Paw and Ring

by Teotle

Rating: teen
Tags: Discord, Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Princess Luna, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Tragedy
Length: 4724

What does Teotle's cutiemark mean?

Why does Teotle have a cutiemark? Did he always have it? How does a wolf have such a thing in the first place? These are what Twilight and Luna will wind out as they venture to Luna's secret door, where she has hidden a diary with all the answered that they need.

Nyx was made by Penstroke from the story "Past Sins." Please give credit where and to whom it is due.

Published 2017-09-16 16:00:07 UTC
Last updated 2021-04-18 15:48:00 UTC

Chapter 1 - The Door to Their Beginning

Why did Teotle have a cutiemark? how was it possible? How did His father, Shadowflame appear over a thousand years ago and not die like any other wolf would, given their natural life span? Those were the questions that had been asked ever since Teotle was found and brought back to Ponyville. They are questions that needed to be answered.

Twilight and Princess Luna had ventured to the "Castle of the Two Sisters", where Shadowflame was raised in secret, a thousand years ago. Supposedly, Luna kept a diary, describing Shadowflame's history, somewhere in a hidden part of the castle. When they arrived, Luna led Twilight to her old bedroom, which was on the opposite side of the castle from Celestia's.

When they entered, the room had almost the same set up as Luna's room in Canterlot. However, on the left side of the room, there was a door that had been torn off its hinges and smashed to pieces all over the floor. The doorway appeared to lead to another room. Was it a closet? No, it was too big, even for a princess. When Luna looked at the doorway, she slowly walked up to it in a mesmerized state, not just by the door, but by the whole room, like she remembered everything at once.

"Luna?" Twilight asked.

Luna didn't reply. She just stared at the doorway, afraid to step through, as if she wouldn't come back out. Unable to look away, Luna then asked herself, "How did it come to this?"

Twilight tilted her head and wondered, "What do you mean by that?"

"How could I just let this happen to him?" Luna answered. "He was such a good and thoughtful boy, before..." Luna fell silent, as if her own train of thought was gagging her.

"Before what?" Twilight asked. "Princess, what happened here?"

Tears had begun to fall from Luna's face as she said, "The beginning and end.

"Of what?" Twilight asked again.

"My motherhood." Luna replied. "This room is where I brought Shadowflame, after I found him in the Everfree Forest."

Twilight followed Luna into the room, where an assortment of furniture had been set up. There was a small bed, and a writing desk, covered with pencils, crayons, and papers. Most of the papers had drawings on them, but the images were crossed out with big X's, smeared, and/or torn in half. A toy chest lay buy the writing desk, however, many of the toys were scattered around the room. They were all broken, ripped apart by the child who used to live there.

"Luna, what happened here?" Twilight asked, horrified by her surroundings.

Luna then walked to the writing desk, opened the cupboards on the side, and removed an old beat up book that had been bent at its spine. She opened it carefully and began to read, out loud.

"Dear Diary, today is the day I ask my sister, Tia, if I can try raising a child of my own, somepony who will grow to love my night, and learn from it's wisdom. I'm a little nervous, but I'm determined to stand my ground this time. I truly hope she says yes. I want to be a mother more than anything in the world. I just know she'll say yes."

Twilight then said to Luna, "What did Celestia say to you, when you asked?"

Luna looked down at the floor and said, "She said I wasn't ready, she worried that I couldn't handle the responsibility of parenting. For a while, I thought she was just trying to keep be from being loved, but I now know what she meant." Luna looked back at Twilight and continued, "She knew that if I had any children of my own, that they would be bound to do what I did a thousand years ago."

"How?" Twilight asked.

"Back then, I was beginning to show signs of change, Celestia watched as I made one bad choice after another. She knew what I was turning into, and also, what my child would become because of me." Luna replied. "A week had passed, after our argument on the matter, when in I saw Shadowflame land in the Everfree Forest."

"Land?" Twilight asked.

"Yes." Luna replied. "On the night of a lunar eclipse, a portal opened from within it, causing Shadowflame to fall out and land in the forest."

"How can that be?" Twilight asked. "That's not even scientifically possible.

"I was surprised also." Luna remarked, looking back at the book and turning the page.

"Dear Diary, I know it's been a while since my last entry, but I had some thing's to figure out, like why Tia said no to me having a child of my own, and a few other things. But I had found a young wolf cub after he fell from some portal in the lunar eclipse, just last night. He was badly hurt by a few burns and bruises, but after that night, when I bandaged him up, He had completely recovered."

"Just like Teotle when we found him?" Twilight asked.

"Exactly." Luna said back before continuing. "I don't know what Tia will think of him if she see's him, but that might not need to happen, not yet anyway. I would like to watch over him until I can find out where he came from and how to send him back, if at all."

"If at all?" Twilight asked.

Luna then said, "By the time I wrote that, Shadowflame had shown a great amount of enthusiasm. He helped me get over my grief of Celestia's answer to my request."

"He helped fill the emptiness in you by that time, didn't he?" Twilight questioned.

Luna stayed silent for a moment until she answered, "Yes, he did. After a while, He eventually called me His mommy. "

“A title I wish I hadn’t tried to deny you of.” A voice suddenly said from behind Twilight and Luna.

When the two of them turned around to see who it was, they both asked, “Celestia?”

Chapter 2 - Like Father Like Son

"Celestia?" Twilight and Luna asked together.

"Yes, It's me." Celestia confirmed. "Spike told me everything. I'm here to help."

"But, sister..." said Luna. "Why do you...?"

"I'm here because I want to know how it happened. " Celestia answered. "Shadowflame lived most of his life without a mother because I banished you to the moon. I know you blame yourself for it, but the blame belongs to both of us. I share the blame not only for that night, but also for simply waiting for things to get better, instead of trying to intervene in the decisions you made in the past."

"Celestia..." said Luna. "I understand, but you only knew him as the monster he became when I was gone."

"I know." Celestia replied. "That is why I want to know. I want to find out who he really was, back when he had you."

Those words made Luna smile. She nodded her head and said, "Very well, but I feel that I must warn you, sister, the knowledge of His past will not come without consequence."

"I'm aware that we may find troubling knowledge on the subject." said Celestia. "But knowing the truth will be worth the pain."

"So, where do we continue?" Twilight asked.

Luna skimmed through he pages until she found page the paragraph she wanted to read. "Here it is.", She said, pointing her hoof.

She then read, "Dear Diary, I'm thinking of introducing Shadowflame and Snowdrop together. I've noticed how much they have in common, I think they would make a cute pair of friends. They both are very different from the other children, but they both can recognize the beauty of things that everpony else always overlook."

"I know that Snowdrop will be afraid at first, not just because Shadowflame's a wolf, but also, she always has trouble getting to know anypony knew. Shadowflame, on the other hand, I might not be bale to hold back his questions and constant energy, but I know they'll warm up to each other very quickly."

Celestia then asked, "How did they do, together, by the way?"

"Very good, actually" Luna answered in a chuckle. Snowdrop was shy at first, but she came to terms with what he was. You should have heard her squeak when Shadowflame started sniffing her. He was so excited to meet Snowdrop, he even gave her a kiss on the cheek."

"Wait..." Twilight interrupted. "Were Shadowflame and Snowdrop like Nyx and Teotle, at all?"

Luna thought about it and answered, "Yes, now that I think about it, they were. Huh, I hadn't noticed that before." She flipped through a few pages until she found an old picture, magically printed inside the book. It was an image of her with Shadowflame and Snowdrop, both sitting with her. Luna smiled as a tear fell from her eye.

Twilight looked at the picture and noticed Shadowflame's cutiemark, which looked exactly like Teotle's. "You were right, Luna, they do have the same cutiemark."

"Yes, I remember now." Luna added.

Then Celestia interjected, "But what does it mean? No other wolf in history had any cutiemark."

"It's very simple." said Scarlet Rose, coming into the room.

"Scarlet, what are you..." Twilight asked, before Scarlet interrupted her.

"I was watching you from the start. I heard Luna singing that song from next door. After that, I heard her and Twilight talking about his cutiemark, so I chose to follow you in secret."

"Scarlet, that's not very responsive of you, spying on somepony." Twilight said.

"No, Twilight, she is Teotle's sister. She deserves to know." Celestia commented. "Scarlet, what were you saying?"

Scarlet sighed and said, "Well, the old stories and legends of Shadowflame's origin have been told from several generation of our people, for about a thousand years."

"What do the stories say?" Luna asked.

"The historians of my old village say that Shadowflame came to the country a few weeks after Luna's banishment to the moon. He had been found in the badlands, passed out in the sand for hours. No one knew how he had survived as long as he did. All they knew was that he had that mark on his flank. The scouts who had found him, had the mark looked at by the local soul reader."

"Soul reader?" Twilight asked.

Scarlet looked at her sand explained, "A soul reader is like a snake charmer, or a dog whisperer, but for the soul. She saw the mark and noticed how it was very similar to those of your people. She then looked at his memories and saw how he found himself falling from the sky, from that eclipse Luna talked about."

"What happened after that?" Celestia asked.

"The soul reader knew, immediately, that he was from an alternate reality.", Scarlet replied. "You all should know this concept by now, since Twilight has gone to one so many times before, after all."

"Alternate reality?" Twilight asked. "Do you mean the Human world?"

"No, Twilight." Scarlet answered. "There are more than just one reality beyond this one. Soul readers and necromancers can look through certain openings in between worlds and see what lie beyond. The one who looked at Shadowflame's mark had found traces of his own reality, from before he came here. But, that story had been lost over time. Olny Shadowflame would know of it.

"What else did the soul reader see?" Celestia asked.

Scarlet looked down and said, "They found a long and disturbing memory, one that showed him being interrogated by Canterlot's royal guards, shortly after being found in this very room."

Chapter 3 - A Distant Memory

Twilight, Celestia, and Luna looked at Scarlet with absolute silence for a long time. They had just heard that Shadowflame was being brutally tortured by royal guards after being found in the bedroom that Luna made for him. This was all a lot to take in.

Luna then asked, "interrogated, by our own guards? Why wasn't I told of this?"

Celestia then responded by saying, "I had no idea of this. When I found him in this room, I had only told the guards to question him. But to think that the ponies we trusted to help protect our subjects would do something so horrid is an atrocity."

Luna looked at Celestia, tears flowing down her cheeks, asked with a stern tone, "Which of the guards did it to him?"

"Sister..." Celestia said, trying to calm Luna down. "It has been a thousand years since then, the ones who did this will already be..."

"WHO!!!"Luna shouted, only realizing, now, that Celestia was crying tears of her own. Luna then went to her sister, wrapped her front hooves around her, and held on tight. She held on for a long time, as if letting go would cause Celestia to be the next pony she'd lose.

"Luna, I'm so sorry." Celestia said, continuing to sob If I had known all of this would happen, I'd never have said no to you being a mother."

Luna then let go of her sister, whipped the tears off both of their cheeks, and said, "I'm sorry too."

Twilight then looked at Scarlet, who was somewhat touched by the moment, wiping her eyes. Just as Scarlet opened her eyes again, she took off her backpack, which she had brought with her, on the way out of the castle. She rummaged through the front pocket and pulled out the Arc.

Twilight was surprised at this and asked, "Scarlet, how'd you get that?"

"I asked him to tag along." Scarlet replied. "Thought his skills would come in handy."

"Would you like to explain?" Luna asked, looking away from her sister.

"The Arc deconstructed Teotle and Sombra at the Science fare, remember?" Asked Scarlet.

"Yes, why?" Celestia wondered.

Scarlet then explained, "Well, from what Teotle had said after the fight, Sombra described him as the last good part of Shadowflame's soul. If that were true, then Teotle has to have some lingering memories from Shadowflame's sub-conscious."

"Scarlet is correct in assuming this." The Arc added. "I had found many memories that Teotle still has no idea about. If you wanted me to, I could make a projection grid on top of the map in your throne room, allowing you to watch as the memories unfold as holograms."

"How'd that work?" Twilight asked.

The Arc then explained, "If I tap into the Map of Equestria, downloading all the relevant memories of Shadowflame's past, the map will then show us the certain place and the time of the event. The memory will then occur on the map."

"How can we become involved in this 'process' you so speak of?" Luna was hesitant about the process and possible dangers, and followed her first question: "Are there also any drawbacks from this experience?"

The Arc was prepared for questions, and answered with confidence. "The process is executed through neurological connection, and under normal circumstances, there is an extremely slim chance that complications occur. If they do occur, it's important to keep in mind that they are simply projections, like a dream, and nothing more."

Twilight, given her personality, was worried that something would go wrong. "Though what if the dreams turn into nightmares???"

"Don't forget, Twilight, Shadowflame is the key character in this projection. If the dreams do become corrupt enough to cause danger, Shadowflame himself could be reborn within this projection. If you cannot keep in mind that he is not real, he will feed off of that fear like vultures picking at a carcass, and recreate himself."

Everypony was confident that, despite possible consequence, it was best for everyone to know what memories The Arc stored of Shadowflame. They all agreed to leave the quaint room, and search for more answers. Though the initial shock of what they found would never fade from their memory.

Chapter 4 - Long Way Down

After a long walk through the Everfree Forest, everypony managed to make it back to Ponyville. From there, they made their way to the Castle of Friendship, where they stopped at the throne room, where the map lay in the center.

Scarlet put the Arc on top of the map and said, "Ok, lets get started."

"Are you sure about this?" The Arc asked. "If the projections do, in fact, become corrupted, the possibility of catastrophe is very high. I may not be able to stop Shadowflame from coming back from the lingering memories." As the pony who suggested taking the mission, Luna stepped forward, as she said "The answers to the questions I have been seeking have remained unanswered for far too long. I suggest that we proceed with the plan."

The Arc noted what Luna had said, and followed through with projecting the memories onto the map. The picture was bright, and shone with great reflection for several seconds, then dimmed to reveal a doorway that had appeared in front of the map. After this was complete, everypony stared for several seconds at what seemed to be an illusion of a doorway. The Arc, who was patiently floating above the map, said with a giggle "what are you all waiting for? Let's get to it!" Determined to learn the truth, Luna opened the door with no further delay and entered. She was followed by Celestia, then Twilight, and Scarlet, last but not least.

After everypony came through, they found themselves in a shimmering white void, that resembled a blank canvas, that has yet to be given a muse. The lighting was almost unbearably bright, and seemed to continue endlessly. After a few seconds, however, the light stopped, and everypony found themselves back at the old castle, only everything wasn't as run down as expected.

Suddenly, the main entrance slammed open, and was shut with a loud "bang." Everypony watched with attention as a projection of a younger Luna rushed to her bed sobbing uncontrollably. Celestia asked her sister "you remember this, correct?," to which Luna replied a moment later "yes, this is the moment after you told me no about having a child." Celestia cleared her throat as they continued to watch the events unfold.

The projection of Luna took what appeared to be an old diary of sorts, and threw it against the wall in anger, bending the spine of the book. Twilight took a closer look at the book that was thrown, and realized that it was the same book that was found in Shadowflame's hidden bedroom. It took several seconds, but it eventually clicked with Luna that this was the night Shadowflame appeared through the eclipse.

All of a sudden, a loud crackling roar came from outside the bedroom window, presumably thunder. The young Luna raised her head from her bed, and slowly made her way towards the windowsill, looking out of it with curiosity. With this, a blinding flash came from out of nowhere, and as she looked up, she witnessed some kind of spiral, swirling from the eclipse. Although it was just a vision, Twilight jumped back about 5 feet, though managed to get back up.

Scarlet walked up to the window, next to the envisioned Luna, and with that, they both saw a blue flare-like fire shooting out of the spiral, and landing in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Twilight, having only some idea of what happened, asked "What was that?," to which Luna replied "that's him..."

The Arc announced "the time for this segment is almost terminated! We must prepare for the transition, which will happen right about now-" With that, the bedroom became Shadowflame's crash site, in the Everfree Forest. The whole area within a thirty-foot radius was demolished; trees were struck over and uprooted, while others being hundreds of years old, snapped clean in half. In the center of the crater, lay Shadowflame, who was subject to third-degree burns, with exposed bone and cartilage.

Scarlet observed the burns and bones, and discovered something shocking. "Twilight, you have to see this!" Twilight trotted over in response, and took a look at the bones, along with Shadowflame. She realized that Scarlet was talking about the symbols engraved on the wolf's skeleton, which resembled the same symbols as the ones seen on Teotle's X-ray.

Before Twilight said anything else, they heard a brush of wings in the distance, moreso behind them. When they turned around, they witnessed younger Luna once again, who stared at the area with shock and disbelief. The Luna in the projection then landed a few feet away from the crater, and started approaching the center slowly and with caution. It didn't take long for Shadowflame to begin howling for help. The young Luna covered her own mouth to prevent any screaming, not to mention she didn't know what Shadowflame was. She got even closer, and was able to see the crying cub. They both locked eyes, and stared for some time.

Twilight went to Luna and asked if she was ok, for Luna was holding a hoof to her head. Twilight looked into Luna's eyes, and saw something beyond her imagination. It simply couldn't be described, words could not do justice, the only way of describing what Twilight saw was something a mother would see the situation at hand.

Shadowflame began to rise from the crater, despite the injuries he sustained, and moved closer to the young Luna. With that, the young Luna leaned towards the cub and asked with kindness in her voice "are you ok?" The cub began to wag his long tail in response, and the young Luna took that as a somewhat-yes, lifting him into her hooves. It was only then that the older Luna said "I shouldn't have turned into Nightmare Moon when I did... How much I regret that decision..."

Chapter 5 Burning of Timber

Princess Luna and everypony else watched as the younger Luna cradled who would be the king of the wolf country. After falling from the sky, the young cub demonstrated a surprising sense of calm, despite his injuries; it kind of made everypony wonder what form of life he really was. This carried on for a while, until the ark then said, "prepare for the next transition."

With that, another flash of light appeared and brought everyone back to Luna's old bedroom. Younger Luna could be seen treating Shadowflame's injuries, cleaning and bandaging them as she did her best to help him.

Twilight looked at Luna and asked, "At any point when you were doing all that, didn't you notice the symbols on his exposed bones?" The Princess, not looking away from the scene, answered; "I did. The symbols are from a very ancient dialect, one of which nopony has the ability to decipher. Not even our old teacher Starswirl could read it."

"The language that the symbols are from can be described as a one way window." Celestia added.

"What does that mean?" Twilight asked.

"It's simple." Scarlet Rose replied. "The dialect can only be read by a being who has the videre eyes. It's basically a condition where one witnesses forces beyond our realm."

Twilight tilted her head in confusion and asked, "why don't Spike and I have this condition? We have been to the human world after all."

"Yeah", Scarlet Rose replied. "Spike told me back when I first moved in with you. However, that human world is too similar to ours to give off this effect."

Twilight was still confused. "You make it sound like there's more than one human world."

"Yeah, there is", Scarlet Rose added. "In fact, there are multiple numbers of every possible dimension. In order to get the videre eyes, you have to see a dimension that developed with a completely different set of events and/or other possible events that can take place."

Twilight looked at Scarlet Rose, and then back at the young Luna and Shadowflame. "So what you mean to say is that Shadowflame is from an entirely other world?"

Scarlet Rose walked over to the bed where Shadowflame laid, staring down at the symbols. She sighed as she added; "This cub was unlike anything any of us had ever known."

All attention shifted back to the memory as the younger Luna began to ask the cub several questions. "Do you have a name?" Luna asked, as the cub simply stared at her, tilting his head. "You don't speak?" Shadow tilted his head again, after Luna spoke what seemed to be a foreign language to him. "Well then, if you don't have a name, I'll just have to give you one." Shadowflame's ears perked up as he began to wag his tail in excitement.

Young Luna snickered and said, "Your eyes are so bright right now, they might as well be stars in the night sky. You also have a nice black coat of fur," Luna noted. She thought about it for a moment, and then made a wide smile. "That's it, Your new name will be a symbol of what you are; a light in the darkness. I shall call you Shadowflame. Do you like that name?" The cub then barked loud with glee, only to be stopped by a hard knock at the bedroom door. "Princess, is everything alright? What was that?" It was a guard for the night watch. He heard the cub barking and was wondering what it was.

"Everything is well. I was just trying to see how a dog would bark if i ever saw one."

"Oh, well, you were spot on, your highness," the guard responded as he walked back to his post, from beyond the door. The young Luna sighed with relief, looked back at the Shadowflame, who wore a sad look on his face. He felt like he was in trouble because of his happy outburst. He flattened his ears and put his tail between his legs. The Young Luna held him in her hooves, and hugged him tightly. His fur was soft and plush, even after it was slightly burned from the long fall he had. "It's ok, Shadowflame," she said. "You're not in trouble, I will protect you."

The Arc then announced the next transition and sent the group to another part of the projected memory. The scene was set with a beautiful night sky; and atop a cloud at that. Luna was sitting on the cloud with Shadowflame, with her wing draped over him. As she sat there, she pointed to the different stars in the sky that formed the many kinds of constellations. The group sat a few feet away from the cloud, simply floating in the air.

As they continued to view the memory, Luna spoke up. "I remember this. This is when I first brought him outside of the castle." Celestia turned to the Arc and raised her hoof in question. "Why would you take us to this part of the memory?," to which the Arc replied: "Luna should know this. She was there for the significant part of this point in time." Celestia turned to Luna. "Is this true?" She asked, as Luna nodded. Directly after, a cry for help could be heard from below the clouds. Luna and Shadowflame turned toward the Everfree Forest. She picked up Shadowflame, broadened her wings, and soared down into the trees.

As Luna landed, they witnessed a foal surrounded by timberwolves; angrily growling and snapping. Before Luna could act, Shadowflame leaped off of her back and charged at the threat, full speed ahead. When they saw him, a few broke off in an attempt to stop him, though were unsuccessful. As such, Luna had destroyed almost all of them, except for one who was getting dangerously close to the foal. Luna squinted her eyes in fear as Shadowflame grabbed the last one by the tail. As he was thrashed violently by the timberwolf, it began to smell of cinder and smoke. Without warning, it suddenly combusted and began to fall apart.

The young Luna grabbed and cradled the foal, shielding her eyes of the burning timbertwolf as it was reduced to a smoldering pile of charcoal.

Twilight and the others looked with faces of awe as Shadowflame pranced to young Luna, wagging his tale.