Cry of the Midnight Wolf

The mares watched Jagged pace back and forth as he muttered under his breath, shooting a glare at Discord every now and then. After Jagged's attack on Discord, Twilight thought it was best to send everypony home (much to Pinkie's disappointment) and try to sort things out between the two. While the Mane 6 and Spike wanted to help, they felt rather intimidated by the creature. Jagged gave up on walking on all fours, and decided to go back to bipedal, and was discovered to be the same height as Big Mac. Eventually, however, Jagged stopped pacing and glared at Discord, who was trying to comfort Fluttershy.

"So let me get this straight," Jagged growled. "You, Discord, The Lord of Chaos - "

"Yours truly," Discord stated jokingly, but shrunk under Jagged's glare.

" - After throwing Equestria into chaos for over a millennia, then again recently, and betraying the Elements to literally the most powerful enemy in Equestria history - "

"He's not proud of doing that," Fluttershy whimpered.

" - Somehow, not only became friends with the Elements, but also was able to begin dating one?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Discord stated with a shrug. "Any other questions, because if not..." He made to get up and leave, but Jagged caused a glowing rock to rise in front of him.

"You are staying here," Jagged growled, then pointed towards Twilight. "Explain. Now."

"Well," the alicorn started. "After Tirek was defeated, Discord was able to befriend Fluttershy, but after being threatened to lose her, he realized how important friendship was, causing his reformation."

"Uh-huh," Jagged deadpanned.

"Dude, what's your problem?!" Rainbow yelled at the creature, getting in his face. "Why are you hating on Discord so much?!"

"Now hold on, Rainbow," Applejack interrupted, pulling the pegasus back. "There's quite a few ponies who aren't a fan of Discord being out of stone. Jagged, why don't ya explain why yer...not a fan of him?"

"With pleasure," Jagged growled. "Unlike many ponies across Equestria, my home was ultimately lost during Discord's second reign of chaos. My home was never returned to me, and it caused me to go homeless from then until about four years ago, when I got rid of some Windigoes that were harrasing Appleoosa. As a result, I got a bit of land from Ghastly Gorge as a reward. However - "

"Wait, yer the one who saved mah cousin's farm?" Applejack asked in shock.

"Yes. I was able to get rid of them with my ability over wind, now if I can finish?"

"O-Of course, just... thank ya fer that."

"No problem. Anyways, I got land from Ghastly Gorge, but I wasn't offered a team to help me construct a home for myself. So I had to build my own house, along with fighting off the monsters that were trying to force me out. It took me a while, but eventually I was able to finish. two months later, however, was when this party-pooper showed up."

"Hey!" Discord stated, clearly shocked at this statement.

"I'll admit, while I'm not mad for him killing me - "

"WHAT!?!"

"I am still rather infuriated that he destroyed my old house, leaving me homeless for four BUCKING years straight, then showed up again, acting like nothing happened!"

"Darling, I don't think you're thinking straight - you said, Discord killed you?" Rarity asked.

Jagged glared at the unicorn, causing her to back up slightly. "Believe me when I say this, I know first hand what it feels like to die. I wouldn't be making it up if I didn't."

"But...how are you still here?" Spike asked nervously.

"Didn't anypony tell you, silly?" Pinkie piped up. "He told us that he went to that false-Tartarus place and met the ruler of that place, who gave him a second chance and brought him back as a Guardian of - "

Jagged put a paw to her mouth, silencing her. "I never mentioned that."

"But you - "

"I don't know how you would know that, but I don't stand to it as true. Understood?"

Pinkie nodded, and Jagged let go of her mouth, which she then said, "Okie-dokie!" before bouncing off.

"What was she saying before?" Twilight asked.

"Don't know, don't care," Rainbow scowled, pointing a hoof at Jagged. "What I want to know is why he thinks he can lie on Discord and - "

"He's telling the truth," Discord sighed.

The mares and dragon looked at him in shock, Fluttershy beginning to back up. "B-But why - "

"He didn't directly kill me," Jagged interrupted. "Giratina explained to me that somepony from here channeled Discord's magic and used it against me, while giving off the appearance that Discord used his magic on me to cause my death."

"But somepony who could channel Discord's magic would need a high level of magic-tolerance!" Twilight exclaimed. "Even I can't do that!"

"Have you tried?"

Both Discord and Twilight winced. "Let's...leave that under wraps for now."

"So somepony who can use Discord's magic for harm caused your death, right?" Rainbow asked, getting a nod in response from Jagged. "That doesn't explain why you hate Discord."

"I LITERALLY just said why I - okay, I don't hate Discord. Hate's a strong word - I dislike Discord, and if you were paying ATTENTION, you would know WHY!"

"Um, e-excuse me?" Fluttershy started, but was interrupted when Rainbow started yelling again.

"Do you know who you're yelling at?!"

"The supposed 'Element of Loyalty', but all I see is a hot-headed, arrogant pegasus who can't see knowledge even if it backhands her! Why don't you go fly around and cool off before you say something you'll eventually regret?"

"Oh, THAT'S IT!" Rainbow yelled, getting in his face. "You. Me. Noon. Sweet Apple Acres." She left after that, muttering under her breath as she flew off.

Jagged snorted in annoyance and fury after her before turning back to the others and saw their stone-faced glares. "What?"

"What was THAT for?!" Twilight yelled. "That was completely avoidable - "

"If she was actually paying attention," Jagged interrupted. "I don't know why you all are mad at me when she started it."

"Well, for starters - "

As the alicorn continued, Jagged began to hear a faint whistling from farther off. It sounded familiar, but it wasn't recognizable. He turned around, and saw a rainbow streak flying towards him.

Oh, horse-apples...

Before Rainbow could strike, however, Jagged had a quick instinct to try and block it. Glaring at Rainbow, he crossed his arms in front of him, while unknowingly beginning to glow blue. Right before the pegasus made contact, however, Jagged grabbed her hoof, stopping her in her tracks and causing a large whirlwind to surround the two. The group watched in awe at the power the creature held, but it quickly changed to horror as the blue glow surrounding Jagged moved to his free paw - and slammed into Rainbow's chest, causing her to blast off into the sky.

After the initial shock, however, Rainbow flew up and prepared to launch at Jagged again when she noticed purple sparks sprouting to the left of the castle, at least a few hundred yards off, but somewhat well-secluded.

"Hey, guys? Something's going on over there!" Rainbow yelled before flying off in said direction, leaving her friends to catch up.

"Well, I guess we should go, then," Twilight stated before noticing Jagged was gone. "Hey, where'd Jagged go?"

"He went that way," Pinkie pointed towards where Rainbow was going, and that was when Twilight noticed the smoke cloud residing from his travelling.

'Great, two speedsters to deal with,' Twilight sighed. "Let's get a move on, you guys."

{*}

Jagged got to the secluded area Rainbow pointed out as soon a few moments before she landed, and smirked at her gaping mouth."

"But - how - " Rainbow stuttered.

"Better close your mouth until flies crawl in," Jagged joked before seeing a large purple spark form from...

"Where'd that come from?"

"I...I don't know," Rainbow admitted before crouching. "Better get ready for anything."

Jagged snorted at her actions, but began glowing blue again, preparing himself for an attack.

What happened instead, however, surprised him.

As he watched, a purple vortex began to form before Jagged's eyes , and his eyes grew in shock as Scorch came through, his eyes closed as he wobbled back and forth.

"I really need to get over that sickness..." He muttered softly. "Now, where was I - OOF!"

"Rainbow, get off him!" Jagged yelled, pulling the pegasus off the Kirin. Rainbow, out of combat reflexes, tackled Scorch before registering who he was.

"For the name of Faust, who - wait, Rainbow? Jagged? What are you two doing here?" Scorch asked, looking back and forth between the two with a look of...was that horror in his eyes?

"More importantly, Jagged, GET OFF!!!" Rainbow yelled, pushing the creature off. Ignoring his growls, the pegasus pointed at Scorch. "What are you doing, and where'd you come from?!"

"I -" Scorch started, but it was then that the rest of the group showed up.

"Why...were...you...two...so...fast?" Twilight wheezed.

Jagged and Rainbow looked at each other, shrugged, then turned back towards the Kirin. "Well?" rainbow started up again, but Jagged pulled her back, albeit softer than before.

"Scorch...talk to us, man."

Scorch looked up at his friend, one of the closest friends he's had in decades. If Jagged started hating him...

"You...you deserve an explanation," Scorch sighed. "All of you do."