APR 11 Wednesday.

I drink my tea slowly and meditate to pass the time, trying my best to not let my nerves get the better of me.

Something about war that many forget is that a lot of it is just waiting around for something to happen and then reacting to that something. Then again I'm not really in a war at the moment, at most I'm near the war and I might get involved if absolutely necessary.

That leads my mind to a different and darker thought, what would I feel if I actually killed someone? A living thinking being? I'm not entirely sure I guess, maybe no one is sure until they actually do it? I do know it's not the end of your life as you know it, but it is something that will affect you in some way.

For me though, I feel as if I'm ready to do such a thing if necessary, or maybe that's just me trying to make myself feel better about being in such a situation. If I ever did kill someone I think the best thing to do would be spending time with others, to talk about it.

That's the rational part of my mind though and I know all too well that that part isn't always in control and emotions don't help with that. I sigh and reach up to scratch my neck with an armored hoof, shifting in my spot on my apartment floor as I wait for the right time.

I leave those darker thoughts alone for another day and check the time, ten-forty-nine, I should get going then. After Avalon left I spent my time meticulously going over my equipment and getting ready for whatever I may face tonight, I'm not dropping my guard after what happened last time.

I have my weapons ready, my magic is full, and I'm in my armor after double-checking that it is all working correctly. I stand up silently and reach out to pick up my helmet, putting it on before turning to Entropy on top of her perch. "It's time to go." My suddenly much deeper voice calls out to her.

Entropy chirps a little and flies right over to land on my back. Celestia didn't say where to teleport to this time, but I don't think the mailroom is a good idea so her office will have to do it. If there is anypony else in the office I can deal with that, it's better than linking me to the mailroom.

"Celestia's office, get inside my shadow once we arrive, you remember the rules?" I ask again even though I've made them very clear to her several times now. She turns on her illusion so no one sees her and nods before going still for a moment, and I feel the familiar emptiness of the Void.

A moment later I'm inside of Celestia's office, an empty office to be precise. :Hmm, well shit, what now?: I think for a moment as Entropy merges into my shadow and I decide to sweep my senses throughout the palace. I can't pick out too much detail but it's not hard to find Celestia as her life magic is very noticeable.

She's somewhere outside right now, maybe she did leave a guard at the mailroom to guide me? I think for a moment before heading for the door and exiting, it seems I'll need to catch up then. As I leave I sense both guards outside the door tense up and look at each other.

They turn to me and seem both confused and surprised, but keep their professional calm. Both look at me for a moment but make no move to stop me as I walk past them and make my way down the hallway. "That him? Did you see that sheath piece?" I'm able to catch one mare guard saying to the other before I'm thankfully too far away to hear them, I don't need that right now.

I may not know the layout of the palace in detail, but I know it well enough to find my way to Celestia by following her life magic and using my spatial senses to make sure I don't hit a dead end. I'm able to move through the hallway steadily and try my best not to look lost or confused about the layout.

After a little more walking I notice a Pony moving in the same direction, both of us walking to a doorway through separate hallways that combine. I pay it little mind as the guards and staff I've been walking past all seem to know I'm not some intruder, I guess they were told I was coming, but that still doesn't stop them from staring at me.

I reach the door a little after the Pony and notice that I recognize them, Ash Mark, Celestia's captain of the guard. As I silently step closer while she seemingly waits by the door for something, only turning around after I've gotten a lot closer to her.

She jumps a small bit and her eyes focus on me for a moment, I stop walking as she's still in front of the door and give her a nod as a greeting. She looks me up and down before slowly nodding back. "The Princess said you were coming, they are still preparing the carriage and will take some time." She says in a tone that shows a little recognition.

She still doesn't move so I take that as a sign we are waiting for a few minutes and step to the side of the hallways so I'm not in any pony's path. Ash keeps her eyes on me and seems very curious, and is mostly hiding it well, I have experience with reading expressionless Ponies though, and can tell.

It is hard without my sight but the small twitches of her face and the way she keeps staring at me even as I'm not facing her makes me think my guess is accurate. "Shadow, yes?" She asks after a few long moments of silence, I turn to her and nod. "Are those enchanted?" She asks with a tone showing her curiosity, seemingly trying to not come off as intrusive.

She points to my weapons and I think for a moment. I can understand her suspicion of me, hell I approve of it, a Pony like me stands out in several ways, but I would rather not have Celestia guard captain suspicious of me. I nod after a long moment and slowly draw out my dagger, making sure she can see it. I activate the frost enchantment for a moment by tapping it before turning it off and putting it back.

It's not really much of a display but I can't see any harm in answering her question honestly. Enchanted weapons aren't new in any way and elemental enchantments are the most common kind when it comes to the more flashy types of enchantment. "And the big one as well?" I just nod and leave the greatsword in its sheath.

I can tell she's just passing the time a little by asking a seemingly random question and trying to figure me out more. Not that I mind, she's the captain of the guard and it's not out of her job description to get to know who she might be fighting side by side with.

She nods and looks down the hallway after a moment, spotting the Ponies I've felt coming our way for nearly a minute now. Three in total, two guards and Cricket in her disguise. I'm not entirely sure why she's coming with us again, maybe to just have a Changeling on our side at the meeting? It might make the other side a little less wary of us.

The guards and Cricket look at me as I turn my featureless helmet to them as they approach. Ash nods to the guards, "Get back to your posts." They nod and do so while Ash opens the door behind her and turns to Cricket. "Follow us, Miss. Cricket." She instructs the Changeling.

Cricket for her part looks a little intimidated by being near me once again, I guess my last display really made an impression on her. I just silently follow Ash as we're led out into a familiar area, the same place we all left from last time. Celestia standing there with two guards waiting for our arrival while looking over the carriage.

She turns to us and smiles a bit, keeping her mask on as this is no time for it to slip. "Thank you all for coming, everything is prepared and we must be going if we hope to be on time." She keeps her words a bit more blunt than last time but we all already know what we're doing here and she keeps her regal tone firmly in place.

Celestia gets in first with me going last and sitting across from her. Celestia looked me over for a moment, "Sorry I couldn't greet you, we nearly had a problem with the carriage's enchantment, something broke." She hints that she fixed it to save time and it would make some sense.

I don't know any details but I assume the carriage has some magic to defend it, and if it was broken then she could definitely fix it quickly with some magic. I think for a moment, "Was it intentional?" I doubt a Changeling could have done something like that but I need to cover my bases.

She shakes her head quickly. "No, it was a storage problem, one of the gems was cracked and needed to be re-enchanted quickly." She eases any worry and turns to Cricket after a moment. "Thank you again for joining us, Miss. Cricket. Things should largely be the same as last time, the unpleasant incident not included." She explains in a reassuring tone.

Cricket does look a little on edge, glancing at me from time to time and also still nervous about being near Celestia. There is some green flame as she drops her disguises and nods slowly. "It is a pleasure, Your Highness." Her words seem truthful if a little uncertain and things descend into silence after that as we all wait while the carriage takes off.

I didn't cast a Lightening spell on myself but it seems to be fine for now, I'll take a look at the guards when we land to make sure I'm not weighing us down too much. Then again this carriage is designed to move Celestia and probably Cadance as well and neither of them are light, still better safe than sorry.

There is a long while of silence as we fly for nearly thirty minutes before the carriage starts to circle a spot and Celestia turns to me. "Shadow?" I nod and extend my senses down to the ground below us. I'm not able to make out any good detail, but I can sense five beings in total, a group of four below us and one far off to the side of the group.

"Four in a group, one off to the side, wait..." They look a bit concerned at the second part and I quickly overpower my spatial senses as the singular source of life magic starts to move towards the group rapidly. I can't see it well, but it's a lot bigger than any Pony or Changeling. "Does this forest have any dangerous monsters?" I ask and stand up from my seat quickly.

Monsters are commonly aberrant beasts or any particularly dangerous animal, nothing really separates them from normal animals beyond the moniker though. Ash is the first to catch on and quickly answers me with a serious tone. "Rarely but yes, even some more dangerous ones."

That's all I need to hear before opening the carriage door and walking out, plummeting through the air immediately. This meeting might not be as important as the last one, and they might be able to handle the threat, but if one of them dies it would not be a good way to continue our relationship.

Even if we are not at fault it's a bad look and might cause some unneeded tension, while me helping and maybe saving lives could give us just a little more goodwill. Though I also know I would have helped them anyway, they don't deserve to die and I won't sit by and just watch that potentially happen.

I will need to keep my more extreme abilities to my chest though, I need a few of them in case things go wrong with Chrysalis and her Changelings, probably unlikely but I'm not ignoring the possibility.

I force my mind away from my thoughts and focus my senses as I get closer to the ground, getting a better look at the situation. The Changelings have stayed where they are and I can clearly sense Chrysalis, all of them sitting in a small clearing in the forest, maybe a few hundred feet wide at most.

However the other source of life is much closer to them as well and its life magic is a lot stronger than I thought, It's slowed down and seems to be slowly moving towards them now. I'm roughly right above the Changelings and by the time I cast a Levitation spell and a Lightening spell to slow down, I get a good look at what's near them. :Oh, what the fuck?:

A wolf, at least twenty feet long and ten feet tall is standing crouched just out of sight in the woods, stalking them and sneaking closer as I fall. I start to slow my descent more and pull my greatsword and dagger from their sheaths, readying both for what might be the first fight they ever see.

I take a split second to tap them both and activate the elemental enchantments before placing them above me so the small arcs of electricity don't give me away. As I reach fifty feet above the ground I cast an overpowered Lightening spell on my back so it's also out of view, along with pulling myself with my space magic to keep me thirty feet in the air, I prepare to land and cast a shield spell around them, but I run out of time.

To my left are the Changelings sitting in the middle of the field, a magical light coming from a gem lighting the area up, and to my right just past the tree line is the massive wolf. I sense fast movement as the wolf dashes from the trees in a burst of immense speed, rapidly closing the large distance.

I no longer have time to land and get solid ground under me, so instead I do the only thing I can think of, I cancel all my Lightening spells and start to fall straight down. I'm only twenty feet from the ground and as I fall I sense that I'm going to cross trajectories with the wolf as it passes under me.

"WATCH OUT!!" The Changelings notice the wolf a moment too late and can only turn as it gets within a few dozen feet of them. I brace myself by pointing down my greatsword and casting another Levitation spell to not make the landing rough enough to hurt me as I impact the wolf's back.

The force of the impact takes some air out of my lungs and I force myself to focus through the slight pain, taking my greatsword and stabbing it into the wolf's back. The enchanted blade easily pierces the skin and fur with only slight resistance as the blade sinks two feet into the wolf's back between a pair of ribs, small arcs of electricity flickering off from it as a putrid mix of blood, burnt flesh, and smoke pouring from the new wound.

I land on its back and try to keep hold with my field as it bucks hard from the sudden pain. My weight lessened from the Lightening spell is not nearly enough to fully knock it off balance but enough to force it to stop its charge and focus on the pain. The changelings are stunned for a moment but quickly run back away from the wolf to gain distance as it thrashes about.

"GRRRR!!" It makes the first real sound as it snarls at me. The massive wolf bucks its back right into me, letting me sink the greatsword deeper into it but also letting its spine and body slam into me and my armor taking even more of the air out of my lungs and making me jerk around hard. I hold on for a moment longer but quickly let go as it moves to buck again, not wanting that force to hit me another time.

I let go and push off the wolf with my hind legs to jump away from it, leaving my greatsword stuck inside as it continues to electrocute the wolf's wounds as it gushes blood. I feel the wetness of some blood that splattered on me seeping through the small gaps in my armor but ignore it and try to land on the ground.

The Lightening Spell gives me enough time midair to orient myself with my space magic and land with a slightly rough impact on the ground several dozen feet away from the wolf. I really just want to scare this thing off so I reach out with my field as it reaches around with its maw to try and pull the blade in its back out.

Before it can get close I grab the greatsword's handle with my field and pull it from the wound, widening the wound in the process before quickly moving it to my side again. "GRRAAA!!" The wolf growls so deeply that it almost sounds like some other form of creature entirely, sounding completely unnatural to any wolf.

Its head snaps to me, and in the light of the magical gem now a little away from us it can clearly see me. A moment later a fairly powerful spell slams into it from the left side as Chrysalis sends some type of water spell at its head. It does very little to damage it but does buy me a moment of time and cuts one of the wolf's ears halfway through, blood seeping down the side of its head.

I was hoping that it would run after seeing that we aren't easy prey so I wait for a moment, letting it look at both of us, back and forth its head turned between us. :FUCK!: I curse mentally as the wolf decides that it's not running and bolts at me in a very quick burst of movement, so fast I can't move out of the way in time even with dozens of feet between us.

Its speed is unnatural and I have to think quickly as it dives at me with its jaws open wide, revealing a maw bigger than my entire body. I grab myself with my space magic and pull to the left while bringing my greatsword close to me, barely moving out of the way in time as it dives past me with a snarl.

As it passes I roll while swinging my greatsword as hard as I can into its front right leg as it plants its paws in the grass to try and slow down. The added momentum of the wolf's movement and my greatsword enchantments cut deep into the two-foot tree-thick tree trunk-like leg.

I can hear the bone snap and shatter as the greatsword nearly cleaves through the entire leg, a massive spray of blood and viscera covering some of my armor and much of the ground as I get up. The wolf whimpers and collapses on its now mostly useless leg as its head turns to me again as I bring my sword back.

I only get a moment though as it closes its large jaws further. "Owooo!!!" It howls and a moment later I feel a sudden burst of strong wind hit me like a wall. I try to keep my hooves on the ground but quickly start to lose my balance, I feel the wind get even more intense as it blows harder and I'm thrown from my spot and into the air for a moment, I only have time to move my weapons out of the way so I don't hit them.

I feel weightless for a moment before I land on my side and I start to skid along the ground. I cast a sticking spell a second later and feel my body rattle and jerk about painfully from the sudden stop, but I power through it and cancel the spell before standing up again.

The wolf is standing again and it moves to me quickly on three legs as I stand up slowly, mostly defenseless. I do have enough time to stand up again, its running slowed down a lot from losing the use of a leg to attack, yet it still tries to move quickly and attack me again. A flash of light and a bang rings out as a Lightning Strike spell hits it in the other front leg.

It falls face-first into the dirt only a dozen feet away from me with a thump that shakes the earth a little before sliding to a stop while kicking up dirt and grass. I don't have time to try and injure it more to scare it off, this thing has proven its willingness to go after me even after losing a leg and I can't let this go on until it decides to use its wind magic again.

While it's trying to get up once again, I use my field to move my greatsword quickly, slamming it into the side of its neck, cutting off another growl from it as a gurgling noise comes out instead. My field lacks the strength so I run at the wolf's head as it kicks its back legs and drags itself on the ground a little while trying to move again.

I pass its head and move to the side before grabbing the hilt of my greatsword with my hooves and pushing it while pulling down, dragging the greatsword through more of its neck as everything is drenched in thick blood. For good measure I use my dagger and slash both of its eyes in quick succession to blind it before quickly backing up as it thrashes about and struggles, biting it in my direction as I quickly back away.

I stand a few dozen feet away, panting quick breaths while watching the wolf bleed out and slowly struggle less and less. It tries to stand but drops back down as its front leg fails it and after a minute it stops moving, its breath slowing more and more as it eventually dies.

I sit there for a few more minutes to be sure before casting a red-colored Light spell to signal the carriage to land while checking myself for injuries and retrieving my greatsword from the wolf's neck, the greatsword no longer sparking as the gem has run dry. I avoid the massive pool of blood and bloody mud as I walk by the corpse and retrieve my greatsword.

As I walk over to the Changelings and the landing carriage I have only two thoughts. :By magic, I need a bath and some alone time. Who would have thought this would be my first kill?: I sigh slightly and force my mind to the task at hoof, I'll think more later.

POV shift Chrysalis.

I watch silently as the black knight sits there and motionlessly watches the massive wolf bleed out through its slit throat.

When that beast first jumped at us I was caught off guard, but quickly tried to prepare for a gruesome battle like many times before. Its speed was immense for its size and I know it would have torn anything it could get its jaws on apart in moments. Not that its speed seemed to do much for it in the end.

The knight seems to have jumped out of their flying carriage, most likely using magic to slow his descent down to make a soft landing. He had good timing though, while I would have been able to kill that thing it wouldn't have been easy, even if the three guards with me are elite they could only buy me time to cast a few powerful spells to kill that thing.

I didn't even know about its wind magic, if we tried to fly away and escape... Well, it would have most likely ended very badly for us. I feel my wings twitch at the thought but suppress it quickly. Yet, this knight. Nothing but his blades and a single combat spell, that's all it took to bring this thing to a bloody end. My elite would have a hard time attempting such a thing and staying alive, let alone succeeding at such a challenge.

He took only one blow and seems no worse for wear, it's hard to tell though. My Changelings and I watch in silence as he waits for the beast to die, silent as always. I didn't even hear anything when the blast of wind dragged him on the ground, it is definitely some form of enchantment.

His weapons are obviously enchanted as well, lightning on the greatsword and probably something on the dagger too, I couldn't see it that well in the fight. That Lightning spell as well, strong but an uncommon spell type, lightning magic is fairly magic intensive.

One thing really stands out though, Runic magic? Why? I know only some of it but it is odd for a unicorn to use it. It does have the advantage of being able to cast from unexpected directions as the spells don't come from a horn. Did this knight really learn runic magic for such an advantage? Maybe it's best I look into runic magic a bit and see what other reasons he might have.

Either way, there is no doubt that this knight is anything but normal. I'm reminded of the investigation I have going on to find leads on him, it seems that was a good choice. Although I have found worryingly little, males of his size have to be uncommon, getting spies in the palace is not easy though, especially now.

The messenger I sent to personally relay letters has brought back some information, but I know they aren't foolish enough to be blind to the messenger doing that. Kalis turns to me from the gruesome sight and speaks quietly. "My Queen, I think it best we investigate that knight more, this is..." He trails off but I nod silently in agreement.

He has always caught onto my thoughts quickly and I agree with him, this can't be ignored. I could try to talk to him? It is possible if I word it right, maybe I can get him to reveal how he dealt with those Changelings? Some new ways of attack or strategies would be welcome to our war effort.

I did try to help him fight the beast, sending a water spell as a distraction. He did not take the opening though, why? I guessed he had some plan and didn't need my interference, so I waited until I thought I was actually needed to lend assistance, but he ended things long before it got to that point.

I also wished to see what he was capable of, worse comes to worse I can always offer an apology for not helping and say we did not want to distract or hit him by accident. Yes, I believe that excuse will work well enough for a Pony, or maybe not, this is obviously no ordinary Pony.

I watch the knight move for the first time in a while, casting a light spell to signal the carriage above and retrieving his blade before sheathing it and moving towards us as the carriage lands nearby. "None of you talk to him unless spoken to," I order not wanting them to accidentally offend the knight.

Good soldiers they may be, but diplomacy is not something they are good at. It seems this meeting will be even more interesting than the last. Maybe I can get him to help in another way? He is a strong knight and would be welcome. Maybe, but not at the risk of offending Princess Celestia, not when things are already going so well.

I nod silently as the knight walks closer, his back armor wet and glistening with blood. It seems I owe this knight a little gratitude, he did help us after all.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I wanted some bloodshed and a way to show off Shade's abilities to Chrysalis, but I thought that another Changeling run-in wouldn't really fit well. Then I realized this was happening in the woods, so obviously that means animals, and aberrant animals.

I'm not sure I did the fight as well as the last one, but I think it's ok and makes sense. Shade wants to hold back, and Chrysalis wants to watch and observe.

Also, this gave me flashbacks to Dark Souls. I'm so sorry Sif!! You are the best girl!!

I will also note, that I forgot I did gore warning the first time we had some. I'm not sure if I should add those in this and the Dragon fight. Tell me what you think.