Forbidden: A Lost Wolf Story

The air was cold in the unforgiving north. In the cave, ice crystals reminded the pony that the temperature was well below zero. At the top of the cave was a buildup of smoke, which came from the fire that gave extra warmth to the clothed pony.

The earth pony sat by the fire and stared into it while in deep thought. He appeared to be doing nothing, but he was concentrating on how he would plan his attack on his sister, Crimson Blush. He was doing this for a good number of years now. When he successfully tricked Crimson with an illusion spell of his own making, he made sure that he knew where Crimson would go next. He had learned that night that Crimson was serving Lord Tartarus, and that she had more things to do. He had also learned that night that in fifteen years time, the devil-spawn would need to be collected by Crimson.

Lance Storm had waited fifteen years in hiding for this moment, since he knew that Crimson would kill him the first chance she got if she saw him again. Lance Storm had waited, and now he was about to make his move.

Celestia was concerned. Ben never returned more than twenty minutes past sundown. She had checked his room, but found it empty on her return from duty. She went through some of Ben's belongings, hoping to find some clue as to his whereabouts. When nothing turned up, Celestia quickly ran to her library, a place she had seen him sneaking around while she was relaxing. Thankfully, the guards that were supposed to protect the library had yet to return from the Summer Sun Festival. Celestia searched up and down the aisles of shelves, hoping to catch him. She was unsuccessful.

Celestia was about to continue her search when she was stopped by a wandering Twilight Sparkle.

"Princess? What are you doing?" asked the young filly.

Celestia hesitated. Twilight had no knowledge about Ben, and she wished to keep it that way. The problem was, Twilight could tell Celestia was in a hurry, so Celestia cleverly made up a lie to tide Twilight's curiosity.

"I'm late for an emergency meeting. Sorry Twilight. Head up to your study. This does not concern you."

Twilight accepted this and continued her walk back up to the observatory. Celestia sighed, then quickly flew through the halls to continue her search. She was stopped when a guard motioned her to follow him. Celestia thought that Ben was caught, and Celestia needed to act upon it.

Celestia found a small bit of relief when she turned the corner to not find Ben tied up in ropes and at spear-point. But the damage that needed her attention was just as worrisome. The Canterlot vault had been looted. Badly. The guards were using spells to trace the ponies who were responsible, but were unfruitful in their findings. Celestia ordered guards and servants to record all the damage and loss, then quickly used a spell of her own. Her trace spell was more advanced than the guards, and was neither relieved nor distraught about her findings. Ben was there, along with an earth pony, a unicorn, and two pegasi. Celestia followed the trace through the halls, undisturbed by the guards and servants, and found herself heading down into the dungeon.

Celestia found in her trace that Ben was locked up and freed himself from the cell and continued back up to the vault. While in the dungeon, however, Celestia found a floor stone askew. She lifted the stone and, with her trace magic, found several books hidden in the hole. The books were no longer there, but she saw that there were about five to seven books hidden there by Ben, who read through them on several occasions. Celestia had finally reached the trace that depicted Ben in a strange stated. Sparks of electricity emitted from Ben's body and filled the dungeon. Celestia was horrified, having not seen this type of magic before. What terrified Celestia the most was the fact that Ben had control over the magic and his purple marks were glowing.

Celestia ended her trace spell, and nearly fainted when the realization hit her.

The two lightning strikes. Was that the reason for his magic? For his nearly endless stamina?

There was no other explanation. Celestia slowly trotted up to her bedroom and slumped into her bed, hoping the grief would help her sleep. After what felt like hours, Celestia finally managed to enter a deep sleep.

The night was beautiful in Ben's opinion. Being part wolf, Ben had the urge to do more at night, but resisted some of the urges. The small make-shift house that was built by the Guys, as Ben referred to, was more roomy that Ben expected. There was a functional kitchen, bathroom, and other appliances. Lok, Mok, Jok, and Hok each had their own bed, while Ben wondered if one of them would offer him a bed as an act of courtesy, but second-guessed it as he was fully capable to sleep on the ground. He has done it before.

Hok managed the kitchen and cooked up what Ben believed to be mashed potatoes. Lok and Mok put up the lights to help everypony see more clearly. Jok walked over to Ben and asked, "Like it?"

"Well... " Ben hesitated. "It's not the worst place in the world to sleep."

"Yeah, well, it's home. For now, at least." replied Jok.

Ben pondered over that last statement for a while, even after Jok had walked away to help Hok with the cooking. He had the opportunity to just stay in Celestia's closet, but left that to help these ponies. He had them at their throats, but let them go. And now they were repaying him by offering him a bed at their place. Minus the actual bed.

Ben was silent while eating mashed potatoes, still contemplating his choices. The potatoes were delicious in Ben's opinion. A sudden thought was brought to the front of his mind. Ben imagined how the bureaucrats would feel if they had to eat mashed potatoes. Ben found this humorous, since he knew those ponies would never allow themselves to eat common pony food. Ben's thoughts then turned towards Celestia, and how she would have felt when she discovered his disappearance. Ben quickly shook his head, remembering that he was past Celestia now.

Ben looked at the four ponies in front of him at the table, seeing something that he never saw before: fighters. These ponies were fighting to stay alive, even without having to throw punches or kicks.

Punches or kicks?

Ben felt like he had struck the best option for how he could help the Guys, and himself at the same time. Ben knew he had magic, and while he had a good understanding about how to utilize some of it, he was still pretty weak if he were to compare himself to guards or assassins. So the best option for helping himself improve his magic and help the Guys with money was a fight club.

It was unorthodox, but Ben thought it would work. Ben quickly finished his food and waited for the Guys to finish as well. The Guys noticed the excitement, and felt it too when they heard Ben's plan. A fight club would be the best thing to do to earn more money and stay under guard radar. Especially since the golden rule about fight club was: You don't talk about fight club.

It was Mok who surrendered his bed to Ben. Ben took it without question, knowing that Mok would likely find a soft cloud to sleep on in the night. Ben was nearly asleep when he heard a loud bang come from Canterlot Castle.

Celestia was jolted awake by the loud bang that erupted from within the castle. It was a tremendous boom that awoke all of Canterlot. Celestia rushed out of her room, hoping that somepony knew where and what that sound was. She flew through the hallways until she saw the mass of ponies crowding around a spot in the main hall. The ponies parted to let Celestia through. What Celestia saw was horrifying.

Written in scorch-marks were the words: I WILL FIND YOU DEMON PONY!

Celestia thought to herself that she failed. She knew that the message was directed towards Ben, but who that pony was, Celestia did not know. All she knew now what that Ben was in danger. Ben was being hunted.

Crimson Blush managed to slip past the mass of ponies without being noticed. She had seen the message. No doubt it was Lance trying to get to the hybrid before her. Crimson cursed to herself for being so slow. She had just missed the hybrid going out, but she was also thankful that Lance had not gotten to the hybrid first. Crimson used her magic to scan the castle for any trace of the hybrid. She found a hit in Celestia's room. With a swiftness that would make a fox jealous, Crimson slipped past everypony and reached the bedroom with ease.

Inside, Crimson found nothing that would hint the presence of the hybrid. But her spell led her to the closet, where she easily undid a powerful illusion spell. Beyond the closet space was a separate bedroom that spelled of wolf. She knew that smell, since she got a strong whiff of it that night fifteen years before. She scanned the room and found that the hybrid was a perfectly healthy wolf-pony hybrid who went by the name of Ben.

Ben? I would have named him something like Grogar or Tirek. Oh well...

Crimson also found out that there were four other ponies that were in there. She focused her spell and learned that Ben had actually held captive four ponies with his magic. He was learning. Crimson found that Ben had left Canterlot Castle with these ponies after letting them go. She was slightly furious with this action. Ben was supposed to be a demon, a pony of evil, but he just let four ponies go after having them by the throat.

Crimson shook this thought out of her head, realizing that Celestia had raised Ben, so Ben would not know the lust and power of being a demon. She was going to change that.

Lance through rocks to the walls of the cave and shot lightning bolts from his personal cloud in anger. He had the bastard. He had the demon pony. He was going to kill it, but was too late. By now, Crimson probably had the bastard child in her possession and was preparing her next move. Lance bucked and shouted curses in anger. He was so close, but now it was all over. Lance had sat down to calm himself when he heard a strange voice from within the cave.

"If you want him dead, you will need to be better and faster."

Lance stood up and looked around to see where the voice came from. His eyes found another pair of eyes looking at him from the darkness. The eyes were animal, and familiar. Lance took a few steps closer to find a wolf staring at him. Lance was shocked. How did this wolf find him? Lance was about to ask, but was cut off when the wolf continued to speak.

"I have your scent. I had it since that night. I knew you were there. It is not easy to sneak up on a wolf, you know."

It was the wolf from that night. Why it was there with him, Lance wanted to know.

"Why are you here? What do you want with me?"

"I'm here to let you know that it is best to put this quest aside. You have no right to trust me, but listen to what I say. That hybrid is not what you think it is. He is beyond you in power and intellect. I made sure of that myself."

Lance scowled at that statement. This wolf clearly had no clue just what Lance was capable of. Nonetheless, Lance played along and asked, "What would you have me do then? Let my sister teach that hybrid how to be more powerful? Or have it be smarter than anypony?"

The wolf responded, "I will let you know that the hybrid is beyond the reach of Crimson. He was not taken by her, but instead fled Canterlot on his own terms. But I advise you to not seek to kill the hybrid, but instead your own sister. She is the one who is in direct contact with the one."

Lance was about to retort, but thought about what the wolf said. If this wolf spoke the truth, and the hybrid was safe from Crimson, then that would give him the leg up on her. If she failed to retrieve the hybrid for Lord Tartarus, then she would most likely be punished, which would make her weak. The perfect opportunity to strike.

Lance was about to accept the wolf on the offer, but the wolf vanished. Strange, but Lance knew that certain creatures had magical capabilities. He as an earth pony would know. Now he had a new plan.

Celestia was tired. She felt it, but she did not let it keep her from her mission. She had to get to Ben. Before anypony else did. In order to do that, she had to reach out to an old friend of hers. She never had reason to call on this pony before. But in this case, speed and secrecy was key. And this pony was the best at both. Celestia knocked on the door, hoping the pony would answer.

After a few minutes, a light came on in the living room. Celestia primed herself for the pony, and when the door opened, she quickly got to business.

"I have a contract. Search and rescue. The target is Bennalose, a wolf-pony hybrid that has purple marks on his body. I need him captured and contained in secrecy. He will likely be with four ponies: a unicorn, two pegasi, and an earth pony. Bennalose can use electrical magic to teleport and attack, so use caution. Make sure he is alive and that nopony else learns about his existence. Clear?"

"Clear." responded the pony.

Celestia flew back to the castle, hoping to finally get some rest.

Speedy quickly copied down Celestia's orders onto a piece of paper, folded it, and ate it. He let the orders sink in. Once finished, Speedy flew to his closet and grabbed his suit and helmet. He fit the suit over his light blue coat and wings, and his helmet covered his blue hair and eyes. His eyes were strange, in that the eyes appeared to have chambers. There were eight chambers that surrounded a ninth, circular chamber in the middle.

He sighed and made his way to the front door, knowing that his small retirement from the Contracts was finally over.

Crimson entered her home and quickly made her way to her bedroom. Once inside, she called upon Lord Tartarus for her next set of instructions.

"You failed to retrieve him. I am displeased."

"I am sorry, Lord, but there were certain circumstances that rose. But--"

"But nothing. You were supposed to retrieve the specimen, but now he is likely beyond our reach. Celestia has just called upon a bounty hunter to search for the specimen. Even though your brother did not acquire the specimen, you failed just the same. You deserve to be punished."

Crimson braced herself for the strike, but was alarmed to see that she was not struck, nor had any magic removed. Instead, she was presented the scene of the wolf and Lance speaking to one another. Crimson saw how the wolf let Lance know that she herself was Lance's target. Crimson was horrified by the realization that she was compromised. Lance knew that she did not have Ben, so Lance had the upper hand. Plus, even with her normal powers, Crimson was no match for Lance. He was always stronger than her. And he had the upper hand. Crimson was motionless.

"I will leave you to your fate. If you fail to survive, you will be damned forever. You will never taste immortality, only pain and despair."

And with that, Crimson was alone.