Wolf of the Everfree

Chapters

Rebirth
Adolescent
Named
Friends
Castle
Princesses
Memories
Shopping
Spar

Rebirth

Author's Note

Hello, this story is gonna be in the same style as something like "That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime" or "Solo Leveling". I'm not gonna call this a crossover story with one of those, but it will be a LitRPG genre story. Just FYI

Rebirth

The teen slowly opened his eyes, he was sat at an ornate dining table. He didn't remember how he got here, but he did remember what happened. The hatred and betrayal, the pain, the wind whipping past his face as he fell, the feel of his body hitting the ground. He had jumped from the top of his apartment building, but he couldn't remember what drove him to jump. Everything past jumping was missing, he didn't remember his life, name, family, anything. He reemerged from his thoughts and looked forward. The room was as ornate as the table, though it had very little in the way of any furniture. Gold trim lined the walls which were painted a clean white. On the table, was a very reflective plate, showing his heterochromatic eyes, one being red, and the other blue. At the table were seven chairs, excluding his, held another person.

"Welcome," The figure at the opposite end of the table from him spoke. The figure wore a clean white suit, each wrist had several watches, each a gold or silver color. As he looked up at his face, he felt his breath catch in his throat. The figure's face was constantly shifting, changing appearance and shape, never stopping to change. "I'm the god of creation, and you are dead, but you are a special being, you have a rare gift within you."

"You always have to be so cryptic," a feminine voice spoke up to the left side of the boy. Glancing over to the voice, the teen saw a woman, her body was dressed in a red dress and her face didn't shift rapidly between forms. "He means you're going to be reincarnated to help save another world."

"I think you might be mistaken," the teen spoke up softly but was quickly shut down.

"No, you're the correct being, you have a special ability engraved into your soul that will help you, and we will unlock this ability for you, as well as a little extra help from us," The woman smiled, as 6 wings sprouted from her back as she felt pleased with her response. "My name is Sil, and I'm the god of life, I will be one of the few gods you have continual interaction with and this god here is my counterpart or sibling if you wish, is Val, he is the god of death."

"I'll also be interacting with you on a regular basis," Val spoke up, his pitch-black suit rose up into a small mask that covered the lower half of his face. Blood was specked onto his forehead.

"I'm Delphia, the goddess of nature," the woman next to Val spoke. Her voice was soft and sweet, her dress was a mix of light and dark greens like a forest in summer. "I rule over everything to do with nature, from microscopic entities to plants and animals."

"Yes, great, wonderful, now, my name is Milatios, and I am the second strongest god here," the god sitting to the left of the teen spoke up, his suit was a shifting hue of purple and blue. "I'm the god of magic, mana, and anything to do with magicks."

"Forgive Milatios, he's a bit egotistical, my name is Telas, and I am the goddess of the elements," her introduction was mixed with different views, her tone was aggressive, but her speech was fluent. Her dress seemed to be made up of fogged water, the shape rippling with her breaths.

"I'm Invas, the god of knowledge and learning, I grant creatures differing levels of learning, or I give creatures a hard cap on the amount of knowledge they can learn," the god had a pair of rimmed glasses and a two-piece suit. Despite his nerdy appearance, he had an inspiring aura.

"And finally, I am Astelo, the god of creation and time," the god from the beginning spoke, finishing introductions. Each god looked at the teen, before closing their eyes and reciting a small chant in a language that hurt the teen's ears to listen to like his body rejected the sound entering them. Before long they stopped and looked back up at the teen. "Your ability has been unlocked, as well as the gift each god here wishes to grant you, mine is to help while fighting, for your reaction to increase and for the world to slow."

"My gift was the knowledge of every edible ingredient as well as any potion creatable by those ingredients," Delphia smiled as she bowed her head, and Delphia vanished before saying. "I wish you good luck, hero."

"My gift is one of the most important you just obtained, your past life will adapt it to what suits your memory the best, my gift gives you the ability to raise in skill and ability, to allow you to rapidly exceed in power, strength, intellect, and prowess of any other creature to help your goal," Invas spoke, before also vanishing with a final farewell.

"My gift is the ability to learn any magicks in all the universes, as well as master any and all magicks in the universe," Milatios spoke, before vanishing without another word.

"My gift is that I made your body heal much quicker than most, even from serious wounds and injuries, over the course of several hours, depending on the severity," Sil waved before vanishing with a wish of good luck.

"I've granted you resistance to extreme cold and heat, anywhere from -100 Celsius, to 300 Celsius," she nodded her head before also vanishing without another word.

"Finally, my gift is that when you kill prey, you will gain the ability of the creature you killed," Val vanished with a wave, leaving just the teen and Astelo alone in the room.

"Any questions, being?" Astelo asked as he stared at the teen.

"What is my special ability?" The teen asked as he stared at the morphing face of the god.

"You are a god killer, the only being in all the universes to have this ability, yet, you aren't strong enough to kill any god right now, so get strong, and save this world," the god spoke, before snapping his fingers, and the teen's vision blacked out again.

With a soft breath, the baby wolf took its first breath along with his brothers and sisters. The warm cave was hidden away from many main walking paths for ponies or more dangerous animals, like Timberwolves, manticores, or cockatrices. The litter of five wolves lay quietly against the belly of their mother as the father stood guard at the entrance to the cave, as snow showered down outside.

The alpha wolf sat content at the entrance to the cave as he kept an eye out for predators or prey. His thoughts were very streamlined and consisted of protecting the last wolves of his pack, and continuing his species. After being attacked by several stronger predators, the Grey Moon Wolf species was done to the seven wolves in this cave. Thankfully, the alpha had found this cave, a geothermal vent gave off enough heat to keep the cold winter winds out so his kin wouldn't die.

The alpha, growing tired, slowly approached his mate and lay next to her, making sure to keep himself between the entrance to the cave and his pups. The mother had already begun cleaning her pups, as one pup slowly opened its eyes, showing off its beautiful red and blue eyes. With a soft yip, the small pup slowly closed its eyes and fell back asleep.

The soft crunch of snow made both the alpha and his mate's ears perk up, and caused the alpha to stand up and prepare to fight the incoming invader. The crunching got louder and louder before a single figure could be seen. A thin pony, whose yellow coat and pink mane was wrapped up in a thick layer of winter clothing. The pony stopped at the entrance to the cave as she saw the mane wolf was ready to attack, but the pony only grabbed a small basket on her back and placed it down at the entrance to the cave, before slowly backing away. The alpha cautiously began moving forward, as he listened to the steps and crunching snow become quieter and quieter.

Keeping his guard up, he sniffed at the wicker basket and quickly began trying to open the basket, ripping the wicker basket open, several types of meat fell out onto the cave floor. The alpha, although starving, looked back at his mate and carefully dragged the basket over to his mate, like dragging a dead animal. The mother smiled and began to eat at the slabs of raw meat, so she could feed her babies.

Adolescent

The Grey Moon wolves hadn't expanded in the past year, still sitting at seven wolves in the warm cave. The pups were now one year old, and all of them had grown well, and as the winter months slowly wrapped up, the alpha prepared to go hunting with his pack. In the section of the Everfree forest that the wolves were in, most animals included small game, like rabbits, beavers, squirrels, and moles, but occasionally a deer would wander into the area. As the wolves walked out of the cave, the alpha and mother being slightly bigger than the pups, the seven wolf pack was ready to hunt for food, as the yellow coated pegasus watched with fascination. She had built small platforms in the trees surrounding the wolves' cave and sometimes helped the wolves by leading deers into the area where the alpha wolf hunted.

Fluttershy didn't like feeding other animals to carnivores, but purposely starving the wolves would not be a better choice. So she decided that trying to help the wolves survive was the best option, as such a beautiful creature shouldn't have to go extinct. She quietly followed after the hunting wolves in her tree pathways, watching with intent as the wolves killed a couple of rabbits. One wolf always peaked her attention when she watched them. The wolf she named Kai.

Kai pounced on a squirrel and gave an internal smile as he saw the small update informing him of having killed the squirrel. When Kai was born and first opened his eyes, his brain was overloaded with information, similar to that of a video games status screen, and he passed out from the overload. He got used to the menus quickly, as while Kai had the body and instincts of a wolf, he still had his intellect and memories of being human. He regained a bunch of his memories after being reborn, who he was, some of his life, but he forgot a good chunk of it on purpose. The menus reminded him of menus from games that he used to play, he had the experience, skills, levels, attributes, talents, and other information that was locked or pointless for him. His suspicion was confirmed by Invas in a dream, who confirmed the menus were the way his memories adapted his gift.

Having been in the cave until now, he never had much chance to raise his stats or levels, but now that he was out hunting he could fill his stomach and raise his level. He had gained a couple of skills playing with his siblings, two levels of pain resistance, a level of wolf fighting, and four levels of communication between wolves. At level three of wolf communication, he could understand what his kin could say in English when they would bark or growl or yip.

He snapped from his thoughts as he licked his chops clean of blood, as he left the stripped bones of the squirrel behind. Another menu popped up when he killed the squirrel, telling him he had gained a level of squirrel communication, letting him understand tones in squirrel squeaks. He kept hunting squirrels, while his kin kept hunting for moles and rabbits, and failing miserably as Kai caught his second squirrel.

"I don't understand, I just can't catch them," his only sister complained as she pulled her snout out of a mole hole and stared at Kai. "How are you able to catch them so easily?"

"I'm just better than you, that's how," Kai joked as he bit into the dead body of the squirrel at his feet. Though he wasn't able to continue his eating as he was tackled by his sister, causing them to roll over and tumble down a hill. The two landed at the bottom of the hill, as Kai shakily stood and looked at his sister, who was bleeding on her shoulder. "Are you okay!"

"Y-Yeah, I just hit a rock on the way down, I should be okay," she spoke softly as she slowly stood up, whimpering when she put weight on the injured leg. The smell of blood filled Kai's nose as he looked at his sister.

"Damnit, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have teased you," Kai apologized as he looked at his sister, at a loss for what to do to help her. The sound of running paws could be heard behind Kai, as his father ran down the hill towards them.

"What happened, are you okay?" his father asked as he approached his sister. She nodded as she began to slowly make her way back up the hill, father right behind her as Kai looked down at the gash on his leg. The wound could be seen closing before his eyes as he began to follow after his family.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not tease your siblings, but help them!" Kai's father yelled at him, baring his death at him as Kai was cowering against a wall, his eyes full of fear as he looked at his father. "Your stupid tactic just caused your sister to be stuck in bed for a few months, which hinders us as a pack!"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't want her to get hurt," Kai spoke softly, unhappiness soaked into his voice, as he ran past his father and out of the open cave entrance, the spring rain starting to come down. Kai didn't know where he was going, but he just didn't want to be near his family. This was the same feeling he felt before he jumped in his last life. Failure. "I love her more than anyone else, I never wanted her to get hurt."

Kai wallowed in his own sadness as he laid down against a tree. If he could cry, he would, but the best he could do was just feel sad. The rain fell around him, soaking his coat, matting it to his coat. He never made his father that upset, he would occasionally yell at him or scold him, but he would never bare his teeth at him. Kai hadn't felt like his father ever wanted to hurt except for right then.

Wallowing in his own sorrow, Kai eventually dozed off, falling into a light sleep as the rain helped ease him into a soft sleep. Ever since he was reborn as a wolf, he never had dreams anymore, it was typically just nothingness, but occasionally he would get a visit from a god or goddess if they wanted to tell Kai something, but sleep was still enjoyable. It just felt nice to be able to leave behind fears and feelings.

When Kai awoke, it was nearly nightfall, the sun just barely hidden behind the horizon. The rain had stopped long ago, as Kai's coat was mostly dry, though the ground was still muddy and wet. Kai slowly stood back up, his belly and paws coated in mud from laying on the ground. He would take a bath tomorrow, but tonight he needed to get home and apologize to his family, especially his father and sister. The smell of rainfall was still in the air, as mosquitos began to buzz around, looking for large puddles to lay their eggs. The sound of the forest was now silent, and the stories his mother had told him of the forest at night like the trees moving and killing and eating all manners of creatures, or stories where the very ground itself would eat young wolves who would never be seen again. The dimming light and the uneasy feeling Kai was feeling began to play tricks on his mind, as he could swear that the trees were shifting in the shadows, and when a branch snapped in the darkness, Kai wasn't sticking around to wait for an answer. He ran as fast as he could to the cave, fear rising in his heart as he began to beg that the trees didn't hurt him.

He smiled as he saw the entrance to his cave, his lungs beginning to burn as he collapsed at the entrance, but something was wrong. His family didn't approach him to check on him, and the smell of blood was thick in the air. He could nearly taste the copper as his stomach began to feel upset by the sight he knew he was going to see. In the cave, his family lay butchered and eaten, blood-covered nearly every surface of the cave, the smell of copper mixed with the bile that tickled the back of his throat. His brothers all lay dead by their mother, their corpses were torn apart and mangled, their attempts to protect her met with vain, as a large chunk of flesh was torn from her neck. His sister's corpse lay dead in the spot she had been resting on, her chest having been torn into when she was asleep. His father was laying against the wall, the animal who did this to his family tearing into his body as his father looked up at terrified Kai, his eyes wide in fear, sorrow, and panic as he looked at the scene.

"R-Run!" Kai looked at his father, whose eyes stared back at him, now glossy and cold as the life left them, as the beast eating him turned his head to the new food item that entered its eyesight. The massive manticore stared at the petrified Kai. The manticore let out a loud roar as it turned its body to the wolf, who swallowed the bile in his throat and turned and ran. His father told his pups of one place they could run if something were to go wrong. A cottage of a pony who helped them survive the first winter in the cave. Kai ran with all his might, forgetting all about the stories of the forest as sunlight completely left the world, the forest now barely illuminated by the moon.

He doesn't know how long he ran, but his entire body was on fire as saw the silhouette of the cottage he was told of by his father. He began to slow, his body too fatigued to keep going, he got within around 15 feet of the cottage, and collapsed, his body had given up. He wanted to cry, he wanted nothing more than to cry right now, but no matter how hard he tried, tears wouldn't form in his wolf eyes. So instead, he left out a loud, pain-filled howl into the night sky, before falling flat on the ground, the pain in his heart immeasurable as he laid his head down. He just lost everything he ever loved, and now he was alone again. The only thought running through his head was the same as in his previous life. Kill yourself.

A sound filled his ears, as several soft steps in the wet grass approached the worn-out wolf. He could barely muster enough energy to open his eyes to look at the approaching sound, but he saw it. A pony. They were wearing cute looking pajamas, as they looked down at the wolf, worry in their eyes. With that last glance, Kai passed out from exhaustion, entering a dreamless sleep.

Fluttershy didn't expect to have any animal visitors tonight, but when the howl filled with so much pain echoed into the night sky, she couldn't help but go check. She turned on a small light in her room and looked out at the forest, and there he was. Kai was laying on his side in her front yard, not moving. Fluttershy didn't even need to think, as she rushed downstairs and outside hurrying to the wolf's side. She slowed her approach as the wolf's ears perked up at her approach, she got closer and looked down at the wolf with a worry in her heart. He opened one eye, and in his eye, she saw it all. The pain, the sadness, the hatred. He looked back at her, but closed his eyes and fell asleep, leaving Fluttershy with one job. She ran inside and woke up several animals for help, all of them understanding when she explained the problem, and before long, the wolf was brought inside and laid on a small bed.

Named

Author's Note

Just FYI, Kai doesn't actually call himself Kai, that's just something as the writer I took liberty on instead of just calling him "the wolf", also if this chapter feels a bit rushed or paced badly, then just say something and I'll try and make it flow a bit better.

Named

Fluttershy sat down a teacup for Twilight, her movements were a bit sluggish as she sat down across from her alicorn friend. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, as she spent most of the night taking care of Kai. Taking a slow sip from her hot tea, the herbal taste woke her up as she looked across at Twilight.

"I'm unsure what to do, Twilight," Fluttershy finally spoke up. She had tried thinking of what she would do after she went and checked on Kai's family. She had found most of them eaten or partially eaten, and the smell of blood had attracted a few predators to the area, making the area around the cave a bit treacherous to traverse. Kai himself hadn't moved an inch when he woke up, nor had he ingested anything. Fluttershy had never seen such sadness in an animal before, but it hurt her to look at Kai in that state. "He is an endling, and I don't know what to do for him."

"He's the last Grey Moon wolf?" Twilight looked at her friend, after taking a sip of the tea. Fluttershy nodded as she wrapped herself up with a blanket. "Well, I think the best option would be to take care of him here, I've never met someone that knew more than you do about animals, so I think his best bet would be with you."

"I... I guess," Fluttershy mumbled as she sniffled. The temperature last night was well below freezing and having been out in nothing but pajamas, Fluttershy was beginning to show the early stages of a cold. Her nose was red, as she sipped on the herbal tea in a hope of clearing her blocked sinuses.

"Anyway, may I see him?" Twilight asked as she finished off the herbal tea, her wings twitching slightly as the slightly minty kick hit her chest. Fluttershy nodded and led Twilight into the small vet clinic she had in her house, and when Twilight saw the wolf lying in the corner, her jaw dropped slightly. The wolf was massive, his height would easily be over four feet, if he stood up he would tower over Twilight and Fluttershy. "How old is he?"

"About a year or so old," Fluttershy answered as she approached the wolf, whose ears twitched to the voices of the ponies. "He will grow another few feet in the next few years and stopping at around seven feet tall."

"T-That's taller than Celestia," Twilight mumbled as she stared at the wolf. His coat was a shiny grey, almost like silver as the light reflected off the pristine coat. He slowly opened his eyes as he stared up at Fluttershy, before closing his eyes again, tired and defeated.

Kai had been laying there for who knows how long, but he couldn't get the thoughts out of his. He wanted nothing more than to shrivel up and die, but Astelo made it crystal clear that his death was not an option.

"If you kill yourself, or are killed in any way I will just rewind time and force you to try again," Astelo spoke deeply as he stared at Kai, his tone stern. Kai had replayed that one line in his head for the past while understanding that his death wasn't possible, he just felt tired now. He didn't want to move, nor did he want to eat or drink, he just wanted to lie there.

The soft sound of hoofs clopping on hardwood tickled Kai's ears, causing them to twitch as he heard ponies talking. Being around the yellow pegasus for a bit, he had obtained Equestrian Tongue level one and could understand tones in speech patterns. The yellow pegasus who had rescued him spoke aloud to her animal pets when she ran tests on Kai, making sure he wasn't hurt or sick. One voice spoke that he didn't recognize, the tone seemed to be a bit of shock as she asked a question. The sound of hoofsteps fell to one set, as they approached him. The pegasi's voice hit his ears as she responded to the previous one's question. Their banter went back and forth, the unfamiliar voice seemingly shocked at Kai. Kai slowly opened one eye, as he stared up at the pegasus, who smiled down at him, before closing the eye and falling back into a state of thought.

Kai didn't understand why the pegasus was being so kind to him, but all he understood was that he was safe here. He had been trying to erase the thoughts that plagued his mind, the images of his family having been massacred in front of him, the terror he felt at the face of the manticore, the pain he felt when he hit the ground in his previous life.

"If you want help forgetting, you can always just try and distract yourself," the soft voice of Sil spoke as she appeared before him. Her face was filled with hurt as she looked at Kai, his form no longer that of a wolf, but a shapeless mist that symbolized his soul. "And... I'm sorry for your loss, I know you loved them."

As quickly as she appeared she was gone again, as though they always were being timed to see how quickly they could appear and disappear. Distract himself. He had thought about distracting himself, it's just he didn't know what to do to distract himself. He felt a soft touch on his side, that slowly began rubbing his side.

Opening one eye, he looked at the yellow pegasus, who was rubbing his side as she spoke with her friend. The feeling that her hoof gave to his side made Kai feel weird, but his tail slowly began wagging like it had a mind of its own. The pegasus looked at his tail and gave a soft giggle, before letting out a harsh cough. Hearing the pony giggle might've been what Kai needed, but he slowly raised his head, as his stomach let out a loud growl. He was hungry, and he didn't eat enough yesterday and didn't eat anything today.

With a soft woof, he slowly stood up, giving a quick stretch as he felt the bones in his back pop satisfyingly. He didn't know where he was, his last memory was passing out in front of the cottage his father had told him about, then he woke up here. He looked around, seeing the room appeared to be some sort of vet clinic, with different medicines, potions, tools, charts, and other items he ignored. The other pony that he heard stood in the doorway, she had a horn protruding from her forehead and a pair of wings like the yellow pegasus, and her face had a look of terror and amazement. Kai cocked his head to the side, causing one of his ears to flop down and the other to stand up straight, as he walked to the other pony.

The other pony began saying something, the noises her voice made meaning nothing to Kai as he crouched down in front of the pony, sniffing her in curiousness. He didn't know who these ponies were, but he had found out that sniffing someone gave him distinct clues about their status and purpose. The yellow pegasus had a caring scent to her, which is why he found her comforting, but the new pony had a scent akin to that of an old book or a library, he could tell she was smart. During his sniffing his nose caught the scent of something savory, and sweet. Following his nose, he saw the caring pony had gotten out a couple of steaks from a nearby freezer, the sight of which almost made Kai pounce on her, but he held himself back as he stared at the delicious steaks, but the moment the steaks weren't in the pegasi's grasp and on in a small food bowl on the ground, Kai had pounced and began tearing the delicious steaks apart, the taste of beef and blood filled his mouth.

The soft feeling of something rubbing his side made him lay on his belly as he ate the steaks, hearing the two ponies speak between each other, a small menu popped up in front of his face. Equestrian Tongue level two. Along with the level up, it explained what the new level gave him, it allowed him to understand basic words in English. As he closed the menu with a single internal command, he began listening to the conversation between the two ponies. He wasn't at the level where he could understand fully, but he heard some words that piqued his interest. One of the few words that caught his attention was the word, Kai. He decided against eavesdropping anymore and continued eating his steaks, enjoying the taste.

Before long, the steaks were no more, and Kai stood up. He looked over at the smart pony. He was hoping she would understand a bit of what Kai wanted and would help him learn, but all that his staring did was make the smart pony uncomfortable. The smart pony bowed to her friend and left the clinic, leaving Kai and the caring pony alone. Kai gave a soft whine as he stared at the door, disappointed she didn't understand. Hoping she was just in the other room, Kai slowly walked to the door to the room and had to crouch down when he went through it. Living in a cave, he never realized how big he was, but he found out quickly when he had to keep his knees to stand in this living room.

He looked around, but sadly didn't see the smart pony anywhere in the room, so giving a sad whine, Kai began to look around the cramped room. The room was quite quaint, having a small area for sitting, a small kitchen off to one side, and a couple of bookshelves crammed with books. He didn't know what they were about, but judging the care for animals that the yellow pegasus showed, the books likely had some correlation with animals.

Almost as if rewarding guesswork, a small notification popped up in front of his face. Equestrian Writing level one, the reward for completing a miscellaneous task. Guess something out of your knowledge range, a reward has been given. Kai stared at the two pop-ups and wanted to laugh as he finally understood. The way Invas's gift changed to fit his memory also made it so quests became a thing that would give Kai rewards as he completed them. Kai closed the pop-ups as he sat down on the floor, and began thinking. He would need to ask Astelo what this thing that he needed to defeat was, so he could prepare for it better, but right now, he figured the best bet would be to understand these ponies, as they appeared to be the intelligent life forms of this world. He would also take revenge on the manticore that killed his family, as the images of his family flashed in his mind, making Kai feel sad again as he laid down on the floor, giving a soft huff.

"Kai," the soft voice of the pegasus spoke as he looked up, seeing the pegasus standing in front of him. She had only said one word, as she looked down at him, and as if two pieces of a puzzle connected, Kai understood. She had been calling him Kai.

Hidden Quest: Receive a name; completed.
Reward: Equestrian Tongue Level 4, understand most words in the Equestrian language as if they were English.

Friends

Author's Note

After the long wait, I have returned... and probably with a poor chapter, but I wanted to give everyone a little bit of something while my depression isn't kicking my ass, so enjoy!

Friends

Kai stared confused at the text box. For Wolf Tongue, he just needed to hit level three to be able to communicate with his family, but for Equestrian Tongue, he was level four and could only understand the language instead of speaking it. He closed the pop-ups and looked at the pegasus, as she looked at him waiting for a response.

"What am I going to do with you," the pegasus sighed as she began walking back in forth in her living room, an occasional sniffle or cough coming from her. Kai closed his eyes, sinking into the darkness of his mind that helped him focus on things, like pausing a game or going into your inventory in RPGs he barely remembered from his previous. The sadness and depression of seeing his family dead in front of him weighed heavy on Kai's mind as the image of his father struggling for life as he had his chest and stomach torn out by the manticore.

"I'm sorry, I should have been there, I could have protected you," Kai whispered as he continued watching over the memories of his family throughout his life. Vision's of him playing with his siblings when he was younger, being licked by his mother. Kai sighed as he looked away from the memories, if he couldn't protect his family, he would protect this yellow pegasus to the best of his ability, even if it means he died to protect her. It's the least he could do after she sheltered him.

"That's commendable, you know," a voice spoke to him from the darkness of his mind, a feminine voice that seemed nearly angelic. Kai looked around nervously, the voice having seemingly originated from everywhere around him. As if feeling his confusion, a tall pony stepped forth from the black veil of his mind. "My name is Princess Luna."

"Luna..." Kai spoke softly as he stared at the pony, her hair waving even without any wind, as she approached the wolf. Kai could stare into Luna's eyes from a sitting position.

"Hmm, you're very interesting, Kai, you can understand me and even speak Equestrian, I can detect you even when we both are awake, and to top it off, you're an Everfree wolf, but if you swear to protect Fluttershy, then I will consider you a friend," she gave a small smile as she stared at Kai. "If you ever come to the Canterlot Castle, I will have many questions for you."

As quickly as she had appeared, she was gone again, but the feeling of her presence leaving Kai's mind kicked Kai out of his own head, making him fall over slightly in Fluttershy's cottage. Fluttershy looked over and couldn't help but giggle as she saw the wolf fall over.

"Well, let us see," Fluttershy began approaching Kai, sticking her hoof out. "Can you shake, Kai?"

Kai stared at her hoof, and quickly lifted his paw to it, and proceeded to shake her hoof as best he could. Fluttershy smiled and pet Kai's head for his excellent shake, and this continued for a while as she tested different tricks with Kai.

"Wow, you're a smart guy, ain't ya!" Fluttershy praised Kai as she scratched his side and back, causing Kai's tail to wag back and forth. Fluttershy stopped and approached a small closet that was neatly organized with different objects. Before grabbing a box with the word 'Canis' written on the side in black marker, she looked around for a little while. Walking back out to Kai, she placed the box down and opened it, inside being many different collars and handkerchiefs. "Which one you wanna wear, buddy?"

Kai looked into the box, a thin layer of dust covered everything inside, causing Kai to sneeze as he breathed in. As he searched the box, a single item caught his attention. He reached in and grabbed a plain white handkerchief, pulling it out of the box and lifting it. Fluttershy grabbed the simple handkerchief and began to tie it around Kai's neck, just barely managing to fit it around his thick neck. Fluttershy painstakingly tied the handkerchief into a knot and stepped back, staring at Kai, who was sitting still waiting for her to finish.

"That looks good on you, the white helps accent your dark grey coat," Fluttershy smiled as she inspected Kai. Unbeknownst to Kai, as he stared at Fluttershy, the handkerchief around his neck began to change. Changing from a handkerchief to a necklace, the silver chain emerging as the white cloth burnt away. Kai felt the heat of the fire but felt no pain as he remained still, trying his damndest not to panic. After a long minute, the fire stopped, and in the handkerchief's way was a silver necklace with a large ruby seemingly embedded into Kai's chest, the large gem dimming as the fire flickered out. "Sweet Celestia... I've never seen anything like that before, are you okay, Kai?"

A soft woof came from Kai as he tried to stare down at his own chest, unsuccessfully. He gave up trying to look at his chest and looked over at Fluttershy, who was still a bit in shock. She seemed mystified at the appearance of the amulet but quickly regained her composure.

"I know she probably won't want to look at it, but I think we should go visit Twilight," Fluttershy quickly ran upstairs to her room, leaving Kai all alone in the living room, the amulet vibrating softly as he waited for Fluttershy to return.

Castle

Author's Note

To the many of you that read the now gone "Changeling" chapter, I wish to apologize for deleting that chapter and giving you this one. That previous chapter didn't fit what I want out of this story, nor did it really feel like it made much sense, so I am hoping this chapter will work better for me, while also being slightly more... informative of a chapter that shows the way the system works.

Castle

Kai sat still on the floor of Fluttershy's cottage, waiting for her to return so that they could leave. Occasionally, a paw would reach up and touch the gem embedded in his chest, each tap giving off a pulse of warmth through his chest. The gem felt like a second heart, pumping a soft feeling throughout his body.

"Skills," Kai gave a soft exhale of breath, speaking the word in wolf tongue. It had been around a year since he last looked at either his status or skills, a mix of just forgetting about the ability and finding the information not useful enough to check constantly. Almost immediately after speaking the word, a list of skills popped up in front of his eyes, a non-corporeal menu appearing with a soft ding. Ignoring the lesser tongues that he had learned, like squirrel and fox, and the different skills like bite and dash, he was left with the three skills that he found useful, and one that he never received a notification for, as well as never seen before on his skills list.

Wolf Tongue, Level 5, Max Level

Equestrian Tongue, Level 4

Equestrian Writing, Level 1

Mana Control, Level 1

Before he even had a moment to think about that fourth skill, Fluttershy returned downstairs, her quiet and controlled demeanor returned after the shock of seeing a handkerchief turn into a gem embedded into the chest of this massive wolf. Kai noticed her and seemed to get shook out of a silent shock as he stood up and followed the pegasus as she left the quaint cottage.

The short trip to Twilight's castle was nice in the late morning, the wind blew against Kai's body, ruffling his coat and making the insides of his ears tickle. Twilight's castle was visible from anywhere in the large town, reaching up to the sky, the crystalline shell of the building reflecting the sun's rays over the town and fields adjacent to the town. Walking through the town was weird, as ponies were either wary of Kai or open towards the large wolf walking beside the yellow pegasus.

Walking up the front steps of the massive crystal tower, the front doors opened before they could approach them, and a small lizard stepped out, standing at about chest height for Fluttershy. He looked at me nervously before glancing over at Fluttershy.

"Hey, Fluttershy, what's with the massive dog?" the lizard asked softly, throwing side glances at me as he spoke, looking for changes in my attitude.

"It's a wolf, firstly, but I came to talk to Twilight about something, were you going somewhere, Spike?" Fluttershy asked the small lizard, Spike. He sighed softly, before showing Fluttershy the small stack of posters. On each of them was a picture of a weird-looking pony, with chitinous-looking skin instead of fur. The writing underneath the profile of the pony was a garbled mess of characters and symbols that Kai didn't understand, but he could guess what the posters were meant to be. Wanted posters.

"Apparently a changeling rebel escaped captivity, and the grand guard is on the hunt for it, so I'm putting up wanted posters," Spike replied with a soft sigh, before walking past Fluttershy and down onto the road, approaching a building and posting up one of the posters, then moving along to the next spot.

Fluttershy walked through the slightly open door, and Kai followed along. The two enter into a massive foyer, stretching several stories up, with several chandeliers hanging from the ceiling at different levels. Balconies overlooked the foyer, and a few guards wearing armor in the same color as Twilight's coat, most of whom wielded long spears. The guards glanced at Kai as he followed behind Fluttershy, but made no move towards the massive wolf.

"Ah, Mistress Fluttershy, how gracious of you to visit," A stallion dressed in a formal suit spoke as he bowed before Fluttershy. "May I inquire into why you have graced us with your presence today?"

"I was hoping to speak to Twilight about something, if that's alright," Fluttershy spoke after clearing her voice. She seemed uncomfortable at the cheery mood of the servant. Without another word, he signaled for Fluttershy and Kai to follow. He brought the duo to a large room, with a large circular table in the middle, surrounded by seven chairs, each with a symbol embedded in the headrest. Twilight sat in a chair that was more regal than the rest, appearing more like a throne.

"Your highness, you have guests, and I'm sorry for not informing you of their arrival before hoof," the servant spoke, before bowing and standing off to the side. Twilight glanced up from the book in her hoofs, and upon seeing Fluttershy, her expression changed from boredom to happiness. She signaled for the servant to wait outside, before closing the large book and standing up from her throne.

"Fluttershy, I wasn't expecting a visit from you so soon after our talk several hours ago, what's going on?" Twilight asked her friend, as she walked over to the two standing before her. Twilight glanced over at the wolf but didn't let any discomfort puncture her expressions.

"Well, I came to you because of an issue regarding Kai," Fluttershy answered as she turned to Kai, who had sat down on his haunches. "I was trying to put an identifier on him, a handkerchief to show that he was one of my animals, but then it turned into this gem, I've never seen anything like it and it seemed like something you might know about?"

"A gem?" Twilight looked back over at the wolf towering over her, examining him once more, seeing the red gem embedded into his chest. Her eyes widened as she approached the wolf, examining the gem with great intrigue. "I've never seen anything like this, but I've read about it."

"What is it?" Fluttershy asked quickly, her expression a mix of concern and hopefulness.

"Well, I'm not certain, and I'd like to discuss this with Celestia before I make this claim," Twilight told Fluttershy, before glancing at her. "I hope you are alright with a trip to Canterlot because we need to leave immediately."

Princesses

Fluttershy didn't even question Twilight, only nodding in acceptance, an unspoken understanding that the two friends shared. Twilight kept staring at the gem embedded into Kai's chest, while Fluttershy went back to her cottage to pack some essentials for the surprise trip.

"How did you get this marvel in magical processes, Kai?" Twilight asked the wolf under her breath, looking for a sponge to absorb her thoughts. Kai gave a soft exhale in confusion to the question and situation. Twilight walked away from Kai without a second thought, heading over to a small nook that contained two desks, littered with papers, quills, ink pots, and other writing materials and literature necessities. Grabbing a quill from a small container and dipping it in ink, she began writing on a slightly yellow piece of parchment, the sound of the quill dragging across the paper sounding out through the quiet hall. With intrigue, Kai got up and slowly walked over to the purple pony, curiously looking at the paper from a short distance. As if happy with his curiosity, a soft voice awarded him.

Equestrian Writing Level 2

Basic knowledge of Equine letters and characters, making them appear in English when read.

After reading the small pop-up, Kai looked back over at the paper Twilight was writing on to see if he could read anything that had been written. To his disappointment, certain characters and letters shifted into English, but nothing that formed anything cohesive. As he kept trying to read the foreign script, Twilight finished the letter off by signing her name and rolling the paper up into a scroll, a wax seal of her cutie mark placed on the edge to hold it closed, and a purple ribbon wrapped around it. Kai had wandered off and was laying down in a large patch of sunlight shining in through the massive windows in the room. Watching Twilight wander around getting ready for the trip herself, Kai slowly dozed off.

Kai stared out the window of the train, the scenery flying by as the trained sped up the mountain. Fluttershy and Twilight were talking and laughing, reminiscing about the adventures they used to go on. The lizard, which Kai had learned was actually a dragon, had accompanied them, was too busy in comic that he had brought along.

Finally managing to tear his eyes away from the beautiful landscape outside the window, he called for his skill list to appear, interested about the system and his mana control ability. He hadn't much time to figure out his system, just accepting that he had it and leaving it at that, but if the system can give him abilities and skills beyond his physical possibilities then he needed to know how it worked.

When the skill list finally popped up, he tried selecting mana control, to see if the system would provide more info on the skill, and much to Kai's delight, it did.

Mana Control, Level 1

The basic skill of magic casting, where the user can draw in mana, and manipulate mana in simple forms.

This skill can be raised by meditating and drawing in the mana in the environment. At higher levels, more mana can be controlled at once.

Kai read the pop up twice, before closing it and taking a deep breath. As he inhaled, he closed his eyes, trying to pull in mana from the environment. After several deep breathes and a clearing of his thoughts, Kai felt a soft tingling in his chest, followed by a warm sensation radiating out from the crystal and into his chest. His heart began to beat faster, the temperature of his body began to rise, yet his breathing remained controlled, his lungs filling with cold air and being tickled by the feeling.

And the concentration was gone when the train lurched to a halt, throwing Kai from his meditation, yet the warm feeling remained, having fled his chest and stored itself in the crystal.

Kai laid flat in front of Celestia, the massive alicorn taller than Kai, as she stared down at Kai, Spike, Twilight and Fluttershy. The massive castle was several times larger than Twilight's castle, and instead of an Oak interior with a crystaline shell, the Canterlot Castle was marble throughout, with occasional metal or wooden trims.

"I received your letter, Twilight, but still, it is always nice to see you," Celestia spoke, her voice stern yet motherly. Celestia stood up from her throne, walking down to Kai, the wolf still laying down in front of the regal alicorn. "So... Not only is he aware of his surroundings, he also has the idea of bowing before royalty, most intriguing."

Celestia approached Kai, who slowly sat back up on his haunches, letting Celestia see the red crystal in his chest. Her eyes lit up as she stared at the crystal, a look of intrigue, amazement, and shock.

"Well I'll be... You were right Twilight, it is a mana stone," Celestia spoke as she approached Kai closer, inspecting the shiny red gem, a soft shine coming from within the gem. "I haven't seen one of these in... Well over a millennia."

"Um... What is a mana stone?" Fluttershy spoke up, confused.

"A mana stone is a an old and archaic form of magic controlling, it was designed by my parents to help the Earth ponies and pegasi to cast more advanced magic, like basic teleportation spells and telekinesis." Celestia spoke, turning to Fluttershy.

"It let pegasi and Earth ponies cast magic? That sounds like it would be really useful, why did it stop being used?"

"Well, for a multitude of reasons, the process in which to embed a mana stone into a pony was hard to learn, and I believe only three ponies knew how to do it, that being my mother, my father, and Starswirl the Bearded. The other reason being that the process wasn't fool proof, you could preform the embedding process perfectly, and it could still just fail to work or in some of the worse cases, cause mana overload and kill the pony it was embedded in. It was safest just to stop the idea altogether."

"Oh, well, that makes sense, but if Kai has a mana stone embedded in his chest, does that mean he can cast magic?" Fluttershy asked, only to be given a nod in response from Celestia.

"And he can do more than just cast magic," a soft voice echoed from behind Celestia. Another alicorn walked forward, her night colors in contrast to Celestia's daylight colors. Kai glanced at the new alicorn and immediately knew who it was.

"Luna, so great of you to join us," Celestia said with a smile.

"Hello, sister and hello, Kai, seems we met sooner than I thought," Luna smiled, as she bowed to Kai.

Memories

Author's Note

Oh my god, I finally released another chapter... I hope ya'll enjoy

Memories

"Luna, you know Kai?" Fluttershy asked. The night princess smiled, before walking to her throne and taking a seat.

"I don't know Kai all that much, aside from his name and that he is far beyond a normal wolf," Luna spoke up when she was seated. Kai's ears perked up at Luna's inquiry into his normality. "The mana stone adds to that, as well as the very small amount of controlled mana flowing through him."

"Wait, he already has gained the ability to control his internal mana!" Twilight asked, shocked, before immediately talking to herself, mumbling about practice and teaching.

"Is controlling internal mana hard to do?" Fluttershy asked, watching Twilight have an internal struggle with herself.

"For non-unicorns, it's near impossible, and even for some weaker unicorns, it's still incredibly hard," Luna spoke again. Celestia sat on her throne next to her sister, all the while, Kai sat in the center of the room listening and staring at the several ponies around him. "Learning to control your internal mana is the first step towards manipulating external mana, or casting magic."

Kai held his head up a little bit higher, happy with the knowledge that he would eventually be able to cast magic and be able to better defend himself. And to get revenge on the manticore that killed his family. Kai's thoughts quickly turned sour, as the memory of seeing his family dead and butchered, the tears running down his father's face as he was devoured, and the hatred he had towards himself for not saving them quickly enraged the wolf. Kai stood, and began pacing in a circle, letting the thoughts overwhelm him and the emotions finally hitting the wolf.

"I'll kill that fucker, I'll make him pay for taking my family from me, I'll rip his throat out with my teeth!" Kai spoke to himself, sounding like low growls to the other ponies. Luna, Celestia, and Fluttershy all had noticed the wolf slowly get more and more upset, Twilight being too caught up in her thoughts to notice.

"Kai, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked softly as she approached the wolf, who wiped his head around and stared at the yellow pegasus, letting a low growl escape from his throat, images of the manticore clouding his judgment and vision.

"Fluttershy, back away, I can calm him down," Luna spoke up, causing Fluttershy to back up without a question, though she was curious how she could calm Kai. Everyone was shocked when Luna closed her eyes and seemed to enter a state of meditation, her breathing shallowing out, before Kai collapsed on his side, unconscious.

Kai opened his eyes and found himself within his headspace again. Memories flashed by of his family lying dead. He wasn't alone, however, as he looked over and saw Luna standing nearby, watching some of the memories fly by.

"I understand why you are upset, but I must ask you to calm down, you almost attacked Fluttershy," Luna looked over at Kai, her voice stern. Her tone told Kai he had almost made a massive mistake. "I know you were blinded by rage and hatred, and I know what that can do to someone, but I won't let you harm Fluttershy or anypony else."

Kai didn't speak, he only turned back to his memories, placing his head against a memory of his family, as tears began falling from Kai's eyes. Luna just watched, understanding and sorrow on her face.

"I will let you remain here so you can grieve, you may wake up when you please," Luna spoke, before vanishing from Kai's headspace, and letting the wolf cry and mourn.

Luna opened her eyes and stared down at Kai's sleeping form. Celestia and Fluttershy looked at her with a mix of confusion and concern. Twilight had come out of her thoughts and was now asking Fluttershy what happened.

"He is fine, he just needed to grieve," Luna spoke softly. "I suppose I should answer some questions."

"Luna, did you dream walk Kai?" Twilight asked, her inquisitive nature shining through.

"In a sense, yes, Kai has something special that makes it so I can invade his headspace, instead of his dream space," Luna answered. She truly didn't know the answer to this question, it was something she desperately wanted to know too, but her best guess was what she was going with for right now.

"His headspace? So you can see his memories?" Fluttershy asked as she began rubbing the side of the wolf's body while looking for a servant to ask for a blanket and some pillows for Kai.

"Yes, his memories are mostly peaceful, except two that he remembers, even subconsciously," Luna spoke. "The first is the memory of his family dying, but the second is more... confusing, even to me. Aside from the lack of detail and vague view, it feels as though it was purposefully removed, or suppressed."

"Wait, someone has messed with Kai's memories? Is there even anypony we know that can do that? Can you even do that Luna?" Twilight asked, looking at the wolf. She didn't have much attachment to the wolf, but knowing that someone or something had altered his memories immediately sent off red flags in her head.

"I can't alter memories, the only being I can think of is Discord," Luna spoke. "However, the memory itself is weird."

"Weird beyond being tampered with?" Celestia finally spoke up, mostly just listening and digesting the information, so she can make a decision on what to do.

"The memory that I can view is of a being jumping from the roof of a building," She shook off the unease that suicide gave her. "Other than that, the memory is unclear and missing, but the emotion was strong enough to leak through, and it gave me a sense of hatred and depression I haven't felt in a millennium."

"Fluttershy, Twilight, I know it may be a bit out of the blue, but could I request that both of you stay here, along with Kai, so we can keep an eye on him?" Celestia asked after a minute, finally reaching the conclusion that Kai was still too unknown for her to be safe letting him return to Ponyville.

"Of course, Princess," Fluttershy and Twilight spoke, bowing to Celestia.

Kai had been mourning for a while, his eyes hurt from crying, and his body was tired from the emotional stress. Luna had brought him here to help calm him down, which he was grateful for. He didn't want to accidentally hurt someone in a blind rage.

"You mustn't trust that one or her sister," Astello's voice boomed in Kai's headspace, making Kai jump up from the sudden booming voice. "Those two are trying to use you, they speak of using you to crush their enemies and using you as a tool to help them become stronger. I recommend killing them, and anyone who dares stand in your way of achieving peace in this world. Remember, your goal is to become strong."

With that final reminder, Astello was gone, leaving Kai alone to sort his thoughts.

Shopping

Author's Note

I meant to release this on the 9th... I thought I uploaded it on the 9th... so... whoops...

I was gonna release the chapter after this one today, but... well... I'll give it a few days, maybe a week, my bad

Shopping

It had been around a week since Kai started living in the massive castle. It still was a bit weird to him, the castle being significantly different from the cave he used to sleep in. Kai had been sleeping in a room with Fluttershy, the bed the Princesses gave him was big and soft, so he didn't have to sleep on the hard flooring of the castle every night. Fluttershy had stayed with Kai just to keep an eye on him, and to make sure that he was okay, while Twilight had stayed to help the Princesses observe and study Kai.

Currently, Kai was sitting outside the castle in a massive garden, his eyes closed as he tried channeling his mana into his body some more. The past week had been amazing for Kai's skills, as having nothing else to do, he decided to focus on leveling his few skills. Equestrian Tongue had reached its max level, which seemed to be five for his skills. However, much to Kai's irritation, he still couldn't speak with the ponies around him, just being able to understand their conversations perfectly. This turned out to be a blessing and a curse, as it allowed him to learn things about a few ponies in the castle, like servants and guards, but it also allowed him to hear the many things they said about Kai.

Kai had been keeping an eye out for any writing, to help boost his Equestrian Writing skill, however, no writing was present within the castle. It made sense, it just sucked for Kai's skill. His only real solution to leveling his skill was peeking over Fluttershy's shoulder when she was writing a letter or reading a book. His Equestrian Reading skill was at level three, so he could make out most words, but anything longer than seven letters was just a mess of letters and shapes.

His most intriguing skill, Mana Control, had been raised to level four and he was having an easier time controlling the mana within his body as well as an easier time bringing in outside mana in. He had tried once to manipulate mana outside of his body, but the excruciating headache and burnt hair around the crystal in his chest stopped him from trying again.

Aside from leveling his skills, however, Kai had been keeping an eye on the princesses just like they were doing to him. Kai was still unsure what Astelo had meant when he shouldn't trust Celestia and Luna, as they seemed to be rather benevolent rulers, not tyrants or dictators. It made Kai unsure if he should listen to Astelo's advice and kill the Princesses, ignoring the fact that he was nowhere near strong enough to kill these ponies. Kai had been trying to talk to Astelo, with no luck conversing with the god.

Kai's goal in this world was to save it, so how would killing the leaders of this country help save the world? Kai's thought process interrupted his pseudo-meditation, canceling his channeling of mana and giving him a nasty headache as feedback from messing up his channeling. Opening his eyes, Kai glanced around the massive garden, observing the few gardeners tending to the various plants and hedges and guards ponies patrolling the garden. Kai was unsure if the guards were merely ornamental or if they had an actual use besides standing around looking strong.

After watching the various ponies around the garden, Kai went off, looking for Fluttershy, so he can be around the timid pegasus. The pegasus had become his only real 'friend' that he has made in this world. Fluttershy had become something of support for Kai, helping him when he got too upset from remembering his family. Kai traversed the halls of the castle, meandering his way back to the room he and Fluttershy were sharing on their trip. Upon returning to his room, Kai saw Fluttershy sitting on a couch, reading a small book that she had brought with her.

"There you are Kai, I was wondering if you wanted to go out shopping with me?" Fluttershy asked the wolf, as the door closed behind him. Kai gave a soft, affirmative woof, making the pegasus smile and clap her hooves. It was an adorable act that made Kai's heart skip a beat every time she did it. "Wonderful, I need to get outside of the castle, I'm going stir-crazy being cooped up in this castle."

Fluttershy put her book down and put on a small saddlebag with relative ease. Kai was still unsure how the ponies managed to put on the saddlebags so easily, as it didn't seem like it should be an easy thing to do with hooves. Once Fluttershy made sure that she had bits to spend, she smiled at Kai and walked with Kai out of the bedroom, out the castle, and out the castle grounds into the streets of Canterlot.

Canterlot was a lot more 'modern' than Ponyville, having more concrete and glass incorporated into buildings, some newer structures even using steel. Boutiques with massive glass storefronts showing beautiful dresses and elegant suits, restaurants with elegant architecture, and fancy-looking designs. Fluttershy walked with Kai along the many storefronts, window-shopping certain stores. The city was bustling, it was mid-day and pedestrian traffic made the sidewalks busy with ponies coming and going.

Fluttershy and Kai walked around for a few hours, the sun slowly lowering to the horizon, as the two enjoyed their walk. After a few hours of walking and browsing the many storefronts, Fluttershy and Kai decided to take a break at a large park. The park was on the edge of the higher district, with a railing that looked out over the lower districts and the flatlands below the mountains of Canterlot. The lower districts were primarily lower-class residential and commerce, the lowest being the industrial sector of Canterlot.

"Canterlot has changed a lot in the last few years," Fluttershy spoke up as the two looked out over the city's lower districts. The tone in her voice carried a tinge of sadness as she sighed. She said nothing more, as the two stood there looking out over the landscape before finally, Fluttershy pulled her attention away from the view. "We should start heading back, don't want to be out after dark."

With that, the two slowly made their way back to the castle, the sun halfway below the horizon, the moon rising to take its place. As the sun dropped, so did the temperature, falling from comfortable to slightly chilly, especially when the wind blew, rolling down from the mountain tops. The two walked along as a figure hidden in the shadows of an alleyway backed away, disappearing into the dark.

The mysterious figure bowed before her leader, her hair falling down in front of her eyes. The light grey color a stark contrast to her pitch-black coat. Glancing to her left and right, six other ponies appeared, all bowing to the best of a ponies ability.

"Report," their leader spoke, his sharp, cold voice making the seven ponies in front of him shiver.

"Honesty is stuck on her farm, helping her family with harvesting apples," the stallion spoke, clearly and directly, followed by another.

"Loyalty is still training with the Wonderbolts, she is rarely alone, but she follows a strict schedule, I have a good opportunity to follow through on your command, sir," a mare spoke up, her tone hinting at anger at 'Loyalty'.

"Hmm, good, for now, continue observation," the leader spoke, before letting the next pony continue.

"Laughter is... something is off with the target, she seems to know I'm watching her, but I know that I haven't bee-," the stallion didn't even get to finish his report before a blue laser blew through his chest, killing the stallion instantly. The leader growled, his horn smoking slightly.

"Take it away, and bring in someone more capable next time," the leader spoke to a stallion standing to the side.

"Generosity has traveled to Manehattan for a fashion show, I'm keeping a close eye on her, her boutique is usually empty and she is usually alone," an effeminate stallion spoke.

"Equality is traveling with her friend, currently they are doing their magic show at Vanhoover, but they plan on returning to Ponyville when the school year starts for the School of Friendship," the mare reported, mention of the School of Friendship making the leader groan in disgust.

"Magic is currently in Canterlot, staying in the Castle, reasons are unknown currently why she has stayed, but she left Ponyville due to a wolf, currently infiltrating the guard to observe closer," the stallion next to the grey maned mare spoke, who looked over at the mare and nodded slightly, his mane and coat similar to the mares.

"Kindness is also in Canterlot, reasons are the same for Magic, except the wolf, whom she calls 'Kai', is different, I need more time to investigate the wolf, I'm currently infiltrating the castle staff to have better access to the wolf and Kindness," the mare spoke, swallowing her saliva after giving her report.

"Intriguing, Moon Beam, you will also be keeping an eye on this 'Kai' as well as Kindness," Moon Beam nodded to her leader and savior. "Good, resume observations, and remember, the future of Equestria rests upon you sev... six, we are doing this to save Equestria from the tyranny of the so-called Princesses and Elements of Harmony."

Spar

Kai walked slowly around the halls of the castle, following the sounds of metal-on-metal that he had been following for a while. He was still under pseudo-house arrest, Celestia and Luna wanting to make absolutely sure he wasn't going to harm anyone. His paw pads made his walk silent in the empty marble halls of the castle. At the end of the hallway, a large door opened up to a large courtyard, hard-packed dirt making the courtyard floor where the clangs came from. Several ponies, all dressed in guard armor, not the ceremonial guard armor that most of the guards wore, but different types of armor. Some wore leather armor and attacked their partner with a shortsword in their mouth, a few wearing shiny steel armor and wielding either a shortsword, mace, or other weapons, and a single stallion, his stature making him nearly as tall as Celestia and Luna, wearing thick steel-plated armor and had a large shield that he was practicing defense stances with.

A few ponies were standing around in clean outfits, appearing to be the commanders or officers helping ponies perfect their combat techniques through yelling and harsh words. Still, it seemed to work, as the ponies getting yelled at don't make similar mistakes in their next bout of fighting. One of these officers spotted Kai, a stallion with sharp eyes and a strong jawline, and tentatively approached the large wolf that was watching the ponies train and fight. Before making his presence known to the wolf, the officer pressed a hoof to pin on his outfit, a soft glow emanating from the pin. Within a half second, with a bright flash and a loud pop, Celestia and Twilight both stood a few feet away, one looking a bit nervous, the other her usual stoic expression. As soon as the two alicorns appeared in the courtyard, everypony present dropped into a bow.

"Please, rise, everypony," Celestia spoke, her eyes drifting over the training ponies, before returning her eyes to Kai. The wolf just watched from his position, curiosity in his eyes. Celestia approached Kai and the stallion that had called her, looking over at the large stallion, then back to Kai.

"Princess, our guest entered the courtyard, and I felt it best to inform you so you could get him to leave before he got hurt," the stallion spoke, with no malice or hate in his tone, but just mere caution for the wolf. Kai looked a little upset at that, a small spark in his eyes wishing to show off his fighting prowess. A spark that Celestia caught, causing her to smile with interest.

"Captain Stone Hoof, I request that a spar be held between Kai and one of the officers of the guard," Celestia announced, to both the commander and the rest of the ponies in the courtyard. The sound of spars that had just begun immediately stopped, leaving the courtyard quiet again. The Captain seemed unsure about letting the wolf fight one of his officers but swallowed his doubt and nodded to his princess. He glanced around for a second, before waving over a pegasus mare in dark blue armor, except, to Kai's curiosity, her wings weren't feathery, but webbed like that of a bat. Once she was in front of the solar princess and her captain, she raised a hoof to her chest.

"Sergeant Dusk Storm, waiting for orders, sir, and ma'am," she greeted before Celestia dismissed the salute with a wave of her wing.

"Sergeant, I would like to see a friendly spar between Kai here, and you," Celestia stated, her tone making it clear this wasn't a question. The sergeant immediately nodded, before walking off to a table to prepare, mainly by removing her lunar armor. Kai, however, was sitting eagerly, his tail unknowingly swishing about behind him, much to Celestia's silent delight. "Kai, this fight is a friendly spar, you are not to maim or seriously injure the sergeant, the first to give up loses, and even though I doubt you can do much yet, no magic."

Kai just nodded to the tall pony, before the captain led him over to a circular ring of chalk on the ground, and Kai stepped inside, giddiness and nerves building up in his body as his stomach started to twist. He had no real fighting practice, except for the fights with his siblings, and he definitely never has fought anything like a pony. The thestral guard walked over to the ring, and stood opposite Kai, waiting for the declaration to begin.

"This is a friendly fight, no maiming or serious injuries, and no killing the other opponent, the first to surrender or collapse, lose," the captain announced to a slowly gathering crowd of guards, interested in seeing the wolf fight.

"I bet the sergeant will finish this fight instantly," one guard whispered to his group.

"Nah, the wolf will put up more of a fight than that, I give him three minutes with her before tapping out," another guard responded.

"20 bits says the wolf wins," another guard bets, immediately causing several other guards to either bet on the wolf or the sergeant. As the various guards will quietly betting on the two fighters, the captain announced for the fight to begin after the wolf and the thestral shook hoof and paw.

Kai stared at the bat pegasus, watching her move slowly around the ring, always remaining opposite to himself. Kai observed her, watching for any signs of weakness or hesitation. Finally, when the guard went to take another step, Kai rushed forward, snarling softly as he crossed the short distance between himself and the guard, and pounced. Dusk Storm quickly rolled to the side, nearly dodging the wolf and a paw that swiped at her. As soon as Kai had his paws on the ground, he swiftly turned around, relying mostly upon his instincts to help him win this fight. What he lacked in training and experience, he made up for in endurance and instincts. However, proper training and experience in a fight will almost always outpace instincts, as a kick to his side caused the wolf to yelp, taking a few steps back, making sure not to step out of the ring. The kick, while not as painful as some other wounds he's had, hit just below his shoulder blade on his left side, causing the leg to be held up by the wolf.

He huffed as he limped around in a circle, testing his leg every couple of steps before lifting it back up when his shoulder cried out in pain. Dusk had a look of pride on her face, but she didn't let herself become cocky at a single strike on her opponent, making sure to keep the wolf's movements in her line of sight at all times. After another couple of seconds, the wolf rushed his opponent again, this time opting to keep low and barrel into his opponent instead of pinning her, which immediately proved fruitless as Dusk jumped up, planning to go over the wolf. Kai watched as her front legs went over his head, before immediately turning and biting into the thestral's back right leg, catching her midair as he spun on his back legs and pulled to slam her into the floor. However, Kai felt a kick to the side of his head and instantly felt the world spin, his vision blurring and his body tilting as he landed on his side. The metallic taste of blood in his mouth, as he lay on his side, before falling unconscious.

"Kai!" Twilight immediately rushed over to the wolf, worry evident on her face, as the thestral mare landed on the ground, keeping her weight off her back left hoof as blood ran down her leg from the teeth marks in her leg. She looked terrified, as she approached.

"I-I didn't mean to kick him that hard, I just meant to get him to let go, but a part of me said if I didn't kick I was going to die, I'm sorry," the sergeant immediately began apologizing, nearly on the verge of tears. Not only from the fear of seriously hurting the guest of Celestia, and the repercussions that may have, but the unbridled fear that ran through her when he bit into her leg.

"It's alright, Dusk Storm," Celestia approached the panicking thestral. "You will not be in any trouble for this, and Kai is fine, just unconscious. Head to the infirmary and get your leg looked at, then take the next couple of days off."

"T-Thank you, your highness," Dusk nodded and bowed before slowly walking and limping off to the exit of the courtyard, a couple of guards approaching and helping her as Celestia turned to Twilight and the unconscious form of Kai. If any could read the princess, they'd find a small amount of fear in her eyes, as well as uncertainty. She wasn't sure if Twilight felt it, but she definitely felt it when he bit into the thestral's leg.

Dark Magic.

Author's Note

It's been... too long since I last uploaded a chapter here.