Castle Everfree, Equestria
16 Years Before the First Nightmare Moon Event
For Princess Luna, her nightly patrol was the only thing that she looked forward to during the dark hours. Night Court was practically non-existent, and there were never any social gatherings in her beautiful night. But this flight would be one that she would remember forever, one that would be permanently burned into her memory.
The night went as usual as it did for the nocturnal diarch: Nopony had invited her to any social gathering (as if anypony would ever schedule such an event) and only a hand-full of nobles came to Night Court with their grievances and requests. Now, Princess Luna was flying over the Dark Forest, looking for beasts wandering too close to the castle. So far, only a Manticore and a pack of Timberwolves were the only dangers that she had to smite. Then, she heard it. It was distant, yet close enough that she could hear it: the sound of a crying infant. Instincts taking over, she flew towards the disturbance of this silent night. She followed the sound to a remote clearing in the darkest midst of the Everfree, well past the edge of the Red Zone. When she landed, she took notice of her surroundings; the scene horrified her to say the least.
Even before she saw it, the ferric smell of blood hung heavy in the air; as if the smell had been made into a heavy comforter blanket and was laid there to haunt the scene. Looking towards the ground, Luna saw pools and splatter areas where the blood had came to rest and coagulate. The bodies of their owners had been ripped asunder, as if by some feral beasts or barbarians. Even though the perpetrators were long gone, she could feel the presence of great evil (that would lead to the naming of the Demon’s Patch). The crying had grown fainter when she arrived, though the reason to her was unknown to her; then she turned about-face.
Propped against the base of the tree was a light-gray Lycaonian female, a blade piercing her abdomen and effectively nailing her to the tree. In her arms is a grey male pup suckling at her breast. Every breath for her is a struggle as the blood seeps from her wounds. As the mother notices Luna, her eyes show her sadness and fear for her child’s life. She then, coming to a reasonable solution, gestures for Luna to take the child.
“No,” Luna replies. “I’m not sure if I can. I am close to a child myself.” This statement is true if you’re of an immortal race, as Luna was five years away from her thousandth name day. In equivalence to most mortal races, this would be roughly sixteen to seventeen years of age.
The mother, however, issues but one word to her: “Please.” With the utterance of this single word, it is clear to Luna that, at this point, the mother is on the fringed edge separating life and death. She also sees this as the last chance for this pup to live another day. For, although the citizens’ claims to being accepting to all races, no family would take in a wolf; not even as a pup. So Luna carefully, albeit shaking slightly from nervousness, takes the pup from his mother’s dying arms. At this, the mother smiles and mumbles something in Lycaonian (later translated to: “Bless this goddess, for she raises my child as her own”). And moments later, seeming an eternity to both, the mother breathes her last; knowing that her child will live to see tomorrow.
At the sight of this, Luna places a protective bubble around the tree to ward off scavengers from desecrating the body even further. And with a tears in her eyes and a pup in her arms, she takes off towards the castle. Not seconds after arriving, she calls for her captain.
“Night Striker!”
She is only kept waiting for about ten seconds when Captain Night Striker, a Thestral of twenty-nine, lands on the balcony.
“You called, my lady?” he inquires, bowing before the lunar princess.
Luna pulls out a map of the eastern quadrant of the forest. “There is a body of a female Lycaonian that we wish to be brought to the castle. You’ll find her impaled upon a tree.”
“Mistress, might I inquire as t-...” At this he looks up and sees the ashen-grey pup at her bosom. “Your Majesty, you didn’t…”
“Nay!” she exclaims, realizing the conclusion he had dawned upon. “You have known us for eleven years now, and you believe that we would be so base as to have a mother slain so that we may take the child as our own?!”
“My most sincere apologies princess. It was merely the request that ye had asked of me that had sparked my concern. But…” Striker trails off, unsure of how to proceed.
“Ye may inquire,” Luna responds, not missing a beat.
“What is to become of the child?” He asks, unselfish concern laced in his every word.
Luna raises her head at this, “We shall raise this pup, at the request of his mother.”
To say Night Striker was surprised at this declaration would be an understatement, but can you blame him? The Princess of the Night had declared (quite proudly, I might add) that she would raise this orphaned pup, a child that even the noblest of families would deny, at the dying wish of his mother!
“Princess…” Striker starts.
“Dost thine ears deceive us? A protest?” Luna asks, pulling the child closer to her.
“Nay, your majesty. Merely pride,” he declares.
“Pride?” She is confused at this statement.
“Aye, pride. It is no secret that even the most noblest of families would turn this child away. And with the taking in of this pup, you are proving your character to be far greater that what is said by thee and thy sister.”
“I thank ye for those kind words. Now, thy mission…” Luna goes on.
“No need to remind me, your majesty. I shall leave post haste.” And with a quick salute, he goes off into the night.
“Now that he is gone,” Luna then turns to her now-son. “How do I go about introducing you to my sister…”
“Introduce me to who, sister?”
As fate would have it, Celestia had decided at that time to walk in for their routine nightly chat. This routine came to be due to their vastly differing schedules (one is also scheduled for midday to even out the fairness).
“Uhm… Sister…” Luna turns slowly to face her sister as she struggles to put her finger on how to go about this.
“Luna, what could possibly make you this…” With her sister now facing her, Celestia now has a full view of the pup in her arms.
“...nervous.”
The silence that followed would deafen any ears that dared listen to them talking. No one was, of course, because everypony back then had half of the right mind to be involved in business only of their own. At this moment, Celestia chose to ask the simplest of questions, obviously to break the ice that had been formed by the freezing silence.
“Is that a Wolf pup?”
“Y-yes…” Luna had every right to be nervous, especially for the life of the pup she held. Although their time together had been rather short, she had already begun to emotionally tie herself to him. The anchor had been cast, so to say, and it was too late to pull it back up.
“Might I ask as to where you procured such a… a… Beast?” I must apologize for Celestia’s harsh words towards Luna and the pup. Back then, it was no secret that the Wolves of Lycaonia were a rather savage race. In the dark ages, they were separated into several warmongering tribes (mainly separated by specific race and/or specie). It was due to this civil war of sorts that caused the orphaning of our main protagonist. Such words, considered some of the most harsh to direct towards any predatory race in today’s society, would be water off of the duck’s back for most. Most, but not all. Especially the mother of said “duck.”
“He is NOT a beast, Sister!” Luna raises her voice at this, causing the pup to awake with a start and cry. Her buried maternal instincts surfacing, she undoes part of her dress and allows the pup to feed (as mares produce milk from maturity to when their heat cycles stop). Luna in in shock at the idea that her sister would use such a word to describe something so seemingly harmless. But then again, there were victims of Parasprite swarms that would ague of books and covers.
“Luna, that thing is a Wolf. A WOLF!” Celestia, however, was having a hard time believing that her sister would keep a wolf pup. After seeing what they had done to their own country, Celestia and Luna swore to prevent that from happening to their kingdom. Yet, here was her sister with the very thing that they swore not to be like. Even though there was racism amongst the three races that dated back to, and even pre-dated, the founding of Equestria, it would never compare to the racism ponies had shown to predators.
On the note of this less than apparent racism, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the racial prejudice that the Unicorns had towards the Earth and Pegasi races as well. Even after the so called “unification” of the three tribes to form Equestria, the Unicorns refused to “get off of their high horse.” This is also the logical reason for why most of the Noble families being of the “superior” Unicorn race. There are, however, five notable exceptions of racism in Unicorn families. The Lights, the Fancys, the Heartstrings’, the Bloods, and (perhaps the most famous of his time) Starswirl the Bearded. These five were the leaders of a slowly spreading equal rights movement, having had their eyes revealed to the injustice towards other races.
“So what if he is a Wolf?” Luna decides to see how Celestia will attack this situation. A smart move, especially if the feeling is right.
“‘So what?’ Luna, you’ve seen what they have done to their country. They’ve torn apart their society for their own selfish gains.” Celestia argued.
“Yes they have, but those are the adults who made those decisions. Are you truly going to blame this pup for something that he is not a part of? What happened to ‘Love and Tolerate?’” Luna makes a compelling argument here, having studied the philosophies of the Saddle Arabian priests and their scriptures. She has also studied with the ministers to further gain understanding of Ezekiel the Gryphon. He contributed so much to the ideals of many leaders, Princess Luna included.
“Luna, that pup will grow into an adult wolf. He will be capable of destroying our society!”
“I will not just stand by and let him die as punishment for the antiquity of his father!”
“... What?” Celestia, however, is not fluent in ancient philosophers. She thought them a waste of time, which would lead to her sister’s fall into darkness.
“‘The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.’ As long as he has committed no crime, no harm shall fall upon his head!”
“You were different when you came back from Saddle Arabia,” Celestia sighed. “Fine. I’ll let you keep him, under one condition: You teach him to obey our laws and some manners, and may only receive help from the noble families. I’ll not have an untamed beast running about the castle.”
“He is not an ‘untamed beast!’” Luna growls. “But I accept your terms. He shall act in the manner of nobility, and be taught by such!”
“Fine. I’ll leave you two be.” And with that, Celestia closes the door behind her.
Luna sighs and lays on her bed with her new son next to her, sound asleep. She would rest, but is trying to figure out a name for her child.
Hmm. Lupin? No, too obvious. Shadow? Wrong color. Ugh! The Lights have it easy, any girl is given the name “Twilight.” He need a name that’s fierce, tough, but also leaving room for him to make his own destiny...
It’s at this moment that the pup yawns, showing his teeth that are as white as freshly laden snow. Like the Thestrals, he has fangs that protrude more than the others.
Luna giggles, the name literally staring her in the face. “Of course. You’ll be White Fang: Prince of the Night.”
FimFiction presents…
...a Steel Striker story…
...in association with Shino…
The Prince of Shadows
Author's Note
Hoooh Shit!
Here we go boyos!
Ah... the return of Steel Striker...