Tartarus High

Twilight had used some of the wood to create a ground-level floor. The way this was done was taking the planks and putting them into position, then with a little bit of magic the tree regrew into the gaps. The final product looked like the floor was natural. She, Celestia and Luna stood in the center now and concentrated. Celestia and Luna lent all of their power to Twilight, who was moving wood around at speeds and amounts the others could only gap at.

“The sun will set in minutes. Is Twilight here?” a Timber Wolf asked, coming up to the walkway. Dash, who was looking in through that doorway, pointed down. The wolf watched as the tree built itself into a tower. There were stairs, furniture makeshift plumbing and small glyphs all over the place. The Timber Wolves used crystals from a mine nearby that glowed. Twilight had found that by absorbing or adding magic would make them glow at different brightnesses. These were in place everywhere as lights connected to touch glyphs.

By the time it was finished and Twilight fell to her rump from the exertion it looked like a tower in the fullest. From the outside it looked like a large tree. There were many windows hidden behind one-way spells and the branches of the still intact trees. There were balconies on the larger branches and a large spiraling staircase on each floor. It could house a population exponentially larger than their current size fairly easily.

“Shit!” Twilight yelped when she saw the sun setting and noticed the runner. She flew up the floors and burst out of the door, quickly making her way to the center of town.

“The top floor is mine and Celestia's!” she called behind her back.

“A bit late but I can understand, you look exhausted.” Kirin said when she arrived in his Den. She looked at herself and groaned. She had cut up her suit so that it was just barely a top, sleeveless and no belly. She pressed the Glyph on her neck to restore it.

“Right. What I wish to speak with you is of somewhat importance. First, while you and your kin are with the pack you are one of the pack. We don't have a culture like the humans, but the general rules still apply. You get the good and the bad. Your kin will be treated like pack members. If asked, they will gather food or help repair damages. If asked they will run messages through the tunnels- once they get to know them- and even patrol.” Kirin explained.

“Of course, we ask nothing more.” Twilight replied.

“Good. Now, being part of the pack, we will fight for you as you will fight for us. With the Tree People scattered that threat is no longer there, but other enemies will move in soon. We will fight the demons with you, whether we are going through the gates of fire themselves or protecting the Pack.” Kirin said.

“You needn't ask, it is our home as well now and wed defend it as fiercely as you. But I can't ask you to join us.” Twilight said.

“Then it is an unfair bargain. We choose to fight by your side as members of the pack” Kirin said.

“Very well. Thank you, so much. There is one question I have to ask though.” Twilight said. Kirin nodded. “Do your kind eat fruit?” she asked.

“Yes, when other food sources are scarce. Many of us enjoy it though, why?” Kirin replied.

“We have a world class apple farmer here with us. If we could find some secluded space she could start a small apple farm, she brought large baskets of them with her too if your Kin need it.” Twilight said.

“We will see what we can do. I think I am going to enjoy this companionship.” Kirin said.

“I hope so. Is that all?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.” Kirin said. Twilight nodded and left.

“Man Twi this place is awesome! There's flight clearance on all the floors and everything! I know you said that top floor was yours and Celestia's, what's up with that?” Dash asked.

“Well there's really only enough space for a few people up there so I thought why not make it some private quarters? Once we start getting more people and the time we can make rooms and everything, but that might not be fore a few days. That took a lot out of us.” Twilight said.

“Got it. Everyone's either resting or settling in or doing something like that. Celestia had Trixie and Gilda start sparring in that cavern down there, she thinks it makes a great training room.” Dash said.

“I agree, make sure they don't damage the plumbing though. It is made out of wood.” Twilight said.

“Got it.” Dash said.

“Hey before you go, where is Celestia?” Twilight asked.

“On your floor.” Dash replied and dashed off. Twilight smiled and made her way up the stairs. She slid open the sliding door that was sealed similarly to the sealed bathroom back at the manor and stepped inside.

“Hearth's warming eve is coming up. You think we should try and give gifts?” Celestia asked from her spot looking out of a window at the vast expanse of the Everfree Forest.

“Sure. It'll definitely make everyone happy. What's got you so captivated?” Twilight asked, joining Celestia at the window.

“This Forest...it's really beautiful once you're inside it like this. Most people are scared out of their minds about it...but if I would have known it'd be this gorgeous...I would have come here long ago.” Celestia said.

“Everything's beautiful when you're there.” Twilight said, hugging her back.

“Mm...when was the last time we had time to relax?” Celestia asked, her voice dipping into a bit of seductiveness.

“Not that long ago...but it feels like forever...the walls are thick and solid enough to be sound proof...” Twilight replied. Celestia grinned and spun around, using her magic to summon both Twilight and her own bed- combining them- then cloning it and, with Twilight's help, made enough for their group on all the floors and then some. The Mages had summoned curtains to create rooms of the sort for now.

Celestia pushed Twilight gently onto their bed and crawled on top of her.

“Love you.” Twilight said.

“And I you.” Celestia replied, starting a kiss.

Four days passed swiftly. Dash and a few of the faster group members had learned the tunnels. Others still had learned patrol routes and hunting grounds. Their Tree Tower had gained dozens of new residents. The cavern had been expanded so that it could train whole platoons at once. Rooms were made for those who wanted them while something similar to barracks were made for those who were comfortable with that setup. Applejack was currently making her way to Zecora's, where a patrol had reported Applebloom and the other crusaders arriving, and they all sat around a large purple bonfire in the main hall, which they had come to call the massive ground level room, as they waited for everyone to return.

“Right, we're all here now.” Applejack said, entering with the three 16 year olds. “Excellent! Let us begin!” Dash exclaimed.

“Begin what?” Scootaloo asked.

“Gift exchange. Ah made a few things fer yuh Bloom.” Applejack said, sitting them down. They were a bit wary of the mass of half demons around them, but quickly found themselves having fun. All three of them were like the others, half demon. Gifts were exchanged merrily as snow fell around the tree, the magic bonfire keeping them all warm though. The original group gave some rather extravagant gifts. Twilight had made new suits for everyone, they had been dubbed as the commanders of this new group, and they were now less militaristic.

Luna had somehow procured an experimental sniper rifle and had special glyphs on it. The rifle was a more powerful 50.Caliber rifle and the Glyphs could coat the bullets in a sort of magical jacket, depending on the glyph it yielded different effects. Piercing shots, incendiary, explosive etc...

Celestia had made Twilight a new set of Reaver Gauntlets. Instead of claws it was single blades, the curved blades were now slightly less curved and had slight hook-like bends at the ends.

Twilight had noticed Dash's lack of CQC weapon, she had just used her fists when she needed, and made her a new blade. It was a large blade, sort of a mix between Katana and longsword, that had an array of enchantments on it.

“I sort of made up the Glyphs, but they do all kinds of things. If it ever breaks it'll regenerate, once you figure it all out you can have different effects on the blades and this one is very important. Since you're always going so fast and you're so strong breaking is a problem. The regeneration relies on this Glyph which feeds off of your energy. What this one does though will absorb the energy from what the blade cuts and stores it in you.” Twilight explained, holding the blade out.

“Sweet! Thanks Twi!” Dash said and grabbed it by the hilt. Suddenly there was a large flash as what seemed like pressurized magic exploded out from the blade. The blade and everyone was unharmed, but they were all feeling odd.

“uh oh...” Twilight grunted, having looked at what was happening with her eye. “The absorption spell reacted with something and created a whole new blood glyph...that flash just caught all of us in it's effect...” she continued as the odd feeling turned into an almost literal bubbling of her skin.

“W-what's happening?” someone called.

“Ah! Our weapons!” another yelled. They all looked and all of their weapons were melting into their skin as fur slowly began to sprout.

“Ah! It's causing our bodies to absorb them...and...and it's using the nearest genetic makeup besides our own to power us up...” Twilight said.

“Wait so we're turning into what...Timber Wolves?” Spike yelped.

“N-not exactly...” Twilight growled as they all began to morph slightly. When it was all over they all withheld their Demonic features, they were still more humanoid than the Timber Wolves, but unlike the wolves they had fur. They retained most of their facial features, a bit of a muzzle forming and hairstyles and such were still intact. It looked rather ridiculous for some of them.

“Werewolves?!” Spike exclaimed.

“No...the freak spell took Timber Wolf Genetic make up and mutated it with our Demonic blood...we're...we're something new now...” Twilight said. She looked down at her hand, which was now a clawed paw, and yelped as the single claw blades slid out of her forearms.

“Whoa! We can totally use the weapons we absorbed!” Dash exclaimed, sliding two slimmer versions of the blade she had.

“What would we cal ourselves?” someone asked suddenly.

“Hm...we're not werewolves or timber wolves...what would fit? It looks like we've all got black fur...Night wolves?” someone suggested.

“Nah, we're not as much wolves to have a name like that...but Night works.” another said.

“Hm...it might be rather cliché sounding Darlings but Nightstalker would fit rather well. Most of you are demons, that plus the fact we've been melded with creatures of the night and what we do...it fits does it not?” Rarity suggested.

“I like it!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Sis? How are you all so calm about us suddenly changing like this?” Sweetie asked as she slowly extended the claws she had, having learned Rarity's fighting style and weapon of choice.

“We've been through Hell kid, we're kind of used to it anyways.” Dash said.

“This is so cool!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“Are you all alright?!” they heard kirin's voice call.

“Yeah...freak spell gone wrong...” Twilight answered, opening the door.

“...What happened?” Kirin asked. Twilight explained to the best of her ability.

“Nightstalkers eh? That fits well. I came by to say a patrol found and eliminated a Manticore on the outskirts of the Western outskirts.” Kirin said.

“I see...so...we should expect some work in the future eh?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. When you figure more about this odd transformation I'd love to hear it, but for now I must turn in.” Kirin said. Twilight nodded with a laugh and went back inside. She froze when she saw some of the others back in their human forms.

“Whoa! We can change at will and still have that cool power when we're human!” Dash exclaimed as she looked at her blades with her human form. She walked up to Pinkie, who was pretending to be a household dog, and scratched under her chin with a laugh. Pinkie proceeded to thump her foot, earing laughs from everyone, and lick Dash's face like a dog.