"I'll design it how I want, Sister."

"But so drab? The commoners will never take to it as they have Philomena."

"So what? I do not require their approval."

"You will eventually Luna, if you are ever to be a true Princess."

"By then, they will have grown to love it."

"Not looking like that."

"Then it shall look however it wishes!"

"... tsk. You aim too high, Sister."

Kaiscillus stalked carefully through the deep underbrush of the Everfree Forest, exerting all of his will to keep his stomach silent as he tracked his prey.

After his massive expenditure of magic in reaching his mother just in time to fail, Kaiscillius' inner reserves could no longer sustain him, and so he was absolutely famished. Hence, the impromptu hunt.

Up ahead, only about a hundred feet away, in a small clearing with a stream trickling through a rocky patch of soil, was his target. A large, delicious looking, manticore.

It was a strong male, its lion's mane shone a fiery red as it lapped the water, it's barbed tail swaying, alert, over its folded wings. Manticores were no easy kill, but the meat it had on it could sustain him for days if he rationed it. He'd need to see about finding a new source of magic, as well, no mares were around at the moment to think of that, however.

With uncanny stealth for a creature his size, Kaiscllius shifted with nary a sound. He was quiet even through the intense deadfall of the Forest, with all its aged and dying leaves and twigs scattered upon the ground like shed scale.

Licking his lips, Kaiscillius honed in on the manticore's movement. It was unaware of his presence, though he now stood but fifty feet from it, and though it was watching for danger, its guard was down, what creature would be idiotic enough to attack a manticore?

With only the slightest whisper of wind, Kaiscillius pounced.

Even so, he could see that the beast had heard the noise, and was turning to investigate. Perfect.

Remaining silent as the creature beneath him roared and thrashed with anger, Kaiscillius landed fully atop the manticore, straddling it back to front with his heads facing directly into its sting.

Very quickly, Kaiscillius gripped the base of the sting itself, up along the tail, in his left hand head, as his middle one clamped down on the beast's spine behind its wings.

It roared again, and attempted to roll Kaiscillius off, but only succeeded in flipping over onto its back.

With a heave, Kaiscillius placed his back claws behind the manticore's head and pushed, hard.

With a loud pop it was all over, and the clearing lay still again. All it had taken was a few brief moments of vicious savagery, and then the world carried on as it always had. Kaiscillius hmphed at the indifference of the surroundings to his victory before roughly shoving the limp animal off of him, before voraciously digging in.

About an hour later, he was finished. His belly full, and his magic very very slowly recharging. Absentmindedly, one of his heads lapped at the stream as he rested a small while in the green clearing. It was quite pretty, one of the few spots in the Forest where the sun shone through strong and clear, the air was fresh, and the trees and grass gave a golden-green hue to the world that many poets had attempted to capture in verse throughout the ages. And in the middle of it all sat a great, big, black lump, brooding as he licked the green blood from his chops.

A hearty meal, to be sure, he thought to himself, but a mare really would be so much more useful right now.

The manticore's carcass lay off to the side, pristine white bone with only a few hints of grey-brown gristle clinging to it, some even snapped open and the marrow drained from inside them.

With a sigh, Kaiscillius laid his heads down to think, So... what to do.

Obviously, he needed to protect his mother, that was the general order he'd been given, but how to go about it?

Well... she'll be hospitalized for a few days only, she shouldn't have any permanent injuries, so hospital staff is out. I can't go as I am, Celestia would recognize me and have me killed on sight. They wouldn't let a commoner near her, not for long, and I need to be able to keep my eyes on her 24/7.

Kaiscillius picked up a rock in his claws and began to roll it back and forth across the ground, just to give himself something to do.

There's nothing for it, it's risky but I have to be palace staff. Risk minimization? A pony that doesn't interact with Celestia that often. Butler is out, too up close and personal. I could cook, but that doesn't let me near Mother. Hmm...

Kaiscillius got bored of the rock, and so he crushed it beneath his gargantuan palm, Ugh, what to do?! I can't just be a normal pony and have permission to watch over her day and nigh- wait a minute.

Kaiscillius thought for a moment, cocking his heads to the side, Yes... yeeesss... depending on how far in the future we are, and I'm willing to wager quite far based on the state of the Castle... she'll need a new Honor Guard...

It wouldn't be easy, Honor Guards for the Princesses were the best of the best, and Celestia wouldn't let just anypony near her sister now, only those she knew were under her hoof. But Kasicllius was completely confident in his skill as a warrior and... well, if he went in deep... he could become another person entirely. He hated doing it, oftentimes it was hard to return from a conditioning process like that, but for his Mother's final order? Anything.

Right then, he thought, rolling onto his side, to do anything, I will first need magic. That manticore will sustain me for a time, but the burn is too slow, I need an injection.

He could attempt to venture further into the Everfree. He'd heard stories of great wells of magic hidden there, but he wouldn't know where to find one, and even for one such as him the interior of the Everfree was a treacherous place.

I either need to absorb latent magic, or I need a mare. Here there is a plentiful amount of elements in the air, but not many mares that I can see. Unfortunately it looks like it must be the former rather than the latter.

With a little disappointed huff, Kaiscillius stood, and braced himself against the spongy grass of the forest floor. He closed his eyes.

All around him he could sense energy, so much life and growth, but an equal amount of death, decay. There was water here, and heat straight from the sun. The wind blew in a gentle breeze that whistled through the trees in a warbling whisper. It was nearly the perfect place, it would more than do.

Kaiscillius drew in a deep breath. And in. And in, and in, and in, never stopping the inhalation. Around him plants began to die, instead of whisper the wind began to howl, the sun grew dark, as if passed over by a shadow, and the water in the brook slowly trickled down to nothing at all.

Sighing in relief, Kaiscillius relented his intake, and moved swiftly back into the dense forest, rituals like that tended to attract things. Darker things.

Walking along, Kaiscillius picked his direction based on a large collection of very complex magical signals, indicating a strong sentient presence. A village, if he was guessing right. He should reach it by the afternoon, if the early morning sun was anything to go by. More than enough time to think.

So, who should he be? Fat, lazy, zealous, brave, lustful, studious? He'd done them all at least once before.

Well, he needed to be a unicorn to cast spells without raising too much suspicion, but he also needed to look strong to avoid questions of why a weedy nerd was able to knock over a building.

And while I'm at it, he thought, only a little ashamed of his vanity, there's no particular reason for me to be... un-handsome. In fact, it might help me cement my position with the Princess before I apply for the job of legally stalking her sister.

He knew perfectly well that the less noticeable he was the better, but... well, it was natural to not wish to appear unattractive.

Very well then, a unicorn with an Earth pony's build. I'm a set of wing's away from an Alicorn, he thought with a sardonic chuckle, what coat color shall I be? Perhaps if I cannot be generic quantitatively, I can be qualitatively. A dark cobalt then, with just a little length around the chest and fetlocks, "bad boy" style, or, at least, it had been when he was around. Perhaps he should learn the current fashion trends before he attempted to mold his image.

But then I'd have to expend more magic creating a fake identity just to be lectured about the newest fads for a few hours, I would really rather just live with the consequences of my actions than waste my time like that. Eyes next, what are we thinking? For drama's sake, given my condition and how I'll need to replenish my magic stores, it would be terribly fun to give myself some red eyes. Ew, but red and cobalt? Never in a million years, perhaps something red-ish, then, a light pink. That doesn't sound so bad. And finally, for the mane and tail...

Now, he had to think about this one. What went well with both dark blue and light pink? Black was boring, and a little too obvious, he didn't like the color yellow simply on principle, green was out of the question, again, red, ew, more blue was boring, and purple would just be gaudy. That left... white.

It's not exactly inconspicuous, he grumbled to himself as he walked, but I don't absolutely hate the idea. It might work.

He mulled it over more as he headed roughly towards his destination, going back and forth in his head over exact body measurements, rearranging the color scheme, and ultimately changing it back again, before he'd finally narrowed down all of his options, and felt ready to make the transformation.

Gradually, the trees around Kaiscillius began to grow less dense and gnarled, the foliage began to shrink down into the ground, and the lights of a distant civilization began to flicker through the dark treeline.

It was here that Kaiscillius stopped, and backed up a small ways, he didn't want a random pony to just walk in on him. Not like any of them came into this place anyway, they had so many legends of how dangerous it was, he'd be surprised if an army came within a hundred yards. In fact, he was more than a little impressed that they'd set up a village so close. It must have been constantly waylaid and attacked during construction before they could have proper defenses put up. A commendable effort, and a useful outpost for Nightmare Moon to launch forays into the forest to search for hidden treasures or ancient powers. After her re-awakening.

Kaiscillius closed his eyes once more, breathing deeply, feeling the beat and pulse of his inner magic, now well over halfway full after his little ritual in the clearing. He pictured his new body, every detail, inch, and crevice. Slowly, he let magic pour into the mold. It coursed through his gigantic form, swirling around it in an array of multicolored lights, compressing and condensing him. The sounds it made were terrible, rending flesh, shrieking metal, and snapping bone, but he felt no pain from the process. Even if he had, he could hardly stop it now.

Within a few minutes, the task was done. Where once a three-story tall hydra had stood, now there was a, perhaps a little taller than average, pony. His cobalt hair immaculate, his light pink eyes shining with anticipation, and his mane... a bit of an oddity. He'd always wanted to try a hairstyle similar to the old Chiniegh archer lords, a short mohawk tied off into a long braid that draped over the shoulder. Some had even attached weaponry to the end of braid after letting it grow out long enough. He'd always thought it was interesting, and it was most certainly distinctive. It would make it much easier to quickly hide if he needed to by simply undoing his hair, he'd look like a completely different pony, and his coat was such that, under the right light, it could appear a multitude of colors.

Satisfied with his work, Kaiscillius was about to step out of the treeline again, when he remembered something very, very important.

Oh, you idiot, you haven't thought of a name!

Kaiscillius whacked himself on the face with a hoof, Alright, names, names... we want a family name first, one of the older ones with a lot of relatives as to explain them never hearing of me... ah! The Keepers! They were notorious in the old days for frequently mixing with commoners or running off to start their own broods in far off lands, they're perfect! Now that also means that my parents would have been fairly eccentric, I need a strange first name...

And then it hit him with a fit of giggles, Should I? Dare I? Make it that obvious? Oh, why not, ponies are oblivious to strange names anyway, Soul Keeper it is!

It fit well with his looks too. It would make sense for one born of nobility, however diluted and distant, to have the features he did. A strong chin and jaw, prominent cheekbones, quirked ears... yes, it all worked out very nicely.

And it was with this, still giggling quietly to himself at his little joke, that Kaiscillius made his way towards the small village ahead. A sign near one of the main thoroughfares read "Welcome to Ponyville!".

Author's Note

So, Kaicscillius has now chosen his new face and name, planning to worm his way into Luna's new Honor Guard! Will he be found out? How will he react to the new seat of power in Equestria? Find out, next time!

P.S. : The next chapter is already in the works, and will be longer than these first two, I promise.

P.P.S. : The braid I was describing looks like a dutch braid, running lengthwise down the neck, and then over the shoulder.