Chapter Five: Revelations

"Alright, I suppose we can start off with a few easy questions. What is your name and age?" Twilight asked.

"My name is Issac, I am currently seventeen, but turning eighteen within a few days." He answered her.

"Just Issac? Don't you have a last name?" Twilight asked, puzzled by that.

"By my people's tradition, I do not gain a last name until I have undergone a ritual, on the day of my eighteenth birthday." Issac told twilight.

"I see, I've never heard of such a thing before, you must come from a very unique culture." She stated.

"Yes, I could tell you some of our history later if you like, though I'm afraid that I wasn't able to learn as much of it as I would have liked."
Issac said with a slightly sad tone. Fluttershy rested her hand on Issac's shoulder, comforting him from the thoughts that were bringing him more pain the more he thought about it.

"Is everything alright Issac? We can stop if you'd like?" Twilight asked him, quite concerned about his sudden change in mood.

"No, it's alright, let's continue." He told her after a few moments.

"Very well" Twilight said, pausing to think carefully on her next question.
"Do you know how you got here?" Twilight asked him, also noticing the slight flinch that came when she asked.

"Kind of, though I suspect the answer to that will bring up even more questions than answers. I was running from soldiers of the Imperial Legion, when I had jumped into a river to make my escape, but their archers managed to hit me before I could make it across.
As I was sinking into the water, I heard a woman's voice talking to me, then there was a bright light and I blacked out." Issac explained.

Twilight simply stared at him for a short while with very shocked look on her face.
"Yes, that does indeed bring up more questions. Firstly, Why were you running from this 'Imperial Legion'?"

Issac looked down at his hands as he squeezed them into fists and released a few times, before looking back up to Twilight.
"Because I'm not a 'pure' human." He answered, a very noticeable amount of hate directed at the word 'pure'.

Twilight was going to ask what he meant when she saw a slight flash of gold in his irises before Issac calmed enough to elaborate.

"Around five and a half years ago, the Emperor of my country stepped down because of his dwindling health, and his son was named the successor to rule in his place. For a while, things were great, though I was only twelve at the time, so I might not have noticed any subtle changes I would have as adult. Then, two days before my birthday, everything changed. The Emperor had ordered that anyone not fully human was no longer acceptable in the Legion, our nation's military. Then ... The day before my thirteenth birthday, it was ordered that all non-pure humans were to be exterminated."

As Issac finished that sentence, the only sound that could be heard in the entire room, was the ink pot Spike had sitting on the table next to him as he wrote, falling to the floor as he knocked it over from the shock of Issac's revelation.

Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hands as tears built up in her eyes.

Twilight could only stare with her mouth hanging open.

"On that day, and the many afterwards, over two hundred and thirty thousand people were slaughtered, simply because we were different. An entire third of the Ascenti Empire's population, not including over fifty colonies, gone." Issac finished.

At that point, Fluttershy broke down, weeping openly into her hands for all of the innocents who lost their lives.

One thing was clear to Twilight now, Issac was definitely not from the other side of the mirror portal. The entire time she had been there and looked through the school's library, there had never once been a mention of this or the empire Issac came from.

After around an hour, everyone had calmed down, and after getting a new pot of ink, and something to drink for everyone, it was decided to continue the interview.

"Are we alright to go on?" Twilight asked all of those present, getting affirmatives from them all.
"Alright, Issac, you said that you're not a 'pure' human, would you mind telling us what that makes you exactly?" Twilight asked, she too now said the word 'pure' with some hatred herself for what that word carried.

"I suppose I can, are you familiar with the term 'werewolf'?" Issac asked.

"Yes, I've read a few things about such creatures, they're supposed to be people who turn into beasts under a full moon correct?" Twilight said, a slight bit of fear of where this might be heading, from what she had seen of in books they were supposed to be fierce and deadly beings.

"Partially correct, it's a common misconception that we require a full moon to change, though the moon's cycles do influence how powerful we are, and we can't change during a lunar eclipse. I also assure you that against what you've probably been lead to believe, we are not unstoppable killing machines when we change. A werewolf keeps all of their intelligence when changed. We also may be tough and have accelerated healing, but we can be killed just like any other mortal being, and there has never been a recorded case of one going on a killing spree like in stories." Issac explained, relieving twilight's fears.

"It was these qualities that made my kind the most valued of all the races in the Imperial Legion, before the purge as it came to be known, werewolves had a long proud history of service in the Emperor's Legion. When I was little, I had hoped to carry on that tradition." Issac told them.

Twilight nodded in understanding. "My family also has a history of serving our nation. My brother was the Captain of the Royal Guard, before he married Princess Cadance and moved to the Crystal Empire with her." She told him.

"Lucky guy" Issac joked. It was then he began to feel hungry. "Well, how about a lunch break?" Issac asked. Everyone else agreed that it was a good idea, so together they made their way down stairs to Fluttershy's kitchen.

Author's Note

Chapter Five ladies and gents.
Big thanks to both Lunas_Shadowguard and Blue_Ace_Bass for sending in their questions for this chapter.
Go follow them and send them some love.
Until next time!