new creation out at that wouldn’t cause problems in some way. That pretty much left either the guard training grounds or somewhere far outside of the city. Since safety was a concern and my guards couldn’t be nearby if I went to somewhere isolated that just left the training grounds. Of course the problem with training there was the constant heckling I had been getting over the years of my training with the practice weapon which made it look like I was just fooling around.

It was still relatively early when I arrived there so those that were there were currently busy with their own daily practice. I doubt that would last long as some of the usual hecklers had noticed me and already looked to be picking up their pace to finish faster. I just sigh as I move to the area I usually practice at and begin with my usual stretching routine. After the first time of not doing any when I started adding body movements to my routine I made sure to never make that mistake again.

I wanted to be sure I had my routine down so I started one last time with my old training weapon just as a precaution. I skipped the usual repetition and went through it all only once before I started my preparations for my tests of the new weapon. By this time though I was starting to draw the usual crowd so I signaled for some specialists to shield the area for me as well as some target dummies. When the crowd noticed this, the heckling started to begin.

“What is this? It’s not like anything you can do with that toy is going to hurt anything.” I didn’t catch who it was that said that, but I was seriously getting tired of the doubt and hoped my new weapon worked as I expected. Since words never did anything to shut them up before I just started in with a few test swings of my weapon, marveling at how easy the weapon moves, before really starting in on something a bit more complicated.

After doing a small test to the link, to make sure I could set the enchantments, I swing the whip in a downward smash at the first target and watch as it explodes on impact and the ground beneath it crack and slightly crater. Immediately after I retract the weapon towards me and gather it up into a coil before thrusting it forward causing the whip to extend rapidly forward at another target, blasting right through it and shattering the shield behind it as the first bead hits it.

Seeing the barrier around my training ring shatter after such a simple hit I stop and stare at the kitsune whose job it was to keep it up. I notice that the heckling had stopped after those last two moves and I even saw a few jaws that were wide open. “Really? So after all this time of many of you bragging about how much better you all were and that I was just playing around it only takes one simple hit to break a training barrier? I’d hate to have seen what would happen if I was going all out instead of just getting a feel for my weapon.”

I see a few of the guards start to back away in worry at my words though one voice rises up from the back. “Well it’s about time that you finally show us what you were up to, and I’m disappointed with the behavior of my guards, especially the ones in charge of containing any problems. They should know better than to slack off like that and endanger everyone by holding back like they just did.” I watch as a hole opens up in the crowd around me and a grizzled looking female five-tail walks through. I had never met her before but just from my first impression I could tell she was a no-nonsense type which was something I hadn’t seen much of from nobles.

“Now you head to the medics to get that backlash treated then head back to your commander for retraining.” She raises her voice for the next part. “We need four shield specialists over here for high level weapons training, and no holding back this time.” I nod to her in thanks as I prepare to go back to my practice once again as four new kitsune surround the area. Once they all nod at me signaling they are ready I enter a combat stance once again.

I decide to make sure that the shield is sufficiently powerful this time before I begin seriously again. Putting up a personal shield I then channel a spell through my whip before flourishing it in an arc above me, launching a ball of fire from each bead except the ten nearest to me. I watch as they all impact with the shield and I see the ones making it wince but the shield still holds. Nodding to myself now that I was sure that the shield could handle any accidents I go back to my practice once again.

There was much less heckling this time after seeing what my weapon could do so I was better able to focus on what my weapon could do. While it was a bit more responsive than my training weapon, it did take some getting used to as I needed to get the timing down again. Using my magic through it made for an interesting experience as it allowed me to store up multiple spells at once and release them only when I needed to, though the charge faded quickly if I didn’t use it. I did notice a potential problem in that I will need to be much more careful about using it around friends as it would do as much damage to them as my targets so accuracy and precision would be vastly important, that or be able to instantly be able to switch the stone-weight enchant on and off in an instant. After some testing I did manage to figure out a way to tweak it so that it only puts out enough weight to negate the impact in such a way that it only puts off enough force to put something at a stop without any rebound or pressure. It did confuse a few onlookers as they expected the target dummy to be blown away instead of stopping my weapon as if it didn’t even feel it.

I was actually starting to enjoy myself as well but of course the usual problem showed up. “So you finally figured out how to take handle stationary targets I see. Maybe you would like to give it a shot against a moving target now? It’s been a while since I had the chance to face someone that I wouldn’t completely overwhelm.” I sigh as I turn towards the side to see Duke Okami with his annoying grin on his face like usual. I was about to decline, but after the last few years of his antics I decided to take the chance to finally get a few hits on him.

“You know what fine. If you want to risk yourself while I’m still learning everything that I can do with this, then go right ahead.” With a signal to the guards the head off to fetch his weapon he also calls in a couple more specialists to help with shields around both of us. They wouldn’t be enough to stop bruises and pain, but should be enough to stop fatal blows. I wasn’t sure what weapon to expect them to bring out for the Duke, but I really wasn’t expecting a simple spear.

Seeing as the level of danger had gone up more specialists were called in making it where we had almost every available one protecting the area. In fact it looked like we had all the guards preparing to watch our sparring match. It wasn’t that hard to ignore them though since I had a couple years to practice doing so against their worst behavior. We both prepare ourselves on opposite sides of the ring and I keep an eye on him to try and get some idea of what style he may use. There was something familiar about some of his movements but I couldn’t quite place my paw on it.

As we stared each other down I noticed that he still had his idiotic grin plastered on his face which was annoying me. It felt like he wasn’t taking this seriously so once the signal was given to start I opened with a sweeping strike that would be easily blocked. As I hoped he tried to simply bat my attack away just for my weapon to push right through his guard relentlessly. I let out a small grin at the shock on his face but I was surprised as he still somehow managed to dodge. Yet even then his grin didn’t vanish for long and it seemed even larger than before. Huh, so I guess he does have some skills. Maybe he’s not as useless of a noble as I thought if he actually knows how to fight.

While I was expecting him to be flattened by my blow, I actually had to give him a bit of respect for being able to react as fast as he did. I watch him shift his stance a bit more and then I recognize his style to be something akin to what Zecora used. At least now he looked like he was taking more seriously as he dodges my next strike which came in faster than my last one.

Now that I recognized a bit of his style I was able to predict a bit more of what he would do. This was proven as he started leaping around more using his spear as an assist even though he held it mostly in his magic. He hadn’t tried attacking directly yet but he was able to dodge even some of my most unpredictable attacks that I created by redirecting the path of my whip with my magic. I almost got him the first time though as he tried to use the impact of my weapon to propel himself across the ring just for it to stop on impact and the rest of it swing around behind him towards his head before he ducked.

Of course things turned around a bit when he finally went on the offensive and moved in close to make it harder for me to use any stronger attacks. I swirled my weapon in some complicated movements to try and keep him off of me as well as keeping my weapon in a constant motion to keep the momentum going. When he tried to get behind me I even managed to pull out a new maneuver by getting my weapon to spiral around me to drive him back yet again.

It felt like we had been fighting for hours yet judging from the sun it was only a few minutes even though I was breathing a bit hard. Duke Okami didn’t seem affected much though which worried me a bit though it surprised me. I had almost forgotten my annoyance with him as I started to wonder what I really knew about him beyond what he always showed off. As I started in on another attack he decided to open his mouth yet again to throw me off.

“So how do you think I’m doing for a pretentious flamboyant fop now?” The words alone may not have thrown me off much; but the fact that he said it in equestrian common made me stumble a bit as he was moving in. Because of this unpredictable action I tripped and collided into him as my whip went wide and out of control. The world started to spin a bit as things went out of control and I lost track of everything for a moment.

When the dust settled I found my muzzle in close proximity to the Duke’s as we both stared at each other with my whip wrapped around us. “Well this was rather unexpected.” His words broke the silence and made me realize our predicament causing me to blush. With a bit of a scramble I extended my whip out, allowing it to loosen up, and scrambled away from him. I was too flustered to say anything so all I could do was run off back to my home.

Author's Note

Right, I have come across a bit of a problem now. I have a path I'm planning on going with but I want at least one more chapter before going along it. I'm not sure if I can come up with something to tie in with it though so I'm torn with trying to force something, or do what amounts to a small timeskip showing mostly the end result with some of it explained in the letter portion. I'm hoping for an idea to come up with over the next couple days so expect either to happen. As usual please leave any typos, comments, complaints or puns below.

Who are you really

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

If there was any time that I would need to talk to one of you, now would probably be that time. While I still dislike most of the nobles I have met, things of changed a bit in relation to one of them. I had always thought that Duke Okami was a waste of space like many of the others, yet recently my thoughts on him have changed. It all started with a sparring match, which ended with an unusual situation that I don’t want to talk about, and from that point on things just felt odd.

The biggest thing that I started to notice was that he was no longer acting like he always did whenever I would see him. While he still seems to be keeping tabs on me like before, he hasn’t been as annoying about it as before, he has actually been nice in fact. While I was unsure of what his game was the first few times, I actually started to enjoy myself around him, especially when he lent his assistance with some of my studies. In fact I was surprised with how much he knew, especially when it comes to the various languages used in the library. Not only does he speak most of the common languages that I know from your world, but he even has mastered a few from some of the others linked to the kingdom. I’m starting to suspect that there is a lot more about him that many don’t know and few suspect, though the Admiral had warned me not to underestimate him.

I’m really not sure what to think about him now, especially after how different he seems now compared to the first few times I met him. At first I thought he was just another noble like Blueblood, albeit a lot more charming, but now I’m rather confused. I’ve actually started to want to speak with him more often now that that he isn’t pushing me away like he does everyone else. At the same time he isn’t trying to draw me into his faction but instead avoids politics when speaking with me except during the usual meetings. I’d almost go so far as to call him a friend lately instead of and annoyance that I’m acquainted with. Whatever is going on though I just hope it’s not a sign of something that I should be wary of. I’ve tried talking with the Admiral about what has been going on lately, yet for some reason he declines to comment on any of it, and instead he just watches and I’m sure I’ve seen him laughing about it as well. At least if something is going on he’ll warn me before it does so I suppose I may just be worrying too much.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I was taking a short break from sparring with Duke Okami by watching a few of the guards go through their own practice. It’s been a long time since anyone has tried to hassle me about my choice of weapon, though if it’s because of my actions that day those years ago or if the Duke Okami has been keeping them away. Either way it’s nice that he has been taking time to help me out with my training, though he’s obviously been getting better now as well. Strange how they always were heckling me about what I was doing, but watching them now I’ve learned that they really aren’t that good themselves. In fact I think most of them might be even worse than the Equestrian Royal Guard was when I first saw them. They haven’t had a reason to fight in so long that they barely go through the motions now.

I turn my head to look towards the other side of the training grounds to see the few exceptions to the rule. The one kitsune who yelled at the others during my first test of my weapon I learned was the commander of the guard. I never learned her name and from what I hear it’s a closely guarded secret known to only those she respects. Because of this she goes by many other names given to her by the guards such as; Commander, Lady Ruthless, and That Crazy Psycho Bitch. Looking over her grey form I can believe some of the stories I’ve heard, though it just impresses me more considering she is in the ranks of the nobles.

Learning that she was outside the usual hierarchy wasn’t that much of a surprise to me after seeing her in action. While I knew that Duke Okami was still taking it easy on me, though I have surprised him a time or two to his regret, I knew that I was far from being able to take her on in a sparring match and I don’t think there were many that could. It didn’t matter what weapon she used either as she was always able to wield whatever she had as if it were part of her own body. I was getting close to that state with my rosary whip, but even then I still would have years until I would stand a chance.

I started to wonder when Duke Okami would return as he had been gone a while after saying he needed to speak with me about something. I was intrigued enough about him actually asking me to wait for him to speak as he usually would just blurt things out so I decided to humor him on this. Of course if I knew he was going to take so long in returning I would have asked him to set a time and place to meet.

Just as I was about to head out elsewhere while leaving a message for him I spotted him padding his way back with his usual grin on his face. “You sure took your time getting back. I could have done a quick lap around the city and still had time to spare instead of just sitting here.” I half-joked at his approaching figure which makes him look a bit abashed. “Sorry, it took me a bit longer than I thought to get permission. Now come on.” With that he starts walking away leaving me confused. “Permission? For what? What’s going on?” He just smiles and grins without saying anything I just grumble as I get up to follow him as I recognize the mood he is in and realize he won’t say anything until we get to wherever it was he had planned for us to go.

Nothing is said as we walk towards our destination, him because he is being secretive and me as I was sulking a bit. I never could figure out how he could cause some of the reactions I had to him, but he always managed to somehow do it. Eventually we arrive at our destination and I look on it in surprise. “This is one of the portals to the edge of the kingdom, why are we heading out there?”

His grin somehow manages to get even larger as he explains. “Well you’ve been talking about wanting to study more about the portals linked to the kingdom, so what better way than to actually go out to one that is about to open?” I just stare at him for a moment, trying to process what he just said, before letting out a little squee and dance around a bit in excitement. I immediately start blushing at my loss of composure as he starts chuckling at me.

“Ehem, well what are we waiting for then? Though why would we need permission just to travel out to examine one of the portals?” He just shrugs as he begins to activate the portal towards our destination. “We really didn’t need it, but it’s nice to have it just in case. You wouldn’t want to accidentally trip and fall through forcing you to be stuck somewhere that you aren’t familiar with for the rest of your life.” I just glare at him lightly before shaking my head at his attempt at a joke as we walk through the now active portal.

Seeing as this is my first time using one of the portals between the city and the edge of the kingdom I stumble a bit on exiting. I recognize the feeling from it as being similar to teleportation so it wasn’t as bad as it probably could have been. Looking over to the Duke I notice a disappointed look on his face as he watches me, causing me to tilt my head in confusion at him.

“I could have sworn that I heard that you never used these portals before since you arrived. Usually the first time involves collapsing upon exiting the portal.” My look of confusion turns into a glare of annoyance at his attempt at a prank like this. “Well I guess it’s a good thing that I’ve had experience with teleportation spells which cause a similar reaction then.” A look of shock crosses his face at this. “Wait, you mean it actually is possible to jump around between places without using something like this?”

My look of annoyance changes to one of exasperation at once again hitting a topic that shows how far behind they are in their collection of common spells; even with all the knowledge they have of other places. “Sometimes I wonder what the kingdom does with all the knowledge they have in the library. While it’s not exactly common it is a pretty well-known spell back in Equestria. It just takes a good amount of power to actually be able to cast it as well as a lot of training. I’ve actually never been able to get it to work completely right myself. I’ve ended up in too many trees thanks to that spell.” I roll my eyes as he laughs at this bit of information. “Yeah, laugh all you want but at least I actually know how to cast the spell. Though if it’s really as similar to that portal as it felt then I may have some new ideas to try with it.”

I briefly catch sight of him rolling his eyes at me as think on this while following him to where the portal is about to open. My musings stop when I feel some kind of pressure building up in the direction we are headed. “What in the world? Is that the portal preparing to open up? I haven’t felt anything like that before.” At his nod I try to study the phenomenon though it’s hard to get a good read on it. While I had never seen the portal that Twilight used I did hear a bit about it. Unfortunately because I never saw it I had no idea if it felt similar to this one or not.

Soon enough the feeling reached a peak and the very air itself was torn asunder as the portal ripped its way into reality in front of us. I watched in awe as this happened and gazed through it to see an entirely new, to me, world. We had to jump out of the way though as diamond dogs and a couple of kitsune started transporting crates of something through it. “Right on schedule, the portal to the city is already open so you can head right on through without any delays.” Duke Okami directs them over towards that point as I examine the portal from various angles.

It’s strange to say the least as it just hovers there in place, but when viewed from the back it’s like it isn’t even there. It’s tempting to try and see what happens if I try to pass through it from the back, but with all the activity going on it would probably be a terrible thing to try testing right now. “So what do you think?” I turn to see the Duke walking back towards me after he finished directing traffic towards the portal. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. Even the one that I took to get here was nothing like this, though I can probably guess why. I wonder if there is a way to stabilize these things so they can stay open all the time like that one.”

He winces as I say this which leads me to believe that it might have already been attempted. “That is actually a really bad idea. That other one is only like that as it was opened to link to this pocket reality which didn’t exist until that moment. It has been tried with some of these other ones but always ended in disaster in some way depending on the destination. One of the attempts was located in a volcano and when the portal collapsed it caused the volcano to erupt destroying the town below it which we found out when the portal opened again on its own. Usually though it causes the portal to rubber band on itself causes strange time dilation issues depending on how time flows when the worlds aren’t connected. Sometimes time just stops on the other side until it opens again, and other times centuries or even millennia pass instead of the normal months or years. A couple of those latter situations were forced on some of the worst exiles.”

Something about what he said bothers me for some reason, but I can’t figure out why. He continues his little speech turning towards this portal. “This one is one of the rare few that are pretty consistent in when it opens. Every other week we have supply runs there and backs and even better is that right the area the portal open into is uninhabited. The beings that live on that planet are a long distance away and it would take them decades if not longer to get to it at their current levels of technology. They don’t even have any magic over there either.”

I turn towards him at that as I had wondered about that issue before. “If there is no magic there then how can the portal even open there let alone let us use magic there?” He chuckles as he sees that he has caught my interest. “Well it’s not really that bad, you just have to ration your magic a bit as you can’t recharge anywhere near as fast. In fact using magic seems to leave a trace of it in that world meaning that the kitsune there now can use more magic than the first few there. The stronger the magic used the more that seems to bleed into the world until eventually it starts spreading on its own and growing.”

I recognize that as some of the symptoms of magic contamination, yet with a world that had no magic the effects seemed to not be as extreme. I guess with nothing to inhibit the influx of magic the planet just absorbs it naturally instead of trying to fight against it. “What about the inhabitants of that world, what will happen to them when magic becomes a fact of life there?” He shrugs as if it didn’t really matter. “Well if it’s like some of the other places recorded then it should enhance them in some way, how is unknown until it happens. Often sentient creatures actually get smarter with magic in their system or have some way to channel it into spells. The latter is most likely here as they seem to practice some sort of tribal rituals already so later they will have actual power behind them.”

I’m not sure how I feel about this information, but decide that it was probably a matter of time anyways with the portals opening at random and causing leakage anyways. “What do the inhabitants there look like anyways?” He smiles once again as he waves me around to an area off to the side of the portal while still retaining a decent view of it. He then conjures up a small globe and I recognize a scrying spell being cast upon it. Soon enough a view of the forested planet zooms by through the globe as he tries to focus on what I asked for. Soon enough we are shown a small tribe of the creatures and only one thing really comes to mind. “Are those teddy bears?”

<><><><><><><>

Years passed and things between me and the Duke were steadily getting more interesting. He still kept up appearances to the other nobles yet he always acted like himself whenever he was with me. It still involved a bit of the face he showed others, but I found that he overly-exaggerated those parts of himself so they would focus on that and not what parts were really him. So I should have been more prepared when he asked the big question yet it was enough to drive everything out of my head even though I still said yes. It took me a few days to realize what just happened as I was talking with the Admiral who was laughing uproariously the entire time.

Months later it still all seemed like a dream to me as I was walking down the aisle towards Duke Okami and the Lord and Lady. I barely remembered the past few months though I remember something about a linking of souls and a few other rituals that were done, but it didn’t seem important at the time. I glance down at the white dress, that was trimmed in silver, I was wearing, which matched my winter coat as we decided on a winter wedding, though I was sure Rarity could have done a better job if she were still around. My soon-to-be-husband was wearing a tunic of rich gold as he watched me slowly approach him with his usual lovable grin plastered on his face. As I joined him in front of the rulers I nervously glanced at the gathered crowd of nobles who were there as noble weddings rarely happened, the last on being a couple centuries ago.

I could barely hear what the Lord and Lady were saying as my eyes were locked with Duke Okami’s. I felt reassured a bit by his gaze though I was still questioning myself about what I was doing. I barely managed to make it through my oaths to him and the various other ‘I do’ moments when I felt the Lady’s magic settle over us. From that moment I no longer questioned if I was doing the correct thing as everything settled into a ‘rightness’ at that moment as I could feel Okami through my magic on a deeper level. My stomach decided to start objecting though at the next words announced by Lord Inari.

“I now present to you Prince Okami and his wife Princess Flarenza!” My eyes widened as the entire court burst into an uproar at this pronouncement before my eyes darted towards his tails. Doing a quick count at least a dozen times I constantly came up with the same answer of eight. Looking back into his eyes again I muttered to him so low that he probably could barely hear it over the ruckus. “You are in so much trouble during our next sparring match.”

Author's Note

Yeah things might seem to come out of nowhere, but this isn't meant to be a Slice of Life piece so that hurts it a bit there. Now to think of what to do to old princie-boy now that he dragged her into a position of responsibility that she never wanted. Expect a bit of trying to be different and failing hard in all the right ways. As always leave any typos, comments, and flames below of which I expect many this chapter.

Also I've got plans for the next book though I'm not sure how to run some of it quite yet. One of them is a character idea though I'm not sure if I should go with twins or triplets for it though I'm leaning towards the former. This will all happen back in Equestria again so it will be ponies, and as a small hint if it's twins it will be a unicorn and earth pony, but if triplets it will be one of each type. Leaning towards the former though as the latter came to mind thinking along the lines of alicornism though there are no plans of making a new alicorn oc appear.

It has begun

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

Things have really changed a lot since my last letter and I’m not really sure where to start. I guess things probably really started changing the most when the kitsune I told you about last time started taking me to some of the portals to help with my studies of them. At first it was simple things such as just peering through them to see what the worlds were like, but eventually he escorted me to some of the outposts we had set up in some of those worlds. Each world has been so different from what I am used to so describing them in words just won’t do them justice. Needless to say that each one was an adventure of their own that would be hard to repeat. Oddly enough many of them actually led to worlds that had little to no magical field on them. Some of the ones that had been visited the longest by my kind were starting to develop a rudimentary field though due to the use of magic by those visiting those worlds. I’m not sure what it will do to the inhabitants of those worlds, but they are in for a surprise in the future especially as almost no contact with any inhabitants is permitted. Even the few exceptions to that rule still aren’t permitted too close to the portals to New Sionnach.

I got a bit off topic there, but it’s an issue that I really could have used advice from Cadance for. You see the one I mentioned before, Duke Okami? Well I’m now married to him. It took many years to get to that point, but eventually I found myself falling in love with him, though him proposing to me was such a shock that I really wasn’t prepared for. From that point until the actual wedding I was in a sort of a daze of self-doubt and confusion. In fact I may have stayed like that through the wedding as well if something didn’t happen to shock me out of it. I guess a wedding without any problems cropping up would have been asking too much as my track record there is still a big zero. You see Okami forgot to mention a rather big issue during the entire time we were going out together and preparing for the wedding, and that being the identity of his parents. Turns out he is the son of Lord Inari and Lady Ogitsu making him the prince of the kingdom, with me now being a princess because of the marriage. Yes, you heard me right, after all my efforts to avoid politics and nobles as much as I possibly could has just been dragged not only into the spotlight of politics but nearly all the way to the top. Let’s just say that he earned a good many extra bruises during our next spar for that stunt, though not enough to curtail any activities later that night.

I’m still not going to just roll over without a fight though when it comes to my views on nobility and politics. To the disgust of many of the nobles I pretty much have to be forced to attend any major events they have planned and even then I still don’t act as they expect. Not to say that I’m rude or anything, I’ve learned better than that from Rarity, but I refuse to be the stuck-up variety of noble. In fact most of my time is spent with the non-nobles around the kingdom doing what I can to improve things with them, especially when it comes to the schools. Being able to more directly improve the quality of the schools and farms without needing to check with the Lord and Lady for everything is kind of a nice perk. Lord Inari was a bit unsure of me at first, and still is a bit, but he’s backed down quite a bit since some of the changes I put out nearly doubled the output of the rice farms that make his favorite wine. He always was wary of me for some reason that was never explained to me, but he always tolerated me due to pressure from his wife and lately has asked me for my thoughts on a couple issues lately. He might not take the advice, but at least he looked as if he seriously considered what I had to say instead of just ignoring me like before.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

Waking up next to someone else was something that took some getting used to, but now it eventually felt odd not to have that happen and today was no exception. As the morning sun shines over my closed eyes I let out a yawn and snuggle back into the warm body behind me. To think that I had lived a few centuries without knowing the comfort of sleeping next to someone like this. I always was a bit curious about what my friends saw in a deep relationship but I never knew even a small portion of the perks of being in one. I sigh as I feel Okami start to shift around, knowing that I’d have to get up soon for the day. I smile as I feel him shift enough to press a kiss to the top of my head.

“Morning Tiny.” I roll my eyes at his little pet name for me that he started using just because I was a decent amount shorter than him. Just because he’s a bit older than me and his magical power inflated his size so much more doesn’t mean he should rub it in. It’s kind of annoying that even here I’m shorter than most of my peers. At least with the ponies I could blame it on the species difference but here it’s mostly the age. Granted I’ve caught up to most of them in height due to my magical strength, but all the other six tails are still a good amount taller than me.

“Morning. Think we can maybe just sleep in today?” I try to snuggle back into him for more warmth as he just chuckles and rolls out of the bed. “Sorry, but you know that there is a lot to do today. You’ve been talking about that event you were planning on going to all week, though the other nobles might not be overly happy about you missing that party.” My eyes widen at this as my mood drops a bit. “Oh yeah, that was today wasn’t it.”

Prince Okami nuzzles me as I crawl out of the bed and move towards my mirror to get ready. I use my magic to take down the regalia that had been made for me after the coronation that went with the wedding. As was becoming my theme they were made of the same type of rosewood that I had been using and was designed in a way similar to what Princess Luna and Celestia wore, but instead of the triple peaks in the center it was instead a single rounded area with a rose shaped ruby in the center. With it came a set of wooden bracers for my ankles that covered the front of them while also each having a red gem on them as well. The gems each carried a few protective enchantments, as well as a cosmetic on to change the color of them to blue during the winter time. After examining them to make sure they were in a pristine condition I put them on while brushing my fur out before turning towards my husband.

“I may complain about being roped into this princess thing all the time, but I will say that I don’t mind not having to worry about constantly getting a new dress for every event. All I need to do most of the time is just put all this on and go.” I look over at him as he places his ebony-wood crown atop his head and catch him rolling his eyes. I swat him with a tail as I pass him by towards the exit of the room and signal to one of the servants to bring up some breakfast as I look out a nearby window.

I still missed having my own place to stay, but after our marriage we both moved into some of the fancier suites of the tree palace at the request of his parents. I was allowed to keep the other place I was given, but as I didn’t live there I used it mostly to house the personal servants that I chose. Along with the three I already had I had chosen a dozen others, three kitsune and the rest diamond dogs. I was expected to have many more but I was very picky about those I allowed to serve me. In fact I required any that served me to go through the same training that the best squad of the guard did under the watch of the leader of the guard, whom I had taken to calling the General in lieu of her actual name. That along with the requirements to fill some other position at the same time cut down the number that wanted the job by a good amount and made it where only the most dedicated were chosen.

Breakfast soon arrived at the same time as Prince Okami exited the bedroom while reading a scroll one of his own servants had brought. “So what things are the nobles complaining about now that you’ll probably have to deal with today?” I lift up a bagel while saying this before taking a bite into it as he sighs. “There’s nothing new really; just more complaints about you coddling the lower classes as well as the usual things from the expansionist and isolationist factions. It might be time for you to show up to another meeting tonight after your little thing today to make it look like you care.”

I roll my eyes at this but I know that it has been a while. “Yeah I guess I can show up tonight. At the very least I can distract them with a few other ideas that I don’t care too much about to distract them away from the more important things I’ve been doing.” My husband just chuckles at this as he comes over to stand by me as I lean into him. “And you always say how much you hate politics, but you seem to be doing just fine whenever you get into it.”

I lightly jab a paw into his side causing him to grunt. “Just because I hate politics doesn’t mean I don’t know how to play them. Really what passes for politics here is nothing that went on in Equestria and I learned a few tricks just from watching how it worked there. At least here the nobles generally have to earn their place instead of it just being given to them.” He chuckles as he sets the scroll down and grabs up a pastry from the tray. “True, while the advancements you talk about out there sound rather nice, that area is one that sounds to have changed in the wrong direction.”

At that moment one of his servants entered the room and quickly moved over to whisper in his ear. I sigh as I can guess what is probably about to happen. “Looks like I may have to head out early today. It sounds like some of the factions have been getting a bit out of hand this morning. I’ll see you tonight at the meeting then.” He leans over to give me a peck on the cheek as he heads out while I sigh and clean up the remains of breakfast. Seeing as there is nothing keeping me here I levitate my whip from the bedroom and wrap it up in my tails before heading out early myself.

As I exit the room my guards take up positions just behind me in their simple outfits. I take a moment to consider the two, the two named Butch and Cassidy after their great-grandparents who served me until they grew too old to do so and having died many years back. While positions aren’t inherited the two families had started a tradition of naming one of their children after the one that started their line and they then joined my guard. The loyalty passed down from them through their family and they each excelled at the job earning the position of their predecessor.

I knew that I would outlive them so it wasn’t that much of a shock when I was informed of their funeral, but my lack of knowledge once again caused me some pain as I made my way to the city funeral grounds. The area set aside for this function wasn’t all that large, just enough for a small shrine and about a hundred visitors, as cremation of the body was the tradition here. I walked up to the back of the crowd that had already gathered and tried to stay unnoticed so as not to interrupt anything while I thought one the one the ceremony was for.

He was only a two-tailed kitsune and he hadn’t even seen a century of life yet. It wasn’t even that his death was unnatural, as he died from old age, but because he never gained his third tail. His being one of the students I taught brought the knowledge forward to me that the number of tails you had also influenced how long you lived. You had to have three tails to actually match the average life expectancy of a pony and having more or less than that drastically changed the number of years drastically. I now knew that I could expect to outlive many of those that I knew as six-tails could live for millennia, and if I earned another tail that could extend to near indefinitely.

The ceremony passed by pretty quickly as the main portion was done in private with the direct family. What was done here was the observance of the body being cremated along with magically enforced silence for the one that was lost. I was one of the last to arrive so nobody noticed my arrival, though there were only about a dozen there anyways. The ceremony went quickly and it was only as they were leaving that the family noticed my presence, causing a few eyes to widen. I shocked them even more as when they bowed to me I returned it to the one carrying the urn.

I stayed behind after they left to think about what the future may hold for me and those around me. I never thought that there was such a disparity between the kitsune based around their tails though it helped explain some of the attitudes the nobles had. I had some idea of how a new tail was earned, seeming to be pretty similar to pony cutie marks, but there always were some exceptions. I wondered if there was a way to help them with that though with the place being isolated from so many things.

As I was leaving I felt a feeling of compassion flow down the link between me and Okami. Ever since the wedding we had been experimenting with the link used to bind us together, though we haven’t made much progress. All that we had been able to figure out is that we could feel and communicate our emotions to each other through it, as well as our magical power if needed. While we hadn’t used it much, it was always nice to feel the other when we felt sad or annoyed about something.

As there was little else for me to do until the meeting later I decided to wander around the city seeing how things were with my own eyes. I occasionally stopped to talk with someone who managed to catch my eye in some way though I had no real goal other than to get a feel for the state of things. I found that many nobles were going out of their way to avoid me though, while the non-nobles actually looked excited to see me, some actually coming up to greet me or ask for advice.

Eventually it was time for me to show up at the meeting with the other nobles so I made my way to the usual place for it. My assistant was already there waiting for me though she was surprised to see me as I failed to let her know that I would be there tonight. She took it in stride though as I took my position next to my husband who leaned over for a quick peck on the cheek which I returned. The other nobles were just starting to arrive so I considered how much things had changed since the wedding.

The meetings went on like they always did, but there were a few major changes in how things were done. For one much of the voting power on what to pass onto the Lord and Lady shifted away from the nobles to the prince and me. While we often refrained from voting on anything we did hold the power to deny anything that was voted through if we both agreed, as well as letting us bring things we felt needed there attention even if a vote didn’t pass. We didn’t really use this power as there wasn’t much that we agreed on that needed such an action but it did help when we spotted something that wasn’t obvious to the other nobles. Of course with us out of the normal voting it did give more power back to the factions but they really couldn’t abuse it.

Soon enough it came time for the meeting to begin as all the nobles had gathered with an exception of one of the newer ones who had recently joined. His aide was there in his place with apologies from him as issues with the territory he was given to watch over had come up. Like usual things went as they usually did at these meetings, which was why I rarely bothered to show, just with a bit more needling at my actions as of late.

“We could have come to a decision on these issues months ago if certain parties weren’t consorting with the peasants all the time.” My ears perk up at this as I calmly turn towards where the voice came from but don’t see who made the comment. My husband must have though as his gaze didn’t waver, though he felt a bit confused at the humor I was feeling at the comment. I decided to speak up myself on this though I had to choose my words in a way to mollify the other party.

“Well since I am less knowledgeable about certain matters I’ve taken it upon myself to deal with areas that Prince Okami doesn’t have the time to. Wouldn’t it be a shame if something happened if the peasants started having issues and you were forced to spend your time dealing with them instead of more important matters? I’m just doing what I can to keep them from hurting themselves and taking time away from you.” I feel a bit dirty saying it like I did, but in a way what I said is true, though more in that the so-called peasants are more important in my eyes than most of the nobles. Whoever made the original comment stayed silent so my words must have had some effect, though Okami was amused at the route I took.

The meeting was about to continue back to more important topics when the doors were suddenly thrown open and a bloody diamond dog guard rushed in. He immediately went to the lone aide and spoke quickly to him as we all watched in shock at the interruption. As someone was about to speak up the aide looked at all of us in shock before he started to speak. “I just received word from Duke Leine Dhearg’s personal guard that there has been a terrible tragedy. The Duke has been murdered by some kind of strange shadow creature along with a majority of his staff. These creatures appear to be from a portal that recently opened in the area which was the source of the issue keeping him from appearing today.”

The entire room was silent from the shock of this news, though me and my husband just turned to each other and nodded before breaking the silence. “In light of this news this meeting is hereby ended and this information shall be brought to the Lord and Lady immediately.” I wasn’t sure what was causing it, but I had a feeling that this was only the beginning of the horrors to come.

Author's Note

Bleh, starting to run out of ideas now for this book, though there isn't much left to go I guess. Two more chapters minimum though I might be able to squeeze out a third though I won't force it. I really need to work on doing more conversational bits but most of what I have in mind is for later. As usual please leave any typos, comments, and complaints below so I can improve.

Sorrow

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

Things have not been good for the last couple centuries here and I’m not sure if I’ll have the time to write again. The kingdom of Sionnach has been drawn into a war that I really don’t think we can win as the enemy is not only relentless but doesn’t even seem to have a motive beyond pure destruction. We don’t know what they want, we don’t know why they attacked, and we don’t even know if there is even any intelligence behind them. All we know is that they seem to be made up of pure shadows and that anything they kill becomes one of them. Killing them is extremely difficult as well as physical weapons alone are worthless, and they need to be separated into at least five large pieces to stop them from reforming and even then it only works if they are exposed to enough light. Capturing them has also proven difficult as they are always in large groups making it too dangerous to try and do so and to contain them would require a sealed crate which gives them the darkness it needs to get stronger. Going out to the combat area has its own problems as none of the kitsunes that have gone have had the right set of skills to actually study them, assuming they make it back alive, and I have been deemed too important to be sent out there which something I am not happy with. They even wanted me to just sit there and do nothing like Celestia always did but I managed to convince them to at least let me help out with the healers since I have spells that can save lives but am not allowed to teach to others.

Even with the little I am allowed to do I still feel so useless and unfortunately there isn’t much I can do about it except prepare for the worst. It’s not that I don’t believe that we stand no chance of winning, there is always a chance, but from what I’ve seen there is so much that isn’t allowed to be known by anyone but a select few which I don’t think extends any further than me or the other three royals. Just from what I’ve seen in the wounds of the injured tells me that at the very least we are dealing with some sort of dark magic and it is extremely hard to combat something you don’t understand. I’m not sure how much of it you all keep hidden from your subjects, but at the very least if something does appear that uses the more forbidden types of magic you at least give out enough information to fight it if you don’t go yourself. I’ve had enough experience with that during the times I was asked to assist either Twilight or Luna deal with something.

I’m mostly just ranting now in this as there isn’t much I can do about what is going on. I really miss talking to you all and I wish that I had a way to get these letters to you without forever being disconnected from my kind. I’m not sure what the future holds, but if by some miracle you do manage to get these letters and I’m not around just know that I will always think of you as the best friends I had ever known.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

Chaos was always something attributed to Discord as he was supposedly the embodiment of it, but I found that where he always forced his chaos on others it was the chaos that happened naturally that was harder to understand. Just watching a hospital in an emergency situation was enough to drive anyone not familiar with it crazy. I pause in my cleaning of the various tools and fabrics of the trade as I turn my attention to the noise all around me.

“We need that blood in room twelve, stat!” “Prepare for more incoming wounded! Medical wagons are ten minutes out!” “Were running out of sterile linens in storage, someone send out to the other sites for more!” “Princess! Emergency in Quarantine Room Forty-Two! You’re needed to assist at once!” At the last call my attention focused completely on that and I passed everything I was currently working on to the others helping out as I rushed towards the room in question. To save time I cast a quick spell to clean my body of all contaminants as I don a clean cap, overcoat, and mask on the way to the room.

“What’s the situation Doctor!?” I shout out as I barge into the room and get a good look at the patient. On my personal examination I see that the male kitsune on the table is covered in claw and teeth marks and I’m surprised that he is still alive. I start to use my magic to stabilize him as the doctor begins to catch me up on the situation. “We’ve done what we can to save him but we missed some of that shadow essence somewhere so when we started to heal him it multiplied and spread.” I wince at this as this was a common mistake that cost too many their lives, including the healers much of the time as the patient turned.

“That’s not good, hopefully you caught it soon enough that I can save him then. Be ready to assist me if I call for it as this is going to be difficult.” Drawing in a deep breath I center myself as I extend my senses into the patient’s body carefully as I carefully search for traces of the stuff that is killing him. I start with his head and chest and work my way down to his extremities hoping that I don’t find the source too soon. When I find nothing at first I feel relieved as he isn’t too far gone to save though I know that it’s doubtful that he’ll escape unscathed. Looking up I notice that he a three-tail which may be a good thing as I’ve noticed that the stronger a victim is in magic the faster the succumb from a botched healing.

The doctors and nurses nearby look more and more worried the longer I take but I ignore them as I pinpoint the location of the infection. “No wonder the healers missed this, he has a small cut between his paw pads on his right rear leg. Not that hard to miss considering how badly torn up his leg is, but unfortunately the healing pushed the infection up his leg.” I look up from my work and look towards one of the nurses. “Nurse, I need you to send a message to the foresters to prepare for another patient in need of a new limb, I’m afraid it has progressed too far to save his leg. It’s gotten into the bones.”

The nurse winces at this order but moves to follow it as I prepare to amputate the limb so they can proceed to heal the rest of his body. If I had time I would have liked to try and find a way to save his entire leg but without any way to safely study the corruption without risking someone’s life it was out of the question. Channeling my magic into a necromantic spell, I separate the cells on the upper portion of his leg from the rest of his body. At the same time I cut of the flow of blood to the limb and redirect it so that it doesn’t cause any problems later and so that I can connect them to his new limb later.

“Doc! Quarantine Jar now!” As he pulls out the requested object I finish the separation of the limb and quickly toss it inside it. As soon as the limb became disconnected it immediately started to blacken as the infection took over and soon it was just a mass of shadows inside the clear container. I quickly finish up with closing the wound on his leg before I turn my attention to the jar. “If only there was a way to keep this stuff from vanishing without turning it into an entirely new monster.” I say to the doctor as I watch the shadows start to fade away without anything to sustain it.

I sigh as I send a burst of light through the jar making sure that the mass is entirely vaporized as the doctor got back to healing the patient. “Make sure to add him to my schedule when he’s healthy enough to be given the new leg safely.” I say this to my assistant as I pass her by as I head towards the area I was helping with before. I wanted to help more if I could, but all I could do now was put those that were fighting back together again just so they could fight some more.

<><><><><><><>

Later that night I met up with my husband to see what was going on with his end of things. I collapse on the couch in our room as I try to shake of the fatigue of the day. “I really hope you have better news than I do. I was called in for at least thirty patients today though luckily I didn’t lose any today but I was lucky that they were all easier fixes though many are going to need replacement limbs. One lost an eye and until I get a decent supply of good glass I won’t be able to replace it. I haven’t had enough time to figure out how to get the enchantments to work with wood or the more plentiful gems.”

He sighs as he pulls out a bottle of rice wine and takes a big swig before he turns back to me. “Well you’ve accomplished more than we have on our end. We’re still steadily losing ground to the creatures with heavy casualties in most of the units on the line. The only ones that aren’t reporting consistent losses are those led by the General and the Admiral and even those they do lose are from them heading in to rescue the other units from being overrun. The General I’m not surprised with but I didn’t know the Admiral was as capable as he is.”

I chuckle to myself at the fact that he has adopted the name I had given to the as yet nameless captain of the guard. I try to calculate how much longer we had left until we had to evacuate the city if they kept advancing and I didn’t like the answer I came up with. “We need to find a way to push them back soon or else we’re going to have to abandon the city. At this rate they’ll be here in fifty years and that’s only assuming we can keep our numbers up out on the battlefield. If we only could understand what these things are and why they are attacking us we could maybe start fighting back successfully.”

Okami just shakes his head as I bring up an issue we had gone over too many times already. “Yes I know your feelings on the subject and you know why you can’t go out to the front to try and study these things. Just from what has been shown in the hospitals you know that they are attracted to strong magical presences for some reason. It may be needed to kill them but they also feed on that same thing.” I sigh as I had heard these arguments time and again, but I knew there were ways to avoid them still given how successful the General, now a six-tail, and the Admiral had been.

“Besides, you have been very helpful in the hospitals as well as with keeping everyone calm in the city. Also let’s not forget your other little project that has you running all over the city placing those gemstones of yours.” My head jerks up at his last comment and looks towards him. “Wait, how did you know about that?” He just chuckles and was towards his timberwolf which was curled up near Rose in a corner of the room. “Your guardian isn’t the only one that has tricks that are outside of what is normal for them. Whenever it’s needed I can see whatever he sees and as you’ve known he’s been by your side whenever you went out.”

I grumble a bit about this but really can’t fault him for it as I would have done the same thing. There isn’t much that I can do about it anyways though he does deserve and explanation about what I was doing. “There isn’t much with those things really. I’m just planning ahead though I hope they aren’t required in the future. When they are activated they’ll put up a multitude of defensive spells all at once. Hopefully at least one of them will work especially since a few of them are ones that I’m not allowed to teach to anyone.” I level a small glare at him which causes him to roll his eyes at me.

Nothing more is said for a while as he moves over to join me on the couch and I lean into him. We just sit there and enjoy each other’s company while we can as we rarely have time to do so with everything that has been happening. After a while a thought occurs to me and I lift my head off of his shoulder and looks at him. “That spell to look through the eyes of your timberwolf, how does it work exactly?” He turns to me with a raised eyebrow. “It’s just a little something that uses the link I have to him and just enhances it to a point that images flow through along with the basic communication it allows.”

I frown at this as I was hoping for more. “So you mean it can’t be used with the regular timberwolves then?” He shakes his head in response. “Unfortunately no, though it would be invaluable if it did work. There just isn’t enough there to work with for the spell to take hold. Then we could have used them as scouts since they are ignored by the creatures for some reason and they aren’t much use since they can’t even touch them.” I sigh about this though it doesn’t fully stop the idea, just makes it a bit more difficult.

“Yet we have no idea how they’ll react to the more advanced ones so sending them out will probably be prohibited. If only it worked then I could have tried using one to try and examine them without leaving the city. I could rig something up so that we can use them as a scout still, but it would only transfer vision but not the things I’d really need. That and we could only order them ahead of time on where to go so we’d have to be through with what we want it to do.” He raises his eyebrow once again though this time in surprise.

“You just now came up with something just from hearing about the spell? That’s rather impressive.” I just shake my head at him, denying this fact. “Not really, I’ve been using a spell just like it for a while now to help some of the injured guards. But instead of linking the vision spell to the patient I can instead link it to another crystal or gem. Put one end somewhere on a timberwolf so that it has a good view of the area, give it orders to go where we need and then watch everything from the other end.” He looks impressed at this and quickly leaps from the couch. “That is going to be more useful than you think. Tomorrow getting that done will be your top priority.” I sigh as he rushes off to see his parents on this and I head to bed to get what sleep I can until then.

<><><><><><><>

The throne room was in chaos as the timberwolf scout was nearing its destination deep in what is now enemy territory. I still boggled at why these shadow creatures ignored the timberwolves but it was a good thing as it made things easier for this to work. Most of the leadership was currently gathered around waiting for the timberwolf to arrive but few were yet paying attention to it as of yet. We had a couple non-nobles present to provide a magnification spell so that the viewing gem was easily visible to everyone, but other than them it was mostly nobles present right now including some of the top military leaders that could be spared from the front.

As this was the closest they would probably allow me to these things I kept an eye on the view trying to get whatever information I could from it. There wasn’t much I could get from visuals, but seeing the creatures moving around was enough to unnerve me for some reason. There weren’t any kitsune or diamond dog shaped ones in this area, but the forms weren’t familiar at all so I assume they were some of the initial invaders. Oddly enough there was also some wildlife still in the area, ones the size of birds and rodents, but the creatures were completely ignoring them.

It was hard to even call what the creatures were doing movement as they more flowed around instead of actually moving as bits of them seemed to float away. I wasn’t sure if this was just how they were in the light or if it was the same when they were covered in shadows as well. My observations came to a halt though as the timberwolf finally arrived at the portal as it was instructed. Immediately the room went silent as everyone’s attention turned toward the orb and the feeling of horror could be felt at what was shown.

“What in the world is that!?” I wasn’t sure who said it, but the sentiment was close to what I was thinking as I watched as well. What was shown through the projection was a mass of shadows that was slowly pouring out of the portal. Not only that the shadows appeared to be starting to twist the area around it into a mockery of the life it used to be. The shadows pouring out of the portal wasn’t the only problem that I noticed either and anyone that had studied them enough would also be able to see it as well.

“What is holding the portal open? It looks like it is trying to close up and from how it’s fluctuating it has been trying to do so for year now.” All heads towards me and I realize that I said that loud enough for everyone else to hear me. I could see a few others looking closer at the portal to verify my words and their widening eyes seemed to confirm it. The chatter seemed to increase even more at that point and I even noticed a hint of panic in it now as well. The Lord and Lady noticed this and quickly spoke up to try and calm everyone. “All commanders and specialists to the war room with us, the rest of you head back to your assigned duties while we come up with a plan of attack.”

As I wasn’t one of those called, and I had no duties to attend to beyond keeping the crystal running I stayed and studied the portal some more. I had looked through the library for information on this portal and the world beyond before yet strangely enough there was nothing there. This led me to conclude that either the information was not there as the portal was a completely new one or the information was erased long ago. Either was a possibility though both had bad connotations going for them that I didn’t want to think too deeply on right now. When all of a sudden the shadows from the portal surged out and surrounded the timberwolf, severing the signal, I started to worry even more.

<><><><><><><>

Things over the years got ever worse from that point as the assault from the creatures got even worse from that point on. Casualties steadily increased and even fewer were able to be brought back to be saved at the hospitals as defensive positions fought off relentless swarms of the shadows. It got even worse as the infected landscape started to spread far enough to reach the areas of combat as we found it was making the creatures even stronger. Even the units led by the General and Admiral were taking heavier losses than normal as they fought desperately to save as many as they could.

While there hadn’t been any order to evacuate the city yet many had been preparing to do so if it was required and I did my part as well. Most of the nobles I left to their own devices as I focused on those that needed help the most, that being the newly orphaned and the library. The former I visited daily and tried to give them hope by telling the stories of my adventures and places we could go to if we were forced to run. As for the latter I helped by assisting in the crafting of dimensional containers to reduce the space and weight taken up by them as they are transported. They were focused mainly on the books of knowledge and history so I was allowed to snag a few of the books that were of low-priority for myself, one I knew would be of interest to an old friend if I saw her.

I was in my room preparing for another long night when things starting taking a turn for the worst. I was seated in my sitting room making some last-minute updates to my schedule with my assistant when we started to hear shouting from outside, and even Rose started growling and glaring at the door. I was about to head call out to one of the guards to find out what was going on when the latest Butch of his line burst into the room. “Princess! We have an emergency! The shadows are in the city and attacking everyone and they have even breached the palace near the throne room! The Prince is leading a counter-assault to drive them off but there are so many that they are still spreading!”

As soon as he finished I heard the outer door break open and I could see Cassidy and the other two guards charging passed the open door. I leap across my desk to get a better view and see two of my guards fall and Cassidy being pushed back. Looking at the shadows that are boiling into the room cause a feeling of unease to flow through my body that feels familiar but I can’t quite place it. I was about to draw my own weapon and assist her when I felt something inside me snap as if I had lost something and I just reacted with reflexes almost long forgotten.

A moment later I unleash a blast of magic of a type I hadn’t used in centuries and watched it burn right through the shadows leaving nothing behind but the empty corridor behind them. My assistant and guards just gape in shock at what happened as even now the creatures slowly creep back into view, albeit at a much slower pace. I barely register this though as a feeling of wrongness and loss flows through me that I can’t quite identify. It takes them shaking my assistant lapping me hard across the muzzle to snap me out of it enough to see the creatures filling the doorway again.

“Princess! Snap out of it! Whatever you did you need to do it again or else we are all dead!” I just nod to Oraiste as I turn my focus within and, instead of blasting the creatures again, I reach out to all the gems I have planted around the city and give them a command to activate with only the spells I now know will work. Suddenly light starts to filter in through the window as the gems begin to glow with a white light that spread throughout the city, pushing back the shadows as it progressed. Even inside the palace this happened, and as it passed through the room it destroyed the creatures it came into contact with. Soon the entire city was covered in a dome of light that held back the shadows and prevented any more from getting in.

I had to sit down once it was all completed since I had to pour energy into the stones to get them to activate as fast as they did as well as to make sure only the spells I wanted to work did. I could see my assistant shivering nearby now that we were safe, while Butch and Cassidy were still on guard and watching out for any more enemies. “How are the other two guards?” Seeing the guards glance in the direction of the two and shake their heads before looking away again. I had to see for myself though so I move over towards where they looked for a better view though I almost wish I hadn’t.

The marks caused by the shadows were easily visible but what caught my attention were the vast sections of their bodies that were just gone. Limbs just ended and even a large portion of their chest cavities were gone revealing everything underneath. I realize that this was the result of the shadow infection being removed from their body, yet the infected parts were a lost cause. Suddenly my mind turned to more important matters. “We need to get to the throne room now and find out what happened and what we need to do now. I don’t know how long the gems will be able to protect us but I know they won’t last forever.”

I try for a couple moments to get Oraiste to get up so we can leave, but when she fails to react I order Cassidy to carry her as we rush through the palace. We found many incidents of the same incidents as what happened in my room though we spot the occasional survivor. I see few signs of resistance so I hope that there weren’t many in this wing at the time instead of the possibility of there being a complete slaughter. As we got closer to the throne room we saw more and more guards showing that there were as least a decent number of survivors left.

When we arrive at the throne room we are greeted by the bulk of the surviving guards, many of them still injured. We don’t get far into the room when I spot the Lord and Lady, both still in good condition, but it as the mound of black fur at their feet that causes me to stop in shock. “No…” I pause only for a moment before I rush across the room to find my fears confirmed when I find Okami at their feet. I don’t want to admit what I’m seeing as I nuzzle at his body, even with all the blood covering him. I lose track of everything around me as I stand there with tears streaming down my face staring at my husband.

I’m not sure how long I was standing there, but when I felt someone grab me in a hug I spotted some sunlight streaming in a window. “It’s all right to mourn dear, but you need to wait until you have time to do so. You need to be strong for everyone until everyone is safe.” I turn to see Lady Ogitsu was the one holding me right now and I just set me head down on her shoulder as I am at a loss for words. “But… I…” She just shushes me as she holds me, though I can feel wetness on my own shoulder where her head is. “I know it hurts, but you are the only one who can lead them out to a new home. It’s too late for me or Inari to do so.”

I don’t register what she said at first but when it does I pull back from her. “Wait, what?! Huh?” She shakes her head and looks at me sadly. “It’s true, we no longer can lead them away from here because of what I’ve always said was our biggest mistake. I was so happy to hear that what happened with Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi was never really their fault, but at the same time saddened because we never could see them again. When we ran away from them after the incident we tried to find somewhere safe for our subjects.”

She sighs as she looks down for a moment before continuing. “We knew that we could never hide from them as long as we were on the same world so we created this place for them to hide so they would be safe. Unfortunately we made it too safe as we tied our own magic as well as our lives into maintaining this realm. Everything that is here is a part of us which is why we did much of what we did. Everything that happens in this world we feel so we had to stop the practice of the darker arts. That is why all the winter kitsune are gone; they wouldn’t allow themselves to be controlled through those dumb books.”

I can hear the pain in her voice as she admits this and I wonder just how much my presence had helped her with that. “Today I realize how much of a mistake that was as the magic you used feels nothing like what we thought it would. We felt when you cast the spell we told you not to but it didn’t have the same effect as it always did, even those gems of yours feel nothing like the dark magic we took it for. We failed as leaders to our subjects and all we can do now is make sure that they have someone that will do a better job than we did in charge. Maybe you can finally fix everything that we messed up over the long years of our reign.”

I was silent through her entire story and it’s only then that I notice that we had been alone this entire time. I notice that I had started crying again sometime during it all and it’s hard to come up with a response. “But, do I really have to lose not only my husband, but also the second being that I had come to think of as a mother?” They weren’t the words I meant to say, but after saying them I found that I had truly meant it. She had always been there for me when I arrived, and was always supportive of me with everything, even when I was disagreeing with some of their decisions.

I wasn’t sure what to do after all this, but I just couldn’t focus like I used to after everything that has happened tonight. “I don’t know if I can do what you want, but for the memory of my husband I can only try. It just hurts so much.” She catches me up in a hug again as my tears flow and we just hold each other for a while. It’s not until we are interrupted by my assistant Oraiste that we finally break apart, though I feel nowhere near ready for anything. “Lady Ogitsu, Princess Flarenza? All of the evacuation orders have been sent out and everyone is on their way towards the closest portals they can reach. Most of the nobles have already evacuated as soon as the shield went up, though before the order were given.”

We slowly get up and I try to focus once again on what I need to but I still find myself struggling. Feeling for the nearest gem to me I try and figure out how long we have before they run out, but can’t come up with an answer other than we have until the end of the following day. “Which nobles are left that will be able to help keep everyone together after the evacuation?” She pulls out a scroll she had taken notes on. “There are a couple dozen five-tails that are still in the area, most of them doctors, teachers, and the head librarian. Of the six-tails only two are left other than you, the Admiral and the General who are already organizing the surviving guard to help out where they can. The orphanage is already being escorted back to the portal leading to the home world.”

I brighten up a little at hearing that those two are still alive and taking care of those that I should have been helping. It makes me feel ashamed of myself for freezing up for as long as I have, especially since my husband would have at least done his duty first. “What about the attack, do you know how many we lost from that before the shields went up? And what is the situation on the outside?” She looks down about it all as I ask this but rolls through her notes. “I’m not sure how many we lost, but there aren’t too many left around the city at our last count. We aren’t sure if they are dead or evacuated already. As for the shadow creatures they look to have surrounded the city and are occasionally throwing themselves at the shield looking for a weak spot.”

I try not to think about how many we lost right now but the news of the shadow creatures is troubling. “Make sure to clear out the outer sections of the city first, the shield will start shrinking if they keep on attacking like that so the faster it empties the better. Prioritize food then the books from the library once you get the civilians across before anything else. The former will keep them alive and we can use the latter so we don’t lose everything we learned.” She nods and heads out to pass along my orders to those organizing things and I start shivering as the stress starts coming back again until Lady Ogitsu grabs me again until I calm down.

“What do I tell them all about what happened to you and Lord Inari? They’ll want to know where you two are when we arrive and the portal closes.” She is silent for a moment before she answers. “Just say that we went elsewhere and nothing else. They’ll know in their hearts what happened but having you will have to be enough. You’ll need to destroy the arch keeping the portal stable once everything is through so that these things can never follow you through to that world.” I nod as I give her one last hug before leaving the throne room to her and Lord Inari who had slipped in sometime without my notice. The last view I have of them before the door closes is them embracing each other with tears visible on the Lady’s face.

The evacuation of the city needed more time than we had to get everything, but we did manage to get the important things through before we had to shut down the portal between the city and the exit point. With careful rationing we had enough food to last a year, as well as enough other supplies to keep everyone healthy for that long as well. There were many questions about where the Lord and Lady were, as well as where we were going to go, but I kept my answers short and evasive as I really didn’t know. Once everything was through I stepped through the portal myself with my guards and Rose before turning around for my final duty.

Gathering my energy I started casting a spell I developed a long time ago but had never utilized until now. Creating a directional barrier about the size of an orange; I set it so that air could travel inwards through the barrier but not escape and pressed it through the portal. Once through I started using larger shields of the same type to start constantly contracting in on it to draw in a large volume of air into the smaller area. I did this constantly until I started to feel the strain from holding the smaller barrier and could even feel it giving off a good amount of heat. Once I deemed it ready I put up one final shield across the barrier before releasing the first one creating an explosion of heat and air which destroyed the bindings on the other end of the portal, forever sealing us away from where our kind had called home for millennia.

Author's Note

I'm not sure what else I could really have added but I've kind of run out of ideas so here's the last chapter before the epilogue. I probably could have split it into two but I just couldn't stop writing. Not sure how long it'll be but it'll be enough to set up for the final Book I had planned. So please let me know of any typos comments and complaints so I can try to fix things before then, of and I might need some name ideas for then as well.

Prologue-Remembrance

Rock Talon Heights was a place I never thought I would go to ever again but time had a way of healing old wounds and adding regrets. After many years of it weighing on my mind I vowed that returning here one last time would be my first priority if I ever started to travel again. Even though I was planning to return someday I never did think to check what happened to the town after my last encounter here. Since a large portion of the town was in flames at the time I expected to find nothing but ruins but other than the collapsed tower it looked like some of the town had recovered over the years since. While nowhere near the size it was before it was still respectable enough considering what happened.

I just hope that they still aren’t sacrificing random travelers to necromancers or other dangerous beings. I’d rather not have to be forced into doing something rash considering how much I’ve grown since then. I glance back at my four tails, the fourth having appeared sometime after I set out on my journey, and cursed the loss of control that came with the new surge of power. Turning back to the town I throw on a cloak and hood to cover my appearance as I make my way to the ruins of the necromancer’s tower with the rising sun at my back.

As I make my way through the town I notice that the town hasn’t quite recovered as much as I thought, or at least not into the same shape it was before. Where once the town was a vast sprawl of wooden buildings of the like found in Appleloosa it was now filled with more simple building like in most of Ponyville. It made sense as the wooden buildings were much more flammable and the straw roofs of the current design would be easy to remove and replace if they were set on fire. I could almost pretend it was another town if it wasn’t for the fact that the tower’s remains were still there.

As the sun was only just rising there weren’t many being out roaming the street as of yet. This was fine by me as I didn’t wish to meet anyone on the way to my destination and seeing as the town was burned down because of me I didn’t want to know how they’d react to the sight of a kitsune. Looking at the few beings that were out and about right now though I could tell that the town still had a bit of a mixed population. I spotted a few ponies, gryphons, and minotaurs as I moved through the place and I think I even saw signs of diamond dogs as well. The last one was new for the town and it gave me some potential allies if I needed to leave town in a hurry.

Out of curiosity I decide to wander around the town and see what is around before going to my final destination. I am glad I did as I notice one business with various stone objects on display outside and realize that it could provide something else to ease my mind. While it isn’t open as of yet I do see hints of movement behind the coverings of the windows so it probably will open soon.

Soon enough the place opens and I’m glad to see that a diamond dog is running the place which should make the job I want done much easier. I take my time looking over the different kinds of stones he has available for carving trying to find one that would suit my needs. I can’t identify what kind of stones they all are but it really isn’t the look that I care about as much as how well the feel in a magical sense. While there are a few that fit well enough with what I have planned I go with the densest feeling one as it will be able to hold an enchantment better and longer than the others. I can tell that it is some kind of marble but I am unfamiliar as to what the name of one that looks like fire in stone form is called. The fact that it looks like it does feels rather fitting as the night of my mother’s death was punctuated by flames.

Lifting the stone in my magic I bring it up to the diamond dog in charge of the shop. “How much would I need to pay for this stone and have something carved into it?” The diamond dog looks me and the stone over as I keep myself concealed within my cloak. My size and stance must confuse him a bit as shown by his next words. “Pony has good eye for quality. That rare stone from firelands and cost 1000 bits. Carving costs 250 and will take a week for me to get to after other jobs then be done in hours.” I shake my head at the time frame he’s given as I don’t plan to be around that long.

“Is there any way that I can convince you to finish it today? I’m not able to stick around that long and would like to have it done before I leave.” The diamond dog shakes his head. “No, others pay ahead of pony and get work done first.” I just sigh and decide that this is more important to me than keeping my identity hidden. “Are you sure about that? I’d be willing to pay extra; oh and I’m not a pony.” At this I lower the hood of my cloak revealing my foxy features which causes his eyes to widen in horror as he prostrates himself, to my dismay.

“High One! I didn’t know, please forgive me!” I just sigh as I shake my head at his actions. This is getting rather old. It’s probably going to get worse as I visit major diamond dog dens as well. “I didn’t want anyone to know especially after what happened the last time I was here. Just get it done by today and everything will be fine.” From past experiences I’ve found that making the request sound like a threat works well enough to get them to not offer more than I’d asked for. It worked as well this time as he rapidly nods his head as he rises and fetches the stone.

“Now just give me a moment to compose myself so I can get the words just right.” I wasn’t sure what I wanted exactly as this was all on a spur of the moment. Thinking back to the last few funerals I had attended as an example I tried to come up with something when I realized an important fact; I didn’t even know my mother’s name. She never used it in all the time I was with her and the only name I knew her by was ‘Mom.’ I feel myself tearing up a bit at this when the perfect thing comes to mind.

“’Here lies a mother slain by a heartless necromancer. Avenged by her loving daughter on the same night as her death. May her soul rest with her ancestors.’ Did you get all that?” The diamond dog nods as he looks up at me in shock. “High One lost her mother? In this town?” I don’t remember mentioning it happening here, but it was a rather big event so it should have spawned stories of some kind.

“Yes, it happened here. That same night the town burned as the fires from the tower spread to engulf the entire town. I’d rather that information not get spread around though.” I give him a look to which he nods rapidly. “Since it’s going to be a while I’m just going to take a nap. I’ll just use that dark corner over there so you can wake me when you finish.” The diamond dogs nods once again as he proceeds to start carving the letters into the stone with his claws. Once I make myself comfortable in the fore-mentioned corner I cast a light silence spell to block out the sound of scratching but nothing above that.

I awoke a few hours later to the diamond dog lightly poking at one of my paws. As soon as he saw that I was awake he immediately jumped backwards as if he had been burned. Letting out a yawn I look towards the diamond dog I notice that he had finished the grave I had commissioned and I was impressed with how neat and fancy he was able to do the lettering. “Yes, that will do perfectly.” Remembering the price he stated before I pull out a platinum bit and five gold ones as payment. Seeing this he started to protest.

“No no no, that is too much High One!” He was about to say more before I cut him off. “This is little enough for what you’ve been able to do for me. You’re going to take this one way or another and I’d rather not have to sneak in later to leave it for you to find.” The diamond dog still looks as if he wants to object but takes the bits from me anyways. With our transaction complete I put my hood back up again and head out of the store with the stone floating along behind me.

Once outside I notice that there are a lot of other beings around now and a quick peek at the sky reveals it to be a couple hours past noon. I make my way through the town’s populace towards the tower ruins while keeping an eye out for trouble. While doing so I notice that the town’s populace is a bit more varied than I thought as I spy what looks like a bipedal feline and even a glimpse of the small form of a brownie. I had only read about that last one and didn’t even know they were real which made me wonder what other marvels I’d find in my travels.

Soon enough I reach the remains of the tower and realize that it doesn’t seem to have been gone through at all since I was last here. Judging from the weathering on the rocks and various plant matter growing out of it there didn’t seem to be much effort in clearing the place which made me wonder if there was anything that may have survived the fire still buried. I shake my head to clear it of the thoughts as I want nothing to do with what may remain of the place.

Circling around the ruins I search for an appropriate place to for the grave marker and settle on where the entry to the building was located. Once I settle the stone down into place I proceed to place two simple enchantments on it as well as modify the stone to absorb ambient magic to sustain itself. The first enchantment was to guarantee its permanence so that even millennia from now it will still look brand new and the second one to shield it from anything wishing to move or bring harm to it. Once I had finished with that I pulled out a bundle of flowers from my packs to place in front of it and sat down facing the now finished grave marker.

“I’m sorry that I never had the chance to visit Mom, but many things happened since I last saw you. I’ve made friends and even found someplace to call home for all these years. What happened to me that night really scarred me and if it wasn’t for them I probably would never have gotten over my fears or returned to this place. I still miss you so much and there is much that I don’t know that you should have been there to teach me. It wasn’t until the first of my friends died that I realized that I didn’t age like them. How long do we live? Where do we come from? What do I do when or if I find others like me? But most importantly, why did that thing have to kill you?”

At this point the tears are steadily flowing down my face as I remember everything I could about my mother. Time had taken much from me but I could still remember her smile as well as the feeling of love I always had around her. I thought that I was alone for all this as the ruins were a good distance from the rebuilt parts of town, but a sniffling sound behind me disabused me of that notion. Turning slowly I found that a very old looking griffon was laying a small distance behind me who looked a bit apologetic.

“Sorry about that little lady, I didn’t mean to interrupt what you were doing. It’s just so sweet to see children visiting their elders even if they are gone. If you don’t mind, may I ask what happened to your mother?” I really don’t feel like talking to anyone else right now, but from past experiences this just means that talking about it is what I really should be doing. Judging from the gryphon’s appearance he might have actually been around back then and probably had information from then. Either way there wouldn’t be much harm in telling him as he didn’t look like he had much longer to live anyways and his words probably meant his family didn’t visit much.

“Well I guess I can tell you, not like much will change if I do or don’t. It was a long time ago when this place was still standing. The townsfolk were kidnapping travelers for some reason and bringing them here for a necromancer to sacrifice. When I found her it was too late and in a panic I killed the necromancer and then escaped.” I didn’t feel like going into detail but it was still enough to cause the old gryphon’s eyes to widen. “So all of it really was true then. I was only a young chick at the time but when the fires destroyed the town my parents told me it was in punishment for what they had done. They never said more than that but the town did turn for the better after that, what little remained at least.”

I just sit there in silence staring at the words carved into the stone and he thankfully makes no move to interrupt me again. I don’t know how long I sat there but for some reason he stayed there with me for the entire time. He probably had more questions, especially as he hadn’t seen what I looked like, but I was thankful for his silence as well as his presence. Eventually I felt that it was time to go and started the first steps on my journey to find where I belong.

As I pass by the gryphon he clears his throat to stop me for a moment. “If you don’t mind little miss, but may I ask the name of the one who freed this town from that necromancer?” I pause for a moment at his words wondering how much that one act long ago changed. Finally I begin walking again after saying four words. “My name is Flarenza.”

Author's Note

And now we start with Book 2 of the 3 part(minimum) series. Be ready for things to be a bit different than Book 1 as I can really cut lose since there is little canon to go off of and the world is still a blank canvas. Some questions from the previous book will also be answered here but there may be a couple that won't arrive until Book 3 but let me know if there is anything you want to check on or have clarified.

As always please let me know if you catch any typos or major brain-farts in my writing.

Rocky Encounters

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses

Let me start out by saying that I HATE brownies now. It would have been nice to get the warning about them so I could have prepared before going into the village but there just wasn’t enough time. It was like an entire village of mini-Discords in there even though they didn’t have his magic. At least some good came out of it all in that I at least have some ideas on what to do when facing something that magic isn’t reliable against. Speaking of Discord, how has he been doing lately? I can’t recall ever seeing him around since Fluttershy vanished and I lent him a corner of the manor property.

On other things, it was nice to be able to talk with Luna and Selene again even if it was during a dream. They did manage to point something else out that I forgot to mention in my other letters. Sometime after I left Ponyville I managed to grow yet another tail, though I’m not sure when it happened exactly. Knowing Twilight she’s probably going to be a bit annoyed that she can’t do her usual research on me whenever something odd happens. Granted this time I may not have minded as badly since I didn’t even know I could get more than three. My mother never taught me much about our kind and I thought her three tails was the most possible. Looking back she probably had more but kept them hidden through the spells she did manage to teach me. She never did tell me much about her life before having me as most lessons were of a more practical nature based around survival and magical skills.

Someday I hope to find out more that I should have learned if things didn’t turn out like they did but for now there are some more immediate problems. I managed to find some kind of underground facility by literally falling into it. Time had eroded away at the ground covering up a part of it which decided to fall apart just as I was walking over it. Luckily the fall wasn’t too bad so I only earned a couple minor scrapes and bruises. I took a bit of a break to rest up and write this before I started to explore the place and see what’s here. From the little I can see here it doesn’t seem as if anything has been down here in a long time. I can’t tell how old the place is from here but it doesn’t look like something that would have been in a Daring Do book. Granted the statues of ponies, gryphons, and minotaurs scattered around would fit in them. Well there’s nothing else to talk about for now so I think I’ll just send this off now.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

Sending off the letter I take a moment to look around the immediate vicinity of the underground complex. The room I’m in seems to be some kind of entryway as one of the paths out of it seems to angle upwards. The statues are really the only point of interest in this part of the complex and a close inspection of them doesn’t reveal anything of interest. “Whatever owned this place before had a rather odd sense of how to decorate the place. Maybe some kind of reclusive sculptor lived here? Would explain why someone would put something like these in something meant to be hidden.”

The next room didn’t reveal much else other than even more statues of the various races and even a few non-sentient predators. As I moved deeper and deeper into the place the trend continued though the ones deeper in started to look more and more detailed. This led credence to my previous suspicions about the place but with the number of statues I’ve found it was starting to be a bit creepy. At the same time I was starting to feel as if something was watching me but on searching there was nothing to be found and there were signs that nothing had been in this place for a very long time. “At least there doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous in here. This may not be something that would be in a Daring Do book, but add in some traps and maybe a bunch of killer felines and it would come close.”

I was starting to wonder what the point of this place was as there hadn’t been any furnishings of any kind anywhere and the rooms I’d passed just seemed rather pointless. Examining my enchanted map I found that I had been steadily moving deeper and deeper underground at a steady pace. I hadn’t noticed this fact at first but I had to check when I notice that nearly every turn I’d come across was in the same direction. “Okay I may have been wrong about a sculptor being at work in this place. No matter how reclusive they would be they wouldn’t need this much space. In fact there isn’t much that would need a something that goes this far underground unless it involved powerful or forbidden magic, or was some kind of secret fortress.”

I made note to ask Twilight why her lab was so close to the surface while being inside of a town. I knew she had some powerful protection spells on the place but my own experiences showed that even that isn’t always enough. If I ever returned to Ponyville I’d probably work on expanding my own underground workspace so that the more dangerous things were placed deeper with some fail-safes to prevent any damage from spilling over between them.

Other than the feeling of being watched there wasn’t much of interest to be found and I was starting to get bored. Just as I was about to turn back I came across a large antechamber that was nearly completely filled with statues facing what appeared to be a throne on the other end of the room. “Well I think the creepiness factor just went up quite a bit now. Still no clue on what the point of this place is or what was being done here in the first place.”

Searching the room itself didn’t turn up much more than the previous rooms, though the statues in this one were the most detailed yet. There were multiple exits out of this room which meant that this was probably the lowest point of the place as well as the main section of the complex. Of course that led to the problem of deciding which path to take first. “Since this room is set up to be like a throne room that probably means that the side room lead to things that would be for servants or visitors if there were any. Of course the three palaces that I’ve been in were set up with different things in mind but the path behind the throne was almost always for the private use of the princesses and their most trusted guards.”

With this in mind I made my way around the throne to check the area behind it. As I suspected I found a passageway there which led off into the darkness. I was about to enter the passage when I felt a field of magic spring up ahead of me, blocking the passage. “Well this is interesting. Whatever is down this way must have been important if the owner of this place has a shield protecting it that is still active now.”

Seeing as this is the first sign of anything even remotely threatening I decided to shut off my light spell and replace it with something I had been toying with for a while. Tapping more deeply into my magic I called out a few wisps of flame to float around me and bathe the place in a red light. While it was a bit more power intensive than a normal light spell I was able to use the flames to attack or defend with if needed.

With that preparation completed I turned towards the shield covering the passage and began to examine it. I couldn’t see where the source of the spell was but from what I could tell it seemed to be just a basic repelling field. Tentatively bringing a wisp into contact with it revealed that there didn’t seem to be anything else other than the shield as its only reaction was to glow brighter from the contact. “I could probably break it pretty easily if I poured enough power into it but I’d rather not waste the energy. Besides it’s not like I’m in that much of a hurry to find the end of this place.”

Examining the shield more closely I took a seat and tried to make myself comfortable. I was surprised by the strength that flowed through the shield and wondered how long this place had been buried. “Either this place isn’t as old as I thought or else whatever used to be here was pretty powerful. Still I haven’t met anything yet that was so powerful that there isn’t some trick that’ll get around their magic. Even Twilight has lost practice duels because she got overconfident in her abilities while her opponent studied her spells and habits enough to break them easily.”

I decided to start with some simple tricks on the shield first and was met with mixed success. While none of the easiest things showed any promise I was able to get a partial success with a magic draining spell. Unfortunately the shield was strong enough that the spell would take days to full drain it of power. It was a good sign that it did work though as I could possibly modify the spell in a way to work. Taking a closer look at the shield a started trying to sense exactly how the magic within the shield resonated. This was actually the most effective way to break through other beings magic but it took time to do and was easily countered by changing up how you focused your magic into your spells. I learned that this was how Celestia was beaten by Chrysalis during Cadence’s wedding as she had gotten lazy about her magic over the years.

Finding the proper frequency of the shield was relatively easy to do since I had the time to study it. Once I had found it dispelling the shield by draining the magic away into the air was a simple enough endeavor. I made sure to remember the feeling of the spell just in case I ran into any other wards or magical traps further along. Strangely enough the magic in the area didn’t dissipate like I expected it to do but somehow started to steadily increase. Shrugging it off as being nothing I made my way down the passageway.

As I expected the passage led to the personal section of the complex that the owner used. The first set of side passages looked to lead back to the other parts that were just off of the throne room but further along I found what appeared to be the main bedroom. The crumbling state of the bedding revealed a bit better of how old the place was which meant that the owner was decently powerful considering the strength of the spells.

Little of importance was to be found in that room, but there were the remains of clothing and other adornments which I scavenged a few gems off of. While it wasn’t much it would at least be something found on this little trip if nothing else was found. There was still more to explore and if I was rather optimistic after this relatively early find.

The next few rooms didn’t yield much else other than a smattering of trinkets but the final room is where I hit the jackpot. “Research journals! So not only was the previous inhabitant of this place strong magically he was also courteous enough to leave me something to read.” I chuckle at my little joke. “Well at least now I can figure out what was being done here and maybe learn a trick or two I can add to my own repertoire. That and maybe make Twilight jealous about finding something that she doesn’t know first.”

I chuckle to myself as I try and think of Twilight’s reaction to this find as I page through the journal. My mind jerks back into the present though when I realize exactly what it is I think I’m reading. After rereading it over once again I am relieved that I was mistaken, but the truth isn’t much better considering the situation. “For a moment I thought he was researching into necromancy, but it looks like they were building golems. It’s strange how similar the process is for reanimating the dead compared to animating an inanimate form shaped like a living being.” I start to skim through the journal a bit faster as all the statues I remembered seeing come to mind. As I near the end of the journal my fears are realized.

“’The traitors may have won with their poison but I’ll have the last laugh. As soon as they try to break into my laboratory they’ll activate the trap I left sending every golem in the place into a frenzy destroying everything living thing they can find.’ Did nobody ever try to get back here until I broke the shield on it? I really hope that isn’t true.” Hearing noises start to sound through the halls of the complex shows that my hopes are for naught though.

Not knowing how much time I have left I shove everything that I can reach into my packs to go through at a later time. Thoughts on why it took so long for the golems to animate and begin moving came to mind but the only thing that I could think of is the age of the place. As I finish packing the last of the books in the room the first of the many golems I passed entered the room. I only take long enough to note that it is a gryphon-shaped golem before I try to blast it with a bolt of force just to see the attack slide off of the construct.

“Oh great, they’ve been treated to resist magic as well as be made of stone? I really need to find a weapon to use in this kind of situation one of these days.” After a quick test to see if I could levitate the thing and failing, I instead grab one of the stone tables in the room and slam it into the creatures head. This had the effect of shattering it apart and breaking the spell that was animating it. This reveals a gemstone that was buried in the neck area that wasn’t easily seen from normal angles.

“Huh, a power source on the outside of the body? Well I guess that makes a target to aim for if I felt like having a scavenger hunt on each golem. Escape is a much more reasonable idea right now though.” Judging by the one golem that already found me, and if they are all similar, they seem to be all about power and not on being fast. This proves to be true as well as showing their lack of intelligence when I find a group of them bunched up in the hall keeping each other from advancing any further.

“I’m starting to wonder how well these things were tested before they were created. Either that or they only work well with someone leading them which kind of defeats the purpose of making them if they need to be watched constantly. Well at least this makes my job easier if I don’t have to worry about them working together.” After watching the movement on the clustered golems for a bit I decide to take the easy way and use them as stepping stones to the other side. A few of them tried to grasp at me as I passed but they were so tangled up that their movement was too limited to have a chance even if they were fast enough.

Soon enough I reached the throne room to find the entire place in chaos. “Really? They’re even fighting each other along with everything else? I really want to take the time to read through those journals now to see what the creator of these things was thinking.” I had no problems dodging all the constructs as I made my way out when I noticed that a few of them had started making their way up towards the surface.

“Maybe I should hurry this up a bit and get to the surface before any of the golems do. It wouldn’t do to have any of these things getting outside to terrorize the countryside.” Picking up the pace I pass a multitude of golems as I head towards the surface including the ones that were in the rooms originally. None of those ones had left the rooms they started in which hinted at them being guards of some sort. Of course considering they were of a lesser quality than the ones on the lower levels they were quickly overwhelmed.

“The layout doesn’t make much sense when I think about it. What would the point of putting the weakest golems out front as guards and the strongest ones further in? That just lets invaders get in some practice fighting the easy ones so they are prepared to handle the best ones more easily.” The opposite proved to be much the same as I reached the room that I fell in through to find that none of the other golems had arrived this far yet. The guards of this room were so easily dispatched as I shattered their heads and the gems with random debris that fell in with me originally.

Once I dealt with them I turned my attention to the passage leading down into the golem facility. Using my magic I do everything I can to collapse the tunnel to trap the golems underground. Once I finished that I climbed out of the place back to the surface and contemplated my next move. “Well with how poor their intelligence is they should be able to get out of there, but I don’t think that I should take any chances.”

Luckily I wasn’t far from where I started the day out from which was next to a river. I started digging a trench back towards the rivers with my magic, making sure that it was deep enough to hold a decent amount of water. Once I reached the river I broke through the last bit of earth diverting a good amount of water towards the complex. “That should do it I believe. While it’ll take a while it’ll eventually flood the entire place it should prevent anyone from getting in there to accidentally dig the golems out.”

From then on I continued on my way once again until I found a good stopping point for the day where I spent the rest of the day reading the journals until I fell asleep.

Author's Note

Not much to say so I'll just let things go for now. Let me know if any typos are found or if you find anything else I should know of.

Epilogue

It had been three days since we had left New Sionnach and things were not looking so great. From a population of millions of kitsune we came to find that not even two thousand had made it through this portal along with about four thousand diamond dogs, including those that were already on this side. There were too many to support on this small chain of islands where the portal was located and they were all looking to me to lead them to safety. I just don’t know what to do now that we are finally safe from the shadows. If only Okami was here, he would be able to help them all find a home.

I stop when I think of that final word as something tickles at the back of my mind as I turn towards my bags in the corner of my tent. Sticking out of them I see some scrolls which I pull out and start to read through to find that they are the letters I had written over the centuries I had been in New Sionnach. It doesn’t help either when that world never truly felt like home to me even when I had my husband. In fact I haven’t truly felt at home ever since I left Ponyville and… the Everfree…

My thoughts trail off as I realize that there is one place that we could go that was virtually uninhabited still and where we would thrive. It was the one place that they would never have thought to see again as well as the neighbor to what once was our greatest ally until Discord interfered. I quickly dig through my bags, even having to climb inside them, to find something I had not looked at for a long time and come out of them with not only the maps of the world, but the magic map I had that showed the expanse of the Everfree Forest. “I never bothered to compare them, but I remember there being one small bit of coastline with a decent cove on one end of the forest. If there is a good sea route to there then…” Comparing the two my hopes shoot up as I find that I was right and we could sail right up to the forest. Grabbing my bags I shove everything I have into them except for the maps and carry it all out of the tent yelling.

“Oraiste! Gather the other leaders for me. Butch! Get whoever is in charge of the town here. Cassidy! Get everyone else ready for an announcement.” They briefly paused to stare at me in concern before running off to do as I asked as I made my way towards the impromptu meeting area we had set up. I understood their look as I had been holed up in my tent since we got here and looking over myself I realize that I could do with some grooming. As I get to the meeting tent I quickly pulled out my brushes from my bags and quickly cleaned up a bit before anyone else arrived. I was donning my regalia when I heard a small whine behind me and I turn to see Rose looking at me questioningly. “Yes Rose, I’m a bit better now, and I finally have something that can save us all.”

I was looking much better when the ones I called for started to arrive. I was going through the maps one more time looking for any potential problems with the route though I knew to leave most of the work to the experts. My assistant soon joined me by my side and curiously looked over my shoulder at the maps but didn’t comment. When my guards arrived, showing that they were finished with their tasks, I did one quick check to be sure that all those I requested to show had arrived before I began to speak.

“Thank you all for arriving so promptly and I’d first like to apologize for my behavior the last few days. I finally came to my senses, but more than that I finally know where it is that we need to go.” I push the maps I had towards those around the table and used my magic to point out the area I had planned. “I believe it is time for us to finally go home once again.” My statement was met with stunned silence before the Admiral spoke up.

“Lassie, forgive me for asking but, are you sure that this is a wise idea? I mean it has been so long since we had been there. Would it truly even be our home after all this time? And what about the… locals that are still there that might take exception to our presence?” I can understand what he is asking, but I knew things that I had never told them until now. “It might be a bit more dangerous than it used to be, but I know we can handle them especially with my own experiences there. The forest has rejected all who have tried to tame it yet I actually felt accepted there. Not only that but I found remnants of it being our home as there are still home-trees ready to be adapted into new places to live. As for the locals… Let’s say that I have information that will make them our greatest allies if my old friendship with their leaders isn’t enough to sway them. The only problem I foresee is if we have enough ships to get everyone there safely.”

I look towards the harbormaster in askance and he looks a bit wary as he steps up. “Princess, I believe that we have enough to get everyone there but it won’t be comfortable. I worry about the number of children we have though and keeping them out of the way of the sailors.” I’m relieved that we have enough ships, though he brings up a point that I don’t know how to deal with myself. “Oraiste, I need you to find whoever is in charge of taking care of the children and get them to meet up and help organize things how they think they would work best. This is our only chance and we need to make sure everyone gets there safely. Admiral, you and the General are going to be in charge of everything so make sure to use all the tools at your command.”

This causes a few raised eyebrows and a headshake from the Admiral as he speaks up. “And just where will you be at lassie, that you won’t be around to take charge of everything?” I sigh as I knew there would be complaints about this part of the plan. “I will be going on ahead to not only smooth our way by speaking with the Princesses of Equestria as well as the subjects of our kingdom that have been waiting too long for our return.” This caused an uproar, just as I expected, and I just sit and wait for it to quiet down before continuing.

“I know what you all want to say, but there is no one else that can go there and succeed considering the problems that they’d need to overcome. Not only that I’m the only one that knows the area to even attempt any kind of quick transit there. I won’t be alone, but I can only guarantee it working the one time and not for more than four. I, my two guards, and Rose will be all that I can handle with how far of a jump it is.” I just settle back as the arguing began again but I stayed firm in my stance of what was going to happen. Eventually they realized that dissuading me was futile and agreed to my plan with many reservations. I knew that we only had one shot at this but I was so sure that this was the right path to take.

I knew I had to do something to reassure the rest of my subjects before setting the plan into motion which was why I had them gathered so I could make one final speech before my departure. Stepping up to the impromptu podium that was set up I looked out over the remnants of a once powerful kingdom. “Over the last few centuries we have lost so much including any hope we had of surviving. Yet despite that we have escaped from the greatest threat that we have ever known and ever will. Even then we are still left in the dark on what we need to do to survive and make a new home.”

I look around to all that are looking up to me to save them before continuing. “Even now there is still light in the darkness, but of a kind that we never thought to hope for. Our old homeland of Sionnach is still there, waiting for her rightful rulers to return once again. Subjects from our original exodus away the homelands are still waiting for us and are still loyal to us all. All we need is the courage to cross the seas through unknown waters to once again claim the homeland we had though lost for millennia, and nothing will stand in our way.”

While my speech wasn’t the best, it was still enough for many to cheer as they once again had hope. I turned things over to the two six-tails to organize while I went back to an area I had being prepared by some of the better spell casters. Waiting for me were Rose and my guards along with them as I surveyed the area and pulled out my oldest journal. Flipping through the pages I came to the diagram of and array I hadn’t seen since Ponyville; yet would be the key to path towards home. Before beginning I pull out a spare scroll and right a short message on it before sending it off in a burst of emerald flame.

Taking a knife I carved out a perfect copy of the diagram into the ground before double and triple checking to make sure it was perfect. Once done with that I filled the channels with salt as it was the best I could use as more appropriate resources were too scarce. “Astonishing, I’ve seen many magical arrays in my time, but this is more complex than anything I’ve ever imagined.” I let out a tiny grin at the one librarian’s reaction as this was nothing compared to some of the ideas I’d gotten over the last few centuries. Checking one last time that everything was in their proper places I directed the three that were coming with me towards the positions they needed to be with orders not to move until we arrived.

Turning to the others I called out here I had them take positions around the circle before explaining their part. “Now once I tell you to I need you all to start pouring as much energy as you can into the circle but don’t try to direct it any further than that. I’ll be the one that’ll direct that power to where it needs to go as I craft the spell towards the destination I have planned. I’m not sure how much energy I’ll need, but think of it as if it was one of the portals that were used to go from the city to other locations. This spell is much like those but works under different rules that have been found by the Equestrians long ago.”

The ones that were more familiar with how the portals work and were made nod to me cautiously though compared to teleportation the portals were made to look simplistic. I move towards the center of the circle after putting my packs on once again and center my thoughts on what I needed to do next. Here’s to hoping that I can actually hit my target for once with a teleport. I don’t even want to know how high up in the air I’d end up if I missed again. Taking a deep breath I focus on reaching for the identical array back in Ponyville and try to form a link between here and there. I signal to the kitsune around us to start channeling their power and I direct it into forming the bridge between the two points as well as to the appropriate parts of the circle.

Things were going well up until the point when some of them started to collapse from exhaustion from using most of their magic. When the final one fell I started to fear that this wouldn’t work as it felt as if I was just short of succeeding with the spell. Reaching out even further and pouring the last of my own power into it I felt something coming from the other end of the link. I realize that I had forgotten one other source of power as the hearth stone in Ponyville actually bridged the final bit on its own. “Wish us luck.” I say to everyone present but mutter the next part. “Hope this works for once.” I realize that the three in the circle heard this as they look at me in shock before everything vanishes into blinding whiteness.

Dear Princesses of Equestria,

We’re finally coming home.

Author's Note

Well there's the end of Book 2 and now onto starting Book 3. So how do you all think Ponyville and Equestria will be like after the many years she's been gone? Take into account that 400-500 years have passed since her last contact with the Princesses. Please leave any comments, complaints, or typos below so I can improve on things later.

Also as a small teaser I have plans on potentially sneaking in someone you may all enjoy but wouldn't expect later in that Book. I've left a few clues as to who it might be but that's all I'll say.