Cry of the Midnight Wolf

Silence.

The two "stallions" sighed in content as they leaned back in their respective seats, the only sound found in their breathing. As the two smirked at each other, they soon found their silence would be broken by a certain pony...

"Hey, guys!"

"Gah!"

Both males tumbled out of their seats, resulting in a small bundle of red-and-gray fur. As they tried to break free, the others came to their car to find them on the ground, as well as Pinkie, who was laughing her flank off at the sight.

"Oh, my goodness!" Rarity gasped as Applejack and Rainbow Dash helped the two untangle themselves. "Are you two alright?"

"We've been better," Jagged sighed, a hint of anger in his eyes.

Scorch, however, was quite different. "What in the name of TARTARUS was THAT for?!?" he growled at Pinkie, his hair beginning to flicker with flames.

"I thought it was weird that is was so quiet over here, so I came over to see what you two were doing!"

"And you thought it was okay to JUMP-SCARE US!?!"

"Wasn't my intention~" Pinkie said in a sing-song tone before breaking into a giggling fit again.

Which, naturally, was quickly cut off.

"Look, I'm going to make this VERY clear," Scorch growled. "If you EVER do that again, I will make SURE you leave with second-degree burns." Flames began to flicker over his jaws to emphasis his point. "Understood?"

While the other mares looked at him with a mix of horror, disgust, and shock, Pinkie merely shrugged.

"Okie-dokie-loki!" she piped before bouncing back to the train car that the mares were staying in.

You...you were joking, right?" Rainbow piped up with a nervous chuckle, only to get a hard glare from the grey pony.

"Did it look like I was joking?"

"ANYWAYS," Twilight interrupted before anything else could spark. "Why don't you tell us a little bit about how you two met. If you were a guard for...Nightmare Moon...then how are you still around today?"

Scorch turned his glare towards the alicorn, but seeing as she didn't falter under his gaze, he sighed. "Simple. I'm a kirin. Nothing to it."

The mares looked at each other in confusion.

"But...we just saw other kirins, and they didn't look anythin' like ya," Applejack stated, slightly confused.

"And you're a pony, but that doesn't mean there's only one kind of pony, correct?"

"Well...now that ya think about it..."

"Exactly," Scorch interrupted. "The kirins over at the Peaks of Peril, while we are the same species - even by default - that doesn't mean we have to look the same. Those kirins are more pony-based, while I am more draconian than they are."

"Well, that does explain your wings..." Twilight muttered to herself. "But what about your horn? Does your horn look like that because of your mother?"

Jagged and Scorch looked at each other before chuckling to themselves, much to Twilight's annoyance.

"What? What did I say?"

"Twilight Sparkle, how can you say that you were Princess Celestia's top student...when you can't even notice a simple illusion spell?" At this the males began to laugh, which confused the alicorn even further.

"Illusion spell? What are you..."

Scorch stopped laughing long enough to roll his eyes and mutter, "Oh, for Faust's sake..." before lighting his horn up...and causing it to disappear. In its place were two dragon horns on the sides of his head, both curving back. Like his coat, they were also an ash-grey color, but the horns darkened the further it went, eventually becoming pitch-black near the tips. As a whole, they were glowing with the same purple aura that his unicorn horn was glowing before the spell before he dispersed the glow.

"As you would expect, it is quite obvious as to why I keep my horns hidden."

"But...why?" Rainbow asked. "They look awesome!"

"Well, let's start with Ms. Fluttershy here..."

The group turned to the mare in question, and they saw how terrified she truly looked as she tried her best to hide behind Applejack, but ultimately failed to do so.

"He-He looks m-more like a d-d-dragon now," she whispered.

"But darling, I thought you weren't afraid of dragons," Rarity protested.

"B-B-But - "

"But she's never seen a half-dragon before, or at least, one like me," Scorch interrupted, much to Fluttershy's relief. The kirins she's met were more comfortable to her, I'm guessing, because they looked more like ponies than I do. Correct?"

Instead of responding, she only nodded to his theory, causing him to sigh. Before he could continue, however, the group noticed that the train was beginning to slow down.

"Now arriving at Ponyville Station," a voice stated over the intercom.

"That's our stop, everyone," Twilight pointed out as she and the others went to get off the train.

Well, almost everyone.

"You're not coming?" Jagged asked, confused when he noticed Scorch hadn't moved from where he sat.

"No, it's just..." he sighed. "It's...been a while since I've been in society. I'll catch up with you in a - "

"Oh, no you don't!" With that, Jagged grabbed Scorch by the horns and began to drag him out of the train.

"Hey, could you - ow! Stop pulling on my - OW! Hey, I'm talking to you - OW!!!"

"Look, Scorch, it's been nearly five years since we last saw each other," Jagged growled. "I am not letting you leave this quickly - not without you explaining where you've been."

"That...could take a while."

"Exactly. So, put that illusion spell on your horns, and let's get moving."

"But..."

"No buts! Let's go!"

{*}

"I really despise you right now," Scorch growled as the two went to catch up with the mares. Despite Scorch's protests, Jagged still managed to keep a grip on his friend, even threatening to continue it when they went to town. At this threat, Scorch stopped fighting back, but not until he grabbed a cloak that he had in his saddlebags and put it on while casting his illusion spell on his horns.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you would try and do the same with me," Jagged smirked before looking forward again. "Anyways, here we are!"

"Where have you two been?" Rainbow asked as she flew towards the two. "We've been looking everywhere for you since you disappeared after the train."

"Scorch just needed some enthusiasm to get off the train, is all," Jagged chuckled, much to Scorch's chagrin.

"All you had to do was ask instead of drag me out of the train, quite literally!"

"But, in the end, it got its point across, so..."

The kirin only growled in response, causing a smirk to appear on the creature's face.

"Anyways..." Rainbow continued. "The girls want you two to come over to Twilight's castle. Said they got a surprise for you."

"Her castle? Where in Equestria would her castle..."Jagged turned around and saw a giant purple-and-blue crystal castle looming over the small town. "Oh."

Scorch, meanwhile, was looking at the castle with big eyes and a bit of drool falling out of his mouth. "Crystals..."

"Don't even think about it."

{*}

"Quick, they're coming!" Pinkie yelled as she turned all the lights off and went to hide as the door opened, leaving Rainbow, Scorch and Jagged to look into a dark room, the light outside barely making it easy to look inside.

"I don't trust this..." Scorch whispered to Jagged, who frowned in response.

"What are you thinking?"

"I say we leave before something - " Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, the doors behind them closed, plunging the whole room in darkness. " - happens."

"Who's there?!" Jagged growled, his red eyes beginning to shine in the darkness, along with Scorch's horn. "Show yourselves!"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Rainbow cried and turned on the lights.

"SURPRISE!!!!"

In the room was the five other mares, along with a young dragon, three younger fillies, a zebra (surprisingly), and a six-some of random creatures, including a pony, dragon, yak, griffon, a bug-pony, and some hybrid of a pony and a griffon. Above them was a giant banner that read, "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!", and there was a giant cake to the right of the group, with Pinkie in the center standing bipedal with her fore-hooves raised high.

The joy on the group's face, however, turned into shock as Scorch extended his wings and roared in shock before taking flight, leaving through an open window and Jagged running out the door after him, yelling, "Scorch, come back! They're not gonna hurt - SCORCH, DON'T YOU DARE!!!"

Almost immediately, the kirin returned, but this time with his horn glowing and fire licking his jaws. "WHY ARE YOU BACK!?!" He shouted, pointing at a figure that was not noticed before hiding in the shadows. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE RESIDENTS HERE!?!"

The ponies looked at the figure in shock, to see its face with an emotion of shock as well. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to them."

"Yeah, right, Apophis! Why have you come here?!"

The figure, to everyone's surprise, began to pale at the name. "How do you know that name? Apophis was supposed to be banished centuries ago."

"Wait, so who - "

"Scorch!" Jagged yelled as he bolted back in. "What are you - " he started, but froze when he saw the creature in the shadows - and immediately started growling. YOU!!!!!"

"Aw, crud..." Discord sighed. "Well, go ahead. Let it out."

Jagged, in response, charged the draconequus and blasted him through the castle wall, causing them both to stumble when they hit the soft grass. Jagged was the first to rise, and slammed his fist into the ground, causing the same blue rocks to erupt as before. Discord, shocked, began to go around the spikes, but eventually got hit by one and caused a massive explosion, sending Discord into the air. Upon landing, Jagged punched the God of Chaos in the gut, receiving a grunt of pain in response. Throwing the draconequus back at the castle, he charged him again, but was stopped when something blue tackled him to the ground.

"Dude, what gives!?" Rainbow yelled in his ear.

"Let go of me, Rainbow! He's gonna pay what he did to me!" Jagged growled and managed to pin Rainbow to the ground, dazing her for a couple of seconds. As he got up again, however, he saw Fluttershy standing in front of him with... were those tears in her eyes?

"Please...Please stop..." She sniveled.

"But...why? He harmed Equestria for centuries, did it again when released, and, above that, caused this to happen!"

"Discord's changed, I promise..." Fluttershy then blushed. "Plus, he's my...my coltfriend."

Jagged stared at her for what felt like an eternity until a single word escaped from his mouth:

"WHAT!?!?!"