Wolfsing

The following spring, Raisong and Wolfsing were married. By then they were well-known for being Celestian knights, and because of this it was expected by the royal court for them to wed in front of all of Canterlot, if Wolfsing’s life prior to meeting Raison wasn’t enough of an excuse for all of them. Wolfsing considered refusing, but already rumors were spreading like wildfire about her dislike of the capitol, and she knew now that it would be her undoing if they all believed that she was against them as a knight. The Scythe Ponies had assured that she couldn’t get out of this public wedding with their quiet insinuations.

Raisong hardly was eager, but he had agreed—very solemnly—that it would be best. He couldn’t imagine what the big deal was, considering the ceremony trivial. He had promised her that they would have a more meaningful ceremony afterward. Still, as he looked out at all the ponies, watching him, he felt like he was going to be swallowed up. He hated crowds, and he hated having them all watching him.

“Everything is going to be okay,” Celestia reassured him, and he jumped visibly, trembling more and more. He merely nodded as she watched him, a glint of amusement in her eyes. Neither seemed to notice Selena standing near the front, a wide, satisfied smile on her face. She used a ward to hide herself, else her dark colors would be easy to see through the crowd. She could certainly capitalize on the fact that they were going to be married.

Raisong felt as if he had been standing there for an eternity when suddenly everypony grew silent. All eyes focused on Wolfsing as she entered in that moment. She seemed to be shaking for a moment. Her mane was pinned up, and she was in a gorgeous white dress with red flowers speckling it. After she took her first hesitant steps, a bit of confidence grew in her and she raised her head proudly as she made her way down the aisle, the ponies gathered moving out of the way as she moved with commanding strides.

As she came to stand beside Raisong she looked up at him and smiled, her green eyes glinting. “I made it,” she mouthed. She had struggled to keep a smile on her face, but now that she was beside him everything around her seemed to quiet, not merely the crowd, but her despair and fear.

As they spoke their vows, Raisong’s went something like this, “As long as the trees shall stand and the moon should rise, I will continue to stand beside you. Any curse, or misgiving, shall have to go through me before they ever touch you. Know that any heartache you shall feel will strike ten times and twice more. This I swear.”

As he spoke a few uncomfortable murmurs cropped up in the crowd. Nopony mentioned the moon so blatantly, especially in front of Princess Celestia. She simply looked wary as she asked, “Do you have any vows, Wolfsing?”

“May we run on to dawn without tiring as long as we’re together,” Wolfsing answered, “and our hearts shall be forever twined, hiding away the sky from those that should bring us evil.”

Celestia finally asked the vital question in any wedding, “Do you take Wolfsing as your wife until death do you part?”

“I do,” Raisong replied, and despite how his face was usually stony, he was smiling widely now, and it did not look like an act of aggression to Wolfsing.

“And Wolfsing, do you take Raisong as your husband?” She asked Wolfsing.

“I do,” she nearly choked. She almost expected Cakern to come in and deny everything about their marriage, to make all the ponies gathered to see them together question and cringe, but he didn’t come, and they kissed.

Cheers rose up all around them, and they both felt light-headed as they touched, finally lying their heads on each other’s shoulder. They left the party that came with the marriage early, galloping to their forest.

Blood pulsed in her ears as they went, the forest returning quicker than she anticipated, though she was hardly out of breath. She felt great joy in thundering past the tall trees and jumping over high, fallen logs. It wasn’t long before wolves ran alongside them, hardly bothering to hide from her any longer. Wolves of all colors and sizes seemed to greet her, and some even bumped into her in a friendly manner. More did this as they finally came to a stop at the cabin.

They both breathed heavily, laughing and shaking.

“Did you see how many ponies were there?” Wolfsing gasped. “When I was told everypony who was anypony would be there, I didn’t think they meant literally everypony in Canterlot!”

When Raisong didn’t answer, she looked up to see Raisong watching her with admiration in his eyes as he said softly, “The only time a pony has been able to keep my speed was when they were running away.”

“I’ve changed a lot since we first met,” Wolfsing replied and Raisong chuckled quietly. It was true. She had changed a lot.

Since they were knighted Raisong had shone her a lot about wolves and the ability to shift. At first Wolfsing didn’t think she had it in her. She thought that it was something only certain ponies could do, and she wasn’t one of them. She could imagine hard hooves become soft and flexible paws, or flat teeth becoming sharp and dangerous weapons, or fur becoming thicker, so thick that her cutie mark became unreadable.

It had happened, and in that moment Raisong asked her, as if reciting a sacred ceremony passed down from the many, many ancestors of the woods, “Would you take me as your mate, and run beside me forever more under the moon?”

“I will,” she replied, feeling breathless.

It felt as if he should reply with an affirmation, but it was enough that their voices rose in a howl that was joined by many others in the forest. It wasn’t long before they stood, touching, a blood red wolf with a lime green wolf, their voices raised to the sky.

Seasons passed with Raisong and Wolfsing acting as knights, and though they rarely opposed them directly, the Scythe Ponies continued to cause them trouble. They did little things, such give them false alarm missions, and pretend as if they didn’t know that they were in the way, and taking up the courtyard on days when they knew that Wolfsing and Raisong were going to practice there. It didn’t matter. The forest was their training grounds, and they became better and better. Wolfsing became a better flyer going through the trees.

Raisong became stronger for a very different reason as it became more apparent that Wolfsing was pregnant. The following fall she gave birth to three young fillies, two pegasi and one unicorn.

The first pegasus was an adventurous filly and her name was Zanril. She had a brown coat and dark blue mane. She would thunder though the forest beside the wolves and flew high above the treetops, to Wolfsing’s dismay. She was very brave and had a strong heart. She wasn’t afraid to break rules when she knew they were unfair.

Silve was a tall and proud unicorn with a silvery grey colt and a dark blue mane a shade lighter than Zanril’s. She was serious about following laws and would read often, trying to become more knowledgeable about the world in that way. She fought constantly with her sister over what was right and wrong, and would often challenge her to duels, eager to prove her point.

The second pegasus and last sister was a quiet filly that didn’t talk much, and spent the most time alone. She had a brown coat and blue mane as well, though both was much lighter than Zanril’s. She was her father’s daughter because of this, being meek and mild. She wasn’t involved in Silve and Zanril’s rivalry. She constantly stared out at the lake, wondering if there was something more out there, and because of this she was named Seablue.

In school Zanril and Silve were considered prodigies, their constant competing making both better and better until they were far ahead of all the other ponies. Seablue was a very timid filly, and so she didn’t do well, afraid of the teachers and the other foals. She dropped out when they reached their teenage years, preferring to stay in the forest with the wolves and her father during the day.

Raisong wasn’t interesting in the political aspects of being Celestia’s knight, but Wolfsing became a representative of the order. She would go each day to participate in debates. Instead Wolfsing would go, though it mostly consisted of a bunch of older ponies slowly discussing tasks that didn’t require such deliberation. She noticed that Selena had a place amongst the representatives, though she wasn’t so sure this was a good thing.

One of Silve’s teachers took a great interest in her and her brand of justice, and when he told her of his idea she was more than eager to comply. What he was asking of her was to travel with him to a country far away filled with darkness in order to bring them light. It involved killing a corrupt leader and a very long journey through hostile country.

“Your daughter has a powerful moral standing, and I know that she is the right choice for this journey,” Stormshine explained. “I’ve already taught her how to properly wield a sword, and I swear on my honor that nothing bad will come to her.”

Wolfsing stared at the unicorn with suspicion strong on her face. “What makes me believe that this is the right choice for her? From what you say this may be the most dangerous thing she will ever do in her life!”

Raisong stood silently, his stern gaze showing his agreement on its own.

“You don’t understand! She is possibly the only mare that I know that has the level head for this job. She’ll be back, safe and sound, in no time at all,” he explained desperately.

“Are you sure there’s nopony else?” Wolfsing growled.

“Mom,” Silve said suddenly, “I want to do this. This is something I have to do, that I want to do.”

“You heard what he said—“

“Then go ahead then,” Raisong said, interrupting Wolfsing. She gave him an incredulous look and he explained, “If you really feel like you can do this, then you should do it. Just make sure that it’s something you really want to do before you go.”

“It is,” Silve replied airily, looking away to hide her face.

Wolfsing looked hesitant, and Stormshine’s desperate look didn’t make things any easier for her. She was terrified for Silve, but she couldn’t explain why. After seeing Silve’s face, cast in shadows as she tried to hide her tears, Wolfsing finally answered, “Alright. If this is truly what you think is right, then I won’t stop you.”

Upon hearing these words Silve seemed to return to her stiff, airy stance, and she stepped forward to rest her head on her mother’s shoulder for a moment before whispering, “Thanks. I promise I’ll be back,” before stepping away and saying officially, “I won’t let either of you down. I’ll take care of this, and I’ll return without any hitches.”

“We don’t expect anything less,” Wolfsing said formally, knowing that’s what she wanted, rather than a few sappy words.

She was gone by the next morning.

During the time she was gone Zanril was seeing a young stallion with a white coat and green mane, named William. He had fiery orange eyes, but a quiet demeanor. He was just a bit older than the young mare, but he looked like he held all the world behind his solemn eyes. He donned a pair of black-framed glasses and carried a scythe around with him up to the point where he found a home in Canterlot. Apparently he had come from a land far away.

At first Zanril kept him away from the forest and her family. He was a pony of a religion that few in Equestria knew anything about, and it scared her to think that William might come to hate her. The fact that Equestrian feared wolves was enough to frighten her when she loved him so much.

One day, however, Zanril decided that William would have to find out one way or another, and so she led him into the forest as a wolf.

“Zanril?” He called. He wasn’t sure what he had seen, but the creature he caught sight of ahead him was definitely not a pony. He chased after it despite his growing fear as the forest closed in around him.

Raisong was out in the forest in his wolf form that day, and he didn’t realize what Zanril was doing, he only saw that William was chasing her. He snarled and slammed him to the ground. He gave a terrified look as Raisong’s fangs came close to his throat, up until the point where Zanril threw him off. Raisong stared at her in surprise, shocked at how strong his daughter had become since she was a pup.

“I-I’m so sorry, William,” she told him, changing back to being a pony. He had barely moved since Raisong slammed him to the ground. “I wanted to tell you about what I was, but I was afraid you would hate me so I was going to show you. You’re probably afraid of me now, right?”

William started to get back to his hooves as he replied, his voice quivering, “O-Of course not. I mean, honestly I’m surprised, but I’ve seen a few things. A wolf in pony form isn’t so strange.”

“You’re not just saying that because you’re afraid of us? I’m really sorry about my dad. You must have frightened him,” Zanril told him.

William was now looking at Raising now, still in wolf form, and still irritated. “A…lime green wolf. I never would have thought.” He sounded more amazed than scared the longer he watched him.

“Don’t say things like that,” Zanril said, standing between her father and William as Raisong began to growl and turn away, “He doesn’t like it when people point out how strange his fur looks.”

“O-Oh,” William said in embarrassment as the retreating figure became a unicorn once more and he caught sight of his dark blue tail as he retreated.

William was considered a part of the family from that point on, and a few months later Silve returned, not with Stormshine, but a strange coal pegasus with fiery orange eyes that seemed to know about death, and a long, wavy maroon mane. His teeth were sharp and he had a dark air about him. He had a friend as well that had a rusty coat and teal mane as well as dark purple eyes. Neither spoke much when they first came to Equestria.

Alaru, the first, was quick to show a wicked sense of humor, and showed strong disregard for the life of those in Canterlot. He showed distaste for Celestia the most. Rust, his friend, gave him a sense of level-headedness, and it wasn’t hard to see that Alaru loved Silve or he wouldn’t have stuck around.

Alaru particularly found distaste in William, though he found that he lived in an apartment close to him, and William seemed to show similar distaste for Alaru.

“What are you looking at?” Alaru growled at him one day, butting his head against William’s along the right side of his horn. “Do you have a problem with me?”

“I do,” William growled. “You’ve treated Zanril and Silve’s family with disrespect despite what they’ve done for us.”

“Done for us?” Alaru scoffed, “Don’t get self-righteous on me. We could be anywhere we want, with or without them.”

“Would you want to be anywhere else?” William challenged. “You’ve been causing them trouble, saying all those horrible things about Celestia.”

“You don’t think that Celestia would care what happens to us if we weren’t acting as her knights?” Alaru spat.

“What are you getting at?” William hissed, trying to shove him away with his horn. “Are you picking a fight with me for the fun of it?”

“Perhaps,” Alaru replied, cracking a smile before turning away.

***

“I think our family should have a name,” Zanril said one day when she and Silve, Alaru, Rust, William and even Seablue were all sitting together in the park. “Alaru doesn’t like Celestia enough for us to be just called the Celestial Knights, and we can’t be Scythe Ponies, because those guys are jerks.”

“What do you mean?” Silve replied contemptuously. “We’re the Wolfsing family, plain and simple, or would you rather be called the Raisong family?”

“You don’t get what I’m saying,” Zanril complained, looking at each of them, William with his nose in a book, Alaru lounging with Silve lying next to him, Seablue looking into the pond, and Rust listening politely. “We need a name for this, for us. We’re not just Wolfsing’s children. We’re all…we’re all.”

“Decans,” Seablue said quietly, picking at the shells of a couple of Decan pecans that she found discarded from the day before. They were common in the Everfree forest in Raisong’s territory, and the six of them often ate them around the school and town.”

“That’s right! We’re Decans; Decan Wolves,” Zanril exclaimed.

Alaru shrugged. “I don’t see why we need a name.”

“I think it’s nice,” William commented, still reading. “Something to keep us all together.”

Silve rolled her eyes and muttered, “That’s a stupid name. Why name our group after a type of nut? Why would anypony care what we’re called?”

“Because we’re going to be great one day! We’re going to be the very best in all the world one day, and we need a name befitting what we’re about. On the outside we might look rough, but on the inside there’s something special in each of us. It’s also a reference to our beginning that only we’ll know about.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Rust put in when no one else spoke. “Why not?”

Zanril smiled widely at all of them, and after a while Alaru nodded, “Sure, whatever,” and Silve agreed soon after. Seablue gave a small nod, which was the best confirmation from her, and William even looked up from his book to smile at her.

The triplets’ parents were agreeable to the name, though they were yet to realize that this was going to be a name to be remembered for seasons to come.