Underworld: Equestria

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Prologue: A Wolf’s Awakening

Lucian could see and sense only blackness; it was the usual situation, he silently guessed, when someone found themselves lying on the very border of life and death with half a dozen bullets in them. He had since accepted that he had only moment’s left before the poison rounds at last silenced him to eternal damnation, thus the lycan allowed himself to try and enjoy them as best he could.

What was left of his mind wandered gently over the memories of his long life; of his beautiful Sonja, of how he had witnessed her being killed along with their unborn child, which had in turn spurred the events of the last six centuries. Then he thought of his other lycan friends and brothers, most of whom having died in proud service of him in the war with the vampires.

"Perhaps they too spent their last moments reflecting."

A flash an anger coursed through Lucian at the last thought; it was done and thus unchangeable, but he still regretted ever trusting the vampire, Kraven, grudgingly knowing full well he should've foreseen earlier how foolish he was to put his trust in an enemy. Now, it seemed, fate was making him pay the full and painful price for his mistake.

He had still accomplished his long-time goal though, and that brought with it some satisfaction; a hybrid of the races had been created, and he had played his part as perhaps was fate's intention, and thus it was time for him to go.

“Perhaps death at least I trust,” he thought to himself with a grim mental smirk, the former lycan leader gaining no reply from the darkness that surrounded him. “And maybe at last I will find some peace.”

After a while though, and even with the silver nitrate having probably gone to and addled his brain, Lucian had to admit that something felt amiss; logic was telling him that he probably should've been long dead by now, especially with an entire clip's worth of silver nitrate rounds lodged in him, and yet the darkness, and his mind, still remained. He felt uncomfortably cold for sure, but it was not the cold of death he expected to feel as life departed... but rather... a soft sort of cold, like he was lying on a lawn or patch of grass, and wind was blowing over him.

Slowly, and somewhat painfully, he forcefully opened his shimmering blue eyes to the world; a moment later he swore his heart actually stopped.

“This isn't possible… it… can’t be possible.”

Despite blinking over and over though, the scene before Lucian did not change. He was no longer leaning against a concrete wall in the lycan den, but rather lying flat on what appeared to be a white stone path, amongst rows of trimmed green hedges, small trees, and lawns, and looking up at what was undeniably a darkening blue sky.

Glancing either side of where he was laying, and ignoring his body's painful berating of the action, the lycan came to realize that around him stood various elegantly carved white stone statues, most of which were carved into the form of horses standing in common, human-like positions, one even holding a drawn bow and another leaning on a lance.

Well... that was different.

Gingerly, and trying to ignore the many points of searing pain in his back, Lucian growled and sat up before slowly getting to his feet, his eyes all the while darting around the place for any signs of movement; upon taking a closer look, and despite his sense of logic telling him that the entire situation was ludicrous, he realized that he was actually, somehow, standing in what was presumably the royal garden of a looming white castle.

Even more oddly though, the lycan also came to realize, was that everything around him, whether they be plants, statues, fountains, or otherwise, had decorations and bright streamers neatly tied around them, as did the various towers of the castle itself by the looks of things; for a long moment, Lucian did nothing other then stand, gape at the sight, scratched his beared chin, and wonder how it was all possible...

...or if it was all just a silver-on-the-brain induced dream.

“What… is this place?” He murmured at last, running his fingers through his long black hair, and mentally trying, and failing, to understand what he was seeing.

Another spike of pain abruptly tore at his stomach, and Lucian suddenly found himself remembering that Kraven had, quite literally, filled his body with a clip's worth of rounds, and hence hastily began examining himself; this only ended up causing his mind more problems. To the lycan's utter amazement, he realized that now not only was he naked, which was problematic in itself, but there was not a single bullet hole in his thickly haired chest.

Lucian just growled again in response to the revelation, and reasoned it somehow meant he was truly and actually dead; the questions in his mind though were now how he had awakened in an apparent... well, royal garden type place, and what exactly was he supposed to do next.

“I should try and find someone,” He sighed as he scratched his head like a confused monkey, taking another glance around the seemingly empty gardens. “Perhaps they can explain what is goi…”

“HALT INTRUDER!”

"Or they can just shout at me."

The sudden input of a deep throated voice made Lucian turn in a heartbeat, the amount of aggression carried in it almost causing the lycan to shift at the sound, courtesy of years spent being yelled at, while being viciously beaten by vampires; his anger though, in an instant, was replaced by something somewhere between curiosity and amazement at the sight of the three creatures before him, all three of which were hastily approaching him from the other side of the garden, and not looking anywhere near happy at his presence.

They were small white... horses? Or perhaps ponies? that stood roughly level with Lucian’s hip in height. They each wore blue-crested golden helmets and plate body armour, and had what looked to be slender horns emerging from their foreheads.

What Lucian also noticed was that they each carried brown saddle bags at their sides, and golden tipped spears, which were at that point... levitating? And happened to aimed directly at him.

And they apparently talked.

Well... if this was supposed to hell, he figured then that heaven must've been guarded by teddy bears and had trees made of candy floss.

The three came to a stop a few meters from where Lucian was standing, each defensively closing ranks as their abnormally large eyes began running over his body with equal curiosity as he did with them, the three apparently taking especially wary interest in his hands; he silently guessed they hadn’t seen something like him before, seeing as the feeling was mutual, after all.

“State your name, beast?” Said the middle one, taking a single step forward with his spear still held firmly at the ready.

“Lucian, leader of the lycans,” Lucian replied sternly after a moment, folding his arms across his chest as he returned the smaller, equine creature’s glare; after all he'd gone through over the years, and the constant effort to bring his race out of savagery, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at being called a beast... the last one to do that had been Viktor. “And who... and what, are you three exactly?”

“We are Princess Celestia’s royal guards,” The middle horse-creature replied bluntly, his words punctuated with a agitated snort. "And we are unicorn ponies, for your information. Now, state your reason for being within the royal grounds at this time.”

“Well… in all honesty, I woke up here,” Lucian replied with an equally blunt shrug.

"You're kidding us, right?" The one on the left said flatly, an eyebrow rising up his forehead.

"I'm afraid not."

The ponies looked between each other for a second, exchanging whispers as they did so, before looking back at Lucian with what could be easily deduced as cold expressions. A moment later the centre guard’s horn began to glow an eerie blue, a set of metal shackles quickly emerging from his saddlebag.

At the sight of them Lucian began to panic slightly, and readied himself for what could potentially become an unlikeable situation; he had only just woken up, and was by no means ready to be anyone’s prisoner, let alone that of a bunch of talking ponies that had strange powers.

He'd been a prisoner for over two centuries already, and that was more then long enough.

“Now hold on,” Lucian growled as he backed up along the path a little, his hands out to protect himself if need be. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. Put those away or else.”

“I cannot do that,” The guard replied firmly, his comrades coming forward with him in an advance towards Lucian. “There is a royal wedding being held at the present, and we have had enough trouble today as it is… so until the princesses can look over you, and we can confirm you are not a changeling or threat... we have no choice but to incarcerate you.”

Naturally, the guards hadn’t known what Lucian was truly capable of, and were caught by surprise with his next move; as they came forward, the lycan, in a single moment, roared and shifted into a massive black wolf.

Lucian was pretty sure he heard one of them scream something like "What the bucking hay!".

Without giving them a moment to collect they're jumbled thoughts, or do anything else for that matter, Lucian bolted through the three unicorns just as fast as his legs would allow, a dinner-plate sized paw striking aside one of the guards in the process, and throwing him screaming at least ten meters across the garden and into a hedge.

He had no idea where he was going, or what the hell to do next for that matter, but the chorus of shouts from behind him made the lycan fairly sure that getting out of the guards' sight was a good start.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Ugh! Do you know how many stallions are hitting on me?” Dash snapped angrily as she left the dance floor and approached Twilight, the cyan mare’s ears back to show just how pissed off she was. “Do they not understand me when I say I have a coltfriend already?”

“Well, it might have helped sugercube if you brought him along,” Applejack laughed from nearby before Twilight could put a word in, the farm pony happily treating herself to food from the dessert buffet.

“Applejack! you know that couldn’t work,” Twilight sighed as she face-hoofed at the statement, not moving from her viewing place beside the wooden dance floor. “Only the six of us and Spike were invited… besides, can you imagine everyponies reaction to Thane?”

“Yeah, but it would have been a lot easier to deal with the changelings with him around,” Dash said bluntly as she walked away, looking over her shoulder once as she headed for the drinks table. “And no offense to your brother Twi, but this reception kinda sucks.”

Twilight just snickered and rolled eyes, the mare almost relieved at having Dash complain about such trivial matters. Admittedly, that the royal wedding day had been... interesting and eventful... to say the least, but now as the reception headed further and further on into the night, it seemed things were at last returning to somewhat normal... although according to Dash normal meant boring and annoying.

She was now able to just sit still, at long last, as things returned to normal; what with the changelings having caused a large amount of strife in Canterlot, as had their walking-embodiment-of-ugly queen for that matter, Twilight had found herself unable to be at ease during the last few hours.

Thankfully though, the fact that the love of her brother, Shining Armour, and Cadence, had since saved them all from creatures’ love-hunger driven attack was at last sinking in for her, and with the knowledge that said threat was now gone Twilight was slowly allowing herself to relax.

There was, however, still something nagging in the back of Twilight’s mind as she watched the happy newlywed couple dance; she had studied magic near her entire life, which was more than long enough to know that extra energies, like those left over from such a powerful and undirected spell, didn’t just disappear into nothing; the fact she hadn’t yet figured out where the immense amount of it had gone was still unnerving to her.

“Twilight Sparkle, why do thou look so tense on a night such as this?” A firm female voice from behind her asked. “Are thou not happy for thy brother?”

Twilight turned to see none other than Princess Luna trotting over, the ruler of the night levitating what looked to be a slice of strawberry icing topped chocolate cake next to her as she approached.

“I’m… a little confused princess,” Twilight sighed, shaking her head as the princess stopped beside her. “I feel like something just isn’t right,” she exhaled and looked at her hooves. "But then again, that's only how I've been feeling ever since the day we arrived."

“Perhaps thou should retire to a bed for the night. It has been a stressful day for all, though you even more so I can imagine.”

“I’ll be okay princess… by the way, why aren’t you dancing?”

At her words, the princess’s cheeks went bright red in embarrassment, and she shied away slightly, in truth the last reaction Twilight had expected.

“I fear I am not one for dancing, Twilight Sparkle… on a dance floor anyway, I seem to be unlucky enough to possess four left hooves... so to speak,” Luna blushed, before nodding to the floor. "Once upon a time I could, but I fear styles have changed much since my youth."

"It's ok princess, and I also see you're not using the royal 'we' nowadays."

"Oh! Thank you most for noticing! Though I will admit that Tia should bear most of your praise, she has been... quite persistent in my training in modern speech."

The two of them shared a quick laugh; they had been good friends ever since Luna had come to Ponyville on Nightmare Night, and in truth, if not for Twilight, even Luna had to admit she would've still be seen as an outcast among her subjects. Twilight was also glad Luna had decided to watch over the reception; As everypony knew, Princess Celestia was still weak from her ordeal with the changeling queen, and it seemed right she get as much rest as possible.

“You still deserve congratulations for going through with it,” Twilight said with a smile as she looked up at the slightly taller alicorn. “Anyway, if it's any consolation, I’m not one for dancing either, as you can te…”

“M-Monster!”

The former happiness of the night was abruptly and painfully shattered like glass, and Twilight was equally suddenly cut off, by a high pitched shriek from somepony on the dance floor. A moment later the entire reception crowd parted and dispersed as a stamped in fright. Without a second thought, Twilight and Luna charged forward through the herd of scared ponies to see what the commotion was all about, the princess of the night a little annoyed at having to abandon her piece of cake.

Once the sea of ponies at last parted, however, the two mares immediately dug their hooves in and came to skidding stop, neither completely sure what to make of the situation before them.

Standing silently in the middle of the now abandoned dance floor, and looking around as if it were lost, was a strange and by all means frightening creature, though one neither pony recognized in the slightest. It stood on its back legs, and in doing so measured roughly twice as tall as Celestia, if not perhaps a bit more. It's body lay covered in a thick coat of matted fur, somewhat like a diamond dog, but where the dogs' furs were brown or grey, this creatures coat was pitch black.

When it turned to face them though, what Twilight noticed most were the creature’s eyes; they were as dark as obsidian, emotionless, and to her seemed almost bottomless, like the creature held no soul or feeling behind them. To called them unnatural was a frightening understatement.

“What the hay is going on?” Twilight heard as an angry rainbow Dash appeared beside her, the cyan mare’s hooves up in ready for a moment. It was then she appeared to finally realize just what they were facing. “Ok, just what the hay is that... thing?!”

Soon enough, Twilight found herself joined by Spike and her other four friends as they responded Rainbow's cry, the unusual creature's presence drawing far differing reactions from each of them, though the most prominent unquestionably being fear.

But, surprisingly, the entire time that the surrounding crowd backed away, the black creature did nothing but stand, look at each of them, and breath heavily, even as more ponies joined the blockade around it.

Around the small group of friends, everypony else watched on from a safe distance, seemingly unsure of what to think of the standoff, or the creature that had suddenly and unexpectedly appeared. Shining Armor eventually gave an annoyed snort, and the creature growled menacingly at him; neither moved, but Cadence still nervously moved a little further behind her husband.

“What are you creature?” Princess Luna asked after a few more tense moments, the equally dark coated mare taking a brave step forward, and causing the creature to turn to her. “Can thou understand me?”

The massive creature, to the amazement of everyone present, inclined it's head once in reply, and took a slow step toward the night princess.

everypony silently flinched at the action, and held their breath nervously, including a now very edgy Twilight. But the beast did nothing more the look closely at her, showing no obvious sign whatsoever of aggression, but rather... what could be best described as curiosity, given it's lack of facial expression.

Then it did the last thing Twilight would have expected; it knelt down on one leg so the two were roughly eye level with each other. Luna did nothing to abort the action, but stood perfectly still like a foal under an elder's gaze; perhaps, in Twilight's opinion, she either trusted it enough not to move, or feared she would anger it if she did retaliate.

“Ah Twi… you mind telling us what exactly is going on?” Applejack asked from beside Twilight, her words coming in a hushed tone the lavender mare barely picked up. “And... just... what in the hay is that thing anyway?”

“I have no ide…”

“THERE HE IS!”

Before Twilight got to say anything else, she was, once again, rudely cut off. This time though it was by a charging group of twelve heavily armed guards who abruptly burst forth from the nearby bushes, and then charged strait for the creature with their spear’s raised in wall of pointy death.

And then it happened.

With what would easily be called unnatural speed, unless it was Rainbow Dash doing the describing, the creature turned with its night black claws drawn, parted it's massive jaws... and then it let out a deathly roar that chilled the blood of everypony who heard it.

It was a roar that sounded like it came from a creature born in the darkest depths of the Everfree forest.

There was no one way to describe it in words, the voice spoke of power and strength, and yet unfathomable sorrow at the same time, feelings of fear, of hatred, of bloodlust, of savagery, like it was the creature's entire being projected with a single, guttural note. Twilight could've sworn that her blood went cold in her veins.

Though before anypony could blink, the guards meet their target, or the creature move forward or sideways in the slightest, there was a sudden flash of light pinkie-purple, a howling roar of pain, and the creature fell over unconscious with a rather loud thud and a dull growl, the charging guards coming to an immediate skidding stop just in time.

Looking over, Twilight initially thought it had been Luna who had intervened, but as she quickly realized it was actually her brother who had his horn lowered, and hence had produced the sudden blast; the princess of the night was actually, and surprisingly in contrast quite annoyed at his action.

“Are thou sure that was necessary?” Luna snapped abruptly with a surprising amount of venom, turning to her royal guard captain with an angry spark in her eyes. “He was yet to cause any harm, captain, thou had no reason to strike him in the back.”

“I’d rather not take chances princess,” Shining Armor replied bluntly before turning to the awaiting guards, who were all gathered and looking between their two commanders, their lowered spears a hair's breath from the unmoving mass of muscle and black fur. “Guards, take… it… to the dungeons, we'll deal with this thing later.”

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For those of you who haven't read 'My Red Eyed Friend', Thane is Dash's green dragon 'coltfriend'. I had quite a few requests about writing a story with them included, so I did (shrugs). Also Luna will only be talking in her 'formal' voice every so often (mainly because I really hate trying to write it... any tips on it though are gladly welcome)