Cry of the Midnight Wolf

The Peaks of Peril was a timid location in Equestria. Due to its past-quiet residents, the Kirins, not many ponies decided it was worth the funds to make an expedition to explore. Despite this, however, many ponies still did so, not for the citizens, but for the nature found on the mountain, which they all found breathtaking.

That was, until two days ago, when a mysterious creature rose from a portal located in the river.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Rainbow Dash asked, slightly annoyed. "We've been going around this mountain for hours!"

"Now, Rainbow, there's no need to be impatient," Fluttershy reassured. "Besides, Applejack and I know the way to go, we should be there any moment now."

"Besides, shouldn't ya be glad ya get ta stretch yer wings out a bit?" Applejack smirked. "After all, ya didn't seem ta be doin' good after that last competition with the Wonderbolts."

"It wasn't THAT bad!"

"Ya nearly broke yer wing...again...five different times."

"The point is," Twilight interrupted. "Rainbow's fine. But, I do have to agree with her. Shouldn't we have come up on the village by now?"

"You mean the one that was just over this hill, as if it was waiting for us?" Pinkie said abruptly, pointing towards the Kirin village just below the hill they were travelling on.

The group of mares looked at Pinkie in confusion, who simply shrugged and bounced towards their destination.

"That mare is gonna be somepony Ah'll never understand..."

{*}

Jagged groaned as he sat up from his bed, eyes still closed. He let out a yawn, but was shocked to hear a yelp of a surprise from doing so. Upon opening, he noticed a group of...

"You're...a Kirin, right?"

The creature nodded. "Sorry to startle you, I just wasn't expecting all the teeth you had in your maw. My name is Fern, by the way. Fern - "

"Wait, what do you mean, 'all my teeth'? Don't we all have teeth...and what do you mean, my maw?"

Fern blinked in confusion. "Um...do you know what you are, exactly?"

"Of course I do, I'm a unicorn! What is going - "

He went to lift his hoof in exasperation, but was shocked when he saw a white paw where his hoof should've been, with three black claws at the end. Hurling off the blanket, he was shocked to find the body of a canine creature in his sights, a blood-red color with with white fur across his paws and chest. Fearing the worst, he rose a paw to his forehead, only to find a long tuft of hair blocking his right eye, but no horn. Naturally, he did the only thing natural for a dehorned unicorn.

He began screaming at the top of his lungs.

{*}

"Excuse me, is Autumn Blaze anywhere around?" Fluttershy asked a Kirin the mares ran into.

"We was hopin' she could point us towards that creature y'all found not too long ago," Applejack added.

"Well, if it's the creature you're looking for, all you need to do is- " The Kirin stopped when she saw Pinkie put earplugs into her ears. 'Uh, what is she doing?"

"Three..." Pinkie whispered.

"Pinkie? What's going on?" Rainbow asked.

"Two..."

"Darling, what you're doing is quite rude," Rarity pointed out.

"One..."

"Should...should we be concerned?" Twilight asked nervously.

"Cover your ears!"

Unfortunately, her cry went unheard as a ear-piercing scream rose from somewhere farther into the small city. Everypony covered their ears as the sound pierced the sky, only for the sound to still ring in their heads when it passed. Except for Pinkie, that is, as she pulled the earplugs out of her ears and put them back in her mane.

"Come on, he's this way!" Pinkie stated as she hopped down the alleyway, ignoring the fact that her friends were still rubbing their ears.

"Well...that was something else..." Twilight sighed. "Come on, might as well check that out."

{*}

The group of ponies went towards the house, where they saw multiple Kirins standing outside, looking towards the door in confusion as they tried to comprehend what they heard.

"Is everypony okay?" Twilight asked, looking towards the door as well.

"Everything's fine, Princess Twilight," a Kirin said as she emerged from the house, her eyes slightly dazed from the direct screaming. She had a gray-tinted gamboge coat with amber scales across her back, while her mane was an orange tone, and she had a dark-crimson horn, as did the rest of the Kirins. Her eyes were a beautiful crimson color, and she smiled softly as she gazed over the ponies. "Just trying to recover is all."

"Are you sure your okay, Fern?" The Kirin Ruler, Rain Shine, asked as she approached. Her amber-gray coat accommodated her light-gold scales along her back, along with her opal and turquoise mane. Her amaranth eyes only shown wisdom as she looked upon the Kirin with concern. "A yell with that velocity could not have been well to hear up close."

"While I will admit it was... rather unpleasant," Fern grimaced for a moment before smiling. "But he seems to be a nice creature, even if he is a little confused."

"What do ya mean by that?" Applejack asked in confusion.

"Well...come in here, and hopefully he'll elaborate more."

{*}

As Jagged tried to catch his breath, the door opened again, and he was shocked - and somewhat horrified - to see the Ambassadors of Friendship walk through, led by the Kirin who was treating him, Fern. Seeing them look at him caused him to tense up in fear, but Fluttershy gave a soft smile.

"It's okay, we're not here to hurt you," she reassured, causing Jagged to relax, if only a little bit. "We were just curious about what you are, is all."

"Which leads us ta askin', what are ya?" Applejack questioned. "Ah've only seen one creature like ya before, and that was a timberwolf."

"That's just it, though - I don't know what I am," Jagged said nervously. "I was a unicorn before I... passed out, then I went to Tartarus and met a creature named Giratina - "

"I'm sorry, what?" Rainbow asked, interrupting him. "What did you say?"

"...I saw a creature named Giratina?"

The mares looked at each other in confusion. "And...what did this place look like?" Twilight asked slowly.

"Well...there were a lot of buildings, and they were at weird angles, as if there was an anti-gravity spell...now that you think about it, I didn't see anypony there, nor any creatures either, other than Giratina."

"That's because this 'Giratina' lied to you, darling," Rarity sighed. "Never have I heard of such a creature down there, and we have been down there more than twice."

"So...he took me to his world?"

"Apparently so," Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Jagged blinked slowly, causing the others to grow nervous as they saw his full-red eyes go from confused to infuriated.

"When I get my hooves - er, paws... on that Pokemon, I swear I'm gonna - "

"What's a Pokemon?" Twilight asked, seeming intrigued by the concept.

Jagged sighed as he began to rub his forehead. "This is gonna be a long day..."

Don't worry," Pinkie Pie reassured as she pulled a lawn chair and a bowl of popcorn out of her mane and took a seat. "We got a lot of time right now."

The turned-unicorn looked at her in confusion, but decided not to question in, seeing how she's done worse.

"Alright...well, I guess it all started when I was at Ghastly Gorge...wait, what day is it?"

"It's the twenty-third. Why?" Rainbow said nonchalantly, but flinched as Jagged's eyes dilated.

"I'VE BEEN KNOCKED OUT FOR A MONTH?!?!"

"...actually, you've only been here for two days," Fern whispered, starting to feel intimidated by the creature before her.

"What?"

"She's correct," Rain Shine commented as she came in, causing Jagged to freeze up again. "It's alright, young one, though I would prefer it if you wouldn't yell like that."

"Y..Yes, ma'am," Jagged whispered, his head hung low. "But about the two days... is that true?"

"Quite."

"Huh," Jagged stated as he processed what he just heard. "Guess this will be a bit longer than what I thought..."

"Well, come on!" Pinkie cried. "My popcorn bowl's almost empty, and I only have one more after that!"

"Well, like before, it all started back in Ghastly Gorge... a month ago, when I was fighting off a couple of tatzlwurms..."

{*}

As the hooded unicorn walked into the dark cave, he grinned as he saw a large rune on the floor of a cave he was searching for the past ten years. As he fired up a spell he blasted the rune with a dark-violet colored beam of magic before it activated, causing a giant black cocoon to rise out of it, in the shape of an egg. Though most would look at it in confusion, the unicorn began laughing maniacally. He lowered the egg once more, but used a replication spell on the rune and placed it onto an artifact he brought with him. Turning towards the entrance, he glanced back at the rune before blasting it again, causing it to unravel itself. Satisfied, he turned once more and made his way back to the daylight.

"Soon, Bringer of Destruction, you shall be mine," he chuckled before closing off the cave as he walked out.