Satyr

Princess Twilight checked the magical formation one last time, fussing over the arcane lines to make sure they were absolutely perfect.

“The spell matrix is as good as it will ever be. Are you two ready to do the heavy lifting?” she asked the two alicorns standing just outside the ancient ruin.

Luna and Celestia nodded. They waded through the field of spring wildflowers and stepped up onto the marble floor. This had been an estate once, but the walls and ceiling had been carried away long before their birth.

Twilight returned to the field as Luna and Celestai took up their places either side of the arcane circle. The focal point of which was the stone figure they had put so much hope in. It was a strange creature, sculpture to appeal to the feminine eye, in spite of its whimsical appearance. Something like a short, though he would still look Celestia in the eye, flat-muzzled minotaur. He was pony below the navel—a glaringly stallion one too. Above the navel however, he was gracefully lean and furless, save for the short woolly mane that failed to completely hide a pair of short spike antlers, or the pointed ears on the side of his head.

They knew very little about the sons of Silenus. Fragments of mythology from an age of gods already forgotten two thousand years ago. That they had found a single survivor, in the form of a cockatrice victim, was the hand of Harmony herself. Reversing a cockatrice’s curse got harder with time, but that could be solved with mere overwhelming force. The flesh would be revived, Twilight had personally solved that. But had his soul survived this long without corruption or survived at all?

They would find that out shortly.

The elder alicorns lit their horns. Gold and silver magic swirled and pooled on the marble. Above an eclipse threw the field into shadow. Creation went thin as unimaginable bouts of magic focused on the statue.

Faster than it began the eclipse passed and the raging magic was absorbed by the statue with a pop and a flash. The unnatural silence that followed was soon broken by the clack of the creature's hooves finding their balance.

The three alicorns watched him turn and study the distant forest and mountains; silent, seemingly oblivious of their presence. He glanced down at his legs, then raised a hoof experimentally. The pose made it difficult not to stare at his sheath.

“Huh.” He put his hoof back down and scanned the field around him. “Elysium. I guess the Greeks win,” he said to the air around him before finally looking at the three alicorns. “And wow aren’t you three beautiful.”

Twilight’s ears burned, Luna coughed. Celestia suppressed a laugh before speaking. “We’re flattered.”

The look on his face fluttered between embracement and fascination. “Sorry.”

“Do not apologize. In fact your comment alleviates some fears ” Luna interrupted him. “I imagine that was an abrupt awakening. Are you well?” With a wing she invited him to follow her down from the ruin.. “What is the last thing you remember?”

“Getting splattered by a bus.”

Twilight and her mentors shared in confused silence.

“It was a really wild party.” He looked her in the eyes, then to Luna. “This isn’t the afterlife, is it?”

“No.” Luna answered.

This answer somehow put a near Pinkie-like aura of glee around him. “I got isekaied!”

All three of them tilted their heads as he chanted, “Menu, status, display,” while poking at the air with strange gestures for a moment before stopping with a shrug. “Guess you can only be so lucky.”

“Is this your kind’s magic?” Celestia asked

“Oh!?” He grinned. “There is magic here? What’s it based on?”

Twilight resisted the urge to slip into lecture mode. “Emotion in general, but Friendship best aligns with Harmony: which is the foundation of stable magic.”

That Pinkie-like glee again flashed across his face.

Celestia placed a hoof on his shoulder with deft speed. “Please don’t attempt to wild cast.”

Luna gave a solemn nod of agreement while Twilight and kept an imitation of her brother’s barrier ready to cast.

“Fair point.” he nodded, deflating slightly. The other’s relaxed as Celestia withdrew her hoof.

“So, I take it you didn’t summon me here on purpose?” he asked, then jolted as if remembering something. “I’m Briar Green, by the way.”

“Princess Celestia, but I intend for you to be a peer. Please do not use formalities.”

“Her younger sister, Luna.”

Twilight froze when Briar’s attention expectantly turned to her. His focused gaze and exposed belly within reach made it difficult to silence an inner adolescent filly who wanted to derail this moment with lewd observations.

She regained herself with a sharp breath. “I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle. But just call me Twilight.” She paused to gather an explanation on how they’d managed to abduct his soul, but came up short. “Do you know the name of what plane you came from?”

Briar scratched at his chin in thought. “Does Midgard mean anything here?”

Understanding washed over Celestia and Luna, but Twilight remained confused.

“He is far from the first thing from Midgard to fall into Equestria,” Luna explained to Twilight and Briar alike. “Things from there seem to naturally find their way here if they get lost between worlds.”

“Oh!” Twilight perked up at the information. He was from a neighboring branch. That didn’t answer the exact whys and hows, but it gave an outline that explained enough. “You must have been near a thin spot between realms. When your soul left your body, it somehow got a little bump from the reanimation ritual and it managed to reattach to an empty vessel.”

Briar nodded at the explanation. “Well.” He practically danced off the ruin and into the wildflowers. “That works for me. Better than dead. And I feel, and look, twenty years younger. How can I help?”

Luna and Celestia flashed impish expressions between them that Twilight couldn’t read. “Twilight,” Celestia said in her teacher's voice. “Would you be willing to host our dear guest for now and catch him up on our little problem? He needs some magic lessons and time to learn about Equestria. Having the three of all explaining would only be more confusing.”

“You have a knack for teaching other species.” Luna continued. “We will visit you as we discussed next week.”

A wink of light later, and they were gone.

Twilight looked to the stallion she was now alone with, maintaining the conscious effort to look him in the eyes and not his Sheath or what was hanging below it. He gave her a patient smile, eagerly waiting for her to do or say something. A faint masculine musk wasn’t helping.

“Do you...” Twilight stopped and rephrased what she was saying. “Let’s head to the castle. Ponyville is just on the other side of Whitetail Woods.” She motioned to the treeline in the distance.

“Lead the way,” he half cheered. “So you all need me to fight something eventually?”

The question derailed Twilight a moment, but then she pieced together his logic. “Thankfully, no.”

Twilight purposefully turned to lead the way. She couldn’t look at him and explain this at the same time. “We need you to sire as many foals as possible.”

Beside her Briar stiffened a moment before continuing his pace. “Why? And I’m super not doing anything with someone who isn’t one-hundred percent eager to be there.”

Twilight looked back to see serious concern on his face. She was relieved that the proposition had inspired cautious intrigue instead of revulsion or indignation. “Oh trust me, you’re going to get eager. Available stallions are rare around here and your new body is the son of the god of wine and love making; and you have the appearance to fit the role.”

Seeing Briar’s look of concern fade, she looked ahead again and kept walking. “But as for why. Legends say your kind has a fifty percent chance of siring either a filly or colt.” Briar nodded to her words as if they were common sense to him. “Our stallions historically sire fillies to colts five to one. In the last two-hundred years the ratio has slipped to twenty to one. Another generation and we’ll start having real problems. We’re hoping you’ll give us enough colts to refresh the gene pool.”

“But won’t they all be satyrs like me?”

She filed the word satyr away for later before answering his question. “You’re a chimera, so your children will be a hundred percent pony.”

“Huh.” He examined himself as they walked. “Always wondered what it felt like to have a tail.” he muttered watching it move with his step. With a little concentration he teased its range of motion.

“You didn’t have a tail?” She asked.

Briar nodded and began talking about his previous world.