The Familiar

Heated Introductions

Equestria

Azrael POV

Ugh...what the fuck? Why does my head hurt? Why is the ground so soft? Meh...whatever, I brushed of the questions filling my head as I hugged my fluffy pillow tighter...Wait...? Pillow? I slowly opened my eyes and looked down to see what I was hugging, only to find out that the pillow was Luna. Now normally this would bother me, but I'm still to tired to give a crap; with that said, I shuffled a little to get a little more comfortable and go back to sleep. This however disturbed Luna, causing her to scrunch up her face and proceed to cuddle closer to me and bury her head in my chest; the action made me blush and me more than a little uncomfortable. Now don't get me wrong, she wasn't uncomfortable to hug, in fact I think she's softer than any pillow I've ever had; it's just uncomfortable when you realize that this little girl is cuddling up to a stranger she's never met before. I attempted to get up but one of my arms is under her, after a few minutes of trying to remove my arm, she surprised me when she suddenly spoke.

"If you continue to disturb me, your sleeping on the floor."

I looked down to see her giving me a face that implies that she's not very pleased with me waking her up. "Ummm..." what do I even say in this situation?

She continued to look at me before burying her head back into my chest. "I'm still tired, go back to sleep."

"Can't I ask some questions?"

"No."

"Can I get up?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Didn't I already say that it was still tired? Plus, your comfy; so no you can't get up."

"But I still have questions."

"They can be answered later so be quiet and go back to sleep."

"Fine, but I expect to get some answers sooner than later."

With that said I went back to sleep with Luna still in my arms.

A Few Hours Later

I woke up for the second time by knocks on the door, the knocks seem to have also woken up Luna. "Good morning Princess Luna, it's time for breakfast." a voice came from the other side.

"Ok, we'll be there soon." Luna said. A few moments later we heard foot steps walking away from the door. Luna got up and yawned as she stretched her arms, this allowed me to get up and rub my now numb arm. Damn, I know she's small but she's heavier than she looks. "Now, about my questions." I started. "I'll answer them downstairs at breakfast. For now take a shower, you smell bad." she said as she pointed at what I guess is the bathroom door, "The servants have already prepared clothes for you.". I smelled myself under the collar of my shirt and she's right, I smell like shit. I quickly excused myself and went to the bathroom to have a quick shower.

When I finished I looked at myself in the mirror, I was now wearing a faded green buttoned up tunic with those fancy fluffy things on my chest; over it was a black coat and I was wearing white pants and I was still wearing my black boots.

Overall, I thought that this was all too much, but thinking back to the fact that they were still in their late middle ages I guess it was normal. Exiting the room I couldn't help but think that I forgot something, I realized very quickly what...or more specifically who it was when I opened the door. There Luna was, in nothing but her underwear; to say that it was awkward would be an understatement. After a whole moment of total awkwardness, I noticed that her horn started to glow brighter and brighter until she gave a high pitched scream and blasted me.

BAAAAAM!!!

Later

My face...I think it's broken. Luna's aim was spot on, hitting me square on my forehead. I turned to Luna, now fully clothed and looking away from me, that however was not enough to hide her now glowing red face; I decided that now was not the time for conversation and just looked forward as Luna guided me to the dinning room. As we walked I noticed that the servants were giving me weird looks and most, if not all of the guards were looking at me with fear in their eyes, I guess they were the ones that saw my slaughter of the humans; not that I blame them, I'd be traumatized too if I saw something like that. After a few more minutes we reached the dinning room, upon arrival I sensed the entire room stare at the two of us. Some of those present I recognized, the three commanders I spoke with on the battlefield and of course, queen Stella; it seemed that she's the only one not looking at me with either fear, distrust or disgust. "What in the name of the name of Equis is that monstrosity!?! Guards seize that creature!" said a stuck up unicorn.

"Calm yourself High Class." said queen Stella. "This is individual is not an enemy, this is Azrael."

"You mean this is the monster that the guards have been talking about? He doesn't look like much to me."

"For the last time High Class, Azrael is not a creature or monster. And would I like to remind you that he not only defeated the griffon army single handedly, but also beat me in one on one combat." that seemed to change his attitude a little.

"Well...he still doesn't look like much of a challenge to me. I bet I could beat him effortlessly."

Having enough I zoomed beside him and grabbed him by the collar, I then created an energy ball the sized of a soccer ball in my hand. "Care to put your money where your mouth is?" I could see him visibly shaking now with a bead of sweat falling down his forehead.

"Azrael calm yourself!" queen Stella demanded, but I didn't listen, if this guy says he can take me then I want to show him just how wrong he is. However I seemed to suddenly change my mind when Luna spoke up.

"Azrael, stop." she said in a firm voice, like the voice you use when giving an order. I don't know why, but for some reason I feel compelled to obey her, not because I needed to, but because I wanted to. Reluctantly, I de-energized my attack and let him go, I then walked back to Luna after I gave him one last glare that I'm sure made him color his pants brown. I walked to where Luna was sitting and she patted the seat next to her, I sat down and waited in awkward silence for someone to talk. "Azrael." Stella said.

"Yes?"

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"Not a lot, but yes I do."

"Very well, ask anything you want to know."

"First question, how am I here, shouldn't I be dead?"

"Yes, you should have been, however Luna was able to save your life by turning you into her familiar."

"There's that word again. What is a familiar?"

"A familiar is a eternal protector of a host; in this case, Luna is the host."

"So I'm like her slave for eternity now?"

"Well a contract lasts until the host is dead, and considering that Luna, being an alicorn, is immortal I'd say yes. And slave is a harsh term to use, you are charged with protecting Luna until your last breath; her guardian angel so to speak."

I sighed as I leaned back into my chair. "Great, not even a week on this new world and I become the royal babysitter, no offence Luna." Luna pouted at you at that comment, "Anything else I should remember about being a familiar?"

"Yes, the bond between a familiar and host is special. You see, the bond is formed when the host separates a portion of his/her soul into the familiar, by doing this, the familiar's soul is forever linked to the host's, this is how Luna was able to save your life."

"Why do I have a feeling that there's a catch for this?"

Stella nodded, "Like I said, both souls are dependent on the host's soul. That means if Luna dies, so do you."

This severely shocked me, now I really have to take care of Luna, my life is literally at stake. What did I get myself into? "Wait. Does that mean if I die, Luna dies too?"

"No, like I said both souls are dependent on the host's soul, meaning even if you die, Luna will still be able to live."

That sir is what we on Earth called, bullshit. If she dies I die, and if I die she still lives. I mean...sigh, well there's no point in complaining about it now; considering the alternative, this is a fair deal. One thing I can thank the humans for is teaching me not to cry over spilled milk. "Ok, next question, who are you three?" I pointed to the three commanders, after all, I can't always call them commanders.

"Well first is Commander Hurricane, leader of the pegasi." Ok at least not all of them.

Hurricane said nothing and continued to glare at me so I said nothing.

"Next is Princess Platinum, leader of the unicorns." Called it!

"It's a pleasure to meet you under more...pleasant circumstances." said the unicorn.

"Yes it is, and um...sorry for making you pass out."

"It's...um...fine dear." she said uneasy.

"And lastly we have Chancellor Pudding Head, leader of the earth ponies."

I was about to greet her, but her face convinced me otherwise. Damn, I don't think I've seen a person look that sad/scared before, and I should know.

"They are my top advisers and the representatives of the three races. They are also my nieces,." I was confused by that one.

"How? Their not alicorns."

"No they are not blood related to me, I adopted them as my nieces so that they still possess power to continue leading their respective tribes."

"What do you mean? Why did you need to do that?"

"Well it all started when..."

After the story of Hearth's Warming Eve (I'm pretty sure most of you already know the story.)

"...and that's the story. Azrael? Are you crying?" the queen's question caused everyone to look at me.

I said nothing at first before speaking up, "It's just that I'm jealous of how lucky you guys were with your problem."

"Are you saying that what we went through was easy?!?" Hurricane asked, clearly angered.

"To be brutally honest, yes."

"And why is that?!? You saying that you went through worse than an eternal winter and and a mass famine that killed millions?!?"

"Yes."

"And what exactly would that be?"

"Did you kill during all of this?" my question shocked everyone in the room.

"No, of course not! We had our differences but we never stooped that low!"

"That alone proves that you were all a thousand times more lucky than us." I stood up and slowly walked to the commander. "Better get comfortable in your seat commander." I stopped and gave her a look of anger, making her flinch a little. "You told me of your Hearth's Warming Eve, now let me tell you all of my Second Renaissance."

One Story Later (You already read what happened in the prologue.)

After I told my story, everyone's attitude had a complete 360 change minus Luna and Stella; the ones with the most different change was a tie between Pudding and Hurricane. Pudding head was not looking at me with fear anymore, her face showed more sadness than anything else. Hurricane on the other hand nearly lost all the color she had, her face showed complete shock and defeat, I showed her that we endured far worse than anything they have experienced. I then leaned my head towards her face, "Still want to say that you had it worse than anyone else?" she shook her head. I was going to continue but Luna stopped me again, "Azrael stop it, that's enough." there's that feeling again. Sighing, I went back to my seat, not noticing the looks of sadness I was getting. After reaching my chair Stella spoke up, "Do you have anymore questions?"

"I was going to ask what came after that, but that can wait."

"Very well, now I have a some questions of my own."

"Go on."

"What is your goal by coming here?"

"Like I said in my story, We came here to find a better home and replace the one we lost. We wish to form relations with your country and rebuild our country here on Equis. In return, we will share some of our technology with you and allow trading."

"What kind of technology?"

"Generally technology that will make everyday life easier, like more advanced tools, transportation, communication, agriculture, that sort of things."

"And what of weapons?" High Class asked.

"We will not share any of that, we will lend our strength if needed but we will not share any military products."

"And who's to say that you will no attack us, we'll be defenseless! Who's to say-"

"High Class enough! One more outbreak from you and you will be escorted out!" Stella shouted, silencing the unicorn. She then looked back to me. "Azrael, why will you not share your military advances with us?"

"It's because you are all not ready for weaponry like this, they are too dangerous for you to use at this time. And you don't have to worry about us harming you, we've had enough conflict and sharing this would just cause more fighting. I hope you understand that this is for your own good."

We stared at each other for a few seconds before she smiled at me. "I understand your reasoning Azrael, and I can tell you are telling me the truth about having enough of conflict."

"And how exactly are you sure that I'm telling the truth?"

"Call it intuition, and we'd be more than happy to make you part of Equestria."

"Thank you Queen Stella, you have no idea how much you just helped us." everything was going smoothly before mister blabber mouth couldn't keep his trap shut.

"Queen Stella you can't possibly be serious!" shouted High Class.

"Of course I am High Class, this will benefit all of us in the end."

"Well I still think we can't trust these creatures. Luna made a mistake saving that creature. After all, it's in her nature to fail, she will never be more than second best. I guess that makes them a perfect match, the freak and the failure"

Everyone was either in shock or in rage at this point, I was on the latter. Before anyone could react, Luna went running out of the room crying. "Alright, I've had enough of this asshole!" I shouted as I quickly jumped into the air and kicked him down as I landed. I raised my hand and I re-energized my energy ball. "I can let calling me a creature slide, but making Luna cry is unforgivable!" I know I'm mad at him, but why am I so protective of Luna now? I guess it comes with being her familiar.

I lowered my hand closer to his face, the heat of the energy ball was now making him sweat more than he was already and started to burn a little of his coat and mane. "Have fun vaporizing you son of a bitch." I said in a deadly calm voice.

"Queen Stella! Help me!" he shouted. Coward.

"Azrael that's enough!"

"No, it's not. I promised all those who died in the war that I would crush assholes like him. People like him will just end up turning against us at the earliest opportunity just like the humans. Maybe vaporizing him would send out a stronger statement than any speech I can give."

"I know your mad Azrael, but this is not the right way to cope. Didn't you say you wanted to finally have peace and stop fighting?"

This statement caused me to stop my actions. She's right, if I really wanted peace, this is not the way to go. I sighed and released him as I got up and turned around. "Your right Stella, me and my people have had enough with violence; sorry for my outburst."

"It's fine Azrael, just make sure that next time you jump into a fight, your not the first to strike."

"That being said, know this." I turned to her only until one of my eyes was visible to her; said eye was glowing red and filled with deadly seriousness, something that made even her start to sweat. "Me and my people promise not to attack you, but if you hit first, we won't hold back. We will slaughter anyone and everyone if it meant that we will finally have peace. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

She nodded frightfully, I turned to everyone else in the room, including High Class, making them tense up. "Do I make myself clear to everyone?" they all mimicked the queen's answer. "Good." I then started heading out the door.

"Where are you going?" Stella asked.

"I'm finding Luna. After all, I have to take care of her now right?" although I didn't see it, I could have sworn that Stella smiled at me.

Reaching the doors, I set out to find Luna.