Red Claw

Twilight looked around her library as all the books were taken off the shelves. She took a deep breath and looked over to Spike, "so, now it's time to categorize and re-shelve every book once again," she squeed. Spike simply rolled his eyes and got his quill and scroll ready. Hours later he checked off the last book and was happy it was over, however, one book remained.

"Twilight, did you get a new book without telling me, again?" Spike asked as he picked up the dark red book with his claws, however, the book immediately shocked him, causing him to drop it and grunt a little. He held his claw as Twilight came over, picking it up with her magic and checking the book. They found that it was named Red King -The Tale of Longinus-. The next thing they realized was that the leather cover was made of red dragon scales, causing both of them to shudder. There was a green mythril lock on the book, but no key in sight and, from what they could see, the pages were made of some black material.

Twilight looked to Spike and said, "I've never seen this book in my life. Might as well try and open it at least." She tried a few unlocking spells, picking the lock, a few more unlocking spells, all to no avail. Finally, she got frustrated to no end and a brilliant magenta light formed upon her horn blasting the book, without her will. The lock dissolved and the book fell to the floor. Twilight panicked and ran to the book picking it up in her hands and checking for damage. She found no damage done, save for the lock, sighed in utmost relief and realized she could hold the book without the aid of magic. She opened the book with careful hands and read the first page aloud, "from the Welsh King, power grows and destruction spreads. From the Vanishing King, power weakens and enemies fall. Longinus Guide You." Twilight paused for a moment and thought as to why that was the only thing written on the first page. Suddenly the book closed and began floating above them, spinning faster and faster as a orb of white and red light encompassed the book and grew outwards. Twilight and Spike backed up quickly trying to escape from the rapidly growing magic power. Then as quickly as it grew it shrank, and the book turned to ash.

Two lights appeared as Celestia and Luna teleported in. "What was that massive amount of magic Twilight?" Celestia asked as Luna pulled out a silver scythe with a blade made of moonlight.

"I don't know we... I... the book..." Twilight, struggled to make sense of what just happened.

"Calm down, and breath, my student. What happened?" Celestia said to her.

Twilight breathed slower, and began, "Spike found a book, bound in red dragon scales and somehow I unlocked it, still don't know how that happened, I read the first page then the book released all that magic and turned to ash. I don't know..." She was interrupted as the ashes floated from the ground, created a magic symbol that looked somewhat like a dragon and glowed brightly enough to blind all in the room. When sight returned to Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Spike upon the crystalline floor was a creature they had never witnessed before.

Draeg POV

I breathed slowly as I awoke, the only things I could think of at the moment were that I was cold and in brutal pain as my head pounded. I slowly opened my eyes and before me stood four creatures that looked especially different from me, ones that I felt I had never seen before. One was a small lizard like creature, around four feet tall, with purple scales and green frills and underbelly, he, I'm assuming, wore no clothing. Then there were three equine females, if there breasts meant anything. One had an indigo mane and tail, striped with magenta. She had a wider... muzzle, yeah muzzle, and her ears were wide and higher on her head than mine. She wore a light blue button up shirt and a dark purple skirt, but no shoes as she had hooves and stood at around five foot three inches. The other two had manes and tails that moved in some unknown wind, one was stark white with a mane and tail of green, blue, pink and indigo, while the other had a mane and tail that looked like a night sky. The white one was around a foot taller than the purple one putting her at six foot three inches or so, had gold jewelry with purple accents and a white dress. The other one was a dark blue with black jewelry with white accents and a black dress on and stood around five foot eleven inches. Then again, the thing that took my attention the most, next to the scythe, was the fact that the equines had horns and wings. I panicked and stuffed myself into a corner, and realized that I was naked and couldn't remember much of anything.

The large white equine looked upon me and said, "who and what are you?"

A few short memories blared in my head. "M... my name is Draeg and... I... I am a... a devil. I... I think I need help," I said slowly.

"Help from what exactly?" The dark blue one asked, her gaze bore into me.

"I... I don't know... I really... really don't know... I'm sorry..." I said as I buried my head into my hands. "I wish I could tell you, I just know that it scares me worse than the possibility of death does right now." I got out without stumbling over my words.

The equines and the lizard looking male convened away from me, probably so I couldn't hear them, and I looked around at all the books shelved up and the crystalline features. The cold passed through me once more before they looked back at me. The dark one made her scythe disappear and the white one said, "I am Princess Celestia young one."

"I am Princess Luna," Luna stated.

"I am Twilight and this is my assistant Spike," Twilight mentioned. I shivered once more. "I think we need to get you into some clothes," she put forth, and suddenly a blanket was over me. I pulled it against me and smiled.

"That would be nice," I answered.

"Why don't you tell us about yourself," Celestia asked.

"I would if I could, but... I just don't remember much of anything. Other than what I told you and the overwhelming presence of needing to grow stronger and 'build my family' I can't remember anything at all..." I answered slowly.

"He's not lying," Luna worked in while her horn glowed, "this is odd indeed. You have nearly no memories at all." Luna then magicked in some clothing. "Here put this on," she finished.

"Thank you," I answered. It was a simple black shirt, blue boxer briefs and dark blue pants. I slid them on not particularly caring who watched. Luna and Celestia showed little interest, while Twilight stared for a moment then quickly covered her eyes, a slight blush on her face. I pulled the blanket up on my shoulders again and looked upon the equine beings in front of me.

"You say you are a devil, and I do sense dark magic in you, but why did you decide to tell us that you were such an evil creature?" Celestia asked pointedly.

"I'm not evil... or at least I don't think I am," I said as I rubbed my face, the migraine returning.

"We shall see," Luna said slowly, "what do you mean when you say to grow your family?" She asked.

More small memories blasted into my mind and I answered to the best of my abilities, "I have what are called... well, sorry for the name... Evil pieces... like chess pieces... that I can use on one who is willing to enter my family. I have fifteen in total. One queen, two rooks, bishops and knights and eight pawns. Though right now I don't have any idea how to use them properly right now... Sorry."

Celestia turned to Luna and silence filled the room until, finally, they both nodded.

"Twilight we have decided that you will watch him for now, please inform us immediately if anything happens." Celestia said to her.

"Yes Princess Celestia," She answered. Celestia looked to me and nodded before both she and Luna disappeared. I was taken aback by them just disappearing into thin air. Twilight looked at me and said nicely, "now, I have a guest room for you to use. It's very late and this was a pretty big day for both of us, so let's head to bed." I followed her and Spike to the guest room and Twilight said, "good night."

"Yes... Good night," I answered. Sleep overtook me within moments of laying down and I had a dreamless night.